Demons

For April, Stone Soldiers.info is celebrating the A to Z Blog Challenge with daily letter-themed entries. A separate page with a list of all these entries, plus Character Profiles and Book Synopses will appear on the right hand side of the page in coming weeks, detailing the people, places and things of the Stone Soldiers universe.

Book of Stone: DEMONS

(A Stone Soldiers Encyclopedia Entry)

In a book series focused on the supernatural, where the interbreeding of man and Fallen Angel is the source of most things paranormal, it may seem odd that the subject of Demons hasn’t come up before now. But just what is a demon, and where would such a creature fit in the Stone Soldiers universe?

In some religions, a demon is the classification for an unclean spirit, possibly a Fallen Angel, or a deceased human. The unknown nature of the demon may be what lends to their scariness: they are an unidentified, often unseen threat. Classifying a demon, quantifying it, and even imposing set limits on it makes the entity less terrifying.

In popular fiction, demons range from leathery-skinned, bat-winged monsters with lots of extra teeth and a set of ridiculous goat horns, to shadowy figures that leap in and out of bodies and stomp around haunted homes like angry ghosts. Many a ghost hunter program claims that spirits at homes are actually demons in disguise. Other accounts have demons as the overseers of Hell, tormenting the souls of the wicked for eternity. 

The likely origin for demon is the Greek word daimon, meaning a spirit of divine power. Plato described daimons in his works, inspired by Socrates. In this original context, there’s no connotation of evil. Experts claim Christianity is often accused of making the negative brand on demons, classifying them as minions of Satan. The Bible features such spirits, most notably in Christ's famous casting of unclean spirits into swine (Matthew 8:28-34). 

What then are Demons? Minions of Satan? Angry spirits with a penchant for possession? Alien-looking monsters with a burning hatred for mankind?

In Stone Soldiers, Fallen Angels are real. Their offspring, the Nephilim (Genesis 6:4), are responsible for the DNA in modern man leading to paranormal abilities--the sons of God interbreeding with humanity. Most monsters in the series, including the beings identified by the Greeks as Titans, have been revealed as nothing more than Nephilim with a hatred for mankind. For that matter, nearly all Nephilim encountered seem to have a deep hatred of humans, necessitating the creation of units like Detachment 1039 to protect mankind. 

Demons might seem to fit that category. Or are they something else?

For Stone Soldiers #9, Pale Horseman, the team will encounter a very ancient demon—one with a penchant for possession and murder, that imbues in its host an insatiable blood thirst. Possessed for centuries, the Pale Horseman has wandered the Earth, killing for the sake of killing. If this dual-natured monster can be defeated, it will open a new chapter in the series, as the men and women of Detachment 1039 begin to encounter more and more demonic beings in upcoming novels and in a new spin-off trilogy, Kingdoms of Perdition, debuting in Summer, 2014.

Spirit or Fallen, one thing remains certain, the Demons of Stone Soldiers are just as dangerous and murderous as any other monster in the series.