All the Gates of Hell (11 page)

The demon was still there, but Jin hadn't really expected otherwise. She ignored him and he went on with his work. Joyce, for her part, looking rather pensive but not particularly angry or upset. They worked in silence for a while, but Jin could only stand so much of this. She knew the demon was there. There had to be a reason.

"Feeling better today?" Jin asked finally.

Joyce frowned. "Hmmm? What are you talking about?"

"You were a little spaced out the last time I saw you. Thought perhaps there was something wrong."

"Oh. Not really. I mean, the usual."

Jin hesitated. "I know what 'the usual' means in my case. What's the usual for you?"

Joyce didn't say anything for several long moments. "You just askin', or do you really want to know?"

"I really want to know."

"I threw Lucius out. Third time this year. It's getting old, to tell it plain."

Jin sighed. "Joyce, you don't have to tell me the
reason
you threw Lucius out if you don't want to, but I'm guessing it's not too far from all the other times?"

"Got that right, girl."

"Then I understand why you threw him out. What I don't get is why you let him back in."

HEY, WHAT YOU DOING? Jin heard the demon's voice in her head.

I'm being a friend
.

DON'T HAND ME THAT. YOU'RE INTERFERING!

Damn right, and as completely and deeply as possible. Listen to me, imp, cause I'm not going to repeat this
--
we both have a job to do. You do yours the way you think best, but don't presume to tell me how to do mine
.

BUT --

Jin cut him off. She'd rather suspected that she could do that. She was pleased to be right. The demon on Joyce's shoulder looked annoyed, but he finally shrugged and went back to whispering.

Joyce, oblivious to all this, shook her head. "Listen Jin, you're a nice kid and all, but you're young and cute and you have no idea what it's like for someone like me."

"You're right," Jin said. "I also don't pretend to be the smartest person in the world, or even in this office, but I can listen."

Joyce smiled a tentative smile. "Tell you what -- finish logging those eviction notices before half of downtown Medias is out on the street, and we'll talk. 'Kay?"

"'Kay."

They did talk for a good bit of the afternoon. It wasn't much that Jin hadn't heard before, at least in bits and pieces, but Jin had the distinct feeling that Joyce talking about it mattered more than Jin listening. Joyce clearly needed
someone
to listen, and had needed that someone for quite some time. Jin was more than a little chagrined that she had been too distracted by her own problems to notice, even granted that those problems were a little unusual. At the end of the day she was rewarded by the sight of the little demon sitting, not on Joyce's shoulder, but on the paperweight on her desk, looking thoroughly frustrated.

Sorry 'bout that
, Jin said.

WE'RE ON THE SAME SIDE, BELIEVE IT OR NOT. I'LL JUST BE BACK TOMORROW, the demon said grimly.

So will I
, Jin said, and cut him off again. The door to their office opened and Frank strolled in. Jin hurried up to meet him before Joyce could get up.

"My apologies, Immanent -- "

"Jin," she corrected in a harsh whisper.

"Again, my apologies. I forgot. About the shadow -- " he began, but now Joyce was there.

"Jin, you've been holding out on me. Who's this?"

Jin thought quickly. "This is Frank...Celeste. He's a friend of mine."

Joyce smiled and nodded. "About damn time, too. Hi, I'm Joyce Masters," she said. "Jin has told me absolutely nothing about you."

"Pleased to meet you," said Frank, looking a little nervous. He glanced at Jin who shook her head slightly. She mouthed the word "careful."

"So. How long have you two been seeing each other?" Joyce asked.

"Just a few days," Jin said before Frank could answer. "I met him in the library. I've been doing some personal research."

Joyce glanced from one to the other. "Riiight. Well, time to go. You two have fun." Joyce pulled Jin aside as they left, whispering. "Tomorrow I will have details or else."

Jin just nodded, wondering what sort of details she'd have to make up. Maybe Frank couldn't lie but there was nothing to stop Jin from doing so, even if she didn't feel right about it. It's not as if she could give Joyce the true story.

"Let's walk," Jin said to Frank when Joyce had left. They set out down Pepper Street toward Elysium. Frank looked confused.

"What was this Joyce person talking about?"

Jin stifled a grin. "She thinks we're a couple."

Frank blinked. "A couple of what?"

"Lovers," Jin said, and Frank actually blushed. Jin thought this was the cutest thing she had seen in weeks.

"We must correct this misapprehension," Frank said and started to turn around, but Jin pulled him back.

"No, that is one thing we must
not
do. I've been thinking about this a bit. I can't operate openly as Guan Yin. The people of this Hell would try to lock me up for a loon, and then how would I function? No. As long as you're with me, we need a cover story, and this is it: you're my boyfriend."

"But I'm not -- "

Jin raised a hand. "I know. I also know that it's not your nature to lie, according to that other Guan Yin. However, I already know you can withhold information and refuse to answer."

"Well... yes."

She nodded. "That's all I'm asking now. Try not to reveal your true nature or the nature of our relationship unless there's no alternative. Ok?"

"I will do my best," he said. "The appearance of carnality has precedent."

Jin stopped so suddenly that Frank had taken a couple of steps past her before he realized.

"Now what are
you
talking about?" she asked.

"Just that there were traditional aspects of your divine self that used your beauty as an enticement, though to tempt men to the True Path rather than toward their baser natures."

"Frank, are you saying that in some times and places I'm essentially a Divine Cock Tease?"

Frank looked horrified. "If I understand the term correctly, certainly not. You are blameless, Jin. Your nature does not change and is always pure, but human perceptions are faulty at best, and it's possible for anyone's actions to be misinterpreted. You always act for the good."

"Maybe, but right now there's a great deal of me that's not divine at all. I'd remember that if I were you. There's also a saying here, that 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions.' I'm betting that things don't always turn out right, no matter how good my actions are; that's common sense."

"It's hard to say how anything has turned out, when so much has yet to be decided," Frank said, "even -- " He stopped.

Jin saw a thread of understanding and she grabbed for it. "You were going to say 'Even Shiro' just now, weren't you?"

"I mis-spoke, Jin. Please don't ask me to explain, because I cannot."

"You don't have to. The implication is that I had something to do with why Shiro is the way he is now. He said as much himself."

Frank looked so distressed that Jin felt a little sorry for him, but she grinned anyway. "You can't lie, even with your expressions. I'm right, aren't I? You don't have to answer that, but considering Guan Yin's attitude and the way Shiro keeps turning up I had my suspicions already."

Frank didn't say anything. He just started whistling a tune Jin didn't recognize. She sighed.

"All right, be that way. What about Shiro? I mean, did you find him?"

"No," Frank said. "I did not."

A direct statement. Unless what Guan Yin had told her and Jin's own instincts were way off, he was telling the truth. "You're saying he's not here?"

Frank shook his head. "No, just that Shiro's time skulking between Hells has made him very good at concealment. If he's here I
will
find him, but it may take time."

"That's fine," Jin said though, for the moment, her mind was elsewhere. She started walking again and Frank fell into step beside her. "Frank, tell me something -- are there any unforgivable sins?"

He frowned. "It's not a question of forgiveness. It's a question of correcting error."

"Fine, then -- an error that cannot be corrected. Does such a thing exist?"

"No."

"Then what about the Avici Hell?"

Frank brightened a bit. "Ah. I think I understand. Emma-O -- Teacher, that is, told you of this?"

"Yes. He seemed to be saying that to be trapped there was so close to forever that the difference wasn't worth squat."

"There is a vast gulf between forever and 'almost.' Granted, this is the absolute worst Hell there is. It does take an extreme level of error to gain entry."

"For example?" Jin asked.

"Well, deliberately harming one's own parents would do it. Pretending to be a
bodhisattva
and using the position to cheat honest believers..."

"Anything else?"

"Well...killing a
bodhisattva
."

Jin felt a chill in her gut. "Aren't they immortal?"

"Anyone or anything in corporeal form can be killed, and that includes you or me," Frank said. "Though with beings such as ourselves, it's barely an inconvenience."

"Then why would the punishment be so great?"

Frank sighed. "Again, it's not a crime being punished, it's an error being
corrected
. Harming an Enlightened Being directly is to work against the eventual unity of the Divine Consciousness of which we are all part, and in a very tangible, deliberate, and serious way. There is no greater mis-step on the Path that a person can make, and the correction must likewise be great. Thus, the Hell of No Interval."

"I think I see. Let's talk about something else, then. Where are you taking me for dinner?"

He blinked. "Dinner?"

"For all anyone else knows at the moment, you're my boyfriend, remember? The least you could do is take a girl out for a meal. It's late and I'm starving."

"But... I have no money. I have had little use for it."

Jin sighed. "Figures. Ah, well. It's on me, then. Won't be the first time."

Supper was delayed, though it wasn't because Jin got shanghaied into another Hell tunnel. This time the feeling that had helped lead her to the previous sufferers was much more explicit, and easier to define. It was no longer the simple tug at the edge of perception that she had felt just before her trip to the River of Souls; now Jin had a very strong and undeniable sense that there was somewhere she needed to be, and that somewhere was right there in Medias. This understanding nagged at her with a forceful persistence that Jin's own mother would have admired; she felt as if she were being pulled. Jin turned right across Pepper Street instead of left toward Juney's Diner as she'd originally planned, with Frank close on her heels.

"You've been called," he said, hurrying to keep up. "I've seen this look before."

Jin sighed. "I think before now I've really been more pointed and led than called," she said, "but if I understand your meaning, then yes -- I think I have definitely been called."

The only questions remaining so far as Jin could tell were "where" and "who." She already knew why. If she didn't yet know "where," she did know which direction to go, and for the moment that was enough, though she did wonder why she also felt an extreme sense of
urgency
.

"What's the hurry?" she asked aloud.

"You're setting the pace," Frank said. "Or was that question rhetorical?"

"Not exactly. I feel we need to hurry."

"Then I suggest we do so," Frank said, maddeningly calm as usual.

Jin gave up her brisk walk and started running. She didn't like the direction her running was taking her. Pepper Street wasn't exactly upscale, but compared to some parts of Medias it was downright posh. Just a few blocks from the legal aid offices Medias became a war zone. They ran through garbage littered streets, past boarded up windows and derelict cars. She sensed many pairs of eyes following them, and the intelligences behind those eyes were not friendly. She ignored them; the sense of urgency that had driven her to this place was getting stronger by the moment and didn't allow room for caution. If she didn't hurry they would be too late.

A young man dressed in what looked like some sort of gang costume ran past them, going in the opposite direction. He was screaming, a look of absolute terror on his face. Jin barely had time to take this in when, a bare second later, two more young men streaked past them in a much similar state as the first, but only the third one was making any noise; the second one's mouth was frozen open like a stuffed bass. The third kept up a rapid and repetitive monologue as he flashed past them.

"OhGodohGodohGodohGod...."

Jin turned the corner and skidded to a stop. There, lying half in and half out of a gutted storefront, was a shabby old black man. Jin thought he was dead at first, but no, he was struggling feebly against what pinned him to the ground -- a green dragon.

Jin couldn't tell how large it was; it was coiled twice around the old man's body but most of the rest of it disappeared into the empty building behind it. It was about three times as thick as the largest python Jin had ever seen, and covered with iridescent green scales. Two green whiskers flowed back past the head as if blown by a high wind, and the head itself was crowned with a pair of stag-like antlers. The shock and surprise of it sent Jin immediately into her demon form but Frank called out.

"I was wondering when I'd see you," he said.

The dragon vanished. Where the dragon had been there was now a young girl of about fifteen who kneeled protectively beside the old man. Her hair was as black as Jin's and much longer. She was dressed in retro fashion hip-hugger jeans and a red blouse with long, trailing sleeves.

"About time you two got here," she severely. "We almost lost him."

"We almost lost...?" Jin resumed her normal form. "Who's we... I mean, you?"

Frank sighed. "My apologies, I should have realized you didn't recognize her. Jin Lee Hannigan, Mortal Incarnation of Her Immanence Guan Yin, may I present your other servant: Lung Nu, sometimes called the Dragon Maiden."