The article deals with the evolution of female demonic characters appearing in literature since the classics to this day. In Russian classics, infernal females with magical powers were not uncommon: described by V. Zhukovsky, O. Somov, N. Gogol, A. Kuprin, etc., they were mostly treated as ‘abnormal’ or negative. The perception has changed dramatically in modern literature: a woman with connections to infernal powers (e. g. princess Tichert in A. Ivanov’s novel The Heart of Parma [Serdtse Parmy] or Rogneda in M. Galina’s Mole Crickets [Medvedki], etc.) is no longer a manifestly negative character. A. Guskova discovers that the contemporary infernal (or demonic) female character is not so much part of a love theme but is rather connected to the magic of the story’s location: the Urals in A. Ivanov’s book and Transdniestria in M. Galina’s, respectively. Also transformed is the nature of the contact between the heroine and the male protagonist: the impossibility of a constructive interaction and mortal danger (in classic prose) are replaced with a positive tone, granting the protagonist an opportunity for development.