Hexed (Never After #6)

CHARACTER PROFILES

Venesa

Name: Yrsa Venesa Andersen

Age: 24

Place of birth: South side of Atlantic Cove, South Carolina

Current location: Atlantic Cove, South Carolina

Nationality: Danish American

Education: GED

Occupation: Manages the Lair and is her uncle’s enforcer

Income: Modest

Eye color: Dark brown, almost black

Hairstyle: Long and usually curled or in an updo. Dyed a bright silvery—white blond. Naturally dark brunette.

Body build: Midsize curvy and tall. Five -nine and a size 14 to 18 depending.

Preferred style of outfit: Sexy outfits that highlight her best assets

Glasses?: No

Any accessories they always have?: Crystals of some sort and her seashell necklace

Level of grooming: High

Health: Healthy

Handwriting style: Loopy and cursive

How do they walk?: Saunters. She’s always highlighting her best features to draw the attention where she wants it.

How do they speak?: Slow, controlled, and sultry

Accent: Southern

Posture: Good

Do they gesture?: Yes, sometimes overly so

Eye contact: When it suits her

Preferred curse word: Doesn’t have a favorite curse word, but she uses nicknames as an insult.

Catchphrase: “See ya later, Loverboy.”

Speech impediments: None

What’s their laugh like?: Deep, sultry

What do they find funny?: Watching other people be uncomfortable

Describe smile: Wide and proportionate, lights up face, causes dimples in her cheeks

How emotive?: Emotive, but it’s usually being used by her as a manipulation tactic and not a genuine emotion

Type of childhood: Bad young childhood. Her mother was beaten by her extremely abusive father, who had a gambling and alcohol addiction and was in and out of their lives. Her mother was the heir to the Kingston legacy but cut off her family in favor of her husband. She put him before everyone, including Venesa and herself. Venesa always felt like she wasn’t good enough to be chosen because of this. When her mother was killed and her father disappeared, she was given to the state, and her uncle, who was estranged from Venesa’s mother, took her in. She had a better life but was still ostracized and made to feel like she wasn’t good enough with her uncle. Because of this, she aches for her uncle’s approval because he’s the closest thing to a loving parental figure she has.

Involved in school?: No, she didn’t like school.

Named in the yearbook: Most likely to be an outcast

Jobs: Always worked for her uncle

Dream job as a child: Didn’t have one

Role models growing up: Her uncle

Greatest regret: Trusting the wrong people

Hobbies growing up: Learning witchcraft and the art of poisons

Favorite place as a child: Morgan’s Ice Shack

Earliest memory: Trips with her mother to the boardwalk

Saddest memory: Finding her mother dead

Happiest memory: Going to the boardwalk with her mom on her birthday

Any skeletons in the closet?: Yes.

If they could change one thing from their past, what would it be?: Trusting her uncle

Describe major turning points in their childhood: Her father beating her mother in front of her until she stopped being able to cry. Her mother dying. Her moving in with her uncle. Her cousin humiliating her in school.

Three adjectives to describe personality: Manipulative, sensitive, sensual

What advice would they give to their younger self?: Believe in yourself.

Criminal record?: She’s never been caught.

Any siblings?: No

Father:

Name: Harald Andersen

Age: Dead

Occupation: Who cares?

What’s their relationship with character like?? Terrible. Nonexistent really.

Mother:

Name: Adrina Andersen

Age: Dead

Occupation: Waitress at the Lair

What’s their relationship with character like? Venesa loved her mother but was never good enough. Her mom did her best, but was mentally chained to Venesa’s father and always chose him over everyone, including Venesa.

Closest friends: Fisher and Bastien

Enemies: Aria

How are they perceived by strangers?: Sensual, mysterious, weird

Any social media?: No

Role in group dynamic: She’s a loner.

Who do they depend on:

Practical advice: Bastien

Mentoring: Her uncle

Wingman: Fisher

Emotional support: No one

Moral support: No one

What do they do on rainy days?: Catch the rainwater to use in rituals

Book smart or street smart?: Street smart

Optimist, pessimist, realist: Realist

Introvert or extrovert: Extrovert

Favorite sound: Aria’s silence

What do they want most?: To be loved out loud

Biggest flaw: Not paying attention to her surroundings and thinking that blood = family

Biggest strength: Her loyalty and ability to use her sensuality to her advantage

Do they want to be remembered?: Only by the people she loves

How do they approach:

Power: Manipulates it

Ambition: Lives for it

Love: Longs for it

Change: Doesn’t like it

Possession they would rescue from burning home: The Kingston family painting

What makes them angry?: Being lied to

How is their moral compass, and what would it take to break it?: Not a strong moral compass at all

Pet peeves: When people don’t tell her things or she feels like she isn’t included in decision—making

What would they have written on their tombstone?: Here lies Yrsa Venesa Andersen. She was unlucky in life, but fortunately, she had a bit of magic.

Their story goal: Venesa starts as a strong, very morally gray character who shies away from commitment in romantic relationships due to trauma from how her mother was treated by her father. She aches to be accepted and to have a family that’s proud of her and chooses her first, always. Somehow, she never quite gets anyone’s approval no matter what she does. She works for her uncle, and she tries to do whatever he asks, but her personality is strong, and she isn’t able to always hold back how she feels, which can cause tension in their relationship. Especially since she doesn’t get along at all with her cousin Aria, who is the apple of her uncle’s eye. Throughout the book, Venesa will form an immediate connection with Enzo, who sees her for her and doesn’t push or force her to do things for him, be any other way than she already is. Having that type of freedom and acceptance isn’t something she’s used to, and it will start to reveal the cracks in her other relationships, namely with her uncle. When she’s betrayed by the people she trusted the most and was loyal to for years, it becomes her turning point where she becomes who she’s meant to be: a woman who is strong enough to stand on her own but also is able to accept all the different facets/sides of herself, including the soft and vulnerable bits that she’s always pushed away. Allowing herself to be taken care of and letting people in to let them love her fully and be loved in return is her character arc.