Name: Jane Smith. Born Clara Dubois. Referred to in newspapers as ‘The Devil’s Bride’.
Age: 24
Gender: Female
Appearance:
5’5” with an agile but non-athletic figure and soft facial features that allow her to easily lie about her age. Her wavy hair is long and dark brown but with the help of an extensive wig collection she can transform it in seconds.
When she’s not putting on an act, Jane is naturally very guarded and paranoid. When forced to sit still for too long, her anxious mannerisms start to appear. You’ll often find her fussing over her clothes, like tugging on loose threads or nervously adjusting the cross pendant that hangs delicately from her silver chain necklace. When she’s not in character, she also tends to avoid raising her voice above a whisper or making prolonged eye contact. All-in-all she has the energy of a skittish deer.
Agency/Organization: Civilian, chosen for her first hand experience with a serial killer.
Education: It was the balmy summer before senior year when Jane was abducted. After the event, she never returned to Sacred Heart Preparatory School to finish her academic career. She unfortunately follows the story of most runaways by being a highschool dropout.
Background: The summer of 2010 brought a curse to the Louisiana suburb of Denham Springs. In a one-two-punch, a heat wave spread through the area followed closely by a devastating power outage. Electricity was out for a week, throwing the normally safe town into a chaos of panic and looting. Most reports claim this is the reason why the disappearance of five local girls went unnoticed for so long. All were reported missing, but with the stress from relief aid organizations and maintaining order, the severity of the missing five wasn’t put together until after the power returned. By that point only one girl was left alive.
Police found Jane (then known by her birth name of Clara Dubois) wandering along the railroad tracks in a daze, wearing a disheveled wedding dress. She was only 17 years old at the time. Dried blood was splattered along her dress and arms and she was missing several fingernails, but the most alarming damage to her body was a strange symbol that had been branded right at the base of her neck, below her hairline. Police couldn’t identify its origin, but were quick to label it as ‘satanic’ after what they found in a nearby abandoned station.
What waited for the police inside was a gristly scene. Someone had meticulously recreated the interior design of a chapel, including the pews and altar. Laying, two on each side of the altar, were the remaining girls. Each had a long cut down from their sternum to their genitals, allowing their entrails to spill out and be manipulated into the shape of wings.
Jane was questioned for days while she recovered in the hospital, but either she didn’t remember the events of that past week, or she just refused to talk about it. The police had a few suspects but were never able to link anyone directly to the crime. The Denham Devil was never caught and the moment Jane was released from the hospital, she disappeared as well. All she left behind was a note to her parents, explaining that she was leaving of her own accord, and that she needed to stay one step ahead of
him.
The next seven years were spent on the run from whatever evil she had experienced in that faux chapel. She legally changed her name from Clara to the generic Jane Smith, and never stayed in one location for more than a couple months at a time. With each move, she established a new look and persona, using both to con people out of whatever it was she needed from them. Sometimes that meant a place to stay, other times it was something as simple as money. Jane wasn’t a bad person, but if she had to pretend to be a woman’s long lost granddaughter for a week to refill her funds, she would. Jane, in her paranoia, saw signs of her devil constantly hot on her trail, promising to finish what he started. She was willing to do whatever it took to stay out of his reach.
Jane’s crimes finally caught up to her when she was arrested for trespassing. The owners of the summer cabin she was hiding out in decided to make an expected visit and managed to detain the petite woman until the cops arrived. She was in holding for less than 24 hours before being approached by Steve Foster’s team.
Personality: Jane is an actress. She easily falls into whatever role she currently needs to pull off a con. She’s in-character so often, she worries that there’s nothing left of her real self. Jane certainly hasn’t been trusting enough of people these past seven years to reveal it to them. The only real time she can be herself is when she’s alone, which is honestly what she usually prefers.
Before the abduction, Jane was a vibrant teenage girl who was loud and opinionated and overly emotional (especially when it came to boys), but what she went through sucked a lot of the joy from her personality. She’s now quiet and meek, bordering on shy. Her timid behavior is especially obvious around men. Jane often looks like she would rather bite off her own hand than have to touch one. She can fake it for a ‘role’ but the idea of intimacy still makes her skin crawl.
She’s rarely in one location long enough to develop attachments to other people. Though it’s rare, it does happen, and when it does, she’s completely devoted to their well being. It just so happens that the best thing to do for them is to get as far away as possible. She doesn’t want a repeat of Denham Springs. If she ever made a friend or companion who could take care of themselves against a supernatural entity, Jane would probably be loyal to them for life. It’s definitely something she secretly longs for, but doesn’t expect.
Likes: Animals, Easy money, Sweets, Instrumental music, Trashy paperback novels, Rain and Being taken care of.
Dislikes: Churches (religion is fine), Being alone with men, Weddings, The smell of melting wax and dying flowers.
Fears: Jane’s driving fear in life and the key to her survival is staying one step ahead of her mysterious captor. She still doesn’t know exactly who or
what he was, but she’s convinced that he has bigger plans. This keeps her on the move and unable to sleep soundly through the night. The idea of being captured again (by anyone) truly terrifies her. She doesn’t ever want to be vulnerable like that again. Jane also lives with the guilt of what happened to the other four girls in that makeshift chapel. She feels responsible for their deaths, but she refuses to tell anyone why.
Skills:
Gifted(+5):
-Stealth (petite size, quiet and experience with hiding)
-Persuade (her con artist skills)
Adept(+3):
-Disguise (her con artist skills)
-SERE (camping in the woods, evading police and her otherworldly pursuer)
-Hand-to-Hand (emphasis on self-defence)
Average(+2):
-Awareness (paranoia and vigilance)
- First Aid (avoiding hospitals and doctors)
-Crafting (makeshift weapons and boobytraps)
Novice(+1):
-Foreign Language (took Spanish and German in highschool)
-Criminology (surviving her captor)
-Marksmanship Handguns (self-defense classes)
-Psychology (surviving her captor)
Weaknesses:
Physical= Petite, Not overly athletic, Not intimidating, No serious combat experience.
Mental= Paranoia, Uncomfortable with most men, Uncomfortable with churches, Prone to nightmares.
Off-Duty Clothing/Equipment: (Her ‘persona’ looks may vary)
Clothing: Oversized cardigan over a simple sundress with a cross pendant hanging from a silver chain necklace, paired with a practical pair of flats or white tennis shoes.
Weapons: a small stolen 9mm Luger, a retractable blade and a tazer.
Tools/Equipment: A backpack with her disguises and props as well as some religious items like a vial of holy water, and a travel sized bible.
