Claudia

CHARACTER
Full name: Claudia, although the body she inhabits is named Vivian.
Age/DOB: Appears to be 19. Original birth was in the year 1789, she became a vampire at age 5 and died at 73 years old.
Race: Human, Reborn
Occupation: None
Birthplace: New Orleans, LA

Personality: During her immortal life Claudia was incredibly cunning, demanding and quick to jealousy and rage. She was a fierce killer and only showed her gentle side to Louis. Much of her love and passion for Louis was a way for Claudia to control him and get what she desired. However, she is capable of love and did hold a torch for Louis although was unsure of how to display her feelings. She grows attached to what she claims to be hers and is very possessive. Much like a child, Claudia will pick up on what is going on around her with little effort and surprise others of her lengthy knowledge. She's very intelligent and quick to learn. Her biggest flaw is surely her quick temper and stubborn mind. 

Being a ghost for over one hundred years has allowed Claudia to witness the changes of the world and that knowledge stays with her as she is reborn. However, never having really lived as a mortal before, she does find herself struggling which quickly frustrates her.

While alive, Claudia was a skilled pianist and interested in both philosophy, poetry, and history. This passion is brought over into the newborn life as well.

As a vampire she was a blue eyed child with blond curls. Very small with delicately rounded features she had an almost cherub quality about her. Vivian, the body which Claudia's spirit is descending into, is that of a 19 year old girl who looks like what Claudia could have grown into. Tall, thin, blue eyes, blond hair, with slight hips and breasts. She's pretty and in the womans form which Claudia always desired. Seeing that Vivian is wealthy, Claudia will likely adopt her wardrobe and wear expensive yet beautiful clothing that are in fashion at the moment.

Biography:  The daughter of a sailor, Claudia lost her father to the sea and then her mother to the plague when she was only five years old. Before this, the family lived in the slums of New Orleans where Claudia's mother would tend to the household while her father was on long boating trips. Too young to understand that her mother had died from the plague, and her father was not returning, Claudia lingered in her home until she was found by the vampire Louis. Appealing to him for help waking her mother, the vampire, having been starved of mortal blood for years, fed on the child. Shocked and dismayed by what he had done he leaves Claudia's body. 

The following night the vampire Lestat tracks down Claudia at the children's hospital in New Orleans. He poses as Claudia’s father and brings her back to where Louis and Lestat are staying. Claudia, who was already showing the signs of the plague and is ill from loss of blood, lingers near death. Lestat feeds Claudia his own blood to make Claudia into a vampire. At this point he gives her the name of Claudia, her name beforehand is unknown, the powerful blood and her young age nearly erases all memory of her mortal life. 

Lestat declares that he and Louis will be Claudia’s ‘fathers’ and they will be a family, something that Claudia easily accepts with little question. Louis is immediately bound to the child vampire and loves her fully. At first, Claudia loves and adores her fathers with the typical attachment of any child. They dress her, make up her hair, and generally treat her as a doll, this continues as Claudia grows older. Her mind matures, although her body remains that of a five year old. While Louis teaches Claudia how to act like a 'little lady' and the enjoyment of literature, she takes after Lestat in her temper and feasting habits. She enjoys tracking prey and toying with them first before making the kill. She prolonged the actual death until she saw fit to kill, giving her some feeling of control despite being so small. 

After years of coexisting with Lestat and Louis without little question of her past, Claudia grows more frustrated with being treated like a child. Her dissatisfaction is brought out into the light when she kills a mother and daughter and leaves the bodies in the kitchen of the townhouse she and her ‘fathers’ inhabit. Once her misdeed was discovered, Claudia’s true opinion of her existence came out. She admitted that she hated both Louis and Lestat for making her into a vampire at such a young age with little chance of surviving on her own.

Louis, who Claudia had wrapped around her finger, was the lesser of two evils. He is dependent of Claudia just as much as she is dependent of him. He's quieter, nice, and much easier to persuade while Lestat is quick to react and has more of the same temperament as Claudia, making their interactions more catastrophic. Claudia grows distant with Lestat and only approaches him when questioning how they, as vampires, exist. She goes to Lestat and asks him for all the history; how vampires are made, where they came from, etc and Lestat refuses to tell her. Shortly after, Claudia attempts to kill Lestat by poisoning him and slitting his throat. With Louis’ help, they dump Lestat’s body into swamp waters. She and Louis assume Lestat to be dead and plan to leave New Orleans together so that they may travel the world. Claudia hopes in their travels they will be able to find more vampires and learn more of what they are. In many ways, it became an obsession of hers. 

However, they were both wrong in assuming that Claudia had successfully killed Lestat. He returns to their home and the pair set Lestat on fire, running from the scene and leaving New Orleans shortly after. While in Eastern Europe, Claudia is disappointed to not find much evidence to the existence of vampires and decides she and Louis should visit Paris. Once in the city, the duo meets Armand and his coven at the theatre des vampires, and Claudia realizes Louis’ attachment to Armand and vice versa. The point is only driven further home when Armand tells Claudia telepathically that she should leave Louis.

Worried that she is losing her hold on Louis, Claudia suggests that Louis creates another vampire so that she may have a new companion since she is sure Louis will leave her. This is both to make Louis regret his attraction to Armand and another way to get what she wants. He obeys, creating a doll maker by the name of Madeleine, into a vampire. The three live together for only a brief time in Paris before Armand's coven attacks the trio and brings them to the Theatre des Vampires to be placed on trial. 

Unknown to Claudia, Lestat had survived the fire and made his way to Paris and accused Claudia of two attempted murders. The vampires quickly separate Louis from Claudia and Madeline, much to her dismay, and condemned her to death. First, however, the vampire Armand attempts to give Claudia what she has always hoped for- the body of a woman. Claudia had promised if she were to receive that gift she would gladly leave Louis alone. Knowing that the appendages of vampires can be easily removed and then placed back together, he cuts away Claudia's head from her small body and places it onto the body of a vampire woman. 

The botched surgery isn't successful and Claudia is nearly insane and dead. While she can move the body around in crazed motions she is not of her formerly intelligent mind. Armand places Claudia and Madeline into an airshaft to await the light of day where they are burned by the rising sun. 

After her death, Claudia haunts her old home where she torments all who set foot inside, including the descendent of Maharet- the Talamascan, Jesse. Once realizing that Jesse can see her, Claudia’s hauntings continue. She also haunts Lestat consistently as he goes through his moral adventures. Tormenting him, asking him questions of his decisions and his moral intentions, she brings forth the emotion and sorrow from Lestat that she never saw while she was alive. He grows enough strength to push her away during the 1990's.

Louis also see’s Claudia’s ghost when he has Merrick Mayfair summon Claudia’s spirit. Claudia is outraged to see Louis and attempts to kill him, however when Louis survives, Claudia’s ghost vanishes. It was her biggest outcry of retaliation for Louis feeding off her as a child and also her utter heartbreak that he had grieved for her for so long. Exhausted from the summoning, Claudia fades from the earth for quite some time, lingering in the shadows of New Orleans as a weak haunt until she was attracted to a local girl.

Vivian Garnier is the daughter of a local millionaire. He owns a home on the outskirts of New Orleans where Vivian lives. Highly privileged, Vivian is a spoiled brat with little care for the feelings of those around her. She enjoys spending her time shopping, going to the beach, fucking men, and drinking. She was attending classes at the local college as something that is expected of her. She opted to study History because she found the course relatively ‘easy’ but really had no intention of ever doing anything with her degree. She intends on marrying rich and living off of her father and husbands money. However, at the beginning of her sophomore year, the ghost of Claudia realized that Vivian was able to see her. Having gained enough energy back after her altercation with Louis, Claudia began to haunt Vivian. She would tease and torment Vivian because Claudia thought that she could live Vivian's life so much better. Claudia also believed, had she been given the chance to grow older, she would have looked much like Vivian did.

Claudia slowly drives Vivian insane and the girl drops out of school and becomes a recluse in her home. Her parents feel she is just looking for attention and ignore her general outcries that a child ghost is haunting her, which only adds to her hysteria. Claudia hopes that if she can force Vivian’s spirit out of her body, she can take it’s place, and tries this regularly with no success. After months of being consistently haunted by Claudia, Vivian kills herself with the knife (one of the objects), and with no effort on Claudia’s part- she’s placed into Vivian’s body. 

Abilities/Powers: Claudia had only the ability to transfix mortals and move silently when she was a vampire. She was too weak, too small, and too young to develop much of anything else. Unless she is made a vampire again by a stronger immortal, she will likely continue not to have any powers. 

EXAMPLES
First person: The girl knew I was there. Trailing after her like I would do to the mortals during my life, I followed her down darkened streets again and again. This had been going on for months and yet, she was still frightened and jumped easily when I appeared in the shadows, staring at her, smiling.

"I want you. I want your body," I would always say. And the silly girl would jump and cry, turn around and try to walk rapidly away. Once in her home she even attempted to hide in her room. How stupid of her. You think a mere door will stop me from coming in? I'm a spirit, yes, but an intelligent one, not these brainless creatures that roam about bemoaning their lives lost. No. I see how you react, I feed off your fear, and I want more. 

Every shaking cry, every tremor, every quickened heartbeat feeds me the energy I need to keep haunting you. You're doing a good job, girl.

Lestat would approve of her, surely. We always shared that interest in the socialites. She's a high class little princess of New Orleans. Her parents have spoiled her and twisted her soul into the corrupted little bitch that she is. Nothing is ever good enough for her and she treats those around her like they are beneath her- because they are. She has the power, she has the wealth, she has the body, so why not invoke some control over those who are too weak willed to stand up against her? 

I like that in a person. 

And she has the body that I wanted so badly when I was alive. No, I still want this body. It's why I haunt her. Why I trail after her night and day. She's always put together, always looking lovely in the best clothing that money could buy. She never looks unkempt, even when I wake her in the middle of the night with my cold spectral hands touching her flushed cheeks. Give me what I want. Give me your body. If I could, I would shake that soul out of that form and slip in so quickly that your family would never notice. What would you do, girl? How would you react if you had been trapped in the rounded body of a child for eighty years? If only we could trade places I would really show you how to live. 

But this works... for now. You make tormenting so easy. I'll always be in the reflection of your mirror, in the darkened corner of your room, following you down hallways and whispering lowly. I'll be there until you take your last dying breath.

Third person: Vivian had dropped out of college and truly lost her hold on reality. For weeks she had shut herself away in her room, refusing food, and ignoring calls from friends. It had pleased Claudia to the extreme, to watch this girl falling into a pit of despair. Over the years there had always been moments when Claudia had lost her hold on the earthly realm and slipped into the energy that surrounded it. She became all that she was- energy- before gathering herself again and returning to the land. But now with Vivian so captivatingly insane Claudia was bound to the earth with fascination.

Claudia had done a fine job of making the girl lose control of herself and her sanity. She was not sure if she could slip into Vivian’s body if she was to die, but she'd certainly try. Lestat was able to switch bodies with Raglan so why couldn't she? She was more than prepared to take over, that was for certain. 

When Vivian had considered suicide, Claudia readily supported it, and whispered as much into the girl’s ear late at night when her sleeping pills had finally taken effect. Finally, the girl acquired a knife. Claudia stood by the girl’s side, looking it over with much interest, and remained silent as Vivian muttered to herself about death and life. What philosophies the girl riddled on about were not of Claudia's concern. She silently followed Vivian about her room, watching her steadily, and smiling sinisterly whenever Vivian would look her way. 

"If you do it now, you won't be bothered by me any longer," Claudia said quietly, feigning innocence with a finger to her lip. "No one believes that you see me, not even the voodoo queens. I'm too clever to be caught by a witch. But it's been half a year now, girl. Six months of my haunting your every move. Believe me, I have all the time in this world to continue. If you want to escape, end it now."

The girl looked to Claudia, her eyes filled with tears and exhaustion across her face, and lifted the knife. She was sloppy in killing herself but luckily did it all in her bathroom tub. Slitting her wrists the blood flowed freely and quickly drained from her body. Vivian fainted, her heart stilled, the soul shook loose, and suddenly Claudia had no choice in trying to dive into the body. She was in the body, and the body was her's. 

The knife had power in it that Claudia hadn't realized. Its slick blade pulling at her spirit, dragging it in, tying it down to the very fiber and nerves of this blond creature. Claudia awoke in a pristine tub, covered by Vivian’s blood, and took in her first breath after one hundred and fifty years.

MISC 
General plan: Claudia seeks to inhabit the body of a young adult by the name of Vivian so that she can experience what it is to have an adult body. She also intends on finding and tormenting Lestat and Armand, they being the causes of her vampire death, and finding Louis to express her love and hatred for him in a more appropriate body. She would love to be a vampire again, not necessarily knowing how to be a human, however the main goal is simply to seek vengeance and experience a grown-up body. The knifes effect will bring forth vivid flashbacks of her vampire death with physical reactions. Aside from the PTSD she will have to adjust to being a mortal, something she has watched many people do but has never had a chance to experience herself, even as a vampire.