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Black Eyes & Broken Souls - Series Memory Reference

Core Characters

Michael "Mick" Hargraves

  • Age: Late 30s
  • Background: Former Detective Constable with Metropolitan Police, now private investigator
  • Physical: Weathered appearance, damaged right leg (chronic pain from being shot), stubble often verging on beard
  • Defining Trauma: Jamie Matthews case - 8-year-old boy murdered by Philip Weiss after Mick chose wrong door in sadistic game
  • Family: Sister Liz (social worker, married to Bob Harrison), niece Eliza Grace Harrison (born after Baalberith incident)
  • Residence: Small cluttered flat in working-class London area
  • Addictions: Alcohol (bourbon), non-prescribed painkillers
  • Partnership: Shares consciousness with demon Marchosias since [previous book]

Marchosias

  • Nature: Ancient fallen angel turned demon
  • Manifestation: Usually communicates internally (italics), can manifest as shadow/darkness
  • Personality: Sardonic, condescending about human limitations, intellectually curious
  • Speech Patterns: Formal, occasionally archaic, refers to humans as lesser beings
  • Quirks: Obsessed with ice cream and food experiences, enhances Mick's physical abilities
  • Powers: Shadow manipulation, enhanced senses, ancient knowledge, can manifest shadow creatures
  • Relationship with Mick: Evolution from hostile possession to reluctant partnership to genuine symbiosis

Detective Inspector Diana Reeves

  • Position: Metropolitan Police, New Scotland Yard
  • Background: Mick's former partner when he was on the force
  • Personality: Direct, no-nonsense, methodical investigator
  • Personal: Failed marriage, works long hours, limited social circle
  • Evolution: From supernatural skeptic to believer and active participant
  • Equipment: Standard UK police kit - extendable baton, taser, CS gas spray, handcuffs (no firearms)

Lilaeth

  • Nature: Ancient demon, information broker at Crossroads Club
  • Appearance: Porcelain skin, impossibly black hair, beautiful but unsettling
  • Vessel: Possesses woman in her thirties, original consciousness trapped inside
  • Powers: Memory extraction, blood divination, shadow manipulation, precognition
  • Location: Crossroads Club in Soho (supernatural nightclub)
  • History with Marchosias: Former colleagues before the Fall, complex adversarial relationship
  • Current Status: Holds unclaimed favor from Mick (specific terms: within one year, no harm to family, no soul surrender, nothing directly causing human death)

Key Supernatural Elements

The Crossroads Club

  • Location: Soho, London
  • Nature: Supernatural nightclub disguised as ordinary venue
  • Clientele: Demons and possessed humans in human disguise
  • Architecture: Defies normal spatial logic, larger inside than outside
  • Access: Mick can enter but is vulnerable without Marchosias's protection

Binding Stones

  • Origin: Ancient Sumerian artifacts (only 3 ever made)
  • Function: Silence demons without banishing them (traps consciousness while keeping it present)
  • Appearance: Perfect obsidian spheres with rotating sigils
  • Physics: Behave strangely (don't roll normally, sigil always faces up)
  • Current Status: One in Mick's possession, wrapped in silk, hidden in his flat

Mirror/Reflection Magic

  • Mechanism: Reflective surfaces as conduits between realms
  • Manifestation: Spirits can appear in/travel through mirrors, windows, water
  • Dangers: Entities can emerge from or manipulate reflections
  • Countermeasures: Covering/painting over reflective surfaces

Case History: The Harrington Vengeance

Thomas Harrington (1968-1989)

  • Crime: Wrongfully convicted of armed robbery in 1987
  • Sentence: 15 years, sentenced by Judge Blackwood
  • Death: 1989 in Belmarsh Prison Cell 217 (staged suicide, actually murdered by guard Keene)
  • Conspiracy Participants:
  • Detective Harold Morris: Falsified evidence for easy conviction
  • Prosecutor Samuel Wells: Suppressed exculpatory evidence for career advancement
  • Judge Anthony Blackwood: Knowingly harsh sentencing despite case problems
  • Prison Guard Michael Keene: Killed Thomas to cover contraband operation
  • Witness James Patterson: Perjured testimony in exchange for dropped charges

William Harrington

  • Relation: Thomas's father
  • Occupation: Owner of "Ink and Antiquity" bookshop in Spitalfields (specialized in occult texts)
  • Research: Decades studying vengeance rituals after son's death
  • Terminal Illness: Cancer diagnosed 2016, months to live
  • Ritual: Summoned Nemathrel (vengeance demon) using his living body as anchor
  • Death: Released when contract dissolved, died peacefully

Nemathrel

  • Nature: Vengeance demon specializing in justice through mirrors
  • Method: Assumes face/memories of wronged dead, hunts those responsible
  • Victims: All five conspirators killed between 2020-2024 in personalized torments
  • Banishment: Forced to return to infernal realm after contract completion

Institutional Knowledge

Metropolitan Police Supernatural Awareness

  • Superintendent Grayson: Knows about supernatural activities, has been "attuned to these situations" for years
  • Special Investigations Unit: Newly formed unit for cases "falling outside standard categorization"
  • Leadership: Reeves heads unit, Mick as civilian consultant with official clearance
  • Approach: Document truth for those with clearance while maintaining public safety through conventional explanations

Previous Cases Referenced

  • Jamie Matthews: Child murder case that broke Mick, killed by Philip Weiss
  • Baalberith Incident: Previous supernatural case involving Mick's niece Eliza (soul temporarily displaced to Hell)

Locations

Ink and Antiquity Bookshop

  • Address: Spitalfields, London (now abandoned)
  • Features: Hidden basement chamber with mirror gallery
  • Status: Sealed off, officially condemned for structural issues
  • Basement: Ritual space with dozens of mirrors used as supernatural conduits

Mick's Flat

  • Location: Working-class area of London
  • Contents: Evidence boards, occult research materials, binding stone
  • Security: Various supernatural protections and hidden items

Ongoing Threats/Mysteries

Lilaeth's Unclaimed Favor

  • Timeline: Must be collected within one year of agreement
  • Warning: "Precise wording matters more than spirit" of agreement
  • Implications: Favor could be interpreted in dangerous ways despite surface limitations

Binding Stone

  • Current Status: Secured but not destroyed
  • Risk: Too powerful to use casually, too dangerous to leave unguarded
  • Future Need: May be required for other supernatural threats

Marchosias's Past

  • Pre-Fall History: Was angel, served alongside Lilaeth
  • Selection of Mick: Not entirely random, guided by Mick's receptiveness to supernatural
  • Evolution: Partnership deepening into genuine symbiosis

World-Building Rules

Supernatural Physics

  • Veil Between Realms: Can be thinned by trauma, occult activity, or ancient sites
  • Possession Mechanics: Requires invitation, anchor objects, or specific vulnerabilities
  • Reflection Travel: Entities can move between reflective surfaces
  • Binding Magic: Can trap supernatural entities without banishing them

UK Police Procedures

  • No Firearms: Standard officers don't carry guns
  • Equipment: Baton, taser, CS spray, handcuffs, warrant cards
  • Hierarchy: Detective Constable → Detective Inspector → Superintendent
  • Evidence: Blue and white police tape, formal procedures for supernatural cases adapted

London Geography

  • Supernatural Zones: Spitalfields (occult history), Soho (Crossroads Club), Thames Embankment
  • Transportation: No standard supernatural network, entities adapt to human infrastructure
  • Architecture: Old buildings with hidden supernatural features

Character Relationships Map

  • Mick ↔ Marchosias: Symbiotic partnership, mutual dependence
  • Mick → Lilaeth: Debtor, wary respect
  • Reeves → Mick: Professional partnership, growing trust
  • Marchosias ↔ Lilaeth: Former allies, now adversaries with unresolved history
  • Grayson → Unit: Supervisor with hidden supernatural knowledge
  • Eliza → Mick/Marchosias: Supernatural connection from previous incident