Free Straight to Heaven by Michelle Scott Page B

set his teacup aside and retreated from the office with his head down and his shoulders slumped. He looked like a little kid on the playground who hadn’t found the courage to stand up to the bully.
    Miss Spry patted the spot on the couch next to her. “Let’s have a little girl-to-girl chat, shall we?”
    I moved closer, pleased that whatever she was about to say was not for Mr. Clerk or William’s ears.
    “Your current job is very important, but it’s also very challenging. Even William would be hard-pressed to complete it, I think.”
    Aha! That put a smile on my face. For all William’s bragging, even Miss Spry had doubts about his abilities.
    She went back to tugging on her pearls. “I want this done and I want it done quickly, so I’m prepared to make you a deal.”
    I sucked in my breath. “What kind of a deal?”
    Miss Spry smiled unpleasantly. “Patrick’s been telling me that I need to stop threatening my staff and start motivating them instead. I’m inclined to agree. Therefore, I’m offering you an incentive to finish the job quickly.” She took one of my hands and imprisoned it between her own. Her skin was hot and dry, like a lizard that’s been sitting under a heat lamp. “I know how much you love your little girl.”
    My stomach tightened. “Of course.” Please don’t take my daughter again, I begged mentally. Please! I couldn’t bear it.
    “Good. Then, Lilith, if you complete this assignment, I’ll make a slight adjustment to your contract. I’ll amend it so that your succubus status skips a generation before moving on.”
    My jaw dropped. Skips a generation? I didn’t dare believe it. “Does that mean that you won’t take Grace on as a succubus?” My voice was hardly above a whisper. If that happened, my daughter wouldn’t share my fate. She’d never become a succubus. And if I could convince her to not have any children, then the lineage would be entirely broken. The curse would end with me.
    Miss Spry nodded.
    “Are you serious?” I hardly dared to ask that, but I had to make sure.
    “Completely.”
    “Then it’s a deal,” I said. I somberly shook her hand, but grinned like an idiot on the inside. Not only had I been given a chance to rescue my daughter, I could once and for all prove to William that I was the more capable seducer.
    Before I went home, I checked on Mr. Clerk. Now that I knew Grace’s future was riding on this job, I was more eager than ever to make another appointment with my client.
    I softly knocked on his office door, and when he told me to come in, I did.
    This room was the polar opposite of Miss Spry’s lavish study. The carpet was threadbare, and several ceiling tiles were missing. The overhead fluorescent lights buzzed and flickered. The room contained a draftsman’s table, a battered metal desk, a lopsided office chair, and a few dingy cabinets. The whole place smelled of ink and paper and duplication fluid, like the workroom at the school where I used to teach.
    I took a seat on the wobbly desk chair. “Miss Spry needs to give your office an upgrade.”
    Mr. Clerk remained stubbornly silent. I’d stepped on his toes by second-guessing him, and he wasn’t about to forgive me. He went to a cabinet and pulled out a large tube of paper. He unrolled it and spread it out on his desk.
    “This is your man’s blueprint,” Mr. Clerk said. Sure enough, the name ‘Craig Fuller’ was written at the top in precise draftsmen script. “These are all of the important decisions he’s made over the course of his life.” On the paper was an intricate pattern of lines, arrows, and words.
    I couldn’t make heads or tails out of the chart. Mr. Clerk, however, had no problem navigating it. He tapped a tiny ‘X’ near the left-hand side. “See this? Mr. Fuller once stole a handful of candy bars from a drugstore and sold them to his friends.” He smiled. “The clever boy never got caught.”
    “Amazing,” I said, marveling at the diagram’s