JULIANA CARVALHO

JULIANA dafne carvalho was born in new york city to antonio and gabriela carvalho on a cold december evening. they were proud parents . . . until the moment they realized that their first born child was nothing like what she was supposed to be. antonio and gabriela were part of a powerful coven of witches, and their daughter was expected to take over for them when she was old enough. however . . . that was not the case. juli wasn't a typical witch, she was a siphoner. she had no magic of her own and was forced to absorb it from the world around her. she was a genetic anomaly, and she was heavily resented for it from the moment she was born.

IT wasn't very long after juliana's birth that gabriela was pregnant again. relief was incredibly clear in both of juli's parents, and even their three year old daughter could feel it. juliana was excited to be a big sister . . . but once lola was born, her parents essentially did everything they could in order to keep the curse of their oldest daughter away from their youngest. lola was preferred by both parents, and while juli was still taken care of? it was the minimum standard of care. lola was very much the favorite, and juliana was the black sheep . . . all because she was a siphoner, not even something she could control.

THROUGHOUT her entire childhood and adolescence, juliana was on the outside looking in. within the coven, antonio, gabriela, and lola were the precious little family unit. people knew juliana existed, but even those outside of her family looked down on her. she had no magic of her own. she had to steal it. she was dirty. she could soar and achieve in anything else in the world, but it wouldn't matter. all the carvalhos and their coven cared about was magic and where it came from. no one believed in juli, and she started to doubt herself as well.

HAVING graduated high school, juliana knew she'd have to find somewhere to go. she couldn't stay with her parents forever, and she didn't want to. but shortly after her twenty first birthday, there was a blow out fight. juliana had  been getting ready to leave on her own terms, but her father could no longer take having her around. she was a disgrace, a reminder of his own failures, and an all out screaming match broke out. antonio wanted his daughter gone immediately. and she entered defense mode.

THINGS only got worse as the fight continued. juliana was panicking as she was told she had to get out, and she grabbed her dad's arm. she was trying to tell him to calm down, that she wasn't going to do anything against them . . . and when the self defense kicked in? she began impulsively siphoning magic from him. as the magic drained from antonio's body, she saw him begin to wither away, and that was when she learned that magic was the only thing keeping her father alive. he dropped in front of her and she had never fled from a situation so fast.

FLEEING probably hadn't been the best option, but she needed to get away. she left her mother and sister behind and got in her car and drove as far away as she could. in her panic, she let her car run out of gas, and she ended up broken down on the side of the road. an older woman ended up taking her in for the night, and juli was so grateful. however . . . that didn't last long. they shared a glass of wine, and juliana immediately noticed something was off. it wasn't wine at all, it was blood. while the woman was distracted with getting a refill, juliana did what she was becoming best at. she ran away again. she stole the woman's car and took off into the night. while panicking, juliana ended up crashing the car. she hit a tree and essentially wrapped the car around it. as far as she was concerned, that was the end and she was ready to go towards the light.

HOWEVER she never got that opportunity. she woke up, and instead of being in heaven or hell, she was back in the woman's home. she was lying on the couch, she was more thirsty than she'd ever been, and the woman was feeding her even more blood. juli was terrified, but the thirst was satisfied and she felt herself getting stronger and stronger. she felt something in her that she'd never felt before . . . magic was brewing on its own, and she used it to blast the woman away from her, standing up and ready to fight for whatever came next.

THE vampire was disgusted and disappointed, she sent juliana away and made her swear to never return. while she didn't want juliana dead ( she had saved her for a reason, after all ) she wanted nothing to do with the abomination of a vampire that could somehow use magic. it was too much of an unknown.

EVERYTHING was rapidly changing for juliana, but as she left yet again . . . the pieces started coming together. juliana was something new. she was a vampire, but she was also a siphoner, and for the first time ever? she had full and complete access to her own magic. she could use magic at will without having to siphon it off of another source . . . she could use her own vampirism as a battery. her life was about to change in a big way . . . but there were a few things she needed to do first.

JULIANA'S first destination was to return home. she hadn't been there since the day she killed her father . . . and she knew things were going to go badly. her mother began freaking out, trying to get her to leave, and juliana conceded. she agreed to leave . . . but there was something she had to do first. juliana didn't know much about vampires, but she knew they could manipulate people. she knew she could compel her mother and sister into doing whatever she wanted . . . it'd be a perfect revenge moment. but juliana didn't want that. she just wanted to live her life to the fullest, and the best way to do that? she managed to compel both her mother and her sister to forget she existed. she erased all evidence of herself from their minds, and that was the best decision she'd ever made. after that? it was time to flee yet again, and she began traveling away from the northeast. it'd only done bad things for her so far.

SHE had no idea where to go from there though. she knew she had to get away, but there was nowhere she could definitively go. she ended up going south, and somehow ended up in new orleans, louisiana . . . home of the beignet, mardi gras, and a much larger supernatural population than juliana ever expected. it was the first time in her life that a place actually felt like home, and juliana made it her mission to stay there.

HAVING grown up relatively sheltered, juliana didn't have a lot of marketable skills. but she made herself learn what she could to survive, and she ended up establishing herself as a decently competent bartender. she was quickly hired at a local bar, and she used her abilities as a new vampire to compel herself into having a place to say. she was a chronic couch surfer for quite a while. but she's now established herself there . . . she's got her own place, she's figuring out her hybrid abilities, and she's doing great with both bartending and a new photography hobby she picked up in the city.