The business with Niobe overlapped a more serious matter, which was one reason why he misplayed Fate. Perhaps that, too, had been planned by Gabriel: all the most difficult matters coming together.
This other business involved the Incarnation of War, Mars. The current officeholder had made himself expert in every form of battlecraft, and was truly competent in fomenting hostilities. He sided with God, but actually did Satan about as much good, because of the inevitable stress and suffering engendered by warfare. Refugees from a bombing, deprived of their homes, livelihoods and families, were often thrown into bare survival situations where ethics and decency were unrealistic. Evil nourished there, and souls were quickly tarnished to their maximum potential. Mars liked to believe that he was serving God by overthrowing tyrannies, but his methods fashioned gardens in which new tyrannies sprouted avidly. He, like God, had lost sight of the true nature of the doctrine of ends and means.
So it was in this particular sequence. A major war in Europe expanded to include nations in other continents, and its aftermath left such desolation that the people were ready to grasp at anything that promised improvement. There were revolutions that sprang theoretically from the roots of the common folk, but that succeeded only in installing yet more repressive regimes. One such occurred in the Russian states, and great was the carnage thereof; another occurred in the remnant of the Holy Roman Empire, now called Germany.
At first Parry encouraged the new order in Germany, for it brought some truly ugly characters to the fore, excellent in evoking what evil lurked in the populace. But then this took a turn he should have anticipated: persecution of minorities. Parry had never had much sympathy for that, since the Albigensian crusade in France that cost him his wife. He withdrew his support.
It was too late. Mortals could be tenacious once embarked on folly. The persecution of Jews and Gypsies intensified. When the next big war erupted, these minorities were herded into camps, their properties confiscated, their bodies given over to forced labor. It was like the Inquisition, only more systematic.
Then the killing began.
JHVH appeared in Hell. Parry welcomed him in a private interview. The Diety of the Hebrews seemed emaciated; he had not been doing well. It hurt Parry to see this, for JHVH had been his closest approach to a friend, apart from Chronos in the old days.
"I simply lack the power to protect My people from Yours," JHVH said. "I ask whether You will consider making a change. I must confess that I went first to God, but he would not see Me."
"He will not see anyone," Parry said. "He is rapt in the contemplation of His own image, while His people go wrong. Were it not for some expert management by his lieutenant, the Angel Gabriel, I would have had the advantage of him by now."
"So I come to You, Satan, knowing that though You represent Evil, You are no supporter of pointless suffering. My people are not Yours; their corruption by circumstance does not aggrandize You, it only diminishes Me."
"I know that," Parry said. "I have no onus against Your people, and I do remember Your kindness to me in the past. I have already withdrawn my support for that regime, but have been unable to turn it aside."
"I thought perhaps You could prevail on Your associates, the other Incarnations of Your framework, one of whom is War."
Parry sighed. "I have never gotten along well with Mars. But I will try. I will do what I can to help Your people."
"I thank you, Satan." JHVH departed.
Parry went to the Castle of War in Purgatory. Mars was not there; he was evidently supervising combat somewhere in the mortal realm.
He went again, a few days later. And again. Mars was never there. Finally he located Mars in the field and went there.
It was not actually a battle, but a battle line. It was called the Maginot Line, constructed by France to fend off Germany. But Germany was in the process of going around it. "Nevertheless," Mars said with an expansive gesture, "this line is penetrable. A fortification is only as good as the personnel who man it and the officers who direct it. The Great Wall of China never stopped a serious invasion; the steppe warriors simply bribed the gatekeepers to let them through and proceeded without hindrance. This line was built to the specifications of the last war, and is relatively ineffective against the mechanization of this one. That is the chronic folly of mortal generals."
"I come about a different matter," Parry said cautiously.
Mars glanced at him. "Why should I care what you came about, Satan? I have no use for you."
Still the same old arrogance! "The proprietors of Germany are maltreating certain minorities. I would prefer to spare those minorities. If you would—"
Mars laughed. "Do you think I'm fool enough to listen to you, Father of Lies? If you say you want someone spared, sure as Hell it's to corrupt three others! Get thee away from me, old Scrotch!"
Parry realized it was hopeless. Mars would not listen, and if he did, he was apt to do the opposite of what Parry asked. He was arrogant in his power, and careless of the proprieties.
But if Mars would not listen to reason, perhaps he would accede to self-interest. "Suppose I make you a deal?"
Mars suggested that he do something impolite to himself.
"Lilah," Parry said.
Instantly the demoness was there, stunningly attired.
"This is one of My creatures," Parry said. "She does My bidding, always. I will assign her to you for the duration, if you will grant the favor I ask."
Mars looked at Lilah. He was a lusty man, and she was the precise figure that evoked the maximum response in such a man. She smiled at him just as if she cared.
"I'll make no deals with you," Mars muttered. But his gaze remained on Lilah.
"I will leave her with you for a time," Parry said. "When you wish, ask her the nature of the favor I want, and she will tell you."
"A man doesn't need to talk to a creature like that," Mars said. "You're wasting your time, Scrotch." Still his eyes were locked on the target.
Parry left, hoping that the man's curiosity would surface after he had sated his lusts. Lilah was very good at her business; if she could persuade him to divert the hostilities, or reshape them in such a way that the minorities would suffer less...
Time passed, and the carnage only got worse. Now they were burning Jews and Gypsies in great ovens, and systematically eradicating them from the continent.
Parry visited the Castle of War again. Mars was out, as usual, but Lilah was there. "He never asked," she said. "How much longer must I tolerate this lout? He has appetites that would make a mortal girl nauseous."
Never even asked? Parry realized that his ploy had been wasted. Mars simply didn't care. He would accept the gifts of Hell, but give nothing in return. Parry had merely lost time, and done his friend JHVH no favor.
"Tell him anyway, next time," he said.
He departed, broodingly angry. If he ever found a way to get Mars retired, he would gladly do so. But the Incarnation of War retired only when there was complete peace on Earth, and that was seldom. Certainly it was impossible at the moment.
More time passed. The war progressed, and the Axis forces were losing. But the slaughter of minorities only intensified.
Parry went again to the Castle of War. "He wouldn't listen," Lilah said. "He told me I was here for only one reason, and words were no part of it."
Parry had enough. "You are relieved of this duty. Return to Hell."
She was gone so fast there was a pop in the air where she had been. Certainly she had not liked this tour!
What was he to do now? The ploy had failed, and most of the Jews and Gypsies were dead. Though the war was drawing to a close, there was no sign of abatement of the peripheral conflicts. It might be decades before this Mars was retired.
Parry realized that at this stage he had only one alternative. He would have to go to Chronos.
The officeholders of Time had changed frequently, because each was limited by the duration of his mortal life prior to his ascension to the office. But all now were hostile to him, and this one especially so. Parry could not think what had set the man off; something must have happened in the future to enrage him with the Incarnation of Evil. This made dealing difficult. But most had the same problem Mars had, only worse: no suitable women.
He couldn't assign Lilah again, for Chronos lived backward, and he would have had to assign her years ago. The only way she could be with Chronos at this point was if she remained continuously in his mansion, living backward with him. How would that affect her stay with Mars? Parry feared that some kind of paradox would be evoked. Anyway, she deserved a rest; she had done as well as she could in a difficult situation.
What else, then?
He pondered for some time, stumped. Then at last it came to him: he would have to tell Chronos the truth—but in a way that would make the Incarnation react as Parry wanted. This would, incidentally, account for Chronos' attitude toward him.
He sent demons out to prepare his materials. Then he brought his package to Chronos.
"What brings you here. Master of Evil?" Chronos inquired coldly.
"Oh, I had some spare time, so I thought I'd gloat a bit," Parry said airily. He was into the lie already.
"Gloat somewhere else. I am trying to be civil, even to you."
"I want to show you the pointlessness of trying to oppose Me," Parry said nastily. "You control time, but you cannot eliminate the evil I have done among the mortals. Shall I present chapter and verse?"
"Merely present your backside as you depart!" Chronos snapped.
"Naturally you do not wish to know; that frees you of the onus of being unable to prevent it."
That stung the man. "Why should I listen to your lies?"
"Because when I gloat, I don't lie. My accomplishments are real; My lying is only a means to the end of incalculable evil. I can prove everything—if you have the stomach to admit your defeat."
Chronos was hooked. "What defeat?"
"Well, for example, the supposed victory of the forces of good in the recent war. You idiots with God suppose that the elimination of the Nazis makes everything perfect, but there is no way you can undo the evil they did in passing. There will soon be other calamities, as new factions are spawned and quarrel; the termination of the Nazis is only the abolition of a name, not the substance. But those who are already dead can never be revived; that evil is permanent. Thus you, with your vaunted Hourglass, are helpless against Me, and I shall inevitably prevail against your indifferent God. That is your real defeat."
Chronos was visibly suppressing his rage. "What dead? Soldiers in war expect to die; this is unfortunate but not necessarily evil. Many of them go to Heaven, not to Hell."
"These dead," Parry said. He opened his briefcase and produced pictures of piles of corpses. "Noncombatants. Men, women, children. Civilians who did nothing to deserve this fate—but here they are, irrefutably and awfully dead. What does your kind say to that?"
Chronos stared at the pictures. They were truly horrible;
Parry's minions had obtained the most effective available. They showed every stage of the holocaust against the Jews and Gypsies in hideous detail. There was no way to doubt them; they were completely real and almost tangibly evil.
"Practically every Jew in Europe," Parry said with feigned satisfaction. "And every Gypsy too. Do you know about the Gypsies? They are named that because they claimed to have come to the west via Egypt, but actually they came through Romania and are better called Romani. In any event, they live a simple life, always on the move, entertaining sedentary folk, blacksmithing, playing music, dancing and stealing. You might think the stealing makes them Mine, but they do it from necessity because of their poverty. The balance on their souls is positive. But now they are all dead, and there will be no more positive souls generated among them, which gives Me the longterm advantage. It is the same story with the Jews; their extinction diminishes their God, JHVH, and so benefits Me. Meanwhile, the evil accruing to the souls of those who have destroyed these two peoples benefits Me, because—"
"Get out!" Chronos shouted, livid. He smashed his hand through the presented pictures, knocking them to the floor.
"Scream all you want," Parry said evenly. "You have lost, despite your powers. You cannot deny it. There is nothing you can do. Nothing!"
Chronos charged him, but Parry conjured himself away.
His stomach was knotted, but he had done what he had come to do. He had really brought the disaster home to Chronos, and repeatedly taunted him with his supposed impotence. Now he would discover whether this savage and desperate ploy had been effective. For Chronos lived backward; he would in due course be at the onset of the European disaster. If his rage at Satan carried through...
He returned to Hell and summoned Lilah. "I regret the duty I assigned you with Mars," he said. "It was ineffective, and no pleasure for you. I am sorry that you and I have grown apart, and would make some amends if you are willing."
"My Lord, what are You talking about?" she asked, perplexed. "I have not been with the current Mars."
"Demoness, don't try to lie to Me!" he snapped. "You may be angry, but I am trying to make it right."
"My Lord, I never lie except on direct order from You, and never to You. Are You teasing me?"
Something was wrong. "Are you telling me you did not perform the duty with Mars I assigned you to?"
"You made no such assignment! I would have obeyed if You had, though I much prefer Your company."
A distant thought nagged him. Was it possible?
"Lilah, what happened to the Jews and Gypsies in the war just past?"
Now she was really perplexed. "Nothing happened to either group, my Lord. Do You plan some mischief for them?"
"Nothing happened? But the Nazis—"
"The what?"
"The leaders of Germany, who—"
"Do you mean the Empire? The restored Holy Roman Empire?"
So it was true! Chronos had acted to change history, eliminating the whole of the holocaust, root and all!
And of course Chronos hated Satan, suspecting what had been on that alternate time line. But the victory was, after all, Satan's. No one else might know it, for no one else could remember what had been, but Parry knew. He was the Incarnation most involved, so it could not be eradicated from his awareness. He alone would know the truth.
There was a knock at his door. Lilah went to answer it.
JHVH stood there. He was abruptly healthier. He spoke no word; he only gazed at Parry with uncanny understanding.
He, too, remembered!
Parry went to him, and the two embraced. Then JHVH departed.
"What was that about?" Lilah asked. "Since when do You have dealings with foreign Gods?"
"Since He did Me a favor," Parry said. "Now I have returned it."
"I don't understand, my Lord."
"You don't need to." He grabbed her, and proceeded to an act of passion so thorough that she, with her experience of millennia, was amazed.
How sweet it is! he thought, embracing a dimension more than the body of the demoness.
He had won a victory very few knew of, and changed the mortal world for the better though he would receive no credit for that. But his battle with the other Incarnations continued, as he probed constantly for his chance to win before Niobe's granddaughter ended the contest. Whenever an office changed hands, he moved in to exploit the weakness. When Thanatos changed, by assassinating the prior officeholder and taking his place. Parry succeeded in confusing the novice. But Niobe's son, the magician, managed to arrange a date between Thanatos and the magician's daughter, Luna, and thereafter Thanatos resolutely refused to let Luna die despite provocation. Mephistopheles overreached his directive and abducted Luna and tortured her, precipitating a crisis that Parry had to tackle personally. Though furious about the torture—he would never have authorized that!—Parry had to pretend it was all his own doing. Unfortunately Thanatos was so provoked that he cast off the web of delusion Parry wove and asserted himself fully as the Incarnation of Death. Parry rather admired that, but protocol required him to depart in a fury.
Then there was the business with Fate's triple changeover, foiled by Niobe herself.
Then he succeeded in retiring Mars. He picked a suitable occasion, when the mortal realm was relatively quiet, and exerted his influence to quiet it further, until for a moment the last conflict died out and the world was in complete peace. That got rid of Mars. In a moment, of course, conflict resumed, for mortals were incapable of complete peace, and a new man assumed the office. But this one was virtually handpicked. Parry had managed to manipulate some of Fate's threads to make this one the leading prospect. He was from a kingdom of India, a Prince, and he stuttered. Parry had inducements that he trusted would prove to be quite appealing to this man.
When the time came. Parry went to the Castle of War. He set up a garden of illusion that functioned as an annex to the Castle, and posed with Lilah as erotic statuary. "I am assigning you to corrupt Mars," he told her. "For the duration you will be known as Lila or as Lilith, and you will be unable to use the terms associated with My opponent."
"You are demoting me to ordinary demon status!" she protested.
"I am reminding you of your place. Succeed in this mission, and all favor will be restored."
"As my Lord decrees," she agreed, but she was not completely pleased. "This should not be too much of a challenge."
"It is enough of one," he said. "This man has a mortal concubine, a Princess, and he loves her."
"Ah," she said appreciatively. "It has been a long time since I have corrupted a man with a mortal lover."
"Seven hundred years," he agreed reminiscently. Actually, Jolie had not really been his lover at that stage, because of her status as a ghost, but there was no point in being technical. "I want you to corrupt him, and if you cannot, to distract him, and if you fail even at that, to tempt him into Hell. He must be taken out of circulation at the critical time. You will have several weeks, at least."
"Plenty of time," she said confidently. "You forget how much experience I have had."
"Show some of it now," he said. "He is coming. I want him to know you are a concubine; he can relate to that more freely than to a real woman."
"Thank you," she said with not altogether insincere ire.
They assumed a position of interaction and stilled into a seeming statue. The Incarnation of War walked close, and paused to inspect them with some interest. This was the type of statuary he knew from his homeland.
Parry animated, turning his head to look at the Incarnation. "Ah, the master of the castle arrives," he said.
Startled, the man stepped back. This was the last thing he had expected: a talking erotic statue.
Parry signaled Lilah to disengage. She sat on the pedestal, dangling her bare legs over its edge, her knees slightly spread so as to offer a suitable view for the visitor. She was in perfect form.
"Come, join me," she invited Mars, opening her arms.
"Who are you?" Mars demanded. Then he looked surprised. Parry knew why: another of his offerings had just manifested. Here in the annex, which was actually a part of Hell, Parry had the power to eliminate the man's normal stutter.
"I am Satan, the Incarnation of Evil," Parry said. "This is one of My innumerable consorts, each of whom is more luscious and tractable than the last." Lilah was very good about the way she masked her annoyance with that description; she of course regarded herself as THE most luscious and tractable female, having no peers. She was correct, of course. But so was he; the innumerable consorts he referred to would in this case all be this one, in changing guise.
"Satan?" the man asked. "Here in my castle?"
Parry explained about the annex.
"Aren't you the Occidental figure of Evil? Why have you chosen to contact me?"
Parry explained that he only wished to help. Lilah bounced down from the pedestal and took Mars' arm.
"I already have a woman," Mars protested, hardly mistaking her approach.
"But not a suitable concubine," Parry said smoothly. "A man of your stature needs more than one woman."
"True. But a Prince does not take a used woman."
"Readily fixed." Parry snapped his fingers, and Lilah obligingly vanished. He snapped them again, and she reappeared in a new formulation. "Lila, here, has never been touched by man." Lilah had, of course, and Lilith, but not Lila. "She will be available whenever you wish." He waved her away, and she vanished again. Her duty would come during Parry's absence, now that she had been appropriately introduced.
He continued to walk and talk with Mars, quite friendly, proffering a rationale for war that the new Incarnation could accept. "Man is not rational; he cheats and enslaves his fellows and refuses to yield to reason. In the end there is only one answer, and that is to restore fairness by force. That is war." It was the fallacious ends and means doctrine, a marvelous workhorse for Evil.
"But war does not restore fairness!" Mars protested.
"That is why it must be supervised by the Incarnation of War." And on; the well-rehearsed rationale flowed readily from him, finding a not entirely unwilling recipient. "You will fashion war into a truly useful tool for the redress of inequity among mortals."
The man was listening. Parry capped it by explaining how Mars' woman could eat the food of this region when she could not survive on that of Purgatory. This was because it was imported from the mortal realm. Mars was gratified; his woman was important to him.
It was an excellent start. Parry departed, well satisfied He did not expect such amicable relations to last indefinitely, but there was always the chance that this Mars, like the early Chronos, could become his friend. That would be an enormous advantage.
Next day Mars brought his woman, who was named Rapture of Malachite, to the garden. Parry appeared with Lila, and explained to Rapture that Lila was available as a concubine for Mars if Rapture approved. Rapture considered, and decided to wait a few months on that. This was not spoken with irony; she was a Princess who well understood such things. The second key introduction had been performed.
In the following days Lila befriended Rapture, putting new Occidental notions into her pretty Oriental head. This was a marvelous approach; if the woman, also, could be corrupted...
In due course Mars sent Rapture back to the mortal world, not fully pleased with the liberating effect Lila was having on her. It did not matter; Lila continued to work on him directly. Once she drove him to such distraction that he used his great Red Sword to cut her into segments. Even then she swayed him with her unrelenting logic, until he packed her parts into a chest and shipped it to Hell proper.
She returned, of course, on another day, intact, to tempt him some more. He resisted, but she played on him with that infinite skill she possessed. Parry knew exactly how effective that could be; that was why he had assigned her to this mission.
Yet it was not quite enough. Mars continued to perform his office, thwarting Parry's incidental mischief among the mortals. Lila had not succeeded in seducing him, despite his loss of Rapture to a mortal man, and without that, Lila's words lacked full effect.
It was time for Parry's big ploy on Earth. Mars had to be out of the way, for the ploy concerned war. Therefore Lila proceeded to the final ploy: she lured Mars to Hell proper. This was accomplished by telling him of a Princess stranded there, Ligeia by name, who was in need of rescuing. It was true;
Parry had saved Ligeia for just such an occasion, and she was exactly as represented. She was indeed the perfect match for Mars. Lila had not been pleased to introduce Mars to Ligeia, knowing the likely result, but at this stage she had no choice.
Sure enough. Mars joined the Princess, came to know her in the course of his attempt to rescue her from Hell, and fell in love with her. Since she was captive in Hell, so was he, because he would not leave without her. It was one of Parry's prettiest traps.
Meanwhile, Parry got busy on Earth, freed from Mars' interference. He whipped up the forces of mortal dissention. Soon he would achieve such violence in the world that martial law would be declared in a number of governments, among them the American one in which Luna was to become critically active. That would deprive her of her political position, leaving her powerless to make the key decision that would mark his final defeat. What a phenomenal ploy this was!
But Mars, showing more mettle than Parry had expected, managed to fashion a ploy of his own. He incited the damned souls of Hell itself to rebellion. Ozymandias, long in charge of operations, was caught napping, and the situation was out of hand. Parry had to return to deal with it himself. He had to keep Mars distracted here just a little longer, until the business on Earth passed the point of no return.
He met Mars physically, when the man was deprived of his magic Red Sword. He could not of course actually hurt him; no Incarnation could injure another. But he could bluff him, and perhaps convince him that the infernal revolution was doomed.
But Mars finally caught on, and exploited the weakness of the Incarnation of Evil. "I am going to phase in with you, Satan," he said. That was one of the powers Mars had, to overlap mortals and read their minds. "When I do, I will know all your secrets. All that is in your mind."
It was no bluff. Parry had avoided direct physical contact. If Mars grappled with him. Mars would learn of his activity on Earth, and immediately act to interfere with it. Rather than allow that. Parry had to back off, though it meant the premature release of a number of souls from Hell. It was a loss he had to take, in order to preserve the situation on Earth, where the true victory was to be won. So he vacated, leaving the field to Mars. It was humiliating, but necessary.
Parry made the finishing touches on the Earthly situation. and let it be. It was now in place, and only heroic action by Mars could reverse it. Had Mars returned earlier, he could have stopped it by routine means, but it was now beyond that stage. Parry was happy to have Mars depart from Hell now, and did not attempt to delay him further.
But Mars rose to the occasion once more. He succeeded ia reversing the corruption Lila was practicing on him, and corrupted her instead. She deserted Parry and fell in love with Mars. She told Mars how to reverse the ploy and win the victory.
Parry was furious. He had never intended this to happen! The damage was done, but at least he could punish the demoness. She had never learned the secret of demon-banishing; like other demons, she would dissipate and be destroyed if he invoked the spell. It was psychological rather than magical; belief was what made it happen, and she believed. Every Law of Hell had fostered that belief in all demons, her included, through the millennia. But first he had to get her away from Mars' protection.
He faced Mars again, this time by the great Doomsday clock. He knew what Mars had not known: that Ligeia had chosen to return to mortality instead of proceeding to Heaven, so that she could be with Mars. He brought the mortal Ligeia in, offering her in exchange for Lila.
And Ligeia interceded for the demoness. That caused the wavering Mars to decide to save Lila after all. It was in his power to do so, for he threatened to drive the Doomsday Clock to the dread midnight hour and precipitate the final war that would destroy all of humanity. Parry could not tolerate that; it had never been his intent to wipe out mortal man, only to facilitate the classification of souls. He had to back off again, yielding Lila, much as it galled him to do so. Wrongheaded righteousness had won the day yet again.
How well he remembered now that when Lilah had deserted his predecessor, Lucifer, it had led to Lucifer's undoing. Now she had deserted Parry, and the time of his final reckoning with God was drawing nigh. She might already have contributed to his downfall.
Parry retreated, and Mars took over his office, defusing the situation Parry had so carefully fostered. It was yet another humiliation.
Furthermore, it left him without a woman. He did not want to call Nefertiti back from her holiday, and he had not cultivated other damned souls. The truth was that no female creature matched his memory of Jolie. How he wished he could evoke her ghost again, just to talk to!
That reminded him of Heaven, because Jolie would surely go there if she ever could get free of the drop of blood he carried. He was now releasing souls to Heaven, per the agreement with Mars; the Incarnation of War thought he was doing the souls a favor. Well, time had passed; perhaps things had improved in Heaven.
Parry decided to check. He sailed up to the Void and called for JHVH. The Deity of the Hebrews was glad to guide him through. JHVH alone knew what Parry had done for His people, and that the Incarnation of Evil was not actually doing evil.
He reached the outer circle of Heaven. Indeed, it seemed brighter than it had five centuries before. Gabriel had been doing some reorganizing, in the name of God, and now the souls were engaged in various satisfying pursuits. Some were watching the new mortal television; the shows, though edited to exclude anything inappropriate to the exalted state, seemed interesting. Others were practicing various crafts, such as basket weaving with strands of ether, with evident pleasure.
All things considered. Heaven now seemed an appropriate place to be. He would make a report, and release those eligible souls who wished to go.
JHVH guided him through the Void again. Parry thanked him and descended on toward Hell. But still he was unsatisfied; he knew that he had no woman and no challenging project there, now that the business with Mars was done. The ennui of his long possession of the Office threatened to overcome him. Ozymandias was running Hell well enough, and needed no help; Parry could not blame the King for the rebellion stirred up by Mars. Only the Incarnation of War could have done it.
Was it time to retire? What was the point in continuing in an office that had become boring? He still had the challenge with Gabriel, but his successor could complete that. In any event, it seemed to be a losing cause; the massed power of the other Incarnations seemed to be too much for him.
The other Incarnations—actually they weren't all against him. There was Nox, the Incarnation of Night, with all her fascination. Lilah (now Lila) had feared that Nox would take him away from her. Well, maybe now was the time.
He oriented on Nox, and in a moment he was there in her encompassing darkness.
"What is thy business, Lord of Evil?"
Ah, that dream-memory communication! He had forgotten how evocative it was.
"Nox, I have alienated Lilah, and now have little interest in pursuing my office."
"What would thou with me?"
"I do not know. Perhaps it is advice. Perhaps love."
She opened her cloak and flowed about him. The intangible female nature of her encompassed him, and he felt as if he were floating. Why had he waited so many centuries before coming to her? She was all he could ever desire!
Then she withdrew, as she had before. "Not yet, Lord of Evil."
"But all I want is you!"
"Perhaps thou shallst have me, or I you. But not yet. Thou hast one more mortal woman to deal with, before me. Go first to thine Incarnation."
The disappointment of this final rejection surged in him. "No other Incarnation will touch me!"
"Thou must win her, Evil."
"Win whom?" he cried desperately as the presence withdrew. "How? I tell you, no other Incarnation will—"
"She has been given thee, Evil, but thou must win her from the others and from herself. Win her, and all is thine."
"Win whom!" he cried, but Nox was gone, leaving him with a greater emptiness than he had felt before.
He had come for relief, and had been turned away. What remained to him?
Then the significance of what Nox had sent penetrated. If he found this mysterious Incarnation and won her, all would be his. He knew from the context and significance of the thought that—this meant everything. That he would at last defeat God.
Nox had directed him correctly, if deviously, before. Perhaps this new challenge would be the most significant yet.
Parry moved on toward Hell, discovering his interest in the challenge being restored. Mars might have set him back, but the larger picture had not yet clarified.
The Lord of Evil might yet have his day.