Annabelle Lestrange
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Sobriquet:
Appearance: Despite a difficult marriage, her age and the number of children she has born, Countess Ecaterina is a woman of enduring, if mature beauty. Ecaterina's Vlach heritage can be seen in her dark and smoldering, almond shaped eyes or in her long, silky raven tresses. Her skin is olive hued and even at her age, is without the least sign of wrinkles. She has an athletic body from years of horseback riding and still has a firm bosom despite so many years of nursing. Of late, she favors darker colors for her clothing, which is rich in gold embroidery. Her favorite perfume is the attar of roses, from a province in central Bulgaria. Her loving husband bedecks his wife in only the finest jewelry that money can buy and her expansive bosom is never without a jeweled centerpiece to draw the eye.
Behavior: Countess Ecaterina Petrescu is a haughty and willful woman, whose aura of command is more akin to that of a man. She prefers to lead and can be distinctly sulky, if her assumed position of primacy is challenged. As a woman in a man's world, she cannot afford to walk away from any challenge to her authority, if she expects to keep it. Nor does she take slights to her sex well, but if noblesse oblige or scathing sarcasm fail to dislodge the presumptions of arrogant men, then there are other ways and revenge is second nature to her. Her primary goal is the acquisition of power to protect herself and presumably maintain her freedom. However being a victim of abuse has blinded her to that fact that she is now the one who victimizes others and she can be as callous as any man. On the surface, as a woman of maturity, she often takes the role of mother to those young enough to fall into that role, if that fails, she often adopts the aspect of the mature lover in order to get her way. Regardless of which role she has assumed, she is presumably doing whatever she does for her charge's benefit, but in reality, she is an immensely selfish woman who primary motivation is fear. It is now the patern of her life, that she escapes one destructive relations by entering into a second, more destructive relationship and so on. Doubtless, she will succeed in riding herself of the succubus Luciratrix, only to replace her with a more terrifying patronus.
History: Ecaterina was born in the year of our lord 961, in the town of Alba Iulia, to the Negrescu family of salt merchants. As a child of wealthy merchant family, she wanted for nothing growing up and received the expected level of education for a woman; she learned to embroider, to organize a household, to sing and play the harp, and most importantly to converse on numerous topic in several languages.
After she experienced her first menstruation, she was betrothed to Doru Petrescu, Count of Alba. Doru was a widower, whose late wife failed to provide him an heir and Ecaterina's betrothal to him would provide her family with the protection of the nobility. In return, all Doru asked was an heir to continue his family line; it seemed an ideal match, a young woman of wealthy parentage and a middle-aged nobleman of good breeding. But, the first appearance of things can be deceiving and so it was with Doru Petrescu. Poor Ecaterina would not realize the truth until her wedding night, when Doru raped her repeatedly. He was brutal and sadistic, lavishing savagery on her young body, instead of the tender caresses of a patient lover.
Ecaterina discovered that Doru's castle was her cage and that, even though the servants took good care of her, they wouldn't follow even the least of her commands. She might be countess in name, but not in fact and while that was the state of affairs she would never escape Doru's clutches.
Whenever Doru was home from the court or from inspecting his domain, he would ravish her and if she failed to please him, he beat her as well. Doru was a brute, but an intelligent one, he never beat her where it would show and he never scarred her beautiful face. Instead, he would drag her to his dungeon and force her to endure the worst depravities imaginable, even going so far as to give her to one of his guards, who he later killed for touching her.
Their first year of marriage was hell for Ecaterina, one that came to an abrupt halt once she conceived a child. Doru wanted an heir badly and when he discovered that she was pregnant, his behavior changed completely, he became sickeningly sweet, lavishing gifts upon her and granted her previously unimaginable freedom. She was allowed a visit to her familial home and to see her loved ones; when she tried to reveal the horrible truth, her parents acted as if she were lying to get attention, while her sisters refused to listen out of jealousy at her 'good' fortune. When she tried to escape to the country estate of a childhood friend, her own family bundled her up and took her back to face Doru's displeasure. Doru lovingly took her back, but warned her that any future attempt to escape would be punished harshly, he then strangled one of her maids in front of her. At that moment, she realized that her first weapon against Doru was pregnancy.
Thereafter she lapsed into depression and rarely rose from bed for more than an hour at a time; not long afterward, she had a miscarriage. When Doru found out, he tied her to the bed and ravished her as punishment. She was sick for months and unable to do her 'wifely' duties, so Doru turned his attentions on the female servants whose screams often wakened her from feverish sleep. Though the suffering of the female servants was vile, it also gave Ecaterina another weapon against Doru, for the women of his castle would not soon forget his cruelty.
A few months later, Doru was called to the Hungarian court to serve its crown prince in some diplomatic matter and Ecaterina was left behind to recover from her 'fevers'. During his absence, the male staff largely ignored her or avoided looking at her, but the female servants now showed a measure of new respect for their countess. One maid in particular, Deniza, a young girl that Doru enjoyed torturing more than the rest, begged Ecaterina's forgiveness for not doing more to help her countess escape. Deniza became Ecaterina's closest friend in their mutual prison and eventually, her first real lover. Both women, knew it was a forbidden union that would have to be kept secret or they would both die horribly.
It was during Doru's absence that Ecaterina began to explore the castle. Her tower room and the dungeons, she knew all too well, but the rest of the castle was unknown to her. Of course, Doru's private rooms were guarded day and night, so she could not enter, but she was allowed to explore the rest of the castle with only one guard and her maid Deniza. These explorations were the first real freedom she had yet to experience and she relished them.
On one long, lazy summer afternoon, she discovered the castle library, the door was chained shut and the chamberlain had to call several guards to break the chains and pry the door open. Based on the difficulty of entering and the accumulation of dust on the tables and bookshelves, obviously the place had not been used in years. It took some time to clean it all, but when that was accomplished, it was a beautiful room with a invaluable collection of books. For the first time since her arrival at Petrescu Castle, Ecaterina found she finally had some small measure of authority. That authority was a weapon she would have to hone, if she was to have her freedom and her revenge.
With that happy thought, she began to study the books in the library and was shocked at their contents, for they were grimoires of goetia, black magic. They were in ancient Greek, the Latin of the old empire and the cursive script of far off Araby. One of Doru's ancestor's must have been a scholar to know all these languages and a dark wizard at that. But she was grateful to that ancient Petrescu for the gift of this library and for Doru having no interest in such things. If she could manage to master any of the spell contained in these black books, then she might well be able to punish Doru for his crimes. But it would take a great deal of study and practice, it might very well take years. With vengeance in mind, she turned herself over completely to study, an unfamiliar, but pleasant pastime.
Doru would return that autumn and the cycle of abuse would repeat itself again. She struggled through the winter with the help of Deniza and infrequent trips to the library. In the spring, she conceived another child and Doru once again lavished her with gifts, but this time, when he sought to ravish the female servants, Ecaterina objected. To her surprise, Doru grudgingly complied to her request to leave the women of the castle alone and to take out his needs on the prostitutes of Alba Iulia. Knowing that her pregnancy was her best defense, she struggled to keep this child. Whenever Doru would leave for the brothel, she would go to the library to study the grimoires. The following winter, she gave birth to a baby boy, that she named Grigore. Doru was delighted and left her in peace until the boy was old enough to wean from Ecaterina. Grigore's baby years were ones of fruitful study and relative comfort, but they were not to last.
When Grigore turned five, he was given his own room to sleep in and Doru once again sought to torture Ecaterina with his savage lusts. But, this time she was prepared, for she had cast one of the spells from black books of the library. The ritual had called for a variety of unpleasant ingredients, but nothing too difficult to acquire and the sacrifice of a cat. The ritual allowed her to conceive immediately after intercourse and though Doru was suspicious of her claims, he still relented. A month later, she failed to bleed and once again she was free of his cruelty. It was during her second pregnancy, that she began to master more spells to accomplish a variety of things. The following summer she gave birth to another son and for five more years, Doru left her to her own devices.
Now able to control when she became pregnant and with a fair certainty of being left in peace, Ecaterina began to study the darker and more difficult spells, those for summoning evil spirits. It was in the middle of her third pregnancy, that she was able to summon her first imp, a sad little spirit that took the form of a starving black cat and called itself Foeatuus. Though the imp could aid her in small ways, it wasn't powerful enough to rid her of Doru once and for all. So she struck a bargain with the little devil to spy on Doru and report all it saw, in return, she would let it suckle her mother's milk and perform small atrocities to satisfy its hunger for pain.
During her fourth pregnancy, she was able to summon a minor servitor demon and during her fifth a major servitor of hell. Unfortunately, during her sixth pregnancy, she mishandled the sacrifice necessary to summon a demon of real power and lost her child, a girl and nearly bled to death as well. Doru went crazy when he found out she had lost the child and tried to rape her again, but this time her familiar Foeatuus used its powers to aid her and Doru was struck with impotence. Shocked at his own failure, Doru settled for a token beating and left for the brothels of Alba Iulia. Despite her weakened condition, as soon as Doru and his guards left the castle, Ecaterina went directly to the library and in a rage of her own summoned a far more powerful demon than every before, a succubus.
The succubus was a startlingly beautiful creature, that claimed no man could resist its charms. Ecaterina sought from it, the death of Doru in a manner that that would not lead others to believe it murder or that she might be responsible. The creature agreed that it could do that for her, but it wanted something in return, a young woman sacrificed to it, so that it could have a physical form in this world. At this request Ecaterina hesitated; the price was high, she had never killed before and the disappearance of a young woman from the castle staff wouldn't go unnoticed, especially if she were pretty. The demon had only to mention her bruised face for the cooling rage to surge like fire through her, it said if she wanted her revenge, then there must be corresponding cost, but it would not wait forever for her to accept its price. With that final pronouncement, Ecaterina made the pact in her own blood.
The sacrifice of the scullery girl took place later that night, the girl was lured by Deniza to the Library, where ritual circle was waiting. Once she saw the room, she tried to scream and struggle, but had a rag stuffed in her mouth and her arms forced behind her back for her trouble. Deniza dragged her into the circle, where Ecaterina waited with the succubus Luciratrix. The girl was tied down spread eagle and bags of gold were placed on her chest until she could no longer breath. When all life vanished from her eyes, Luciratrix dissolved into mist and entered the girls nose and mouth. Moments later the reanimated corpse sat up and smiled, the demon agreed that Ecaterina have fulfilled her part of the bargain and it was time for Doru to die.
Doru returned form Abla Iulia a few days later and found the scullery girl in his chambers, his rage was unholy and he brutally through the girl to the floor and ravished her. His first clue that something was wrong was her screams, they were more of pleasure than pain and with each attempt to further ravish her, he seemed to grow weaker and her stronger. But by then, it was far too late, Doru had succumbed to a ravisher far more powerful than himself and soon it was he that was crying for her to stop. Ecaterina came to watch his suffering and to laugh when he begged her for help. Each time the demon rode him he grew weaker, but with its infernal skill, it managed to compel him to continue regardless of his fatigue or the pain. After a week, Doru expired and his body was secreted into an ancestral sarcophagus within the castle crypt. Doru's murder and that of the scullery girl were never discovered, for the succubus was skilled at taking on the forms of its victims; so Doru and the girl were often seen about the castle.
Unfortunately, the succubus Luciratrix remained to seduce and kill all the male staff of the castle, leaving Ecaterina in a difficult position. That winter, a terrible fever plagued the men of Petrescu Castle, but spared the women. Though unusual, the womenfolk of the castle spent little time contemplating its cause as they suddenly had new duties to fulfill. Ecaterina replaced every male position in the castle with a woman and had to hire many new woman to fill all the empty positions.
By spring, Luciratrix the succubus, was very hungry and demanded to be fed. Ecaterina took her to Alba Iulia where she could feed upon its men, one of the demon's first victims was an apprentice wizard from the new chantry of House Tremere. Ecaterina was intrigued by the lore found in the boy's books and decided that if she was to free herself from the company of this murderous demon, she must learn more powerful magic and the House of Tremere might very well be the ideal teachers.
Over the last few months, Ecaterina has 'caught' the attention of the local chantry regent and has managed to convince him that she would make a good acolyte. On a cold and clear morning in early March, she and a handful of male acolytes set off in the company of the Regen, for a Roman ruin called Apulum where she has agreed to act as the 'bull-woman' sacrifice in an ancient fertility rite. Though she doesn't look forward to the attentions of the other acolytes, this is a necessary step in order for her to receive the training she desires and the act itself might prove useful in seducing them later.
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