Shori

Shori is the main character of Octavia Butler’s modern vampire novel Fledgling. 

Shori is a 53-year-old member of the Ina race, but her body looks like that of a 10-year-old African American girl. The Ina are a nocturnal race that live on blood. They have very long lifespans, super strength, and a supernatural ability to heal. 

Shori wakes up after losing her memory and has to rediscover her Ina roots and learn why she and her family were being attacked in the first place. 

A part of the culture of the Ina is that each Ina has a number of human “symbionts”. The symbionts gain some of the Ina’s powers— including longevity— when the Ina feed on the symbiont and the Ina gains a food source. As implied by the name, this is a symbiotic relationship. 

Shori has sexual relationships with all of her symbionts, which include both men and women.