“But—” Lucifer points at Anil. “He’s a secular humanist!”
“He is Hindu,” says Krishna.
“His parents are Hindu,” Lucifer stresses.
“It is true that he has claimed that he is not the best example of a practicing Hindu,” Krishna says. “But even a not-very-good example remains an example.”
“So, okay, maybe he’s Hindu. But a treaty violation only means—”
“Among other things,” Krishna says, “what that means is that you forfeit the right to any gains directly acquired by means of the acts which violated the treaty. And because William Harrison Ridgeway was coerced into—”
“He prefers Billy,” Lucifer says, although suddenly Billy isn’t certain that he does, any longer.
“Because William Harrison Ridgeway was coerced into swearing his Dark Oath to you in order to remove Anil Mallick from danger, and because Anil Mallick was endangered in violation of the Treaty of Sectarian Nonaggression, the penalties you face include an invalidation of William Harrison Ridgeway’s Oath, effective immediately.”
And with those words Billy feels it go, as though washed away by cold, clear water rushing through his mind. He inhales once, deeply.
“You cheat,” says Lucifer.
“Lucifer,” Krishna says. He returns the document to its case and claps it shut. “My intercession here is complete, or nearly complete, and so I intend to depart. But I shall leave you with one recommendation. Whatever business you may have with these people? Conclude it.”
“Yes, fine,” Lucifer says. “Give my best to your sixteen thousand wives.”
For the first time, an irritated look crosses Krishna’s face. “You do understand that those wives are manifestations of Lakshmi, my consort—?”
Lucifer shrugs. “If you insist,” he says.
Krishna sighs, and in the sigh is the sound of a river, an infinite river, and when the sound fades Krishna is gone, although it’s difficult to pinpoint any exact instant as being the one at which he disappeared, and in a way it is like he is still there with them. The situation still feels balanced. Billy turns to check out the detector, which is dormant, and he notices that Anil has disappeared, spirited away by his god. Billy senses him returned home, bewildered, worried but safe.
“So,” Lucifer says, returning his attention to Billy.
“So,” Billy says. “Now what?”
“Nothing has changed,” says Lucifer. “I still intend to take you and the others to Hell with me, where you shall serve the purpose for which you were bred and born. No ward protects you. I can take you at any time.”
“But that’s not fair,” Billy says. “You don’t get to take us just because you can.”
“I never claimed to be fair, Billy,” Lucifer says, softly.
“But that wasn’t the deal,” Billy says.
“Billy,” Lucifer says. “We made no deal.”
“We did,” Billy says, pleadingly.
“We did not,” Lucifer says. “You are correct that I proposed a deal, originally. You will recall the terms: you were to have given me the Neko, and I was to have seen to it that your book would be published, and our obligations to one another were to mutually conclude. But you did not agree to that deal. You made a point, repeatedly, of saying that you were not agreeing to that deal. And now I want more.”
“You said you enjoyed tempting people,” Billy said. “Show me. Tempt me. Give me something.”
“Billy,” Lucifer says. “It is time to go.” He raises his hand.
Billy looks Lucifer in his stupid placid face, and feels his anger and animal ferocity surge up again. He finds himself wanting blood in his mouth.
“No,” he says.
“No?” Lucifer says, sounding faintly amused.
“No.”
Lucifer regards Billy carefully. “Are you telling me,” he says, “that you won’t serve your master?”
“You’re not my master,” Billy says.
“I appreciate this attitude,” Lucifer says, after a beat. “It reminds me of myself at your age. Very well, then. You wish to make a deal? Let’s make a deal.”
And with those words it is like a circle is drawn around them, a circle that no one else in the room can enter.
“Let us discuss your book,” Lucifer says.
“No,” Billy says. “Screw the book. My book sucks and I don’t give a shit about it.” He exhales after he says that, like he’s letting go of a breath he’s held for years. Something that had been flailing in him, all that time, finally calms, and from that position of calm he is able to speak: “Here’s the deaclass="underline" I give you the Neko and you leave me alone. You leave me alone and you leave my friends alone, forever. You release Jørgen and Elisa from their own oaths or obligations or whatever. You let us all go home and you don’t contact us again.”
“That’s really what you want,” Lucifer says.
“That’s what I want,” Billy says.
Lucifer watches him closely. “I went to some trouble to make the three of you, you know,” he says, with something bordering on affection in his voice. “To let all three of you go would represent the squandering of a great deal of effort.”
“You waited thirty years to track us down,” Billy says. “You can’t have needed us all that badly.”
“Thirty years,” Lucifer says. “That’s nothing to me.”
“Then start over,” Billy says. “Invest the time. Make another set like us. In the end you’d have exactly what you want now.” He feels bad, using someone not yet born in this way, an innocent person he’ll never know, but he has nothing else to bargain with.
Lucifer considers the idea impassively. It is like watching a computer chew up some enormous wad of data only without the benefit of a creeping bar to mark the progress of the process.
“This is the deal,” Billy says, quietly. “Take it or leave it.”
After a nearly interminable interval Lucifer breaks into a smile.
“No,” he says.
“No?” Billy exclaims.
“Don’t act so surprised, Billy Ridgeway; you’re not the only one who can say no when a proposal does not suit him.”
“Okay, fine,” Billy says, anger in his voice. “Make me a counteroffer, then.”
“I shall,” Lucifer says, his smile broadening. “And here it is. You give me the Neko. I send you and your friends home. I free Jørgen Storløkken and Elisa Mastic from their Oaths and I begin to work on building another retinue of hell-wolves. But that will take time. It will take years. What I want from you, then, is permission. I want permission to contact you again, should I require your services.”
“Am I obligated to say yes? When you pop up? Do I have to do what you say?”
“You do not. At that time, should it come, we will negotiate a new deal. I only ask for the right to approach you, and I ask that you consent to hear me out.”
“Will I have to watch a PowerPoint presentation?”
“Yes,” Lucifer says. “But any such presentation will be under forty-five minutes in duration.”
“Fifteen,” Billy says.
“Thirty,” Lucifer says.
“Agreed.”
“I have your consent?”
“You do.”
“Very well, then. Billy Ridgeway, I accept our deal.”
He extends his right hand, and Billy knows that the time has come: at long last, he has to shake hands with the Devil. And he does. Lucifer’s palm is cool and dry to the touch, and Billy feels a little self-conscious about his own, which is coated with a clammy sheen of panic sweat.
“The Neko, please,” Lucifer says, extending his left hand, without releasing Billy’s right hand from his grip. Billy passes the duffel bag containing the Neko and the cache of incriminating weapons.