Embracing the Devil Inside: Happily Ever Afters for Evil Characters

What if I’m not a good person?

I’m curious how many of us have asked ourselves that very question. You cut in line, you fib on a job application, you take extra free samples from the cheese monger. So many lines drawn within ourselves, maintaining our morality, crossed day after day after day.

Has this particular question ever crossed your mind:

Am I bad?

The devil on our shoulder would most likely whisper: No, no, not at all… You deserve what’s coming to you, so just go ahead and take it. Take it all. Take everything.

Who would notice if we pinched an extra free penny from the store counter when nobody’s looking? Or lie to our life partners about where we were—or who we were with—last night? Or slipped our wedding ring off on a business trip, leaving our vows behind? Who would even notice? Who would stop us?

It’s not a sin, is it?

There are so many daily infringements to keep track of, all the transgressions adding up, slowly but surely, gathering like plaque within our souls, weighing our spirits down.

Now… how many amongst us have ever asked the question:

Am I evil?

Not just I fibbed at the DMV evil, but capital-E, I’m-going-to-Hell-Evil. That kind of self-reflection requires we rummage around the deepest, darkest corners of our subconscious, shining a light where our squiggliest, ugliest thoughts squirm, tamped down, locked away, never to break free.

Hopefully.

This is where Devil Inside resides. When I dove into this horrormance, I wanted to map out a love story between a man who lost his soul (or maybe never had one to begin with) and a demon whose sole occupation is encouraging the transgressions of humanity. When these two characters discover each other, meeting cute, they descend into a romance that I hope horrifies the reader.

Bike courier Jordan dies in an accident for a total of two minutes, and in that time, he went to the world down under. His soul is hellbound and it’s not a pretty sight. Lucky for him, he makes it back to the land of the living, body shattered, only to struggle with the notion that he’s not the upstanding individual he may have believed himself to be.

I’m curious: If you found out that you were destined for Hell, what would you do? How would you live your life, knowing where you were going once you finally passed away?

What line(s) would you cross?

Lilith is a demon who slips and slithers from one human vessel to the next, tipping the scales of immorality in order to ensure more souls make their way to the underworld. It’s a sly trick, whispering into the ears of the possessed and encouraging them to succumb to their baser natures. It may start as something trivial as a fib, but how long before it becomes something darker? More devious? Steal this. Hurt them. Don’t hold yourself back. Be… bad.

When Lilith and Jordan find each other, attracted by what each offers the other—a fleshly vessel to possess, a kindred spirit to be as bad as they want to be—the two navigate the thornier aspects of love and demonic possession in the age of consent. Their growing attraction to one another comes at the cost of the safety of everyone else within their orbit. It’s not pretty. In fact, quite the opposite. At times, it’s dark. Monstrous, even.

So… are we rooting for their happily ever after?

Maybe, maybe not.

Should readers be unnerved by Jordan and Lilith’s union and the destruction in their wake?

Absolutely. Their love is what brings the horror to this particular horrormance. The courtship at the center of Devil Inside is not the fairy tale type. In fact, I’d argue it’s the exact opposite. This is the love of something darker, pivoting the narrative away from the morally upright, the innocent, the pure of heart. This is the love of monsters. Of Evil people.

This isn’t bearing witness to a trainwreck so much as it is witnessing those behind the wreck itself, the conscious decision to cause the misfortune, who holds the controls, who flips the switch, and who relishes in the human toll.

Jordan chooses to do very, very bad things. And Lilith is there, every step of the way, rooting him on while roosting inside the empty cavern of his heart, making a home for themselves.

There lies the true horror of Devil Inside. What if the love of these two characters comes at the expense of others? What does their happily ever after mean for the rest of the world?

Perhaps that’s the litmus test. If a novel posits itself as a love story, but the characters we witness falling in love are in fact toxic—even Evil with a capital-E—then the moral line drawn for the reader is: Should I be happy that these two found each other and fell in love? Or should I be horrified?

We want—need—to believe we’re good people. That heaven is waiting for us. But what if you realized you’re already destined for Hell? Who would you be then?

What would you do?

Devil Inside suggests it’s possible to fall in love with the devil on your shoulder. All you need to do is let that devil in, open yourself up and see how many lines you’re willing to cross to find that match made in Hell.

Devil Inside is published by Titan Books on 11 August 2026