Alessandra Isabella Scipio

Name: Alessandra Isabella Scipio (adopted name, technically "Scipio Alessandra Isabella"; 'Bella' doesn't remember her real name, the vampire who turned her wiped it from her mind, along with many of her memories)
Born: Exact date unknown; Bella was turned into a vampire in 146 BC, when she was in her early 20's, but has spent only about 120 years as a vampire (explanation below)

Third Punic War, 146 BC
The final end of the struggle between Rome and Carthage is coming to a violent end, as Roman legions storm the walls. Roman General Scipio Africanus, leader of the assault, renowned for his cruelty and secretly a vampire, eludes his own troops and heads for the Temple of Ba'al (God of Storms, Law, and Creation, primary deity to many Phoenician and earlier cultures) to feed and kill, accompanied by two of his comrades. With the Carthaginian temple-guards away futilely trying to repel the Roman advance, the three vampires murder and feed their way to the inner sanctum, where one high priest and his attendant vestal virgin stand protectively in front of the altar. The High Priest is dispatched quickly, and the attendant falls to her knees in prayer, horrified at the creatures that the Romans have sent into her place of worship and shelter, but unwilling to abandon her faith or her duty. Africanus is entranced by her beauty and bravery in the face of such malice, and bites her, pulling away just in time to prevent her death. As she writhes on the floor, the vampiric venom coursing through her bloodstream, three bolts of lightning crash through the roof of the temple; Africanus' companions are burned to ash, and he escapes the same fate by mere inches. Africanus, shaken but alive, uses his powerful mental abilities to wipe her mind once the change is complete, and takes her back to Rome as his forces completely raze the capital of a once-great empire.

Southern Iberia, 46 BC
Alessandra lives in the city of Carthago Nova (a former Carthaginian colony where many of the survivors resettled), acting as its behind-the-scenes administrator for her sire. She has developed a reputation across the western part of the Empire for ruthlessness and efficiency; generals and bureaucrats alike dread being invited to her palace, for such trips are most often one-way (although no humans truly suspects what happens to those poor souls who make that journey). Pestered by a nagging feeling in the back of her mind, coming from the memories that she now knows Scipio Africanus stole from her, Alessandra invites a local soothsayer of great repute to visit her. The soothsayer turns out to be much more than a simple fortune-teller; she is a witch, eager to avenge the wrongs done to her people by the Romans. The witch had hoped to enlist Alessandra to her cause, but she immediately realizes what the girl has become. The witch attacks, but almost immediately realizes that she is completely outmatched. Just as Alessandra is about to feed from her, the witch casts an ancient spell, one which uses up her life energy completely and causes the vampire to disappear, apparently destroyed.

Spain, 1988
Alessandra finds herself in an alley in the middle of a crowded city, surrounded by sights that seem impossible ... large boxes as well as small chariots with enclosed tops that carry people, light without fire ... Always one to adapt quickly, Alessandra works things out pretty fast. She learns the language and customs of this new, strange place, and discovers that feeding is actually much easier in a city filled with vagrants and others that no one will bother to look for. She spends the next few years travelling through Europe, spending the most time in France, Italy, and the UK. She adapts to the modern economic system quickly, and uses her natural vampiric abilities to accumulate funds. She eventually hears rumors of a few rare vampire families who have forsaken human blood, and travels across the sea to the United States to investigate.

outside Boston, three months ago
Alessandra limps through a rural neighborhood, having just fought off two other vampires who apparently objected to her straying onto their 'territory'. Her eyes are black with hunger, and she growls as she smells something ... different, but enticing. She slips into an old house ... mansion might be a better word ... and follows the scent up to the second floor. The door to the room where the scent is coming from is slightly ajar, and she slowly opens it, seeing a teenage boy sleeping peacefully. Although she has tried to emulate the 'vegetarian' vampire families that she has heard of, she is weak from the fight, and the frenzy overtakes her. She leaps atop the sleeping form, his brown eyes opening immediately. Even in her hunger she pauses as his brown eyes immediately turn completely black, then finds herself thrown across the room by some invisible force. She leaps back up to attack, watching as the fool takes a knife and cuts his own hand ... several seconds later, she is picking herself up off of the wet grass, glancing up at the window that she was somehow tossed through. She retreats quickly, not having encountered this brand of power since that witch cast the spell that sent her into the future. She finds some deer in the nearby forest, somewhat satisfying her eternal hunger. Immediately after feeding, she finds her car and leaves. She has heard of a 'vegetarian' family in Minnesota, and she wants to see how they manage to keep themselves from the sweetness of human blood ... and she also wants to get as far away from the man she encountered as quickly as possible.