Dramatis -- Fatima Merali
Name: Fatima Merali
Age: 20
Race: Dhampir
Early in 1779, a Cainite named Adam York, living in England, hired a Middle Eastern woman by the name of Shauzia Merali to work in his household. Shauzia was thought to be a witch, owing largely to her use of herbal remedies, and many of the English guests who paid a call on York would eye her suspiciously. Nevertheless, Adam treated her kindly and grew to care for her, as did his youngest daughter and childe, Artemis Seth. This affection, however, did not escape the notice of one of Adam's enemies, a fourteenth generation Ventrue named Liam Stephens. In order to settle a score with him, one night, Liam attacked the household and violently raped Shauzia. He had planned to kill her in front of Adam and Artemis, but they weren't there. Liam decided, then, that it would be a better torture to let Shauzia live, to tell her tale of horror and to ensure that Adam never felt safe in his own home. The plan worked.
In order to protect Shauzia and the rest of the household, Adam relocated them all to Ireland. There, Shauzia gave birth to a dhampir daughter, sired by Liam. Adam and Artemis vowed to keep Shauzia and her child safe from danger. Unfortunately, Adam didn't live long enough to fulfill his promise. Liam and a host of allies tracked down the family to Ireland, eventually cornering Adam and Artemis in the streets one night. Ultimately, Adam was killed, but Artemis managed to escape. She raced back to the household, waking up Shauzia and the other servants and quickly packing them onto a ship, headed for the Americas.
The dedication that both Adam and Artemis showed for protecting mortals was extremely atypical of Cainites. Grateful for the sacrifices they made, Shauzia dedicated her life to serving Artemis and when Shauzia's daughter came of age, she too pledged her eternal loyalty. She took this a step farther, however, purposefully going out into the night and allowing herself to be ravished by a Cainite. Soon, she too gave birth to a dhampir daughter. It became a family tradition, bordering on sacred rite. Generation after generation of the Merali family followed Artemis across the world, bearing dhampir children who would take over in service. This had the duel effect of garnering Artemis a considerable amount of protection and a reputation as a harborer dhampir orphans, wayward ghouls, and thin bloods. Always, it would be a descendent of Shauzia Merali serving as the leader of the mortals within the household.
Many, many generations passed and soon, in 1991, life had changed tremendously. By this point in time, Artemis had settled in California, just outside of Los Angeles where the reformed Liam, now an ally and Prince, served as the last stop of an underground railroad, shuttling dhampir off to safety. There was also a sizable number of Cainites living under her protection who, on her orders, would travel across the world to deal with various supernatural affairs that threatened existence itself. They called themselves the Order of the Silver Crescent, symbolized by a silver moon for the vampires and a golden half sun for the mortals. Parvana Merali became the leader of the mortals living under Artemis' roof at this time. Immediately after attaining her position as head of the dhampir coven, Parvana went out into the night, returning pregnant. By the end of the year, she gave birth to a dhampir daughter, Fatima.
Fatima was raised with the love and support, not only of her mother, but of an enormous extended family of misfits, including other dhampir and Cainites. There were always dhampir children around her age in the compound. Most of them were orphans and Parvana cared for them along with Fatima. Although she was always aware of the fact that her oddball family wasn't "normal," Fatima had a relatively happy childhood. The one point of contention she had with her mother was over the identity of her father. Her mother refused to tell. Fatima craved some kind of paternal relationship, however, and she ended up finding it in Liam, who was always around the compound, usually having secret meetings with Artemis, Parvana, and the other grown-ups.
It was Liam, in fact, who secretly started to teach Fatima some Cainite disciplines. While it was very common practice for the dhampir children to learn blood magic from Parvana, vampiric disciplines were considered a bit taboo. Fatima, however, wanted to know that she could hold her own against the mythical "bad guys" the adults were always going on and on about. Liam began teaching her the power of Fortitude, allowing her to withstand more physical punishment than a normal human was capable of withstanding. He also taught her Presence, an ability that allowed her to make herself seem more appealing or frightening, depending on what the situation called for.
At the age of fifteen, Fatima was like any other teenage girl. She loved going to movies, high school dances, and the mall. She had plenty of friends, most of them civilians, so she spent most of her time at their houses with their normal families. In school, she was seen as something of an oddball. None of the other kids understood why she didn't have birthday parties or why her parents never came to career day. It was sometimes difficult, but Parvana instilled a sense of pride in Fatima. Her family saved the world. That was a very special secret to have.
It was around then when a new dhampir moved into the compound. Her name was Emily. She was a startling contrast to Fatima: dour, secluded, a Goth, and reluctant to accept what she was. At the age of ten, she and her twin sister, Samantha, spent three nights trapped in a nether realm by some Cainites seeking to do away with dhampir children (a vampiric sign of the Apocalypse, according to legend). Emily was haunted by nightmares of her experience there, though she refused to tell anyone. That is until one night, when she went to Liam and asked if he would wipe her memories of it. Fatima overheard the conversation and was quickly caught. She and Emily got into a fight that ended with Emily punching Fatima. Fatima used her Fortitude, revealing what she and Liam had been doing in secret. Liam broke up the fight and told the girls that they now knew each other's secrets. That made them sisters.
After that night, Fatima and Emily did, in fact, grow very close. Fatima helped Emily to come out of her shell and to accept who and what she was. Emily, in turn, showed Fatima all the things she'd learned before coming to Artemis' compound, about how to fight against Cainites. She'd been on her own for the most part, and had to learn it all for herself, in order to survive. It wasn't policy in the household for the dhampir to fight, but Emily taught Fatima how to stake a Cainite, how to throw a punch, and how to use ordinary objects as weapons against Cainites.
Life was pretty good. Of course, that all changed. On the evening of Fatima's sixteenth birthday, she and the other dhampir members of the household gathered to perform a ritual of blood magic. It was a protection spell, meant to keep Liam safe as he dealt with a Sabbat attack in the city. They gathered in a forest to perform the spell. Unfortunately, some of Liam's enemies found out about the spell and sent a party to prevent it from being cast. The members of Fatima's dhampir family were attacked and scattered. Some of them, quite literally, as their bodies were torn limb from limb. Among the unfortunate souls to meet such a brutal end was Fatima's mother. She was attacked and screamed at Fatima to run. As she fled, Fatima could hear her mother being beaten to death with a machete.
She ran through the streets, ending up under a bridge in the middle of downtown Los Angeles. Feeling lost and helpless, she actually contemplated suicide. Liam, however, learned of the attack and found her. He held her the entire night while she cried and eventually drove her back home. She spent days upon days locked in her room, only allowing Emily, Liam, and Artemis to visit her. She didn't talk to them however. They just sat in silence. And then, after a month went by, a funeral was held for all the dhampir killed. Fatima walked out of her room, to everyone's surprise, and stood in her mother's place, at Artemis' side, for the proceedings.
Tradition dictated that Fatima was now the leader of the coven, despite the fact that there were much older and wiser mortals living in the household. Fatima felt a desperate need to prove herself worthy of the position, especially since there were plenty of raised eyebrows at the idea of a sixteen year old girl taking on that kind of responsibility. Among the vampires in the house, Artemis was Fatima's only supporter. All the others, even Liam, felt the responsibility should fall to someone else. At least for the time being. Artemis, however, stubbornly insisted that Fatima should be given a chance. Therefore, the house elders decided to test her.
It was widely known in Los Angeles, at the time, that there was a Gangrel living in the city without Liam's formal acknowledgment. Fatima was therefore charged with the task of finding this intruder. Although Emily and several of the other teenagers offered to help, Fatima insisted on doing it alone. Unfortunately, she could only think of one way to do it. She reasoned that the illegal Cainite probably had a contact within the city's acknowledged population. Therefore, she decided the best way to find the illegal Cainite was to find his or her allies. To do this, she visited court with Liam every time it was held. And each time, she chose a different Cainite and cast a spell to ride his or her senses.
The unfortunate side effect of this plan was that it meant Fatima spent almost every night experiencing life through the eyes of a Cainite. Although she eventually managed to flush out the Gangrel, she also lived through feedings and brutal attacks on humans and violence beyond anything she'd ever dreamed of. Before, Fatima had always been sheltered from the true horrors of vampiric life. Artemis' followers were all decent people, whose morals aligned closely to those of good human beings. Many of the citizens of Los Angeles, however, were not. They were true monsters, only permitted to live because they were rarely caught breaking the rules Liam established. Fatima was utterly traumatized by the experience, although Emily was the only one to realize it.
As Fatima grew into her role as leader of the coven, her experiences haunted her. More than anything else, she began to dread the fact that, according to tradition, she would one day have to allow a Cainite to impregnate her. Although she still loved Liam and Artemis and their "good" Cainites, she grew to openly hate any Cainite who was not a member of the household. She came to view Cainites as vile abominations that needed to be eliminated. No more Cainites, after all, meant that there would no longer be need for the Order of the Silver Crescent and, therefore, Fatima would not have to carry on the Merali family line.
She picked up some of Emily's more violent tendencies, even staking a few Cainites on sight, before realizing that they were Liam's allies. In addition, she would also stay out after curfew, spoiling for fights with anyone or anything that happened to spy a "cute, innocent little teenage girl." Her clothing, mannerisms, and interests all transformed, all to radiate the idea of "toughness" to anyone who looked at her. Most of her time was spent in dive bars and dark alleys, where she began to associate with humans who were very different from anyone she'd known before. She actually got quite good at fighting, although there were quite a few close calls. When she came home black and blue, she made up elaborate lies that Artemis could easily see through.
Eventually, Artemis and Liam confronted Fatima about her behavior. When they finally dragged it all out of her, Artemis plainly told her that she abhorred the Merali tradition. She didn't want Fatima to bear a dhampir child unless it was what she wanted. Liam, too, who had learned painful lessons about love over the years, told Fatima that she shouldn't feel obligated to uphold the tradition at all. And that made all the difference. Once Fatima realized that her life was her own, she knew that she wanted nothing more than to serve her family. By the age of twenty, she was the most powerful dhampir in the city. No one ever questioned her role as the leader of the coven.
She changed; not quite going back to the person she'd been before her mother died, but not still the lone wolf spoiling for a fight. Fatima learned to rely on her powers in equal balance with her strength. Although she wasn't quite able to shake her prejudices against Cainites, she became more aware of them. Increasingly, she's tried to fight against them, making judgment calls based on actions rather than biology. And now, in control of her destiny, she's become more sociable than before. It's a hard job, finding a nice boy to go to the movies with when you're fighting against the forces of evil, but if Fatima is anything, it's determined.