Ivy is one of the central characters in Kim Harrison’s urban fantasy series The Hollows.
A bisexual vampire from an upper-class family, Ivy is a former magic-cop turned private detective, living and working out of an abandoned church with her business partner and unrequited crush Rachel. Though Rachel thinks Ivy is a trust fund snob to begin with she’s mostly just clueless about life outside of the wealthy vampiric bubble she grew up in, something she’s desperately trying to leave behind.
Ivy spent her teenage years being groomed and abused by the most powerful vampire in their region, who seems to have set his eyes on having her as his consort from a very early age. As a result, her feeding reflex is messed up, and it’s very difficult to break her out of a feeding frenzy without turning things sexual. Despite betrayal from one lover and the murder of another, both at the hands of the obsessive vampire lord, Ivy never gives up on love. Accepting Rachel will never be more than her best friend she goes on to find a partner of her own, and build herself the life she wants.
Despite Harrison’s building in of the bad bisexual tropes, Ivy is still a deeply relatable character. Soft but guarded, naive in some ways but worldly in others, wounded and trying to rebuild herself, she’s brave, loyal and ruthless on behalf of the people she loves.
