Hallow's Eve (person)

Born Evelyn Hallows in Bridgeborough, New Jersey October 13th, 1959, from an early age she learned an affinity for horses. Under the tutelage of her parents she became an accomplished equestrian and performed at many events, winning many prizes. However, the day she turned seventeen her life, or should I say her afterlife changed forever.

ORIGIN

She was competing for high stakes, and one of those competing against her did not want her to win. So an unscrupulous man named Milton Black was hired to drug Evelyn's horse just before the competition. It was intended to look like an accident. The horse went mad in the middle of Evelyn's routine, and he threw her off and trampled her to death.

Evelyn was dead, but her spirit refused to die. Angry at the injustice of the universe, her spirit's cries for vengeance were heard by an immortal named Dykstra who had lost most of her followers over the millenia, and was not very powerful, but she challenged Evelyn to a game of chess. Evelyn won, and with Dykstra's limited power over life and death, she granted Evelyn a second chance at existence.

Evelyn awoke inside her coffin. Her body had already been buried. Though Dykstra was able to grant her life, it was in her own body, now embalmed and left to be fed upon by the carrion-hunters of the Earth. She screamed and pounded at the coffin from the inside, buried alive. Eventually she was able to break out of the coffin, and would have suffocated were it not for the fact she was already dead and did not require breathing. Evelyn crawled and climbed her way to the surface, and has forever since has an acute case of claustrophobia.

SUMMARY

Evelyn replaced the ground as best she could and sought for help, eventually coming to the attention of her childhood friend's father, Doctor Brandon Witcher. He took her into seclusion, and attempted an audience with Dykstra to right this wrong but was unsuccessful. Evelyn was filled with a need for revenge against her killers, and left Witcher's side despite his arguments. She managed to track down Milton Black, and before killing him learned who was responsible for the bounty that had been placed upon her head. Witcher confronted her at the home of her competitor, and was able to convince her to allow the police and courts to intervene.

Witcher investigated her murder, and brought the true culprit to justice. He also managed to keep from the authorities knowledge that would connect the deceased Evelyn Hallows to the murder of Milton Black. However, this caused a rift between Witcher and Evelyn, and he refused any further assistance. Evelyn was on her own. In fact they rarely spoke to one another for many years, and Witcher forbade Evelyn from confronting his daughter and her friend, for fear that discovering Evelyn still lives would cause unnecessary pain and harm to Valerie Witcher. Evelyn reluctantly agreed, and also realized she could not return to her own parents for similar reasons. Evelyn Hallows being dead, she then began introducing herself to strangers as Hallow's Eve.

Milton Black was brought back to life by an enemy of Dykstra's and attempted to be a true nemesis for Hallow's Eve, but she's been able to thwart his attempts at causing undue damage to those she loved in life, and also his other criminal activities. He shares similar abilities to her, also being among the walking dead.

In 1977, soon after her second life began, Hallow's Eve confronted others who shared a similar fate of being outcasts of society. She helped each of them in turn with their own lives, and offered them a sort of makeshift family. They began to serve as unwanted heroes for the city of Bridgeborough, when an enemy of Bewitcher's took an interest in them. Malefactor turned her own friends against her, and she reluctantly sought Bewitcher's help again to stop Malefactor and save her friends from a fate of slavery and crime. The tragedy averted, the makeshift family became known as The Belonging. Though Bewitcher refused help directly, he spoke to Winston Brooks on their behalf, and through him Hallow's Eve and her friends were given an island home off the coast of Delaware Bay. Together Eve and The Belonging saved Bridgeborough from certain doom many times until 1984, when a threat from space aliens caused Hallow's Eve to be separated from the only friends she'd ever truly known after her death.

She spent a few years after that in mourning and decline. Unable to end her travesty of life, or leave the confines of the city of Bridgeborough, she wandered the streets day and night in futile efforts to rejoin humanity. Though known and loved by many in Bridgeborough, she would always be treated differently, and never felt solace and acceptance.

Winston Brooks confronted her in the late 1980s and asked her to join his organization of superheroes, Jumping Jack Limited and when Ranger left the team, Hallow's Eve became the team's leader. She served faithfully until Brooks' disappearance and alleged death in 1995, when funding for JJL curiously ran out. She now serves Bridgeborough alone, fending off foes and threats as only she knows how. She has also since made amends with Bewitcher and was able to rejoin her friendship with Valerie Witcher, who took her death and resurrection much better than either of them had anticipated.

ABILITIES

Hallow's Eve is a living spirit trapped inside her deceased body. Though she doesn't reek or suffer from maggots eating her flesh, Eve doesn't register a pulse, she never ages, she doesn't need to eat or sleep, and it is believed not even a nuclear blast can destroy her.

Eve can summon incredible strength, dexterity, endurance, and other feats of physical prowess. Eve has been known to lift a bus filled with passengers with only nominal difficulty. She is also willful and can withstand most mental or spiritual attacks, unless they somehow take advantage of her claustrophobia.

Occasionally the spirit of her deceased horse appears before her whenever she really needs him, and he acts as her familiar. She calls him Nightmare now (even though he's a he. It's a personal joke between them). He's blueblack with glowing eyes and surrounded in mist. He still likes apples. When required, she can escape any situation on his bare back, riding at the speed of the wind.

Eve has occasionally exhibited symptoms of vampirism. It is an attack she has available to her but it sickens her. On one rare occasion she slowly became addicted to it, as she would weaken and hunger for the taste of blood, but she learned this was because Dykstra, assumed to be immortal, was dying due to a lack of followers to keep her memory alive. Eve assisted in bringing her back to life, which cured Eve of the hunger. Dykstra was able to regain her strength and reinvigorate Eve's lifeforce. Early in her existence, Hallow's Eve could fly, but lost that ability because it taxed Dykstra. In recent years Eve's powers of flight have returned.

Eve is a natural leader, but her own lack of self-esteem is her only weakness in that department. She has repeatedly rallied support for causes that had seemed impossible to accomplish without her help. She works for many charities in the Bridgeborough area, and is known as a champion for the underdog.

WEAKNESSES

Eve's state of existence is both a blessing and a curse. She is impervious to damage but not to pain. If she does eat, she has to vomit it back up later, otherwise it just sits in her gut and is quite uncomfortable. She is a permanent insomniac. Never able to rest in the way normal humans do.

A mockery of life, she can never truly achieve a state of normal living. She exists on the cusp of death and life, and even those most adoring of her are also simultaneously disturbed by her presence. She exhibits a quiet aura of unearthliness, which affects people in different ways.

Due to Dykstra's limited abilities, Eve cannot leave the confines of Bridgeborough, New Jersey. To attempt to exit the city limits brings her to an invisible barrier which affects only her. She's learned this is because an ancient shrine of Dykstra's is hidden deep under the city, and the city limits happen to partially match the boundaries of Dykstra's presence in the geographical area. The demi-goddess Dykstra's limitations affect Eve in other ways. When Dykstra's powers are weakened, Eve feels it too. In recent years Dykstra's powers have returned, but in a weakened state, Eve can actually take damage, and heals more slowly. She also can only fly above Bridgeborough when Dykstra's at full strength.

Finally, since her rebirth in the cemetary, Hallow's Eve has had an intensely acute fear of enclosed spaces. Being inside a closed elevator causes her anxiety, and anything smaller than that she cannot remain in for long. This includes cars, closets and any place where she can't extend her arms freely, or where a wall is within a couple feet of her face. Restricted in such a space causes her to relive her experience of being buried alive. She lashes out insanely until free of the confines, reverting to an almost feral state and having no recollection afterward. It's almost like a berserker fit of rage.

APPEARANCE

Though she has attempted to change her appearance over the years, within a 24 hour period the magicks of Dykstra revert her similar to how she appeared at the time of her funeral, only without the scars and damage caused when she was trampled by her horse. She wears a simple black gown and is barefoot. Her long hair is jet black with a streak of white streaming from the left temple. Her skin is milky white, and cold to the touch. Her eyes were brown in life, but now have an almost black appearance, making it seem as if she has no irises. Nothing clings to her, not even dirt or grease, so she always appears clean and bathed. Since she never ages, her appearance is that of a seventeen year old female, even though had she never died she would turn forty-two in October 2001.

When Dykstra's at full strength, Hallow's Eve appears the most human-like. When Dykstra is weakened, or in times when Eve's own spirit feels weakened like under the attack of claustrophobia, her appearance changes slightly. Her eyes turn opaque white. Fangs manifest. Her skin shrivels and she exhibits almost barbaric tendencies, like a partially hairless werewolf. She can also affect a similar appearance at will as she goes into battle, if she wishes to intimidate her foe.

Finally there is that which cannot be seen which affects her appearance. Hallow's Eve gives off an unearthly aura that can be intimidating or stomach-turning. This affects her charisma in unpredictable ways. Strangely, true goths and various eccentric types are uniquely attracted to her when most everyone else may be repelled. This aura also has a tendency of bringing out both the best and worst in people, but she has no direct control over that influence. Children, some animals and true innocents seem uniquely immune to this affectation.