Free Almost Demon (The Sigil Cycle) by AJ Salem

created the world, it took him six days. The angels were jealous when He created man in His image. They were even angrier when He created the demons. Now they had two other species to contend with for His attention. The end of the sixth day drew near and He had only begun to form these beings. They were to be like angels, their counterparts. For every good deed a man did, there would be an angel praising him before the gates of heaven. Now there would also be demons monitoring evil doers and preventing unworthy souls from returning to the source. Between the angels and the demons, each soul would be judged fairly upon its return.
    “But God didn’t have a chance to complete them soon enough. On the seventh day, God rested, leaving the creatures in an agonizing stasis. The angels thought God cruel for leaving divine beings in such a state. They were suffering at the expense of the humans and they worried that they too could be forsaken by Him for these inferior creatures that roamed the planet.
    “The angels expected God to resume his work on Sunday. He didn’t. Days passed and He watched over Eden with fascination and did nothing else. A group of angels, Lucifer among them, was outraged. They insisted God complete His work but he refused. He said that man would not sin so gravely to deserve such harsh judgment. There would be no need for them. The angels argued that He granted humans free will and that in itself would be their downfall.
    “ ‘It wouldn’t be fair,’ Lucifer argued, ‘to allow the demons to persist in their current form. Man will disappoint You. It is inevitable.’ 
    “For that God hurled these rebellious angels to the Earth. Ultimately, He was forced to complete His work on the demons after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit but by then the fallen angels had organized themselves, calling themselves the Watchers. Their mission was to maintain balance in the world by exploiting man’s faults and taking as many souls away from the source as they could, thus proving God wrong. They joined forces with the demons who, by now, were deeply embittered by their painful birth and happily submitted to the Watchers’ hierarchy. Watchers and demons have worked like that ever since. You could call that place hell - the opposite of returning to the source.”
    Mr. Flynn finished the story. “So, what do you think?” he asked.
    “Makes things a little less black and white. There doesn’t seem to be much difference between the two sides.”
    “Nothing is perfect. God also lets things slide a bit and takes in souls that are unworthy of heaven. The two factions are in a perpetual war to keep things equal but it’s the system that’s in place. And it’s worked more or less for thousands of years.”
    “So why would the Dybbuk agree to be used like this and why now?”
    “My guess is that they would rather be stuck in hell than roam this planet any longer. Each one is a soul that has not been sentenced yet. Nor will they ever be. Their sins are enough to keep them out of heaven and they usually have something tethering them to this world - unfinished business of sorts, so they cannot even choose to side with hell.”
    “Sounds like a loophole.”
    “It very well could be. And we should get on sorting this trouble out.” He grabbed the stack of paper I had carefully arranged in a separate folder and looked through my work.
    “I’m not so sure about this demon-summoning thing. Maybe an angel would be better for a first try?” I was afraid that he would think I was being silly.
    “I guess we could give it a shot.” He smiled. “We’ll meet again tomorrow.” His voice was formal again.
    “Sure. Anything I should work on, Mr. Flynn?” I waited expectantly as he collected his things and put on his awful wool-lined denim jacket.
    “Figure out which angel it is we’ll be summoning,” he said, standing at the entrance. He made no move to leave and continued watching me. I sat, not moving a muscle,