Sam is eternally a young-looking eighteen-year-old girl. She stands about five-foot-three, and has a petite build. Despite her small size and relative youth, she is a formidable vampire and serves as an 'Enforcer' within the Family.

She's described as having a gymnast's figure. Her skin is pale and her eyes are dark, her hair is short black and messy. When she wears make-up she tends to prefer dark or black lipstick and eye shadow.

Sam's outfits all tend to be very casual and slightly punk, occasionally with a bit of goth thrown in. She usually wears a tie-dyed t-shirt, either in pink or purple. She wears black denim pants and either a beat-up old black denim jacket or a black leather jacket. And she almost always wears black ankle-boots.

Sam was turned in 1988 by Isabelle, and she was Isabelle's second turn. Samantha was made top Enforcer in 2008, but was demoted in 2018 when she broke several rules and turned Tara.

Born: May 3, 1970

Died: May 21, 1988

33 years dead

Tara is a small, relatively young vampire. She appears to be in her early twenties, and is a relative baby in vampire terms.

She stands exactly five feet tall, but despite her small stature she's very well developed. She is Samantha's first and only turn, and is Sam's apprentice, learning the ropes to become an Enforcer, or a Peacekeeper as Tara would rather be known.

She has shoulder length wavy blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair skin. She once described her appearance as an "archetypical sexy vampire, but blonde and in miniature". Think Elvira, Mistress of the Night, but short, blonde, and anxious.

Tara is dysphoric about her height, and to a lesser degree her body shape. As a living human she stood nearly six feet tall and she had hoped/expected as a vampire she'd be about five-foot-six and athletic.

Tara was turned in 2018 by Samantha.

Born: September 15, 1996

Died: July 15, 2018

3 years dead

Cynthia is an Enforcer for the Family. She was Isabelle's first turn, and could be considered like Samantha's older sister in that regard. She looks to be in her mid-twenties.

Sometimes referred to as 'Cyn' by other vamps in the Family, Cynthia stands about five-foot-six and has an athletic build. She is a conventionally attractive woman, with blonde hair and blue eyes. She pays attention to style and fashion, and tends to prefer designer pantsuits.

Cynthia is fairly stuck-up and thanks to her lineage (she was turned by the Family's current Matriarch) she sees herself as better than most of the others.

Born: November 29, 1936

Died: March 13, 1959

62 years dead

Isabelle is the current matriarch of the Toronto Family of vampires. She appears to be about twenty-five years old but of course is much older. She's been dead more than a hundred years and is now considered an Elder.

She stands about five-foot-five and has a pretty girl-next-door look, with short brown hair and brown eyes. She tends to wear ankle skirts and blouses or sweaters, and subtle make-up. 

Prior to becoming matriarch, Isabelle was the Family's top Enforcer. She is Dame to both Cynthia and Samantha, and she trained each of them after turning them. 

Born: February 21, 1891

Died: April 12, 1916

105 years dead

Reuben is an Enforcer for the Family. He stands about six feet, four inches tall, and he is very muscular. He's usually well-dressed and acts professional.

Despite looking impressively tall and strong, he tends to be soft-spoken and is thoughtful and can be empathetic and introspective. 

He does not live at the Mansion with most of the family, he is one of the few vampires who lives alone. His apartment is in the Jane and Bloor area, which is within his patrol area.

Reuben's patrol is immediately to the west of Samantha's and shares a border. He is one of the few vampires still friendly with Samantha.

Born: 1934

Died: 1964

57 years dead

Jessica is an Enforcer for the Family. She stands about five feet eight inches tall, and has a slim build. She has red hair and blue-green eyes.

Like Samantha and Reuben, Jess lives away from the mansion, in an apartment building in the Bloor and Islington area, not far from the Islington subway station. She used to patrol in that area, west of Reuben but now patrols east of the Don River, in what used to be Carlos' area.

Jessica is one of the few vampires who is still friendly with Samantha.

Born: 1925

Died: 1953

68 years dead

Marcus is an Enforcer for the Family. He stands about six feet tall and is slim. He has short dark hair and an olive complexion, and usually dresses in a suit and tie.

He was sired by Anthony.

Marcus was 32 years old when he was turned, and is one of the older vamps in the Family in terms of living years. In terms of years dead however, he's one of the younger ones. 

Among the enforcers, only Samantha and Tara are younger than Marcus.

He lives at the Mansion, and is one of the few vamps still friendly with Samantha.

Born: 1944

Died: 1976

45 years dead

The clan or family of vampires who claim the city of Toronto as their own. They are run by a matriarch and four elders. 

It is not known exactly how many vampires there are in the Family, but Samantha estimates the number to be about six dozen, or around seventy in total. 

The Family provides for its members, assigning them jobs and supplying them with blood and money.

The Family are known to have a number of rules which all vampires must obey. Paramount is the Covenant, which ensures peace between the vampires and the humans.

A collection of special rules which govern interactions between vampires and humans in the city of Toronto.

Exact details of the Covenant aren't relayed in the story but it is known that vampires cannot hunt or kill humans, nor are they permitted to reveal themselves to humans.

Humans likewise aren't supposed to hunt or kill vampires, and the general population is kept in the dark about the existence of such supernatural creatures.

It's never fully explained but it's implied there must be some humans who are aware of the Family and who enforce the covenant among the humans. 

The covenant has stood for 'more than a hundred years'.

The series is set in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Many of the streets and landmarks mentioned in the story are real places, but some liberties have been taken.

From chapter 1 onwards the series is based in autumn of 2021. There are some liberties taken in the fictional world however.

Sam's patrol includes the downtown core of Toronto. 

The borders are Bathurst St. on the west to the Don River on the east, and Bloor St. at the north down to lake.

In very rough terms this is approximately 4km (2.5 miles) east to west, and 3.6km (2.25 miles) north to south.

Also referred to as the Bloor St. Bridge, the real name is Prince Edward Viaduct.

This is a real bridge in Toronto, completed in 1918.

It is 494 meters (~1600 feet) long and from the car/pedestrian deck to the river is a height of 40 meters (131 feet).

The bridge has two decks, the upper one being for car and pedestrian traffic. The lower deck was originally built to carry trains, and is now part of the Toronto subway system.

CW suicide:

This is actually a small park or parkette next to a church. It's one of countless small parks across the city. 

It's not really that remarkable of a place but it happens to be conveniently located for the story, it's inside Samantha's patrol area and not very far from where she lives.

A well-known river for Torontonians, the Don was/is known for being highly polluted and generally unpleasant. There have been projects to clean up the Don since Samantha's time (the 1980's) but even nowadays it's not in great shape.

The lower part of the river through the city has been highly industrialized for at least a century, the mouth of the Don is entirely artificial and the banks are cement and steel dock walls. 

The river has low flow rates most of the time, but it's prone to flooding and flow can spike drastically after storms or during spring thaw. 

The river marks the eastern boundary of Samantha's patrol area.

Trivia: The Don River in Ontario was named after the River Don in Yorshire, England, and (according to wikipedia) the name Don shares etymological roots with the Celtic mother goddess known as Dôn.

Sam and Tara share a small two-bedrom apartment in downtown Toronto. 

The building is located in the Church & Wellesley area. 

They have a balcony and a south-west exposure, with lots of daytime sun and a view of the sunset, which is of course wasted on the two of them.

Their unit is on the eighth floor.

The Mansion is a large estate property in uptown Toronto. It is located in a part of the city called the Bridle Path, which is known for its huge estates and multi-million-dollar mansion homes. 

The Mansion is on a large property, and in addition to the main structure there are at least three more buildings. A livery houses the Family's vehicles, and some vampires life on the second floor above the garage. Two more structures are home to additional Family members.