“Oh, God,” the Father whispered, lowering his head into his hands.
“Look, Father, don’t lie to yourself.”
“No! He’s not real. I can’t believe…Oh, God, it’s true, isn’t it? Do you realize what this means? It means that this creature is loose out there somewhere preying on innocent people who don’t know what he is.” He leaned toward Judas. “You seem to know him, who he is, what he is.”
Judas’s suspicions of the father melted, and he wiped his greasy hands on his pants and scooted toward him. Picking up his chains and looking at them, he said, “The first thing we need to do is get you out of here.”
“My parishioners,” Father Jon said, his eyes full of worry and fright, “what…what will he do to them? Why is he here? What does he want?”
“Sin, Father. He wants to sin. To spread it, commit it. His mission is to ruin a woman’s life, and he’ll kill anyone that gets in his way.”
“But why? Why would someone…anyone want to do that?”
“Because he’s evil, Father.” Judas’s hands stilled for a moment, and he looked up at Father Jon. “I don’t know what all you saw, but it wasn’t a dream.”
Father Jon’s eyes widened and filled with terror. “You can’t mean that I took a trip into Hell. No. Please. Don’t say that. It was a dream. T-The wine, it was drugged, I tell you. I had a drug-induced dream, that’s all.” In desperation the father grabbed at Judas’s sleeve. “Oh, God, please tell me that’s true.”
“I wish I could, Father, but I can’t.” Looking down at the chains, he said, “You’ll have to hold very still while I…” His eyes issued a piercing ray that slowly burned through the metal on both hands. The sound of freedom rang clear as the iron bracelets clanked to the floor.
Father Jon looked down at his wrists that had rubbed raw. “It’s a miracle,” he said. “A miracle.” He looked up at Judas. “Who are you? How can you—”
“We don’t have time now, Father. We have to get out of here.”
“I can’t leave. He’ll be back any moment.”
The door rattled, and the room fell into silence. Judas quickly scooted back into the shadow, and Father Jon replaced the metal bracelets around his wrists. He pretended to be relaxing against the cement block when the door opened and Lupercus came in. Father Jon’s narrowed gaze slid toward the evil creature, watching as he leaned forward and picked up the plate.
Lupercus looked down at the plate that was full of leftover oil and pieces of egg and bacon. “You must have been hungry. It pleases me to see you eat so well.”
“Why are you doing this?” Father Jon whispered fearfully. “If you don’t want to kill me, what are you going to do with me?”
“Don’t bother me with your idiotic questions,” Lupercus growled while looking down at him with loathing. “You stupid old cockroach! I would delight in killing you, but you’re not important enough to kill. I just want to keep you out of the way until my mission is complete.”
“But, why here?”
“Let’s just say I like the neighborhood. I have a project here that I’m watching very closely. Your church provides me the perfect hiding place, and your clothes the perfect disguise. In this disguise I can get into any home, be free of any suspicion, and everyone trusts me.”
“You’ll never get away with it. They’ll know you’re not me.”
“I’m not trying to be you. I’ll simply tell them you’re away on vacation or that you died.” He raised an eyebrow. “If it comes to that.”
“Can’t you put a pallet down here? This floor is cold and hard.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.” He gave a horrible belly laugh and then turned to leave.
The minute Lupercus was gone, Father Jon turned to Judas. “Maybe I’m not very smart, but something tells me you two are cut from the same cloth. Him with his transmutations and you with your laser eyeballs. I want no part of it.”
“Yes, we’re from the same place, but I’m not here to kill you. He very well might be.”
“My God, you’re from H-Hell? Are you here to destroy the world? Are you the Antichrist? How long do we have? When is it going to happen? How did you get the scar around your eye?”
“I had a one-handed duel with a coward.”
“Will you please stop talking in circles and give me a straight answer? You want me to trust you, yet you haven’t really told me anything.”
“You want a straight answer? Here it is. I’m an emissary from the Black Heavens.” He nodded toward the Father’s Bible. “In that book, it’s called Hell.”
“No,” Father Jon whispered while shaking his head. He stared at Judas as if he were the Devil incarnate, still not believing what he’d heard with his own ears. “No!” he bellowed at last. “I know I preach it, believed it…once. But now…” He looked up at Judas, his eyes full of a lifetime of pain and disappointment. “No! I can’t accept it. It can’t be true.”
“Suit yourself. You wanted the truth. I gave it to you.”
The Father looked down at the Bible and saw a silver cross on the front. He looked up at Judas. “Put your hand on this cross.”
“Why?”
“I want to be able to trust you. This is the only way.”
“Look, Father—”
“Do it!”
Judas looked at the cross and began a slow sweat. Father Jon didn’t realize what touching a cross would do to him, or maybe he did. Even walking on the sanctified ground of the graveyard outside was like stepping on hot coals. He knew that coming into the church was taking a chance, but the trick was to go to the farthest point from the chapel.
Now, as he looked down at the cross, the beauty and the glitter suddenly seemed as bright at the sun. It flashed, each sharp ray stabbing his eyes until he had to put up his hand to shield his eyes.
“You’re wasting time,” Father Jon said, his teeth clenched in anger.
“All right,” Judas whispered. Looking down at the glittering shape, he gritted his teeth, steeling himself against the pain. With a slight movement, he began to lower his hand.
Chapter 16
Judas’s hand gently touched the Bible, his palm slightly lifted so it wouldn’t touch the cross. “There, see?” he said nervously. “Nothing to worry about.”
Before Judas knew what was happening, Father Jon slapped his hand down firmly on Judas’s, forcing him to make full contact.
“Argh!” Judas yelled and yanked his hand away. Holding it up to his chest, he looked down at it and saw a smoking imprint of the cross perfectly burned into his palm. He looked up at Father Jon, his eyes full of anger. “What the hell are you trying to do to me?”
“You were trying to deceive me. Do you think I’m stupid or something? You’re every bit as evil as that devil Lupercus.”
“No, I’m not.”
“There’s the proof right there,” he said, pointing to his hand.
“You don’t understand.” Judas hesitated, and then said, “My soul…half of it is white. Lupercus barely has a soul, and over time it has become as black as death.”
“Your soul is pure…I mean, half of it?”
“I’m not sure I’d call it pure, but yes, half of my soul is as…pure, or white…whatever you want to call it, as yours.”
Father Jon leaned closer to Judas and peered at him with a suspicious, angled look. “Is this another lie?”
Judas shook his head. “I’m half mortal.”
Father Jon’s eyes widened. “How in God’s name did that happen?”
“My mother was mortal. She lived here when the angels fell from heaven—”
“Oh, God, here we go again.”
“It’s true.” Judas indicated toward the book again. “You’ve also read in that book that heaven is broken up into mansions. It’s the same in Hell, only we call them levels. Each level has its own unique character. Everything from the lowest to the highest. We have levels of torture for the punishment of our own, training fields for our warriors,”
Judas quirked an eyebrow at Father Jon. “And, of course, there’s the famous lake of fire. It’s made up of molten lava. Fire burns on its surface, and gases and fumes rise from it. These raw chemicals work their way up to the surface—”
“The surface? This surface?”
“No. The surface of Hell. The lake is buried deep in the caverns. These gases and fumes spew out of every crack, out of the fissures in the rocks. Anywhere there’s an opening, you’ll see fire, smoke, and cinders. For sinners on Earth, it is the ultimate punishment. We have storms of ash and soot, and the atmosphere is red and hot, and there’s only one season. The terrain is uneven and mountainous. Do you know there’s not a tree or blade of grass anywhere? The only animals are creations of Satan. The four-legged ones roam the outlands, and the birds fly in the air. They’re nothing like the birds of Earth. They’re hideous reptilians. They screech and perch on anything that juts out of the scorched landscape. They’re used to transport us to war zones. As far as the eye can see, there’s nothing but burned-up cinders, ashes, and soot.”
“What about rain? Everyone needs water.”
“You’re going on the assumption that our world is like yours. Yes, we have rain, crimson rain. It burns like fire if it touches you. Here it’s cold and wet, even soothing. Not so, there. There you hide from it.”
Father Jon gave Judas a wary look. “Where do you hide?
“The Royal House. My father is the Demon Lord. He’s one of the fallen angels—”
Father Jon snorted.
“Look, I’m trying to answer your questions, old man. It seems to me like you could listen to me while I do it. Now, do you want me to continue or not?”
“I didn’t ask for a bunch of fairy tales. I want the truth.”
“It is the truth! I wish it weren’t. I wish—”
Father Jon waited. “What? You wish what?”
Instead of answering, he continued in a somber voice that had very little inflection in it. “Time doesn’t exist in the Black Heavens. Everything is in the present. We have an invaluable instrument called the Wall of Moving Images that keeps us aware of the happenings on Earth and the passage of time. We can travel to any place on Earth or during any time period that we choose.”
Father Jon’s eyes raked over Judas’s figure. “All right, assuming all this is true, answer me this. Fallen angels have wings. Where are yours?”
“Only the purebloods have wings, and I’m not a fallen angel. I’m mortal, just like you.”
“Oh, no. You may be mortal, but you’re not like me. My hand doesn’t burn every time I touch a cross.”
“Look, if you don’t want to hear this—”
“All right, go ahead, tell me about this fantasy world where you have to earn your wings.”
“You’re getting us mixed up with heaven. In heaven you earn wings. In Hell we earn other things. For instance, my father told me he earned his seat among the gods by deflowering a virgin. It was true, but it wasn’t how he earned his place as a lord.” Judas looked down sadly. “The truth is, he earned it by sacrificing his only son, me.”
“My God, you were a sacrifice? Why weren’t you killed?”
“It wasn’t that kind of sacrifice. When I came of age, I was trained as an assassin. It was a grueling time, but I learned well. When the time came, I was then sent out in the midst of battles, especially to assassinate the leader. That was our strategy. Once the leader is killed, the rest is easy. All that is left is to surround the army and the war is won. I fought war after war undefeated and earned the reputation of Satan’s highest-ranking warrior.” His voice became soft with sadness. “All this because I learned how to kill.”
“I can believe that,” Father Jon muttered.
“Anyway, that virgin was my mother. As the son of a lord, I am privileged, but I can never become a god, nor will I ever grow wings.”
“Wings,” Father Jon said thoughtfully. “I’ve always been taught that Hell was underground. If this is true, why do you need wings? Why can’t you just crawl up to the surface?”
“Because there’s a whole universe down below that’s counterfeit to Earth and its universe. We need wings to be able to travel from one place to the other. Many of our wars take place on neutral territory such as a burned-out asteroid.”
“What could you possibly have to fight about?”
“Superiority. Since Hell has always been superior, we must constantly defend our place in that evil universe called the Black Heavens.”
“Well, if you don’t have wings, how did you get here?”
“When I go on a mission, I am outfitted with wings and the powers I will need to fight with.”
Father Jon looked at him, the way he was dressed. “You don’t seem so prepared to me. Look at your clothes. They don’t fit too well, do they? You may have what you need to fight a war, but what about living? I’ll bet you don’t have a dime on you. It takes money to get along in this world.”
“It’s my fault. In Hell I don’t have to ask for anything. It’s simply provided. I’ve never been here, so I guess I didn’t plan this mission very well.”
Father Jon snickered. “Go back home, sonny boy. Sounds like you’ve got it made there. I thought Hell was some kind of prison, not the kind of paradise where—”
“Paradise? What paradise rips backs to ribbons? No. Compared to Hell, Earth is a paradise. In my world, billows of black clouds surround the city. The skies are always dark. I didn’t realize how much I loved the sun until I came here. It almost blinded me at first, but I’m getting used to it. Everything here seems to have been created for man’s comfort, whereas Hell was created for his torment. Here, the heat is comforting, and the cold that chills you can be very refreshing after you’ve lived in an atmosphere of ungodly heat like I have. I can sit for hours and watch a sparkling gold fish swimming in a brook or look at a sky full of white clouds. I never knew they existed.”
“Sounds like you don’t want to go back. How long have you been here? Weeks? Months?”
“A couple of days.”
“You’re telling me you learned all this just since yesterday?”
“I’ve studied Earth for years. It was part of my education. In your schools you study other countries, other religions, or other languages. So do we, but for a different purpose.”
“Why?”
“To conquer them. To spread sin, destruction, and to cause mayhem. You see, it’s what we do. The gods and goddesses sit in their splendid houses casting spells…” His words faded for a moment, then began again. “It’s something like a chess game. They delight in using their powers to move their pawns around. But all this is done from their royal thrones. As a rule they never leave the Royal House, that is, until Lupercus. Apparently he couldn’t ignore a challenge that came to him on a dark night from a beautiful woman.”
“I understand why Lupercus came, but why you? Who sent you?”
“My father. I didn’t want to come at first, but now…” His eyes lowered, looking thoughtfully at the cross on his hand. “Funny, but I’ve often wondered what the rain would feel like on my skin, how the grass or the sand of a seashore might feel beneath my feet. I’ve even wondered what pain felt like. I’ve heard others talk, and I know some have abandoned our world for this one, but I never knew why. My father thinks it’s the decadence that attracts them, but he’s wrong.” A distant look clouded Judas’s eyes. “No, it’s the feel of wind in your face, the sun on your back, or the smell of a flower…” He smiled and slid his embarrassed gaze toward Father Jon. “Do I sound very idiotic?”
Father Jon smiled at last. “No, not at all. If by some stretch of the imagination all this is true, then it’s my guess that you’re getting to know God.”
The smile fell from Judas’s face. “Getting to know…G-God? What do you mean?”
“Only that God is everywhere. He is in the wind, the water, the flower, the sun. Anyone that loves those things—”
“Who spoke of love? No!” Judas shouted, j
umping to his feet. “I have no loyalty to God!”
“Oh, I see, then your loyalty is to Satan. Satan who provides you with a home full of soot and ashes.”
Judas stared at him. “I…I—”
“What?”
“Well, he gave me…”
Father Jon stared at him and waited.
An awkward silence stretched out longer and longer while Judas considered the question.
Finally Father Jon said, “When you think of it, let me know. Meanwhile remember how the wind felt on your face and how good the water was that quenched your thirst. You’ll get your answer.”
Judas stared at the cross etched into his palm. Funny, but it was strangely mesmerizing. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Never in his world could he breathe so easily as he could here in God’s world.
“I hesitate to ask you why you came. Being from Hell, I’m sure it’s to spread sin and destruction like your cohorts?”
The question lifted Judas from his reverie. “I’m here to help a woman by the name of Sugar Duquesne. Do you know her?”
“The name…” Suddenly Father Jon remembered the woman who ran out of the church not long ago. “Is she blonde, young, and attractive?”
“Yes.”
“I might have seen her once.”
“Her life is in danger.”
Father Jon turned his eyes toward Judas. “Danger from what?”
“Lupercus. She’s the project he was referring to. He likes playing cat and mouse with her. She’s alone, lonely, and can’t handle what she’s become.”
“Oh? What has she become?”
Judas hesitated. “A werewolf.”
Father Jon’s eyes widened, and his head began shaking. “No!” he rasped. “I don’t believe it! Not any of it, do you hear? You…where you come from, and that…that Lupercus. It’s all impossible!” Memories of that dark night came back to him. She was frightened, covered with blood. She’d been screaming, crying, and when she ran out, she was frightened out of her wits.
“I understand how you feel, Father, but her husband and her sons before her were stricken with the same curse, and the guilt she feels for all the killing is driving her insane. If she dies, chaos will break out all over. Hell will be destroyed.”
Sugar and Spice Page 11