Succubus Revealed (Georgina Kincaid 6)

"You sure sound smug about this," I pointed out petulantly. "Like you're happy about it."

"Happy? Happy about the gamble of getting a new employee - or of inheriting Tawny permanently? Hardly. But unlike you, I accept that my happiness means nothing to my superiors. The only thing that matters is me following their orders." His tone and expression clearly said that the same was true for me.

I almost never held back from sparring with Jerome, but today I did. Why? Because there was nothing I could say, no bargain I could make with him. I'd negotiated a number of favors and allowances in my years with him, things specifically pertaining to my existence here within Seattle. That was his domain. But the rest of the world? That was out of his control. There was nothing he could do to change this reassignment, even if he wanted to. There was nothing I could do either. You just couldn't fight against some things. Hell was one of them. When I'd signed my soul away, I'd signed away control of my eternity to them as well.

"It's not fair." Guessing Jerome's snappy retort, I quickly added, "I know, you don't have to say it. Life isn't fair. I get it. But it's just . . . it's just cruel. Seth and I finally managed a working relationship. And now I have to leave him."

Jerome shook his head, and I could tell by his restless stance that he was ready to go. His patience with this conversation was running thin.

"You know, I might miss some of your witticisms when you're gone, but one thing I won't miss? Your overwhelming sense of melodrama and despair. It's too much even for me."

The sorrow and self-pity within me transformed to anger. "I'm sorry, but this is serious to me! How can I not be upset? I love Seth. I don't want to leave him."

"So don't. Take him with you. Or date long distance. I honestly don't give a f**k, so long as you stop your whining. How can you not see solutions here? You've apparently decided that you being immortal isn't a deterrent to your great love . . . but a two-hour plane ride is?"

I felt kind of cowed. Normally, I resented Jerome for mocking me when I was upset because I blamed it on his lack of empathy. But now, I had to admit that maybe he was onto something about me being overly melodramatic. Why couldn't I take Seth with me? If Seth really loved me, a move shouldn't be a problem. And of all the jobs in the world, he had one of the best suited for a change of venue. Unfortunately, it was a bit more complicated than that. I sighed.

"I don't know if he would. His family's here, and his sister-in-law's sick. He can't leave them anytime soon. . . ."

Jerome shrugged. "We're back to the part where I don't give a f**k. I do, however, care that you go there to visit sooner rather than later. Luis asked if I'd send you down in advance to scope out the area for a couple of days. Seeing as bowling practice doesn't start until Monday, I can't help but think this weekend would be an excellent time to get that out of the way. I'm happy to oblige him - but not at the cost of interfering with my team."

"Really?" I scoffed. "You expect me to care about bowling in light of all this?"

He gave me a thin-lipped smile. "Seeing as you're still my employee for the next four weeks, yes. I expect you to care about it immensely." He glanced over at Roman, who had observed all of this silently. "And I expect you to come up with an excellent training regimen for them. I'll see you both then."

Jerome vanished in a poof of smoke, further verifying how self-satisfied he felt about all of this. Losing me might be inconvenient for him, but I think his demon nature still took some delight in seeing the torment of others.

I covered my eyes and rolled over to lie flat on the couch. "Oh God. What am I going to do? This can't be happening."

Breaking up with Seth last year had torn my heart apart. I had wanted to die. Being reunited with him had felt like being born anew. I'd loved life, even my damned one. Now I was starting to feel that terrible, aching desperation again. It wasn't possible that someone could go through so many extreme ups and downs in so short a time span. Welcome to being in love, I thought.

I felt Roman sit down by my feet. A moment later, both cats joined us. I uncovered my eyes and found his sea green ones staring down at me. "He wasn't exactly tactful, but I have to admit he had a point. Why wouldn't Seth just move with you?"

"Under normal circumstances . . ." I had to pause in order to not start laughing. Our circumstances were never normal. "Under normal circumstances, he would. But like I was saying, with Andrea, I don't even think he can. And honestly, I wouldn't want him to." I didn't realize that was true until I spoke the words. If Seth dropped everything to run off with me, he would be hurting both himself and his family for my sake. I could never allow that. My heart sank. "I can't believe this. How could this have come about so quickly? I was so happy."

Roman scratched Aubrey's head and leaned back. "That's an excellent question. This was all kind of sudden. Is that how it normally is?"

"Well, I mean, we never get much warning of transfers. Sometimes you know a re-org is coming. Sometimes you get one after requesting a transfer. Usually, though, someone has a meeting, plans your fate, and you find out about it later. The only weird thing here was Jerome apparently having less notice than me."

Roman had been staring at the ceiling and then snapped his head back to look at me. I flinched under the intensity of his gaze. "Explain that again. What happened and what was unusual."

I started to tell him I'd just explained it but instead swallowed off any sharp retort, knowing he wasn't the true source of my irritation. "Normally, your archdemon meets with you to tell you the details, and then the letter with the transfer date follows. This happened so fast that I got the letter before Jerome had a chance to talk to me."

"Hell doesn't do things without a reason." He reconsidered. "Well, impromptu bowling competitions aside. But they like their bureaucracy, their paperwork, and all their details in order. Even if they quickly decided to do a transfer, they'd still follow all their inane procedures. For the letter to have jumped ahead of Jerome getting his instructions, things must have been seriously expedited. The question: why? Why such a rush to get you out of Seattle?"

I couldn't help a smile. "You're looking for a conspiracy here. I mean, don't get me wrong, I think this sucks. It's terrible. But I don't think there's anything more to it than what Jerome said about me skimping at my job. Which . . . well, which is my fault."

"Yes, but Hell deals with bad employees all the time. They go through reams of procedure to figure out the best way to deal with those people. Pop might be right that Hell can't tolerate mediocre workers, but it's not to the extent that they have to deal with it right that second. What's so special about you that someone would suddenly decide to initiate a hasty transfer?"

I appreciated that Roman was trying to help me, but I didn't want to get caught up in what could easily become an obsessive quest for him. Nephilim had serious grudges with Heaven and Hell and were always looking for ways to challenge and thwart them. Roman himself had once gone on a killing spree of higher immortals. There was something in his nature that wanted there to be more than bad luck here, but I just wasn't sure I believed there was.

Carter's words echoed in my head, no matter how much I tried to shrug them off: If there's a reason, it's because you've been doing something Hell doesn't want you to do.

"You should talk to Carter," I muttered. "He's certain there's a reason too." Seeing Roman's expectant look, I halfheartedly tried to humor him. "I don't know what it could be. Maybe because I got captured by Oneroi? Maybe they're worried I'm unstable or something. Or that this isn't a safe place for me."

Roman nodded along with my words. "That does make you special. However, if I was worried about an employee losing it, I'd want to keep them in a place where I knew they felt stable. I'm sure Hell knows you're happy here, and if anything, they might think that experience bound you to Jerome more closely. They'd want to encourage that loyalty."

"Hell doesn't need to encourage loyalty," I told him. "All they care about is that I signed my soul over to them. That's bigger than loyalty."

A startled look crossed his face. "That is all they care about. Georgina, when did this happen? Exactly when did this happen?"

"Er, the letter?"

There was a fanatic look in his eyes. No question. He was getting obsessed. "Yes."