For Love of Evil (25 page)

"You forget, my Lord: I am a demoness. I have no soul. Only a living mortal can assume the Office."

"But I am dead!"

"No, my Lord. You are alive. You assumed the Office in Your last moment of life, and became immortal and ageless. Only when You retire can You die-and Your successor may not allow You to die, any more than You have allowed Lucifer to die."

"I haven't?"

"No. You let him be confined in the manner of a damned soul, but he cannot die until You allow him to. That choice will be Yours after You take permanent possession of the Office."

"What of the prior Incarnations of Evil? Did they die?"

"Oh, yes, in time. It is safer to let them die, so that none can resume the Office. They now serve in various important capacities, for their expertise in the ways of Hell is matchless."

"But don't they forment trouble for the current Officeholder? It must be quite a comedown to be a damned soul, after being the Incarnation."

"That may be, but they are tough creatures. You can trust them, for their ambition is forever stultified." Parry had an inspiration. "Those prior Officeholders! They must know the demon-destruction spell!" She smiled. "They know it, certainly, my Lord. But they will not tell You."

"What, not one of them?"

"None I can think of. They are immune to blandishments. They will serve You from pride, but will not help You gain power. That You must do for Yourself." Parry sighed. "I don't suppose you could charm it from one of them?"

"You forget, my Lord: I have been used for centuries by each of them. I have no mysteries remaining, no allure for them." Parry gazed at her, not entirely pleased at this reminder. He was the latest in a virtually eternal line of lovers. No wonder Lilah was skilled in this respect! "Well, let's get on to Hell," he said somewhat gruffly. She took his arm, conscious of his jealousy. "Do not forget, my Lord: I am made of ether. I have no existence other than this. I was crafted to serve man, beginning with the first, and that I do as well as I am able. I now give to You that same loyalty I gave to each holder of the Office. You cannot fault me for that, only for inadequate performance in my role." Parry relaxed. It was true; he had no business getting jealous of her prior lovers. She was no woman, but a demoness. Lilah opened the porthole in the air, and they passed through it to the entrance to Hell. But this time they took the scenic route, coming down at the outer boundary of Hell. The tunnel debouched into an ugly forest whose twisted trees seemed about to clutch at any travelers, and these flinched as the path skirted the trees. "The newly damned souls?" Parry asked. "Yes, my Lord. At death they descend, their velocity determined by the weight of evil on then" souls, and land in this forest. See, some have problems already." She gestured. He looked, and spied several figures struggling in high branches. They had snagged in their descent, and were trying to work free. Parry and Lilah joined the procession following the path. None of the others took notice. The damned souls looked exactly like living folk, complete with clothing, but were singularly somber. The path broadened into a road, accommodating the unhappy travelers. Ahead was a mighty gate, with a giant arch over it. As Parry approached it, he read the words ABANDON HOPE, ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE! He nodded. The arrivals were evidently of many nationalities, and most were surely illiterate, but it was evident that each understood that dread warning. All those who entered here were damned.

He passed on under the arch. The road brought them to the dismal bank of a broad, brooding river.

"This is the Acheron," Lilah said. "The River of Woe that surrounds Hell. We shall have to wait for Charon."

In due course the ferry came: a raft that nudged barely above the surface of the water. The ferryman poled it along with fair dispatch, then stepped onto the bank and held out his withered hand for payment. His eyes glowed like coals. Each soul had to give a small coin. Those who lacked coins were barred from boarding.

"The coins are from the eyes placed on the deceased mortals," Lilah explained. "Unfortunately, not all who die are properly buried."

"But what happens to them if they can't enter Hell?" Parry asked.

"They must wait until the need to cross becomes too great to resist, as their bodies rot in the ground. Then they must cross as they can, by wading or swimming."

Parry looked at the river. Now he smelled it: the miasma of the nethermost of sewers. There were suggestive ripples, as of great beasts that swam in the murk, waiting for prey. Indeed, he heard a scream, and saw a woman flail and splash, as if being drawn under.

"But they can't drown," he said.' "They are already dead!"

"They can't drown, but they can suffer all the agony of drowning, without limit," she explained.

Parry considered that as he watched the woman struggle and slide under the surface. "Point taken. But I want that woman rescued."

"You may direct Charon," she said dubiously.

"Charon!" he snapped. "Draw that woman from the water!"

The sinister ferryman looked at him, then looked away, ignoring him.

Parry controlled his anger. "Am I or am I not the master of this realm?" he asked Lilah.

"You are and You are not," she said. "That is, the title is Yours, but You have to prove yourself before Your minions will obey You."

"And to do that I need the spell to destroy demons," he said.

"Yes, my Lord. That same spell cannot destroy souls, but can banish them to restricted regions, which has much the same effect."

"Let's just see what I can do without it," he said grimly.

He strode past the waiting souls and boarded the raft. Charon lifted his ugly head to stare at him. "Charon, I am the new Incarnation of Evil. If you value your position, you will obey me with alacrity. Pick up that woman!"

Charon turned away, again ignoring him.

"Answer me, spook!" Parry snapped, grabbing at the man's shoulder. But his hand passed right through the ferryman's body.

So it was like that. Parry pondered briefly, then opened his mouth and sang:

"Ferryman, hark unto me! I am the Incarnation of Evil. Answer to me: you have no choice. Fetch out that woman; Ferryman, fetch out that woman!"

The power of the song reached out and took hold of Charon as Parry's hand could not. Just as his song had stunned the demons of the fire chamber, it stunned Charon. There had always been magic in Parry's music, and it had power here, too.

Slowly Charon turned. He took his pole and used it to shove the filling raft away from shore. They floated across to where the woman was marked by a thin stream of bubbles. Then Charon reached a bony hand down and caught at something under the murky surface. The woman came up, choking; Charon had hold of her wrist. He hauled her to the raft, where she lay gasping. Then he poled it back to the shore to pick up the rest of his cargo.

There was a smattering of applause. Parry had made his point. He had compelled the ferryman to obey.

"In the future, Charon, if any souls become so desperate as to try to swim across, you will pick them up without fare," Parry said gruffly. "If you do not, I will remove you from this position. Do you understand?"

Slowly the grim ferryman nodded. Now Parry turned away, and saw a subdued smile of approval on Lilah's face. He knew it was not because he had done a decent thing, but because he had made his power felt.

They remained on the raft while Charon got it loaded. Parry squatted beside the woman he had rescued. "What is your name, woman?"

"Oh, sir, I am Gretchen. I thank you for paying my fare."

"I did not pay your fare. I merely directed that you be given passage without fare."

She lifted her head to stare at him. "Sir, if I may ask- who are you?"

"I am the Master of Hell."

Her eyes widened in shock. She collapsed in a faint. The others aboard the raft retreated from him, and some fell into the water.

Parry sighed. He would have to watch that! Naturally he would now be a figure of terror for the damned souls.

"I am not here to punish you, only to inspect operations," he said to them all. "You are damned, but I shall not make your fate worse."

They seemed only slightly reassured. He realized this was because he was also now the Father of Lies. Probably they feared that he was setting them up for worse punishment after tempting them with false hope. But those who had fallen did scramble back onto the raft.

He squatted again by Gretchen, and shook her shoulder. "Wake, woman; I spoke figuratively. I am not here to do you harm. What brought you here?"

She recovered enough to sit up. "My Lord, I lied, I cheated, I stole. I knew it would damn my soul, but my family was going hungry, and I had to get food somehow." Parry remembered the poor villagers of his original village.

They had not been able to afford the luxury of integrity; the feudal system had kept them too low.

"You others," he asked, looking around. "Is it similar with you? You were poor, and had to cheat to survive?"

There was a murmur of assent.

Parry nodded. These were creatures of circumstance, damned for lives over which they had little control. It did not seem right that they be relegated to Hell for eternity. But would he be able to change that? He wasn't sure, and was not ready to inquire.

They came to the inner shore. This was bleak and barren, and crowded with people who merely stood without talking. Nothing seemed to be happening.

"What is this?" Parry asked Lilah.

"This is Limbo, the first and outermost Circle of Hell," she replied. "This is where the unbaptized souls remain, neither punished nor rewarded."

"Unbaptized? Do you mean they are not Christians?"

"Many are not," she agreed. "Some have led illustrious and blameless lives, but are damned in death because of their lack of faith."

"But other faiths are valid!" he protested. "They have their own facilities for the Afterlife!"

"So one would think," she agreed. "I suppose the records have not been clarified."

"We shall have to see about this. Who is in charge of the records?"

"That would be Beelzebub, the Lord of the Flies, one of Lucifer's predecessors."

That meant that she had been intimate with him. Parry stifled that thought. "I shall have to talk with him, in due course."

"I think You should establish Your position first."

Surely good advice! But already he knew there would be some changes made.

"Where is the three-headed dog? Isn't he supposed to guard the Gates of Hell?"

"Cerberus? He is in the Third Circle, with the gluttonous."

"What's he doing there? That's not the Gates of Hell! And since when is gluttony punished by eternal damnation? They would have to fill that circle with Lords and Bishops and even Popes!"

"They are there," she agreed.

Parry decided not to press the point. "Cerberus will have to be moved. Who is in charge of the organization of Hell?"

"Asmodeus, the King of devils."

"Another former Incarnation of Evil?"

"Yes."

"Let's move on."

They passed through the Second Circle, where the carnal sinners were. "Because they lusted, they are damned?" Parry asked. "What man does not lust, on occasion?"

"Few men go to Heaven," Lilah said smugly.

"But if so many are damned for normal aspects of the human condition, what of the truly evil ones? The murderers, the rapists, the traitors?"

"In the lower circles," she said. "The traitors are in the Ninth Circle, the innermost one, and that is subdivided into four, for the traitors to kindred, or to their country, or to friends, or to their benefactors."

"These strike me as needless distinctions. Next thing we know, there will be a region set aside for sorcerers!"

"In the Eighth Circle, along with the hypocrites, thieves, barrators, and seducers." ^

"Sorcerers are damned?" he demanded, outraged. "But it is a legitimate profession!"

She shrugged. "I could not have corrupted You, had You not been already on the path to corruption, and Your sorcery was much of it."

"We need some revision of definitions! Great numbers of these folk do not belong here!"

She did not answer, perhaps being wiser than he in this respect. They passed on through the Third and Fourth and Fifth Circles, seeing the gluttons, misers, and wrathful souls confined there. In the Sixth they encountered the three winged furies: hideous women with snaky hair. In the Seventh they crossed the River of Blood, for this was where the violent were confined, harried by the Hounds of Hell and harpies and centaurs.

"But this is all confused," he protested. "The hounds should be guardians, and the centaurs record keepers, because of their intellectual capacities." Now the sand on which they walked became burning hot.

A volcano rumbled, and spouted fire, and burning flakes rained down on them. The incarcerated souls cried out in anguish- and so did Parry as a fire flake singed him. "They aren't supposed to affect You," Lilah said angrily.