Despite many origin stories, no one truly knows how they came to be. They were the monsters of legend that lurked just out of sight, feeding off of mortals while seamlessly hiding amongst them with their human-like, attractive, appearances. Around the 17th century, between an increase in number and poor handling of the newly turned, these creatures became a little too renowned and the term “Vampyr” was solidified as their title. The beings soon found they needed a place to store their unruly and untrainable as the death tolls rose and rumors spread. Eventually, they found a secluded location, free of humanity, to act as a prison where their exiles could be left to dry out and reflect on their crimes. They made a cave system to protect their jailed perpetually from the sun and left them to starve, shrivel, and be forgotten until 1940.

 

As the first living blood set foot on the island's grounds, the minds of the comatosed Vampyrs became active once again. It was a new kind of torture to feel their key to salvation so close and be unable to obtain it, especially as their dehydrated bodies were taken from their coffins and transferred to the lab. From there, it didn’t take long for the researchers to start experimenting to find the means of preservation used on the “corpses.” Ignorant to the damage inflicted by silver tools, their bodies were mutilated and discarded until only a few remained before they switched to titanium tools. When a closer look at the miniscule blood samples taken from the bodies showed similar properties to those found in the Magi’s blood, they hypothesized that these corpses could be Magi under a curse or spell. The researchers began a transfusion, giving one of the vampyrs an IV of Bella’s blood, and though not the conventional way of feeding, it successfully awoke the vampyr. Seven researchers died before he was staked through the heart with a silver operating tool and laid eternally to rest. 

 

The final vampyr, later discovered to be named Victoria, was given blood while caged in a silver bed. The scientists wanted answers about her species, preservation, and lifespan. Tori, however, wasn’t inclined to share any information. In an effort to change her mind, they brought her to the lab's basement - a floor full of torture that housed their other rather heinous experiments. Fate must have had other plans for the girl as soon after Azura released herself. Their captors fled the room and never returned, the voidsent racing after them, and with her advanced hearing, the screams of those on the floors above as they burned and the building beginning to fall were easily heard. The Vampyr had given up hope of her own survival when Viktor Brennen emerged from the smoke and flames. He freed Victoria in an act of mercy, and in return she helped him escape the collapsing building with much needed speed. Once safely past the flames, she left the man and ran off to the woods unable to quell her thirst any longer. 

 

After fleeing to the woods, Victoria spent the following weeks feeding on any woodland creatures to be found. Animal blood, though giving the same sustenance, took much longer to quench the starved Vampyr. Once full for the first time in a long time, Victoria made a vow to herself to do more with this second chance she was given. She wouldn’t make the same mistakes of her past and even would go as far to help others gain their own control.

 

The busy town that surrounded the Lab was now quiet, and appeared deserted as Victoria made her way back to the caves where she had once been jailed. Although she’d never truly made her way off the island, she tracked down some vampyrs she had once known and used her infamy as a cautionary tale as she founded her own Nest on Bellamy and turned the once horrid jail into a sanctuary of seclusion and safety. Under the Queen’s watch, vampyrs were taught to control their thirst and blend in amongst the other supernaturals or face severe consequences. 

 

Victoria ruled her Nest until those consequences found her. During a training session in the forest, she tried to defend the newly turned from a hunting werewolf, but couldn’t keep them from killing the wolf. Tori later discovered that it had been the Alpha of the Pack when enraged packmates came to claim their revenge. After the Queen’s death, the Nest Alliance cycled through various Kings and Queens but stayed true to their founder’s vision. Vampyrs sent to Bellamy either see it as an opportunity, free reign, or a jail similar to what it once was. Whatever the case, the island has ways of working it all out in the end.