Melanie is a lamia which is a shapeshifter of a sort, as she can change into a snake. Her fangs are retractable and rest against the roof of her mouth. Supposedly she is the last of her kind, and the property of Oliver. Without Oliver's knowledge, she tried to breed. She had a mate, Raju. She also made some other lamia-types. Anita nicknamed two of them, Smiley and Blondie. The third man is Ronald and he is Melanie's preferred companion outside. Once Oliver and Alejandro were killed, Jean-Claude took her and got her green card so that she could work for him at the Circus of the Damned.