Where in Belle Haven does your character reside: Magnolia Hill
Brief description of personality: Resilient, Witty, Audacious, Resourceful
Occupation: Owns several high-end boutiques as front businesses for her black market dealings
Born to a powerful, white man and an enslaved, black woman in 1785, Ayana was destined to face troubles in life. Managing to narrowly escape the treacherous journey through the Middle Passage that so many others from her village were made to endure, Ayana’s mother, Abeba, was forced to remain in Ethiopia to work for the slave-traders who had invaded her homeland. She, along with a handful of villagers, were bound in service to land that once belonged to local government officials, made to take care of but never mingle with the European owners who had ‘spared them’ a horrible life in the new world. Forced to live in squalor, their former dwellings charred to the ground and loved ones maimed before their eyes, Abeba quickly learned to do as she was told. Favored for having softer, more feminine features than her fellow slave-women, Abeba received less of the burden of manual labor than most. Instead, she was often sought after for sexual purposes.
One slave-trader in particular took a special liking to Abeba that she mistook for affection. He eventually moved her into the small slave quarters on the edge of his land to keep her for himself. He brought her into his home and tasked her with basic household chores and lie with her at his leisure when his wife and children were not around. Abeba was almost hopeful for a future at his side when she learned that she was pregnant with his child. When he learned of this news, he disavowed Abeba’s claims that the child was his but permitted her to stay on the premises if she never revealed the child to his wife. Hiding a child proved difficult, but Abeba feared what might happen if she failed. Abeba’s daughter, Ayana, was born and raised in the small living quarters on her master’s property. Abeba knew better than to tell Ayana that her father lived so close and instead pretended not to know what happened to him.
As Ayana grew into a beautiful adolescent, with light skin and doe eyes, her father began to see monetary value in her. When Ayana was 13, despite Abeba’s pleas, her own father sold her off to an Ethiopian royal under whom she suffered a fate not dissimilar to her mother’s but far worse. Ayana was mistreated by her master in horrible ways. Unable to return to her mother, her spirit was easily broken and she came to accept her place as her master’s plaything. Despite her visibility in his home, Ayana was abused for several years until her master realized that she could not bear him children. When he gave up trying with her, he replaced Ayana with someone else and she was forced to stand by and watch another girl suffer the same mistreatment as she had from a demoted station. Relegated to kitchen work, Ayana befriended a fellow slave named Fayza. The two women found solace in one another, though only Fayza was hopeful that one day they’d escape; Ayana knew that she would die a slave. She could not picture any other kind of life. When Fayza disappeared one day, Ayana despaired. She feared the worst for her only friend, but somehow she managed to carry on until Fayza mysteriously returned one year later as a vampire. Fayza promised Ayana immortality, a chance to take her life back from her captor and to be free forever.
Ayana’s first kill was her abusive master. She was vicious toward him, taking vengeance in the basest ways she could imagine. Ayana and Fayza ran away together, turning other slaves into vampires where they could, giving them power that they never possessed before. They travelled the world; Ayana changed her name to Saoirse (meaning Freedom) as a symbol of her new, free life. When Fayza fell in love and abandoned the crusade to free other slaves with Saoirse, Saoirse severed ties with her Sire and they never saw one another again. On her own, she continued turning slaves a handful at a time so that they could usurp their masters –until slavery was largely abolished worldwide and then the crusade was suddenly over. With hundreds of sired children around the world and nothing else but a mortal life of pain to draw from, Saoirse comfortably settled into a lifestyle of organized crime.
With a self-grown network of loyal followers, decades of experience in working underground to achieve her ends and a tenacious will never to be underfoot of another being, Saoirse clawed her way to the top of the dark side food chain. At an unimpressive stature of 5’3 with a doll-like face, Saoirse developed a reputation among black market criminals as a generous ally and a ruthless enemy. Several years ago, her path crossed with Gavin Sawyer’s in a nightclub that he owned. He was a shark when it came to his businesses, much like she was, and they became friends from dealing in the same circles time and time again. When Saoirse learned that Gavin was sick, she refused to let him suffer. She granted his request to be turned and stayed with him until she was certain he could fend for himself. Then, she moved on for business (but they’ve stayed in touch). She’s heard rumors that Gavin is skulking around Belle Haven, but honestly relocated to this under-the-radar town for business purposes.
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