When developing the demonology for my urban fantasy trilogy, Demon Spring, I really wanted to take a global approach. I didn’t want to use the same ol’ creatures from European mythology. However, I also didn’t want to appropriate currently practiced culture or accidentally use something revered by a culture. Cam is a very (very) proud Mexican American, whose family has been battling the demons that came from the schism since they arrived. But a lot of Mexican folklore and mythology are still practiced by the Nahuatl people. And again, wanting to be respectful, I opted to create a wholly imaginary creature for Mexico (after some starts and stops). Thus, the noxes were born (nox = the latin word for night).
Blending Stories
The noxes have always been Bael’s (King of the Underworld) main antagonist. That thread comes from Bael’s actual genesis, the Ba’al cycle. It was an ancient Ugaritic allegory to the seasons. Bael and Lord Mot, the God of Death, were constantly locked in a battle. Mot kills Bael, then Anat, the fierce warrior woman, kills Mot and retrieves Bael from death.
Unsurprisingly, if you look across cultures, there’s usually a god or goddess of death. In the Aztec culture, the god of death was Mictlāntēcutli and his wife Mictecacihuatl, which is how Mot got his wife Xo. Originally, I’d had Mot be the original demon banished by God. But after looking at the mix of genders (Bael, Mizuchi, Biloko = men, Freyja was the only woman), I decided nah. Xo would be the one banished and her hubs is along for the ride. And it ends up working really well in a flashback seen in book 3.
Nox, The Terrible
In Demon Spring, noxes use frightening visions to scare humans into transformations, basically. Underground versions are shapeshifters, able to turn into dog-like hellbeasts. They’re also the demons that killed Jack’s wife, so he’s got a healthy fear of them. Cam, again having been raised on stories of her ancestors going toe-to-toe with noxes, respects but isn’t afraid of them. They also disagree on the cause of Sara’s death: Jack is convinced it was a consequence of he and Cam getting too close to the D.C. nox and his shady business. Cam believes Sara was just an innocent victim (or that’s what she tells herself anyway).
Buy the first book in the Demon Spring trilogy
Demon hunter Jack Grenard’s life changed three years ago when his wife was brutally murdered by the very demons he’d been hunting. At the urging of his partner Cam Macarro, he’s starting a new life in Atlanta, hoping he’ll find the man he used to be. But on a routine hunt, they come across a new type of demon–one that saves instead of kills.
Meanwhile, demons across Atlanta are preparing for the quadrennial uprising of their Underworld brethren. Worse yet, there’s a rumor the so-called king of the demons, Bael, will appear for the first time in over a century. Jack and Cam must uncover the truth about the mystery woman before all hell–literally–breaks loose.
Read it now, exclusively on Kindle Unlimited:
Also available in paperback and hardcover:
Get the whole series
All three titles available exclusively on Kindle Unlimited.
