Vaako was a dedicated Roman Soldier, who followed his General Marcus Antonius throughout his career, and even helped him get out of Rome and back to Egypt after Caesar was killed. He stayed by his side, despite the need to smack the crap out of him.
When Marc was Turned and escorted out of Egypt.
He followed.
Once Marc was Mated.
He followed.
Until Marc finally got the idea and Turned him.
After being Turned Carol moved into Wayne Manor to learn how to handle being a Vampire. Bruce taught her how to defend herself, he also told her that she had the soul of one of his daughters.
She continued with her education, and in 1941 graduated with a Nursing Degree. A few months later Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Without hesitation Carol signed to work for the Army Nurse Corps. She ended up on the Front Lines working within the ‘chain of evacuation’. She served under fire in the field and evacuation hospitals – along with hospital ships, flights and other medical transports.
It was here she met Doug Ross a doctor from Chicago, Illinois. The met on the front lines, trying to save as many as they could, working seamlessly. After the battle, Doug offered her a drink. The two ended up in a hot and heavy affair, able to keep it a secret from the superiors. She knew he wasn’t her Mate, but knew they had a connection.
She watched in horror as their Evacuation Hospital out tents were bombed. She knew Doug was in the tent along with at least five wounded soldiers. She ran for the destruction, tears in her eyes as she tried to get to him. She had to curtail her sense at the blood and destruction that was scattered over the area. She found Doug to the side, bleeding tremendously. She knelt down in the mud and blood and told him he was going to let her save him.
The two worked side by side through the war. In time Doug had found his way to Sanctuary Clan and Carol stayed in Los Angeles.
Bruce gave her free reign to operate the Medical Facility at the Studio, and in time Wayne Studios was considered one of the safest and heathliest studios. Carol branched out over the years, working to open clinics through Los Angeles, and encouraging woman to get an education. Bruce had introduced her toLucretia, both woman advocates from woman’s rights and reproductive health.
Carol having to disappear from Los Angeles for a while, moved down to New Orleans at the request of Nicolaus Valerius Meridius. He offered her backing to start opening clinics in the city, along with financial backing from Lucretia. She worked with Dr. Janet Frasier and Gregory House to start a network for low income medical.
She was at the Manor when it was attacked by Richelieu, and helped protect her family. She was devastated when Jack and Rose were killed in front of her, but the Rogues soon learned she wasn’t a pushover, having been trained by Ra’s Al Ghul.
When Hurricane Katrina hit, she refused to leave the area, finding her way to the Super-dome where she helped anyone she could from applying bandages, giving out medications, and easing peoples suffering.
Today she continues to work in New Orleans with her clinics.
(Continuing our theme of ‘Saved from the Brink’)
Alejandro stood on his own, and sent Diego back to Integridad Kin Clan where he was needed, and he continued his role as Zorro, taking the name Don Diego de la Vega Sánchez, a mix of his adopted father, along with his mother’s sir name, the only thing he remembered of her.
Always a man of passion, he fell for the Governor’s daughter Elena Montero, soon stealing her away from him. The Governor and Elena’s future husband set out to bring her back and destroy Diego. In the ensuing fight, Elena was mortally wounded and Diego’s Hacienda was destroyed, but he was able to save Elena by taking her down into the basement where he trained. After seeking her permission to save her, she gave her consent and Diego Turned her.
Elena stayed with him for a while, before heading to Spain to train with the Diego senior.
A few years later he met Timothy Quinn. The friendship between the two developed into a decades-long love affair that lasted until Timothy’s Childe Bryon Hanson was killed in New York. The two remained close friends.
Diego settled into New Orleans, taking the position as Head of Security for Nicolaus Valerius Meridius. He enjoyed living in New Orleans and serving on the City Council.
While traveling to meet up with Hunters James Hickok and Noah Dixon, he found himself resting in a small town. It wasn’t hard for him to figure out the citizens were scared of something. His old instincts kicked in, and he found himself in the middle of a Range War. While Hunting down one group he came upon the Doctor’s house, finding Gregory House laying on the floor bleeding out. The irony was he was cursing Diego’s old lover. He gave the doctor a new opportunity, which he took. Diego wasn’t sure if he regretted that decision or not.
He always made sure his two kids were safe and secure, and when House telegraphed him about finding his Mate on the front lines, Diego telegraphed back to Claim them. He never wanted to see his Childe go through what he witnessed with Bryon and Riddick. OrTimothy during the Civil War.
He was happy for Timothy when he came to the Manor with his new Mate Horatio Caine, and did everything in his power to protect his Family, his friends, and his Clan. He really wasn’t too surprised that one of Speed’s co-workers was his Mate; fate seemed to love or hate him, he was never sure which.
During the battle with Richelieu, Diego was severely wounded.
He requested from Nico that he take time off and travel back to Spain to recoup, handing over his job as Head of Security to Horatio Caine. Nico granted his request and made sure he knew his family and home would be waiting for him.
When he had heard about Nick’s kidnapping he sent word to him, sending his condolences over Aubrey and to apologize for not being there. Nico told him to watch over Brigid Maturin, as she had lost her father.
Diego felt his failure deeply when Brigid was killed in a crowded street. He stayed in Spain, constantly being told he was hiding. It wasn’t until after the Colosseum Incident that he was ready to contact Nico about returning as a Hunter. He was surprised when Calleigh showed up at his door, wearing nothing but a smile and high heels – giving him one last time to take what was his.
He wasn’t that stupid.
Diego has been training Calleigh to be a Hunter, and she excels at it.
Stanley Raymond Kowalski was born in Chicago, the youngest son of Damian and Barbara Kowalski, and was named after Marlon Brando’s character in A Streetcar Named Desire, but prefers ‘Ray’ to ‘Stanley’. Ray and his father were close when he was growing up,and restored old cars together including Ray’s black 1967 GTO. He became estranged from his father when he dropped out of college to become a police officer.
Ray met his wife, Stella, a Gold Coast girl who attended private school, when they were 13. They married in college, and were happy for many years before Ray’s undercover work, and Stella’s job at the State’s Attorneys office began to put pressure on the marriage. Of all the factors that led to the end of their marriage, their arguments over starting a family was the deal breaker. Ray wanted children, but Stella didn’t want to take time from her successful law career as a State’s Attorney.
Unable to deal with the failure of his marriage, Ray delved deeper into his undercover work wanting to live someone else’s live instead of his own. Beginning to suffer from burnout, he was assigned to the 18th precinct. He meets Benoit Franciscus in his guise of Benton Fraser, RCMP, in 1997 while canvassing the area around the Canadian Consulate. Benoit and Diefenbaker befriended Ray and began consulting on Ray’s cases.
When Ray is kidnapped by Rogue Vampire, Victoria Metcalf, looking for Benoit. He’s taken to the home of goth nightclub owner, Jeremiah Parks where Park’s convinces his Sire that he will hold on to Ray, and look for information on Benoit. They try to keep Ray ignorant about the existence of Vampires until Jeremiah saves Ray’s life. With no other Chosen Ones available, Ray is told about Vampires, and becomes a Chosen One for Tallikut Clan.
His kidnapping makes Ray realize he’s still living his life undercover. He retires from the police force, digs out his leather, jewelry and head kicker boots, goes to find Jeremiah at Lost Children of the Blood newest location in Chicago, and asks his new friend for a job. He becomes the General Manager, and though the two men don’t get to spend a lot of time together because Jeremiah is doing undercover jobs for Javier Esposito in New York City.
While working at the club, Benoit still comes to him asking he help people that come to Benoit with their problems. Ray, exhausted by working cases and at the club, directs Benoit to Lt. Walsh at the 27th precinct where Benoit meets his Mate, Ray Vecchio.<
After six years, Tallikut suffers through the latest round of Victoria trying to kill Ray (she still hasn’t realized Ray K is not Benoit’s Mate), Lying in a hospital bed after twice stepping between Ray and bullets, Jeremiah realizes Ray Kowalski is his Mate. Ray is Turned and Claimed before the new year.
Coleman was born on January 26, 1892, in Atlanta, Texas, the tenth of thirteen children to sharecroppers George Coleman, who was mostly Cherokee and part African-American, and Susan, who was African-American. When Coleman was two years old, her family moved to Waxahachie, Texas, where she lived until age 23. Coleman began attending school in Waxahachie at the age of six. She had to walk four miles each day to her segregated, one-room school, where she loved to read and established herself as an outstanding math student. She completed all eight grades in that school. Every year, Coleman’s routine of school, chores, and church was interrupted by the cotton harvest. In 1901, George Coleman left his family. He returned to Oklahoma, or Indian Territory, as it was then called, to find better opportunities; but Susan and her family did not go along. At the age of 12, Bessie was accepted into the Missionary Baptist Church School on scholarship. When she turned eighteen, she took her savings and enrolled in the Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal University (now called Langston University) in Langston, Oklahoma. She completed one term before her money ran out and she returned home.
n 1916 at the age of 23, she moved to Chicago, Illinois, where she lived with her brothers. In Chicago, she worked as a manicurist at the White Sox Barber Shop. There she heard stories from pilots returning home from World War I about flying during the war. She took a second job at a chili parlor to procure money faster to become a pilot. American flight schools admitted neither women nor blacks. Robert S. Abbott, founder and publisher of the Chicago Defender, encouraged her to study abroad. Coleman received financial backing from banker Jesse Binga and the Defender.
With the age of commercial flight still a decade or more in the future, Coleman quickly realized that in order to make a living as a civilian aviator she would have to become a “barnstorming” stunt flier, and perform for paying audiences. But to succeed in this highly competitive arena, she would need advanced lessons and a more extensive repertoire. Returning to Chicago, Coleman could not find anyone willing to teach her, so in February 1922, she sailed again for Europe. She spent the next two months in France completing an advanced course in aviation, then left for the Netherlands to meet with Anthony Fokker, one of the world’s most distinguished aircraft designers. She also traveled to Germany, where she visited the Fokker Corporation and received additional training from one of the company’s chief pilots. She then returned to the United States to launch her career in exhibition flying.
“Queen Bess,” as she was known, was a highly popular draw for the next five years. Invited to important events and often interviewed by newspapers, she was admired by both blacks and whites. She primarily flew Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny” biplanes and other aircraft which had been army surplus aircraft left over from the war. She made her first appearance in an American airshow on September 3, 1922, at an event honoring veterans of the all-black 369th Infantry Regiment of World War I. Held at Curtiss Field on Long Island near New York City and sponsored by her friend Abbott and the Chicago Defender newspaper, the show billed Coleman as “the world’s greatest woman flier”[12] and featured aerial displays by eight other American ace pilots, and a jump by black parachutist Hubert Julian. Six weeks later she returned to Chicago to deliver a stunning demonstration of daredevil maneuvers—including figure eights, loops, and near-ground dips to a large and enthusiastic crowd at the Checkerboard Airdrome (now the grounds of Hines Veterans Administration Medical Center, Hines, Illinois, Loyola Hospital, Maywood, and nearby Cook County Forest Preserve).
But the thrill of stunt flying and the admiration of cheering crowds were only part of Coleman’s dream. Coleman never lost sight of her childhood vow to one day “amount to something.” As a professional aviatrix, Coleman would often be criticized by the press for her opportunistic nature and the flamboyant style she brought to her exhibition flying. However, she also quickly gained a reputation as a skilled and daring pilot who would stop at nothing to complete a difficult stunt. In Los Angeles she broke a leg and three ribs when her plane stalled and crashed on February 22, 1923.
In the 1920s, in Orlando, Florida on a speaking tour, she met the Rev. Hezakiah Hill and his wife Viola, community activists who invited her to stay with them at the parsonage of Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church on Washington Street in the neighborhood of Parramore. A local street was renamed “Bessie Coleman” Street in her honor in 2013. The couple, who treated her as a daughter, persuaded her to stay and Coleman opened a beauty shop in Orlando to earn extra money to buy her own plane.
Through her media contacts, she was offered a role in a feature-length film titled Shadow and Sunshine, to be financed by the African American Seminole Film Producing Company. She gladly accepted, hoping the publicity would help to advance her career and provide her with some of the money she needed to establish her own flying school. But upon learning that the first scene in the movie required her to appear in tattered clothes, with a walking stick and a pack on her back, she refused to proceed. “Clearly … [Bessie’s] walking off the movie set was a statement of principle. Opportunist though she was about her career, she was never an opportunist about race. She had no intention of perpetuating the derogatory image most whites had of most blacks” wrote Doris Rich.
Coleman would not live long enough to establish a school for young black aviators but her pioneering achievements served as an inspiration for a generation of African-American men and women. “Because of Bessie Coleman,” wrote Lieutenant William J. Powell in Black Wings (1934), dedicated to Coleman, “we have overcome that which was worse than racial barriers. We have overcome the barriers within ourselves and dared to dream.” Powell served in a segregated unit during World War I, and tirelessly promoted the cause of black aviation through his book, his journals, and the Bessie Coleman Aero Club, which he founded in 1929.
For More Information Contact the Vampire Council Library.
It was during her time as a pilot she met Steve Trevor. He liked her instantly, she reminded him of his own Mate … kicking ass and taking names. He liked her idea of a school, but knew it wouldn’t be easy for her – yet knew she had already surpassed so many obstacles.
He told her about Vampires and gave her the opportunity.
She didn’t hesitate to take it.
Arianne was raised as a Picts, until she was marked and cast out of the tribe because of her abilities with herbs.
The scar along her face was warning to all those who saw her that she was a witch.
She made a home in the forest, wanting nothing to do with her tribe or the foreigners.
She doesn’t know how she was Turned, just that she was attacked one night and ended up one of the undead.
San Lin was raised between Tokyo and Brazil. She loved either being in the jungles of Brazil or the Forests of Japan, learning new things. She worked her whole life to become a Biologist. Some of her early heroes was Robert Campbell and his work with ants.
She met Houston Brooks when he ended up her lab partner while she attended Yale. He asked her out for coffee at the end of the semester. A year after dating she took him home to meet her family, and though they didn’t like that he was an American, they appreciated he was good to her.
Six weeks after they graduated they were married.
After their first year of Grad School, Houston went to study on a six week expedition in Australia. She had an internship working at a bio tech firm called Dali Moon. When he returned her life was changed.
He told her about Vampires and that he had been Turned, and she was his Mate. After a long of discussion, they decided to finish their degree before going to Australia.
Once they settled in, Houston Turned her and they were Mated.
What is left out of the history books, is the fact while Pocahontas was in England, she met Gwenhwyfar. The two bonded quickly, and when Pocahontas became ill, she came to her side and asked if she wanted to be Turned.
She decided that this was her next journey.
Knowing she could not stay in England or return to her people, she seized the adventure and left to visit the oldest of Vampires to learn more about different cultures and tribes.
She soon became great friends with many of the Medjai tribe, and found her Mate in Immutef. They both have related to how their lives and names have more myth than reality. She decided to stay with the Medjai, swearing loyalty to Ardeth. With help from Scheherazade she wrote her peoples stories and language down.
Today she works in education, teaching children about all cultures and is an adamant speaker for aborigine, first nations, and native rights.
***
Quick Note: It would seem that the blog had posted an autosave that didn’t actually have anything in it. Sorry about the delay from epic tech fail.
Claire Temple was born in Chicago’s southside in 1917. She’s of mixed Puerto Rican and Afro-Cuban descent, but never let that stand in her way. Her father willingly served in the Army during the first World War to better both himself and his family and to support his country. Unfortunately, he never returned home.
However, Claire inherited her father’s passion and drive to help. She worked hard to become a nurse and worked in Chicago’s Provident Hospital. She was surprised that a white doctor would willing setup a practice in the hospital. But Doctor John Carter didn’t see skin colors, just people that needed help. When he offered to teach her medical techniques above what she had learned in nursing school, she took the chance.
Over the next few years she worked closely with Carter and soon learned about Vampires because they came to him, and later her, when they were hurt.
She was in the wrong location at the wrong time and was shot during a drive-by shooting. When she finally made it to the hospital she was close to death and took the offer from Carter to be Turned.
Megan and her sister Gabrielle grew up in the suburbs of New York. She adored her older sister, looked up to her in so many ways. She felt helpless when her sister was raped, and he got away with it, because it took Gabrielle two days to report it.
When her sister died on an overdose of drugs, she felt lost.
She went on, got her degree, became a doctor and found a job in New York working in the ER. And then her life changed when she saw her sister’s rapist just order a coffee.
Megan will be the first to tell you, she wasn’t proud of her plans to kill him, but it had to be done.
Then she met John, who helped her see past her anger and hatred. She gave him the keys to the van, and walked away.
A week later she found him in her ER, a small smile on his face. He told her, that he had been arrested in Mexico on drug charges and will never see the light of day.
She went on with her life. Until the fateful day, Harold called her and said John needed help. She grabbed her gear and made her way to the safe house. She tried to get past Harold to fix her patient, when he politely informed her John just needed the blood.
She learned about Vampires.
The next few days she was introduced to Zoe and Claire Temple. She stayed as their Chosen Ones, making sure they had enough blood, or patch up wounds that needed more care.
Until finally she saw her purpose and sought out a Vampire Doctor … Gregory House was exactly everything she was warned about. In time she figured the best option for her, was just to become a Vampire.
Ask anyone who knows them and they will tell you that Naomi Bennett is the opposite of Addison Montgomery. Where Addison is that bright spark, Naomi is the quieter (and slightly more broody but she’s working on it) ember. She’s driven to succeed in the way that really focused people sometimes are: focused on the goal and not so great at some of the other things in life.
Naomi and Addison met in medical school and they became best friends. Where Addison is a rock star as a neonatal specialist, Naomi is the same as a fertility specialist, board-certified in reproductive endocrinology, obstetrics and gynecology.
In Naomi’s eyes, she’s done all the right things: gone to school, gotten a great career, married and had a daughter, named Maya. That’s why she’s broadsided when her husband, Sam, tells her he wants a divorce. When pressed for the reason why, he says he’s unhappy but also there’s no good reason beyond wanting to leave.
Addison walks back into Naomi’s life after a number of years looking for a change and wanting to have a baby. Although a baby is not in the cards, Naomi offers Addison the chance to join her practice, Oceanside Wellness Group, which Addison accepts.
There’s also another small wrinkle: the practice’s receptionist and midwife trainee, Dell Parker. Naomi tries to write off his feelings for her as a crush given their age difference. But there’s something about him that unnerves her in a way that she hadn’t expected. He also brings her cake which does nothing for her waistline.
When Maya becomes pregnant with a less than desirable boyfriend and Naomi loses it a little; (okay, she loses it a lot) Dell and Addison are there to talk her off the ledge.
Things go sideways when an accident puts both Dell and a laboring Maya in the hospital. Maya and her baby survive but Dell is down with a severe head injury that needs surgery, which is only stopped when Dr. Cooper Freedman comes forward and has to out Dell as a vampire to the rest of the practice.
When the dust settles, Dell takes Naomi aside and tells her everything. He also tells her that she’s his mate. That particular truth settles something inside of her and though she asks him for a little time to think about it, she already knows what her her heart says.
Born in 1976, Christopher Beck is the only child of Marcus Beck, a US Marine Embassy Guard stationed at the US Embassy in Vienna Austria, and Emily Beck, a nurse. He was born in Vienna, Austria but at age six moved to the Hartford, CT when his father was reassigned.
He knew from a young age that he wanted to go to space and wanted to be a doctor. His first chance came when he was thirteen years old and was able to go to Space Camp. He was placed in a special group for advanced students. The group named themselves “Newton’s Nerds” and he met his best friend –even if communication was first by letters and phone, and then later emails– Jacob. The trip to Space Camp only made his dream of becoming a doctor in space more real.
Chris finish high school at age 16 and started college at Yale. He graduated cum laude from the Yale School of Medicine where he was the recipient of the Norma Bailey Berniker Prize (which is awarded to graduating students that best exemplify the disciplines and precepts of the Hippocratic Oath). He also has a Master’s degree in biomedical science. Once he completed Medical School, Chris joined the US Air Force and became part of the 99th Medical Group to focus on becoming a flight surgeon with hopes of joining NASA.
He was stationed at Mike O’Callaghan Military Medical Center on Nellis Air Force Base when he meet Captain Janet Fraiser and his life changed when she offered him a job. The job, well, he was a doctor in space, just not how he originally pictured it.
His promotion to Captain came with reassignment to Atlantis. Plus, he’s a natural gene carrier which comes in handy.
While in the Air Force he has received the Air Force Commendation Medal and the Meritorious Service Medal. The how and why he received those medals are still classified. Though the record does state he was injured on a mission.
There isn’t much information on Steve’s childhood. He’s from the United States, and was raised on a farm. He was always looking for something, and ended up volunteering to work intelligence during the Great War.
Come to find out he was a really good spy.
While trying to find out what General Ludendorff and his pet scientist Isabel Maru were conducting, he discovered they had invented a new version of Mustard Gas. He stole her notebook, and fled. During the flight away from the Ottoman Empire, he got caught in a windstorm crashing him just off a Greek Island.
He discovered he was on Themyscira, and had met an Angel.
He told them about the war to end all wars, and how if he didn’t get the notebook back, millions more would die. He hadn’t expected Diana to come with him.
Taking her back to London was strange, but he admired how she handled all the strange things, though he still wasn’t sure about the ‘Asgardian’ worlds. She was determined to find General Lundendorff and stop the war.
Steve watched as she took on shockingly Sir Patrick Morgan, but knew it was her fight. He had to stop the plane from crashing into London with enough Mustard Gas to take out the city. He handed her his father’s watch, told her he loved her … ‘I can save the Day, you can save the world.’
He regretted not having enough time with her.
As he sat in the pilot’s seat he took a few moments to hold onto his memories of Diana, before pulling the gun and aiming it at the canisters … just as he fired he startled when ice began to move across the window.
He woke up freezing.
And in the desert.
Steve stared at a boy … who looked just like him. He introduced himself as Jack Frost and he had been so excited to see someone who finally looked like him.
Heneru had sat him down to explain about Vampires, and that if he wanted to stay with his Amazon, he would need to be Turned.
Steven never doubted for a second, he wanted a life with Diana.
Ron grew up in New York, his grandfather an immigrant who worked long hours to make sure his son had a better life. Ron’s father worked just as hard, leading to Ron being able to get an education and work for the government.
He became a member of the Pinkerton Agency which was the early stages of the Secret Service. Devastated at the loss of Abraham Lincoln he was determined to change how protection details worked for the President.
As he had started investigating exactly what happened that night, he found small discrepancies that led him to Sylum Manor, two years after the President had died – only to find Mr. Lincoln. He demanded information, sat quietly and listened to everything not only Lincoln had told him, but also General Meridius.
He nodded, then left.
Six months later he returned, stating that if he was going to make sure another President didn’t die on his watch he needed to be Turned. He gave Abraham a pointed look and said. “Well Mr. President I suggest you make sure no one suffers your fate.”
