Fate...
She was a cruel bitch with a taste for irony.

The world around her was dark, smelly and cold. Damn it how she hated being cold. It was all she had known for a long time now. Ever since he had come into her life.

Sebastian Lacroix...
She would spend her entire unlife cursing the day she had heard his wretched name.
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[i]"Say hello to our honored guest Jennifer. My business partner Sebastian Lacroix. Sebastian, my daughter Jennifer."

The pretty young brunette smiled a charming smile. "It is good to meet you Mr. Lacroix."

"What a charming young lady," the pale stranger had said, taking her hand and lighting kissing it. Only her training at finishing school had kept her from shivering at the coldness of his hands and lips.

He had done the same with her mother, remarking on what a wonderful and handsome family the Von Jordan's were... [/i]
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If only she had known then what kind of monster her father had let into their home, into their lives.
He had taken everything from her, not even deigning to let her keep her name.
'Juliette', that was what he had renamed her when he had killed her...
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[i]"But I don't understand. Why did you ask me to attend your meeting with my father?"

"I am afraid your father is not coming my dear."

His voice had chilled her, his eyes causing a shiver down her spine. "I don't understand," she repeated.

"You will, in time. You see dear child, your father is really not as good as business man as everyone believes. Nearly all of his success is due to me. And now the time has come for me to collect payment for my generosity."

"Payment?" she echoed, a horrible suspiscion creeping into her mind like ice over a pond.

He had chuckled, a dark sound that she would grow to hate with all of her being. "Why ask when you already know? I can see it in your eyes. The growing awareness... the understanding... the fear..." he had inhaled and licked his lips. "It is intoxicating."

"Don't touch me!" she had cried and ran for the door. With inhuman speed he had moved to block her way, laughing the whole time.

"Come now. Surely you don't think I have designs on your pure innocence? I would not do something so... vulgar."

"Then what do you want?" she had demanded.

In a blink she had been trapped in his steel-like arms. "I want to give you a gift..." he had said before a blinding pain had enveloped her body.[/i]
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They called it 'The Embrace'. The warmth of the name hid the pain and utter cruelty of the action.

On that night, the girl known as Jennifer Von Jordan had been murdered. In her place rose Juliette, a child of the night whose beauty was forever frozen at the age of eighteen.
She had become Lacroix's doll, his trophy, his pet. He kept her locked away for many months, using mental and emotional torture to break her down. When he had finally let her out again Juliette had been a shell of her former self.
From there the Ventrue Prince had reshaped her, molded her into the perfect little childe, a pretty doll to have at his side.

He dressed her lavishly. Only the finest silks touched her porcelain skin, only gold and fine jewels adorned her, only the highest quality blood passed her lips.
But all in secret. No one was to know that their prince had sired a childe, not until she was absolutely perfect in every way.

Juliette had seemed to comply with all of this, adjusting quickly and beautifully to Lacroix's every desire. But it was all a show that even Lacroix couldn't see through. What kept her going was her burning hatred for the man that had taken everything from her : her life, her name, her future, her freedom...
Once she had gained his trust, she had begun her plan for revenge. She had soaked up all of the information she could, about the Ventrue, their history, their wars and their enemies. Under the guise of the perfect student she had absorbed all she could in order to learn what she could use against the monster who held her captive.

In time she had learned of the Anarchs. They were enemies of Lacroix and were working against him and his empire. That was all she'd needed, and wanted, to know.
Getting in touch with them, and gaining their trust, had been difficult and had taken all of her cunning and wit, not to mention paying off quite a few underlings. But Juliette had been happy to feed them information about Lacroix and his plans, waiting for the day when she could watch him suffer horribly before enduring final death.

But, once again, fate had stepped in and screwed her over. Quite royally this time.
Not only had Lacroix been blown to pieces, taking away her enjoyment of watching him die, but her secret had been discovered and revealed to the Ventrue in the city of Los Angeles, not only of her existence as Lacroix's childe but also her affiliation with the Anarchs.

And now, the once spoiled rich girl turned high class vampire was now a refugee, on the run from her own clan who no doubt had put a high price on her head.
It was almost enough to make her laugh.

Juliette felt the pangs of hunger for the first time in her life, and unlife. But every human she passed in this low-life part of the city had such low quality blood that if she tried to drink it she would get sick. The bad part about being a Ventrue was that they required high quality blood.

Even if she knew where to find what she needed, she had no time to stop to hunt. She couldn't stand still for more then a minute if she wanted to survive the night. She had to get somewhere safe before the Ventrue found her and before dawn. They only people she could trust were the Anarchs, but finding them was proving to be harder then ever. Since Lacroix had been excecuted all Anarchs had gone underground, afraid of being pinpointed in the murder. Lacroix had many enemies but most of them had remained in the shadows and not as vocal as the Anarchs.

Her white gown was out of place here. Lacroix had always insisted she wear white. She hated the color white now.
Half of her hair was done up in an elegant bun with the rest hanging down, curled and flawless. She had ditched her jewelry immediately, no doubt making some homeless person very happy once they found it.
But the knawing hunger was really starting to get to her. It was starting to affect her vision and her sense of balance.
She needed to feed. Now.

The next person she laid eyes on happened to be a cop. Not ideal, but beggars couldn't be choosers. She shuddered at the very thought of herself begging.
Tapping into one of the Disciplines she had inherited as part of her Ventrue bloodline : Prescence.

"Excuse me sir? Please, I need help."

The male cop did exactly what she thought he'd do. "Miss? What are you doing out here? This is no place for a lady."

"I was kidnapped and robbed," she said, forcing tears to her eyes, another ploy that had worked many times for her. "He's back there," she pointed behind her. "Please..." she begged softly, touching him gently, shyly. "Please help me..."

The effect was immediate and almost laughably simple. He followed her like a lamb to the slaughter right into an alley between two buildings. "Where is he?"

"There," she whimpered, pointing behind some piles of trash. When he went to look she was instantly upon him and breaking his skin with her teeth. His blood rushed into her mouth and she nearly gagged from it. Desperation was revolting. The blood hit her stomach like a brick and made her nautious, but she drank anyway. She had to force herself to choke it down.
When the edge was taken off of her hunger she released him. He stood in a daze and she knew he likely wouldn't remember a thing when he came out of his stupor. She spat out what little remained on her tongue and hurried away, disappearing into the night.

One name had constantly come up when she had been feeding information to the Anarchs. It was this name that stuck in her mind and she was sure it was the one she needed to find.

Saxon...