Demonic Designs (To Absolve the Fallen) by Aaron Babbitt Read Free Book Online

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