Serenity grew up a happy child. She was a cheerleader, dating the running-back of the football team, and even won 'Best Personality' in her yearbook. All the while, she grew up around occult knowledge and fetishes (not the sexual kind) since her mother was a witch. It wasn't until the local pastor took her mother away out of zeal that she left her bright life behind only to end up a criminal, smuggling black market substances and magical artifacts. Ten years passed in that exciting life, and now she's taken to occult investigation. It's not a sense of atonement, she does this, but out of the comfort zone.