When I returned to my charge, I found Jesus in the midst of a crowd, healing broken limbs, runny noses, arthritis, and stomach disorders. He was getting mobbed.

Always, he laid hands on the people he healed. He could have simply snapped his fingers and healed every person on Earth at once, but instead he chose to cure one at a time by moving his frail human hands.

Eventually, he leaped clear of the crowd and climbed up upon a rock.

"Please!" he yelled. "Give me a minute to speak."

They obeyed, gathering around him in a circle. A small child with a missing foot gazed forlornly up at him, and I could see how he struggled to not jump down and heal the poor thing that instant.

"Listen," he said. "Do you want to know how to find God's favor? Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be filled. Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh."

I stared up at him. God was looking for hungry people now? All along he'd been looking for people who would obey all the little laws he made. Well, it was certainly easier to starve, but what sense did it make?

It certainly explained the way this Jesus lived, wandering from town to town, sleeping outside. What did he do with his carpenter shop, did he simply abandon it? I made a mental note to find out.

"Blessed are you, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake."

"He's calling himself 'The Son of Man' now, my liege," said the demon Aurelia. She was wearing the body of a woman of about twenty. Her hair was exceptionally long and well cared for. Her eyes reminded me a little of Jesus' own--pale, but not so haunting.

I turned my attention back to Jesus. I could see a group of men sitting behind him. A ragged bunch if ever there was one.

"But woe unto you that are rich! for you have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full! for you shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for you shall mourn and weep."

Hearing this, I looked at Aurelia. "He's got some issues with wealthy people, even with the ones who blow trumpets and give to the poor. Odd, isn't it, that he should dislike the ones he himself has blessed with abundance?"

She shrugged. "How does this help us tempt him?"

As I pondered, Jesus spoke on.

"But I say unto you, love your enemies, do good to them who hate you. Bless them that curse you, and pray for who harm you."

Maybe that irrational precept explained why he hadn't blasted me with his powers and why he'd even called me "friend."

"Okay, look, here's what we'll do. See if you can get close to him, tempt him to fall in love with you. Not lust, mind you. We need to play a longer game than that with this one. Do you understand?"

"Love?" she looked at me uncertainly.

"It fits him. Show him kindness, gush over his teaching, but play it cool. Once he's hooked, we'll find another demon to beat you up and mistreat you. His anger will take over and maybe he'll kill someone."

I would have done so to Mikal's brother--except that I knew hearing of his death would hurt her, and I had no desire to add to her pain.

Aurelia did as she was told. I watched from a distance as she knelt among the crowds and gazed raptly up at him. I noticed him noticing her, and caught the way his gaze kept returning to her as he spoke.

So far, things were going well.

I settled in to wait. He started using parables, telling stories which barely made sense. It was a teaching technique designed to engage the students in thought, but, for me at least, it was utterly puzzling. All kinds of stories about seeds and gardening. It all seemed unimportant to me and my task of tempting him to sin.

When at last, after a good twenty minutes or so, he was done speaking. At once he went to the boy with a missing foot.

Aurelia approached him, and he looked up at her. I smiled in anticipation.

But when she got within three feet of him, she started to tremble. She fell and went into a seizure.

I glided closer, watching. What was she doing?

"This is a demon-possessed woman, Lord. I've seen her do this before."

Possessing a human is a difficult thing. Sometimes their minds and bodies reject us and it takes an effort to get them back under control. Aurelia, while not as old and expert as myself was competent. I'm sure she'd had a struggle or two gaining control of the woman she now inhabited, but this--well, it was embarrassing.

I drifted closer still, hovering just overhead. I could feel it myself now, a sort of painful vibration emanating from Jesus. Maybe it was a side-effect of all the healing he'd been doing. No wonder she'd lost it.

Jesus laid his hand on her forehead and spoke in a voice full of authority and power. "Come out of her"

And just like that Aurelia was gone, banished to sheol and darkness, fallen from the mortal plane. Gone.

Rapidly, I backed away, not wishing to share Aurelia's fate. Being Cassia's plaything did not appeal to me. I smiled to myself, thinking of the days when Cassia and I used to torment each other. well, maybe being her plaything appealed a little.

It was then I saw Mikal, hanging on the outer edge of the crowd, staring at Jesus. Did I dare try and use her for my task?

Okay, so if I wanted to use my strategy, I'd have to influence a human without possessing her. That made things harder, but this task was never supposed to be easy.