Page 106

Thrashing, screaming, mad.

But he had been taken out of it. Snatched back into life. And he lay on the ground looking at the sky. The flames licked the stars, it seemed, but he was far away from them, and couldn't even feel the heat anymore. He could smell his burnt clothing and his burnt hair. The pain in his face and hands was the worst and the blood was leaking out of him and he could scarcely move his lips . . .

". . . All thy Master's vain works destroyed, all the vain creations which he made among mortals with his Dark Powers, images of angels and saints and living mortals! Wilt thou, too, be destroyed? Or serve Satan? Make thy choice. Thou hast tasted the fire, and the fire waits for thee, hungry for thee. Hell waits for thee. Wilt thou make thy choice?"

". . . yes. . . "

". . . to serve Satan as he is meant to be served. "

"Yes. . . "

". . . That all things of the world are vanity, and thou shalt never use thy Dark Powers for any mortal vanity, not to paint, not to create music, not to dance, nor to recite for the amusement of mortals but

only and forever in the service of Satan, thy Dark Powers to seduce and to terrify and to destroy, only to destroy. . . "

"Yes. . . "

". . . consecrated to thy one and only master, Satan, Satan forever, always and forever. . . to serve thy true master in darkness and pain and in suffering, to surrender thy mind and thy heart. . . "

"Yes. "

"And to keep from thy brethren in Satan no secret, to yield all knowledge of the blasphemer and his burden. . . "

Silence.

"To yield all knowledge of the burden, child! Come now, the flames wait. "

"I do not understand you. . . "

"Those Who Must Be Kept. Tell. "

"Tell what? I do not know anything, except that I do not wish to suffer. I am so afraid. "

"The truth, Child of Darkness. Where are they? Where are Those Who Must Be Kept?"

"I do not know. Look into my mind if you have that same power. There is nothing I can tell. "

"But what, child, what are they? Did he never tell you? What are Those Who Must Be Kept?"

And so they did not understand it either. It was no more than a phrase to them as it was to him. When you are powerful enough that no one can ever take the knowledge from you against your will. The Master had been wise.

"What is its meaning! Where are they? We must have the answer. "

"I swear to you, I do not have it. I swear on my fear which is all I possess now, I do not know!"

White faces appearing above him, one at a time. The tasteless lips giving hard, sweet kisses, hands stroking him, and from their wrists the glittering droplets of blood. They wanted the truth to come out in the blood. But what did it matter? The blood was the blood.

"Thou art the devil's child now. "

"Yes. "

"Don't weep for thy master, Marius. Marius is in hell where he belongs. Now drink the healing blood and rise and dance with thine own kind for the glory of Satan! And immortality will be truly thine!"

"Yes" -- the blood burning his tongue as he lifted his head, the blood filling him with torturous slowness. "Oh, please. "

All around him Latin phrases, and the low beat of drums. They were satisfied. They knew he had spoken the truth. They would not kill him and the ecstasy dimmed all considerations. The pain in his hands and his face had melted into this ecstasy "Rise, young one, and join the Children of Darkness. "

"Yes, I do. " White hands reaching for his hands. Horns and lutes shrilling over the thud of the drums, the harps plucked into an hypnotic strumming as the circle commenced to move. Hooded figures in mendicant black, robes flowing as they lifted their knees high and bent their backs.