Aspen Ciarda

File:AspenDelilah'sFiance.jpg  Count Aspen Ciarda, secretly known as the leader of The Black Swans, is a character in The Enchantress Quartet. He, along with Caroline and Robert Locksley I and Tanya work for the demanding and dramatic former Enchantress, Geneviève and her polar opposite daughter, Anastasia. He will eventually go on to meet Serena Millicent, whom he will discover is the true Enchantress and is also the other last White-Blood Vampire, which is where her white streaks in her hair came from.

## Biography

#### Childhood

Aspen Ciarda was born to Count Lucifer Ciarda and Countess Dawn Solomon on May 26th, 1897 (The day that the book, Dracula was published.) He and his parents were the last known family of White-Blood Vampires to exist in The Blood Forest (Excluding Serena and Samuel.) When his mother became pregnant with him, there was a lot of suspicion that it was fake because there were rumors that Countess Dawn could not bear children. When he was actually born, the suspicion was replaced with superstition. He did not venture out into the outside world until he was eleven because of these rumors.

While he could not go outside, he kept busy indoors. He kept busy with many things such diving deeper into the alluring history of White-Blood Vampires and studying Latin and Science, specifically Biology and Chemistry. When Countess Dawn would be talking to other noblewomen, she would often mention her son's fascination with the mortals and how their bodies differed from a vampires. This made all the other White-Bloods very weary of the Ciarda family because Aspen's father had made a deal with Queen Geneviève to have his son marry her daughter and it was strange to them how Aspen thought that humans and vampires were equal, while the other White-Bloods found them only as food sources.

On October 16th, 1910, when he was thirteen years old, Aspen's parents, along with all the other White-Blood nobles were murdered in what is now called, The Great White-Blood Massacre. When it came to her knowledge that one of the most prominent species was wiped out and the only survivor was her daughter's betrothed, Geneviève found Aspen and let him continue his studies in the palace, while also training to be the future Prince Consort.

Soon after he moved into the palace, he and Anastasia found out that they worked better as friends and as partners in crime, which ticked off Geneviève greatly. She tried to force her daughter and Aspen into romantic relations when they were both fifteen, but their opinions of each other did not change.

When Tanya, one of Anastasia's friends came to work in the palace, the three quickly developed a tight-knit friendship and Geneviève saw the new appearance of Tanya as a threat because she thought Aspen would fall in love with her instead of Anastasia, so she made Tanya one of her maids, so she could keep an eye on her. Aspen soon convinced his "soon-to-be mother in law" to release his friend into the care of her daughter, Geneviève agreed to these terms.

When both he and Anastasia came of age, Geneviève announced that the two were officially engaged to be married. The two began planning their wedding that would never happen, but they had to make Anastasia's mother think the opposite. But with everything that was going on at the time, the wedding was postponed and has been for nearly thirty years.

Recently, the people of The Blood Forest have been slowly getting more and more insider information about who Geneviève is behind closed doors. Aspen decided to gather all of these people up into a secret society and named it The Black Swans. The Black Swans are people who do not want the evil Geneviève to be their queen anymore and would rather have his best friend, Anastasia, on the throne.

## Appearance

Aspen has the traditional appearance of a White-Blood, but he has begun to take on more human like traits as he's spent more and more time around the mortals.

When he was a baby, he was born with a head of the darkest black hair anyone had seen. Once he turned eleven, it started getting white streaks in it, similar to Serena’s streaks. After six months, there was no trace of black in his hair and it was completely white.

## Abilities

#### Magical

Since Aspen is the last living "pure" White-Blood Vampire, his magical abilities are a little different than people who are only part White-Blood, such as Serena or Samuel. Pure White-Bloods magical abilities are much, much greater than someone who is only part White-Blood. Much like other young vampires, he and others in his age group were trained by an older White-Blood in order to learn how to master their powers. All White-Bloods have very good agility, but that it not counted as something magical.

* Blood Boiling
* Flying
* Clinging
* Shape-Shifting
* Super-Strength
* Enhanced Sensory

#### Non-Magical

One of Aspen's oldest loves is art, specifically drawing. When he was really young, he started showing signs of interest in the hobby so his parents put him into art lessons as a side-fling. When he turned nine, they saw the amazing masterpieces their son could make just with a pencil, piece of paper and a few sticks of charcoal. Aspen soon started to replicate and sell his art in auctions where Geneviève would often buy a few. Anastasia states that he can '*Just sit by the fire in the darkness and sketch for hours and hours. He can make masterpieces with things just outside his window.'*

Another artistic talent Aspen has is tattooing. He picked up on this skill later in life, right around the time it was announced that he and Anastasia were officially engaged. To him, this is how he would release all the emotional exhaustion after a long day of traveling around the realms and it was also the only way he could let out his anger in a safe way. He is shown tattooing his true future mother-in-law, Serena in Darkness Rising. She asks him to tattoo the symbol of his secret society, The Black Swans on her left shoulder, which he does. According to Anastasia, he has been doing tattoos for nobility and on himself for the past fifteen years. It is mentioned by his niece, Eden, that he gave his only son, Kai, his first tattoo and piercings when he was seventeen.

Aspen also enjoys riding a motorcycle, much like his future wife, Delilah. While he is rather new to the Motoball and Motocross world, he enjoys racing around along with his girlfriend and mother-in-law.

## Family and Friends

#### Immediate

Delilah Millicent (Wife)

Evelin Ciarda (Eldest Daughter)

Chantrea Ciarda

Kai Ciarda

Linnea Ciarda (Youngest Daughter)

#### Parents

Count Lucifer Ciarda **†**

Countess Dawn Solomon **†**

#### Nieces/Nephews

Jonathan Black (Caroline)

Eden Gilmore (Angelica)

Aurelia Gilmore (Angelica)

Esther Millicent (Arrow)

Caitlin McGraw-Millicent (Rebekah)

Kristina and Grace Winston (Isabella)

#### In-Laws

Derek Millicent (Father-In-Law)

Serena Millicent (Mother-In-Law)

James Gilmore (Brother-In-Law)

Jarrod Winston (Brother-In-Law)

Angelica Millicent (Sister-In-Law)

Isabella Millicent (Sister-In-Law)

Arrow Millicent (Sister-In-Law)

Rebekah McGraw-Millicent (Sister-In-Law)

#### Friends

Serena Millicent

Jolie Mills

Anastasia

Caroline Locksley I

Robert Locksley I

Modark

**†** = Deceased