Meg Cabot - Prom Nights from Hell

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."

Sheba's fists clenched hard as Jezebel's search touched Cooper Silverdale, but again, Jezebel merely observed.

"Well, well," the horned demoness murmured. "Wow. Sheeb, I've got to say it, I'm impressed. You got a gun in. And a motivated hand-full of alcohol to weaken his free will!" The older demoness smiled with something that looked strangely like sincerity. "This is really evil. I mean, sure, a middle demon working homicide or mayhem or maybe riots could set something like this up at a prom, but a human-form child on misery detail? What are you, two, three hundred?"

"Just one-eighty-six at my last spawn day," Sheba answered brusquely, still wary.

Jezebel whistled a tongue of flame through her lips. "Very impressed. And I can see that you aren't neglecting your assignment, either. That's one miserable crowd in there." Jezebel laughed. "You've ended nearly every promising relationship, broken a few dozen lifelong friendships, made new enemies… three, four, five fights brewing," Jezebel counted, her mind with the humans. "You've even got the DJ listening to you! Such attention to detail. Ha-ha! I can count on one hand the humans who aren't completely wretched."

Sheba smiled grimly. "I'll get to them."

"Ghastly, Sheeb. Seriously nasty. You do our name proud. If every prom had a demoness like you involved, we'd own this world."

"Aw, Jez, you're making me blush," Sheba said with heavy sarcasm.

Jezebel laughed. "Of course, you've got a little help."

Jezebel's thoughts twisted in a circle around Celeste, who had just twisted herself around a new boy. Jilted girls cried, while the boys Celeste carelessly tossed aside flexed their fists and glowered wrathfully at their competition; burning with lust, each was determined that Celeste was finishing the night with him.

Celeste was doing half the work tonight.

"I use the tools available to me," Sheba said.

"What an ironic name! What an evil mind! Is she fully human?"

"I passed her in the hall, just to check," Sheba admitted. "Pure, clean human scent. Revolting."

"Huh. I would have sworn she had some demon in her ancestry. Good find. But, Sheba, asking a date? Pretty amateur, involving yourself physically that way."

Sheba's chin jabbed upward defensively, but she did not answer. Jezebel was right; it was crude and time-consuming to use one's human form rather than one's demon mind. However, it was the results that counted. Sheba's timely interference had kept Logan from discovering his true love.

"Well, it in no way diminishes your accomplishments here tonight." Jezebel's tone was conciliatory. "You pull this one off, and they'll put you in the baby demons' textbooks."

"Thanks," Sheba snapped. Did Jezebel really think she could flatter Sheba into letting her guard down?

Jezebel smiled, and her mists curled up on the edges, mirroring the expression.

"A tip, Sheba. Keep them confused in there. If you can get Cooper to pull the trigger, then you might make some of these wannabe gangsters think they're under fire." Jezebel shook her head in wonder. "You've got so much potential mayhem here. Of course, they'll bring in a riot demon if it really gets hot… but you'd still get some of the credit for stirring it up."

Sheba grimaced, and glimmers of red flashed at her ears. What was Jezebel doing? Where was the trick? Her mind ran over and over the humans she was assigned to torment, but she could find no trace of Jezebel's distinct brimstone flavor in the ballroom. There was nothing but the misery Sheba had caused herself, and the few little pockets of repellent happiness that Sheba would attend to shortly.

"You're certainly helpful tonight," Sheba said, being deliberately insulting.

Jezebel sighed, and there was something about the way her mists rolled back in on themselves that made her look… embarrassed. For the first time, Sheba felt a hint of doubt about her assumptions. But Jezebel's motives had to be malicious. That's the only kind of motives demons had.

With a rueful expression on her face, Jezebel asked quietly, "Is it so impossible to believe that I might want you to get promoted?"

"Yes."

Jezebel sighed again. And again, the way her mists writhed in chagrin made Sheba uncertain.

"Why?" Sheba demanded. "What do you get out of this?"

"I know it's all wrong-or rather right-for me to be giving you advice you can work with. Not very evil of me."

Sheba nodded cautiously.

"It's in our nature to trip up everyone, demons, humans-even angels if we get the chance. We're evil. Naturally we're going to backstab, whether it hurts our side or not. We wouldn't be demons if we didn't let envy, greed, lust, and wrath rule us." Jezebel chuckled. "I remember-how many years ago was it? — Lilith almost got you booted back a few grades, didn't she?"