God's Reign

The Treachery of Demons

It had been quite some time since Lucifer had talked to his father, let alone see him. But he was visiting today. Thankfully, it was on business regarding the deeper pits of Hell. Lucifer sat in an empty meeting room in silence. He was not pleased. Before long, God's divine presence was felt in the castle walls. Lucifer cringed as it grew closer. After a moment, the doors opened. His father let himself in and sat down. The two were silent until one of the servants brought in some refreshments and quickly excused themselves with a bow. Lucifer took a sip of wine and set his goblet down. The two stared at one another. Neither had much to say.

After a long silence, the two exchanged cold greetings. The first thing Lucifer did was inquire about his mother and brother. He didn't care how his father was doing. As the topics changed, they only agreed upon "those people" in the living world. There were no disagreements. In fact, they came up with a new torture and punishment for them. The disgust for them was the one thing father and son agreed upon.

The tense conversations lasted an hour. As God took his leave, he gave one final word. The hotel was in full swing and showing signs of great success in the future. Charlie had already gotten more patients. Lucifer was stunned. He had no idea she was in business and moving forward. He couldn't believe it. God paused in the doorway and glanced over his shoulder with "that look" directed toward his son. He advised him to seriously reconsider his stance on her efforts to make Hell a more livable place. Charlie knew what she wanted. She knew what she was doing. With that, God disappeared. Lucifer was left in shock. The confusion turned into anger. He immediately called his daughter.

During all this, Charlie was looking over files from demons who requested her services. Of course, she couldn't accept everyone at once. As much as she wanted to help them, the hotel only had so many rooms. Luckily, some were easier to redeem than others and were out quickly. But for now, she could only house five more. As she read the last file for the day, her phone rang. It was her father. Confused, she answered. He never called. Before Charlie could greet him, he went off. Lucifer was more than just displeased. He ordered her to end her "childish dream" immediately and focus on becoming a queen that all demonkind would follow.

With a heavy and irritated sigh, Charlie cut him off midway. She was always thinking about the demons of Hell. How they were killed off every year to control the population. How it was unjustly assumed that all demons had wicked souls burning. How many of the sinners had been condemned over one or two incidents because the laws of Heaven regarding who could enter were so strict. Said laws were the very cause of their overpopulation problem. The sinners were never given a second chance. Charlie had been thinking about it all. She didn't stop when he had refused to help her. And she wasn't going to stop now. The days of caring about her father's approval were long gone. And about becoming a ruler everyone would respect, Charlie had seen what kind of a king her father was. Lucifer was selfish, arrogant, and egotistical. To say the least. He had only ever cared about himself, molding everything to his liking. It had never gotten him anywhere except kicked out of the clouds.

For the first time (or perhaps the second after being cast out of Heaven), Lucifer was stunned. He had always expected things to go his way. As he was about to rage on, the click-clack of heels caught his ears. It was Lilith. With a glare, she took the phone. Then with a warm smile, she told her daughter not to worry and hung up. It was time to explain her part in the scheme now that Lucifer knew. Unlike him, she was a parent first and ruler later.