'I believe,' Black said, speaking for the first time, 'that we all should retire for a little fun and games. We have time, for we are many and they are but two puny Christians.' He put his arm around a young girl and squeezed one breast, feeling her braless nipple swell under his palm.
Fool! Roma looked at him, knowing that her son would never survive any violent encounter with Sam Balon's Christian offspring. By all that is unholy, she mused, talking toward Karl, Nydia could probably whip him. She thought: I have given my word, and I must see to it :hat it is kept. Saturday through Thursday, no violent acts toward either of them ... of course, she smiled, what is pudding to one person is poison to another. I will have the time to seduce Sam; to impregnate me, for that is not considered an act of violence if he agrees … one way or the other.
'You are truly a beautiful woman,' Karl said to her when she reached his side.
'Yes, I know,' she said smiling. 'And that was a magnificent organ you displayed a few moments ago,' she said returning the compliment. 'For a bit of stimulation, shall we play voyeur for a time, watching Falcon work his way into your daughter?'
Karl licked thick lips. 'Will she scream?' he asked, eyes bright with anticipation at the prospect of watching his daughter couple with the Master's agent on earth. There was always the chance she would be impregnated, and birth a demon. That would make the Master proud.
'They always do,' Roma replied.
Sam and Nydia lay side by side in Sam's bed, but the only thing touching between them was their fingers. Sam told her of the voice in his head, and of the message.
She was silent for a time, then said, 'Despite that, Sam, and all that is happening around us, I want you.'
'Yes,' was his reply.
'But I don't believe we should, do you?'
'No.'
'Sam?'
'Yes?'
'It may be wrong—I think it is, at times, that is—but I have to say it: I love you.'
'And I love you, Nydia.'
He could hear her silent weeping, and it cut at him. She asked, 'Is it wrong, Sam?'
'I … don't know. We'll have to ask when this is over.'
'Who do we ask?'
'I don't know that either. But I believe that somehow an … answer will be found. Here, I think. I get the feeling a moral question is not the … not going to be the main issue.'
'I don't understand.'
'Neither do I. Those words just popped into my head.'
'Am I part of your temptation, Sam?'
'A little bit, I believe, and I am a part of yours.'
'It isn't fair. God knew we would be thrown together, and surely He knew we would fall in love.'
The words sprang into his head, then rolled from his tongue. 'He had His reasons, Nydia. We'll know them when we face them.'
She turned her back to him and cried herself to sleep, very much aware of him next to her … and wanting him.
* * *
'You're restless this night, Sam,' Jane Ann said. She had abruptly awakened and automatically looked around the room for the mist that was Balon.
'In a manner of speaking, yes.'
'Don't you sleep in your world?'
'Not as you know it.'
'You're holding something back from me,' she said, her tone not accusing.
'Yes.'
'And you're worried about it.' Not spoken as a question.
'To a degree.'
'Can't you tell me about your concern?'
'A … friend; an acquaintance … a longtime resident of the world without end … has quarreled with God. He has found an exit and left the firmament. Against orders, I think. But I can't be certain of that. Even He … has moods.'
'He made man in His own image, didn't He?'
'Yes and no. He made man and woman in our image.'
'I don't understand.'
'You will.'
