Name: Victoria Windham  
Age: 28 (looks) 6,991
Family: Parents - Lord Kenneth & Lady Clara of Windham
Species: Blooded Vampire
Rank: Lady Windham
Faceclaim: Kate Beckinsale

Adaptive | Courageous | Dutiful | Independent | Vivacious
Quiet | Reserved | Graceful
Calculating | Opinionated | Unrepentant | Secretive

Sometimes the lines between love and duty are hard to distinguish, each crossing over the other until the lines become blurred and indistinct. Decisions must be made in accordance with allegiances long held, and one must determine which holds more credence. Does the vows of matrimony and professions of romantic love take precedence over the bonds of friendship forged from childhood or does the legacy of loyalty to the royal family rise above the matters of the heart?

The Windham family can trace their ancestry back to one of the first Bastion’s under Valkyries, an off shoot branch that took advantage of their proclivity for building and made a viable fortune. Their bloodline ties to the royal family began almost as early as the Bastion’s themselves for it was Bartholomew Windham who first worked with Valkyries to build the great castle that housed the royal family for so many years. Despite their wealth and good standing however the family found the clogged, busy streets of the capital suffocating and so they asked leave to establish a home out in the country promising to remain within the King’s laws and return whenever needed. Their request was granted, under the understanding that one family member would come to serve the King and his family to keep the connections strong.

They weren’t alone in their preferences, as they soon found themselves surrounded by likeminded brethren who had been given leave to follow. It was by proclamation of the King that the Windham colony came to be, placing the entire territory and any Vampire that may settle there under Lord Bartholomew’s stewardship. Thus the Windham family rose to an upper tier in the hierarchy, by their leave those that lived within the Windham boundaries were beholden to the laws of their people and it fell to the Windham’s to bring any perpetrators before the King and Counsel for judgement and punishment.

So the Windham’s grew their fortune, their skills in architecture and masonry second to none putting them in high demand throughout the Vampire realm. They even branched out, albeit carefully into the human world, expanding their horizons but always careful to pay homage to their liege. Several generations down the line and Bartholomew’s great grandson Lord Kenneth met the charming and mysterious Clara while on business at court. Rather than returning home as soon as his business was concluded he found himself lingering if only to find the time to introduce himself.

Clara was the Lady in Waiting to Queen Talisa and had been for many years. She was a rare woman of seemingly gentle and demure airs but there was something mysterious about her that drew Kenneth like a moth to the flame. The more he got to know her the more he could sense an undertone of mystery about her and he longed to unlock those secrets, to find out who the woman beneath that graceful and unassuming veneer truly was. Clara found herself enraptured by the Lord, for he didn’t let his wealth or status affect how he treated people or let it swell his ego intolerably. He was a confident, successful, and handsome male to be sure who towed the line between arrogance and fortitude.

It took Kenneth nearly 5 years to fully win Clara over, or at least she made him believe that for she took great pleasure in making him work for her affections despite the fact that he had them fully since their first moment of meeting. Their wedding was a large affair with the King himself presiding over the ceremony in honor of both Kenneth’s station and Clara’s steadfast service to the Queen. Once the wedding and honeymoon were over the couple moved into the city close to the castle so that Clara could still conduct her duties and it was nothing for Kenneth to move his business with them. Zachary, Kenneth’s younger brother, became acting Lord at Windham with their father as an advisor in the absence of the heir which suited all parties just fine.

The couple spent many years together in solitude, enjoying just the company of each other before either of them felt the need or the want for a child. In fact it wasn’t until the little Prince was born that Clara began to feel the absence of an offspring. She had helped the Queen give birth and watched the mother dote on her son day in and day out, feeling the lack of such affections keenly. Kenneth of course was more than willing to give his wife and mate anything she desired and secretly he was hoping for a son to whom he could pass on his grand legacy. It was another 6 years before they would see their newest dream to fruition though instead of a son they were granted a daughter.

Victoria was born to the Windham name with all of the wealth and privilege that came along with it, combined with such close ties with the royal family the infant wanted for nothing even before her introduction into the world. As soon as she became old enough to walk Queen Talisa insisted that Victoria be introduced to Prince Gideon and Delilah, the three toddlers spending nearly everyday together. With each passing year Victoria and Gideon grew to be close friends, for she was the only person he came into contact with at that time who wouldn’t one day be sworn to protect him. It changed the dynamic of their relationship and made it a little easier for him to be himself, their time together allowing him to set aside his title and responsibility to simply be Gideon.

Around the time the future King hit 20 it became harder and harder for the two to interact or spend time together as he was pulled into combat training to counter his restlessness. At first Victoria lamented the loss however her mother provided some much needed distraction. Clara felt it was time to reveal her secret to her daughter so that she might pass on her legacy. Sitting Victoria down she listened as her mother laid out what she actually did in service to the Queen for she was more than just a Lady in Waiting, she was the personal bodyguard to the Queen. Like her mother before her Clara had been trained in hand to hand combat as well as a variety of close contact weapons in order to serve as a secret line of defense should the Queen ever be threatened. Valkyries himself had chosen Victoria’s ancestor for the job in order to keep his mate safe from any who would threaten the line and the tradition had been passed on through the generations.

The young female was more than willing, ecstatic even, to be given such an honor and threw herself into the training with a fervor that amused her mother and had her father watching avidly with great pride. For the next 200 years Victoria trained in secret, only a handful of individuals aware of her endeavors including both of her parents, her handful of teachers, and the royal family. Gideon finding out was a relief, for the two found time to spar together which served to greatly sharpen her skills and let them keep their bond of friendship strong. Both fathers looked upon their friendship with more than a little hope that something might form between the young vampires and perhaps it might have if a handsome young Turned Vampire with a voice purer than any angels hadn't stumbled into Victoria’s life.

Lyle Bryant had come to the Capital with his sister, both having been Turned by a rogue and given no other alternative than to make their new lives under the King’s supervision. Due to their status neither sibling could find work in their natural trades for very few Vampires would hire a Turned musician and singer over Blooded options, even if those Turned had been gypsy’s in their previous life. So they adapted, Lyle entered a training program to become a city guard while Lydia became a maid in the household of a wealthy family. After training one evening Lyle went for a stroll, singing quietly to himself unaware that his voice was carrying across the courtyard to a young female. For several nights Victoria revisited the same spot each night and each night the roguish guard took his stroll while his voice carried across the cobblestones as surely as a siren's song.

After several days the young Windham had finally plucked up the courage to introduce herself when Lyle literally stumbled upon her hiding place and making a fool out of himself. An adorable fool of course that ensnared Victoria’s interest completely. They made it a habit of meeting in that courtyard, a place they came to know affectionately as their spot, to talk or chat or simply enjoy a quiet moment together. Despite the heritage she had been raised around Victoria never looked at Lyle and thought he was lacking in anyway, which was what had made the male fall in love with her. Victoria held strong feelings for him as well but withheld from voicing them for fear they would be rebuked. So they existed in that limbo state for quite some time.

Victoria advanced in her training adding in court etiquette, procedures, and politics as well as multiple languages, lessons in mannerisms, and her complete duties as a Lady in Waiting. Under her mother's tutelage she cultivated a similar veneer of demure grace so as to appear as inconsequential and non threatening as possible. She faded into the background, existing on a plain of anonymity as the Queen’s companion shadow always there but separate. Ever watchful and alert.

On her 250th nameday Clara Windham retired from her service to the Queen and her daughter Victoria took her place. Both the Windham’s looked on with no small amount of pride, happily retiring from their service with every intention of returning to the Windham Estates. Before they could so that however, her parents were set on finding her a proper mate. Seeing a parade of males swirling around the woman he loved didn't sit well with Lyle and it took a very serious conversation from his sister Lydia before he would be swayed into action. He finally came to realize that if he didn't act she would slip from his grasp forever, so he dragged her unceremoniously to their spot and confessed his feelings.

The couple hit another roadblock once they announced their engagement and instead of receiving happy tidings from both sides Victoria’s family was furious. Her father, Lord Kenneth forbade it citing that the Turned upstart was only after her name and fortune. Lady Clara desperately tried to appeal to her daughter to reconsider, the relations between the Turned and the Blooded were becoming strained and she wanted better for her daughter. The legacy of the Windham family would be forever tainted, lessened by the man, a simple guard who had been turned as a gypsy by a rogue.

Victoria hesitated, for she had never gone against her family as her love and respect for them was absolute. She might have conceded to their judgement too had Lyle’s own sister Lydia not just gotten engaged to Dastan Hassansin, one of the Prince’s own Bastion. In her sharp mind if one in such a high position could make it work with a Turned then so could she, besides she loved him. So, in the biggest upheaval of her life Victoria turned away from her parents and sided firmly with her fiancee barely holding herself together as her father practically disowned her on the spot. Left alone for the first time in her life she held tight to the love she held for Lyle and he stood firm with her. They were married in a quiet ceremony, with only a few friends in attendance though surprisingly many of them were royalty. Gideon, Dastan, Lydia, Queen Talisa, and a few others stood witness to their vows which meant more to her than any big fancy wedding ever could have.

The happy couple moved into a home close to the palace so that Victoria could still carry out her duties with ease. The state with her parents didn’t improve which disheartened the female, all communications from Windham were closed to her, but she found strength and purpose in her duty, her marriage, and the friends that remained. For the next several hundred years Victoria was happy; she worked in close concert with the Queen doing all that she was trained to do, spent time with Gideon and her other friends, and she went home each sunrise to her husband. Things were pleasant and right in her world but she always felt the absence of her parents keenly, their continued dismissal the only black spot within her world.

Things at court became increasingly troubling as the lines between the Turned and Blooded Vampires became even more tense. The prejudices ran deep, and it seemed that no matter what the King did to try and quell the coming tide of unrest it wouldn’t be deterred or slowed. Everyone felt the effects, Gideon became less and less available as he worked constantly alongside his father to deal with the situation and she was equally busy with the Queen. Coming home no longer offered the solace it once had as Lyle became withdrawn and surly. Unsure of how to handle this new side to her beloved Victoria did her best to remain calm and push on as if things were normal. Normal however, changed with the coming of a single dawn that changed the entire face of her race.

As the hours of the night had been winding down Victoria was concluding her duties with Queen Talisa, preparing to head home when a very flustered young squire came stumbling in relaying to the Queen that her presence was commanded in the throne room. Instinct and duty had the female sticking to her Queen’s side and together they walked briskly to the center of the castle entering a room that was in complete chaos. Prince Gideon stood strong in the center of the room, arming himself while barking out orders surrounded by his six personal guards. Warriors darted in and out, full weapons and regalia flashing here and there while the King desperately tried to talk sense into his son. It took some doing for the two females to figure out what was going on, horror gripping both their heart when a passing maid told them the news.

Somehow, a large army comprised of humans and lycans had been let into the city and were wreaking havoc upon their people. Panic and dread gripped the young bodyguard’s heart, her first thought was of her husband standing guard upon the wall but that was quickly chased away by the oath she had sworn to both the King and the Queen. Standing firm she remained in Talisa’s shadow, ready to do her duty by the legacy that had been handed down to her. Amidst all of the chaos Talisa tried to speak sense to her husband while in turn he desperately wanted to see his son to safety. Ever the noble and frankly, stubborn male Gideon refused to hide while his people were being slaughtered in the streets. Idris then returned just as the first rays of dawn were cresting over the horizon bringing grave tidings, the murdering horde had been let in by a sect of Turned determined to overthrow the royal family.

From that pronouncement things happened very quickly, King Varian ordered his son’s Bastion to secure him in the secret bunker hidden in the center of the castle. Victoria watched with great sadness and pity as her dear friend was manhandled kicking and screaming from the room by his grim faced guardians. Varian then began ordering the evacuation of the city through the underground tunnels, working desperately to save as many people as they could. The sunlight however, deterred their progress even as the enemy swept like an evil tide through the streets of the Capital unhindered and practically unchallenged.

It was close to midday when the fighting reached the castle gates, the growls and snarling of the mangy beasts echoing off the cold stones and the scent of blood heavy on the air. Varian turned to his Queen and ordered her to take shelter, to hide herself away just as the gates were broken and the tide of death swept inside. All of her training kicked in and Victoria took control, guiding the Queen through the castle and making for the secret tunnels that connected to her rooms. The young bodyguard cut down anyone who stood in her path, calling upon her years of training and sparring to protect her Queen.

They had nearly reached the royal chambers when they rounded a corner and came face to face with a large group clogging the halls. At first Victoria thought it was a crowd of vampires having been caught in the halls with no idea as to where to go, but within moments horror lanced through her heart as she scented human blood and saw the wreathing furry bodies of the lycan’s weaving among them. All heads turned at once and the vampires immediately recognized the Queen, how could they not for she was a figure that was unmistakeable and well known. For years after Victoria would wonder where she went wrong, going over every moment of the short skirmish her immortal mind remembers with absolute clarity wondering where she went wrong, if there was something she could have done better or different that might have changed the outcome.

She lost count of how many she dispatched, the entire gathering it seemed surged forward at once and she struck out in a desperate fury keeping the Queen behind her while trying to cut a path to the Royal Chambers. She was squaring off against a couple Lycan’s when a blow to the head had her crumpling to the ground as the whole world went black. When Victoria finally came to it was dark, through the pounding in her head she managed to gather enough wits to realize she had been stuffed inside a utility closet. Emerging from the confines, the bodyguard was disarmed and utterly defenseless and the Queen was nowhere in sight. Groggy from the blow, she stumbled down the darkened hallway, knowing from instinct that the sun had sunk below the horizon over an hour ago which mean she had been out of it for a while. Gaining her bearings she hustled back towards where she could last remember being, the evidence of a furious and bloody fight staining the stone and mortar.

Dread took root deep in her gut as she came to the threshold of the royal chambers, the great wooden doors hanging ominously open; she marshalled all her courage before pushing through the doorway stepping over debris and bodies to get into the room. There are no words in any language past or present that can describe the pervading shame of failure or the intense wave of anguish that overtook her, for lying there on the floor of her mated chamber was the broken body of the Queen. Talisa hadn’t gone quietly nor had she been given the proper respect due her station, her murders had mutilated her body and then put her on display in a macabre fashion that had bile clogging the back of her throat.

Anger and disgust burned like acid in her gut as she worked quickly and carefully to preserve the Queen’s body, taking it out of the staged position and removing the countless weapons that were anchoring her to the floor. Victoria worked methodically, paying attention to the slightest detail until she had the body free and then wrapped in fresh clean linens. Once the Queen was secure Victoria armed herself with some weapons that were laying around and lifting the Queen in her arms went in search of allies, praying that there was still some left living.

That day would go down in Vampire history as the Great Betrayal and not a single vampire family was unaffected by the bloodshed. Families had been torn apart and ripped asunder and the entire species was reduced to only a quarter of what it once was. Victoria had found allies huddled in the throne room and upon joining them had taken up guarding the body of the Queen. As an enraged Prince Gideon and his Bastion laid waste to their enemies, survives trickled in for both medical care and comfort as if strength in numbers would help ease the ache of loss. The female was in a numbed out haze until her husband came trudging through the crowd, rousing her long enough to feel some relief at see the love of her life whole and alive.

Her relief was short lived however as the days following Lyle barely spoke a word or so much as looked at her. Poor Lydia had been killed during the battle though he wouldn’t tell her how, in fact he had withdrawn from her completely and she had no idea how to reach him. They existed in this sort of stagnant limbo where neither talked or interacted but they existed. Together. It was a strange state to be in but every time she tried to open the lines of communication Lyle simply looked at her until she was done and then walked away. Still she kept at it because he was the only thing she had left in the world.

With the city finally cleansed the Vampire buried their beloved King and Queen, mourned their dead, and crowned a Prince. Gideon was not satisfied however and the search for the traitors began in earnest, a wave of mistrust and suspicion swept through the city like a plague. Those trusted by the King sought out any information they could get their hands on tracking down rumors, even whispers on the wind. Those suspected of being traitors were brought before Gideon and his counsel would question them, sometimes for hours on end until they were proclaimed innocent or they cracked. Those that cracked were executed immediately, their heads shorn off in full view of the public by the King’s own hand.

It was after the fifth beheading that Victoria began to notice the change in Lyle, that once again he wasn’t coming home until the very last moment and he was skulking around during the day doing his best to avoid her. Maybe it was the wariness that hung over the Capital like a noxious cloud but she could take his mysterious behavior no longer. The next night, when Lyle went out, he had a shadow drifting on silent feet through the streets in his wake. What she found when he came to the end of his journey nearly had her crying out in pain, but her training held her tongue as she listened to the man she loved beyond all others plot to have another go at her best friend and King.

She stood there, long after the traitors had left, staring into the dark though seeing little wondering how it was she had come to be there and wonder just where things had gotten so twisted. Just as the sun was beginning to crest the horizon when she entered the castle and requested to speak with Cecilia. When the silver tongued Bastion came before her she hesitated for a moment, knowing full well that once she uttered the words there would be no going back everything she had ever had would be gone. Speak she did though, for all the wails of mercy of the innocent people slain in their homes or dragged out to burn in the streets called upon her to do no less.

The trial was quick, once Cecilia was given the information it didn’t take long for her to get the evidence she needed. Lyle didn’t even try to cover his tracks and when he was brought before the King he viciously confessed and cursed him, words spewing from his mouth up until the moment his head departed from his neck. Victoria watched it all stoically, a pervading numbness settling within her heart and mind and spirit. On Gideon’s request she stayed at court as an observer and spy, though she suspected he wanted her close because he trusted her. The Bastion’s were fractured and the King was distancing himself from all of them save Cecilia and herself. Granted she was no Bastion but for the sake of their friendship she watched his back, listened, and gathered information.

Then Gideon disappeared, up and left in order to pursue the main villain behind the slaughter of their people and while many faulted him and called him a coward Victoria had never been more proud. Unfortunately with her best friend gone there was nothing keeping her in the Capital, the Bastion ignored her as Delilah took charge and once again she lost her place in the world. Word came from Windham, her father imploring her to come home to come back to the fold of the family. She longed to go back, to see her home again but there was nothing there for her except shame and chains. So the female packed her things, sent word and apologies to her family and left.

She traveled the world for some time, following a wanderlust she hadn’t known she possessed. When she’d seen everything the world had to offer, many times over, the vampire settled in a city of some size and population where she could blend in. She made a quiet living, mingling successfully with humans until they began to notice her lack of aging and then she’d disappear and move on. On to the next city to do it all again. After centuries alone, always alone, the ancient vampire came to hear of a city in North America that hosted a wide variety of Supernatural beings all of them existing relatively peacefully.

Her time in her current city was up, so with nothing to lose Victoria has packed up her life once more and heads for Evermore, Colorado curiosity and hope for all that the eternal city has in store for her.