Cassandra Palmer

**Cassandra Palmer** is the lead character in the Cassandra Palmer series. She is the Pythia, the chief seer of the supernatural world.

## Introduction

Cassandra Palmer is the lead character in several novels: Touch the Dark, Claimed by Shadow, Embrace the Night, Curse the Dawn, Hunt the Moon, Tempt the Stars, Reap the Wind and Ride the Storm.

A powerful seer, she was brought up by a vampire, Tony, who wanted to monopolize her gift, the ability to see future calamities/catastrophes. She escaped him when she realized that Tony was using her gift to make himself rich, and not, in fact, helping the people affected, as she originally thought. The Pythia, the supernatural community’s chief seer, was dying and she chose Cassie to replace her.

That stuck Cassie with a lot of power she doesn't know how to use and a metric ton of new enemies. To make matters worse, a war has broken out in the supernatural community and everyone is choosing sides. Now Cassie is trying to stay alive long enough to figure out how to use the power of her office, and to determine what to do with it when she does. ~ Take A Chance: Gallery and Wikipedia

## Biography

**Cassandra Palmer** is the daughter of Roger Palmer and Elizabeth O'Donnell (aka Artemis). Cassie spent her childhood thinking that Tony had taken her in out of the goodness of his cold, slimy heart, after her parents were killed in a tragic accident—only to find out that he’d arranged the accident.

Her parents were killed when Cassie was age four. He had killed them to have Cassie for to use her clairvoyant gift his own purposes—coups, killings, robbing, etc—while telling her that she was preventing tragedy ans saving lives. Over the years, she had only faded memories of her parents. Cassie was given a vampire governess named Eugenie who adored Cassie, too good care of her and tought her things to protect herself. Cassie also had tutors. The only children she saw were Christina a vampire child too dangerous to go near, and Laura, a six-year-old Ghost-child. Laura and her parents were killed by Tony so he could get their Farmhouse. Laura taught her the joys of childhood games, like hide-n-seek and making mudpies. When Cassie was fourteen, Laura showed her where her father's hidden safe was with ten thousand dollars in it that Tony overlooked. Cassie used that money to escape with Laura as lookout. Cassie never saw her again.

Cassie fled to Chicago, hiding in various shelters until found by Tamika Hodges, a magical Null who ran her own shelter taking care of magical kids who fell through the cracks of the Supernatural Community. After a few years, Cassie made that decision to go back based on the realization that she'd never be able to get revenge from outside the organization—and he had to be stopped. It took three very long years to amass enough proof to destroy Tony's operation through the human justice system. She couldn't go to the Senate, since nothing Tony had done actually violated vampire laws.

But when the sting went down, Tony was nowhere to be found. The Feds managed to round up and indict some of his human servants. Both his warehouses in Philly and his mansion in the country were empty, and Cassie's old nurse was dead in pieces in the basement. Tony had left me a letter explaining how his instincts had warned him that something was wrong, so he'd had Jimmy torture Eugenie to find out what she was doing. Vamps can take a lot of abuse, and Genie loved her; it took a long time to break her.

## Physical Description

Cassie often describes herself as "not very pretty". She has shoulder length red-blond curly hair, which is according to her, her best feature, an upturned nose, "chubby" cheeks, and blue eyes. She is often underestimated due to her innocent, goody-two-shoes looks. She is 5'4" and voluptuous, with "skinny legs."

## About Cassie

### Species

* Human
* Demi-goddess

### Other Names and Nicknames

* ***Dulceaţă*** — by Mircea
* ***Mia stella*** — by Rafe

### Powers & Abilities

* Reigning Pythia with access to the divine Pythian power
	+ Can shift her spirit, her body, and anything she is touching through time and space.
	+ Aging or de-aging people and objects
	+ Time freeze
	+ "Chimera" -- a Pythian spell that creates a doppelganger of the caster in cases of emergency.
* Clairvoyant / Seer (has visions, usually gruesome, of the future)
* Necromancer
* Lately, her psychic abilities were branching out into new and uncomfortable areas.
* She has Ghost Vision  and has always been a "ghost magnet."
* She can see and interact with Ghosts—an ability she got from her father, who was able to make ghosts his servants.
* A Sensitive: can feel when vampires are around—it's like when someone walks over their grave—kind of a shiver down the spine combined with a feeling of something being wrong; never feels that around ghosts.
* Unknown to Cassie, she has the Power for magic but no training. She doesn't learn this till much later. Pritkin tells her that she has a lot of power.
* Unlike other mages she has a very good understanding of vampire society that helps her in her mission to unite the magical world.

### Weapons

* **Ward Tattoo**: It was the Circle's own ward that Cassie's mother had transferred from herself to Cassie, and it is unmistakable. The ward is eventually removed after it is compromised ➢ See main article: **Cassie's Ward**
* **Dagger Bracelet**: It deserted the dark mage for her—dark weapons always go to the greatest source of power, in order to increase their own.
* **Power Word** : Cassie knew one power word that was designed to add stamina in times of emergency by drawing on the body's reserves—all its reserves. It was dangerous to use, since if the power it gave ran out before the threat was over, she'd be as weak as a kitten when the bad guys caught her. She used one to reinforce Pritkin's shields with Billy Joe's help.
* **Smith & Wesson 3913**: Cassie's first gun—on the recommendation of a Fed named Jerry Sydell

### Visions (about)

* Some visions are of the past, some of the future.
* Usually she could tell if an item was likely to trigger a vision before she touched it, almost as if it gave off a warning she could feel if she was paying attention.
* Few people triggered the reaction but she avoided shaking hands anyway.
* learned to treat it the way people do disturbing news reports

### Occupation

**As Pythia**:

* Pythia — Chief seer
* Guardian of the Timeline—her job is to police and protect the Timeline from those who would abuse it.
* Assist the various Supe communities
* Cassie is learning on the job since she has had zero training of being Pythia or being a magic user.

### Special Traits and Skills

* "Child of Chaos—Proof that hope cannot be chained. That fate can be undone!”
* Fluent in Italian, thanks to upbringing in Fat Tony's court.

### Character / Personality

* The only thing she want is an uncomplicated life with no one trying to kill her, manipulate her or betray her.
* Roger Palmer remarks on how much she is like her mother.
* Artemis remarks on how how much she is like her father.

### Possessions

* Magical Locket — Houses Billy Joe
* Magical Tarot Deck

### Cassie's Memories of her Mom & Dad

* Smelled like rose talcum powder to Cassie—she still remembers her by that smell.
* Cassie's Dad is a sensation to her—strong hands throwing her into the air and spinning her around when they caught her.
* His laugh was a deep, rich chuckle that warmed her down to my toes and made her feel protected.

### Love Interests

* Mircea Basarab: Ex-boyfriend.
* John Pritkin : Boyfriend/partner and lover.
* Tomas: Had sex with him once to complete the Pythian rituals and gain control of her powers.

### Family

* Cassie's Parents
* Father: Roger Palmer, aka Ragnar
* Mother Elizabeth O'Donnell, aka Artemis
* Constant Companion: Billy Joe
* Vampire Master and Guardian: Tony
* Childhood Playmate: Laura

### Friends & Allies

* John Pritkin
* Francoise
* Caleb Carter
* Marco Carales
* Jonas Marsden
* Tomas
* Casanova
* Rosier

### Enemies

* Rosier
* War Mages
* Tony
* Myra
* Rasputin
* Dark Circle
* Silver Circle

### Spirit of Cassie's Father

* The spirit of Cassie's Father is trapped in a Magical Paperweight Snare—a part of her Mother's spirit is as well which ties it to the big spell holding the Demon world from the mortal world.

### Other Details

* Cassie is still a virgin at the start of the series—Eugenie protected her like a hawk at Tony's, and Cassie couldn't afford to trust anyone while on the run.
* "The Silver Circle wants you very badly"—Tony had told them that **Cassandra Palmer** was in the car with her parents, and they only learned differently when your ward flared for the first time a few years ago.
* As long as Cassie remains a rogue sybil, the Circle have rights over her, as they do all human magic users.
* Laura helped Cassie escape there first time by showing Cassie where to find her dad's hidden safe—with more than ten thousand dollars in it that Tony had missed—and acted as a lookout when Cassie ran away.
* Cassie was age four when Tony ordered the hit on her parents.
* Tony would not let her learn anything of hte magic arts, so she knows nothing about her abilities.
* Promised herself never to let my abilities be used to hurt anyone again after what happened with Tony.
* Her childhood pet rabbit was named **Honeybun**.
* Eugenie taught Cassie how to use her own energy field,—aura—to build a Personal Shield again ghost trails that would distract her from her lessons.
* Tony had bitten her twice to ensure loyalty, once when as a child and again after she returned.
* Cassie believes that using magic comes with a bill, so she doesn't want to use the Pythia power since she hopes to give it back.

## Original Cassandra

Cassandra was a seer in Greek mythology and the lover of Apollo—according to the Greek myths that Cassie learned from Eugenie.

Another version: "Apollo, the god of all seers, loved the beautiful human Cassandra, but she did not return his affections. She pretended to love, long enough to gain the gift of foreknowledge; then she ran away. He finally found her, of course—like you, she could not hide forever—and exacted his revenge. She could keep the gift, he said, but she would see only tragic events, and no one would believe her when she prophesied until it was too late."

## List of Visions

* Cassie has a vision from inside Louis-Cesare's body. He wears a mask, is having sex with someone. A woman with some guards enters, the drag him to the dungeon torture room where a young woman—Francoise—who has been tortured is chain up. She set her in fire—Cassie witnesses it. — Touch the Dark
* Time-travel: Cassie returns to the torture chamber where Francoise is tied to the rack, before she gets burned. Tomas came along unknowingly. Both of them in spirit form, they freed Françoise.
* Cassie returns ot Carcassonne with Mircea to save Louis-Cesare and Radu
* Tendrils of sensation radiated outward from Mircea's hand—they gave her snippets images like visions of Myra, a small black spheric device, an explosion and Mircea being melted by it along with his brother, Dracula.

**See Article**:

* **Time Travel Log**

## Characters in Cassie's Inner Circle

* John Pritkin
* Francoise
* Billy Joe
* Marco Carales
* Caleb Carter
* Jonas Marsden
* Tomas
* Raphael — aka "Rafe"
* Agnes
* Artemis
* Roger Palmer
* Tamika Hodges
* Rhea Silvanus

### Other Frequent or Past Associates: Friend or Foe

* Casanova
* Tony
* Rosier
* Augustine
* Kit Marlowe
* The Consul
* Louis-Cesare de Bourbon
* Laura
* Jerry Sydell
* Apollo
* The Graeae
* Eugenie
* Alphonse
* Sal
* Dorina Basarab
* **Mike**: former employer at the Club

## Events Throughout the Series

This section may have spoilers. If you want to avoid spoilers, please don't read the summary for a book that you have not read yet. Think of the book title as a "Spoiler Warning".

### 1. Touch the Dark

The book opens in Atlanta with Cassie finding an obituary for her own murder by rifle bullets dated that night on her computer screen. She grabs her gun and runs from her office in the travel agency. She goes to warn Tomas at The Club where she is attacked by vampires. She discovered that Tomas is Master Vampires and has been deceiving her all along. He spells her and takes her to the Senate at M.A.G.I.C. in Las Vegas.

### 2. Claimed by Shadow

Cassie plans to find Myra before Myra heals and kills her in the past—but she's disappeared.  the pythia power sent he rot 1888 London Lyceum Theatre to save Mircea from poisoning. The Silver Circle sent mages to take her in—likely for a fake trial, followed by her death. John Pritkin wants her to help him find the Sybil, Myra in Faerie. At M.A.G.I.C., Billy reports that Mac's friends are on guard duty and that the Senate has Tomas—they're planning on executing him.

### 6. Tempt the Stars

Cassie time travels to Tony's Court in the past with Jonas Marsden who want to find the Magical Paperweight Snare that has Roger Palmer's spirit trapped inside. Cassie wants to find Laura who may be able to tell her how to find her Cassie's mother.

Cassie goes back in time with Pritkin about two decades to the boathouse on Tony's Farmhouse property to speak to her about how to get into Rosier's court in Hell to rescue present-day Pritkin and leave again. She manages to talk to her parents about it, who give her the idea to do so. She goes to hell with Casanova, an incubus called Rian, and Caleb. Once there, Rian betrays them. She manages to rescue Pritkin from his father's palace, and brings him to Earth, and then, thereafter, to the shadowlands where she attends his trial. However, instead of freeing him, the council suspects Cassie and Pritkin of trying to bring the old gods back to destroy the hells and dominate the world, and sentences Pritkin to death by a curse which involves his soul reliving his past.

Later, Cassie returns to Earth, only to find that there had been an attack on the Pythian Court. She goes back in time with the leaders of the covens to stop it, and almost sacrifices her life there. The Council realizes that someone with plans of world domination wouldn't give up her life to save a bunch of children, and gives her the counterspell to Pritkin's curse, who she goes to save with Rosier.

## Quotes

I'd never before been part of the action, smelled the smells and tasted the fear of someone who had lived the events. It was the difference between driving by a brutal car accident and being in one. — *Cassie's thoughts after witnessing Francoise burned to death in 1661 at Carcassonne, Touch the Dark*
"Let me get this straight. First you decide I'm a demon because of a power I didn't ask for and don't even understand. Then, when that falls through, you label me a fallen sybil and a ho. Am I missing something, or do you just not like me?" — Cassie to Pritkin, *Touch the Dark*
"You're Pythia. You could go back, change what happened." He moved so he could see my eyes. "You could save your family, Cassie.” ... I sighed. Sure I could. "You don't know Tony. Besides, I thought the idea was for me to help guard the timeline, not to interfere with it myself. I could end up changing something vital and possibly make things even worse." Make that probably, with my luck. — Mac & Cassie, Claimed by Shadow
“The only thing I want is a nice, uncomplicated life. With no one trying to kill me, manipulate me or betray me." And where, if I messed up on the job, I didn't get anyone killed. "Somehow, I don't think the Pythia gig is going to help me with that!" — Cassie to Mac, Claimed by Shadow
The more I learned about the mages, the scarier they got. — Cassie after learning what happened to Mac, Claimed by Shadow
As I got older, I'd found out the hard way that adventures are rarely anything like the books say. Half the time you're scared out of your mind, and the rest you're bored and your feet hurt.
I'd been too busy lately for regular gym visits and it showed. Running for my life was obviously not giving me enough exercise.
"Just like your mother. You really know how to make an entrance." — Roger Palmer, Tempt the Stars
You are the child of chaos, Cassie, of turmoil and mayhem and wild uncertainty. Your very existence is proof . . ”; / “Of what?” I asked, when she trailed off. / “That hope cannot be chained. That fate can be undone!” — Artemis & Cassie, Tempt the Stars
## Notes

* Source for Images and Into: Author's site. The Artist is not credited or I would name the artist.

## See Also

* Mircea
* Pritkin
* Aura

## Book References

1. ↑ *Tempt the Stars*, ch. 3, p. 36
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 *Touch the Dark*, ch. 6 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "CP1ch6" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "CP1ch6" defined multiple times with different content
3. ↑ *Touch the Dark*, ch. 1–6
4. ↑ *Embrace the Night*, ch. , p.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 *Touch the Dark*, ch. 7
6. ↑ *Brave the Tempest*
7. ↑ *Tempt the Stars*, ch. 1–2
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 *Touch the Dark*, ch. 12
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 *Touch the Dark*, ch. 10
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 *Touch the Dark*, ch. 8 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "CP1ch8" defined multiple times with different content
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 *Touch the Dark*, ch. 4
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 *Tempt the Stars*, ch. 11, p. 137 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "CP6ch11" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "CP6ch11" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "CP6ch11" defined multiple times with different content
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 *Claimed by Shadow*, ch. 6
14. ↑ *Tempt the Stars*, ch. ?
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 *Touch the Dark*, ch. 1
16. ↑ *Tempt the Stars*, ch. 1, p. 5
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 *Claimed by Shadow*, ch. 5
18. ↑ *Touch the Dark*, ch. 7
19. ↑ *Touch the Dark*, ch. 7
20. ↑ *Claimed by Shadow*, ch. 14
21. ↑ *Touch the Dark*, ch. 2
22. ↑ *Claimed by Shadow*, ch. 1
23. ↑ *Claimed by Shadow*, ch. 2–4
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 *Claimed by Shadow*, ch. 8
25. ↑ *Tempt the Stars*, ch. 1–2
26. ↑ *Tempt the Stars*, ch. 7–11
27. ↑ *Touch the Dark*, ch. 4
28. ↑ *Touch the Dark*, ch. 11
29. ↑ *Claimed by Shadow*, ch. 6
30. ↑ *Tempt the Stars*, ch. 8, p. 101

## External Links

**Character Links**:

* Cassie Palmer - Wikipedia
* Cassie Palmer | Karen Chance's Ramblings

**General**:

* Take A Chance: Gallery
* Cassandra Palmer series - Urban Fantasy Wiki
* Cassandra Palmer Series ~ Shelfari
* Cassandra Palmer (Literature) - TV Tropes
* The Cassandra Palmer series

**Commuity**:

* (4) The Cassandra Palmer Series by Karen Chance
* Cassandra Palmer (@cass\_palmer) | Twitter