Deliver us from Evil (26 page)

'What the Marquise truly knows or not is hard to decide.' 'Why?'

'She is glutted with her ambitions.' 'And what are those?'

'Could you not tell?' Lightborn smiled coldly. 'It is her belief that the bounds of the universe may be measured by herself - and that the profoundest secrets of Hell may be revealed.'

Robert closed his eyes. The image of Stonehenge rose before him, encircled by the ring of the dead. 'And have they not been?' he whispered.

Lightborn shrugged again. '
I
wonder. Tadeus was much infected by the Marquise's aspirations - and she, certainly, has always promised more than she delivers.'

'What do you mean?'

The smile slowly faded from Lightborn's face. He gazed into the distance of the night. 'It was,' he explained softly, 'no - it is - the Marquise's universal practice to tempt those she feels will be worthy of her powers, by speaking of an unglimpsed world of spirits which the worthy may nevertheless make their own.' He paused for a moment; then the smile, very faintly, returned to his lips. 'It was thus, certainly, that she first captivated me - for
I
too once had an over-reaching pride. The Marquise would encourage this: whisper to me of a world where knowledge might be infinite, and of the veil that concealed it from mortal sight. Swollen with insolence, and surfeited upon her golden promises,
I
asked her to rip it from my eyes. She did so. She gave me the gift - the curse - of her state. But it was only when it was too late - when
I
had become, like her, a drinker of blood - that
I
found how she had lied.'

'Lied?' Robert stared at him in surprise. 'Yet you have great powers.'

'And no answers.' Lightborn turned to face him. 'For there is no infinite knowledge, despite what Madame la Marquise claims - no -not even once the veil is ripped aside. And so blood-drinkers, like the gullible mortals they had formerly been, are still ravished by necromancy, and dream of piercing the very bounds of Hell. They are fools, of course - they should have learned from their former error that there is no Hell, there is no Devil, there is no Spirit which governs the world. For, in truth, we are ruled by nothing but cruelty and accident, the whims of a godless, pointless universe; and yet they cannot bear to think we should be so alone. Surely, they pray, there is still a Devil in Hell; and surely His power may still be theirs, if only they can find Him - if only another veil be ripped from their eyes.'

'And yet,' Robert murmured, 'Faustus did summon something.' He clasped his stomach; there seemed a numbness deep inside it, as though from where the Marquise had laid the palm of her hand. 'He summoned something; and now - although
I
cannot glimpse it for myself - it seems
I
wear that something's mark.'

Milady had been watching him. 'There is no certain proof,' she whispered suddenly, 'that the mark was inflicted by the creature you saw - no certain proof at all.'

'And yet there is something cursed about me? Is it true, that
I
am like no other mortal you have known?'

Milady glanced at Godolphin. Immediately he began to twitch and stir, like some sleeping animal suffering bad dreams. 'Like no other mortal,' Milady agreed. Gingerly almost, as though surprised by herself, she reached out to touch Robert. He brushed her hand away. At once she clenched her fingers, very tightly; then slowly, and disbelievingly, she stretched them out again. She laughed faintly as she stared down at her hand. 'See what effect you have on me,' she said. 'Such power' - she glanced back at Godolphin - 'it cannot be a curse. No.' She ran the tips of her fingers along her lip. it cannot be a curse.'

Robert could feel now, from the motion of the carriage, that they were passing along paved streets. He glanced out and saw the trees of St James's Park, touched by the first hints of dawn. He looked back at Milady; she was staring at Godolphin, who lay curled and whimpering on the carriage floor. Milady's gaze was unblinking and suddenly very cruel; and her beauty, Robert thought, seemed like that of Medusa, who had appalled those she entranced and chilled them into stone. Godolphin began to slobber over Milady's shoe; she kicked him away, and gripped the side of the carriage, very tight, as she stared out at the Park. Not even as the horses began to slow did she look round again.

Lightborn leaned across to her. 'We are approaching our new home,' he said. 'Are you not interested to see what
I
have found for us?'

Still she did not look round, not until the carriage had come to a halt. Robert and Lightborn both clambered out, then waited for Milady to descend. 'Well?' Lightborn asked her, gesturing up at Godolphin's mansion. 'What do you think? Do you not wish to drown me with your thanks?'

Milady gazed up wordlessly, then she walked towards the main door. Godolphin scurried to open it for her. Still wordlessly, she walked through into the hallway, and on into the dining room. She gazed around her again, it has,' she said at last, 'opportunities.'

I
am glad,' said Lightborn, with a short bow. 'Perhaps now, then, you will cease this pettish humour of yours.'

Milady did not reply. She continued to stare about her. 'And all this' - she said at last, fixing her gaze on Godolphin - 'was his?'

'You know,' answered Lightborn, 'that
I
always choose my lovers well.'

'He has signed it over?' 'He has.'

'So that he who had so much now has nothing - and of his own free will.' She looked at Robert. 'Do you see,' she whispered, 'to what baseness mortality may easily be brought?'

Robert frowned. 'What do you mean, Milady?' he asked her very slowly.

She made no answer but crossed to Godolphin, her heels clicking on the marble floor. He cringed and moaned beneath her stare, his wails growing more and more desperate, as he began to wet the hem of her dress with his kisses and his tears. Milady endured them for a while; then she sighed at last with disgust, and looked away. 'Throw him out,' she told Lightborn. 'He stinks of his madness.'

'No!' Godolphin's cry rose and fell on an aching, rending sob. 'No!' he wailed again, scrabbling towards Lightborn, seizing his hand and kissing it desperately. 'Not away,' he cried, 'not from you, you promised me, please!'

Lightborn shrugged. 'But Milady will not have you, you see.'

'No, no, please!' Godolphin stared frantically round at Milady, who was seating herself upon a chair, watching him. But though her red lips were parted, she said not a thing; and she concentrated instead upon smoothing out her skirts, then beckoning to Robert to sit by her side.

Lightborn took Godolphin by the hair and began to drag him across to the door. Godolphin seemed barely to have sufficient breath to bring up his sobs; yet still he pleaded to be allowed to stay. 'Anything,' he wailed, 'anything,
I
will give you anything.'

Lightborn laughed. 'But you have nothing now to give.'

Godolphin's words were lost on another heaving sob.

'Except
..."
- Lightborn suddenly paused and frowned - 'except for your wife.'

Godolphin's sobs fell silent; he gazed up at Lightborn with his mouth open wide.

Lightborn bent down close by his face. 'Where has she fled?'

Godolphin stammered something meaningless.

'
I
swore,' said Lightborn, his eyes glinting, '
I
would be even with the bitch. Well?' He gestured towards the door. 'You heard my terms. Go and fetch her from her hideaway. Then
I
may consider permitting you to continue here.' He glanced across at Milady. 'We shall be needing a footman, after all.'

Robert stared at him in disbelief. 'You cannot send him like a beggar from his own home.'

'
I
shall do what
I
please,' Lightborn answered coldly. 'You are forgetting - it is not his but my home now.' He glanced down at Godolphin again. 'Well?' He gestured towards the door again. 'Go! Fetch me the whore.' Godolphin shuddered; for a moment a look of confusion and doubt crossed his face, but then he rose to his feet and stumbled from the room. Robert heard his footsteps echoing across the hall; then the front door was slammed, and there was silence again.

'What will you do,' Robert asked, crossing to face Lightborn, 'if he brings you back his wife?'

'Milady!' Lightborn called out in a weary tone. '
I
believe your pet is turning Christian again.'

'What will you do?' Robert demanded, raising his voice.

Lightborn grinned. 'Get her to love me - that will be quite revenge enough.'

'What do you mean?'

'You have truly not guessed?'

'Lightborn!' Milady had risen from her chair.

'It is too late now,' he answered. 'He may as well know.'

'Know what?' Robert asked.

'Why - that like the sun, the love of my kind dazzles all those who gaze upon it. To be straight' - Lightborn stared deep into Robert's eyes - 'it reduces them to madness.' His grin broadened. 'Such, without fail, is the fate of all those we love.'

'All?'

'All,' whispered Lightborn. 'All - save only you.'

Robert stared round at Milady, who stood where she had risen -face frozen, eyes unreadable; then back at the door through which Godolphin had just left. He began to run after him, calling his name, through the house and out on to the Mall, but the street was empty and, though Robert gazed up and down it, he could see no trace of the ruined man. He stared into the wilderness of the Park. Godolphin must have vanished into that, he thought. Robert saw that there were carriages lined along its margin, and then watched as two men stumbled out from the trees, arm-in-arm, both laughing. One was fumbling with his breeches. They both clambered into a carriage which at once, with the crack of a whip, began to pull away. Robert watched it leave, then stared back into the Park's darkness. It remained impenetrable, despite the rising sun to the east. He wondered if he dared to enter such a darkness. He wondered, if he did, what he might discover there; what might happen to him.

'How can you know,' he asked aloud, '
I
shall not grow like Godolphin?'

'
I
cannot.'

Robert turned round. Milady was standing behind him, two or three paces away. She did not attempt to draw nearer.

'It seems, then,' said Robert with a low laugh, 'that
I
am trapped between two possible, unenviable fates. Either
I
shall end such a .
..
thing
...
as Godolphin is become; or you will love me without destroying me, in which case
I
can be certain that
I
am branded with the Devil's mark.'

Very faintly, she inclined her head. 'But
I
do not say it is the Devil's.'

'Why would it not be?'

'For the same reason that
I
do not believe my love will destroy you.' 'Tell me, then.'

Milady parted her lips, as though to speak; then she paused and shook her head. '
I
think . . . no.' She half-laughed, and shook her head again. 'You cannot understand,' she murmured. 'But tonight
...
all the Marquise said
...
it was the thought, Lovelace - the thought - of losing you

'But why should you care,' he asked, 'who has everything else?'

'The
...'
A look of blank misery swept across her face. 'The
loneliness,'
she whispered at last, as though confessing some terrible sin.

Robert stared at her and, for the first time ever, he realised that she was reluctant to meet his eye. 'Tell me,' he said, more softly than before.

'It is not true,' said Milady, after another long pause, 'that
all
mortals must be destroyed by our love. There are those
...
the children of my kind . . . who can endure our love, and not be driven mad
...'
She shrugged faintly. 'And so - of course - they are highly prized.'

'Then why have you not sought out one of those?' Still Milady would not meet his stare. 'They are hard to come by,' she said shortly. 'But even they .
..'
'Yes?'

'Even they . . .' Now Milady did look up. Her eyes, Robert saw, were gleaming; her red lips parted. 'They do not compare,' she said in a sudden rush, 'with you. For with you - how can you understand? -but it is as though
...
as though
I
am no longer a blood-drinker at all.
I
feel mortal.
I
cannot read your mind; but your emotions -
I
feel aware of them. Your fears, your passions, your joys . . .' She paused again, stretched out her hand. '
I
had forgotten,' she whispered, 'how it felt to be human. But Lovelace, my dear
...'
She touched his hand with her fingertips. 'Can you
...
do you . . . please' - she swallowed -'understand?'