Emily Richards [Live Vampire: the Requiem] : Backstory

[Josée's Note: Emily Richards was my first livegame character and I was 17 at the time of her creation. This was her background. For those who are interested, Emily was a Ventrue Invictus character.]

Emily was descended on her father’s side from a long line of vampire hunters from Kent, each of her predecessors passing their skills on to their eldest child.  When Emily reached the age of ten, her father began filling her in on stories of the dead not staying dead...the vampires of the horror movies actually existing and the need to protect the innocents from their ways and from potentially being their prey or their childer. Emily always felt both frightened of her father and his job (what if he never returned?) and excited by the way she was one day going to become involved in this whole side of living no-one else really knew existed.

She completed her GCSEs with flying colours, and at the age of 16 took a year out of education. For 6 years she had had no intention of going on to further education as she already had a career set out for her. Her father’s hunting was based mainly on his dexterity with a weapon and strength, and while that was fine for a well-built, strong, fully-grown man...it was useless to Emily. Her frame and build were not conducive to wielding heavy weapons and moving it with speed. She found her abilities were in the detection and investigation of those who seemed to be vampires, and during her year out of school, she spent time working in tandem with her father, while her brother and sister were looked after by the extended family.

As she turned 17, she realised how soon she would be considered an adult, and began to focus on looking after her brother and sister. Knowing the dangers that went with the job her father was in...and she would eventually gain; she wanted to spend as much time readying them for a lifetime of self-sufficiency. She was asked by many of her old schoolfriends about what she was doing, as they never saw her unless they came to her home, and she would tell them she was about to enter sixth form in a faraway boarding school, and that she was never around Kent much. She was really splitting her time between her brother and sister, and detecting vampires with her father.

In February 2011, Emily and her father were doing a routine scout of the area when they came across a member of Clan Ventrue. As Marcus headed in to deal the killing blow, the vampire managed to successfully dominate him. Emily, having no competence in fighting, and having never come across such an event, was left to try to find a hiding place and get out...but she did not.

She had already prepared her siblings for living a life without her...and her father. And her loyalty to her father knew no bounds. He had taught her so much, and she was not about to leave him. Ironically, to Emily, blood was far thicker than water. She flung herself, with all her might, at the vampire...who batted her away as if she were nothing more than a fly.

That evening, she and her father were taken to the vampire’s haven and kept under lock and key, far away from each other, after having all dangerous items removed from them.

Emily knew nothing of what the vampire and her father had spoken to each other about, but she did know that it involved a lot of shouting and abuse on her father’s part. She also knew it had a great deal to do with her.

The next evening, Emily was removed from the haven, along with her father, and they were taken to a small place in Norwich. Emily was given new clothes (“befitting of a lady, not of some street urchin”) and was allowed restricted freedom...that is, out of the cage she had been trapped in for two days, but not out of her captor’s sight. She was also dominated...“just to be safe”.

Her father was lead in, and at once Emily realised what was about to happen. She could not move...and as his fangs broke her skin, she could see her father...she could see him fighting to get out of the cage. She was aware her mouth was open...there were tears down her face...but she couldn’t hear it. She couldn’t hear a sound. And then it went black.

The next thing Emily remembered was sitting up, somewhere completely different, her sire stood domineeringly over her. He told her that her work was done, and that she was free to go; her purpose was served...and then left. He said no more to her, and when she tried to follow him, he had simply left too fast.

She found herself, in her new attire, wandering the streets listlessly in the evening, and for three weeks ducked for cover everytime the sun rose. She found people who mistook her for a sad, lonely orphan girl, and let her stay for a night or two, and offered her money...but she was always careful to leave sooner than her hosts had planned. She felt tainted and loathed what she had been made to become...and felt as if she were forcing her company on normal people.

Three weeks after being embraced, Emily found out about a huge gathering going on at Wintergreen Manor. The money given to her by her unwitting hosts paid for her travel to it, and she soon found many vampires gathering in the Hall. She didn’t know what to make of it...there were people like her – Ventrue – and she had been told of the “invictus” by her sire...and there were many of them also visible. She felt both thankful and hateful at once. Thankful that there were damned willing to take her in, and help her find her feet; that they seemed almost more human than humans...and hateful that it was the fault of one of their own that she was there. Hateful that her father was held prisoner...that they took away the life she could have had...that she was one of them.

She knew that telling people her background would never help her...and survival had to be her main aim...so she spun a web, telling them that she had moved to Norwich due to “family commitments”...that she had fancied a change of scenery...that she was intending to become (ironically) a police officer in her previous life. She just had to hope they’d believe her.