LITMIR.BIZ

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      “Lilith! And this must be your niece. Andrea, right? The one who started the fire?”

      Ariel glared at her and turned towards the magazines.

      “Such an angry child,” Casey stage-whispered. “She’s so lucky to have an aunt like you. Speaking of which…you’re back in the neighborhood? I had no idea your house was livable again!”

      Yeah, right. More than once, I’d spied Ms. I-Had-No-Idea-Your-House-Was-Livable at her window with a phone in one hand and a pair of binoculars in the other. Casey is the kind of person who thinks ‘neighborhood watch’ is an Olympic sport.

      My smile tightened even more. “You didn’t see the builders working? Or the moving vans? Or notice Grace riding her bike down the sidewalk?”

      She laughed and tucked a peroxided lock of hair behind her ear. “You know I don’t have time to keep track of every little detail. But look at you. You’re amazing!” She took me in, top to bottom, missing nothing. “I bet Ted’s so jealous. The silly boy should have never divorced you.”

      I wanted to strangle her with her own diamond pendant. “I divorced him remember?”

      “That’s not what he says.” Then she lightly tapped my arm. “Just kidding, of course. How is the ex, by the way? Mooning over you, I hope.” She increased the wattage on her smile. “And what about you? Any new boyfriends?”

      I was about to answer when Ariel shrieked, “Hey! Watch out!” Then she toppled headlong into a large display of carefully-stacked cereal boxes, sending it crashing to the ground. The boxes skidded across the center aisle of the store, causing an instant shopping cart pile-up.

      The boy who’d been following Ariel ran past me, his wake kicking up an otherworldly tingle. It was another angel! No wonder he’d seemed familiar.

      The manager charged over, his hands fisted at his sides. He had hated Ariel ever since he’d caught her hiding packages of steak behind the canisters of coffee. I’d offered to pay for the damage, but it hadn’t cooled his temper.

      Ari picked herself up from a pile of crushed cereal boxes. “It was an accident. I was pushed.” She glared at the manager, but at the same time, I detected an undercurrent of fear. It was a look that I recognized. It meant that my niece had been doing something wrong and was worried she’d be caught.

      I scanned the accident site for clues, and sure enough, I spotted nearly a half-a-dozen things that didn’t belong in that aisle. A can of spray cheese, three candy bars, a bag of marshmallows, and a box of fruit snacks.

      I cursed myself for not watching my niece more carefully. That’s because Ariel was a really good thief. The girl could steal the underwear off a sales clerk. Don’t believe me? Well, consider the lacy bra I found one afternoon after we’d been school shopping at the mall. Victoria’s Secret, size 32B, lavender. Definitely not mine and definitely used.

      The manager was smart. It was only a matter of time before he also realized that Ariel had been shoplifting. If I wanted to rescue my niece, I had to put my succubus to work. Quickly.

      I walked over to him, pulverizing bits of cereal under the heels of my sandals. “I am so sorry,” I said.

      He thrust his jaw out. “You’ll have to pay for this, and I don’t want the two of you back in my store, either.”

      My succubus was in overdrive, working out the best way to win this man over. He was young, only a few years out of college, and his look said junior executive wannabe. He wore khaki pants, a white short-sleeved shirt that had been carefully pressed, and a striped tie complete with a University of Michigan tie pin. His hair had been clipped so short that it was practically army regulation.

      My demon self spoke up before I had a chance. “Go Wolverines!” I pointed to the tie pin.

      He was too angry to be taken in by such a simple ruse. My demon had to do better than that. Luckily for me, she had more tricks up her sleeve. “When you were in college, I’ll bet your professors never told you that running a business would be this hard.”

      His jaw tightened. “No,” he admitted.

      I helped him pick up the cereal boxes. “Those professors are so lame. They’d never survive in the real business world. Am I right?”

      He nodded. “Completely.”

      I moved in closer and brushed against his shoulder. The glamour in my touch made him relax. “I’ll bet that you’ve learned more in your first year on the job than they taught you in four years of college.”

      He placed several boxes back on the display. “Definitely.”

      “And those classmates of yours? The ones who graduated and went to Wall Street to work in finance?”

      His eyes hardened. Finally, I’d struck gold. “Losers,” he said bitterly. “A bunch of a-holes who used their parents’ money to go to college, then got jobs in investment firms because their daddies worked there.”

      “They can laugh at you all they want, but what do they know about a real day’s work?” I asked.

      “Nothing!” The manager was furious now, but no longer at me and Ariel. “They don’t have to worry about student loans or finding a real job.” His fists clenched.

      “You’re better than they are,” I assured him.

      “Damn right!” he agreed.

      I would have continued, but Ariel’s wide-eyed stare stopped me. So instead, I patted the manager’s shoulder. “Sorry,” I said again.

      He glared at the wreckage, no doubt seeing the faces of his fellow college graduates. “No problem.” He kicked at a box of cereal, sending it skidding across the floor. “No problem at all.”

      As we wheeled our cart away, I realized that Casey had disappeared like smoke, bless her evil little heart.

      “How’d you do that?” Ari asked.

      I played innocent. “What?”

      “Get the manager to stop being mad at us. He was ready to throw us out.”

      “Yes, he was,” I said, “and for good reason, considering what you did.”

      “Like I said, it was an accident,” she protested.

      “I don’t mean the cereal display,” I said. “I’m talking about the fruit rollups and the candy bars. Or were those accidents, too?”

      She looked away.

      We wheeled the cart into a checkout line. “You’re lucky he didn’t catch you,” I told her, “but since I did, you are in so much trouble.”

      Ari glared at the floor as if her own fate was spelled out there.

      When we got back home, I was ready to dish out my punishment, but Ariel sprinted to her room the moment I opened the front door.

      I set the groceries in the kitchen, went upstairs, and knocked. “Ariel?” When she didn’t answer, I tried to open the door, but she’d jammed it shut. I pounded harder. “Ari! Open up right now.”

      It was times like this that I missed Tommy the most. Now that he was overseas on his spiritual pilgrimage, I realized how much I’d relied on his advice. He was endlessly patient, and always serene. The night before he left, Ariel had grown desperate to keep him home. She’d hidden my car keys and his passport so well that, even after hours of searching, we couldn’t find them. I was ready to strangle her, but Tommy had taken Ariel outside and calmly talked with her. When they’d come back inside nearly half an hour later, one of the large, metal gauges was missing from Tommy’s earlobe, and Ariel was wearing it around her thumb. “It’s my promise to her that I won’t be gone forever,” he told me when I asked about it. I hadn’t thought that the trick would work, but to my amazement, Ariel quietly fetched the missing keys and passport from the inside of the toilet

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