Lei and Maxwell

Appearance

  Lei is a thin and wiry woman with olive skin, bright red hair, and amber eyes. She cuts her hair into new styles on a near-weekly basis, on account of her hair growing unnaturally fast. She is known for wearing black dresses of all varieties. When she isn't working, she makes a point of wearing an oversized grey hoodie and nothing else.   Maxwell is a demonic presence, making them partially ethereal. (To non-magical humans, they appear to be a cloud of black smoke that manifests near Lei.) In their human-like form they are an androgynous, with long slicked-back hair and a widow's peak. In their true Demon form, they have a much larger build, goat horns, and black-and-red marks in the shape of embers along their skin.    

Background

  Lei was originally an orphan, adopted along with her twin sister for the sake of the Cailleach family's experiments towards creating Divine Witches. At the age of ten, both girls were placed in a locked cell and instructed to kill one another for food and warmth. When the cell was opened several days later, only one girl remained, wearing her twin's intestines like a lei around her neck. When the family's matriarch entered the cell to reward her, Maxwell— who had been summoned by the newly born Blood Witch through sheer force of will— decapitated the matriarch, stole her name from history, and fed her remains to the girl as well.   The Cailleach family was horrified at the results of the matriarch's crimes. Leaderless and holding a traumatized child that could easily massacre the rest of the family if she so wished, the original matriarch's advisor stepped up to fill the position and promised to raise the girl to adulthood. She named her Lei Cailleach after the incident. Lei herself admits that she doesn't remember which one of the orphan girls she was supposed to be, and believes that both of them must have died over those few days. Maxwell was fiercely protective of Lei as she grew up, and eventually registered themselves as her official partner and husband in the family register when she reached adulthood. To this day, they have not been separated.   As an adult, Lei became fascinated with Alice's abilities as a half-fae and oversaw her growth as a Witch, eventually creating the spell that allowed she and her "brother" to fuse into Glass. After Glass swore her revenge on Lei, both she and Maxwell fled town to wait out the Third Vampire War. Two years later, she was located by Michael and Alice herself for her help with facing the Basilisk.    

Trivia

  To avoid triggering her traumatic memories of the incident, Lei refuses to eat all forms of red meat. As a result, the Cailleach family switched to an all-pescatarian diet. Lei cites her mother (the current Cailleach matriarch) as the person who taught her to cook, and she herself is well-known among the family members for the delicious meals she brings to the house on holidays.   Lei is slated to take over as the Cailleach matriarch when her mother dies. It is unknown when (if ever) she will vacate the position, as Blood Witches have average lifespans longer than 1000 years. Lei jokes that if she ever kicks the bucket, Maxwell will have to take over as the "theytriarch."   As a Blood Witch and Demon respectively, both Lei and Maxwell use human suffering as the basis for their magical power. Lei works with several Vampire organizations— including Victor's company— for the sake of collecting human blood for their work.