And Eternity by Piers Anthony

Satan. Today I keep company with Gaea instead of with Satan, but I still love him and visit him when I can. Now I am trying to help Gaea’s daughter, and-”
    What?
    Jolie bit her lip. “Oh, I said too much! She didn’t know, and it wasn’t yet time to tell her. I got carried away by what I was telling you-”
    “Some might suppose a person who told such a story was either inventive or crazy,” Judge Scott remarked.
    Jolie nodded. “So I might as well finish it while you’re still listening. Gaea sent me to Luna, and Luna sent me to help this host. I do not know what her interest in this host is, but I do know the girl needs help, so I am trying to help her. Most immediately, I am trying to get her off the street and off H, and this is where I beseech your help.”
    The Judge seemed undisturbed. “Since you are a long-term ghost, you will have mastered the tricks of the trade, as it were. You will be able not only to animate a willing host, but to manifest directly to those who are interested enough to perceive you.”
    “Yes. Do you wish me to?”
    “Yes, please.”
    Jolie drew herself out of the host and floated in the air beside her. Then she intensified her image until she manifested in her natural living guise: a seventeen-year-old French villain girl. Even so, few could have seen her.
    The Judge looked directly at her and nodded. “Can you speak also?”
    “If you can hear me.”
    “I can hear you. Who remains in charge of the host?”
    There was a pause. Then Orlene spoke. “I suppose that’s me. I wanted to sink down to Hell, but now I am uncertain. This girl does need help, and it may be my penance to bring her out of her slough.”
    “And you are?” the Judge inquired.
    “Orlene. My baby died, and I committed suicide and am trying to reach him in the Afterlife. But the Incarnation of Night played a cruel trick on me, and I can not forgive myself for what it brought me to.”
    “Will you, also, vacate the host?” the Judge asked.
    “But she’ll sink to Hell!” Jolie protested.
    “Perhaps not, now,” he replied. “She cannot be condemned to Hell for evil inflicted on her by another.”
    “But she doesn’t believe that!”
    “I am coming to believe it,” Orlene said. “Certainly I understand now that others have problems as bad as mine, and it behooves me to do what I can to help them, instead of merely giving up.” She moved out of the body and floated.
    “Who remains in charge of the host?” the Judge asked again.
    Vita looked around craftily. “Look, Judge, this is all a big mistake. If you’ll just let me go-”
    “You would be back on the street in a moment, looking for H,” the Judge concluded.
    “I didn’t say that!” She glanced at him appraisingly. “I can pay, if you like young flesh.” She shaped her hair with her hands and inhaled, trying to enhance her figure in the plain prison dress. “Anything you want, just don’t put me in prison or ship me home.”
    The Judge nodded again. “Point made. Return to your host, ghosts, and we shall discuss ways and means.”
    “But they won’t let me have-” Vita protested. Then Orlene approached her from the left and Jolie from the right. She tried to bat them away, but her will was not in it: she knew that only Jolie was competent to deal with the Judge at this stage. So after token resistance, she allowed them to reenter her and resume control.
    The Judge considered for a moment. “I want your commitment, Jolie, that you as the dominant personality will remain with this host until her situation has been clarified.”
    “Well, that depends on Orlene, and on Luna. If Luna asked me to leave-”
    “You are referring to Senator Kaftan?” he asked sharply.
    “Luna Kaftan, yes. But I wouldn’t want her name brought into this until I know more about her interest in this person.”
    The Judge touched a panel on the arm of his chair.
    ‘‘Senator Kaftan, please.’’
    In a moment the air between them flickered and a holo