Satan's Affair

Chapter 6 includes an extended sex scene with Sibby and all five henchmen, which is significant for the boundaries it pushes within the dark romance genre. Dark romance works, notably those by H.D. Carlton, often include graphic, explicit sexual content that many find disturbing or offensive, such as the use of a gun during Zade’s sexual assault of Adeline in Haunting Adeline. However, these scenes are almost always restricted to couples, rather than groups, which are more commonly associated in this genre with crimes or assault. Sibby and her henchmen, however, are six consenting adults, and the henchmen, also have sex with each other. This scene breaks through the general heteronormativity and emphasis on single-partner sex that the genre predominantly highlights. As with the prior sex scene, though, the orgy sequence happens alongside Gary’s dead and mutilated body, continuing the question of Sibby’s motivation in executing her supernatural duty.

As the henchmen discuss the move to Seattle, a key element of The Allure of Moral Certainty comes to the forefront. Sibby thinks: “I can’t understand how people could kidnap and rape boys and girls. Little innocent babies to teenagers. And then sell them and torture them in the worst imaginable ways” (70), revealing Sibby’s limited understanding of good and evil. For her, the idea of mass crimes, trafficking, and evil rituals defies even the memories she has of her father’s abusive cult. In killing demons, Sibby restricts her view to singular individuals, such as Gary, who assaulted Jennifer specifically, or Leonard, whom she blames for her mother’s death. Dealing with these men one on one, she can rely on her supernatural sense of smell to determine their identity as irredeemably evil “demons.” The discussion of human trafficking, especially child trafficking, broadens Sibby’s understanding of evil, forcing her to reckon with systems of exploitation rather than simply with evil individuals. Though she says: “Only a demon could do that” (70), her definition of “demon” has broadened to include the possibility of evil as a social and systemic problem rather than simply an individual one.

As Sibby continues to recall periods from her life in the cult, she reveals more details about The Impact of Trauma on Psychology and Sexuality, as she tries to understand her mother’s situation. Sibby wonders: “What did she look like before him? Was she vibrant and full of life and love? Did she do everything with passion and ferocity?” (72), but she also places some of the blame on her mother, noting how she “let someone destroy her so deeply” (72). In Sibby’s mind, her mother is the only source of love she ever had, but she is also, in some ways, the cause of the trauma she and Sibby faced with Leonard. Like Jennifer and Gary, Sibby does not understand why her mother would stay with Leonard despite the abuse. This pattern of behavior that Sibby sees in others reaffirms her own belief that she and her henchmen, who are also survivors, are protecting the weak and innocent, who, like Sibby’s mother or Jennifer, could be tricked or hurt by “demons.”

Critically, Sibby’s mother gives her the “pretty knife” that Sibby uses to kill demons, and she reveals that the first demon she kills is likely her father. Sibby’s mother tells Sibby: “That’s why you’re the only one that can stand up to Leonard. You have fire in you that I simply do not possess” (77), sparking the discussion of The Ethics of Vigilantism by framing Sibby as an exception to the general rule against harming others. The conditions of this vigilantism are clear, though, as Sibby’s mother does not tell her to simply kill any and all people who are “bad,” but specifically tells her to kill Leonard to save the cult members. After the trauma of this killing, Sibby retains this concept of good and evil and feels compelled to repeat the act with other men whose evil nature makes them appropriate stand-ins for the already-dead Leonard. In her own eyes, the ethical status of her actions depends on her ability to judge who is beyond redemption, and she appoints herself a supernatural arbiter of good and evil—a status hinted at by her name, which evokes the sibyls, or prophetesses, of ancient Greece. Sibby’s retributive justice does not extend to people who might seem “bad,” but cannot be definitively judged as evil. An example of this comes up in the fair, when Sibby sees a father and son arguing. Sibby sees “the worry etched into the corners of his eyes” and says he smells “Smoky, but not rotten. He just doesn’t know how to love the right way” (91). Though the father is “bad,” he is not “evil,” meaning he is free from Sibby’s vigilante justice.

The main crossover between Satan’s Affair and Haunting Adeline comes in the expected arrival of Daya, Adeline, and Zade at Sibby’s haunted house. Much like in Haunting Adeline, Adeline and Daya enter the house and do not see Sibby, who stays in the walls appreciating their scent of flowers. However, when Zade enters, Sibby notes: “This isn’t just any man. This is a dangerous man…He’s definitely not pure. But I can’t say he’s evil, either” (95). Sibby presents the conflict of Zade’s character in Haunting Adeline briefly, where Zade is a complex character balancing his desire for justice against his lust for Adeline. Like Gary, Sibby sees Zade as her father for a moment, but she does not kill him, unlike the demons she has fought in the past, as she only kills people she can definitively judge as “evil.”

A key detail of Sibby’s complex backstory is the revelation that she controls people with pressure point techniques she learned from her father. Leonard “had a weird fascination with being able to debilitate or even kill someone with a single jab of his finger. All that power to ruin or end someone’s life in one small movement” (110). Much like Sibby’s earlier comparison of the “service” she provides versus the “service” her father claimed to provide, the pressure points become a mirror between Sibby and Leonard. Where Leonard used his power to control people and bend them to his will, Sibby uses the same technique to free people by killing their abusers. This disparity in the uses of power further cements Sibby’s motivation in protecting the innocent, while emphasizing the destructive nature of her father’s abuses.