Anouk DeLaurier

19 

Female 

College Sophomore 

 Natural Magic (using the powers of nature) 

Parents Names: Christine Pierce and Frederic DeLaurier 

                        Anouk's mother's family had been staunch practitioners of Invocative Magic for generations in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Her grandmother has made a small fortune as some gimmicky Seer who could speak to the dead and read fortunes whenever a new wave of tourists came to town. Like her mother, Christine Pierce spent hours each evening attempting to converse with the dead. It was frowned upon by the other practitioners in their region - generally something not done - but the woman persisted. She met Anouk's father while he was attending to some business with the American branch of his company. Their tryst had been brief and meaningless, but resulting in a child just the same. His family had alternated back and forth between Natural and Ceremonial magics for centuries. When Christine showed up at his apartment in Brissac, France with only a nap sack and a seven-month-sized belly, his family took her in under compromise that once the child was weaned, Christine would return to The States and never return. Throughout her pregnancy, Christine continued her mad practice of communing with the dead, promising them a body to inhabit in the form of the fetus within her. Frederic never found out who or what exactly the woman made contact with, but was glad enough when his daughter was born, healthy and not possessed.  

               As promised, Christine moved back to Louisiana and only contacted Anouk when she needed financial support. Beyond that, Frederic married a non-Magician who gave him twin sons when Anouk was 12 - just two years after she began attending Rookhaven. She spent most of her earlier years in the library, learning whatever she could about the magics she had no mastery over, searching every corner and turning every stone. Obsessed with her mother's undertaking and held securely down by insecurities put in place by her paternal family, who insisted that she would go mad from listening to spirits like her mother; she researched all she could. At night, she suffered from terrible nightmares where something else controlled her, where she hurt those closest to her. Surely, it was all in her head. Just insensitive parents filling her mind with nonsense. There was no evidence of any likeness in any books in the Rookhaven Library. Over the years, she relaxed and let go a bit. Her nightmares persisted, but she led a relatively normal life. Anouk maintained friendships and went on holiday with them when class was out, her grades weren't the best, but they kept afloat and she was rarely in trouble. Yes, overtime the threat of her mother lessened.  

          Now, with only two years left of university, she looked toward her future, wondered where she would go. Her dreams subtly grew more intense. There were times when she awoke and she wasn't sure who she was, other times she woke up out on the lawn or down some dreary hallway. "It's all in my head. I can't let these silly rumors get to me like this," she'd say after waking up. All in her head. Just two more years. Just get through two more years.