Succubus Revealed Page 0,1

my bathroom.

"Georgina?"

My dreams of sugarplums and Christian Dior were interrupted by the sound of a familiar voice. I turned and felt my heart sink as I met the eyes of a pretty middle-aged woman with cropped hair.

"Janice, hey. How's it going?"

My former co-worker returned my stiff smile with a puzzled one. "Fine. I . . . I didn't expect to see you here."

I also hadn't expected to be seen here. It was one of the reasons I'd chosen to work outside the city, to specifically avoid anyone from my old job. "Likewise. Don't you live in Northgate?" I tried not to make it sound like an accusation.

She nodded and rested her hand on the shoulder of a small, dark-haired girl. "We do, but my sister lives over here, and we thought we'd visit her after Alicia talks to Santa."

"I see," I said, feeling mortified. Wonderful. Janice was going to go back to Emerald City Books and Cafe and tell everyone that she'd spotted me dressed as an elf. Not that that could make things worse, I supposed. Everyone there already thought I was the Whore of Babylon. It was why I'd quit a few weeks ago. What was an elf dress on top of that?

"Is this Santa any good?" asked Alicia impatiently. "The one I saw last year didn't get me what I wanted."

Over the buzzing of the crowd, I just barely heard Santa saying, "Well, Jessica, there's not much Santa can do about interest rates." I turned back to Alicia.

"It kind of depends on what you want," I said.

"How did you end up here?" asked Janice, with a small frown.

She actually sounded concerned, which I supposed was better than her gloating. I had a feeling there were a number of people at the bookstore who would have loved the idea of me suffering - not that this job was so bad.

"Well, this is just temporary, obviously," I explained. "It gives me something to do while I interview for others, and I get a mall discount. And really, it's just another form of customer service." I was trying hard not to sound defensive or desperate, but with each word, the intensity of how much I missed my old job hit me more and more.

"Oh, good," she said, looking slightly relieved. "I'm sure you'll find something soon. Looks like the line's moving."

"Wait, Janice?" I caught hold of her arm before she could walk away. "How . . . how's Doug?"

I'd left behind a lot of things at Emerald City: a position of power, a warm atmosphere, unlimited books and coffee . . . But as much as I missed all of those things, I didn't miss them as much as I missed a single person: my friend Doug Sato. He, more than anything, was what had spurred me to leave. I hadn't been able to handle working with him anymore. It had been terrible, seeing someone I care about so much regard me with such contempt and disappointment. I'd had to get away from that and felt I'd made the right choice, but it was still hard losing someone who'd been a part of my life for the last five years.

Janice's smile returned. Doug had that effect on people. "Oh, you know. He's Doug. The same, wacky Doug. Band's going strong. And I think he might get your job. Er, your old job. They're interviewing for it." Her smile faded, as though she suddenly realized that might cause me discomfort. It didn't. Not much.

"That's great," I said. "I'm happy for him."

She nodded and told me good-bye before hurrying forward in line. Behind her, a family of four paused in their frantic texting on identical cell phones to glare at me for the holdup. A moment later, they hunched back down again, no doubt telling all their Twitter friends about every inane detail of their holiday mall experience.

I put on a cheery smile that didn't reflect what I felt inside and continued helping with the line until Sneezy, my replacement, showed up. I got him up to speed on Santa's drinking schedule and then abandoned the holiday nexus for the mall's back offices. Once inside a bathroom, I shape-shifted out of the foil dress, trading it for a much more tasteful sweater and jeans combo. I even made the sweater blue so that there would be no confusion. I was off the holiday clock.

Of course, as I walked back through the mall, I couldn't help but notice I was never off the