Diana Abel

Appearance
Although about 258 years old, Diana appears to be in her mid-twenties. She is of average height, standing five foot six, with long, wavy brown hair. Her skin is pale, as befitting a proper English lady of her time (not to mention a vampire). Perhaps most distinguishing about her are her lavender eyes which would put Elizabeth Taylor to shame.

Diana tends to dress in fashionable, Bohemian clothing. She favors colorful floral patterns and bell-bottom jeans. She likes to wear beaded headbands across her forehead. Flowers are a constant accessory, usually in her hair. Diana wears plastic go-go boots and so much jewelry than she tends to jingle when she walks.

There are several pieces of jewelry that she's always wearing. The first is a necklace. It is a silver pendant on a silver chain. The pendant is round, about the size of a nickel. In the middle is a small emerald and radiating out from the emerald are rays, carved into the silver make it look like a sun. Another item she is always wearing a silver ring with a pale, pinkish opal. She is almost never seen without her trusty, rainbow colored, sparkling guitar, strapped to her back.

Personality
Diana Abel is just about the nicest vampire you'll ever meet. In fact, she's just about the nicest person you'll ever meet. Clinging strongly to her humanity, Diana is the sort of person who will always go out of her way to help a stranger. She is sweet, kind, considerate, and compassionate, sometimes to a rather dangerous extreme. She abhors violence against sentient beings. That is, of course, unless they started it. Diana is more than willing to fight a good fight, but she gets very squeamish about killing humans or humanoids in general. This includes vampires.

Diana's outward personality can best he described as something of a flower child from the 1960s (she did write Hair) or a Bohemian New Yorker of the 1980s (she did write Rent). It's more than just her fashion sense or the fact that she walks around with a guitar, singing Beatles or Bon Jovi. Diana genuinely believes in a world in which all people can live together in peace and she wants to see this dream realized. She just doesn't really know how to go about convincing others. She is flirty and fun, and uses both of these traits to get what she wants. As a vampire, she restricts her diet considerably to big burly men who can stand to lose some blood. She's also fond of repaying them for the meal in one way or another. On very rare occasions, she will also consume animal blood. She would never even think about draining someone too weak to take it, let alone to the point of death. The very thought of siring another as a vampire disgusts her.

While Diana's demeanor is fun-loving, however, her nature is a bit more complex. Diana is something of a martyr on the inside. In particular, she struggles with her place as Grandmother's chosen vampire messiah. Since she is so much closer to her humanity than other Kindred, she does view herself as unique and therefore alone. If she does not deliver her message of peace and love, no one else will. This is a burden that is sometimes too great for her. Diana also feels alone in the sense that everyone she has ever truly loved, beyond her superficial, hippie love, has been taken from her. Her father died. Her True Love was lost to her. Selene has become something of an enemy. Artemis is out of her reach. Diana is constantly seeking someone to fill that void, to be her protector, but every time that search fails, she becomes more and more certain that she has a destiny, a path that she must walk on her own.

Another key flaw in Diana's personality is her own honesty. She is, one might say, honest to a fault. This is not to say that she'll openly volunteer any and all information about herself to any stranger on the streets. Rather, it means that she will not deny something that is true, nor make up a terribly convincing lie, most of the time. If someone asks her if she's a vampire, she might try to change the subject, but she won't be able to deny it convincingly. The one exception to this rule is when Diana is using her vampiric abilities, as they fall outside of the realm of human morality in her mind.

Diana does not enjoy being a vampire. In all honesty, she would probably be thrilled at the chance to return to being human. She'd also probably regret it later. Perhaps because of this, she prefers the company of mortals, especially artists and performers. Still, she has accepted the fact that she is undead and has chosen to make the best of the situation. She cares little for vampire politics and power games, dedicating her attention instead to her mission, whatever it might be.

Derangements
As a Malkavian, Diana suffers from two derangements. The first is regression. When she is overly stressed out or overwhelmed, she starts to revert back to her ten year old self. As a child, she was bratty, smug, and demanding. Her regression is characterized by an assumption of these traits, along with a sudden return of her English accent. Her second derangement is paranoia. This one revolves primarily around her mission to rescue those who cannot defend themselves, namely the dhampir, against vampires, so it probably will not pop up often in Bete Noire.

In the beginning
Diana York – who would later become Diana Abel – was born in the year 1752 in Notting Hill, England, the second daughter of Adam York, a professor of ancient religions, and his wife Lilith York, a Parliament member's daughter. The family was surprisingly well off, Adam being from new money. Diana had a privileged childhood, she and her older sister, Selene, being given the best of everything. At the age of seven, Diana too became an older sister when the third York daughter, Artemis, was born.

Around that time, in 1759, it was decided that Diana would be given an education. Her father himself began to tutor her in ancient religions. He also taught her ancient Gaelic, a language he considered to be quite important to the future of scholarship. Artemis, the apple of Adam's eye, would often sit in on these lessons and she and Diana grew closer. Meanwhile, Selene simply grew up and was married in 1762. A year later, Selene's daughter Eve was born and her husband was killed in the French Indian War.

Unlike her sister, Diana did not have happy prospects for marriage. At the age of fourteen, she was gangly and still boyish. It was decided that she would be made the companion of the Countess of Sussex, a woman named Ruth. Diana was reluctant to leave home, but the family all assured her it was what was best for her. Ruth proved to be a very kind woman and took Diana under her wing beyond the call of duty. She taught her poise, grace, and charm. Diana learned to play the piano and to dance and she utterly blossomed under Ruth's care and grew to love her as much as her own mother, and perhaps more so. She served her for ten years, years she considered some of the happiest of her life.

There's worlds waiting for me to explore
Unfortunately, that happiness was brought to a quick end. In the summer of 1776, while praying at his favorite church, Adam was attacked and vanished. When no trace of him could be found, he was presumed dead. The loss of him drove Artemis into a deep and depressing madness. Selene, who had remarried and had four children to care for, was unable to deal with Artemis and Lilith was struggling with her own grief. Duty compelled Diana and she returned home to Notting Hill to care for both her mother and her grieving sister.

Diana was miserable back home, missing all of the excitement and glamour of her life with Ruth. She made it very clear how much she resented her mother and sister for robbing her of the high life, constantly making snide remarks about how low brow their lifestyle was and never letting anyone ignore the fact that she was terribly bored without fancy balls and salons to attend.

Her boredom turned to terror, however, as the year came near an end and she realized without understanding why, that she was being followed. At first, it was nothing, just the pickling sensation on the back of her neck at night when she walked home, but gradually, it became worse and worse. She started finding things in her room that had not been there before, sheets of music and ornate mirrors that she had never seen before. The terror came to a full head when she attended the wedding of her niece, Eve. She confided her fears to Selene and Selene surprised her by replying that the same thing had been happening to her, only, instead of music and mirrors, she had been finding dead animals in her room.

The strange gifts continued to appear into 1777. Spring came and with it, Diana felt a desperate longing to return to Ruth and the life she had enjoyed before Artemis' breakdown and Adam's death. For a reason that she chalked up to desperation, Diana was driven to return to the church where her father had disappeared one evening. Before she could cross the threshold, however, she felt a pair of arms grab her from behind, pulling her into the darkness of the nearest alleyway. The last thing she seemed to hear before her life slipped away was the voice of her father, whispering, "Through the night, my children, you will go on."

I'm a daughter of the race of Caine
When Diana awoke, she found herself in Northumberland, side by side with her sister Selene, in the midst of some sort of church ritual. Leading the ceremony was an ancient Malkavian woman she had never seen before and, of all people, her father, Adam. She learned that the old woman, referred to by most of the cultists as "Father" was the leader of a new movement of Kindred called the Children of Eden. Her goal was to recreate paradise on earth by creating a world where Kindred and Kine lived together in unity and where all traces of evil were erased. Adam was her chosen first, the new Adam of the new Garden of Eden. Selene was baptized, becoming Caine, while Diana was named Abel. Adam explained that in time, Artemis would become Seth.

Father, who insisted that Selene and Diana call her "Grandmother" since she was Adam's sire and Adam was their sire, began to prepare Diana for her role in the scheme. Each of Adam's children was to be assigned to watch over a different Kindred sect. Diana was assigned the Independents. Grandmother and Adam carefully trained Diana to use her new, Malkavian abilities. Meanwhile, Selene, who was to be placed among the Sabbat, began to show violent tendencies without their help, slaughtering most of her own family. One night, Grandmother goaded Selene and Diana into a fight. Selene's violent nature nearly led her to win, but they gradually became aware of the fact that the fight was being watched by Grandmother's entire congregation and had become a ritual. Grandmother stopped their fight before Diana could be killed and declared that now, Caine and Abel had been reunited.

Selene's violent nature grew over the next year. Diana, however, seemed to remain much the way she had always been; bratty and bored, longing for the delights of her life with Ruth. While Grandmother was away, cleaning up Selene's mess, Adam confided in Diana that he was concerned about Grandmother, a massive megalomaniac who considered herself to be God. Fearing for Diana's safety, he blood bonded with her, so they could always remain close. He noted, however, that Grandmother would probably never harm Diana since Abel was always God's favorite child of Adam.

Diana was surprised, one evening, when her niece Eve passed through Northumberland. The two of them met up and Eve explained that she was looking for her mother. Her behavior was erratic and strange and she kept insisting that she saw faeries and goblins. Diana, by this point, was ready to believe anything and willingly accepted Eve's delusions before pointing her in the direction of Selene's last known whereabouts. The two of them parted on good terms. A short while later, however, Diana learned that Eve had become a vampire hunter and was intent on killing Selene. She felt terribly guilty for pointing the way to her sister, but her guilt was soon minimized in light of new problems.

Grandmother had been attempting to spread the gospel of the Children of Eden to London in general. Many were eager to join the movement, but a pair of Ventrue, Ursela and Liam, felt differently. They found the entire notion to be incredibly stupid and decided to put an end to the nonsense by killing off Adam. In 1779, Adam had left the Garden to return home and Embrace Artemis and the duo followed him, spreading rumors in his wake that he was siring his daughters for an incestuous agenda and generally lambasting his name. By the end of the year, Diana felt a hollow aching in her chest and knew that her father was dead.

How can I live in a world without you?
Her sadness at this news surprised her greatly, as she took it far worse than losing him the first time. At last, she understood what Artemis had gone through and felt a terrible guilt at the way she had treated her little sister and her mother. She resolved to make herself a better person, to repent for her former self and rejected the material pleasures of Ruth's world. This did not hamper Grandmother's resolve and, if anything, her intense desire to create her new Eden hardened. To gain followers, she began assigning Embraces. When Diana was called upon to make her first Embrace, however, she failed and accidentally killed her target. The guilt overwhelmed her and she developed a new derangement, an intense paranoia that would follow her for the rest of her life.

Over the next few years, very much on her own as Adam was gone and Selene was shipped off to the Americas, Diana began to study Grandmother's plans. She realized that the assigned Embraces were leading to thinner and thinner blood among Grandmother's followers. This seemed completely insane, given the precarious position the Children of Eden inhabited, still under the scrutiny of many, including Ursela and Liam. One night, Diana's curiosity overwhelmed her and she let herself into Grandmother's private study. There, she found plans, detailing the intentions of the Children of Eden. To her horror, she realized that Grandmother intended to thin the blood of her followers down to the point of creating Dhampir to use to devastate anyone who opposed the Children of Eden with sunlight and fire. This did not sit well with Diana, but feeling very alone in the world, she kept her objections to herself.

In 1790, Grandmother sent Diana, along with a protégé named Jacob, to the Americas with the hopes that they would pick up the work Selene had failed at, which was to spread the gospel to the new world. Diana intensely disliked Jacob, who was forever ogling her and even once attempted to have his way with her. Shortly after they arrived, however, Jacob disappeared and for awhile, Diana wrote Grandmother letters of her progress in spreading the word, while actually warning any thin bloods she encountered to avoid Grandmother's schemes at all costs. Two years later, however, she met up with Selene. Her sister had changed very much in their time apart, but still showed enough affection that Diana agreed to go with her to France. In 1793, when they arrived, the Reign of Terror was in full swing and Diana witnessed her sister's brutality firsthand.

You are the sweetest of my earthly delights
While Selene was happily slaughtering, Diana decided to bury herself in studies, often sneaking into libraries in the middle of the night, searching for any information she could find about Dhampir in order to help protect them somehow. Her knowledge of the Kindred world was severely limited, due to the fact that everything she was taught was taught to her by Grandmother, who was revising history to better suit her needs. It was during one such library stint that Diana met a young man named Joseph Penn. He was an Englishman who had been sent to live in France by his parents and was unable to return in light of the Terror. He spotted Diana sneaking into a library and was fascinated, following her. They did not speak on that first night, but Joseph was so intrigued that he continued to come back to the same, library, looking for her night after night until, on a Sunday in 1797, they two finally met face to face.

For a year, every Sunday the two of them bantered back and forth, much against Selene's wishes, playing a flirtatious game of cat and mouse with Joseph constantly threatening to tattle on Diana. He learned quickly enough of her Kindred nature, but didn't give a damn and on a Sunday in 1798, he asked her to marry him. Diana happily accepted, but not without some hesitation. She knew that a marriage might cause trouble, especially if she kept it hidden, so she made the decision to simply make it public and avoid any unfortunate accidents. All of the Children of Eden, including Grandmother and Selene, were invited to the wedding. A few nights before, Grandmother offered to Embrace Joseph as a wedding present, but both Diana and Joseph adamantly refused to allow it.

As with all Kindred affairs, the Sunday wedding ended in utter disaster. Liam and Ursela, who had followed the Children of Eden down to France, crashed the party. A fight broke out with led to several important moments. Selene let loose, fighting Grandmother. Meanwhile, Liam trapped Joseph and Embraced him. Diana caught sight of this and her primary derangement, regression, completely overwhelmed her. With a horrified scream, she fled, unable to bear the sight of her True Love becoming a monster. Liam happened to see Diana run out and made the mistake of chasing after her. Grandmother, who had allowed Selene to escape, attacked Liam. Furious at the way he treated Diana, her favorite grandchild, she cursed him and told him she would not free him until he had regained enough humanity to feel guilty for what he had done. Ursela left the affair alone, robbed of her companion and hot for revenge.

Lost in the wilderness
Diana's madness was unyielding and led her, without her own control, back to the Americas. For years, she did nothing but merely survive until Selene caught up with her in New Orleans in 1801. Although continually hounded by Eve, the sisters gained a new companion as well, a Brujah named Milton. Diana had little to do with Milton, finding him utterly brutal and savage. Nevertheless, when Eve set a fire to flush the sisters out, Diana and Selene both helped to rescue Milton.

One year later, while wandering the street somewhat aimlessly, Diana encountered Liam. He tried to speak with her, but she was so horrified and angry that she screamed and just kept screaming until Milton arrived. Milton rather valiantly defended Diana, fighting against Liam, but the Ventrue was by far stronger and older and Milton was nearly killed. It was Selene who pulled him away from the fight and though Liam kept desperately calling out for Diana, she retreated along with her sister and Milton.

For a good long while, the trio of Selene, Diana, and Milton traveled the country. They were constantly hounded by Eve, but Diana did her best to keep out of the fighting. Feeling very lost and very angry, she buried herself in the trivial delights she had once enjoyed as Ruth's companion, parties and dance and the finest of fashion. None of it made her happy however, except when she took up the piano again, finding that she could let out much of her frustration with music.

The group made their way to California in 1851. It was there that Liam appeared once again. This time, Diana did not scream. She was past the point of caring about anything and because of this, Liam was able to get a chance to speak with her. He told her of his guilt over the horrible things he had done to her. Then he started to say something about Artemis when Milton showed up. Again, Liam and Milton brawled, this time Milton managing to get the upper hand. Diana broke up the fight, but Selene arrived and attempted to kill Liam. Much to everyone's surprise, Diana saved Liam and the two of them left together, leaving behind a confused Selene and Milton.

Liam brought Diana to a large estate and there, she was surprised and happily reunited with her sister, Artemis, also a Malkavian who had been sired by Adam just before he was killed. Diana learned that Liam and Artemis had been running a bit of a cult called the Order of the Silver Crescent, dedicated to protecting thin bloods and Dhampir and properly training them to use their own disciplines in self defense. In return, many of their students stayed on to protect their teachers. Diana renounced the Children of Eden and agreed to join Liam and Artemis in their quest. The three of them carefully began to lay out a series of plans to thwart Grandmother's efforts to build a Dhampir army. During this time, Liam began teaching Diana Presence. The two of them would be together for long stretches of time and gradually, Liam started falling in love with Diana. She could not return his love, however, because her heart still belonged to Joseph.

In 1855, Selene returned to California and met up with Diana, who kept Artemis and the Order of the Silver Crescent a secret. Selene warned Diana that Milton had fallen in love with Eve and turned on her. Afraid of leading trouble to Artemis' doorstep, Diana convinced Selene to join her and Liam as they traveled to set up a Camarilla court in the new town of Sunnyvale. Liam established himself as Prince and merely warned Selene to keep her Sabbat activities outside of the city limits. Unfortunately, the real problem was Ursela, who had arrived to reclaim Liam. Seeing that Liam was now in love with Diana, Ursela attempted to kill Diana. Selene defended her sister and after Ursela was driven off, blood bound her to keep better track of her.

When the Civil War began, Selene could not resist the chance to join in on the fun. She left Sunnyvale. Liam and Diana, working in tandem with Artemis, started to lay the foundations for a national underground railroad, dedicated to smuggling Dhampir to Artemis' compound in the west, protected by Artemis' Wiccan True Faith and her loyal student followers. With a purpose in her life, Diana was happier than she had been since France and her sparkling personality reemerged. She began to take up music again, finding utter delight in it as never before. Soon, however, the time came for her to leave California and head back east where she would start building the other end of the railroad. She met up with Selene and together, they traveled to New York in 1869.

I will dance before the lightning to music sacred and profane
Diana threw herself into her work, setting up the infrastructure for the railroad and completely ignoring Selene's savage behavior. By 1884, however, it was impossible to avoid a confrontation when Selene and Milton, who had arrived with Eve, got into a brawl. Diana saved her sister from being staked. She began to realize that to survive in this world, she would need further protection than her own vampiric abilities and so Diana started writing songs. Her talent was feeble at first, but she began to draw from her own experiences and her songs grew richer and more beautiful. To keep a low profile, she started ghouling well known composers and selling them her work in exchange for money and blood. She made many stars out of men claiming her work as their own. Selene came and went, but by 1901, Diana had built up a sizable fortune and agreed to give Selene a stipend, provided that she started behaving herself.

Sadly, though Selene tried to toe the line, Milton and Eve were still a problem. They beat Selene one night after overpowering her. Luck was on her side, however, because Diana caught them in the act and managed to get Selene's torpored body away before she could be killed. Diana packed Selene away in a trunk and began to travel the country with her, setting up her underground railroad. In the meanwhile, she continued her work of ghouling composers and selling her songs to them, soon begetting bigger and brighter stars. Among her favorites was Leonard Bernstein and through him, she began to develop an appreciation for the genre of musical theatre.

In 1951, Selene awoke from torpor with a new personality that was completely dependent on Diana. Diana kindly helped her adjust to the new world, hoping that perhaps her experience would temper her anger and fury a bit. Luck was not on her side. Not only did Selene resume her old ways, but the period of readjustment was harshly interrupted when Ursela returned to kill Diana. Selene defended her sister, but the brawl caused so much noise that it brought witnesses, among them, Milton and Eve. Scared out of her wits, Diana's regression derangement took over and she fled the scene, leaving the entire mess behind her.

As the freedom movement of the 1960s arose, Diana fell in love with the entire hippie lifestyle. She fashioned a new persona for herself, joining in protests and rallies against war and for racial and gender equality, all the while using the vans and buses of her friends to smuggle thin bloods. Her music grew richer and more passionate and she penned her first musical entirely by herself, Hair, in 1967, though she gave credit to a few bohemian friends of hers, James Rado, Gerome Ragni, and Galt MacDermot. In 1969, Diana attended the Woodstock concert and was unhappy to discover Milton tailing her. Instead of running, she confronted him and realized that he genuinely loved Eve. Since neither of them wanted anyone getting hurt in Eve's relentless hunt for Selene, they agreed to work as silent partners, each informing the other when things looked dicey.

For many years, Diana carried on, on her own. She influenced many great musical theatre stars, including Mary Rogers, Oscar Hammerstein, Bob Fosse, and Stephen Sondheim. By the beginning of the 1970s, she had a new favorite, a promising composer named Stephen Schwartz who she cultivated very carefully. The time of the railroad had come and Diana, Artemis, and Liam agreed that the best way to spread the news of it, while evading detection, was through pop culture, which thin bloods and Dhampir would be closest to. In 1971, Diana returned to Selene, a successful woman with more confidence and money than ever before. Again, she established Selene's stipend, in exchange for good behavior. That same year, Godspell opened on Broadway, written by Schwartz and Diana. The playbill contained a carefully worded message to all thin bloods and Dhampir that there was sanctuary in California.

The next year, Schwartz and Diana came out with another hit, Pippin. Eve and Milton attended opening night and attempted to sabotage the performance. Together, both Diana and Selene managed to stop it, but Selene went a step too far, feeding off of Eve. This enraged Milton who attempted to stake Selene. He failed, but did enough damage that Diana had to carry her sister away from the fight.

Two years later, during the premiere of another Schwartz/Diana collaboration, The Magic Show, Diana was waiting outside the theatre when she heard someone call her name. Much to her shock, she discovered Grandmother. Despite her years of truancy from the Children of Eden, Grandmother showed no hostility toward her. Instead, she informed her that the Children of Eden awaited her return, the return of Abel, as a holy sign. Diana was horrified at these words, wanting no part in being Grandmother's Messiah. Grandmother did not act against her in any way, but did warn her the Children of Eden would begin seeking her out, hoping that with her return to the fold, their goals will finally be at hand. She also informed Diana that the Garden of Eden has been relocated from Northumberland to somewhere in America due to the fact that Selene and Milton broke into and destroyed the old Garden.

Children of Eden
Diana's determination was ignited, given the new presence of Grandmother in her domain. She began to devise a means of using the touring companies of Broadway shows as transport for the Dhampir and thin bloods who came to her for help. Unfortunately, Grandmother's prophecies proved true as fringe members of the Children of Eden began seeking Diana out, believing that she could perform miracles, heal permanent wounds, or bring back the dead. It was all a bit overwhelming for her and Diana's regression would often kick in. It was during such periods of regression that Diana wrote a new musical based on the Old Testament called Family Tree.

Though Diana never intended for this musical to see the light of day upon returning to her senses, Stephen Schwartz happened to get a glance at it one evening. He was so enamored with it, he became determined to see it produced. Selene strongly objected to the plans when she found out, but by then, it was too late. In 1986, it was produced but with a new title, after the last song of act one: Children of Eden. Diana decided to use this bit of pop culture to her advantage and the lyrics of the song became a sort of code for the underground railroad in the style of "follow the drinking gourd." Dhampir and thin bloods traveling to the safety of Artemis' compound in California learned the lyrics to the song in order to find clues about the next stop on the railroad.

In 1991, while traveling with the touring company of Les Miserables in order to smuggle three thin bloods to California, Diana encountered Selene in Chicago. Selene informed her that she had been in Prague and had gotten into a brawl which led to separating Milton and Eve. Without Milton's blood to sustain her, Selene concluded that Eve was dead. Diana remained unconvinced, remembering the passionate love that had compelled Milton to defend Eve, but decided, by this point, that Selene would never really understand love.

Off we'll go without no warning
A year later, something strange happened. The entire vampire population of Oakland, California vanished. Liam went to go investigate and called Diana frantic. He explained that based on the reports of a surviving ghoul, Grandmother had led a Dhampir army to Oakland and, bright and early in the dawn, the army had visited every vampire haven, opening up windows and doors to allow the vampires to greet the morning sun. Diana was appalled at such actions and crushed with the knowledge that despite all her hard work, many Dhampir had still managed to fall into Grandmother's clutches. Still, she was determined to carry on.

Diana returned to New York for the Broadway opening of Rent, a play she had helped to write. Selene refused to attend the performance, still hurting from what had happened during Pippin. In the middle of the celebration of the play's success, however, Selene returned, warning Diana that she had spotted Eve alive and well, just outside of the city.

In 1998, a small town just outside of where Diana and Selene were living was slaughtered. Despite the fact that the massacre matched one of Selene's old MOs, Selene insisted that she had nothing to do with it. The sisters went to investigate. Also investigating were Milton and Eve. The confusion was cleared up quickly when Ursela stepped forward, taking credit for the death and destruction. Milton, Eve, and Selene got into a brawl, playing right into Ursela's hands. With Diana's primary defender otherwise occupied, Ursela attempted to use the opportunity to kill Diana. Diana managed to evade Ursela, although several taunts about Joseph managed to bring out the worst of Diana's nature. In a most uncharacteristic gesture, Diana toppled a bookcase from the library where she was hiding onto Ursela. Although it did no permanent damage, the surprise was enough of a distraction for Diana to escape with her life.

Diana returned to business as usual, smuggling Dhampir and thin bloods across the country while writing songs for smash hits on Broadway. She and Schwartz had their final collaboration, writing the score to Wicked which achieved enormous success. At the height of the show's triumph, however, Diana received a call from Liam. The entire vampire population of Shaldani, Nevada was wiped out. Not only were there no survivors, but Eve had witnessed the slaughter and gone into a downward spiral of madness.

A strange thing began to happen to Diana in early 2005. Despite the fact that she was forever traveling, following either the railroad or a touring company, she began to receive anonymous love letters. They arrived, without fail, every Sunday. Diana soon began to suspect that they were from Joseph, as they contained many references to their library days, but she could not locate the source of the letters. Unable to do anything about it until the author stepped forward, Diana resigned herself to continue working and do her best to ignore the letters.

When the entire vampire population of Phoenix, Arizona was reported as missing in 2008, Diana and Selene immediately suspected Grandmother's hand and decided to investigate. Although Diana knew Selene was itching for a fight with Grandmother, she reasoned that going to the scene of the crime might benefit the railroad. Surely, many misfits in vampiric society would make their way to fill in the power vacuum, after all. And among them, she might find people she could help.

Sooner or later you're feeling the fire
Diana and her sister Selene traveled to Phoenix near the end of 2008 to investigate the disappearance of the entire vampire population. There were many other curious vampires from all over the country (and the world) with similar interests. The problem was that no one wanted to step forward to organize a city government of any kind. In light of this, the city population splintered into small coteries with unique agendas. Diana befriended several vampires. Prominent among them were Jhessail, a healer who was of a higher humanity than even Diana, and Abe, a tall, dark, and handsome stranger that Diana found irresistibly attractive.

Selene's more evil personality was prominent in Phoenix, leading Diana to do a lot of work on her own. Still, the two of them managed to discover Grandmother's presence in the city. They rescued a young girl, Madeline, who had given birth to a Dhampir son by her thin blood boyfriend. Diana used her connections to safely smuggle the whole family out of the city, right under Grandmother's nose. As it turned out, however, Grandmother had allowed her body to become possessed by the former Tremere primogen of the city, August Rose. Since Diana cared little for politics, once she had destroyed the presence of the Children of Eden, she quickly lost interest in what remained of Grandmother, leaving that matter to Selene.

Diana had other problems to deal with, as she learned that Abe was, in fact, a horrible person with dark, dark powers and a moral compass pointing south. The revelation came to a head in a hospital, when Jhessail's enemy was cornered and, instead of fighting her, Abe seemed inclined to join her. Learning that he was not the next great love of her life broke Diana's spirit, leading her to become despondent and depressed. The timing on this could not have been worse, as Eve and Milton appeared in the city, causing chaos for everyone. Diana was left feeling helpless. She slipped into her regressive personality. Much to her surprise, a mere touch of Jhessail's hand cured her of her derangement for awhile. Realizing the power he possessed, Diana quickly set up a trap to catch Eve. Once she was restrained, Diana brought her to Jhessail. His healing touch cured her of all her mental pain. Grateful, Milton took Eve away and Diana's hope was restored.

With her work finished, Diana made preparations to leave Phoenix. On her last day in town, however, Abe and several other vampires got into a horrible fight. Despite her broken heart, Diana rescued Abe from being diablerized and fed him her blood to restore him from torpor. Abe was baffled by Diana's selflessness and asked her why she had saved him. Diana merely explained to him that it was the right thing to do. Leaving him alone and confused, she hopped into a van and headed out of Phoenix, for Sunnyvale, to find the next great mission in her life.

Be a fugitive and a vagabond all your wretched life
On her way to Sunnyvale, Diana's van broke down. Taking her guitar and one of her suitcases with her, she walked down the road to find a gas station. She never found one and, on her way back to the van, she wandered right into Bete Noire. For awhile, she lived in an abandoned cellar, earning money by busking on the street. The influence of the city, driving citizens to the darker sides of their nature, caused her to use her disciplines to "convince" people to give her money, but she eventually found gainful employment through the Ministry of Culture as a radio host. Soon, Diana was a local celebrity and could afford to buy a decent, sun-light proof house, which she opened up for all female vampires in the city.

Being something of a social butterfly, Diana made friends easily, although she concealed her vampiric nature from most of them. She began taking self defense lessons from Finnick Odair and Spike, hoping that she could survive without ever resorting to the use of her Cainite powers. Unfortunately, Diana's options were taken out of her hands very quickly. A group of anti-vampire, pro-human zealots caught sight of her buying blood and, realizing what she was, kidnapped her. They hijacked Bete Noire's airwaves to broadcast the public torture of Diana, as an object lesson in how to deal with non-humans. Diana was tied to a chair and shot three times, once in the throat and once in each eye, while Amy Pond and Roxanne Ritchi were forced to broadcast the ordeal. The zealots drove a stake into Diana's chest, but they failed to realize that such an action would not actually kill a Cainite.

Diana was eventually rescued by her friends, but the damage was done. She was officially outed as a vampire. For the most part, and much to her surprise, the city embraced her just the same and she was able to go on living her life. This life was complicated, however, by the fact that Bonnie McCullough set her up on blind dates with both Sam Winchester and Sam Winchester (demon AU). Her relationships with each man developed along a very different path, but she grew to care for both of them immensely. Unfortunately, Sam Winchester, dealing with the knowledge of his own future, broke things off with Diana, leaving her doubting her own humanity. Meanwhile, Sam Winchester (demon AU) shocked her by declaring that he was in love with her. Before she had time to respond to this, however, he was sent away from the city. Diana's emotions began to spiral out of control, leaving her more vulnerable to the city's influence than ever. And this vulnerability began to cloud her judgment.

On Diana's first birthday in the city, she was visited by Doctor Facilier, recently returned to Bete Noire. As a gift, and against her wishes, he did a spell on her, the effects of which manifested the following morning when she discovered she could stay awake and walk in daylight and eat mortal food. As exciting as this was, Diana quickly realized that her Cainite weaknesses had been passed on to Sam Winchester, Buffy Summers, and Jack Harkness (s2), three of the people she loved most in the city. Diana convinced Doctor Facilier to release Buffy and Sam from the curse, in exchange for favors she would owe him. Sam took the third favor, freeing Jack. Although the disaster was humiliating and painful, it brought Diana and Sam back together, Diana confessing that she was in love with him.

As Sam and Diana began the healing process, the city stepped in. It turned Sam into a vampire, temporarily. Diana sheltered him while he worried over his new instincts. Unfortunately, around the same time, her room mate Max was going into heat, due to a genetic design. Between Max's hormones and Sam's new bloodlust, it ended in the two of them having sex while Diana slept. Sam guilty confessed this to Diana after the fact, also admitting that he was in love with her too. Although she was furious with him, Diana decided to dismiss the entire ordeal, although it left her a bit more paranoid than she was willing to admit.

Auspex
Auspex is an ability tree that deals with a Kindred's perception of the world around them. It is a common set of disciplines, utilized by many clans including the Malkavians. Rarely used in an offensive manner, Auspex allows Cainites to investigate the world around them.


 * Heightened Senses: Heighten all five senses.
 * Aura Perception: Static mental test to ask; current mood/emotional state, creature type, under the effects of magic, or committed diablerie

Dominate
While the vast majority of Malkavians prefer use of the discipline of Dementation, which allows them to project their own insanity onto others, Diana and some, more old-fashioned Malkavians prefer to study the discipline of Dominate. Dominate is an ability that allows a Cainite to control the will of another person, be it a mortal or an immortal. It cannot force a target to behave in a self-destructive manner and its effects are generally short-lived. A decided drawback for Malkavians who use Dominate rather than Dementation is the fact that they are not connected to the so-called "Malkavian madness network" and therefore, they do not receive visions, as their Dementation using brethren do.


 * Command: Issue a one-word command with a duration of less than 10 minutes
 * Mesmerism: Mental test to issue more complex commands to a subject
 * Forgetful Mind: The target is placed in a hypnotic trance and will describe fifteen minutes of memories verbally, which can then be altered

Obfuscate
Obfuscate is, as its name implies, an set of disciplines which assist Cainites in hiding. It is a spell easily broken by the disciplines of Auspex. At its lower levels, the powers of Obfuscate cannot be invoked if someone is looking directly at a Cainite. Additionally, it cannot be used on other individuals.


 * Cloak of Shadows: Become invisible if no one can see you and you don't move, speak, or touch anything
 * Unseen Presence: Become invisible if no one can see you and you don't speak or touch anything

Presence
Although the powers of Presence are common to Cainites, it is not a common discipline too the Malkavian clan. Diana learned Presence, studying intensely under a Ventrue. Presence involves the ability of a Cainite to affect the moods of other people around them. It can be both offensive and defensive.


 * Awe: Social trait for an awe retest in any social test
 * Dread Gaze: Social test to force an opponent to flee in terror from you for the scene

Vitae
The blood of a Cainite is not ordinary blood. It is called Vitae and it has incredible, magical properties, impacting both a Cainite and any mortal who in some way ingests their blood.


 * Healing: Diana can use her own blood to heal lethal injuries. She can decide whether to heal a wound immediately, or let it remain until a later time.  This allows her to better hide her Cainite nature from witnesses.
 * Blood Binding: If a vampire drinks Diana's blood once, they are favorably inclined toward her. If they drink twice, they rarely act against her.  If they drink three times, they become Diana's thrall.
 * Ghouling: If a mortal drinks Diana's blood, the effect is similar to blood binding. In addition, as long as the mortal drinks a pint of her blood, once a month, they stop aging completely and gain some access to her vampiric abilities.  The downside, however, is that if they miss a month, they immediately lose these powers and revert to the age they are supposed to be.  Another side effect of ghouling is that if the mortal consuming the blood is, in some way injured, their injuries will heal.
 * Embracing: If a mortal drinks Diana's blood at the point of death, they might arise as a Cainite. This mortal will be Malkavian and will forever be less powerful than Diana, however, he or she will be able to develop differently.  **Important note** The disciplines common to clan Malkavian are Auspex, Dementation, and Obfuscate.  Any new Cainites will favor these disciplines.