Darkfall

and the Underworld. Heat rises from the pit, as does the stench of Hell, and the bottom of it appears to become molten. When the Bocor finally summons the entities he wants, they pass out through the Gates and then up through the bottom of the pit. On their way, these spiritual beings acquire physical bodies, golem bodies composed of the earth through which they pass; clay bodies that are nevertheless flexible and fully animated and alive . From your vivid descriptions of the creatures you’ve seen tonight, I’d say they were the incarnations of minor demons and of evil men, once mortal, who were condemned to Hell and are its lowest residents. Major demons and the ancient evil gods themselves would be considerably larger, more vicious, more powerful, and infinitely more hideous in appearance.”
    “Oh, these damned things were plenty hideous enough,” Jack assured him.
    “But, supposedly, there are many Ancient Ones whose physical forms are so repulsive that the mere act of looking at them results in instant death for he who sees,” Hampton said, pacing.
    Jack sipped his brandy. He needed it.
    “Furthermore,” Hampton said, “the small size of these beasts would seem to support my belief that the Gates are currently open only a crack. The gap is too narrow to allow the major demons and the dark gods to slip out.”
    “Thank God for that.”
    “Yes,” Carver Hampton agreed. “Thank all the benevolent gods for that.”
    V
    Penny and Davey were still asleep. The night was lonely without their company.
    The windshield wipers flogged the snow off the glass.
    The wind was so fierce that it rocked the sedan and forced Rebecca to grip the steering wheel more firmly than she had done before.
    Then something made a noise beneath the car. Thump, thump . It knocked against the undercarriage hard enough to startle her, though not loud enough to wake the kids.
    And again. Thump, thump .
    She glanced in the rearview mirror, trying to see if she’d run over anything. But the car’s back window was partially frosted, limiting her view, and the tires churned up plumes of snow so thick that they cast everything behind the car into obscurity.
    She nervously scanned the lighted instrument panel in the dashboard, but she couldn’t see any indication of trouble. Oil, fuel, alternator, battery-all seemed in good shape; no warning lights, no plunging needles on the gauges. The car continued to purr along through the blizzard. Apparently, the disconcerting noise hadn’t been related to a mechanical problem.
    She drove half a block without a recurrence of the sound, then an entire block, then another one. She began to relax.
    Okay, okay, she told herself. Don’t be so damned jumpy. Stay calm and be cool. That’s what the situation calls for. Nothing’s wrong now, and nothing’s going to go wrong, either. I’m fine. The kids are fine. The car’s fine.
    Thump-thump-thump.
    VI
    The gas flames licked the ceramic logs.
    The blown-glass lamps glowed softly, and the candles flickered, and the special darkness of the night pressed against the windows.
    “Why wouldn’t those creatures bite me? Why can’t Lavelle’s sorcery harm me?”
    “There can be only one answer,” Hampton said. “A Bocor has no power whatsoever to harm a righteous man. The righteous are well-armored.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “Just what I said. You’re righteous, virtuous. You’re a man whose soul bears the stains of only the most minor sins.”
    “You’ve got to be kidding.”
    “No. By the manner in which you’ve led your life, you’ve earned immunity to the dark powers, immunity to the curses and charms and spells of sorcerers like Lavelle. You cannot be touched.”
    “That’s just plain ridiculous,” Jack said, feeling uncomfortable in the role of a righteous man.
    “Otherwise, Lavelle would have had you murdered by now.”
    “I’m no angel.”
    “I didn’t say you were. Not a saint, either. Just a righteous man. That’s good enough.”
    “Nonsense. I’m not righteous or-”
    “If you thought of yourself as righteous, that would be a sin-a sin of self -righteousness. Smugness, an unshakable conviction of your own moral superiority, a self-satisfied blindness to your own faults-none of those qualities is descriptive of you.”
    “You’re beginning to embarrass me,” Jack said.
    “You see? You aren’t even guilty of the sin of excessive pride.”
    Jack held up his brandy. “What about this? I