Character Basics
Character's Full Name: Evangeline Nicole Durante
Age Before Death / Deathday: 25, November 25, 1491
Actual Age / Age Classification: 529 - Elder
Clan: Fleur du Sang
Involvement in Clan: Friendly involvement, but not OVERLY involved
Profession: Novelist due to minimal need to interact with outside world
Appearance: Due to her age, Evangeline has become more attractive over the years, her appearance vaguely resembling her once corpse like state. Her eyes are a warm chocolate brown, her blonde locks flowing well past her shoulders. Her olive skin is all but flawless, the surroundings of her eyes remaining pale. She stands at an unimpressive five foot three and has long abandoned the attire she wore when she was a fledgling.
Personality: Eva is a loving person, rarely cross with anyone unless it is deemed very necessary. She wears her undead heart on her sleeve, ready to protect any mortal in her presence. She is an old soul, loving all things nature, and adores good company. She finds pleasure in many trivial things, images of a sunset on a canvas, things she could only experience in her mortal life. Romance is very much a part of her life, her novels usually being of a romantic nature allowing her to show her true self.
Strengths: Friendly, Passionate, Honest
Weaknesses: Headstrong, Perfectionist, Absent Minded
Life Before Death: Eva’s mortal life was a pleasant one. She hailed from France and was born into Louis XI reign, under the house of Valois. Her family had survived the Black Plague in 1348, although not many members survived. She was born to Annalise Delacour Dutelle Durante and Phillipe Louis Durante in 1466, her family residing in Paris. Her father was a member of the French royal court as well as a member of the Order of Saint Michel. It was a miracle that Eva came into existence due to her father’s persistent absence, leaving she and her mother at their estate to take care of the household and Eva to have her daily lessons. She practiced the language of latin, writing, drawing, painting, and music. Her mother had a governess who lived in the household, although she was an only child. She was to have the best her father could provide, for they had high hopes of her placement in society.
Eva was a bit stubborn in her mortal life when it came to courting. She had the traditional coming out ball, many suitors apparently had her in their eyes, but none caught her attention. She was too focused on expanding her knowledge of the world and begged on a consistent basis to go to university whether it be in the homelands or out of country. It did not matter to her as long as she would be able to learn something new everyday.
Her father finally allowed her to travel to Orleans in the summer of 1490 to stay with her aunt and uncle. Her excitement was without measure, and she set it in her mind to explore the city as often as possible. Her explorations led her into the outer rim of the city where she met a man. Although it was not common practice for a woman to speak with a man without a guardian present, especially a woman of noble ranking, Eva was not exactly fond of the traditional system. He was charming, a young man that at first glance was quite beautiful but she knew there was something other wordly about him. Her first instinct was to be frightened, although within their first few conversation she began to warm up to him.
He spoke of romance, adventure, and intrigue, things that her mother would indeed deem unacceptable topics for a lady to discuss without being properly courted, but she did not mind. Jean Luc de Rabelais entranced her, body and mind. Their secret adventures together continued until she was twenty and five years old. He finally got the nerve to tell her of his past and why he seemed so appealing to her. He revealed he was indeed a vampire, but very much in love with her. He wished to sire her, and for the entire month of September of 1491 and most of November, Eva kept a sort of distance between the two of them. They continued to write to each other, and she finally, after writing a farewell letter to her parents, but leaving out explanation as to where she would go and why she was cutting off contact, she wrote Jean Luc, asking him to meet her at their favorite place in the forest at sunset. She was to step into a completely new realm and new state of being for the rest of her days, no limit to how long that may be.
Story of Siring: Eva and Jean Luc’s romance was anything but traditional by their present standards in Middle Age France. She had come to live in Orleans with her aunt and uncle to supervise, but they had many things to do, and business as well as society parties to deal with. Eva omitted these activities, exploring and shopping by day, but during the night she would take walks, unsupervised and should her aunt and uncle know, they surely would have locked her away. It was a good thing for her that they practically paid her no mind. She met Jean Luc in the forest on the outer rim of Orleans. He frightened her at first, his appearance holding otherworldly qualities, but with time and much effort on his part, she began to fall for him. He was charming, and spoke of things she had never experienced, and he promised if all went well he would take her to experience such things.
Their romance was untraditional, meeting by night, nearly every night, in the forest, and for close to a year it remained this way. On a crisp September night by the river in the forest where they first met, Jean Luc finally gave Eva the truth as to what he really was, a vampire. She was a bit confused at first, not knowing exactly what that meant for their situation, but Jean Luc was very patient and any question she dared ask, he answered with full disclosure. Yes, he drank blood but only from a consenting human and never to kill. No, he did not kill, but wanted to protect human society. Yes, he wished to sire her so they could be together for an eternity. Her mind was reeling and she asked for more time before she gave her answer on her decision but assured him she would not reveal his state of being to anyone.
It took over a month for Eva to make her decision, finally agreeing. She penned her parents to let them know they would no longer be seeing her. She wanted to have one last goodbye, but there was not enough time for her. She wanted to begin her life with Jean Luc. She sent the letter, knowing it would break her parents hearts, but it was something that had to be done. She would vanish from any existence her parents would know, and it would be difficult, but life would have to go on. She knew she would watch from a distance whenever she got the chance, and it did sadden her to know that the Durante family name would die with her. The Black Plague had already wiped several members out years before she was born.
The morning of November 24th, 1491 she wrote to Jean Luc asking him to meet her at sunset in the forest where they had first become acquainted the following day. She would have him sire her, but only if it was on her birthday. She wanted to keep that date precious to her, and have it also be the beginning of the life she would start with him.
She watched her last sunset and wept as the sun disappeared and the night took over. She knew it was her last, the ending of one chapter of her life, nay, part one of her life, and she would begin part two very shortly after. Jean Luc met her as she asked, but he had much to tell her before he began the process of making her his.
He explained that he belonged to a clan of vampires, the Fleur du Sang, but they were friendly and much like him. Protectors of the human race. There wasn’t much in the ways of a chain of command for them, but she didn’t mind. She now knew she would have elders and a warm loving family who would do anything to protect their own, not just their own in the clan, but also any mortal around. It was their clan’s nature. This was very calming to Eva, fitting her personality to a tee.
He also explained that with age she would develop powers, and she would never age. She would remain as she looked that eve, her hair the same, although her body would not look the same at first. She would be somewhat corpse-like but her beauty would return and increase with age. This startled her slightly but Jean Luc assured her his love would not waiver for a moment. It was her personality and liveliness that he fell for, not her looks, although he explained that her looks were indeed a bonus but he would wait for that to return without showing an inkling of anything changing. He would guide her through the years, teaching her everything he knew.
Once everything he could think of had been explained, and revealing his true age of four-hundred and twenty years, they decided to being the siring process. She was not worried of the pain that would be inflicted by him biting her, but curious as to what the end of the process would be like. She had never tasted blood before, much less a vampire’s blood. It had only been a month that she had known that vampires even existed. He assured her that she would be well taken care of, biting her neck slowly, reveling in the taste of her blood flowing into his body. He knew this was the last time she would ever feel warm in his arms, and he also wept. He stopped when a sufficient amount of her blood was now coursing through him, and made an incision on his wrist, placing it to her lips. His blood almost had a metallic mixed with sweet taste to Eva. She drifted off to sleep in his arms, and upon waking the next evening she found herself in a large and beautifully decorated bed chamber. Jean Luc laid beside, watching her every move, and the sensation she felt upon seeing him, waking as the undead, she wept.
He was more beautiful than she had seen him yet, and she knew she would enjoy every moment of their eternal lives together.
Life Since Being Turned: For four hundred years Eva and Jean Luc lived happily together, moving around by night, and even traveling across continents to the new world. It did prove to be somewhat difficult considering they had to keep soil from their home world in the bottom of their coffins on the ship and only to come out at night. They passed the time famously, Jean Luc telling her stories of the old worlds, and finally revealing that vampires were not the only supernatural beings in the world. He told her of the magical world, amazing things that could be done with wands and spells and potions. He told her of Magical London, that being the place to go if they ever went their seperate ways. Of course she was partial to French soil, but she had never spent much time in London, and if there was magic to be seen, she was more than willing to rise to the occasion. They fed on the rodents on the ship until finally reaching the shore, not comfortable with feeding on anyone on the ship. That was the way of the Fleur du Sang, to have consent from the humans they fed on.
Life seemed just as she thought it would be with Jean Luc for many years. The two of them had romantic expeditions, adventures, and shopped as much as Eva wanted. He spared her no expense and kept her very happy. She thought that it could go on forever until they reached the lands of the middle east. They explored as per usual, but one night Jean Luc took on a strange demeanor, his senses running high. Eva did not know if she was feeding off of his anxiety or not, but she knew something dreadful was in their future.
Eva had learned of other clans from Jean Luc, and the Abha Iblis was a clan she feared. The Fleur du Sang and Abha Iblis had been enemies for years. They had run across an ancient Abha Iblis clansmen as well as an Elder. Eva had finally reached the status of a Medial and by this time Jean Luc was considered an Elder. He held the two off as long as he could, giving Eva the order to run and not look back. With her now being a Medial aged vampire, her ability of speed had greatly increased, and so she ran. The sunrise was fast approaching but she was able to get her traveling gear in order and find a ship to the United Kingdom that she would be most comfortable on. Jean Luc had told her of clansmen all throughout the United Kingdom and Europe, explaining if anything were to ever happen to him that she would go to them and let them know of the situation and to find shelter.
She arrived in London in November of 1902, purchasing a flat outright one evening after arranging with the landlord for a meeting at The Leaky Cauldron. She knew it was brave of her to make such a public appearance but her features had finally begun to return to a beautiful state. Few traces of her pale and gaunt skin were left, so she thought it would be alright to take a chance. Afterall, she had to have somewhere to live. She set up an office in her flat, the windows here completely covered, no sunlight able to stream in. This was her new home. Of course, the anniversary of being turned, November 25th was a very hard day for her, her first anniversary without Jean Luc. She wondered if he had made it through the quarrel, but considering the age and strength of the other vampires it was doubtful. Their anniversary possessed her, and with new quills and parchment she had decided to begin a new profession, one where little contact with the outside world was necessary. She was to become a novelist.
