Claire was born into a somewhat large, but not exactly wealthy family in Ireland. She was the third child in the Lorcan family, and their first daughter. By all accounts the day of her birth would be a joyous and momentous occasion for her mother and father, and it was! At least for the first few minutes that she came into the world. Then her head fell off.

That poor midwife retired the day after.

Despite the harrowing experience Claire was impossibly still alive, and it was the first day that began her family’s life of solitude. Dullahan were a dark breed of fairy and a herald of death, so the decision to squirrel Claire away was made for the interest of her entire family. They ended up far from their original home, setting up in the Irish countryside as herders. The Lorcans built connections with the surrounding towns but mostly stayed to themselves over the years, only venturing to town when necessary.

It was the perfect arrangement. Claire and her family were safe with her hidden away, their business quickly became successful, and she was seemingly only in danger from her older brothers pranking her by hiding her head in dark places when Mom and Dad weren’t around. Really aside from the obvious lack of neck connection and lack of respect for locks she was like any other little girl. She did her chores dutifully, always had a wide smile on her face, and especially enjoyed watching the herd of wild horses that roamed the lands around their home.

Then as the days grew short and the nights cold the watching became obsessive. Her parents quickly grew worried at the way Claire’s eyes would seem to lose color as she watched the herd, in particular the horses’ leader – a great, black beast of a shire. It continued for weeks with her parents attempting to sway her interest from them, but eventually came to a head. On this particular day Claire was restless and wouldn’t stop roaming, clutching her head like a lifeline. When she finally did it was a little ways away from home, her mother following her in hopes of finding out what was distressing her little one when she heard Claire speak for the very first time without her head in a tentative perch on her neck.

“Thanatos.”

After that Claire seemed to return to normal, through the whole process her grin never fading. She didn’t speak further but happily returned home with her mother. Later that night her family was awoken by a horrid screeching coming from the lands, and fearing for their herd her father left the house with a shot gun to investigate. He found the leader of the herd having fought off a starved predator, bleeding to death in the spot Claire spoke earlier. There was nothing else to be done for him.

Over the next weeks strange occurrences continued to happen around Claire, though all they did was delight her. A great hulking shadow seemed to follow Claire at times, her family only catching sight of it from the corner of their eyes before it would disappear. Her father swore he saw the old horse, the one he knew died for he was with it, watching his family off in the distance with blackened eyes and a human spine wrapped around his thick neck. Her eldest brother was the first to find the horse with Claire, her happily petting its nose while he stood there docilely. It only became more frequent.

Thanatos was soon a permanent fixture in her home, as unnerving as he was. He was also the only soul Claire ever heralded, and even morbid curiosity in her teenage years never got another incident quite like it. To be honest she’s quite happy with it that way. Plus he brought her the gift of her whip, as creepy as the spine was to anyone else!

Eventually as her powers grew from puberty Claire could “weld” her head to its proper place for a few hours, letting her speak without fear of her head losing balance and toppling off. It was an all-new sort of freedom, and when she grew of age Claire found herself spreading her wings and leaving the safety of home to find others. Claire quickly found she loved people in a sort of detached way, often describing others as ‘amusing’. Despite it she’s always friendly, though perhaps it only appears that way from the never wavering grin on her face. Whenever she did find someone particularly interesting – usually those who bore her oddities without remark and remained polite – she grew protective of them like one might to a pet. Which to Claire doesn’t sound that bad; Thanatos is a pet and he’s her best friend! In time she came to Primrose Terrace, and though her wanderlust knew no bounds she soon made friends with one of the residents, and quickly became his bodyguard as she bonded with him. It was only recently that he moved on and Claire is beginning to feel that itch to move on once more – but, well, Thanatos likes it here so she supposes she can stay a little longer.