For Love of Evil (39 page)

"Seven hundred years," he agreed renuniscently. 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. & 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 magicai; 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 elegible 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 threated 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!