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Chapter 38

"What do you mean, `He's taking her to bed?!' " Jezerael snarled and held a tiny brown imp off the ground by its throat. It gurgled and gasped, but was unable to speak. She dropped it then, and it lay on the floor, its chest rising and falling, until she wearied of waiting for her answer and kicked it. It bounced off the wall and dropped to the floor a few feet away from her and cowered there.

"Answer me, damn your eyes."

Its eyes suddenly grayed, then dried in their sockets like raisins in the sun. "I couldn't hear all he said," the imp screamed. "But he carried her up to her bedroom—and when I came to you, the two of them were undressing each other, and doing other naughty things."

"No!" Jezerael screamed. She grabbed her hair and, enraged, ripped out two handfuls. "No!" She grabbed up the imp and ripped it apart, then flung the pieces around the room. "No! I will not spend eternity as the slave of Agonostis."

She stormed around the office for a few moments, then got herself under enough control that she could plan.

"He hasn't necessarily won yet," she told herself. She felt around for Dayne's soul, which she had tagged while she was "working" in the ICU. Following the call of the marker, she appeared in Dayne's apartment . . . but not in the bedroom. She didn't want to take the chance of making the situation worse, or of inadvertently doing something that might work in Agonostis' favor, instead of against him. So she was moving cautiously.

Once in the kitchen, which was disgustingly clean and cheerful, she looked up through the walls, straight into Dayne's soul. That, too, was disgustingly clean and cheerful—and completely healthy.

She frowned. If Agonostis had done his job right, Jezerael ought to have been able to see dead places in the glowing fabric of the soulstuff—she should have been able to mark a change in the overall color of the soul, too, from the gold of sunlight to a dull and angry red. But those signs of corruption simply weren't there.

She shook her head and pondered. There was no way Agonostis could think Dayne had fallen. The blind imp Jezerael had shredded could have just looked at the mortal and proclaimed her still aimed straight for Heaven.

Jezerael felt sure she was missing something. Agonostis evidently felt he was going to corrupt the girl in one vicious stroke, but he had to be laying the groundwork for that. A spiriscopic analysis would tell Jezerael what he'd done, and in which direction he'd planned the young woman's damnation.

She commandeered a spiriscope from Hell's main office. The bill came wrapped around it—it was hellish, and if it couldn't tell her anything she didn't already know, she was going to regret getting it for a very long time. She flipped the ON switch, and the puny little soul inside whined. Then she aimed it at Dayne, and line by line read the analysis of the contents of the soul of her intended victim.

When she finished, she smiled.

Not only had Agonostis failed, but in the very form of his failure he had created a lever by which Jezerael could throw the girl straight into Hell, and Agonostis into slavery. And it was because of sheer stupidity on her archenemy's part.

Agonostis deserved what he had coming.

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Contents
Framed

Back | Next
Contents

Chapter 38

"What do you mean, `He's taking her to bed?!' " Jezerael snarled and held a tiny brown imp off the ground by its throat. It gurgled and gasped, but was unable to speak. She dropped it then, and it lay on the floor, its chest rising and falling, until she wearied of waiting for her answer and kicked it. It bounced off the wall and dropped to the floor a few feet away from her and cowered there.

"Answer me, damn your eyes."

Its eyes suddenly grayed, then dried in their sockets like raisins in the sun. "I couldn't hear all he said," the imp screamed. "But he carried her up to her bedroom—and when I came to you, the two of them were undressing each other, and doing other naughty things."

"No!" Jezerael screamed. She grabbed her hair and, enraged, ripped out two handfuls. "No!" She grabbed up the imp and ripped it apart, then flung the pieces around the room. "No! I will not spend eternity as the slave of Agonostis."

She stormed around the office for a few moments, then got herself under enough control that she could plan.

"He hasn't necessarily won yet," she told herself. She felt around for Dayne's soul, which she had tagged while she was "working" in the ICU. Following the call of the marker, she appeared in Dayne's apartment . . . but not in the bedroom. She didn't want to take the chance of making the situation worse, or of inadvertently doing something that might work in Agonostis' favor, instead of against him. So she was moving cautiously.

Once in the kitchen, which was disgustingly clean and cheerful, she looked up through the walls, straight into Dayne's soul. That, too, was disgustingly clean and cheerful—and completely healthy.

She frowned. If Agonostis had done his job right, Jezerael ought to have been able to see dead places in the glowing fabric of the soulstuff—she should have been able to mark a change in the overall color of the soul, too, from the gold of sunlight to a dull and angry red. But those signs of corruption simply weren't there.

She shook her head and pondered. There was no way Agonostis could think Dayne had fallen. The blind imp Jezerael had shredded could have just looked at the mortal and proclaimed her still aimed straight for Heaven.

Jezerael felt sure she was missing something. Agonostis evidently felt he was going to corrupt the girl in one vicious stroke, but he had to be laying the groundwork for that. A spiriscopic analysis would tell Jezerael what he'd done, and in which direction he'd planned the young woman's damnation.

She commandeered a spiriscope from Hell's main office. The bill came wrapped around it—it was hellish, and if it couldn't tell her anything she didn't already know, she was going to regret getting it for a very long time. She flipped the ON switch, and the puny little soul inside whined. Then she aimed it at Dayne, and line by line read the analysis of the contents of the soul of her intended victim.

When she finished, she smiled.

Not only had Agonostis failed, but in the very form of his failure he had created a lever by which Jezerael could throw the girl straight into Hell, and Agonostis into slavery. And it was because of sheer stupidity on her archenemy's part.

Agonostis deserved what he had coming.

Back | Next
Contents
Framed