Demonic Designs (To Absolve the Fallen) (6 page)

“And don’t think that they won’t come after you just because you’re no longer under my tutelage.
 
They’ll seek you out, if for no other reason than to have you for their own, and your parents will die just for being in the way.
 
You can bet on that.
 
Do your family, friends, and self a favor.
 
Stay dead.”

Alex bowed his head.
 
“Finish the story.”

It is said that all good stories have some basis in reality.
 
The best lies have a little truth in them to give the listener an aftertaste of validity.
 
It’s almost as if we can recognize the truth, and even when there is just a little of it, we latch onto it like we knew it all along.
 
What we must remember is that men of God are not to be trusted.
 
All too often, they preach of a god of men.
 
No such being exists, and one never will.
 
What kind of creator would give full reign to his creation?
 
Well, aside from men.
 
God makes all things work in His will and His time.
 
No one is ever going to change that.
 
We must just make the best of things and ride it out until He decides that we have passed whatever test He wishes us to pass.
 
That is the definition of faith.

--
Abigail Martin
, Through the Eyes of a Martyr

Jeremiah sat down on the dusty bench Alex had been bracing himself against as he vomited.
 
He peered down the hole, remembering Raphael looking down that same hole.
 
Had this moment held some significance for the archangel?
 

Jeremiah shook the absurd thought away and said, “That happens, and it may happen again from time to time.
 
You have a soft heart—too soft, perhaps.
 
I don’t know why He picks the soft ones, but, in some ways, they work better than the ruthless ones.”
 
Jeremiah dropped his voice and spoke, almost to himself, “They have so much strength and so much power; they’re just so fragile.”

Jeremiah looked over at Alex.
 
The boy couldn’t tell very well in the dark, but it looked as though Jeremiah may have shed a tear—only one.

“Where were we?” the demon asked himself.
 
“Oh, yes.
 
I had just been born, Lucifer had fallen, and humanity had just gained a pass into Heaven.
 

“It was a new time for angels.
 
No one knew quite what to think of me.
 
You see, I was a reaction to a reaction.
 
Humans got souls; some angels couldn’t handle it; they went mad with a loss of faith, and they were banished.
 
I was created to not only be a guide and an observer for the human soul, but to be the guardian of it.
 
As soon as I was created, I was given command of a legion of angels.
 
I am one of the youngest angels, yet I’m stronger, and have seen more battle than most of the elders.
 
No one admitted to it, but it seems evident now that I was created for combat.
 
Apparently, the Big Guy knew that you humans would get yourselves into a lot of trouble you couldn’t get out of, and there were already foes of humanity.

“Lucifer recovered from the Fall quickly enough.
 
After only a matter of weeks, he’d begun construction of an alliance between demons on Earth.”

“Wait,” Alex said.
 
“Are all demons on Earth?”

“No, most don’t survive the Fall.
 
As we get closer to Earth, we become more and more confined.
 
We find ourselves in bodies created to anchor us to your reality.
 
By the time we actually reach the Earth, we’re almost mortal.
 
Thus, a collision with the Earth at speeds incomprehensible to humans would destroy most fallen angels.
 
And when we die, our souls are drawn—beyond our power—to a holding facility, from which they are never released.”

“Hell.”

“Of course,” replied Jeremiah.
 
“The stronger the angel, the more likely it is to survive the Fall.
 
But that would take an incredible force of will—strong faith, which means that all of the demons who
remained on Earth
are the strongest and most cunning of the fallen.
 
Lucifer didn’t get chained to everlasting torment, and neither did many powerful others.
 
He knew, though, that he couldn’t take on Heaven.
 
He, like all fallen angels, was mad to some degree from the Fall, but storming Heaven is unthinkable—scratch that—impossible.
 
Lucifer, however, had every intention of using God’s new love against Him.
 

“It wasn’t Adam and Eve, by the way.
 
The humans were little more than beasts in their infancy.
 
They hadn’t become civilized until God gave them souls, but then they did change.
 
And there were small clusters of them located all over the world, which was, of course, quite different than what it is today.
 
Those unorganized, uneducated pockets of a weak species were thrown into a war they never saw coming, by beings whom they had no idea existed.

“Lucifer believed that the humans would come to understand their plight.
 
The celestial hierarchy doesn’t really take humans into account.
 
Angels and demons do commit acts upon the Earth that change the course of history, as they always have, as they always will.
 
Angels are extensions of God.
 
They carry out His will, while He sustains all of existence.
 
That’s a poor explanation of our relationship, but you’d have to be there to understand.
 

“Now, imagine an angel who has lost his faith.
 
He’s become bitter.
 
He has developed a hatred for a system he helped to create.
 
And, let’s not forget, he’s still incredibly powerful.
 
Even if he only has a glimmer of the power he had before, he still has the power to weave existence.
 
Lucifer thought he could pull off god pretty well, so he set out to.

“Are all demons male?” Alex asked.

“No,” Jeremiah responded with a sigh.
 
“I use the word ‘he’ for demons just like I use the word ‘He’ for God.
 
Again, there is no gender in Heaven.
 
If I started referring to angels and demons as ‘it,’ I would probably distract and confuse you.
 
In Western society, as well as many others, male-driven dominance emerges in almost every arena.
 
Demons take advantage of that.
 
As they fall, they form a body—a shell—that will best suit their needs.

“Like I was saying, Lucifer planned to convert the humans.
 
His plan was a solid one, too.
 
He wanted to create a religion that had no concept of free will.
 
He would be their master.
 
Of course, we knew what he was going to do almost as soon as he did, but we were told to wait.
 
Humans would have to think for themselves unless Lucifer did something completely heinous.
 
So we did what we were told, though it was obvious what would come of it.
 
God was running a completely passive strategy.
 
Lucifer was planning on taking his people by force.
 
We thought it inevitable that he would do something to harm the humans.
 
After all, he was insane.

“We watched, but Lucifer didn’t need to harm them to bully them.
 
We wouldn’t have let him do anything, and we would have stopped him for good if he’d tried.
 
But they obeyed.
 
Consequently, we did nothing.
 
They slaved for him.
 
He taught them how to use the land, and he made them reproduce as rapidly as they could.
 
Most importantly, though, he taught them how to speak.
 
All of the other pockets of humanity were still progressing in the manner that Michael had designed for them.
 
Lucifer’s group was making advances that Michael had not meant to happen for thousands of years.
 
Everyone was stunned.
 
And more angels fell.”

***

Patheus walked into the house, cradling his arm.
 
There was blood all over his coat, but the wound was pretty much cauterized.
 
Of course, the knife hadn’t started heating up until it entered the skin, and it was submerged in his arm for long enough to get blood everywhere.
 
There was no doubt that Jeremiah had given Matt that weapon.
 

Well, Matt didn’t turn.
 
The news would probably not go over well.
 
However, a message was sent.
 
Patheus got the opportunity to remind Jeremiah that he wasn’t alone on this rock.
 
It wasn’t right for Jeremiah to disappear for fifty years, play like he was dead, and now resurface simply to make things difficult for everyone else.

He saw Eva standing in the kitchen doorway; the whore was grinning like an idiot.
 
“I see it wasn’t as easy as you predicted.”

He pointed his finger at her and smiled back.
 
“You should phrase your irony in a little more subtle way.”
 

Then, the kitchen door, by some unseen energy, slammed right into her face.
 
There was a muffled screech, and then a thud.
 
He kept walking to his office.
 
Another hope still remained, though there had been no word from Malek in three hours, so that hope seemed to be in vain too.

Just as he feared, there was a large, brutish-looking guy, with a shaved head and a scraggly beard waiting for him—a demon who had just fallen, and who was turning out to be irrevocably incompetent.
 
He didn’t look happy to see Patheus.
 
In fact, he looked pretty nervous.
 
That could only mean that the mission hadn’t been successful.
 

Patheus noted that his arm was starting to heal nicely, which was fortuitous because he had a feeling that this fool was about to get pummeled.

“Boss,” the brute said, “glad you’re back.
 
I have some bad news.”

“I gave you and Malek a simple task,” Patheus replied calmly as he approached.
 
“How did you manage to mess this one up, Shule?”

“It was an honest mistake, boss, I swear.
 
Malek told me to stay outside, to watch out for anyone who didn’t belong there. We knew that there was a demon inside, but we thought that someone else had been sent to help us.
 
From where I was watching, all I could see inside the windows was fire.
 
I ran.”

Patheus looked away as he gritted his teeth.
 
He already knew the end to this story.
 
“They’re
all
dead, aren’t they?”

“Yes, boss.”

Patheus locked eyes with him.
 
“Shule, you are alive right now because I’m short-staffed.
 
Demons who bring me news like that usually perish, but today is your lucky day.
 
Not only did you escape eternal imprisonment at the hands of Jeremiah, you will also not have to worry about it from mine, yet.
 
I do, however, promise that if you bring me bad news like that again, I will kill you.”

“Boss--”

“Your entire party was lost, Shule.
 
What have you brought me but failure?
 
Fail me again, and, before I tear your head from your torso, I’ll scalp you.
 
That’s right.
 
I’ll take the skin from the top of your head and nail it to my office door as a warning for all of those who would even consider being as stupid as you’ve been.”
 

Then, Patheus pushed Shule out of the way and walked into his office, opening and shutting the door without the use of his hands.

***

Jeremiah rubbed his hands together.
 
“It’s a little cold out here.
 
Mind if we go back inside to finish this chat?”

“Aren’t there dead bodies in there?”

“Oh,” Jeremiah said.
 
“No, I took care of that.
 
There isn’t anything in there that should trouble you too much.”

“But you did kill people a little while ago, right?”