Eliza Maynard/The Darkling

Name: Eliza Maynard

(Played by Jami JoAnne Russell.)

DOB/Place of birth: 20th May, 1976 London, England

Orientation: Unknown (Refused to date or have sex due to a bloodline curse. Never even so much as held hands with anyone.)

Pronouns: She/Her

Species: Was human, now her body is a vehicle for a Darkling.

History:

Eliza was the only child of Edward Maynard and a descendant of Godwin Maynard, Constance Maynard's half brother born a year after Constance was turned into a vampire. (Constance had no idea her father had children with her step-mother after her death and rebirth.) Godwin had been an extremely greedy man who ended up poisoning the family lands and a blood line curse was put on him and all his descendants by the fae that lives on the Maynard Estates. The first born of every one of his descendants, upon their 40th birthday, would have cracks appear on their faces. These cracks would change places, sometimes there'd be fewer, sometimes there'd be more, and always cause extreme pain. Eventually the curse would kill the afflicted.

Despite attempts by the family members to not have children, somehow they always did. There was always a slip up. A drunken one night stand. Even with someone they wouldn't normally be attracted to. Up until Eliza's birth all the first born Maynards had been male. Her father, Edward Maynard, had been in a long time committed relationship with a solicitor named Joshua Grieves. But one night Edward had a drunken one night stand with Eliza's mother. Knowing Edward would normally never cheat on him, Joshua not only stayed, but when a jealous ex killed Eliza's mother and tried to kill one year old Eliza, he pulled a lot of strings so he and Edward could keep and raise Eliza despite how much it was frowned upon for two gay men to raise a child back in the late 70s/early 80s.

Just before his 40th birthday, Edward staged a fight with Joshua that drove him away. Eliza was extremely angry that father had chased off Daddy Joshua. That's when Edward was forced to tell her about the blood line curse. A curse he would start to suffer on his 40th birthday as well.

When she was 17, Eliza would find her father dead in his bed. While the cracks she had seen for herself were gone in death, she could tell the pain he had suffered had been horrendous. She made a vow to never allow herself to ever be touched in a sexual way. She became a recluse, even had a hysterectomy.

While she was supposed to inherit the ancestral lands once she turned 21 or got married, her greedy cousins managed to steal them out from under her, selling them to a greedy American developer who actually built an HOA - a nearly unheard of thing in England. Thereby ruining any chance Eliza had to find a way to clean up the centuries old pollution and try to put things right with the fae.

Though a recluse who conducted business solely by phone and later the internet, Eliza strived to do good in the world. Constance Maynard - well, the mortal Constance (for no Maynard living knew vampires existed and Constance was one) - was a family legend and Eliza wanted very much to be a protector like her extremely great aunt. But she could only do it with money. She would often pay off medical bills - especially those of Americans. This led to a woman one day showing up at Eliza's door, the grandmother of a child who's bill she had paid. The woman knew magic and seemed to know about Eliza's curse just by looking at her. She then spent the next several days fashioning a mask for Eliza. It would relieve the pain of the curse so long as she wore it. It also tended to change color depending on Eliza's emotions - yellow for fear, red for embarrassment - but always going back to it's basic silver.

One night Eliza was ran off the road. She was uninjured but her mobile phone had been thrown from the car and smashed to pieces. She saw lights in the distance and tried to get to them. However, she unknowingly walked through a portal. Chased through the woods by creatures she couldn't see, she happened upon Townson Manor during a masquerade ball. There she would meet both Constance and Claire. Finding out a lot more than just humans and fairies existed in the world.

The ball would be attacked and from that Eliza would learn of the existence of The Darklings and the deal Jack Townson had made but not fulfilled. She realized these Darklings had been what were chasing her that night. For even though she bore a bloodline curse, Eliza was still 100% pure human.

When her cracks began to bleed Eliza knew her curse was accelerating and she would soon die a horrible, painful death. Wanting a death with meaning Eliza announced to Jack her intention of buying him time by giving herself to The Darklings.

She would leave a note and the amber rose brooch she always wore for Constance and Claire and walked out into the woods. There she announced to The Darklings she had been sent by Jack to fulfil his bargain. A mortal body for one of them to take over. (Even though this wasn't entirely true as she was going to do this no matter what Jack himself said. For she wanted a death with meaning as she lived a life she felt never had one. Never having had a lover, a pet, or even so much as a house plant.)

Once this was announced Eliza's soul stopped existing. There is no Eliza anymore - only The Darkling.