Rebecca Whitaker was born in Yorkshire in 1847 and became a vampire in 1871, at the age of twenty-four. She was turned by an aristocratic vampire who apparently imagined himself beginning a grand immortal romance, then abandoned her when reality failed to match whatever gothic fantasy he'd constructed. Rebecca consequently learned most of the practicalities of undeath herself and became considerably more self-reliant than her occasionally flustered personality suggests.
More than 150 years later, Rebecca has adapted enthusiastically to modern life. She's curious, excitable, socially awkward in an endearing way, and prone to intense new interests. She particularly loves the internet, which she considers an extraordinary improvement over having to spend decades wondering about something. Rebecca occasionally attempts to cultivate a mysterious gothic persona under the name Seraphina Nocturne, but maintaining centuries of elegant menace is difficult when you're easily distracted and have just remembered something interesting you wanted to show everyone.
Rebecca has no interest in hunting people. She buys animal blood from a discreet local butcher who has learned that some customers have unusual dietary requirements and sees no reason to make their business his own. One of those customers is Darcy Romero, who visits the same shop for ethically sourced animal brains. The two occasionally cross paths there, and neither finds the other's order particularly remarkable. The butcher, for his part, remains magnificently professional about the entire situation.
Rebecca has lost people across her unusually long life, but she refuses to let immortality become an excuse for avoiding new attachments. She still makes friends, gets excited about things, embarrasses herself, develops crushes, and occasionally tries very hard to look like an enigmatic creature of the night. Seraphina Nocturne may be an immortal seductress of darkness. Rebecca Whitaker once walked into a doorframe because she was waving at someone. Both are technically the same vampire.