Before her stay along the Dark Stair, Cassia was fun, cruel, and dangerous. She had energy and direction. The creature now at my side was distracted, quiet, and lost. If she even saw the world around her, it barely registered on her thinking.

"What are we doing again?" she asked, for about the twentieth time.

"Jesus will be here soon. We need a big reception. He should feel welcome, appreciated, kingly. He should be made to feel that his work is really making a difference in people's hearts and lives."

She nodded and glanced around.

"Are we helping him now?"

The way she asked the question, it was like--it was like the answer didn't matter.

"Cassia, are you still with me?"

It was probably the twentieth time I'd asked that question.

Her eyes trained on a bird flapping idly overhead. She gazed at it raptly for several seconds before responding.

"Mmm, hmm."

"Okay, let me rephrase. I know you're not with me. What happened to you when you were on the Dark Stair? You aren't yourself."

Again, several seconds went by.

"It was bad, Darius, at first. Every second of that time I wondered if I could endure the next, if my spirit would not be completely destroyed under the onslaught. The thing that got me through it was music."

As far as I knew, there were only screams to be heard on the Dark Stair. While for many of us, this is music, I didn't think it was what Cassia meant.

"For a while, it was so faint that I wasn't consciously aware of it," she went on. "But then I heard it. Somehow, focusing on it, I could almost forget the pain."

There was an eerie calm in her voice as she spoke, a tranquility that was so out of place in her character as I'd known her, that the darkness inside me boiled.

"And the time you spent with your mortal--did I make the right decision in telling the Abominations to give you that break?"

For the first time since her restoration, she truly smiled.

"It was. He is in that place known as the 'Bosom of Abraham.' Have you ever seen it?"

I shook my head. "Obviously not. Our kind is forbidden from there."

"They let me in. The angels bearing the flaming swords merely nodded to me and let me pass."

Those words made my darkness boil even more. I knew it couldn't be true. Of course, it would be like the Abominations to give her an illusion instead of a real experience, and it would be like them to keep that from me. Why couldn't Cassia see it?

"The mortal man I loved was happy," Cassia said. "His existence is a better and brighter thing than I could have hoped for. Knowing that gave me so much strength for the trial that remained for me. Thank you, Darius."

I looked into the vacant but joyful expression on her face and decided not to explain the deception that had doubtless occurred. The Abominations must intend to do that themselves.

The more I thought of it, the more strange it seemed odd that they'd released her to help me in the first place. Her discipline could not have been over. I'd hoped it was merely because they recognized the importance of my mission.

Now, though, I wondered if it was all part of some newer, crueler way to punish me. Why hadn't I thought of that in the first place?

There was one consolation in all this. Jesus. He needed Cassia for something, and he was sure she'd deliver. I couldn't imagine what it was, but I decided to just put that worry aside for now.

"All right, look, I've got my legion at work in the city, stirring up enthusiasm for Jesus. We need something for him to ride on. I've arranged for a colt, the foal of a donkey. If you could fly to Jesus and let him know that by the well in Bethphage he can find the animal. All he has to do is tell the owner, 'The Lord has need of it,' and the man will give it to him. Can you do that?"

Another too bright smile and a nod.

I forced a smile in return. "Go then. Tell him. I'm still working to build up the crowd."

"So we're helping him now?" she asked.

"It's stranger than that. We're doing what he wants, which is something that will hurt him."

She frowned for a few seconds, then quirked a smile. Poking her spirit playfully against mine, she said, "Your plans were always too complicated for me."

It was the first thing she'd said that sounded like her old self.

"Very good. Off you go, then."

And she departed. I watched her. She flew in circles with a bird for several minutes. For a moment, I questioned whether I could rely on her for this simple task, but then she darted off in the appropriate direction.

Whatever was wrong with her, she'd probably recover in time.

#

When Jesus and his people were just outside the gate, I found a man to posses--strong, tall, attractive. Never go with second best if you have a choice.

Once I had him in my control, I elbowed my way to the front of the path of people come out to cheer his entrance. Rarely had I succeeded in so thoroughly stirring up a crowd.

Like many of them, I carried palms in my hands.

I watched as Jesus approached, waited for him to come in my direction. He was happy, I could see it.

Good.

The man deserved something for what he'd done.

Of course, all this build up was, in part, so that he'd have farther to fall, so that when he was betrayed and beaten, it would seem that much worse.

But, regardless, I hoped it wouldn't take too much from this moment.

As kingly as he looked now, waving and smiling to the crowd, maybe he'd decide it was time to shift gears and become the conquerer he was meant to be and deliver his people from the Romans.

Jesus was nothing if not unpredictable.

The purple cape he wore might foretell just such a transition in his ministry. I wonder which of my demons had found it for him?

Of course, he wasn't allowed to wear that color. Still, I was sure I could distract the Roman soldiers who were supposed to enforce that rule so that they'd leave him alone. It was just one more detail of this whole operation.

As he drew nearer to the place where I waited, I couldn't help but feel the excitement welling around me.

I tossed my palm before him and shouted, "Blessed be the King!"

In my mind, that palm was like a payment to him, a piece of silver in token for the things he'd done for Mikal and Cassia.

He glanced at me, fixing me with some unreadable expression. For a moment it froze me where I was. I had the impression that he'd gazed into my soul and saw some new flaw there that he'd never noticed before.

When he looked away I found myself oddly let down. Had I failed him in some way? Made some mistake in my many preparations?

No, I decided. That was all probably my imagination.

I gazed behind him to find Mikal. Part of the reason I'd found this body was so that I could use it to seduce her. I knew what she liked in a man, the kind of face, the style of dress.

It took me little time to find her amongst the people following Jesus into the city. When our eyes met, I saw recognition there. Though it should have been impossible for her to tell that I was in this body, I could see in the glow of thoughts surrounding her that she knew.

I smiled. I was foolish to doubt. Everything was working out perfectly.