She let her body relax against the side of a nearby grimy Dumpster, and leaned toward the open top where the stench of rotting food hung in a heavy cloud. Her eyes slipped closed, then she inhaled deeply and smiled again.
Another, even more vile smell-something like rancid, burning flesh, but worse-wafted through the sultry air. The girl's smile widened as she sucked in this painful new odor like it was the rarest perfume.
And then her eyes snapped open and her body wrenched straight and stiff.
A low chuckle rolled out of the velvet darkness.
«Feeling homesick, Sheeb?» a woman's voice purred.
The girl's lips curled into a snarl as the body that belonged with the voice coalesced into view.
The stunning black-haired woman seemed to be clothed in nothing but a lazily swirling black mist. Her legs and feet were invisible-perhaps not even there. High on her forehead were two small, polished onyx horns.
«Chex Jezebel aut Baal-Malphus,» the girl in the red dress growled. «What are you doing here?»
«So formal, little sister?»
«What do I care for sisters?»
«True. And our exact parentage is shared by thousands… But that's such an unwieldy mouthful. Why don't you just call me Jez, and I'll skip over the Chex Sheba aut Baal-Malphus and call you Sheeb.»
Sheba snorted derisively. «I thought you were assigned to New York.»
«Just taking a break-like you are, apparently.» Jezebel looked pointedly at Sheba's resting spot. «New York is fabulous-almost as evil as hell, thanks for asking-but even the killers sleep now and then. I got bored, so I came down to see if you were having fun at the purrrrrrrrrr-rom» Jezebel laughed. The dark mist around her danced.
Sheba scowled but did not answer.
Her mind was on alert as she focused back on the unsuspecting teenagers inside the hotel ballroom, looking for interference. Was Jezebel here to mess with Sheba's plans? What else? Most middle demons would go miles out of their way to screw over a little leaguer-to the point of doing a good deed, even. Balan Lilith Hadad aut Hamon had once disguised herself as a human at one of Sheba's assigned high schools, about a decade back. Sheba hadn't understood why all her miserable plots kept turning into happy endings. Then, when she'd figured it out, she still could hardly believe Lilith's gall-the vicious demoness had actually orchestrated three separate instances of true love, just to get Sheba demoted! Lucky for Sheba, she'd pulled off a good betrayal at the last minute that took out two of the romances. Sheba sucked in a deep breath. That had been a close one. She could have been bounced back to middle school!
Sheba grimaced at the succulent demoness floating before her now. If Sheba had a dream job like Jezebel's-a homicide demon! It didn't get much better than that-Sheba would stick to the mayhem and forget the petty tricks.
Sheba's thoughts twisted like invisible smoke through the dancers in the building behind her, looking for any signs of treachery. But everything continued as it should. The misery in the room was reaching new heights. The flavor of human unhappiness filled her mind. Delicious.
Jezebel chuckled, understanding exactly what Sheba was doing.
«Relax,» Jezebel said. «I'm not here to cause you any trouble.»
Sheba snorted. Of course Jezebel was there to cause trouble. That's what demons did.
«Great dress,» Jezebel noted. «Hell hound skin. Terrific for inciting lust and envy.»
«I know how to do my job.»
Jezebel laughed again, and Sheba leaned in instinctively to catch the brimstone flavor of her breath.
«Poor Sheeb, still locked in half-human form,» Jezebel teased. «I remember how good everything smells all the time. Ugh. And the temperature! Do the humans have to freeze everything with their wretched air-conditioning?»
Sheba's face was smooth now, controlled. «I get by. There's plenty of misery to go around.»
«That's the spirit! Just another few centuries, and you'll be in the big-time with me.»
Sheba allowed a smirk to curl her lips. «Or maybe not quite so long.»
One black eyebrow arched high against Jezebel's white forehead, raising almost to an ebony horn.
«Is that so? Got something particularly evil up your sleeve, little sister?»
Sheba didn't answer, tensing again as Jezebel sent her own thoughts snaking invisibly through the crowd inside the ballroom. Sheba locked her jaw, ready to strike back if Jezebel tried to undo any of her schemes. But Jezebel just looked, touching nothing.
«Hmm,» Jezebel hummed to herself. «Hmm.»