, but he is sure of his choice. The thought frustrates him, and he changes the topic. “Just tell me what you want me to do.”
Lucie gave him an evil smirk. She liked being right, and she liked this feeling of dominion over the firstborn son of Adam and Eve. She held the fate of two generations in her hands. She was relevant. She was the one who led Cain’s parents to eat of the Tree of Good and Evil. Once they ate of it, their minds were immediately opened to the truth. They chose the red pill of the Matrix over the blue. They chose knowledge over blissful ignorance. It wasn’t what was in the fruit; it was the choice that made all the difference.
After their choice, Adam and Eve, and all mankind who came after them, could see a whole other dimension of existence—a dimension with choices and consequences. This was something Almighty had kept from them. He had hoped their relationship would stay simple and pure. He knew sin would inflict pain upon them and their future generations. Here before her was their greatest source of pain—their lost firstborn son.
“I want you to keep Hades in order and not pout about it. Don’t feel foolish for your decision, Cain. I’m not talking about the decision to kill your brother. I’m talking about the decision to reject Almighty. I was His most beloved angel, and I rejected Him. Hades is filled with four billion fallen angels who walked with the Creator in His paradise. They also rejected Him. We totally understand why you did what you did. Now, I need you to focus.”
As the imps stood on each other’s shoulders to get high enough to shave Cain’s head, Lucie continued her description of the levels of Hades. “I set up Hades to be a complete mirror of Heaven. Levels Five, Six, Eight, and Nine will be home to demons and now, human souls. Levels are determined by behavioral styles assigned at conception for humans and by design for the demons. Level Five is the Warrior Hell.”
“What is a Warrior Hell?”
“On the dark side, Warriors are impatient, possessive, controlling braggarts. They are pushy, violent, and restless. Expect a lot of fighting there. Level Six is the Strategist Hell. At their worst, these people are critical and stubborn—schemers and classic manipulators. Passive-aggressiveness rules this level. Level Seven contains my chambers and the large meeting arena. The heat is intense in all levels of Hades because of the magma core, but it’s mildest in Level Seven. I have cool air pumped in from the cave tunnels.”
“Are you trying to make me jealous by bragging about your air-conditioned chambers? I assure you I don’t care.” As Cain tries to put Lucie in her place, he also smacks the head of one of the imps for nicking his ear with the dull razor blade.
Lucie roams in slow circles around Cain. This is the first human to set foot in Hades. She is enjoying the banter. “Level Eight is the Idealist Hell. These demons annoy me. I imagine any man who joins them will be the same. One day they are whining about everything, and the next they’re bouncing around the stalagmites like they’re jumping beans. They are the embodiment of bipolar personalities. I want to slap every one of them. Sometimes, I send the imps in to do just that.
“The only redeeming quality of the Idealists is their ability to tell stories and seamless lies. They are natural manipulators. I send these demons to Earth from time-to-time to persuade people to make bad choices face to face. They are highly effective. I don’t know how they do it, because they sell with sickening enthusiasm. After a recent productive trip to the surface, they returned and went on and on with their stories of victory. I yelled at them: ‘Stop being so happy—you’re in Hell for God’s sake! Tomorrow, you are going to be crying on the floor. Even out your temperament, will you?’”
Cain laughed a little at the mental picture.
Lucie was not amused. “Level Nine is the Samaritan Hell. These people are the saps of the human and demon races. They cry at the drop of a leaf. They’re overly sensitive, judgmental, meek, and lack any drive whatsoever. They are the most miserable residents of Hades. They whine daily about the constant change here. As you can probably guess, Hades runs on pure chaos. If you want to mess with them, just stop by their level early in the day and announce there is some change coming. Walk out and watch them on the security cameras. They’ll scurry about in total panic.” Lucie laughs. It’s the evilest laugh Cain has ever heard. He asks the imps to shave his bottom next so that he can bend over and stop Lucie’s laughing from burning in his hairless ears.
Lucie ignores Cain and continues her description of Hades. “The Tenth Level is for the Saints of Satan—the darkest of demons. It sits on metal grids above the Lava River. As we discussed earlier, this level is where the evilest of the demons work as slaves to the rest of us. They are the pool from which I draw when someone on Earth asks to conjure up evil though a séance or Ouija board. Sometimes, these fools asked to be possessed. They think having a demon inside them will give them more power. Ha! These evil ones will hold their souls captive and cause them to work all kinds of evil deeds—and they will be helpless to stop any of it.
“Humans who mess with the occult are playing the game of instant gratification. They want it all, and they want it now. This will intensify with each generation. Your scientists will say ‘necessity is the mother of invention.’”
Cain rolls his eyes at her arrogance.
“The Tenth Hell is also where I will ultimately place my highest-ranking Saints of Satan. My Lead Demons will take up seven of the twenty-four seats. I will select the remaining seventeen saints from my reign on Earth. I will choose from the evilest humans and demons I find there to help me lead in the final three and one-half years of the Tribulation.”
“So, you’re rewarding their service with damnation in a lower Hell? Do you know anything about incentivizing demons?”
Lucie caught his insult and turned to leave. “I know more about incentivizing evil men and demons than anyone else. In time, this will be evident. I am needed in my office this hour. Kali will help you from here.”
Lucie slapped her tail onto the hard flooring. Cain called after her, “Wait. You told me there are twelve heavens. You’ve only talked about ten. What’s in Levels Eleven and Twelve?”
Lucie was visibly shaken by the question. She took the three steps back to where Cain stood. “The Twelfth Heaven is a mystery known only to Almighty. It connects the two sides of His nature. The Eleventh Heaven need not to be discussed. It doesn’t matter if it exists. It will never be used for the purpose for which it was created.”
“Which was?”
“It was created to be my destination—complete with solitude and mental torture. Almighty believes I will lose the Great Game and He will be cleared to imprison me. But this will never happen. I will overthrow Almighty in the end. Even you will now play a role.”
“Really? This is my punishment for killing one little brother—an eternity spent with you in this miserable existence? I guess I should have let the sniveling little shepherd boy go on his merry way with his dead lambs.”
Lucie ran her palm across his newly shaved chest to get his full attention. “Should’ve, would’ve, could’ve—classic remorse. Expect to hear it from every human who steps into your prison, Warden.” With this, Lucie picked up her tail and lifted her hand. She disappeared into the black smoke above Cain’s head.Étant donné que Tremblant sous les étoiles est organisé tous les ans, nous espérons que vous serez à nouveau parmi nous en 2007!

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Tremblant Beneath the Stars is held annually, so see you there in 2007!So, curious about adopting? I certainly was when I was pg with my daughter, who is my 2nd child. I just knew I couldn't ever do HG again, and so we looked into other options before she was even born. I was 6 months pregnant on a short road trip with my Mom to pick up a sister from college, and I was reading to her all about open adoption.
It took us several years to decide which program was the right one for us to pursue to find the child meant for us, but in the end we were foster parents in the state of Utah. We received placement of a 1/4 Japanese little boy who was 3 1/2 months old on June 5th, 2001. Our emotions ran the whole gambit as his birthmom declared she was going to relinquish rights at the beginning, and then changed her mind - deciding to work towards reunification. In the end, another pregnancy complicated her efforts, and she was not successful in reunification efforts with her son. She voluntarily relinquished parental rights and we were able to adopt Adam on May 29th,