Daughter of Damnation Ch. 3 - Reflection

Have I mentioned how much I love mixing the mundane and the fantastical? And that's why I love Urban Fantasy so much? Well, this chapter starts right in the middle of my personal happy place: trying to figure out how an Archangel gets comfortable in a 2000's era car. Original this section was a little shorter, but I love the visual of Zadkiel slowly moving back and forth as they wrestle with the car seat.

On a more plot important level, however, there was a lot of logistical stuff I needed to cover. I always envisioned the 2000 story as a road trip to Yellowstone, and I needed to explain why they weren't simply flying. My initial thought was "Oh, public airlines would be really risky," but then I remembered that I just finished showing everyone how filthy rich Evelyn is. Why not charter a private jet? Well, airlines are still monitored to a certain extent, and I think it makes sense that if you're trying to avoid secret government organizations you would avoid air travel.

Side note: I almost made a joke about airport security and then immediately remembered that this story takes place before September 2001.

Then we jump into some new territory. Suddenly A Succubus has always been a pretty grounded narrative, and most of the characters know so little about the true nature of the world that it's really easy to ignore the high-minded philosophy of everything happening to them. They're trapped in constant battle against cultists, demons, monsters, and witches, so the nature of redemption and the afterlife is bound to take a back seat. One thing I'm trying to stress with Daughter of Damnation, however, is that Evelyn and Zadkiel are NOT human, and they have very different perceptions of the world, time, the afterlife, etc.

I honestly had a lot more fun writing out their philosophical debate than I expected I would. I thought it was really interesting that Evelyn made very few actual points, and instead simply poked and prodded the edges of Zadkiel's faith in Heaven.

Overall, I think this section speaks for itself pretty clearly. However, I do want to highlight my favorite passage.

“Do you regret your actions?” Evelyn asked. “Do you regret having a daughter? If the answer is yes, and you truly believe that Heaven is capable of forgiving you, then your former glory is within your grasp. In order to reclaim your true form, they will make you renounce her existence, and she will spend eternity knowing that her parent cast her aside, that she was nothing more than a momentary distraction.”

“That’s not—”

Evelyn didn’t let them protest, and kept speaking. “If the answer is no, then your apology will never ring true in Heaven’s eyes. You will be forever separated from your true self, trapped in this physical vessel. You will, through your actions, be admitting that you believe Heaven to be fundamentally flawed. Your daughter, however, will forever have a loving parent by her side. No matter what hardships you face, no matter what Heaven thinks, you’ll have each other, and both your lives will be brighter for it.”

Here, I was trying my absolute best to show just how detached from the drama of Heaven and Hell Evelyn is. She's trying her best to ensure a good life for Zadkiel's child, and if she doesn't push Zadkiel into confronting their situation, the child will suffer because of it.

Anyways, they eventually pull off to visit a roadside diner and Zadkiel continues learning how to care for their daughter. They also catch Evelyn crying as she watches the sweet moment! Which is, obviously, a complete farce that she's maliciously framing to convince Zadkiel to trust her. Nothing else. Totally no lingering wants about motherhood here.

The diner scene is, for the most part, a welcome return to more urban fantasy shenanigans. Ordering food, talking about nicknames, things like that.

Oh, and Evelyn is forced to call the baby Hope because Zadkiel still hasn't named her. I wonder what her actual name will end up being?

I also get a chance to make a really ominous hint about the future/past of Evelyn's story!

She remembered the many promises she’d made.

The one promise she’d broken.

Ooooh so spooky!

We end the 2000 scene with the reveal that Zadkiel ratted Evelyn out to the police while she was in the bathroom. Not all that surprising, honestly, but a fun reminder that Zadkiel is not happy about being toted around the country by Evelyn.

I don't have too much to say about this half of the chapter, if that weren't obvious enough. I think it stands up on its own really well, and nothing super interesting happened behind the scenes. We've got a cool cliffhanger for the next chapter, though, and that's gonna be a big one!

For now, however, it's time to jump back to 1938.

The first chapter was mostly just about Evelyn arriving on Earth. The second chapter was mostly her learning about her current situation, and the fact that she's basically mortal. This chapter, then, was my first chance to really dig into how poverty and starvation are affecting her. She's always been powerful, she's always had some kind of status, and now she's cut off from everything she used to rely on for survival.

This is one reason I thought it was so important to set the story during the Great Depression. It's not just that Evelyn doesn't have her usual powers, which for her is essentially the same thing as losing a limb. It's not just that it's winter. It's not just that she's forced to rely on other people. Every single element needs to work together to push Evelyn into making very specific decisions, and this chapter is where I really dig into the length she's willing to go to in order to survive.

So, as much as it pains me to write it, we do see her stealing food from a literal child. I wrestled a lot with how to write 1938 Evelyn, especially in these early chapters. How does one properly showcase the kind of demon she used to be?

The unspoken assumption, at least for me, is that Evelyn has spent thousands of years doing truly terrible things. She's Lilith's firstborn, likely one of the most powerful demons around, so there's no way she limits her activities to, like, vagueposting on twitter. Still, I also don't want to show a character so terrible that the audience loses investment in her. One big advantage I had is that we've met Evelyn in the future first, and we know she turns out alright. I think, to a certain extent, that gives me a bit of leeway to show her doing some pretty gross things in the past.

Once everyone finishes breakfast, we get to meet Mayor Mike Donovan! This is actually a real person from history, and he was legitimately the Mayor of the Chicago Hooverville. When he turned up in my research, I thought it would be really fun to put him in the story. All I know about him is that he's a disabled railroad worker, so I took some liberties with his exact condition. I hope you like him, he was fun to put to paper!

Importantly, he's trying to get Vince some work. However, this gives me a chance to start working in a theme that's been completely absent from my work until now: Racism.

It's not a topic I'm super qualified to write on, let me be up front about that. It's not a huge theme, and it won't be incredibly relevant for very long, but it was important that I not gloss over the reality of the world Vince is living in. As a non-white immigrant, especially someone living in poverty in the 1930's, it would have been wrong to not be honest about the reality of the world around him.

Racism, however, is also something that's never affected Evelyn. It's definitely something she knows about, she's a master of manipulation after all, but she's able to freely change her shape at will. Why would she ever think about the possibility of being racially profiled?

I'm sure it won't be relevant to her story at any point.

What's most important, at least at this point in the story, is Vince's explanation. The idea that he turned down work because the community will be stronger overall if someone else takes the job. I thought this was a crucial idea to start seeding, and it gives Evelyn something to chew on as she continues struggling against poverty.

After a bit of a time skip, it's time to see the next critical event of Evelyn's journey through the Great Depression. After finally managing to recover some of her illusion powers, she goes to a diner in the hopes of buying a real meal. However, as I alluded to earlier, she's never had to think about race relations earlier. She doesn't know to look for "Whites Only" signs, and she's desperate. To a certain extent, she's so proud of her inherent power that she's never had to experience true vulnerability.

Predictably, she doesn't have a great time at the diner. Her pride gets the better of her, and she nearly gets herself killed by attempting to stand up for herself.

Much like the 2000 half of this chapter, I don't feel like I have as much to say. I think I did a good job of putting everything on the page, and I'll admit I'm a little proud of how the story structure lets me end with a double cliffhanger.

The next chapter is going to be a big one! This is going to be a shorter series, which means chapter 4 is essentially the midpoint, and I think it's time we started seeing some big swings.

I hope you're excited!

Nyx ♥