Reluctant Demon by Linda Rios Brook Read Free Book Online Page A

had not found a way to look at myself, so I held out hope that somehow I might look a little better. In stunned disbelief at what had happened to us, we staggered about Earth as one who has consumed too much alcohol staggers about in his surroundings. He is not sure where he is. He is unsure of what has happened to cause such pain in his body He is disoriented and tries to remember how he came to be in such a state. Yet at the same time, he is afraid to remember. Had he really done this to himself?
    Surely there was someone else to blame for his condition.
    Regret and remorse are the most bitter of companions.
    At least that's how it was for me.
    Once we realized the finality of this new reality, panic overtook our common sense, and we began to blame one another. Someone must be held responsible for what had happened to us. Finally, someone dared to say it.
    "It was Satan's fault. He misled us."
    "That's right. We would never have rebelled on our own," said someone else.
    "How could we have been so foolish?" another added.
    Then as one angry mob, they turned on him. I knew this to be an extraordinarily dangerous move. I knew they were underestimating Satan's wrath. I tried to tell them, but I couldn't get a word in, so I kept to the back of the group and waited to see which way things might go.
    Of course, I was right, and things went bad quickly.
    I cannot begin to tell you what an ill-conceived idea it was to try to overthrow Satan. God had not destroyed us, but Satan almost did. Everyone had underestimated his strength, his power, and his capacity for ruthlessness.
    He obliterated the first line of attack against him, and I'm quite sure he would have annihilated the rest of us had it not been for one thing. We were all he had left.
    Whatever he planned to do, he would need us to carry it out. Make no mistake; we would remain alive only as long as he had use for us.
    When we realized we could not match him in strength or power, we did the next most illogical thing.
    We turned on each other. Well, everyone except for me.
    I hid behind a tree. As if we hadn't learned one thing from the futility of the war in heaven, we proceeded to wage war on Earth. If I could not fight in heaven, where I knew my way around, then I surely wasn't about to chance getting hurt and lost on Earth, having no idea where anything was.
    They raged and fought against one another in an attempt to secure a position near Satan. After the failed coup, each one was anxious to prove a newfound loyalty to the fallen prince. I suppose they thought being near him might be the best place for protection, though protection against what, I don't know, since there was nothing on Earth more fearsome than them. Perhaps they thought Satan would reward those who were the closest to him.
    I think some naively held out the hope that Satan might rule them like God had. Not a chance.
    I've concluded that angels, in their natural state, are not strategic thinkers. Perhaps it was because in heaven we never needed to evaluate cause and effect. God caused all things, and the effect was never in question. I'm pretty sure it never crossed anyone's mind that if they destroyed Earth, there would be absolutely no place for us to go. I thought about pointing it out, but I changed my mind.
    The enraged angels were intent on making things worse and looking for a target. It wasn't going to be me. Earth would have to fend for itself.
    God's favorite planet reeled at the violence of the war between the fallen angels. As the human body reacts by spontaneously ejecting an object that can bring about its destruction, so Earth reacted to the devastation the warring angels wreaked upon it.
    Earth itself began to fight back, but things only got worse. In their fury, rage, and horror at God and at each other, the angels unleashed their devastating powers upon Earth, never mind they were about to destroy the only place left for us to exist. The angry angels tortured and ravaged every beautiful