Story Summary

Gwendolyn Elizabeth Ridley, often known as simply Gwen, was born on May 13th, 1994 to young American single mother, Sarah Ridley, in a small town in upstate New York.  Her birth was a result of a short summertime fling between Sarah and an unknown man, who mysteriously disappeared not long after the pregnancy was announced, leaving Sarah to struggle through the difficult pregnancy alone.  And at only 19 years old and just becoming a sophomore in college at the time of Gwen's birth, the weight of raising her young infant daughter quickly grew too heavy for Sarah, and she had to make the heartbreaking decision to give her child up for adoption.

All throughout her childhood, Gwen was constantly shifting in and out of various foster homes, towns, and schools, all for reasons that, at the time, Gwen wouldn't understand.  She struggled immensely in school, and was often the butt of many jokes and teasings both by her fellow peers, and even some of her own foster parents, for being "stupid".  It wasn't until she reached second grade that she was finally diagnosed with the learning disability, dyslexia.  However, even after the diagnosis, she was unable to get the proper assistance she needed, and only just managed to scrape by in her classes.

On top of her issues with learning, she had apparent health problems as well.  She was unable to spend extended amounts of time outside in the sun without falling ill, which doctors simply chalked up as sun poisoning.  Because of this though, she spent the majority of her time cooped up inside, unable to interact with her peers.  She was also deemed a narcoleptic, as she grew increasingly drowsy during the daytime hours.  She was eventually labelled as a "difficult" and "troubled" child, which would lead to her never finding a permanent family.

At the age of 16, Gwen was given the opportunity to obtain information about her birth mother, which she gladly accepted, optimistic that this would be her chance at a real family. Up until this point, she had never known why she was given up for adoption, and had secretly hoped that her birth parents would return for her one day.  However, after finding out that her mother, Sarah, had seemed to have long since forgotten about her first born child and started a whole brand new family without her, she finally decided to give up on the desire to be wanted.

Having only two more years until she would be forced out of the system, she quickly grew increasingly rebellious; she dropped out of school, began underage smoking and drinking, and experimenting with drugs.  It got to the point where she eventually just fled the foster system, and went off on her own.  

Over the course of the next couple of years, she found herself moving from place to place just as she had done as a child, slowly making her way across the country as she struggled to make a living.  She had become desperate, and had turned to begging for money, selling drugs, and even prostitution in some cases as she desperately searched for some sort of stability.

As her 21st birthday grew closer, she started to once again have more of these strange health issues.  Her gums had begun to ache out of the blue, and she had an unusual thirst that she could not seem to quench...but it wouldn't be until she finally did turn 21 that these "health issues", if she could even refer them as such anymore, would hit her in full swing, when she noticed that her teeth had somehow grown, and her thirst that she could not satisfy was now stronger than ever, and only for one thing...blood.

Of course, she had heard of this before- everyone knew about vampires, but they were only creatures made up for spooky stories...right?  Her lifetime disbelief of the supernatural suddenly didn't seem all that crazy anymore, and she found herself spending the majority of her time at many different libraries with her nose buried in all sorts of books and websites as she searched for answers, and soon, everything started to click.

Alright, so she was a vampire...but now what?  Where would she go?  How would she survive?  If she was a vampire, then there must have been others just like her somewhere...but what about other supernatural creatures, did they exist too?  How did she even become a vampire, anyway?  She was never bitten, as far as she knew.  She had so many questions with no way to answer them...that is, until she came across a news article about a string of unusual murders in a small northwestern town called New Cresthill.

The story immediately captivated her, and with no where else to go but up, she made her way to the tiny mining town, desperate for answers.  

She has since then made herself a permanent home in New Cresthill, supplying herself with her first actual job at the liquor store, and then soon after, an apartment to call her own.  She had heard word of a faction among the town that was as like-minded as she was, the Enigma Coven, and has since joined the group to ease her desire for some sort of companionship.  She still has many questions about her past and how her vampirism came to be, but for now, she doesn't mind if they remain a mystery.

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