Marsha Hambly

Marsha Hambly is a demon hunter.

Biography

All Marsha ever wanted from life was to marry someone with enough money to take care of her and to raise a family. It was an ideal instilled in her by her mother, an embittered woman who hated her middle-class existence and who felt that the world somehow owed her more.

It all came down to picking out the right husband. Marsha learned from her mother's mistakes, getting good grades and going to a college that was nationally renowned for its medical program. While there she met her future husband George Hambly, an aspiring neurologist.

The wedding took place six months after George's graduation. At first, things were incredibly tight - they would be paying for George's school bills well into their 40s - but Marsha had long since learned the value of patience. By the time she was 34, Marsha's life was looking up. George was a resident neurologist at a local hospital and they lived in a nice two-story house in a fashionable Maryland suburb. She dove their two kids to school in a Ford Explorer that got terrible mileage but that fit their image well, and the days were spent shopping, getting beauty treatments and flirting with their landscaper. It was the perfect life.

She didn't notice when George began to change. It was as if one morning she looked up from her morning grapefruit and realized that her trophy husband had become moody and irritable. He spent long hours in his office and complained bitterly about the money she spent each month. There were problems at the hospital - shakeups in the department, and a scandal about drug use among the doctors. George looked like he hadn't slept in weeks, and jumped out of his seat every time the phone rang. When she suggested he get some Valium from the hospital to calm him down, George exploded, called her a bitch in front of the kids and storming out of the house.

When George came home that night, Marsha expected a fight. But there was something very different about her husband. He was calmer, more self-possessed. There was a fire, a hunger in his eyes that she'd never seen before, and the look he gave her when he stepped into the den sent shivers of desire coursing through her. That night he ravished her. She never in her life expected that word would ever apply to anyone outside a cheap romance novel, but there was no other way to describe it. He bent her to his will, body and soul, and she was helpless to stop him.

That was when Marsha Hambly's dream became a living nightmare.

George's attitude never changed. If anything, it became far worse. He looked at her and the kids as though they were nothing more than animals, mere chattel that existed for his amusement. At dinner he would stare thoughtfully at one or the other of their sons and describe how he could open their skulls and cut out pieces of their brain the make them better children. Only once did Marsha try to stop him. He had a way of making her scream for hours on end without a single sound passing her lips.

Months passed. The children stopped going to school, hiding in their rooms. Marsha didn't dare call the police, because he'd made it clear what would happen if she did, and she no longer doubted that George was capable of literally anything. In the evenings she served meals for her husband and a procession of guests - doctors, nurses, med students and administrators from the hospital who fawned over George as though he were royalty. She gathered from their conversations that they meant a great deal to George, as well - they were his source of power, she often heard him say after a long night of adoration.

It was Marsha's idea to host a dinner in George's honor. She'd learned that he'd recently been promoted to head of the hospital's research department, and when she meekly suggested a celebration George agreed at once. Marsha spent weeks planning the event and making the house presentable.

She didn't expect many guests. In fact, there was no one except George's circle of beloved attendants, which Marsha counted on, but just to be sure she put enough strychnine in the dinner meal to kill three times that number, When her guests began to convulse she charged from the kitchen like a harpy, brandishing a butcher knife. She had every intention of plunging it right between George's eyes, but her husband lurched from the chair, lips blue and clutching at his throat, hatred blazing in his eyes. There was a sudden gust of wind and a clap of thunder that threw her across the room, then everything went black.

When Marsha awoke, George was nowhere to be found, and the kids were gone from their rooms.

Character Sheet

Attributes: Strength 1, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2, Charisma 3, Manipulation 3, Appearance 2, Perception 3, Intelligence 2, Wits 3
Abilities: Academics 1, Alertness 2, Awareness 2, Computer 1, Crafts 3, Empathy 3, Etiquette 2, Expression 1, Finance 2, Leadership 2, Medicine 1, Performance 1, Politics 1, Religion 1, Research 1, Subterfuge 3
Backgrounds: Contacts 3, Resources 2
Virtues: Conscience 1, Conviction 3, Courage 3
Willpower: 6
Faith Potential: 2
Equipment: Minivan, expensive wardrobe

References

• DTF: Saviors and Destroyers, p. 89-90