Character Feature: Otto Vogerath (AKA Pride)

Three AI-generated images of Vogerath. In all three images, he wears a gray suit and blood-red power tie.

(Left) A shot focused on just the head of the man and he smiles evilly, very pleased with himself. There's fresh blood on the wall behind him.

(Middle) A wider-framed shot, in which he's still smiling, but the grin isn't quite so wide and the blood on the wall is more smeared than spattered.

(Right) The blood on the wall is long dry and Vogerath has dropped the Illusion of humanity he normally portrays, revealing his true nature as a snake demon.

Buy This Book Otto Vogerath may be many things, including a German man that supposedly came to the states before the Nazis took over Germany, the ring leader of a circus, an abusive husband and father, a criminal, a mob boss, a mass-murderer, a mad genius plotting world domination, but all of that pales in comparison to his true identity: Otto Vogerath is one of the seven Arch-demons that rule Hell, where he's known as Pride.

He's very intelligent and often runs mental circles around his opponents, treating them almost like puppets dangling from strings, continually manipulating them into doing exactly what he wants. In that regard, he's playing a grand-scale game of chess, while his opponents think they're playing a simple hand of go-fish for no stakes, when in fact, the stakes couldn't be higher.

Even when he appears to be losing, he's usually accomplishing something of lasting value to his long-term goal of galactic domination or just possibly, taking over Hell. What really motivates him is a mystery to all others, but he'll never give anyone a straight answer.

Vogerath is extremely old, having been born before the dawn of humanity, which makes it almost believable when he claims to be the Serpent from the Garden of Eden.

Whether that's true or not, however, he is the living embodiment of Pride, literally believing himself to be a cut above all others, his greatest flaw.

However, when his plans start falling apart, making him look the fool, he can be extremely dangerous and unpredictable.

When his life is on the line, he becomes a total coward, because in his mind, he's the most important person in the multiverse, bar none. Therefore, leaving his minions to die while he escapes is perfectly acceptable.

Vogerath is the arch-nemesis of Little Miss Secret, because he's responsible for murdering her parents. His mysterious plans revolve around the girl, because he has need of the unique powers of a half-demon. He may even be responsible for arranging for her to be born.

Tags: ashen-blades, character-feature

Character Feature: Verda Bagley

An AI generated image of Verda Bagley, in 1945.

Buy This Book Verda Bagley is an ally of Little Miss Secret, Simmons and Mashu'ra. She's also a field operative of the Order of Ash and Smoke with a lot of experience.

She's one of the most powerful witches in the world, but ironically doesn't consider herself to be one, instead thinking of herself as simply 'talented'.

She's a mother to her very core and uses nursery rhymes as a concentration aid to focus her mind for spell casting. She can often be heard singing in combat, to keep her mind from wandering.

She appears to be in her twenties, but is actually in her forties during She Hunts Demons. It isn't explicitly stated until book two, but her aging process has been unnaturally slowed by her magic.

She hates the common labels that come with her magic and only puts up with being called a witch, because that's the convenient term used by the others in the Order.

She also doesn't believe the creatures the Order fights are actually demons, because according to the beliefs of her religion (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), demons don't have physical bodies, having been denied that opportunity when they rebelled against God, before the world was.

Instead, she considers them evil monsters that need to die, because their actions are the darkest kind of evil. Her theories about the demons are not well accepted by the Order, but toward the end of the book, she gains some indirect evidence she was right all along, leading her to conclude the so-called demons are actually Unseelie Fairies.

Like LMS, she absolutely hates demons that prey on children and will go out of her way to put them down.

As a witch, her best elements are Spirit, Water and Wood, but she also has a little mastery of Air and in book two, she starts experimenting with Animal magic. She's an expert on curses of all varieties and she often works to counter curses planted by demons.

Her favorite spells involve manipulating tree roots and branches to attack enemies or forming water into barriers or weapons. She also sometimes uses reversed curses, a technique she learned by observing the action of the protective spell surrounding Little Miss Secret. These are effectively delayed-action curses she places on herself that affect the first person to attack her.

Verda is the expert Little Miss Secret consulted when she was looking to counter the curse she lives with.

Aside from her magic, she fights with a shotgun and she's almost never without her switchblade, because sometimes magic fails.

Her best attributes are a keen intellect and a creative approach to any situation, both of which she can use in the heat of combat, with a cool and level head. Like Simmons and Little Miss Secret, Verda isn't one to give up easily and always has a new trick up her sleeve, whether it's magic or not.

She's extremely adverse to the idea of leaving behind or abandoning a friend and she'll go to great lengths to rescue them, almost regardless of the danger.

Tags: ashen-blades, character-feature

Character Feature: Mashu'ra

(Left) An AI generated image of Mashu'ra, in the form of a little, black kitten, with green eyes.

(Right) An AI generated image of Simmons in his cat-man form, wearing the magic, shape-shifting clothes Mashu'ra gave him, in the form of a tuxedo. His cat-man form is a result of Mashu'ra partially possessing his body.

Buy This Book Mashu'ra is often called Masher, because when spoken by others, a demon's true name gives power to summon or compel them. He's the little demon that lives inside Little Miss Secret's top hat, in the novel She Hunts Demons. He's stuck in the form of an adorable little, black kitten, a fact that annoys and embarrasses him.

Mashu'ra was originally her mother's familiar and as a result of that demon-witch's betrayal of demon-kind, he's also considered a traitor by demons.

He's an imp, which is effectively a juvenile demon that isn't yet strong enough to properly possess a human host. Imps normally grow in strength by feeding on the blood left-over from their master's human kills, until they're strong enough to possess and dominate a human host. Alternatively, an imp can be summoned by a witch to server as a familiar and fed raw magic until they mature.

With rare exception, demons gain an initial form from the first creature they possess and since they're normally too weak as an imp to possess a human, they take on animal traits. This is why demons tend to have such sharp senses of smell. Before that, they normally resemble one or both of their parents.

In the case of Mashu'ra, he was summoned into the body of a house cat by Annmarie Nosset, the mother of Little Miss Secret. When she was killed, he lost the power she fed him and shrunk in size until he became a kitten.

He normally looks after Little Miss Secret's arsenal of weapons, cleaning and loading her firearms for her, on top of keeping her collection of blades sharp, but please don't ask how a kitten accomplishes that, because it's a big secret!

Mashu'ra is an expert on both witch and demon magic, because he spent so many years serving one of the most powerful demon-witches the world ever saw.

He uses his magic to keep an eye on Little Miss Secret and her activities from inside her hat, so he's always up to date on current events, unless he's been napping.

During the early portions of She Hunts Demons, Mashu'ra watches Simmons, coming to respect the man enough to make him an unusual offer: if Simmons would allow Mashu'ra to possess his body, they would work as a team, to kill demons together. Seeing an opportunity to finally get into the field, Simmons accepts.

While an imp can possess a human body, they don't have the strength to suppress the human mind, which effectively leaves the human in charge, with the full strength of a demon! When Simmons uses this power, he grows extremely large, muscular and takes on feline features, includes claws, fangs and black fur.

In cat-man form, Simmons is in great pain, but the pain feeds Mashu'ra's power, making him very strong and durable.

When injured in cat-man form, he heals extremely rapidly, the pain of which feeds into Mashu'ra, becoming greater power and that goes back into Simmons, making him even stronger. As a result, this transformation makes him nigh-indestructible, but with a seriously dangerous caveat: the more damage Simmons takes, the more Mashu'ra's animal instincts flood his mind and the dumber he becomes. If things go too far, his higher mental functions shut down, leaving him running on raw emotion.

Even worse, the pain Simmons feels is like a powerful drug to Mashu'ra, causing him to get extremely high. In short, if the duo takes too much damage, they become an unstoppable killing machine that's a danger to everyone. When they finally calm down and separate, Mashu'ra is effectively left suffering the powerful after-effects of a drug over-dose. Being a demon, this can't kill him, but it can and does make him wish he were dead.

Demons have tried this combination of human and imp in the past, inevitably leading to an out of control killing machine. The secret sauce that keeps Simmons and Mashu'ra alive and functioning in this state is impossible for such evil beings to replicate: an incorruptible man willingly working with and trusting a demon for the sake of a common cause.

Late in the novel, as a result of destroying the wardrobe of Simmons, Mashu'ra gives the man a magic, demon-made, shape-shifting suit, which is able to take any form desired and automatically adjusts its size to match Simmons as he changes size. Incidentally, it also serves as light body armor that's able to stop bullets and staunch bleeding, which gives him a little extra protection, even when he's out of cat-man form.

Tags: ashen-blades, character-feature

Character Feature: Clayton Simmons

An AI generated image of Simmons from 1945, in his favorite gray suit.

Buy This Book Clayton Simmons is the private investigator partner of Little Miss Secret, in my novel She Hunts Demons. He affectionately calls her 'the boss', because she's been a part of their agency longer than he has, though she actually plays the role of muscle, while he's the brains and face of the operation.

Simmons is an operative of a secretive demon-hunting organization known as the Order of Ash and Smoke, who've been hunting demons and protecting humanity for centuries. Members of this organization are known as Ashen Blades.

Simmons became an Ashen Blade when his wife was consumed by a demon from the inside out as a result of her addiction to alcohol. On gaining control of his wife's body, the demon tried to kill Simmons, leaving him with a limp doctors couldn't fix, that forces him to walk with a cane.

As a result of his last-minute rescue by Ashen Blades that had used the power of a witch to finger his wife as a potential demon, Simmons volunteered to become part of the Order, because he wanted to know the real truth of what happened to his wife.

His limp initially precludes him from active combat duty and he was instead assigned to be Little Miss Secret's handler, a job that mostly consists of keeping an eye on her, because the Order knows she's a half-demon and is therefore wary of her, despite her lengthy list of demon kills, both on and off the record.

His day to day responsibilities mostly consist of doing things the girl has a hard time doing for herself, since she's functionally mute, including buying things she needs, such as an occasional pair of new shoes and ammunition for her guns. On one notable occasion, he helped her purchase a Japanese Wakizashi from a pawn shop, which they got very cheap, because the country was at war with Japan at the time. That sword is one of her favorite weapons.

As a result of how closely they work together and the emotional bond they form in the midst of her telling him her origin story through crayon drawings, Simmons and Little Miss Secret have a relationship somewhat akin to father and daughter. Simmons feels deeply protective of Little Miss Secret and she feels much the same for him, but for the early portions of the novel, she refuses to allow him to accompany her into combat, but not because of his injury, being more concerned by the fact that he's merely human.

As it turns out, she lost her last partner because he followed her into combat when he shouldn't have and she feels responsible for failing to protect him, so she's even more protective of Simmons, choosing to walk into a trap without him, to avoid risking his life. Being the good detective he is, Simmons soon realizes the truth and follows her, anyway.

In their first encounter with the villain of the story, Otto Vogerath, Simmons is nearly beaten to death by the demon, leaving him with multiple broken bones and an excess of bruises.

Seeing how badly injured he got, but nonetheless sensing the potential of Simmons, Mashu'ra, the kitten demon that hides in Little Miss Secret's hat, offers Simmons an unusual deal: if he lets the little imp partially possess his body, Simmons will have the strength, durability and healing power of a demon, but Simmons will be in great pain. In exchange, Mashu'ra will feed on his suffering and use the energy it gives him to empower Simmons to fight, incidentally getting the little demon some revenge on demon-kind for killing his Master, who happened to be Little Miss Secret's mother.

Simmons takes the deal and Mashu'ra tells him his true name, giving Simmons the power to call on the kitten demon's power whenever he likes. The little demon also gives him his first lessons in magic. As it turns out, Simmons is from a forgotten off-shoot of a family of witches, but because his power doesn't come out of its own accord, Mashu'ra teaches him the wizard's path to magic, which is all pain and hard work, for very little effect.

In his next encounter with Vogerath, Simmons turns the table and becomes exactly the bull in a china shop that Little Miss Secret needs by her side, finally making them equal partners.

Tags: ashen-blades, character-feature

Character Feature: Little Miss Secret

(Left) An AI generated image of LMS at the age of 48 (1945), appearing 15 and a little tomboyish.

(Center) Ryan Johnson's illustration of LMS sitting on the edge of a rooftop for the book's cover, at the same age.

(Right) Another AI generated image, age 75 (1972), appearing 17 and a bit more mature, during a short trip to Japan.

Buy This Book The half-demon protagonist of She Hunts Demons has no known name, but instead a series of nicknames. Her friends call her The Boss, Little Miss Secret, Little Miss or LMS, while her enemies call her lots of unpleasant things, the least offensive and repeatable of which are half-demon brat or simply brat. She calls herself The Hunter.

At the age of three years old, her parents were murdered in front of her by a demon, so she grew up on the streets of New York City, with only her mother's familiar, Mashu'ra, to look after her.

She lives with a curse from the murderer that makes her functionally mute, by preventing her from saying anything other than, "It's a secret."

Due to the murders and the curse, she's devoted her life to exterminating demon-kind with extreme prejudice. As a result of the way a small child's mind can paper over harsh memories, she initially had no true understanding of why she hated demons so much, but the memory is brought back to her mind in the early chapters of the book, when she kills a child-eating demon, then when her private detective partner, Clayton Simmons, stumbles across the name of the killer on an investigation she had no idea was related, it all comes into sharp focus.

She suffers in silence for a time, but Simmons eventually suggests drawing what's on her mind, allowing her to tell him the story through crayon drawings. Together, they puzzle out its true meaning and she finally comes to understand the loss of her parents.

LMS is widely considered crazy by enemies and allies, alike, because she's incredibly driven and beyond stubborn. She never admits defeat and becomes incredibly dangerous when cornered. For example, when a chandelier is dropped on her, pinning her to the floor, she pulls the pin of a grenade and allows it to go off, nearly on top of herself, because if she's going to die, she may as well take some demons with her.

Aside from that, LMS is a deeply emotional individual, because emoting is one of the few ways she can communicate effectively.

She's mischievous, with a love for playing an occasional prank during idle times and loves watching the mayhem that ensues when people try to shake her hand (see below, regarding the protective spell surrounding her). Her mischievous streak becomes downright cruel when she faces demons and her pranks then become lethal or painful.

Due to the way her parents died, she has great love and compassion for humans, especially small children.

In many ways, she resembles a house cat: she moves with grace, can climb almost anything, can survive falls from extreme height, she's playful, but cruel to her prey (demons) and she even has a tail, which is normally hidden by her skirt. This is all because her mother's demon form was that of a feline.

As a half-demon, she inherited the full powers of a demon, giving her rapid healing, supernatural strength, the ability to conjure weapons to her hands from a pocket dimension inside her top hat and the fairly unique ability to teleport from shadow to shadow.

Like demons, she survives on raw life force, but unlike them, she can survive on the ambient energy of a city, without murdering humans. She's mostly incapable of digesting solid food and doesn't actually have to eat. When she does, she normally only ingests bread and water. When she goes out to eat with Simmons, she normally orders hot dogs and only eats the buns, giving the actual meat to Mashu'ra.

She has a particularly strong love of hot, buttered dinner rolls. Among all the things inside her hat is a secondary pocket dimension filled with countless fresh, warm dinner rolls, in which the flow of time has been suspended, keeping them perpetually fresh. She often gives these to victims of demon attacks, because dealing with harsh realities is often easier with a little comfort food.

Her demon powers give her Smoke, Shadow and Void magic. She also happens to be a powerful witch, giving her Fire magic, but she doesn't realize this until late in the first novel.

In addition, LMS is surrounded by a unique, sentient spell that protects her, which is what her demon-witch mother, Annmarie Nosset, transformed herself into when she died, as the means to avoid the eternal punishment that awaited her in Hell, for voluntarily choosing to become a demon. Annmarie has the ability to subtly manipulate probability to ensure LMS doesn't come to harm, causing unlikely accidents to those that would dare try. This also affects anyone that tries to touch the girl against her will. However, there are some significant caveats to how the spell works, which can't protect her from unintentional, indirect or blind attacks.

For example, in the case of the chandelier, the demon responsible had simply been waiting for the lights of the room to come on to cut the rope, without ever knowing the reasons for his orders. Another example is the case of LMS facing an angry witch. LMS tried to get rid of the girl with a warning shot, but she grazed the witch's ear, instead. The witch lost control and a whirlwind spun LMS in the air until she was violently ill.

Like Annmarie, the father of LMS is always near. When Jake Watson died, his spirit latched onto his old top hat, which LMS now wears. He dwells within the pocket dimension inside the hat as a bound ghost and his powers are integral to how it functions.

Little Miss Secret has one additional ally who's nearly always present: her mother's familiar, Mashu'ra, lives inside her hat, where he looks after her weapons for her and keeps a watchful eye on events outside, at least when he's not napping. Mashu'ra also keeps Jake company, telling him what's going on in the outside world.

In exchange for his service, LMS feeds Mashu'ra hot dogs.

Tags: ashen-blades, character-feature