Iris King

Laila's mother and familiar of Vasixiophataguean

Early Life
Iris Athena Vines was born to to the affluent Dr. Hector Vines and his wife Marshella. She was a bright but painfully shy child who remained very close to her parents and admired them. She began to shine above her peers with her musicianship, playing the guitar with her father, a talented pianist himself. Marshella worked as a nurse and despite living a tumultuous life filled with threats and discrimination they survived and prospered during the Civil Rights Movement.Iris' godmother, Sarah babysat her when her parents worked long nights and instilled an iron will into the girl making her feel comfortable with her blunt nature.

Iris began to go to a recently desegregated private school where she continued to grow into a studious, clever teenager. On a cold January afternoon in 1971, her parents were out running errands when a truck lost control and crashed head-on with their car. The collision killed the couple instantly but the driver survived. Iris was pulled out of class and informed of the deaths. Iris' godmother Sarah Clements adopted the young girl and successfully sued for a large sum and after taking care of necessary fees and buying a nice, low-key house for her and Iris, she set aside in a trust fund for the girl. Overcome with shock, Iris buried herself into school and managed to take on college classes in her junior year before pulling off an early graduation.

Iris began to go to college where she became a business major. She inherited a place in the Eta Phi Beta sorority and by acting on her role, she saved the sorority from being disbanded.

She began to date Nasir King while finishing up her degree. Caught between the crossroads of ending school she was unsure of what to do with her life now that she wasn't following a guideline. To complicate matters, Nasir proposed to her. After mulling it over, Iris told him she'd answer after her graduation. When Nasir didn't show, she nearly cried but he barged in as the ceremony ended and after a tense confrontation, she revealed her relief and accepted his proposal.

The marriage was rocky and Iris came under pressure from devoting time to her demanding job as a retail manager and struggling to start a family. Ellie and Delores both interfered and attempted to create a rift between her and Nasir which increased when Iris found out she had a low egg count. Nasir desperately wanted a family and Iris was desperate to keep her husband. She began to go under intense feritlity treatments that tore away at her body. Afraid to lose his wife, Nasir attempted to talke her out of it but Iris was determined to give him the family he wanted. They agreed that Ellie would be a surrogate mother to their child.

When the child was born, Iris felt nothing but rage towards the baby. She didn't want to touch her or go near her. At one point she considered smothering the child because she looked so much like her real mother. Eventually, she saw the effect her hatred was having on the child when Irish reached out for her, she cringed. Iris immediately softened feeling more attached to her than ever. A year later, she discovered she was pregnant with her second child and named the girl Lola.

Guilty over her terrible treatment of Laila, Iris remained distant from her and focused her attention on Lola. Meanwhile, Nasir was spending more time with Ellie. Iris had quite her job due to her failing heath and stayed home. Her mother-in-law constantly harped on her about how the children were raised and attempted to undermine her authority. Iris frequently asked Nasir to try and control his mother and stop meeting with Ellie but her pleas were ignored. Having enough, Iris decided to get a divorce. Nasir pleaded with her but she was determined to break free and take her children and raise them on their own. In a last ditch attempt to save their marriage, the two went to a cabin with the children for a vacation and to try and salvage their marriage. Talks were shattered when a berzerk thrall barged in and attacked. Iris attempted to block the were's path from her children and the creature shoved her away and she was impaled on a wall fixture. Nasir attempted to shoot but the creature pounced on him and broke his neck, tearing into his flesh. Iris picked up the rifle and shot the creature's head off before collapsing from blood loss.