Under A Velvet Cloak (34 page)

Kerena was appalled. “I’ve been having sex with my brother?”

He laughed. “Indeed. And we generated all the following Incarnations, back at the dawn of timelines. We are the first siblings and lovers, parents of the rest. It wasn’t as if there was much choice in partners, at the outset.”

“But I traced all the existing Incarnations. I never found evidence of that one.”

“You aren’t the only Incarnation who can hide, sister. I was never on anybody’s radar.”

“Who animates your office?” Jolie asked shrewdly. “The way Kerena animates Nox.”

“One of the first true men:
Cain.”

“Cain! Who slew his brother?”

“The same. I am
good
at slaying.”

Kerena felt diz2y with these revelations, but she regrouped. “Why Cain?”

“As you know, when I slew my impertinent brother, who really brought it on himself, our parents were annoyed, and banished me from their land. I went and dwelt among the Children of Nod. You understand, aspects of the early history are figurative; Adam and Eve were the first officially recognized man and woman, but of course there were others, such as Lilah and Nod. They lacked recognition, but were human in all other respects. So I got me a nice obliging girl, and did all right for myself.”

“That so-called girl was Lilah, your father’s mistress,” Jolie said.

“Lilith, then. And one sexy wench, at first,” Cain agreed. “She did well, hiding her age, bearing me a number of brats, until I found a more suitable virgin. Then she had the temerity to dispatch the true child of Nod before I could enjoy her. I was annoyed.”

“So you killed Lilith,” Kerena said, remembering the ghost’s story.

“She was a bitch. I hadn’t known her identity at first. She was Nod’s mistress, then pretended to be his daughter. That was a bit too unvirginal for me.”

Kerena realized that the man had a case, of sorts. He had learned late that his wife was both his father’s and his father-in-law’s mistress too. It was also true that Lilah could be rather assertive and annoying, in her murderous manner. “I mean, why did the Office accept you? You were bad seed from the start, surely unfit for the power of an Incarnation.”

“Because we share a grudge against mankind. Erebus is the dark side; he means to destroy all that Nox has wrought, and I am happy to facilitate his effort. I am perfectly fit for that.”

“But Erebus is the father of the Incarnations,” Jolie said. “Just as Nox is the mother. What could he have against his own children?”

“They are Nox’s children, and Nox’s worlds.”

“But they are Erebus’ children too, by definition,” Kerena said.

“I see I need to be more specific,” he said, as if she were being stupid. “They were not merely children, but timelines, alternate realities. Each generated multiple new lines, each of which contained all the other characters, including Nox. But not Erebus. They were her worlds.”

Now, indeed, Kerena felt stupid, and so did Jolie. “Not Erebus’ worlds too?”

“Not,” he agreed. “She exists in all. He exists only in the original.”

Kerena used her Seeing to trace this back. “Because as the mother she could make offspring, sharing her substance with them, while you were a separate entity, not a child. But you could join them by separating into many selves, as she could.”

“Not the same. Selves are all parts of the one, not entities in themselves. They were intruders in realms in which they did not exist naturally.”

Kerena nodded. It was true. “But this is inherent. Why should you resent it?”

“I resent being excluded. Wouldn’t you?”

Again, he had a certain case. “I’m sorry.”

“No need. I am taking care of it in my own fashion.”

“By destroying the other timelines?” Jolie demanded.

“Yes, of course. Then we are both excluded equally.”

“This reminds me of the story of the
dog
in the manger.”

“I see it as mere fairness.”

Kerena was growing angry. “All those dooms of the timelines that deviate from the original one-that is your doing?”

“Yes. Nox is the generator; I am the destroyer. Our powers are equal and opposite. The positive and negative aspects of Night.”

They reflected on that. “Why didn’t Erebus simply decline to contribute to those offspring timelines?”

“And miss out on all that great sex? It wasn’t as if he had anywhere else to get it, back then. He wanted Nox to stifle her damned fertility, but she wouldn’t. So the battle was on. It has been quite a job, canceling all those alternates. Have you any idea how many there were?”

“Theoretically an infinite number,” Jolie said.

“And I have had to extend myself almost infinitely to stop them all.” He smiled again, with only his mouth. “Fortunately since Nox turned human, you have not realized her full capacity, so there have been no more Incarnations generated. That simplifies things somewhat. It is much easier to clip a timeline that is a minor twig, than to prune back a branch sponsored by an Incarnation.”

Kerena’s feelings were dangerously mixed. “Just for the sex! That’s all you came for.”

“Not all,” he said, amused. “I also needed to keep track of your activity, so as to catch the simpler variants that constantly spun off. Everything Nox does has the potential to make new timelines, and they must be readily curbed when caught early, as I said.”

“To spy on me!”

“Of course. But you like the sex too. Shall we
go
at it now?”

The awful thing was that Kerena was sorely tempted. This man, this demon, this Incarnation, gave her the best sex ever, always. “But you’re my brother!” she protested.

“Your brother and your lover,” he agreed, touching her hand. The touch thrilled her despite her ire.

“He’s your brother,” Jolie told her. “He’s your lover.
He’s not your friend.”

“Well spoken, ghost,” Erebus said. Then, to Kerena: “And with that understanding, shall we indulge?”

Kerena was minded to refuse angrily, knowing he could not force her. But he had not yet told her what she needed to know. If she obliged him (and herself) she might have a better chance to learn what she sought. She could dazzle any ordinary man with sex; the Incarnation of Darkness was beyond that, but might still be affected. “We shall indulge,” she agreed grimly.

And the sex was awfully, wonderfully, impossibly exciting and fulfilling. Erebus was indeed the match of Nox in this respect, as it seemed in others. There was even a certain frisson in the knowledge that he was her brother and perhaps enemy.

In due course they separated, sated for the moment. “You surely have more to tell me,” Kerena said. “I don’t expect to like it.”

“Yes, I enjoy making you accept what you wish to reject. You will really hate my offer.”

“She’s not a mouse to be toyed with!” Jolie snapped.

Erebus affected surprise. “She isn’t?”

“He’s getting to you,” Kerena murmured.

“And you are important to my designs, Jolie,” Erebus said. “You, too, will be properly appalled.”

“You are angling for me to give her the body for your next effort?” Kerena asked mischievously.

“Kerena!” Jolie was not as shocked as she pretended; they were putting on a small show to divert the man and perhaps recover control of the dialogue.

Erebus shook his head. “I would love to dally longer for your teasing, ladies, but I have other timelines to terminate and must be on my way soon. So we had better complete our present business, unless you prefer to end our discussion now.”

And of course they couldn’t do that. They had to know what was on his devious mind. “Speak,” Kerena said.

“A bit more clarification, first. The larger universe is a comparatively grand endeavor, with several notable aspects. What concerns us at the moment is the Tree of Life.”

“In the Garden of Eden,” Kerena said. “We know of it.”

“This is somewhat more,” he said with that infuriatingly superior attitude. “It is a useful analogy for concepts otherwise too complex for distaff minds to assimilate.”

He was trying to get to them again. What was most annoying was that he was succeeding. “Let’s try the complex version,” Kerena said, sure she would regret it.

“There are a perhaps infinite number of very large approximately parallel membranes stretched across the larger universe. They are close enough together so that sometimes two Cranes brush against each other, generating ripples of matter and energy from the point source of their contact. To the eventual residents of the region this appears to be an explosion of existence emerging from nothing: a concept they find difficult, as they believe in the continuity of matter and energy, which are actually different forms of the same thing. Regardless, the ripples continue to expand outward, generating eddy currents along the way that assume visible or invisible status. The denizens perceive only the visible, yet are dimly aware of the rest, and are frustrated by their ignorance. Therefore they devise assorted theories of relativity, quantum mechanics, string, and other fanciful explanations to mask their ignorance. In that minor segment of the visible cosmos that is suitably solid, life appears and assumes several forms. This has its own mysteries, for which alternate explanations are devised. One is evolution, which states that incredibly complicated creatures can evolve from very small variations and very large periods of time, facilitated by natural selectivity.” He paused. “You follow perfectly, of course.”

“Of course,” Kerena echoed faintly. Both women were utterly baffled by this complicated nonsense, as he knew. “But for expedience, let’s try the simple analogy of the Tree.”

“For expedience,” he agreed smugly. “When Chaos formed the known cosmos, he generated a giant tree. It diverged into three main branches or trunks, to accommodate the contrasting aspects of existence. One we shall call the Science trunk, whereon all things followed strict patterns of non-magical development. That is, chemicals formed and mixed and became the first primitive types of life. Life followed evolutionary principles of divergence and natural selection, with the unfit variants getting eliminated and the fit ones surviving. Continued radiations and selections eventually evolved into the entire modern panoply of funguses, plants, and animals, including human beings, the animal with a naked body and an overdeveloped brain.”

Both Jolie and Kerena managed to stifle their threatened outbursts of outrage at this revolting notion. “Fascinating viewpoint,” Kerena said tightly.

“Another stem we shall call the Magic trunk,” Erebus continued equably. “This was created approximately six thousand years ago, complete with all creatures and plants, and mankind was put in charge. There were even large old bones buried in the ground to make it seem as if giant lizards had once walked the earth long before the present order, fooling those who did not pay sufficient attention to the holy book that spelled out the only truth. All things there are accomplished magically, and the Supreme Deity keeps a beneficent eye on the proceedings so as to better select those good souls destined for Heaven and the bad ones condemned to Hell. Yet such is the perversity of the species that bad folk still appear and prosper, and require punishment in the Afterlife.”

“Of course,” Kerena agreed. This description was more familiar, but did not wholly align with the real world.

“The third trunk grows between the others, and shares aspects of each,” Erebus continued. “Much of it is magic, and of course there are the Incarnations of Immortality to assist it along its destined course. But there are also rogues of the Science persuasion, who build machines and perform feats of chemistry to improve their lives. The aspects of Magic and Science are thus in chronic competition, neither achieving real dominance. A person is free, for example, to travel by airplane or by magic carpet, and Hell itself advertises its advantages, such as sexual and gluttonous gratification that are of course unknown in Heaven. This is the trunk we know.”

“We do,” Kerena said, relieved to be back on familiar ground, as it were. “But what has this three-trunked Tree of Life analogy to
do
with us?”

“Everything. This is the trunk I mean to eliminate, leaving only the two extreme Science and Magic trunks.”

They stared at him, not trying to conceal their dismay.

“Here is the key,” he said. “If I can eliminate all the branches of this middle trunk, it will wither away, and devolve back into chaos. Then we can start over, this time with rules that favor me. Nox will be my plaything, limited to a single timeline, while Erebus will be everywhere. Ultimate power will be mine.”

“Will it?” Kerena asked. “How can you be sure it won’t develop similar to this one?”

“It may,” Erebus agreed. “In which case I will prune it back again, and try again, and again, until I get what I want. The process may require a number of millennia, but eventually there should be something worthwhile.”

“And you expect us to go along with this?”

“Not willingly.”

“What, then, is your proffered bargain?”

“Ah, yes. I have pruned this trunk down essentially to a single strand. It is a sorry looking thing, compared to the fully spreading trunks on either side. But I am unable to prune the remaining central strand, because the Nox there has caught on and balks me. In fact she was the one who alerted the Incarnation of Good to the threat, causing her not only to defend her own reality, but to send an emissary to the adjacent one, in an effort to save it also.”

“That’s why Orlene sent me!” Jolie explained.

Kerena extended her Seeing, and verified it. “And we almost saved this one too. But for my determination to spare my friend Vanja, it would have been secure.”

“Well, you are womanishly weak, understandably,” he agreed contemptuously. “It took me some time to realize that I was being actively balked. There are so many timelines to handle, so similar, I assumed the self assigned to this one had overlooked it. Each self handled several timelines, so that’s understandable. So I diverted it again, and later discovered that too had been balked. Finally I investigated more directly, and discovered the interference of the ghost. That was a surprise, as normally individuals can’t cross between timelines.”