. . .
The Devil licks his lips.
Why? he thinks. He doesn’t even know why he thinks that. Why? and At least there’s always God.
But the idea of having God for an enemy again, after all those years with Hans — of pitting himself year after year, soul after soul, against an omnipotent omniscient omnibenevolent entity with no specific location in time or space — that just leaves the Devil cold.