Dancing with the Devil

An odd legacy. That was what her grandmother called it. And now Marilyn Ryan found herself caught up in the ancient struggle between good and evil, between mankind and heaven's fallen great ones. How did she end up in the middle of this? And what was she supposed to do about her grandmother's legacy? Was she really going to finish the project her grandmother was working on with Satan before she died? As in the ruler of hell? Why did Lucifer care if we knew his side of the story? What difference did it make? Especially now...with the world coming to an end...

"Before. I was."
It was somehow oddly disturbing the way the two brothers started their stories with exactly the same word. "Before." But Michael followed his opening with the words 'We were," whereas his brother used the singular, "I was." The distinction told a story all its own. Even as I tried to convince myself to wait until morning to continue reading, I was already glancing back down at the pages in my lap. His words probably weren't the last thing I wanted to take in before I went to sleep, but it was too late. I was already hooked.
"Before. I was. Before there was sound or silence, light or darkness. Before there was matter or substance, or worlds or galaxies, or heaven or earth. Before He called the others into being, I was. I am His firstborn. The one He shared the nothingness with. He created me first and named me His morning star, to rise and call light from the darkness and give illumination to all of His creation. In those days before there were days, while the others still slept within the quiet of His will, I alone was his companion. I alone walked by His side and He shared His word with me. Far off into a future as yet un-envisioned by the others, I have already seen what will be. His will cannot be thwarted. In the beginning He deemed it so and thus it will be. My place I was given by He who is and always will be. Only He knows my deepest thoughts. Only He has probed my heart. My love for him is absolute, as it should be for all. For what else is there? Only He who is the Father of all things, of all being, of all that exists and ever will exist.
But man would not have it so. Man believes himself the source. Even those of your enlightened ones who can see beyond their own insignificance believe man to be the center of His universe, the apple of His eye. You consider man alone to be worthy of His love. Your conceit would be laughable if it weren't so pathetic. This tiny little world, this spec of miserable dust, you think this is the height of His power, the best He can do? I tell you it is the most wretched of His creations. His other children look at you, so self-assured of your place in creation and shake their heads at the arrogance of mankind. Where did man among all of His creations get the idea he was supreme among them? You asked my brother why I devote so much attention to this insignificant ball of clay. I admit I often ask myself the same question. I believe it is your arrogance that draws me back here again and again. Even I stand in awe at the colossal depths to your misconceptions, your ridiculous conviction of your preeminence in His perfect plan.
How long must the rest of us wait for the desecration of man to be cleansed from the face of creation? Yes, you've been given the keys to your salvation, for He is ever merciful. My brother and those who share his innocence hope you will make use of them. Not from any great affection they hold for mankind, but to spare our Father the grief of your loss. For He will grieve. Do not all loving fathers grieve at the loss of their beloved children, even when these same children have proven over and over again they are unworthy of his tears? We will comfort Him after you are gone and the worlds He created will go on as they were meant to, free from the stain of man's putrid, violent presence. If earth survives man's destruction this little world will rejoice at the eradication of its polluters, and will in time be made new again. For renewal and life are ever His gifts, whereas death is man's bequest to the universes. And though you may lay it at my door, it was not I who prompted Cain to turn on his brother. No, murder among the higher species is man's perversion, which by definition makes one question man's right to be included among the higher species in the first place."

I understood in his own way, Lucifer too believed he was defending God. He sought to protect Him and heaven from us. If God in his mercy could not bring Himself to remove the stain of our existence from the perfection of His creation, Lucifer felt no such reluctance. That he was capable of carrying out his threat, I no longer doubted..