Is that INBAR LAVI? Oh, no, it’s MALKAH COHEN, the 32/500+ year old HERETIC who's been known to be + PROTECTIVE & +STRONG-WILLED but also -IRRATIONAL & -OBSESSIVE. They’re now trapped in Mystic Falls, but will they repeat history or will they take another path?
BASICS.
BIRTH NAME: Malkah Seraphina Cohen ALIAS: Mal SPECIES: Heretic HUMAN AGE: Thirty-Two VAMPIRE AGE: Five Hundred and Twenty-Three GENDER: Cisfemale SEXUALITY: Pansexual
BACKGROUND.
Malkah was born in 1507 in the outskirts of what is now Mystic Falls. Her father belonged to a coven of witches from England while her human mother escaped from Israel to look for a new life. When the two fell in love and decided to be married, they fled to America.
She was raised as a happy little girl in a small town where her father gathered a group of outcast witches to form his own coven. He felt the need to be surrounded by magic, to keep the balance on earth like he was meant to. And that was the knowledge he passed on to his only daughter. Malkah grew up believing witches were meant to keep the balance between good and evil, death and life. She ate up her knowledge and believed in it like it was a religion. But when she reached an age where her powers should begin to manifest...they didn’t.
Malkah tried over and over again, to no avail. That is, until the coven gathered to perform a routine cleansing ritual. The magic bubbled in the air around her. She could feel it, she could almost touch it. Without really realizing what she was doing, Mal absorbed the magic from the ritual and was able to perform it on her own. Once the coven realized what she was (a freak of nature, an abomination, a disgrace to the coven), she was shunned by everyone, even her own father, and thrown out on the street to fend for herself.
Merely a teenager, Mal had to find a way to survive. Slowly and on her own, she figured out how her powers worked and learned how to use them for her benefit. Eventually she moved to a neighboring town, wanting to put some much needed space from her coven as possible. Over the years, Mal managed to make a good life for herself. She became the handmaiden for a noblewoman and catered to her every need. She still used her siphoning abilities, but kept them a secret from everyone, including her employer. She wanted to practice and become strong enough to take revenge on the people who abandoned her.
On a rainy day after her 32nd birthday, on a trip with her employer, the carriage and horses in which they rode slipped in the muddy soil, sending the travelers inside down the side of a road in the middle of the woods, landing near a creek. Mal was the sole survivor but death was near. Instead, she was found by a creature that took pity on her. He fed her his blood to heal her and introduced himself to her. Kol Mikaelson. Mal was fearful at first, but soon realized his blood running through her body made her feel more powerful than ever and heightened her siphoning. She felt indebted to him, so she shared her secret with him and the two struck up an unlikely friendship.
The place where they stood was not far from her old village, so she took the opportunity. It was the most powerful she had ever felt so she went in planning to murder every single member of her coven. And she even succeeded to kill a few, her parents included. But once the coven realized what was happening, they gathered their strength and together were able to kill her instead. They planned to bury her body outside of the village, away from any ground that belonged to them as to not taint their magic. But instead, Malkah awoke thirsty and confused, and couldn’t stop herself from feeding on one of the witches that was digging her grave. And by doing so, Malkah completed a transition she didn’t know she was going through and fled the scene, leaving behind her past for good.
After the transition, Malkah realized she still was able to siphon magic, now from her own vampire blood. And she also remembered the vampire that saved her and the way he had cared for her and healed her. She couldn’t understand why she had been saved rather than murdered; she was an easy prey after a fall like that. But she didn’t allow herself to dwell on it much. Instead she sought him out and begged him to teach her the ways of vampirism. Kol was her mentor, her friend, her partner in crime. Together they basked in blood and glory, shared hopes and dreams.
Upon learning of Kol’s complicated family history, Mal agreed to help him find a way to free himself from his brother. And it started by destroying the silver daggers that Niklaus kept using on his loved ones. But before being able to find a successful spell, the vampire found their plan and took Kol away. Once again, Mal should have been killed, but instead used her magic to hide herself and run as fast as she could. She was not about to give up the eternal life she was blessed with.
For centuries, she lived in a haze of bloodlust and numbness. If she were to allow herself to feel, she’d have to accept the fact that she was alone in the world. So she traveled, never stopping in one place for long, meeting people but never allowing herself to get attached. She hoped she would one day find Kol again but five hundred years later, still no such luck.
