Imagine Lucifer’s school: a place of demonic knowledge at the edge of Evil itself.
Nifty, eh? According to Abraham Stoker’s classic novel Dracula (1897), the famed Count learned his supernatural tricks at “the Scholomance, amongst the mountains over Lake Hermanstadt, where the devil claims the tenth scholar as his due.” I’ve had my eye on that line since 2000, when I first began putting together notes for Tantalize (the first book in the Tantalize series).
My mythology supposes that the events chronicled in the novel Dracula are loosely based on fact. It extends Stoker’s world into modern day with each book inching closer to the source material. And then closer to the villain’s backstory.
In Tantalize, we meet Quincie P. Morris, the many-times great niece of the Texan vampire hunter by that same name. In Eternal, we’re introduced to today’s vampire royals as well as the angels—both arch and guardian—who battle them. In Blessed, those two casts collide and the Count himself steps on stage.
As the finale, Diabolical would have to be bolder—more romantic and horrific and cosmic, occasionally even more humorous than the other installments. So, I united the four protagonists of my previous books—the guardian angel Zachary, his girl Miranda in heaven, the wholly-souled vampire Quincie, and the hybrid werewolf Kieren—and pitted them against a branch of the very academic institution that launched the world’s most notorious bloodsucker.
With my YA audience in mind, I created a junior academy—a satellite campus, if you will, of the Scholomance and located it in the snowy mountains of Vermont. It’s on this stage that the majority of Diabolical takes place.
What happens? When Zachary receives word from heaven that his girl Miranda’s best friend Lucy has enrolled at the fearsome school, he journeys to the rescue with Quincie and Kieren. Before long, they too find themselves Lucifer’s prisoners, battling for their lives and souls. Along the way, our heroes get to know their fellow students, each of whom has an unsettling secret and one of whom is a new fan favorite (the adorable wereotter Evie, a “bright spirit” if ever there was one).
Previous architecture depicted in the series reflected Gothic, Victorian and Craftsman influences, so this time I went with a more 20th century spin, steel and glass, influenced by Mies van der Rohe, and 21rst century furnishings. Common rooms, including the kitchen, made sense for the first floor, as did housing for adult staff, the handyman and cook (which of course begged the question of who signs up to change light bulbs or scramble eggs in the name of the dark master…and why?).
Student housing—bedrooms with private baths, a laundry room, and kitchenette seemed logically placed on the second floor with classrooms and a library on the third. I decided to leave the fourth floor a mystery and made sure the elevator didn’t stop there. However, the elevator would take my characters to a fully equipped gym and, below that, to a basement storage area stocked with everything needed for a boarding school and demonic studies. Toilet paper or demon fetus, it’s all there.
The arguably creepiest element, though, is a pop-art reproduction (think: Andy Warhol) of an image from the actual Codex Gigas, originally created by a monk who’d sold his soul to the devil. A framed copy hangs in practically every room of the school and the devilish figure depicted seems almost as if it’s watching…because it is.
What else? Since my Scholomance is something like Eagles’ “Hotel California” (you can enter but leaving is barred), I had to figure out the logic behind the magic that trapped such powerful heroes. I had to consider how they might beat the security system and what it might cost them to do so.
With that in mind, I set the building on a gateway to hell itself—one prowled by both vicious hell dogs and a fiery dragon who lives in the lake surrounding the building.
Then there was that bit about the tenth scholar. Who would it be? How would the “taking” manifest?
The devil’s due is nothing to mess with.
Finally, it’s not school without a teacher. Dr. Ursula Ulman, a previously condemned soul who’s been sent back up from hell to instruct and discipline the students. Ghostly and stern, it’s her job to impart lessons on Alchemy & Incantations, Demonic History, Underworld Governments, and Physical Fitness & Combat. Her patience is short and she has the power to kill with a flick of her oft-fondled lace hanky.
How’s that for a back-to-school story?
Here’s the funny thing: I love school. I was the first person in my family to graduate from college. I continued on to earn a doctoral degree in law. I’ve been known to teach writing at a master’s program and frequently speak with students at high schools near and far.
It must be the horror novelist in me, tempted to recast my fondest settings with an air of maleficence.
What should I reinvent next? Or rather where? A shopping center? A cheerleading camp? The suburban col-de-sac where I grew up? Tell me what you think. I’m taking suggestions!
So, time to set your devious minds at work and think of somewhere worthy of a demonic re-invention! Post your thoughts in the comments below.
Diabolical is out now and available from all good bookstores. If you are intrigued, why not pick it up from your local bookseller? Click here to find yours. You can read a sampler chapter below, in case you need any further enticing...
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