This letter was found among Allegra Van Alen’s personal effects.
My daughter, If you are reading this, you are awake. I am writing, for
I fear we shall not meet in this lifetime or in any other.
I am leaving for Rio tomorrow evening, and I do not know if I will be able to return.
Before I left, I wanted to finally answer the question you posed to me before I went into exile. Yes, you did have a child in {REDACTED}. We kept her hidden from you after her birth, and her destruction was my doing. I cannot speak for Charles, but I ask you to forgive him for the sin we committed so many centuries ago. He did only what I asked of him, for the good of the Coven.
I leave you as ever, your loving father, Lawrence
TOP SECRET
Conclave-level Only
Gabrielle birthed many reincarnated spirits in many cycles. She is, in a sense, mother to all, but we have recently learned that she had not one but two trueborn daughters: children who were created as new spirits and not simply a reincarnation of an immortal one. (So far, Gabrielle is the only vampire able to procreate in the human sense. No other vampire female has been able to create new life instead of carrying the immortal spirits of those who came before.)
The House of Records has always been aware of Schuyler
Van Alen, but only recently has been apprised of the continued existence of Allegra’s other daughter, one born during
{REDACTED}. The child was to have been destroyed by order of the Regis. New information indicates that Cordelia Van Alen may have been correct in her assumption that the child survived as a result of treachery within the Conclave. With the disappearance of Forsyth Llewellyn during the attack at St.
John the Divine, and recent documents previously suppressed by Warden Cutler that show Bliss Llwellyn carried the mark of
Lucifer on her neck, the Conclave has come to the conclusion that Bliss Llewellyn is Allegra’s firstborn daughter (the product of
Allegra’s union with Lucifer) and a Silver Blood. The Repository is still in the dark as to how this came to be.
Current Status: Missing. Suspected to be searching for
Charles Force in the White Darkness.
(For more on Allegra’s story see Misguided Angel, Repository
Record #505, which contains the comprehensive file on the many lives of Gabrielle.)
CORDELIA VAN ALEN
Seraphiel, Angel of Song
Birth Name: Cordelia Edith Benjamin
Origin: August 12, 1841, New York, New York
Known Past Lives: Catherine Carver (Plymouth), Isabella
Arosto (Florence), Julia Caesaris (Rome)
Bondmate: Lawrence Van Alen
Assigned Human Conduit: James Owen Perry (deceased)
List of Human Familiars: Anthony Smith (1919-1925), David
Lancaster (1926-1943), Tobias West (1943-1969), Dmitri
Stefan (1969-1982), Kenneth lindsey (1983-1999), Rigoberto
Morales [also her hairdresser] (1999-2006)
Physical Characteristics:
Hair: White (blond in her younger years)
Eyes: Green
Height: 5’2”
Cordelia Van Alen was, until her untimely expiration, the matriarch of the Van Alen family. She was Schuyler’s grandmother and acted as her legal guardian after Allegra fell into a coma. One of the Coven’s longest-serving Wardens, Cordelia nevertheless found herself in a diminished position in the Conclave after she clashed once too often with the ruling
Elders.
Born in 1841, Cordelia was a precocious child, and in her youth was known for her lovely soprano singing voice. She married Lawrence Van Alen in 1859 in a lavish bonding ceremony at the Van Alen mansion on Fifth Avenue. She was allowed to go beyond three times the normal human life span to prepare as the next mother to the Uncorrupted, Allegra and
Charles, whose spirits were entrusted to her guidance according to the laws of the House of Records in 1969.
Throughout Blue Blood history, Cordelia, along with her exiled bondmate, Lawrence, has been agitating for increased vigilance against the possible return of the {REDACTED}
{REINSTATED/BY ORDER OF THE REGIS LVA} Silver
Bloods. {ALL REDACTED MENTION OF SILVER BLOOD
REINSTATED IN CURRENT RECORDS BY ORDER OF
REGIS LVA} She was instrumental in calling up the spirit of the
Watcher, the Pistis Sophia, in this cycle, to be born to and fostered by the family of Forsyth Llewellyn.
During her long tenure as one of New York City’s most active social matrons, Cordelia presided over the New York
Blood Bank Committee, the Central Park Conservancy, and served on the board of trustees for the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, the Museum of Modern Art, New York City Ballet, and the
New York Philharmonic.