Cordelia Van Alen

“	They are the Devil in disguise, the Devil that walks among us. They are everywhere.	”
	— Cordelia Van Alen, warning Schuyler about the Croatan threat.

Cordelia Van Alen
Birth name:	Cordelia Edith Benjamin
Birth date:	August 12, 1841 (New York)
Occupation:	Singer (in her youth) New York socialite
Status:	Expired in this cycle
Death:	Attacked by Bliss Llewellyn
Supernatural information
Species:	Blue Bloods
Angelic name:	Seraphiel, Angel of Song
Bond mate:	Metatron
Past lives:	Julia Caesaris (Rome) Isabella Arosto (Florence) Catherine Carver (Plymouth)
Relationships
Relatives:	Lawrence Van Alen † Allegra Van Alen Charles Force Schuyler Van Alen
Appearances
Only seen in:	Blue Bloods

Cordelia Van Alen is a notorious member of the Blue Blood community. Born in 1841, she married her soulmate, Lawrence Van Alen, before he exiled himself from New York to look for clues about the Van Alen legacy. Meanwhile, Cordelia stayed in the city and asked many times to postpone her Expiration, first in order to birth the Uncorrupted, Allegra and Charles, and then to watch over Schuyler Van Alen, her grand-daughter, while Allegra was in a coma.

Appearance

In her youth, Cordelia was said to be a petite, bird-like woman, but beautiful nonetheless, with the bluest of eyes ...

Now, more than a hundred years old, Cordelia still retains the beauty of her youth. Although Schuyler suspected that her grandmother was in between eighty and ninety years of age, she rather had the looks of a fifty year old, especially when invigorated by human blood.

Biography

Past lives

Leaving Europe and settling in America

Catherine Carver was one of the people who fled religious persecution in Europe and travelled aboard the Mayflower to found a colony in Plymouth. Once they arrived, full of hope, the men lead an expedition to erect buildings and bring food to the colony of Roanoke. Worried that the men were gone for too long, Catherine later learnt that the colony of Roanoke had disappared entirely, leaving behind them nothing but the word "Croatan" carved in a tree. She thus understood that the Silver Bloods had reached the new continent first.

Current incarnation

Early life

In her youth, she had a bloodhound familiar.

Watching over Schuyler

All throughout Schuyler's childhood, Cordelia had been a presence. Not a parental, or even an affectionate one, but a presence nonetheless. It was Cordelia who had changed her Schuyler's birth certificate so that her last name was her mother's and not her father's. It was Cordelia who had enrolled her at the Duchesne School. Cordelia who signed her permission slips, monitored her report cards, and provided her with a paltry allowance.

— Schuyler's only parent.

After Schuyler's father died and Allegra fell into a coma from lack of feeding, Cordelia became Schuyler's legal parent. Not necessarily warm to her granddaughter, she nonetheless raised her with care. Every Sunday, she would take Schuyler to the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, hoping that hearing her daughter's voice would wake Allegra up from her coma... but to no avail.

Upon the appearance of Schuyler's blue markings, she pressed her granddaughter to see Dr. Pat.

The Van Alen Legacy

Charles Force: "A terrible loss."

Cordelia: "Extremely unfortunate. Although it could have been prevented."

— Cordelia's reproachful remarks.

After Aggie Carondolet's death became public, Cordelia started to fear for the sake of her granddaughter and all of her fellow Blue Bloods. Attending Aggie's funeral, she confronted Charles about the dire situation they were all in, which he preferred to ignore once more. Trying to reason with him, the mention of Gabrielle's name only unnerved him more, thus ending their conversation.

Relationships

Relatives

• Schuyler Van Alen
• Allegra Van Alen
• Charles Force

Schuyler was half afraid of her grandmother, but had grown to love her even though Cordelia never showed any inclination of reciprocating the sentiment. The most palpable emotion Schuyler could detect was a grudging tolerance. Her grandmother tolerated her. She didn't approve of her, but she tolerated her.

— Schuyler's distant relationship with Cordelia.

Cordelia still cares about her son, as shown at Aggie's funeral when she tried to bring up Gabrielle. Deeply saddened by their divide, the subject of her children always softens her up.

Miscellaneous

Appearances

Blue Bloods series
Blue Bloods Appears	Masquerade Mentioned	Revelations Mentioned	The Van Alen Legacy Absent	Misguided Angel Absent
Bloody Valentine Appears	Lost in Time Absent	Wolf Pact (spin-off) Absent	Gates of Paradise Absent	Vampires of Manhattan Absent

Quotes

Cordelia: "Always the first to shy away from the truth. You are the way you have always been, arrogant and blind..."

Charles Force: "And if we had listened to you and sown the fear? Where would we be then? You would have us cowering in caves."

Cordelia: "I would have had us ensuring our survival. Instead, we are vulnerable once more. Instead, they are allowed to return, to hunt. If I had the authority, if the Conclave had listened to me, to Teddy..."

Charles Force: "But they did not, they chose me to lead, as I have always done."

— Cordelia and Charles' heated exchange.

---

Cordelia: "There is still time. We may still stop them, if you would only find it in your heart to forgive. Gabrielle..."

Charles: "Do not speak to me of Gabrielle. Never. I would never hear her name spoken to me again. Especially from you."

Cordelia: "It has been fifteen years. Is that not long enough?"

— Cordelia, trying to reason with her son.

Notes

• Cordelia Van Alen is the author of Catherine Carver's diary - she wrote it while she was in cycle in Plymouth. This diary has several extracts featured in Blue Bloods, the first novel of the series of the same name.