Catherine Russell

Catherine Kathleen Crawfield Russell was born a half-vampire, the daughter of human Justina Crawfield and vampire Maximillian Williams. She is the wife of Bones as well as the protagonist and narrator of the Night Huntress series.

Early life
Catherine Kathleen Russell was born out of wedlock to a young Justina Crawfield. Cat's father, the vampire Maximillian, kept back his true identity until right after he slept with Justina, when he showed her the vampiric green light of his eyes. After this experience, Justina hated all vampires with fervor, and later taught her daughter to do the same. As Cat grew up, she began to manifest some vampire abilities which set her apart from her peers, such as exceptional strength. When Cat turned sixteen, her mother revealed her true identity to her for the first time.

Shortly afterwards, Cat was approached by the vampire Gregor. Unbeknownst to Cat, Gregor had mesmerized her mother into thinking that Gregor was an old friend who had come to help. Gregor took Cat with him to France, telling her that because of her rare and special status as a half-breed, many, particularly the vampire Bones, would want to use her. Her family would be killed so that Cat had no one to rely on but Bones, and he would turn her into a killer, using her as bait to lure his victims. Horrified, Cat agreed to bind herself to Gregor in a vampiric version of marriage for her protection and the protection of her family. After they were married, Gregor attempted to consummate the marriage with Cat despite her reluctance and reservations, but before anything could happen, Mencheres, an ally of Bones, caught up to them. Mencheres overpowered them, chastising Gregor for his selfish attempt to meddle with fate. He then imprisoned Gregor and erased all Cat's memories pertaining to Gregor. After this, Cat returned home to her normal life.

Six months after her sixteenth birthday, Cat visited a bar and caught her then-boyfriend Danny Milton kissing another girl. Crushed and heartbroken, Cat ran into a vampire at the bar, convinced him to drive her home, and then killed him. After she brought home the vampire's fang to her mother, they began to truly connect for the first time, because of Justina's joy that Cat had killed a vampire. From then on, Cat often went out at night to bars, seeking vampires to kill.

Meeting Bones
By the time Cat was twenty-two, she had killed fifteen vampires. While scouting out for vampires at a club one night, she encountered Bones and attempted to seduce him, but he brushed her off, saying that he was busy. She then met another vampire at the bar, successfully seducing and killing him that evening. The next night, she returned to the bar and was approached by Bones, asking to take up on her offer for sex the previous night. Although nervous, Cat agreed because of her great desire to kill all vampires. To Cat's discomfort, Bones insisted that Cat drive and expressed desire to shag in her truck. As Cat withdrew her silver stakes, she was momentarily distracted, and Bones knocked her out. When Cat came to, Bones had her chained in a cave and demanded to know who she was killing vampires for. Cat explained that she was a half-vampire who killed vampires because they were evil, but he could not believe her until he saw her eyes glow green when he was about to kill her. After this, Bones suggested a deal: as he was a vampire bounty hunter, she could play bait for him as an alluring woman. Cat agreed to the deal because of his implied threat to her family. Bones began to train Cat daily for combat to improve her charm and abilities, which although impressive for a human, paled in comparison to that of a full-blooded vampire.

Targeting Hennessey
After several weeks of intense training, the two began to hunt down those related to the vampire Hennessey. Bones had already been on Hennessey's trail for the last eleven years, because Hennessey targeted young girls, kidnapping them into a vampire white slavery ring. As she spent more and more time with Bones, Cat gradually realized that her mother's teachings on vampires were prejudiced, and not all vampires were necessarily evil. Bones also revealed to her that several of the fingers which she pointed at vampires could also be pointed at herself. Cat fell in love with Bones and works to overcome her prejudices against vampires, to the point of sleeping with him and asking him to drink her blood. One morning, Cat is confronted by detectives outside her apartment building. The detectives bring up the corpses of a dead vampire and a stolen car which have been discovered; which came from a vampire that Cat killed. When the leave with a promise to return soon, Cat runs to Bones for help. Knowing that Hennessey is aware that Bones is hunting him and that Hennessey has connections with the police, they call Cat's family in case they might be targeted. When no one answers, Bones and Cat rush to Cat's home to find both her grandparents dead and her mother taken hostage, with a note detailing how to ransom Justina. That evening, Cat drinks Bones' blood to enhance her fighting abilities, then they follow the notes directions to meet at the appointed time and place. Bones pretends to surrender himself in exchange for Justina, then he and Cat initiate an attack on Hennessey and his henchmen. They kill all the vampires but one, and Cat persuades Bones to run after the escapee. Cat is arrested by the police, but once in the patrol car she overpowers the officer. Under pressure, he confesses that Governor Oliver has been collaborating with Hennessey in order to win voters. Cat then has the officer to take her to the governor's residence, where she breaks in and kills Oliver.

Joining the military and estrangement from Bones
Cat is confined in a hospital so she can recover from her injuries. She is visited by her mother, who is enraged and betrayed that Cat would dare to take a vampire as a lover. While in the hospital, Don Williams, head of the Paranormal Behavior Division in the FBI, and Sergeant Tate Bradley come to see Cat and make her an offer. Both Hennessey and Oliver will likely have associates who will be after Cat and Bones, forcing them to run and hide. Additionally, it will be very difficult to hide Justina from their enemies as well, with her extreme antagonism towards Bones and now also Cat. If Cat will leave Bones behind for the next thirteen years and take a job hunting vampires for the FBI, they can protect her, fake her death, and give her a new life. Seeing no other way forward, Cat agrees to Don's offer. Justina is somewhat consoled that Cat has accepted the offer and rejected Bones. Justina also brings up an important point that Cat cannot deny: if Cat's relationship with Bones continued long-term, he would likely have forced her to change over into a vampire to keep her with him forever, something she refuses to do. As they drive to a waiting helicopter, Bones appears in the middle of the road, causes the cars to crash, and takes off with Cat and Justina in tow. They go to stay the night at the home of Bones' friend, the ghoul Rodney. In the morning, when Bones and Rodney leave to make preparations for their journey, a devastated but resolved Cat, having written Bones a Dear John letter, takes her mother and leaves to meet Don. For the next four years, Cat lives in Virginia, working at Don's compound and heading up a team that hunts vampires, with Tate as her second-in-command.

Reunification with Bones and Incident with Ian
On one of Cat's missions, she is sent to kill the vampire Ian. When her conversation with Ian leads her to realize that Ian is the vampire who sired Bones, she cannot bring herself to kill him, allowing him to escape instead. Shortly thereafter, she attends the wedding of her best friend as a the maid of honor, where she runs into Bones, who is one of the groomsmen. Bones approaches her afterwards, making it clear that he intends to talk things out and does not fear retribution from Don. Cat is thrown into emotional turmoil, intensified by the fact that Denise's cousin Felicity is making overt advances on Bones. After the reception, she sees them kissing, and it fills her with such jealousy that she runs off by herself to the bar which her team was due to investigate the following night. She kills the vampires in the private room of the club, but there are three more outside. As she waits for the others to return, Bones meets her at the bar, making it clear that though he is angry with her, he still wants her. They kill the remaining vampires together, with the last one leading them in a chase to an empty construction site. When the vampire is dead, Bones insists on talking right there, asking point-blank if she still loves him. When Cat says no, Bones bites her, drinking with the intent to kill. Cat's hands are still free, so she positions herself to drive her silver knife into Bones' heart, but then realizes she cannot do it and falls unconscious.

When Cat revives after several hours, she is in resting in bed with Bones at his house. He explains that he drank from her to prove that she cannot kill him because she has not gotten over him any more than he has gotten over her. Cat brings up the fact that their relationship cannot continue because he is immortal while she will die one day, but Bones reveals that because of her vampire blood, she has not physically aged since she reached physical maturity. In addition, the two pints of his vampire blood which she drank the night they killed Hennessey, could add about fifty years to a normal human's lifespan. With Cat's vampire heritage, it could easily add a century to her life. Shocked, Cat goes home. Bones visits her in the evening and reveals himself to her mother when Justina happens to stop by. Justina is beyond furious that Bones has returned into Cat's life, but Cat insists that he is here to stay and threatens to leave or possibly change into a vampire if Justina alerts Don or the compound.

For the next few days, the reunited couple goes out every night, and Cat admits to herself that she has never been happier. One evening, Tate Bradley sees Cat welcoming Bones into her house and tells Don, who calls Cat into the compound. (This does not surprise either of them, because Bones' supernatural hearing detected Tate as soon as he noticed them.) Don, along with team members Tate and Juan, question Cat. Despite her years of faithful and diligent work for the team and for Don, Don tells her that he wants to trust her, but he is not sure if he can. However, he tentatively lets the situation be for the present.

The next night, Bones takes Cat out to a restaurant for dinner. While they are waiting for the food, an assassin fires at Cat. Bones hears the shots and barely saves her in time. They chase after the hit man, Bones surprising Cat by revealing his flying abilities as he flies them out of the restaurant. The hit man is human, so Bones easily captures him, mind-controls him into revealing information, and then drinks him to death. Afterwards, Cat and Bones have sex for the first time since getting back together and return home.

At Bones' rental house, they deduce that whoever was behind the attack likely has an informant in Don's compound in order to obtain very specific information about Cat.To Cat's disliking because it hazards Bones' safety, they arrange for a setup which will cause Bones to get transported into their compound in a special capsule made for holding vampires, and then he can search the workers at the compound for a traitor. Don and the rest of Cat's coworkers are initially suspicious and even displeased to see Bones inside the compound, but his actions and obvious concern for Cat lead them to tentatively tolerate him. Before beginning his search, Bones confronts with evidence he has found, and Don subsequently admits that Cat is his biological niece through her father Maximillian, who is Don's brother. While investigating Ian, Max abruptly disappeared, and Don even joined the FBI in hopes of finding his brother. Out of the blue one day, Max came to him and threatened to kill Don unless he stopped his investigations. Six months later, Don found out about Justina Crawfield's reported rape in the same city to which Don had tracked his brother and knew that Max had finally crossed over to the dark side. Since Cat's birth, Don periodically kept track of her.

After this revelation, Bones uses his vampiric ability of smelling emotions to find the mole, lab assistant Brad Parker. After Cat's run-in with Ian, Ian noted her resemblance to his vampire Maximillian. Upon finding out the news, Max decided that he didn't want to be a father, tracked down Cat through his brother Don, and enticed Parker into selling information about Cat to him. When the interrogation is finished, Don allows Bones to drink Parker to death in a peace offering, seeing as they would normally kill Parker for betrayal anyway. Bones now offers to accompany Cat on missions to protect her. Bones also reasons that Don secretly hopes to create his own vampires some day, to have soldiers as strong and capable as the vampires they fight, and Bones agrees to change some select men when the time comes. Don does not deny this, and he agrees to Bones' offer.

Cat comes up with a plan to have Bones pretend to deliver her to Ian. Tate, Juan, and another team member, Cooper, volunteer to risk their lives as hostages to be delivered to Ian. Ian will think that he can use them to persuade Cat to stay with Ian, but if the plan goes well, they will be secretly freed. Bones calls in support from all his people from around the world, including his ex-partner Annette, who instantly stirs up enmity with Cat by flaunting Annette's sexual history with Bones. Nevertheless, Annette goes with Cat to "deliver" Tate, Juan, and Cooper to Ian's guards, then faithfully does her part of fighting against the guards to free them. Taken by surprise, all the guards are quickly taken hostage. After this, Cat prepares to meet Ian in the evening.

At the gathering, Cat offers to provide the audience with a good show by fighting someone of Ian's choice in return for the release of Noah (who, unbeknownst to Ian, is Ian's only hostage). At this time, Bones requests freedom from Ian's line, which Ian grants, albeit with some reluctance. Since Cat is counted under Bones's line, Ian has unknowingly just released her to Bones as well. After this, Cat fights Ian's chosen dueler: the humongous ghoul Grendel. Cat is at a great disadvantage in physical strength and size, not to mention Grendel's advantage of undead power, so Grendel quickly gains the advantage and deals her severe injuries while Cat is unable to do him much physical harm. Grendel turns to the crowd and gloats his victory, but when he turns back to Cat to finish the fight, she maneuvers her way onto his back, decapitates his eyes, then rips off his head before he has a chance to properly react, thus winning the match and freeing Noah. In view of everyone, Bones kisses Cat, simultaneously allowing her to drink his blood for healing. Ian is livid that he has not only lost Cat and all leverage against her, but he now has to ransom his own men by promising never to come against her again. However, as they are about to leave, Cat unintentionally ruins everything by challenging her father Max to a duel. Under vampire law, she has just acknowledged that she is a vampire, making her one of Ian's line. Additionally, Max is under Ian and a vampire who has been undead for under a year are not permitted to challenge his or her sire. In response to this new development, Bones claims Cat as his wife on the spot. Mencheres appears at this time, stopping Ian by ruling that Bones is right in everything except that Cat has not yet claimed Bones as husband. Ian and Mencheres both remind Cat that under vampire law, if Cat claims Bones as husband, she will be married for life with no option of divorce. Snatching at the new thread, Ian promises Cat that if she leaves Bones forever, he will leave her and her men alone and give her Max to do with as she pleases. Ian calls Max into the auditorium, allowing father and daughter to meet for the first time. Cat walks over and circles him, noting how alike they look. Although Max says nothing, Cat bitterly rants on how long she has waited her whole life to kill him, before acquiescing that Bones means more to her than even killing Max. She promptly weds herself to Bones. Max now speaks for the first time, saying that although Cat has not succeeded this time, they will have their day. Bones reveals to Ian that Max knew about Cat before Ian did, but kept her to himself and tried to kill her. Ian is visibly furious at this new revelation, and on this note, everyone disperses.

Revival of Dave
Back at the compound, Bones indicates that since Dave, a team member who died in action a few months back, drank a few swallows of vampire blood before he died, Bones can use his vampire blood and a heart transplant from the ghoul Rodney to raise Dave back up as a ghoul. Tate, Juan, Cooper, Don, and Cat unanimously vote to bring Dave back, so they all go to the cemetery where Dave was buried. Since Dave has been dead for so long, he requires a very large amount of vampire blood to bring him back, creating a graphically bloody scene. At first, Dave the ghoul is a little disoriented, then horrified at what he has become, but the entire team is accepting of him and grateful to have him back amongst them again.

War with Patra
Some time afterwards, Bones proposes marriage and Cat accepts. When Cat miraculously receives a call from Justina, who says she wants to help with the wedding planning, Cat goes to her mother's house. Upon her arrival, she discovers that Justina is being held captive and the whole thing is an ambush by her father in order to kill her. Max and his accomplice Calibos torture Cat and Justina physically and emotionally. The torture is abruptly cut short when Bones and Annette storm in to rescue the captives. Max rips Cat's throat out, nearly killing her, but Bones is able to reach her in time and heal her with his blood.

Bones accepts a proposal from his sire Mencheres that they merge their respective lines of vampires, and that Mencheres will give Bones an extra dose of power, a coveted gift which Mencheres can only give once. At the reception of the ceremony, Tate notices suspicious activity and the entire place is evacuated as several vampire spontaneously combust, causing pandemonium to ensue. Shortly afterwards, a bomb goes off inside the building. As they leave, Bones and Mencheres deduce that there is only one who would dare to attack Mencheres, essentially declaring war against him: his estranged wife Patra.

Over Christmas, Bones is aroused one night to find that Cat is trapped in a nightmare from which she cannot wake up. Patra has obviously orchestrated this attack using forbidden magic, and if Cat does not wake soon, the nightmare will literally kill her. Mencheres is the one who can break the spell, but as he is nowhere near at the moment, Bones attempts to break it with his own blood, since he has shared blood and power with Mencheres from merging their lines. To his great relief, the attempt is successful and Cat wakes up. Patra's interest in Cat and Bones is that it was once prophesied that the vampire who would kill Patra would marry someone who was not human, vampire, or ghoul, and Patra, who has taken this to mean that Bones will be her killer, is trying to hurt him, in this case by using his relationship with Cat.