I was the youngest in the family and of all of my siblings and cousins, I was Nonnino’s favorite. My life was perfect, all the benefits of royalty without the inconvenience of responsibility. My job? Go to school, be a good girl, and grow up pretty so I could marry a handsome prince. I did go to school, and I received the highest grades. I was a good girl, I attended mass every Sunday and Wednesday, and I helped at all the functions. I was pretty, Nonnino said so, even with my braces and glasses. He said they wouldn’t last forever and he was right. He was always right.
At seventeen I traded all of my ugly things for a world of new things. My glasses were traded for a pair of contacts. My braces were traded for a retainer and a set of beautifully straight teeth. My good Catholic school clothes were exchanged for regular clothing so I could go to college. And then, the most surprising of all… my faith was traded for a diagnosis of cancer. It was a dark year for me but with Nonnino’s love and care, I pulled through and I was granted six more years of life. These six years were wonderful. I graduated from NYU with a degree in Fine Arts, I got a job at the Met, and I grew into a woman that Nonnino could be proud to call his granddaughter.
The pain came back a few months after I started my new job, this time it didn’t respond so well to treatment. I was in the hospital when the Breach happened, I couldn’t see the fuss but I heard about it from Nonnino. He said that my angels were called and they would save me, so I could stay on Earth for him instead of going to heaven. When I felt well enough, I was taken home to meet this ‘angel’.
He was ugly. I couldn’t believe that anything so grotesque could be a savior or anything resembling holy. Of course, everyone knows that vampires are the furthest thing from holy but I didn’t care. I didn’t believe in God anymore. My turning was unromantic and quite possibly the worst night of my life. There was no ceremony or emotion to it, just a simple business transaction between Nonnino and this man. In the end, my Nonnino lost. The FBI raided shortly after I took my drink of the creature’s blood. I remember seeing the dark blue vest with yellow lettering just before I sunk into darkness. Perhaps the loss of blood was too much for me, or maybe the cancer decided that this wasn’t the cure that Nonnino was looking for. All I know is that I woke up strapped to yet another hospital bed.
For months, they performed all sorts of experiments on me. From each one, my body healed itself, but my mind would never forget. They inflicted pain, stole tissue, tested reactions to various drugs, I remember each one as if it happened yesterday. And I hated them for it. I didn’t have a master to tell me right from wrong. I had my instinct. Whenever I could, I would catch one of my tormentors and take a drink and then I would try to escape. I was never successful.
My rescuer was a man that I had only seen from afar, Drake Antonelli. He was one of my Nonnino’s men, was. By then, he’d turned into something much like myself, only free. His favor to me was sharing that freedom. Together, we lived with our maker, a sort of twisted version of a family. Our maker was my new Nonnino, the old one was gone. Dead or disposed of, I never dared to ask. I only knew that we lived in his house, he was nowhere to be seen, and never mentioned.
I was relatively content with this existence. I could read all I wanted, attend parties with the same society that I grew up with, and exercise a certain influence that I had never been able to before. I could say anything and people would believe me. In this new life, Drake was my protector and I was his educator. Where I was refined, he was a beast. Is a beast. He’s never changed and I wouldn’t have it if anyone tried to make him.
Life for us is long. We don’t notice the passing of days like normal people. Unfortunately, things change too quickly when something horrible happens. Like a wooden stake through my maker’s heart. Two times now, I have lost my Nonnino. My grandfather. To this end, I decided to leave the beaches of New Jersey and my home to go somewhere new. Somewhere I could blend in. I’d heard in certain societies that Neculai was a good Rex to live under, so to Los Angeles is where I decided to relocate.
Patia is a quiet and understated woman. She’s studious and enjoys her own company or the company of only a select few. Her cool exterior is a well polished mask that’s been honed for decades. Even before she was touched, she stood apart from the crowd. When she’s forced to by someone close to her heart, or on the rare occasion that she wishes it, she is able to step comfortably into the limelight for small periods of time. These situations are generally social gatherings of no particular importance, as she would rather direct from behind the curtain than take part in what’s happening on stage.
She’s very proud of her keen intelligence and looks down on most people who can’t rise to her level. In her entire life, there are only a half dozen that she’s deemed as equal, and even fewer that she looks up to. Those people are dictated to her by a twisted family loyalty. Now that her family in life is extinct, her imagination has warped those in her new surroundings into a mish-mash of family. She is loyal to those that she’s given a place in it, and no one else.