Hexed

Venesa, one of the novel’s two narrators, is a 24-year-old hit woman for her uncle’s criminal empire. She is physically attractive and likes to dye her hair platinum blond. Venesa desperately wants her uncle’s approval but rarely gets it: Although she is a member of the family, she is treated as an outsider because her mother turned her back on the Kingstons. Her cousin Aria particularly delights in tormenting her and nicknames her Urch (for urchin). 

Although Venesa is the story’s protagonist, she has stereotypically villainous attributes; she enjoys violence and specializes in torturing and killing through the use of poisons. Her character is also loosely modeled on the sea witch named Ursula/Vanessa in Disney’s The Little Mermaid. However, despite this association with witchcraft, poison, and murder, Venesa’s storyline also borrows elements of Ariel’s—most notably, her longing for love. Enzo’s pet name for her is piccolo sirena, which means “little mermaid” in Italian, underscoring the association.

Venesa is a dynamic character; although she doesn’t undergo any dramatic moral changes over the course of the novel, she does develop a greater level of self-esteem and the belief that she is worthy of love thanks to Enzo’s passion for her.