Isabel Bloom

[Isabel]

Name: Isabel Bloom
Nicknames: Izzy/Iz; she's also encouraged the 'title' of The Half-Blood -- anything to keep up appearances.
Race: Half-vampire
Occupation: Merc/bounty hunter
Gender: Female
Skin Color: Light, caramel brown
Age: 76; appears to be about 24
Clothing: On the job, Isabel sticks with basic black. Black cloth duster with a high collar, black leather slacks, snug black shirt; combat boots, and black leather wristbands. In general, she prefers black, but will wear other dark colors; reds, violets and blues. Being extremely confident, she isn’t afraid to wear anything that will show off some skin, especially when it seems to make human males act strangely; she finds this highly amusing.
Height: 5’8”
Weight: 132lbs
Tattoos: A large pair of tribal angel wings on her back and the word ‘chaos’ tattooed on her right hip in elaborate, Old English-esque text.

Piercings: Two in each ear and one through her tongue.
Jewellery: The only staple is a small black pearl pendant on a silver chain.

Body Modifications: A few, besides the tattoos and piercings. The tattoos cover various knife and/or bullet wounds along her back. A near-miss left her with a star-shaped scar just to the right of her heart, and she has another matching scar on her right thigh.

Hair
Length: Quite long; when left to hang normally, it brushes the top of her belt.
Style: Normally braided into thin cornrows, or straightened.
Color: Dark, dark brown

Eyes
Color: Brown
Oddities: On the rare occasion that the bloodlust managed to take hold of her, Izzy’s eyes will ‘bleed’ red, like other full-blooded members of her kind. She can also will this change if she’s in the mood to tease or intimidate.

Personality: ‘Confident’ would be putting things likely. For a ‘creature’ so young, Isabel is good at what she does, and unfortunately, she knows it. The half-vampire does not doubt in her ability to talk shit, because she can back it up. Most of the time, anyway. She enjoys messing with people (in a strictly non-sadistic sense, of course) and can be surprisingly playful, depending on the company she is surrounded by.

Despite this almost fun-loving tendency, Isabel does not trust easily. She has discovered first-hand how easily others would turn and stab her in the back, and this has left a scar on her personality. She isn’t entirely anti-social, but she won’t go out of her way to be the center of attention, unless a job calls for it. However, should someone manage to gain Isabel’s trust, they will have it for all time. Those who are truly her friends -- though few and far-between - see a cocky and mischievous young half-blood who would be wiling to do anything to protect those whom she cares for.

For reasons that she does not disclose, Isabel has a deep, homicidal hatred for vampires. Half-blood or no, she despises them; any job that requires her to go after a bloodsucker gets special attention. Her attitudes towards other supernatural beings are fairly indifferent, though she finds it amusing that most wolves tend to hate her on sight (or scent). Depending on what kind of mood she’s in, she might attempt to play off said hatred, but that doesn’t happen to terribly often.

Weaknesses: Iz may not be a full vampire, but she does have to deal with the same weaknesses, to a point. Holy icons are a problem, and should she be beheaded or staked through the heart, she will die (but then again, what creature could survive that?). Sunlight is a pain, so she avoids going out during the day. Being as cocky as she is has gotten her into some exceedingly hot water, in the past, but she has managed to scrape by.

Abilities: Modified vampire abilities: Isabel is stronger, faster, and more resilient than the average human, but not quite as strong as a full-blooded vampire. Over the years, she has trained herself hard in both hand-to-hand combat and -- of all things -- ballet. Each skill compliments the other; the ballet afford her grace and agility in combat, and the combat training makes her dancing all the more precise.

Isabel is also rather scary on a motorcycle, having almost no regard for traffic laws. Since most narcotics are neutralized in her system almost instantly, she has to get her kicks somehow. Being a native of Paris, she speaks French fluently, as well as a bit of Italian and some Spanish.

Weapons: Two sets of handguns, as well as an M-16 sniper rifle. For a more up-close and personal kill, she owns a pair of silver-plated sai, as well as a set of combat knives and stiletto blades.

Prized Possessions: Her black pearl necklace and sai, as well as her motorcycle.



Home(s): A fairly high-end apartment on Cole’s end of town.

History: Arielle Bloom would have been happy as a single parent. Her Paris apartment was comfortable, she had a steady job and, so far as she knew, she would be able to raise her daughter in a safe and happy home.

Two weeks before her due date, Arielle was a victim of a break-in. The burglar didn’t demand jewelry or money, but he attacked Arielle, tearing into her neck with fangs that were too long and sharp to be human. The trauma of the attack pushed the young woman into early labor and Arielle would have given birth completely alone if a passing neighbor hadn’t heard her screams and decided to play good Samaritan.

Arielle was rushed to the hospital where she gave birth and died shortly after. Her daughter, Isabel, was given to an orphan asylum in the Parisian village of Monmatre. Unlike many of her peers, though, Isabel found herself a family after very little time; Victor and Desiree Champney found themselves completely smitten when they first set there sights on the doe-eyed toddler.

After adopting the child, she was brought into a simple, but still comfortable existence. The Champneys never did anything to make Isabel doubt that she belonged with them; she was doted upon like any only child. Mother enrolled her in ballet lessons, horseback riding – which didn’t last long; the horses seemed unnerved by her – and gymnastics. Father made sure she excelled in school, kept her mind sharp, and did his best to keep her from falling in with the ‘wrong sort.’

Then Isabel turned sixteen. Desiree and Victor thought it was just the standard teenager rebellion. Their daughter was moody, she withdrew from her friends, began sleeping much more than usual, especially during the day. Then, the stomach pains, hunger pains that gave way to strange cravings – cravings for rare steaks and burgers. The cravings, along with her mood, worsened; Isabel became violent, set off by the smallest stimuli. Her bad temper was only stoked in school and her parents finally realized that something was very, very wrong when they received a frantic call from their daughter’s school. Isabel had been dealing with the turncoat friends who now harassed her and, while she occasionally snarled and snapped, she had handled it fairly well. But, the harassment increased, Isabel’s tolerance suffered, and when one of the boys tried to slam her into a locker, she snapped and turned the tables. With a grip that had been frighteningly strong, she closed her hand around the young man’s throat and somehow been able to pin him to a wall.

Then, she bit him. Bit him, her teeth tearing through his shirt and into the flesh of his shoulder. It was only after the principal and four other teachers had prized her away from the boy that she came to herself, panicked, and ran.

That was the last time the Champneys would hear of their daughter. Isabel disappeared in Paris, a surprisingly easy feat, and merely did her best to survive with this disease that seemed to take over. Sunlight pained her now, and on seemingly random nights she would go into a blind rage, tearing through back alleys until she found some unsuspecting human. She would come back to herself the next morning with blood on her hands and in her mouth, her ‘prey’ dead beside her. It was in the midst of one of these rages that she encountered the hunter called Dresden. For whatever reason, Dresden didn’t go through with his job and plunge the silver stake through Isabel’s heart when he found her. She never really understood his pity or charity, but at the time, Isabel decided not to question it because Dresden helped her discover what she was: vampires.

Well, half-vampire to be exact. Dresden combed through various medical facilities until he discovered the file on Isabel’s mother. The young half-breed learned who – or what – she could have been and what went wrong. It was then that Isabel’s hatred for the vampire race began to flourish with plenty of help from her new mentor. Dresden showed her just how monstrous the vampires were, nourishing her hate, then showing her how best to act on it. He taught her to control the bloodrages that had once consumed her, how to harness them in a way. He taught her to fight, to steal, and -- oddly enough -- insisted that she continue to dance. Something to help her ‘maintain her human element’. Isabel didn’t argue. They became family, closer than family, and Isabel did indeed feel almost human again.

[Isabel]

History continued...

The half-breed excelled with Dresden’s teachings, became a seasoned fighter, and the two of them began to build a reputation within the Parisian ‘nightlife’, so to speak. The vampire population in the City of Lights was wonderfully paranoid, whispering about Dresden and the Half-Blood, but of course, not all the bloodsuckers would just cower in the shadows. Careful planning and hunting somehow led one clan to Isabel and her teacher. The pair were abducted and then ‘fun’ began. Isabel was forced to watch as they drained Dresden almost to the point of death, only to throw him aside and wait for him to heal. The half-breed tried to escape twice, and both times Dresden was punished for her stubbornness, but her teacher made her promise to keep fighting. “I’m old, Iz,” he told her. “I’ve lived my life.”

Her third escape attempt was a success. She didn’t try to go back for Dresden.

With a high bounty on her head, she could no longer call Paris – of France, for that matter – her home. Besides, from what she had heard it seemed that America had a more prominent bloodsucker problem. She started in New York, worked her way through the country, and with the strength and skill that Dresden had taught her, built up her very own reputation. Word of the Half-Blood reached L.A. a few weeks before she arrived. While it would have been prudent of her to silence the rumors, Isabel rather enjoyed the bit of notoriety. It did wonders for her ego.

It was somewhere around the mid-nineties that Isabel thought she needed to add more of a rush to her job. Being alive for sixty-plus years had her a bit restless, unfortunately. The need for adrenaline led her to racing, and racing led her to one Ian ‘Skid’ Davies. Some found their relationship to be appalling – a half-vampire and a werewolf was rather unheard of – but it worked for the both of them. The half-breed was eventually excepted into his circle, and while it has become a definite boon to her hunting, Iz is more than happy to have something of a family again.