- Approx. Time
- December 24 at 3:17 a.m., continuing toward the next infernal dawn.
- Holiday
- Unholy Night.
- Holiday Shift
- If the visitation lasts through midnight, the story crosses into Christmas in Hell, when arguments over sacred meaning become part of the punishment.
First Descent
The preacher woke at 3:17 in the morning because someone was sitting in the chair beside his bed.
He reached for the lamp, but the visitor spoke first. "Leave it dark. You always preferred me that way."
The preacher knew the voice before he saw the smile. He had given that voice to crowds for four decades: oily, seductive, foreign, cruel. He had lowered his own tone to perform it. He had taught children to fear it. He had made a career out of knowing exactly what the Devil sounded like.
The figure in the chair leaned forward, fire catching briefly in the pupils. "You got several details wrong," he said. "I thought we should discuss them before you meet the people who believed you."
To be continued...