| Opal Burdock | |
|---|---|
|
Age |
Unknown |
|
Gender |
Female |
|
Hair Color |
Gray |
|
Eye Color |
Unknown |
|
Species |
Lamia Vampire |
|
Husband |
Hodge Burdock |
|
First Appearance |
Daughters of Darkness |
Opal Burdock is a character in The Night World series, first appearing in Daughters of Darkness. Opal is a Lamia vampire living outside of the Nightworld Society after the execution of her husband. Occasionally she makes contact with humans, especially Mary-Lynette Carter, whom she spent time with while helping around the house. Unlike Made vampires, Lamia vampires can age if they choose to and after Opal arrived in the human settlement Briar Creek she began to age rapidly as she no longer held off the aging process. Consequently she went from having an appearance of approximately 40 to looking like a frail old woman, resulting in her having to rely on her goats for blood. She at least had a friendship with both Mary-Lynnette Carter and Jeremy Lovett who helped her around the house. Opal is the person who urged fellow Lamia vampires Jade Redfern, Kestrel Redfern, and Rowan Redfern to leave the enclave to live with them.
Role in Daughters of Darkness[]
Opal Burdock begins the events of Daughters of Darkness despite never appearing alive in the book - firstly she writes to her 3 nieces, urging them to leave the enclave and live with her. When her nieces arrive they discover her dead in the basement with a fence picket through her chest, and thinking that her death was accidental, they bury her in the garden. They are unknowingly watched by Mary-Lynette Carter who seeing them bury a person shaped bag links this to Opal's disappearance and believes that they murdered their Aunt, leading to follow them and discover their secret - that they are vampires. After these events they becomes more suspicious, believing that Opal was murdered, originally suspecting their cousin Ash Redfern, but he later proves his innocence. It was in fact Jeremy, the only other Nightworld citizen in Briar Creek, who was at the time helping her to repair her fence. In a rage Jeremy stakes her through the heart resulting in her death due to the fact that the 3 vampires would impinge on his hunting range, and he wished to get rid of them.