Martha Valentine

an imperfect heroine

Martha Valentine is the first acknowledged female nephilim. She was born in Marytown, within the Cheshire countryside: a town that was built in honour of the demon known as Mammon, the illegitimate child of a mortal woman named Gale and Gadriel, the fallen Watcher of Grace. Due to the nature of her conception and birth, Martha was denounced by the Watchers of the Mount and was raised in secrecy as mortal, making her human-born. As such, she feel a strong tie to the mortal realm and is less angelic than her male, Mount-born nephilim counterparts.

When she was seventeen years old, Martha’s identity and true heritage was unmasked, forcing Azazel, the Watcher of the Hunt, to send his most trusted Son to apprehend and escort her from Marytown, to keep her from falling into enemy hands. The mission however was a failure and Martha was abducted, spending almost three years in captivity, where she was ritualistically and brutally abused by the demons that had abducted her, leaving her mentally and physically scarred by the harrowing experience.

“Patters of rain persistently kissed her cheeks, but she sealed her eyes, concentrated, reaching out with finely attuned senses to decipher two distinct energy signatures within the house.
One was strong, vital. The other was painfully thread.
Stepping through the gate, she wrapped her jacket tightly around her body, holding it protectively closed.
The path had slickened from the rain, pooling in random places. She vaguely recalled a time when such puddles would have been perceived as a challenge that needed to be swiftly dashed underneath her gleefully stomping feet.
Now, she kept her eyes down and barely cared that they splashed dirty water over her boots in a long-plotted retaliatory strike, save to spare a brief, almost bittersweet recollection of a tenacious, raven-haired tomboy who scaled and – she was loathe to admit – fell from many a chestnut tree. An eternal reminder of a time when ‘carefree’ was a game she excelled at, not an ideal to which she might aim to aspire...”

— Excerpt from Sins of the Father, Bloody Marytown Saga

After 13 years, Martha Valentine finally returned to Marytown. (Shutterstock image)