To Reign In Hell Read online

  And so on, and on.

  Well, he decided, that wouldn't happen again. He was probably going to be leader of the angels who had fallen from Heaven, whether he wanted to or not. This time he would be a leader, for good or for ill.

  He looked at the newly formed globe and nodded. Yes, his people would be safe there. But, of course, they had been right: Yaweh would not allow them peaceful access to that place.

  So, by that reasoning, why should Satan allow them peaceful access to it either? The new angels who lived there wouldn't know Satan from Yaweh. They would just as soon harbor one as the other. Yaweh, of course, would want them to reject Satan—why shouldn't Satan be equally polite?

  He nodded to himself. Another war, that's what it would be. This time, the battlefield would be the minds of the weak, new angels.

  Yaweh, of course, would lie, and his minions would scheme—Satan would rely on the truth. Yaweh would want to be worshiped. Satan would be content with being accepted.

  He knew that, sooner or later, it would become a physical match once more, and they would line themselves up and settle things for good. It might not be soon, but it would happen.

  He looked out at the blue-green battlefield and felt pity for the angels over whom they would fight. This time, however, he would not let that stop him. Yaweh had been a good teacher, Heaven a good school. Satan had learned.

  Angels and mortals Sometimes have to pay—

  —Mark Henley,"November Song"