Magicmen

 The Monster Within has many villains, monsters, creatures that the characters strive against. It starts with the goblins who are more of a nuisance than bad guys. The swarm is a menace to be sure, and the Boar is another danger, but for me nothing is more monstrous than the magicmen. Creatures who were once human, twisted by their addiction to souls, most particularly, the souls of children.

I cannot claim that the magicmen are creatures of my imagination. They belong wholly to my husband. When he was young, he came up with a group of superheroes he called The Repellers led by a fallen angel to save the world. In high school, he designed a role-playing game around his concept and for four years we battled magicmen, My’riah, Hotep, and black widow sharks amongst many other villains.

My character was an empath who had a particular aversion to magicmen. She developed a sixth sense for when they were around, but oftentimes her companions didn’t believe her until they came to light. She developed a big of a Cassandra complex from it. The magicmen were her nemesis and one even ended up stealing her own daughter.

I don’t remember exactly how I came up with the idea to use them in Monster but Keir loved the thought of me including a creature he created. The fey kissed link was new to this book, but everything else about the magicmen derived from Keir. They’re hard to detect because they tend to lie low. Each magicman feeds differently, and some aren’t quite as evil as Andre Nightingale. Which was often quite a dilemma for my high school character.

When it came to designing this particular magicman, I was greatly influenced by Stephen King’s Storm of the Century. I loved that movie. I loved the horror of the choice the town had to make. I loved the sheriff who kept fighting to keep all the children safe. How he kept searching even after it was too late. (There is definitely a bit of him in Constantin.) And I really loved that bastard who forced that choice on the town.

At first glance, he looked completely normal, that seemingly bland face that held such evil. The way he relished the townspeople’s infighting and pain stuck in my mind. Like Andre Nightingale, he was dangerous when crossed. And Nightingale also enjoyed toying with those around him.

I wanted to connect this particular magicman to French history. So I did some research into French serial killers and came across Gilles de Rais. The fact that he served in the 100 Years’ War with the founder of the Chevaliers de Rouen only cemented my choice. Gilles is not the magicman, but one of his servants who helped with everything and was also executed serves as the base for my monster. I hope he creeps you out as much as he does me.

As a little Easter Egg if you notice when Michel-Leon reaches out to his colleague in Prussia regarding a magicman who had been hunting in Hamelin, that is absolutely a reference to the pied piper.

 

The quote I use above probably sums up Nightingale. He’s arrogant. He’s cruel. And he has zero remorse. The full dialogue for that little bit is here:

“I can crush Constantin’s mind anytime I wish to.” Nightingale’s finger stabbed the air, and then it straightened with a sly smile. “It amuses me to make him suffer. He deserves to suffer after what he has stolen from me.”

“An interesting conceit, considering you stole from him first.” Michel-Leon braced himself on the railing and opened his mind further to the ancestors and their unceasing whispers. Those who had fought such monsters in the past vied for his attention.

“Do you apologize to the lamb when it graces your table?” Nightingale sneered. “The children are prey. Those who should shelter them cast them out, and I take them in. They are unwanted, unloved. If you valued them so much, you’d ensure their care. So spare me the lecture.”

Michel-Leon couldn’t deny the partial truths the magicman threw at him. If it hadn’t been for Constantin, no one would’ve ever noticed the children’s sufferings. There were too many in need of shelter, food, and love. They had to do better.