Satan's Affair

Sibby’s pursuit of justice is dependent on her supernatural ability to literally smell good and evil. “Good,” for Sibby, is associated with smells of plants, with flowers being the highest form of good in her mind. Evil, instead, smells like rotting eggs, sulfur, and brimstone. In the opening of the novel, Sibby’s identifies the smell of evil as how “I know I made the right judgment” (1), and she goes on to note of the demon’s girlfriend: “The girl didn’t know the vileness she was clinging to. I saved her” (8). Embedded in Sibby’s worldview is the idea that she can sense evil in ways that others cannot, and her role, beyond physically murdering demons, is to “save” the victims and potential victims of those evil people. Her phrasing lends a dogmatic layer to her actions, casting her as a messianic figure uniquely empowered to discern good from evil and—even more dangerously—to determine who is beyond redemption. Sibby that what she offers the world—deliverance from evil—is the same promise her father, Leonard, offered the members of his church. This admission suggests that Sibby and her father are more alike than she would like to admit: Each commits terrible violence in the name of a supposedly higher good, one that they alone are capable of recognizing.

A key detail in Sibby’s supernatural belief system is that she often decides that someone is “bad” rather than “evil.” Such people are redeemable without the need for intervention by an arbiter like Sibby. Sarah, for example, spreads gossip, but Sibby notes: “She’s a bitch, but not evil” (25), adding that Sarah smells like “grass,” which is less good than floral smells. Even though Sibby sees Sarah as a “bad” person, she will not kill her, because it would not offer salvation. Instead, Sibby kills Gary, who sexually assaulted Jennifer, therein saving Jennifer from Gary’s evil. In doing so, she determines not only that Gary has committed an evil act, but that he is beyond redemption and should be removed from the world. This absolute certainty frees her from guilt and allows her to take pleasure in killing Gary. 

What is most infuriating to Sibby is the lack of appreciation for her job. When she finds Jennifer upset over Gary’s disappearance, she is unable to comprehend this reaction: “Is she…she couldn’t possibly be upset that her boyfriend didn’t show up? He raped her! How could she be upset over something like that?” (46). For Sibby, she just saved Jennifer, not only physically from a rapist, but metaphysically from the evil Gary brought to her life. However, as the only person who can smell evil, only Sibby knows the salvation she offers others, and she has no way of convincing anyone that her methods are both justified and beneficial.

Two other characters share Sibby’s general worldview and validate her moral certainty, even though they manifest their duty in different forms. Zade smells of “fire and brimstone,” but Sibby considers the possibility that “people with dark souls aren’t all bad. Just because they’re dark, that doesn’t mean they’re not redeemable” (128). This consideration opens the possibility that Sibby sees herself as “bad,” but her efforts to kill evil people serve as a means for her own salvation, rather than the salvation of others. Sibby’s certainty about the irredeemable evil of her victims allows her to use them as raw material for her own project of self-redemption. Glenda, too, is “dark,” smelling of poison berries, and she tells Sibby: “We see the world for what it is. This Earth is layered, just like an onion, and we’re only living in one of those layers” (145). Glenda’s spiritual worldview is distinct from Sibby’s more traditionally religious view, but they share the common perspective that a supernatural means of judgment exists. The implication of Glenda’s story is that she killed her family because they were abusing her, much like Sibby killing her father. Sibby and Glenda, though, differ from Zade, who investigates crimes to confirm his suspicions without supernatural aid. Nonetheless, the fact that Sibby reaches the same conclusion Zade reaches regarding Mark lends credibility to Sibby’s abilities, suggesting that, as Glenda says: “The things we see—they’re not in our heads” (145).