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.”
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.
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 drink.”
“To excess?”
“No. But I swear and curse. I sure do my own share of that. I take
the Lord’s name in vain.”
“A very minor sin.”
“I don’t attend church.”
“Church-going has nothing to do with righteousness.
The only thing that really counts is how you treat your fellow human
beings. Listen, let’s pin this down; let’s be absolutely sure this is
why Lavelle can’t touch you.
Have you ever stolen from anyone?”
“No.”
“Have you ever cheated someone in a financial transaction? ”
“I’ve always looked out for my own interests, been aggressive in that
regard, but I don’t believe I’ve ever cheated anyone.”