"As are the suicides, perpetually torn apart no matter where they try to hide," she said.

"So Asmodeus sent us here, implying that we committed suicide by broaching him."

"Or as an experiment. If you cannot escape this, then you pose no threat to him."

Parry realized that it was a fair test. Asmodeus' magic should not be able to overcome the Master of h.e.l.l. Only Parry's unfamiliarity with the ways of his office made him vulnerable. "But both groups are demons. I can sing them into quiescence."

"I'm not sure-" she started.

But Parry was already opening his mouth. He began to sing-and immediately the harpies burst into raucous song of their own, drowning him out.

The h.e.l.lhounds coursed on in, their baying no longer audible. They could not hear his song, so were not pacified, and the same was true for the harpies. What a neat trap!

They leaped for the trees. Lilah ordinarily could float or fly when she chose, but evidently here in h.e.l.l she was confined to mundane motion. Perhaps Asmodeus had restricted her, so that she could no longer open a tunnel out.

The trees were easy to climb, having huge, gnarly low limbs. But immediately the dirty birds fluttered down, screeching continuously, extending their talons.

Parry found a small dead branch. He broke it off and wielded it as a club, striking at the first harpy to come at him. But the club pa.s.sed through her body without resistance; she was a phantom. Then her claws clamped on his arm, and they were like steel.

He was no phantom to her!

It was the one-sided situation he had encountered before: the creatures of h.e.l.l could strike at him, but he could not retaliate against them. That must be standard in h.e.l.l, so that the d.a.m.ned souls could be continuously harried by all manner of horrors without having any chance to resist or to strike back. It hardly seemed fair-but h.e.l.l was hardly the place for fairness!

He lifted his arm to shake her off, but she clung, colored spittle spraying from her foul mouth as she screeched, her dugs bouncing as she flapped her wings. Every drop of spittle that touched him burned. He could not get free, and the next was closing on him. Lilah seemed no better off.

Something clicked in Parry's mind. If he could not shake her off, then she was anch.o.r.ed to him-by her claws. He could not touch her directly, but he could affect her.

He lifted his arm, and her with it. Then, as the second swooped in, he swung his arm violently at her.

The first harpy smashed into the second. Both squawked and fell out of the air. Parry was free, for the moment.

But more were hovering close, and they had seen what had happened. Now they swooped down, slashing rather than grabbing. Parry tried to dodge, but he almost fell out of the tree. He had to hang on lest he drop into the ma.s.s of hounds that leaped at the trunk immediately below him.

A talon slashed his hand. It was sword-sharp, and evidently some of the poison spittle was on it because his hand flared with pain. He was out of options.

Except-what about magic? He was after all a sorcerer. His song had worked in h.e.l.l because of its magic; perhaps his other magic would also be effective.

He crafted a hasty illusion about himself: a huge, glowering bear. The bear swiped at the nearest harpy, growling villainously. She spooked, flying clumsily back.

But in a moment they realized that it was unreal, and charged in again. However, Parry had not wasted his brief reprieve; he was busy crafting other illusions. He made three imitation harpies, who flapped down to buzz the hounds. He also made a hound, who leaped up and caught one of the illusory harpies in his teeth, biting through her wing, then chomping her neck as she flopped realistically on the ground. In a moment her gore was splattered all over; it was a most realistic illusion, and he was rather proud of it.

The hovering harpies, seeing this, reacted with understandable fury. They forgot Parry and swooped down on the hounds, clawing at them. Naturally they thought that the hounds had turned on them, and so they struck back. That aroused the hounds, and soon the battle between them was fairly raging.

Parry was forgotten. He joined Lilah in the tree, then crafted a spell of undetectability for them both. His magic was working perfectly, even if hers wasn't.

That made sense, in retrospect. She was a demoness, subject to the power of the rulers of h.e.l.l; he was not even a d.a.m.ned soul, but a living Incarnation. None of his powers had been stripped from him. Asmodeus had done to him what he had done to the harpies: deceived him with illusion. Now he had penetrated it, and escaped the trap.

"Make an exit," he told Lilah as they walked away from the carnage.

"But my power has been stripped, my Lord," she protested.

"Mine has not," he said gruffly. "I am the true Master of h.e.l.l; you may do what I tell you. Your powers are restored. Make an exit."

She circled with her hand, and the porthole manifested. She drew it open, and they went through.

They were silent as they made their way to the surface, but Parry was conscious of her glances. He had just taken a giant step toward the realization of his powers as the Incarnation, and she respected this.

But all he had done was escape the mischief of Asmodeus. That was a far cry from a.s.suming the true overlordship of h.e.l.l! He had to have that spell-and how was he to get it?

"My Lord," Lilah said as they stood in daylight again. "I have been foolish to let you suffer such mischief, when the answer may be at hand. I will take you to Nox."

He nodded. That did seem best.

Chapter 10.

INCARNATIONS.

Lilah, wary of the impending interview with Nox, insisted on making love by day. Parry wasn't sure whether this was her effort to deplete his interest in the Incarnation of Night, or from concern that this might be the last time. He had no intention of straying, but his curiosity was increasing.

Of course, he had no intention of straying from Jolie, either. He still loved the memory of Jolie, but she was gone, and he was now too far corrupted by evil to be worthy of her, so that was done. But if he ever found a way to free her from the drop of blood and allow her to proceed to Heaven, he would do it gladly. Certainly he would not let her be confined to h.e.l.l!

Nox lived in Purgatory, where it seemed most of the Incarnations resided. In fact. Parry himself had a residence there, a palatial structure served by una.s.signed servants: those who were in such balance at death that they had gone neither to Heaven nor to h.e.l.l. The surprise with which his arrival was greeted showed that the Incarnation of Evil had seldom stopped by. Indeed, he did not stay long; he moved on to the realm of Nox.

This turned out to be a region of everlasting night. Not a dark cloud, for there was no smoke or fog; a section in which the light faded and the stars shone down, no matter what the time of day. The residence was like a ghostly nebula, a segment of the great Milky Way, glowing yet indeterminate.

Lilah guided him on in with confidence. Inside, they seemed to be floating through the heavens, becoming ghosts themselves.

"A greeting" It was neither voice nor thought, but rather like a memory from a dream.

"Nox, I embrace you," Lilah said, spreading her arms.

Indeed, she seemed to be in contact with something, but Parry could not tell what.

"What is thy business, mine ancient sister?"

Parry started. Sister?

"This is Parry, who just a.s.sumed the Office of Evil," Lilah explained. "He does not yet understand."

The darkness intensified, becoming opaque. Now the form of a lovely woman in a cloak stood before him. Her eyes were stars, twinkling as they gazed on him. "You feel for him, Lil?"

"I do. He comes to ask a favor."

The woman-shape opened her cloak and moved into him. Parry found himself embraced by something at once too diffuse and subtle to comprehend, and unutterably feminine. Something like a kiss caressed his mouth, and something like b.r.e.a.s.t.s touched his chest, and things very like seductive legs came up against his as though he wore no clothing. The femaleness of her overwhelmed him, making him react, inciting his desire; suddenly there was no other thing he wanted to do, now or ever, except embrace her as intimately as was inhumanly possible. His mission here had no meaning; there was only Nox, the G.o.ddess of Night. He had never known a woman like her, neither mortal nor immortal; she was all he could ever dream of, the ultimate fulfillment.

Then she withdrew, leaving him longing, desperate with desire for her. He wanted to cry out to her, and could not; he wanted to reach out for her, and could not. She was ineffable, a thing that came only at her own behest, never his, and infinitely desirable because of it.

"I leave him to you, my sister" Nox sent. "He is special."

"I thank you, my sister," Lilah said, visibly relieved.

Slowly Parry relaxed, as the sensation of the presence left him. He became conscious of his mission.

"We speak figuratively," Lilah said to him. "She is the oldest Incarnation; I am the oldest female creature. But she is a G.o.ddess, and I only a demoness. We are sisters in age and s.e.x, not substance."

Parry only nodded, not yet ready to speak. A G.o.ddess! No wonder he had been overwhelmed!

"He needs the spell to banish demons," Lilah said.

"Surely he does... I do not have it."

Disappointment. Parry could not be certain whether his anguish was because she could not help him, or because he would now have to leave her presence.

"Perhaps Chronos."

"We thank you, Nox," Lilah said. "We shall ask him first."

"Last."

Lilah smiled. "Of course. That's what I meant."

They moved out of the darkness, departing the intoxicating presence. "She let you go!" Lilah breathed, as if amazed.

Parry didn't want to say that he would have preferred to have been kept by the G.o.ddess. But Lilah knew it. "She has that effect on men," she said. "It will wear off, in time. You can now appreciate why I was worried."

"The allure of the night," Parry said, speaking at last.

"All the things your kind longs for in the secrecy of darkness," she agreed. "No mortal or demon woman can match that."

He could only sigh acquiescence. It would be a long time before he forgot that sensation!

"Now we have to ask the Incarnations, who will laugh."

"Why ask them at all, then? If Chronos is the one-"

"Because we must tell him he is our last resort. If you succeed in holding the Office, your friendship with him should count for something. Chronos is not like the others."

"I don't understand."

"Chronos lives backwards."

"I don't see how-"

"Come on," she said impatiently. "We might as well tackle Thanatos first."

"Thanatos-Death!" he exclaimed. "I met him, long ago!"

"Not since I have known you."

"It was when Jolie died, over forty years ago. She was in balance, because of the evil a.s.sociated with her manner of dying, though she had lived a righteous life. I must ask him about that."

"Ask," she agreed.

He saw that they were at Death's Mansion. He knocked at the imposing door, and a sepulchral gong sounded within. In a moment a servant opened it.

"I am the Incarnation of Evil, come to seek information of the Incarnation of Death," Parry said.

The servant closed the door in his face.

Parry stood there, outraged. "Since when does one Incarnation refuse even to talk to another?" he demanded rhetorically.

"Since the other Incarnation is Evil," Lilah answered with a wry smile.

"He wasn't this way forty years ago!"

"You were not Evil forty years ago."

Parry grimaced. "Still, the least he could do is talk to me. I am simply trying to find a way to do my job."

"All the others side with G.o.d."

Disgruntled, Parry departed. "I will not forget this snub," he muttered.

They followed a twisted path that led shortly to the abode of Fate. It resembled a giant spider web. "Fate a.s.sumes the form of a spider, and slides her threads to her destination," Lilah explained.

But Fate, too, refused even to meet him. Parry's mood darkened further.

They approached the Castle of War. This time the Incarnation himself came out to meet him. He was a crusader. "Begone, foul fiend!" War cried, brandishing his great red sword. "Ere I cut off thy hideous head!"

"I only want to ask-" Parry had to duck, for already the sword was swishing at his neck. So much for talk!

"These idiots are really asking for it!" he said as they departed. "I have come in peace, but-"

"What do you expect, from the Incarnation of War?" Lilah asked.

At that he had to smile. "Still, it ill behooves such powerful ent.i.ties to operate with their minds closed," he said. "Even countries at war negotiate on occasion with their enemies. Otherwise there is chaos."

"Crusaders have never been known for their common sense."

At that he had to laugh. "True words, demoness!" Now they approached the treelike residence of Nature, perhaps the strongest of the regular Incarnations.

There was no door, just a thicket of brambles. He tried to make his way through it, but the p.r.i.c.kles and thorns and nettles seemed to orient eagerly on his flesh. He might be immortal now; indeed, he had forgotten to eat since his ascension, without suffering any hunger or loss of vigor. But he felt exactly as he had in life, and the pain was just as uncomfortable. He surely could plow through this barrier, and the only harm done would be the immediate pain-but to what point? There had to be a legitimate entrance.