Fear the Darkness Read Free Page A

concerned, there could be no better purpose than that in the whole damned world.
    Tangents, he thought with satisfaction, little realising that elsewhere in the night other tangents were already in motion and headed his way.
     
    With the timer counting down, Morris knew the last place he should be standing was in the alleyway out back of the eroto-palace, waiting for the explosion. No matter how many times he told his legs to move, or reminded himself of the importance of being far away from the scene by the time the Judges arrived, he could not help it. He had planned for this moment for months and he wanted to see the show.
    Everything is fine, he thought, glancing up and down the deserted alleyway. There is no one about, no one to see me. After the bomb goes off, they will all be too busy watching the eroto-palace burn to notice me leave. But try as he might to reassure himself, he knew he was lying. He was taking a dangerous chance and, for the first time, it occurred to him he had planned for everything but his emotions.
    He tried to check the time, only to remember as he looked at his bare wrist that he had used his watch as part of the timer. Making a mental note to buy a new one tomorrow, he waited impatiently in the shadows, barely registering the chill of the air around him as he stared at the dark window of the eroto-palace. It can't be much longer, he told himself, aware how eager and excited he had become. The five minutes I set the timer for must nearly be up. Any second now.
    When the moment came it was something of a disappointment. He heard the dull whoomp of the pipebomb exploding, but nothing else. Where he had expected chaos, flames and a sense of fulfilment, there was only a vague feeling of dissatisfaction. Despite the warning voice he heard in his head telling him he should run down the alley and not look back, Morris found he was moving in entirely the opposite direction. Unable to contain his curiosity, he walked closer to the eroto-palace and looked in through the window.
    Inside, he could see the dark eddies of billowing smoke as they were lit by the red glow of the fires burning further within the building. He heard the first screams as the dreaming sinners inside awoke to damnation. Listening to the sound, Morris felt his heart quicken as a dizzying sense of exhilaration flowed through him. This was the moment he had longed for. As always in his life, the ache of pleasure as the exhilaration ended brought with it dark feelings of shame. For once, though, Morris refused to allow that shame to claim him.
    There is nothing of sin in this, he told himself. There is nothing wrong here. Nothing to cause me shame. If I feel pleasure, then it is only the justifiable pride of a righteous man who knows he has done the Lord Grud's holy work. This is not the excitement a man feels looking upon the nakedness of women. It is a pure, holy feeling. Tonight, I am no longer Morris Weems. I have transcended the limits of flesh to become a holy instrument. I am the angel Uriel. I am the fire and the flame. I sit in judgement. I bring retribution to those who would put the laws of man before the laws of Grud.
    As he stood there, watching the shifting patterns of darkness in the smoke and hearing the screams, he found his confidence in his own righteousness suddenly waning in the face of an inconvenient reality. He noticed the way his excitement at his work had chosen to physically manifest itself, and all the old feelings of shame returned, and with shame, as ever, came doubt. He found himself wondering if he was not really an angel as he had thought. Not unless, against all expectation and contrary to the received wisdoms of religious savants down through the ages, an angel could perhaps get an erection after all.
    Abruptly, he heard the thud of something striking the window from inside, the sound making him jump. Again it happened, and he saw the window shake. Morris wondered if some unforeseen effect of the fire