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The canonicity of this article's subject remains dubious. Though it doesn't contradict official continuity, it has not been referenced in any confirmed canonical material. |  |
Pauline Francis Barnard was an American Slayer activated in Atlanta, United States in 1862. She fought the American Civil War as a man under the alias Frankie Massey.
Biography[]
Pauline was born in the southern United States in the mid 19th century. Before the outbreak of the Civil War, Pauline was the very definition of a Southern Belle. She was identified as a Potential Slayer and was trained by a young Watcher named Reed.
In 1862, Pauline was activated as the new Slayer. A short time after being called, Pauline chopped off her hair and passed herself off as a young man to enlist and fight in the Union Army. Her watcher attempted to get her to reconsider, fearing what would happen to her if the soldiers discovered her true identity; she refused to listen so he enlisted as a medic to stay near and protect her. She enlisted under the guise of Frank Massey; the male equivalent of her middle name paired with her mother's maiden name.
One night in 1864, Reed and Pauline had been hunting vampires on the battlefield. During the fighting, the vampires managed to separate Watcher and Slayer, and sired Reed. Pauline discovered his body, the vampire attack hidden by war wounds. Reed appeared as a vampire to Pauline a few nights later in the hopes of killing his former charge. Pauline won the fight, but the experience left her feeling isolated, as the only person capable of understanding her life was now gone.
By November of 1864, Pauline's unit had set up camp in Atlanta, Georgia and she continued the fight against vampires on her own. One morning, a British man named Edward Landers had arrived searching for his charge. Landers explained that he was looking for a young woman who was stronger than the average person, adept at fighting, and passing herself off as a man. Pauline deduced he was the new Watcher sent to collect her and return her home; knowing that nobody could ever replace Reed in her life, she refused to speak up. The unit laughed off his claims of a strong female fighter hiding amongst their ranks, so Landers was removed from the camp and sent back to England without successfully locating his Slayer.
Once alone, Pauline spoke with General Sherman, who revealed he knew of her true identity as a woman and the Slayer, having met a Slayer previously. Instead of ejecting her from the unit for impersonating an officer, he worked with her to develop a plan to exterminate vampire nests as they moved through the South, fighting the Confederate Army.[1]
Behind the scenes[]
- The following known Slayer, Lucy Hanover, is described as active in 1866 the dubious canon clips History of the Slayer and in 1865 in the non-canon Child of the Hunt. These dates could indicate Pauline's year of death, but the sense of continuity between these sources and the Tales of the Slayer series is unclear.
Appearances[]
References[]