three thugs, who cowered abjectly against the wall.
'Death shall have no dominion,' the stranger said. He pointed at the floor before Zane, and fire rose from it.
This was evidently a higher functionary. 'I will rescue my love, though Hell bar the way.' Zane swept the blade of the scythe through the flames, and they were cut off like so many weeds. In a moment they died.
The man made a circle in the air with one finger. The space inside the circle fell out like cut paper, leaving a window into a horrendous furnace. 'Hell does bar the way. Do not tamper with things you do not understand.'
Zane made a circle with his own left arm, flinging a length of his cape over the window, stifling it until it disappeared. 'Who the devil are you to oppose me with such foolish tricks and to slight my intelligence?' He shifted the blade of the scythe meaningfully. 'The Devil himself shall not interfere with Death any more.'
The man's face melted. From the dripping flesh emerged the glowing countenance of the Prince of Evil. 'I am the Devil, Death!'
Zane was for a moment taken aback. 'How can you be out of Hell?'
'I can be anywhere I wish!' Satan exclaimed, a ripple of flame playing across his features. 'Evil is inherent in all activities of man. Now bow down before Me and leave off your inane posturings, for your case is lost.'
Uncertainty tore at Zane. He had made short work of Satan's Earthly and beastly minions — but Satan himself was another matter. He looked around — and saw Luna still tied to the chair, the three thugs by her, one holding the electrodes used to torture her. Renewed fury suffused him.
'Then I shall deal with you,' Zane said, facing Satan.
The Prince of Evil smiled sardonically. 'With Me? How do you propose to do that? Your magic is gone, and you are but a man.'
'My magic gone? So you claimed before, but it was and is a lie. I received no confirmation from Purgatory. My magic horse remained, and my magic gems, and my invincible cloak. I was never without magic! Lies are all you have. Father of Lies. You suggest you can arbitrarily deprive me of my powers.' Zane stepped toward the Devil. 'Satan, it is not your prerogative! Death is inviolate, as it must be, not to be tampered with by the likes of you. Where Death has dominion, the Lord of Flies has none.' Zane took another step. 'Now get behind me, Satan, and disperse the ilk you brought here. Stay me no longer from my mission, lest I orient my power on you.'
Satan harrumphed, and his horns glowed. 'A month ago you were the least of pip-squeaks scrambling to pay your back rent. The assumption of a cloak and scythe does not convert a nothing-creature to a something-creature. You have delusions of grandeur that will quickly be dispelled. You bluff, mortal man.'
For answer, Zane swept the deadly scythe at Satan's ankles and tail.
The Prince of Evil jumped back, avoiding the cut. He flicked his fingers, and a sparkling globe of energy floated at Zane's face. 'Fool! Then feel the wrath of Satan!'
Zane stood still, not even attempting to evade the globe. It settled about his head, blazing high, coloring his vision as if he looked out from an inferno, but there was no heat. In a moment it dissipated harmlessly. The Deathhood had protected him. 'The bluff is yours. Father of Lies.'
Satan sneered. 'You talk big, mortal man, holding the magic scythe and wrapped in the magic cloak, backed by the magic steed. These are mere tools of the office. Without them you are nothing.'
'You lie again,' Zane said. 'You have no power over me, regardless.' He set down the scythe and lifted the cloak from his shoulders.
'No!' Luna cried from the chair. 'Don't let Satan trick you into powerlessness, Zane!'
Now it was her faith that was weak, instead of his. Zane smiled and threw the cape aside. Then he removed his shoes and stripped off his gloves and gems.
'You are indeed a fool,' Satan gloated.
'Then all you have to do is stand still,' Zane said, 'and we shall make the proof of my prerogatives.' Slowly he reached one bare hand toward the Devil.
Satan nudged back. 'What idiocy is this? I can destroy you with a single flick of My finger!'
'Then you had better do it,' Zane said, 'for I am about to hook your soul with my own finger.' He extended his hand farther.
Satan moved back some more, staying just clear. 'Pool! I am trying to spare you the ignominy of being humiliated!'
'How very kind of you. Father of Lies.' Zane leaned forward, shooting his hand at Satan's midsection.
The Devil puffed into nothingness.
Zane turned to see the Prince of Evil reform behind him. 'So you got behind me, Satan,' he remarked. 'I have moved you. Do you think that improves your position? Strike, Lucifer! Do not spare my feelings any further. Humiliate me. Destroy Death while he stands vulnerable. I turn my back on you again, to facilitate your chastisement.' And he turned away.
Satan sighed. 'You have prevailed. Death. You called My bluff and forced Me to give way. You have at last realized your full power.'
'What else is news?' Zane picked up his cloak and got dressed again.
'If I may inquire,' Satan asked without sarcasm, 'as one Incarnation to another — what gave you the clue?'
'The fifth pattern of matchsticks,' Zane said.
'Intuitive thinking,' Satan agreed, comprehending immediately. 'That would do it.'
'I realized that if there were any way for you to meddle in the affairs of Death, or to stop Death from performing his duty, you would have done so long ago. No magic cloak would have stopped you, the Incarnation of Evil, the personification of black magic, whose powers of enchantment are not matched anywhere on Earth. It had to be inherent in the office, not in the paraphernalia. Death has to be inviolable, absolutely certain. Not even God, the Incarnation of Good, acted against Death when I declined to exercise my power in the world. Only Death can determine his business. Therefore you had to be powerless against me in this instance. I cannot defend this by logic; I simply know it is true. I have faith in my office.'
Satan nodded. 'You do indeed. Against that faith, even I can not prevail. Yet had you chosen another issue, you would never have been able to oppose Me. Your power is less than Mine, as evil lives after death.'
'I recognize that,' Zane said. 'But I met you on my own turf, which is not a matter of physical locale. Never again will you bluff me there.'
'You were a man performing an office,' Satan said. 'Now you have become the office.'
'Yes.'
'And who informed you about the formations of matchsticks?'
'Nature,' Zane said, realizing only now the extent of her oblique advice to him.
'That green mother!' Satan snarled with disgust, and vanished.
Zane went to Luna. 'Begone, vermin,' he told the thugs, who hastened to oblige.
'But how did you do it?' Luna asked as he untied her and put the Death cloak about her bare torso. 'No one is stronger than Satan, except maybe God.'
Zane realized that she had not grasped all the implications of his confrontation with the Prince of Evil. She still thought of him as a man — and indeed, he was a man, with a man's love for his woman. 'To be strong is not to be omnipotent,' he explained. 'There are seven Incarnations, not five, when we include Good and Evil, rendering them G-od and D-evil. No one can say for sure whether one Incarnation is superior to another, but certainly each is supreme in his own bailiwick. So while Death can not balk Satan's administration of Hell, however corrupt it may be, Satan cannot balk Death's activity either. And no Incarnation can directly harm any other, unless that other accedes by design or ignorance or carelessness. Once I realized that and truly believed it and comprehended its implications, Satan had no further power over me.' He smiled. 'Or you. I'll take you by Purgatory now, to verify that Satan has dropped his claim to your early demise. Then I'll resume my job.'
'You are brilliant!' she exclaimed. 'Once you had that revelation, Satan himself was unable to oppose you. I see now the wisdom of my father's decision in giving me to you. I'm sorry I lacked the faith in you that you had in me.'
She did not realize how weak his faith had been, before his intuition! 'I hoped Satan could not oppose me,' he admitted.
She stared at him. 'You mean you didn't know?'
'How can one know an intuition? There is no direct connection between question and answer. I could not be
