He was in a more literal version of h.e.l.l. There was choking smoke and smoldering fire all around, extending endlessly. The fire was contained in circular pits, each tended by one of the maidens.

The nearest pits blazed up vigorously. The girls squealed in dismay, and returned to their labors, using pitchforks to scoop ashes from the edges into the center of each fire. This had the effect of damping the flames, though there was a compensating increase in the vile smoke, causing the girls to cough uncontrollably. Most of the ashes sifted down between the widely s.p.a.ced tines, which hardly helped, but they had no other tools.

So his appearance here had distracted these d.a.m.ned souls, causing them to neglect their fires, and they had been punished by increased heat and smoke. Obviously they had to keep constantly at it, or they would very soon be even more uncomfortable than they were.

Lilah appeared. "I have prevailed on my Lord to give you another chance," she said. "Considering that this is your first visit here. Apologize to Him, and He will grant you the intended audience."

Parry realized that this was the best course. Obviously Lucifer could read his mind, and he had indeed doubted what Lucifer had told him.

Then he noticed something about Lilah. Her normally perfect dresses were in disarray, and there were marks on her body. She was a demoness; no mortal could muss her or mark her, as he had long since discovered.

"You were left with him," he said. "Did he hurt you?"

"Of course not," she said quickly. "I cannot be hurt."

"But he did something to you! You're changed!"

"I am His creature," she reminded him. "I never suggested otherwise. He can do what He likes with me."

The nearer fire girls were becoming distracted again, overhearing this dialogue.

"What did he do to you?" Parry demanded. "Nothing I was not made for," she said defensively. "Look, Parry, this is dangerous. Just apologize to Him, and-"

"How did you get him to reconsider?"

"Parry, you know I have only one way to-"

"You had s.e.x with him!" he cried, in a sudden fit of jealous rage. "You prost.i.tuted yourself to him!"

"That term has no meaning for my kind. Please, Parry, be reasonable, lest-"

"You wh.o.r.e!" he screamed.

The visage of Lucifer appeared amidst the hovering smoke. "Methinks our friar hath not quite yet relinquished his monkly ways," the Lord of Lies said. "Let him remain here for eternity, then!"

"My Lord, no!" Lilah cried. "It is not yet his time!"

"And thou with him, strumpet, for thy failure," Lucifer intoned, and faded out.

Lilah tore at her hair in a remarkably human gesture of remorse. "Now look what you've done, Parry! We'll never get out of here!"

Parry's rage evaporated. Of course she was a creature of this nether region, and s.e.xual fidelity had no meaning for her. He had reacted possessively, when he had no right to be. She had never told him that she cared for him at all; she had only rewarded him in a calculated manner when he did what she wished. Wh.o.r.e? She had never claimed to be anything else! She had acted in her fashion to try to obtain a reprieve for him, and had succeeded-and he had thrown it away by his narrowness.

"I apologize to you, Lilah," he said. "But not to him." There was a smattering of applause from the surrounding women. Then they hastened back to their work.

"It's too late to apologize to anyone!" she snapped. Yet she seemed mollified; she had always reacted positively when he addressed her in a polite manner. It was evident that demons did not get much respect, and craved it. "We're both stuck here with the adulterous wives. In a moment the warders will a.s.sign us to our separate places."

Parry had been almost ready to accept this chamber of h.e.l.l, if it was to be in Lilah's company. Now he realized that of course it would not be; Lucifer would hardly allow him to have that satisfaction.

"Maybe we can escape," he said.

"Fool-there is no escape. The attempt would only aggravate the warders." She looked him for a moment in the eye. "But I will say that your jealously was very flattering. You know I am not worthy of it."

It was almost as if she were human! Their common plight had for this moment put them on an equal basis. "I think you are," he replied.

"A demoness? I am no more than a tool in my Master's hands. I have no soul, no conscience, no imperative except to do His will. His will is that I corrupt you, and that I am doing. Certainly you owe me nothing; I extract payment from you in full measure for every reward I return."

Absolute truth. "Yet you are very good at what you do," he said.

"I certainly am. Too bad I will not be allowed to do it anymore."

"So you do have pride in your work."

"Pride is one of the basic sins."

"And one of the basic virtues." But of course she would not regard that interpretation with favor. "Why did you try to get me another chance with Lucifer?"

"Because your failure is my failure. I had to give you a chance to show that I have done a proper job corrupting you. Then I could continue."

"Why not just let me go, and start with another a.s.signment?"

"Well, I-"

"You're lying," he said.

"I never lie!"

"Then tell me that you care nothing for me. That I'm only an a.s.signment."

She opened her mouth, and paused. Then she laughed. "You're doing it back to me! You're corrupting me with words!"

"I have had excellent teaching," he replied dryly.

She considered. "As a demoness, I have no mortal emotions, only emulations I use to deceive mortal folk like you. But I do have an abiding desire to accomplish my purpose, which is to please my Master. I see in you the potential for enormous evil; therefore your corruption will accrue equivalent power to my Master, and He will be equivalently pleased. I believe my Master errs in throwing you away. Therefore I tried to persuade Him to allow the process of your corruption to be completed. I care for you in the manner you might for an exceedingly precious gem, or a unique tool to accomplish your purpose. It would be foolish to mistake this for caring for you personally. I am incapable of that."

Parry nodded. That had the ring of authenticity. "I know you for what you are, Lilah. But I am mortal, and human. I hate you for what you have done to me and my spirit wife, but I care for you too, and hate myself for that. So just let me delude myself that there is some spark of human sentiment in you, masked by your demonic nature."

"Delusion is the hallmark of this realm," she reminded him. "Here comes the warder."

The warder was a huge masculine demon bearing a three-tailed whip, which he lashed about routinely, striking the flanks of the laboring women. The women screamed piercingly; but the manner in which they cringed from the warder suggested that the whip was not the worst they feared from him. One woman even stumbled into her pit; there was a horrible hiss as her feet burned, and her scream redoubled as she scrambled out.

These were d.a.m.ned souls. Parry knew; they had no mortal flesh. But they looked physical, and evidently felt so. They were truly being punished for their failure to remain loyal to their home hearths. As was Parry himself, now that he had taken the demoness as his lover. Lucifer was a cruel and somewhat arbitrary master!

"This way, sludge!" the demon rasped, tagging Parry on a b.u.t.tock with a casual flick of the whip. Pain lanced through Parry's flesh; he bit his tongue in his effort not to scream. "What's a male soul doing here?"

"Lucifer has a warped sense of humor," Parry replied as his agony abated.

The demon raised the whip for a more telling strike-and recognized Lilah. "What are you doing here, Lil?" he demanded. "Slumming?"

"I failed to corrupt this mortal sufficiently," she explained. "So I am incarcerated here with him."

"Ho, ho! That means you are finally subject to my l.u.s.t, you snooty creature. I have l.u.s.ted for a piece of your posterior for centuries. Come here!" He grabbed for her.

"Down, dog!" Lilah snapped. "I'm not for the likes of you!"

But the demon caught her and hauled her in for a tusky kiss. Parry realized that she could not dematerialize here in the neither spirit realm; not now that she had been cla.s.sified as an inmate rather than a favored creature. She could not avoid the demon as she could a mortal man on the surface.

Before he knew it. Parry grabbed a fork from the nearest woman and launched himself at the demon. He stabbed it at the creature's rear.

But the fork pa.s.sed through without resistance. The demon, intent on Lilah, hadn't even noticed; his flesh was untouchable by local artifacts. But it was evident that Lilah's substance was touchable. She was struggling valiantly, but the demon was overpowering her, and in a moment would have his will of her.

Parry had to do something-but what? On one level he knew this was utterly foolish, because Lilah was an infernal creature who could hardly be hurt by the act of the demon. Human standards did not apply here. Yet she was in her singular fashion his female, and he could not stand to see her ravished. It had been bad enough knowing that Lucifer had used her. This time the horror was occurring right in his sight.

He had no weapon that could prevail against the warder. He could not even touch the warder! How, then, could he bring the creature up short?

His mouth opened, and he began to sing.

"Creature of h.e.l.l, hark unto me! Turn not against your own kind! Consider how all of you are minions of Lucifer, How all labor for a common cause."

The warder paused. Parry was improvising in the same manner he had when protecting the children from the possessed animals, using the mode of address that had been effective then. He was trying to pacify the evil spirit, to make it respond to his own will. He was putting magic into his song, reaching out to the demon not in enmity but in understanding.

"Creature of h.e.l.l, remember that favor is fickle; As you treat your a.s.sociate, so may you sometime be treated. When Lucifer's favor orients again on her, What you do now may be remembered."

The warder froze, evidently shaken. As Parry continued singing, the warder let Lilah slide from his grasp. She stepped back, staring at Parry.

Parry took Lilah's hand and led her away from the stunned warder, still singing. She walked with him without resistance, her eyes fixed on him. They wound through the chamber, and all the women stared likewise at them, their fires untended. But, while he sang, the fires did not blaze up.

They came to the chamber wall. There was an opening in it, guarded by another warder. Parry continued singing and improvising, and the demon watched without moving. They entered the opening, and walked down a pa.s.sage. When the entrance to the tunnel was small in the distance behind. Parry stopped singing.

Now Lilah took the initiative. She moved ahead, still holding Parry's hand, tugging him along the route she selected. They turned a corner at an intersection, then another, and another, winding through the labyrinth. Now the general trend was upward.

At last they emerged from the final tunnel, and stepped down into Parry's chamber in the monastery. Lilah turned, closed the door and erased it with a sweep of her hand. They had won their freedom from h.e.l.l after all. Lilah spoke no word. Instead she embraced him and kissed him with unusual intensity, and made love to him with a pa.s.sion bordering on ferocity. It was of course her way of expressing pleasure with him; she knew no other.

Later, as he drifted to sleep with Lilah snuggling close. Parry considered what had occurred. He had succeeded in singing the demons of h.e.l.l itself into quiescence! How could that have happened? The surface of the world was the mortal realm, where mortals and demons could interact in limited ways; human magic could prevail against demon spirits if appropriately exercised. But h.e.l.l? That was hardly to be believed! If the d.a.m.ned souls could escape, they would be doing so in droves.

Of course he was not yet a d.a.m.ned soul; he was a mortal. Perhaps, then, Lucifer had been bluffing; he could not hold the souls of the living in h.e.l.l. That meant that Parry's singing could have been incidental; all he had to do was walk out.

But Lilah-she was of Lucifer's domain. Surely Lucifer could hold her if he chose. Had Parry gotten her free despite Lucifer's sentence on her-or had that, too, been a bluff? For once Parry got free, who would corrupt him if not Lilah? Perhaps Lucifer had to let her go, once Parry made his move for freedom. Therefore all of this could be less than it seemed.

Still, suppose he had not tried to make the break? Suppose he had simply stood and let Lilah be raped by the demon? Would he ever have escaped then? He wasn't sure. Lucifer, the master of deception, had tried to deceive him into believing that he was a prisoner in h.e.l.l, and it had come closer to success than Parry liked to imagine.

He had done what he had done because of the threat to Lilah. That had perhaps been an act of folly. But it had demonstrated the extent of her hold on him, and she was duly pleased. She was after all a demoness; her power lay in her influence over him. Thus neither his action nor her reaction reflected favorably on either of them.

He tried to be angry with her. But his hand stroked her warm, plush bottom, and his l.u.s.t, so recently sated, rose again. She responded, encouraging it. His anger turned back on himself, but did not cause him to desist. His need for her was beyond outrage.

Parry realized that his corruption was proceeding apace.

Parry was slated to die in 1250; he no longer doubted Lucifer's word on that, for such knowledge was a most insidious torture. That meant that his time with Lilah was limited, for he knew that once he died, her a.s.signment with him would be over. He was desperate to please her, so as to gain as much of her semblance of love as he possibly could while he could. He knew it was not real, for a demoness was incapable of such emotion, but he cherished the illusion. It was all he had to pursue.

Indeed, she acted like a woman in love now, and she was letter perfect at it. She no longer teased him by fading out just before the culmination of their s.e.xual unions; she remained with him throughout, making each fulfillment as compelling as the arousal. She did whatever he asked, whenever he asked, being completely malleable to his will. If he asked her a question, she answered; if he asked her to leave him for a time, she did so.

"But what do you want?" he asked, perplexed by the consistency of her att.i.tude.

"Just to hear your voice, Parry," she replied. "Sing to me, as you did in h.e.l.l. I thrill to the suggestion of the Llano."

"The what?"

"The Llano, the ultimate song. Sing to me again."

Technically, he had been singing to the warder demon, but it had been on Lilah's behalf. He was curious about this special song she spoke of, but did not care to advertise his ignorance lest it in some way benefit Lucifer. He sang to her extemporaneously, and she simply watched him with a look of adoration on her face.

Parry did not fully trust this, so he was careful to keep trying to please her exactly as if she still rewarded him only on performance. He searched for new evil to do, so that she would know he was on the job.

He found a beauty. King Louis IX of France was the most chivalrous monarch of Europe, lofty of character and an excellent King. He was working hard to establish proper justice in the kingdom. This tended to inhibit the developing procedures of the Inquisition, and certainly it was not good for Lucifer's operations. If Louis could be removed from the scene, it would be a coup!

He worked out the way. A crusade! There had been talk of such an effort for years, but it hadn't materialized. Now Parry used his influence as a leading friar and got the crusade moving. In 1248 Louis set sail for the Holy Land by way of Egypt.

In 1249 the Nile Delta city of Damietta was taken by the crusaders without a struggle; all seemed to be going well. But Parry knew that this was a trap. The crusaders marched south toward Cairo-and were routed. The army was ma.s.sacred and Louis was captured by the Saracens in 1250. The job had been done.

But Parry was out of time. His aging body was breaking down; his breathing was hard, even when Lilah gave him the semblance of youth, and he knew his lungs were deteriorating. His heart was going, too; he could feel its too rapid flutter.

"Now you are dying, thoroughly corrupted," Lilah said. "You know you are destined for h.e.l.l."

"I know. But these nine years with you have been worth it. Mock me as you will, demoness; I would do it again. Will you visit me in h.e.l.l?"

"I think not."

He sighed. This was of course part of his punishment: to long for the demoness and be forever denied her.

"Will you kiss me once more before I go?"

He expected another refusal, as she savored the last dreg of her victory over him, but she got down close to him. Her eyes seemed luminous. "Parry," she whispered, "it doesn't have to be!"

He tried to laugh, but only gagged. He was in the last hour of his mortal life, perhaps the last minutes. He had to the, and he surely was not going to Heaven!

"Parry," she repealed urgently. "You are a sorcerer! A potent one! You could be the best, if you tried! The way you sing-that suggests your potential. Use what you know to-"

"What is this?" a new voice interrupted.

Lilah shrank away. It was Lucifer himself.

Parry coughed and managed to clear his throat enough to speak. "You come for me personally, Lord of Lies?"

"I always come for My vengeance personally," Lucifer replied. "What would existence be like without the pleasure of the torment of Mine enemies? You have served Me well, mortal, and now you shall pay for that with eternal torment in the most excruciating fires of h.e.l.l."

"I am ready," Parry wheezed.

"But you have a few minutes remaining to suffer in this life. I want you to understand your situation exactly." Lucifer's baleful gaze moved to Lilah. "Wench, revile him."