A customer wanted Kevin to check in the back to see if they had more shoes in the color they wanted. He didn't think there was anything he wanted to do less than that. He tried everything in his power to convince them that the pair they were already holding was the last one, that the other color didn't even look that different, and that even if they had that other color in the back, it probably wouldn't be the right size. But the customer kept insisting, and Kevin knew if he didn't humor them, it was only a matter of time until a manager got involved. And as crappy as this part-time job at a major chain department store was, he needed it to pay the bills.

And that's how he ended up in the middle of the massive dark stockroom, grateful at least that he had an excuse to be off the salesfloor and away from the customers for a moment. He decided to take his time, actually look, and if the customer got mad and left before he came back, at least he could say he was just doing exactly what they said they wanted.

The stockroom was like a maze, rows of shelves containing boxes of all kinds of merchandise stretching up at least twenty feet into the air, and he had no idea how many feet across. When he started to see clothes, he figured he was almost to the shoes. This area was silent and serene. He couldn't remember how many sections back he had last seen a co-worker, and they had been grabbing what they came for and heading back to the sales floor. So he was startled when he thought he heard giggling.

He spun around, but saw no one.

"Who's there?"

Suddenly, something fell to the floor, making him jump. It was from the toy section. One of many Holiday Magic Princess Barbara "life size" dolls left over from last Christmas. It was about three feet tall, and it had been taken out of the box and stripped of its clothing.

Kevin picked it up, looked around again to see if he could spot who had just thrown it at him, then shook his head and just sat it down on the nearest shelf. Then he turned back to the clothes, trying to make his way to the shoes.

A couple more rows of shelves later, he heard the giggle again.

Then he heard a raspy, but very feminine, voice.

"I think I'm in love."

This time, when he turned, he was shocked by what he saw.

There was some kind of creature standing there, covered in lime-and-lemon colored, shimmering scales. It had two long, pointy ears, and a face framed in several tiny, pointy horns. But it also had long flowing hair, human-like, except very vividly green. And it was wearing the holiday dress stolen from the doll. But the red- and gold- sequined dress fit her in a way that wouldn't have been appropriate for a child's toy. The lacy gold decolletage revealed surprisingly smooth-looking yellow cleavage.

She licked her lips. She appeared to have modeled her make-up to match the doll as well, her lips in a shade of deep crimson, her eyelids and sharp fingernails a sparkly golden color. She even had the same silver-colored slippers and Holiday Magic tiara.

"Do you like my dress?" she asked, biting the corner of her lip suggestively.

She smoothed the dress down and leaned slightly forward, further emphasizing her cleavage.

Kevin tried backing away, and backed right in to the nearest shelf. She pounced on him. He tried to scream, but the sound wouldn't come out.

"Do you like me?" she whispered directly in to his ear, her hot breath tickling him.

She didn't wait for an answer before licking his ear and biting his earlobe. Then she kissed the side of his face, covering it in glossy crimson.

She planted another kiss on his right cheek, long and hard enough to leave a perfect print of her lips. Then she did the same to his left cheek.

Then she went for his lips.

"Mmmm. Mmmm. Mmmmmm," she moaned, still kissing him, even as he tried to pry her off.

Then she pulled her mouth away, giving him just a second to try to catch his breath while she batted her eyelashes lustfully at him.

Then she kissed him again, even harder this time.

What followed was like a tug-o-war. The three long, golden talons of each of her hands grabbed on to his shoulders while the five fleshy fingers of each of his wrapped around her shoulders. He pushed and pushed until her lips were far enough away from his to breathe. She pulled back so she could continue kissing him.

"Wh-what are you?"

"I'm Greta," she said, then continued making out with him.

He slammed back into the shelf, and a box fell over, dropping several flashlights. Two or three of them lit up when they hit the floor, and the sudden light seemed to hurt her, causing her to let go of his shoulders and disappear around a corner.

Kevin didn't care about the shoes anymore. Now he was just trying to get the hell out of that warehouse. He rubbed his sleeve against his face, trying to get the saliva and lipstick off of his face.

He bent down and picked up one of the flashlights. As he walked back in the direction he felt sure he had come from, he would spin around and shine it wherever he thought he heard a noise coming from, trying to keep the little green princess from attacking him again.

He recognized a cart that was loaded with baby diapers ready to go on the shelves and eagerly walked towards it. Surely he had come this way before. Except as he reached it, he felt sure he would have noticed the shelf full of gaudy phone accessories nearby. Someone must have moved the cart.

Still, if he walked back he had to see something he recognized. Some hint to get through this maze and not be trapped in the back of his stupid work forever.

There was a shelf blocking his path. Now he was sure that shelf hadn't been positioned like that just a moment ago when he walked by.

He heard the raspy voice say, "There you are. I've been waiting for you."

He spun around with the flashlight quickly, slipping in a puddle of motor oil that seemed to have been dumped there just for him. As he fell, he dropped the flashlight, breaking it and leaving just the light of the dim halogen lamps high above.

He watched the scaly green princess toss the empty motor oil can to the side. Then Greta ran full speed at him. He was sprawled out at her eye level, his legs between hers. Her long fingers all grabbed the back of his head and pulled their faces together.

He reached up and grabbed the shelf behind him, trying to use it to pull himself back to his feet, but he was barely off the ground before the creature took one hand away from the back of his head to pull his hand off the shelf. He dropped back to the floor, and she planted another kiss on him, covering him with her lipstick like she was signing her name on him.

This time he grabbed the shelf with both of his hands, but, with her legs securely wrapped around his torso, she grabbed both his wrists and pulled them away from the shelf, then positioned those hands on the small of her back. She kissed him on his left cheek, then on his left ear, and then whispered, "Just stay still and let me love you."

As she continued leaving deep crimson kisses all over his face, he tried to get some words out.

"W-w-what are you … ugh, ugh, ugh . . . d-doing? W-we shouldn't be . . . Ohhh!"

With his hands exactly where she had positioned them, he tried to push her away. And for a moment, she seemed to give. Her legs unwrapped as he stood, and her lips puckered in place away from his skin. But then she wrapped her legs around his chest and grabbed the back of his head again, this time pulling him tightly into the surprisingly soft, smooth yellow mounds of her decolletage.

He tried to speak, but his words were muffled between her breasts as she wiggled her chest back and forth.

He stumbled around blindly, until his foot landed back in the motor oil and he fell again. This time he landed hard on his back. Greta shifted her body down, lavishing his face and neck with kisses.

He grabbed her by her shapely hips and pulled until he was able to yank her away from him, then rolled away and got to his feet. He ran away, looking over his shoulder but seeing no sign of her.

He ran around the corner, only to see that a shelf had broken and poured massive boxes into his path, blocking his way. He turned around, scanning for both any indication of the way to the exit and his scaly green pursuer.

Suddenly, something stopped his foot from moving further. He looked down and realized he'd caught it on some old Christmas tree lights strung between the shelves. He tried to yank his foot free, only to feel more lights being wrapped around his other leg. He tried to take a step further, only to run into more strands of lights at waist level.

A box fell from above him, and he was covered in more strands of light. He could feel them being pulled around him, until his arms were pulled apart, and he was strung up between aisles of shelving like some out of season Christmas decoration.

Greta dropped down from above him, catching him by the shoulders. She added more crimson kisses to his forehead, cheeks, lips, and neck. With one arm wrapped around his neck, the other long arm reached down to his groin, massaging his bulge with the palm of her hand.

He struggled to free himself from the lights he was tangled in, but it only made them tighter.

Her tongue explored his mouth as she undid his belt. Soon, his pants were down to his ankles.

Then she jumped to the floor and pulled his boxers down. Even he was surprised by how rigid and hard he was exposed. She turned her back to him and bent over, lifting her skirt. Unlike the holiday princess doll, which had painted-on underwear, she was completely naked beneath the ruffley red and gold dress. She rubbed her nude butt against his crotch until he was as rock hard as he could possibly get.

Then her three long fingers reached back to guide his rock hard into her sopping moist.

She backed up, and then pulled forward. Back up, and then forward. Faster and harder. Harder and faster. Kevin lost all track of time and place as he swung back and forth on the strings of light he was held up by as Greta kept backing up on him. A long moan escaped him. The lights clinked together as the strands were pulled harder and faster. Kevin was gasping in pleasure. And then he burst inside of her.

At the same time he climaxed, the strain on the lights was too much, and they came loose and dropped him flat on his face.

When he looked up, Greta was gone. Soon it would seem like the whole encounter had just been a dream. The customer who had sent him back here for shoes would be long gone, of course. But there'd be another to take her place.

Meanwhile, Greta hummed contentedly to herself while making her way through the back of the store. There had been a time when she had been genderless and sexless, but the formula she'd discovered in the Clamp Center had changed all of that. Since then, she'd found that she enjoyed the human mating ritual more than pretty much anything.

She stopped when she saw a cardboard cutout of a man with a square jaw covered in stubble, muscles bulging under a plaid flannel shirt, hatchet in hand. "Go camping!" the display said. Greta's attention was piqued as she approached and took a brochure from the display. He was exactly her type. She realized she probably wasn't going to run into this exact man at the campgrounds being advertised, but if this activity really did attract this type of man, she would have to see what kind of guys, and maybe even lucky girls, showed up for this type of thing.

She began taking other supplies from the camping display, and she cooed in ecstasy when she grabbed the newest sunblock from Catheter Labs. Sunblock. Water-proof sunblock. Protection from the two things she hated most of all. Why didn't she and the other gremlins ever realize this existed before now?

She took another long look at the cardboard cutout of the model on the display before studying the tents and sleeping bags and insect repellents and other camping equipment around it. She knew where she needed to be.