For Love of Evil (27 page)

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 unassigned servants: those who were in such balance at death that they had gone neither to Heaven nor to Hell. 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 assumed 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 breasts 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 Goddess 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 figurativejy," Lilah said to him. "She is the oldest Incarnation; I am the oldest female creature. But she is a goddess, and I only a demoness. We are sisters in age and sex, not substance."

Parry only nodded, not yet ready to speak. A goddess! 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 goddess. 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 associated 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 God."

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 assumes 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 entities 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 prickles 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.

"It is her way," Lilah murmured. "The secrets of Nature are not readily discovered, but they are generally worthwhile."

"I shall play it her way, this time," Parry said. But privately he expected little; this was merely a gesture of amity, his straightforward effort to make contact with the other Incarnations. So far they had not even done him the courtesy of listening to his plea. In short, they were keeping him at arm's length, evidently hoping he would wash out.

They walked around the brambly region, seeking a path through. They came to a filthy sty where a huge sow wallowed. Beyond it the brambles grew up even worse, becoming truly impenetrable. This was a dead end.

The pig raised her snout. "Looking for something?" she inquired.

Gaea's sense of humor, evidently. But he replied with a straight face. "I am looking for an entrance to Gaea's estate, so that I may talk with her."

"Kiss my snout," the pig said.

Only his determination to maintain control of his temper kept Parry from showing his anger at being addressed in such manner by a pig. He turned away.

"And I will show you the way in," the pig concluded. He glanced at Lilah, and caught a fleeting smirk on her face.

Of course he was not going to kiss a pig! But if that was what Gaea believed . . . why not call her bluff. Parry set himself, then leaned over the rail. The sow raised her head. Her nose was smeared with mud and garbage from her last meal. He stifled his rising gorge and kissed her snout. "That way," the pig said, indicating a huge hole she had dug under the fence at the far side of the sty. It was so deep that its recesses were lost in darkness.

Parry climbed over the fence, slogged through the muck and got down on his hands and knees. He crawled into the hole. Lilah shrugged and followed. She had surely experienced worse than a little muck in the course of her centuries of service to the Incarnations of Evil. The hole descended, but was not totally dark. He could see the circular cross section of it, and the route ahead. Tree roots braced the top and sides; fish heads and wilted carrot tops lay at the bottom. He had no clearance, so plowed through it all.

The smell was intense.

The garbage at the bottom thickened. Now it was a virtual pool, containing oyster shells, moldy bread crusts, cheese rinds, spoiled wine, chicken legs and rotten tubers. "You mortals are messy folk," Lilah muttered behind him.

On it went, getting worse. The liquid appeared to have become urine, and feces floated in it. Lumps of brownish substance hobbled, perhaps blood clots. Sections seemed mostly like vomit. His hand, questing for a firm bottom, found something solid but loose. He brought it up-and it was a severed human foot.

But he plowed on, determined not to be defeated by Gaea's evident discouragements. Just about the time the sewer threatened to fill the passage, it debouched into a nether river, and he was able to stand in a gloomy cavern. They had made it through.

Both of them were sopping and stinking; their clothing dripped.

Parry knew he could clean himself magically, but was too ornery to do it yet; he wanted to be sure he had completed the wretched course first.

A path showed the way on. They followed it-until it halted in a cul-de-sac. A blind cave.

No, this cave was artificial. There were ridges in the stone showing where the rock had been hewn away. It should not have been carved, unless there was a continuation.

"Very well." Parry said loudly. "What next?"

"I have seen this sort of thing before," Lilah said. "It probably requires a spell to open the rest."

Parry tried a spell, but knew immediately that it wasn't working; his magic was being damped out. It was evident that each Incarnation was supreme in his or her own bailiwick; others could not use magic without the proprietor's consent.

"Maybe if you just asked," Lilah said.

"I am the Incarnation of Evil," he said. "I ask to proceed on through this passage, so that I may talk to the Incarnation of Nature."

There was no response.

"Gaea is evidently trying to humiliate you," Lilah said. "Maybe she requires an obsequious request."

Parry gritted his teeth. "This is the Incarnation of Evil. I ask to be admitted to Gaea's presence."

Still no response.

"I beg to be admitted," Parry said.

Silence.

His jaw clenched. "I am the Lord of Feces, the lowest of the low, humbly begging the indulgence of my betters," he said.

The stone slid aside. Gaea was satisfied.

But not quite. "No person may be admitted to the presence without a search for weapons or hostile substances," a voice said from a curtained alcove.

"A body search?" Parry asked, outraged. Then he realized that Gaea was getting to him. He had come this far; he might as well do the rest.

He entered the curtained alcove. It was completely dark within. Hands touched him, catching at his clothing, removing it. Parry submitted to this, knowing that weapons could most readily be concealed in clothing. Then the hands slid down his body, checking every part of it. Then-

He jumped. "What-?"

"A weapon may be concealed in a body cavity," the voice said. "Bend over."

Quivering with rage at this demand, Parry bent over. A rough finger poked into him, questing for the weapon Gaea had to know wasn't there.

Abruptly there was light. For a moment it blinded him. Then he heard laughter.

He gazed around, blinking. He was in a glass compartment.

Outside it were standing the other Incarnations: Death, Pate, War and Nature. All were staring at him with broad smiles.