Hellooo, today my fellow writer colleague, Yolanda Pallás, is going to explain the most important aspects of demons in paranormal romance literature. I’m sure you’re going to have a great time, you’re going to learn, and as always, at the end there’s a list of books you should read where these supernatural beings are the protagonists.
When a book about demons lands in our hands, there are two clear options: the first, that it’s a terrifying devil talking about possession or evil deeds. The second, it may be inside a novel with a certain sense of humor (like the Lucifer series), or any paranormal romance novel, where there are angels and fallen demons, who may (or may not) have a love relationship with a mortal man or woman.
There are many references to demons in literature and, believe it or not, there are many old books that talk about them.
But…
What exactly is a demon?
According to Wikipedia, in religion, occultism and folklore, a demon or daimon (from the Greek δαίμων daimôn,1 pronounced dæmon [ai = e]) is a supernatural being described as something that is not human and that is usually malevolent. However, the original Greek word δαίμων is neutral and does not contain a necessarily negative connotation in its beginnings for the ancient Greeks.
This happened because of the application of the koine (in Hellenistic and in the New Testament in Greek) of the term daimonion (δαιμόνιον)2 and later that evil sense was attributed to any related word sharing the root, when it was originally intended to denote simply a “spirit” or a “spiritual being”. It is also said that it can refer to people with elevated knowledge, like philosophers.
But we all know the concept held in religions like Christianity, where demons are fallen angels, expelled from heaven for disobeying God, their wings torn off. Examples of these fallen ones would be Belial, Grigori, Lucifer, Mephistopheles or Semyazza.
As they say, they chose to do evil, and deep down, it is still a sign of free choice. Of course, they faced the consequences of being expelled from Heaven.
What do ancient books say about demons?
There are a multitude of books that go into detail describing demons, and like angels, they also have their hierarchies.
Demonology, which is the branch of theology that studies demons and their relationships, their origins and their nature, distinguishes several types of demons:
- Fallen angels, according to the Judeo-Christian tradition
- Human souls considered familiars
- Those who receive worship or adoration
- Ghosts or apparitions of a malignant nature
Zoroastrianism teaches that there are 3,333 demons, some of them devoted to dark matters like war, hunger, disease, and we will find in almost every civilization a reference to the existence of dark beings.
In the Book of Enoch (Christianity), the Nephilim are mentioned as fallen angels who had sexual relations with women on Earth. Surely we all remember the Nephilim from Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunters.
As they say, demons have specific powers and they tend to torment people and even induce them to sin. They also have powers like levitation, divination, possession, telepathy, witchcraft, xenoglosia, and they are also capable of casting curses. They have superhuman strength and control the four elements, animals…
According to various medieval grimoires (Malleus maleficarum, 1486). Each demon has a specific signature for creating diabolic pacts.
So, let’s get to the point: demons in paranormal romance literature, what are they like, how do they behave? What do they write about them?
What does or can a demon do in a romance novel?
We all know the novel Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick and also the Shadowhunters saga, but there are more novels in which demons appear and behave in different ways.
While in Hush Hush demons have extraordinary powers, they have lost the capacity to feel (although it’s true that the protagonist ends up falling in love with a young woman)
In Shadowhunters, demons are hunted and try to conquer the world. In Angelology by Rebecca Trussoni, evil demons are presented and it talks about the conflict between the Nephilim and the Society of Angelologists. As always, there will be a couple who will get caught up in the middle of it all. Here too they are ruthless beings hungry for power.
In the Skyworld series, written by me, Yolanda Pallás, demons are good and bad. On the one hand, European demons are the ones thirsty for blood, eager to leave the Underworld and conquer Earth.
American demons just want to live a normal life and have a family, have fun (maybe sometimes too much) and love a person. In fact, there are demon children there, who have certain special powers, like throwing fire or influencing people.
Popular books and series where a demon is the protagonist
It’s clear that, if we search the Internet for books about demons, the first result will be Cassandra Clare’s, although there the demons aren’t “good” or want anything more than death and destruction. However, there are lesser-known romance novels where mortals have relationships with demons. There is desire, of course, sex, and sometimes it reaches a happy ending.
We’ve recently seen series like Lucifer or Good Omens, and even years ago Hellboy, films that treat demons better than the older ones. And we can’t forget the struggle of good against evil in the series “Supernatural”.
Laura Gallego even has a book that talks about demons, Dos velas para el diablo, in which we will find the eternal battle between angels and demons.
Which demons are usually named in novels?
For example, in The Exorcist they talk about Pazuzu, and in my SkyWorld novels that demon is also named, as well as others I call Dragons.
Although we’ve all heard of Lucifer and Beelzebub, there are others less popular like Asmodeus or even Lilith.
The Jesuit Peter Binsfeld drew up a demonic classification in 1589 based on the seven deadly sins and established what are called the seven princes of Hell, which are:
- Lucifer – pride
- Mammon – greed
- Asmodeus – lust
- Satan – wrath
- Beelzebub – gluttony
- Leviathan – envy
- Belphegor – sloth
But the most powerful of all is Belial, the king of Hell, created after Lucifer and devoted to battles and wars.
As a curiosity, and according to Wikipedia, the term translated as “Lucifer” means “Bright”, “Bearer of the light”. But since he turned against God, it is believed his name was changed to Satan, although this name means “opponent”, “adversary”, “accuser”.
Demons in paranormal romance novels
We’ve already mentioned Cassandra Clare and Becca Fitzpatrick. Now let’s look for other paranormal romance novels where there are demons.
Sky World series by Yolanda Pallás
In Escondido, la niebla gris, demons are just an enemy to defeat. But in La cocina del infierno, its second title in the series, demons are almost human, they have carnal desires and desires to love other people. They fall in love and have children.
So, in the following titles Ciudad de Luz y Sombras and La puerta del Ángel, we are going to see more demon children and even a very hot relationship between a demon and a half-angel, one of the Sky. In fact, one of the main protagonists of the saga, Judas Sky, is half demon, half angel.
Of course, the magnificent J.R. Ward with her Fallen Angels series:
It talks about the deadly sins and the battle between good and evil, with a protagonist named Jim Heron, who must save seven souls obsessed by each of the deadly sins. We’ll find other characters, among them a female demon who will make things difficult for Jim. And of course, love and sex scenes, as is distinctive of this author.
There are also novels where demons aren’t as bad as they seem; we can see this in:
The Invocation Series by Kassfinol:
With the story of Lonhard in book one called: Between Hell and Earth, we know —“according to religions”— that repentance is an important factor when it comes to a soul ending up in Hell, and the protagonist is aware of that, but he didn’t care and always stuck to his decision.
Conclusions about demons in paranormal romance literature
In short, there aren’t too many novels in which demons become benevolent beings; they will always keep that point, sometimes of no return, where they can go from behaving more or less well to ending a human’s life.
Just like with vampires, there is that fascination in romance novels for a man or woman of an evil nature, with powers at times and, above all, with a very high sexual potential. Apparently, demons are made for sex, so who wouldn’t want one in their life?
Paranormal romance book recommendations where the protagonist is a demon
I hope you liked the post Yolanda wrote for you. If you know of any demon in paranormal romance literature that should be on this list, please write it in the comments so we can update the post; I know I left many out, which is why I hope to count on your support.
I’m Kassfinol, a Venezuelan paranormal romance author published on Amazon KDP since 2012, and demons are one of the creatures that appear most in my catalogue. In my Invocation Series, demons aren’t evil by decree nor do they exist only to scare: they have history, they have reasons, and that makes them much more interesting than the cardboard demon standard in the genre. If you want to know how I work with these creatures from the inside, you can read my post about my writing process or go straight to the Invocation Series and see it in practice.