Zoey Redbird

Origins

Zoey Redbird attends the House of Night in Tulsa, her home town. Her transition from teenager to vampyre fledgling was difficult; her mother and step father, John Heffer (an elder of the people of faith), were not accepting of her being marked. Her step father in particular accused her of deserving this 'curse' due to her bad behaviour. In addition to the sad parting with her family, Zoey must now adapt to a new school regime and hierarchy, with new individuals, and on top of that, face the fact that her change from vampyre fledgling to adult vampyre might be rejected by her body and cause her death.

Like many teenagers, Zoey finds it hard to fit in. Her desire attending high school and now - the House of Night - has always been to fit in and be 'normal'. Nonetheless, she is stigmatized as a 'freak'; Zoey is the only vampyre fledgling to have an affinity for all the five elements (earth, air, water, fire, and spirit), she is the only fledging to have been given a full mark and adult tattoos (something she gained during a Samhain ritual), she has been marked by the Goddess Nyx as "her own" and the "first true daughter of night in this age" (Issue 1 - House of Night), and been given leadership of the Dark Daughters after the events of the referred to Samhain ritual.

Along with the leadership of the Dark Daughters, a title she does not want, Zoey is a 'member' of the "nerd herd". This is a derogatory nickname given to Zoey and her friends Stevie Rae, Erin Bates, Shaunee Cole, and Damien Maslin by Aphrodite Lafont (the previous leader of the Dark Daughters).

Development

Aphrodite Lafont and Zoey Redbird are enemies from the beginning. Issue one alludes to an event that occurred before the comic takes place, a Samhain ritual. During this ritual, Aphrodite's body became possessed by a vampyre ghost and allowed for other vampyre ghosts to feast on humans. One of these humans was Zoey's now ex-boyfriend, Heath. Aphrodite blames Zoey for stealing her own boyfriend, Eric, and implies that this is what Zoey deserves for her actions. Furthermore, due to the events that took place during the Samhain ritual, Aphrodite lost her leadership of the Dark Daughters. This title was transferred to Zoey by the High Priestess Neferet (the 'principal'). Thus, Aphrodite ultimately blames Zoey for the sour turn of events in her life. Although Zoey does not want this title, she often admits that one of the reasons Aphrodite lost the privilege was because she is a "hateful psych-bully" (and turned the sisterhood into "the hags from hell").

Zoey plans to ask for the leadership of the Dark Daughters to be given to someone else. However, at the insistence of her friends, she allows them to help her before making the final decision. Although neither of the four girls have a plan on how to do this, Damien offers their group a start with the 'Handbook'. After each retrieves their own handbook, they reconvene at the grove by the east wall. Damien instructs that the stories they will be reading will correlate to a respective element and asks Zoey to use her own affinity in order for them to decide with which to start.

Earth - Issue 1

Using her affinity, Zoey chooses the element Earth which corresponds with the story of Freya. The story illustrates to her that a leader knows when to accept a friends help and ask for it. Zoey, after summoning the Goddess Nyx, realizes that she must accept her role as the leader of the Dark Daughters because fear is not an adequate excuse. Zoey asks Nyx to help her further and the Goddess offers her five lessons; 1 for each of the 5 elements and one of each she has already competed.

Air - Issue 2

Her second lesson corresponds with the element air and the story of the Daughter's of Bouddica. This is a story about the founding of the Dark Daughters and shows Zoey that Una and Mirain began this community in order to "welcome all into their group of support and acceptance" so that no vampyre fledgling would never feel lonely. This makes Zoey realize something about her relationship with Aphrodite and reach out to help and support her 'enemy'.

Water - Issue 3

Her third lesson corresponds with the element of water and the story of Circe. This story is about the overcoming of enemies and hatred with acceptance and support instead of violence; and it forces Zoey to realize that she responded incorrectly to the town's mob of 'anti-vampyre's' (that it will probably make matters worse if they believe that she attempted to down them with rain).