(A shade is basically a type of vampire the feeds or energy and can't feel human emotions. They have the ability to blend into the shadows and can travel through them)
Before coming to Ariava's clan, Eliyen traveled with her mother, a shade hunter called Kasanni, and baby sister Vyra. Her mother made her train hard and often, ensuring that she was capable of surviving alone in forests filled with all types of dangerous creatures and that she could keep herself and Vyra safe in the event of Kasanni's death. Kasanni was killed fighting shades when Eliyen was 11 and the two girls found and joined Ariava's clan shortly after, hoping for a chance at anormal life. For awhile they had it, but then, when Eliyen was 16, she went hunting with her friend Kova, a half-elf like Vyra and the two were attacked by a group of shades. Eliyen had thought that half elves were immune to the Plague of Shadows, but she was wrong. Kova disappeared one day not too long after the fight, and by the time Eliyen tracked him down he had already become a shade and he attacked Eliyen when he saw her. The two fought and Eliyen was forced to kill him.
Awhile later, Eliyen, Vyra, Red, and Kova's brother, Akir, attempted to travel through a portal to the New World where they thought they would be safe. It almost worked, but the portal was unstable and collapsed before Eliyen and Akir could go through it and they weren't able to reopen it
Unable to reach her sister, Eliyen left the clan and Akir to become a shade hunter like her mother. Unfortunately it was rare that she was actually paid for hunting shades- or umbral vampires as they were sometimes called- so she started searching for other jobs. It wasn't long before she discovered that she was excellent at slipping in and out of places unnoticed, and soon, valuable objects started disappearing around her and finding their way into the pockets or homes of well-paying customers. She may accept other types of work if the pay is good enough and she finds the job interesting/fun enough.