Name: Baptiste Dupuis
Age: 34(looks), 224(actual)
Family:
Josette Dupuis-Mother, deceased | Emeric Dupuis-Father, deceased
Marissa Dupuis-Sister, deceased
Species: Turned Vampire
Rank: Nomad
Faceclaim: Dominic Cooper

Understanding || Reliable || Determined
Over Thinker || Brooding || Negative Self-Reflection

Born in the Spring of 1792, the French settlement of Louisiana was still relatively new just a mere one hundred years old. Baptiste was born the first child of Josette and Emeric Dupuis his father a local priest in a small Louisiana town. The birth of Baptiste was a miracle in self given before coming to Louisiana Josette was informed that she wouldn’t be able to have children. The couple kept the pregnancy quiet until they no longer feared that the pregnancy was all just a beautiful dream. However during the worst spring storm that Louisiana had seen Baptiste was brought into the world, a pale and weak child who at first drew no breath into his small lungs.

Being a priest Emeric had been praying through the whole pregnancy and especially while his weak wife labored to bring their child into the world. It seemed as if neither Josette nor Baptiste would survive but by some sort of grace when Emeric took the child into his arms he drew his first breath. Thanks was given to god and Josette pulled through as well but needed much rest after.

Baptiste was his parent’s miracle and they loved him beyond compare, but he was often sick and wasn’t able to run or play as other children could. When he was three another miracle happened - or at least that was what his parents and the church called it. This pregnancy went far easier and a little girl was born. Her parents named her Marissa. Unlike her brother, she was a strong child and grew fast under the care of her parents. While Marissa would run and play with the other children of their village, Baptiste would stay within the confines of their humble home studying scripture and learning from his parents.

Despite his physical weakness Baptiste had a sharp mind and sought knowledge in any possible way that he could. When his father would travel to other villages to spread religion, Baptiste would go with him to learn new things from those who called those villages home. Some were far more civil than others, some villagers went into hiding when he and his father arrived feeling no need to hear the preachings of a religion they cared nothing of.

As Baptiste aged he began to shadow his father, cementing himself within the same beliefs and learning how to take over as the priest in their village. His sister grew into a fine beauty who many in their village and the outlying villages wished to wed. Many came to court her but she seemed uninterested in most just wanting to live her life. Baptiste was proud of the decision which she made, taking no lover or husband though it became a subject of conflict within his household since his parents wanted her to wed. There was one man who caught his sister’s attention: Blaise. But he was a man who believed in nothing and often spoke out against the church. Emeric held a great dislike towards Blaise.

However, Blaise cared little about the opinion of Emeric or the Dupuis family. Baptiste held no ill will towards the man, believing in free will and Blaise’s ability to choose to believe whatever he wished. If his sister wanted to be with Blaise then he would not stand in her way.

The day that Baptiste took over for his father as priest was the day he married Blaise and Marissa against his father’s orders. Baptiste told his father that no man held power over him for he served a much higher power. By then the village was beginning to grow. More people had immigrated from other colonies and from France to settle in the swamp land. Marissa had barely been married six months when a pair of siblings moved to the town: Noe and Roseline. The only time they were seen was at night and Noe had eyes for Marissa - he didn’t care that she was a married woman. This caused a very public altercation between Blaise and Noe, and two days after the argument, Blaise was found dead in the streets. Marissa was heartbroken.

Baptiste tried to console his sister but she ended up taking her own life out of grief. Many in the village believed that Noe had something to do with Blaise’s death, but no one would confront him. There seemed to be an inner darkness to the man. Baptiste, however, made it a life goal to bring the man down for what he had done. Vengeance was something he had been raised to allow to reject, but his sister had meant everything to him. She was the reason why he’d not only defied his father, but had been disinherited as well. The priest had been nosing around Noe’s house when the mysterious man surprised him, and locked Baptiste in the cellar.

It was then that he found out that demons were real. Noe and Roseline were vampires; creatures that had only been an urban legend up until then. For the four years that he was trapped in the cellar, Noe and Roseline used Baptiste for food. Everyday, he prayed for a way out of the hell he was trapped in, and every night he was reminded that it was his own sins which brought these consequences. Roseline took a liking to Baptiste, often allowing him out of the cellar in the early hours of the morning before the sun rose. She would allow him to walk around the village, ensuring that he remained unseen. His blood was apparently far sweeter when he was given a taste of freedom.

Four long years later, Noe and Roseline were packing up the house and getting ready to leave the village. Baptiste believed they would finally let him go, but he was very wrong. Like a piece of furniture, Baptiste was packed and moved to a new village - a new cellar became his prison once again. Many humans would come and go from the cellar but he was the only constant. Some of the others would be bled dry, some were allowed to leave in a state of confusion their memories wiped.

Ten years Baptiste had been held captive. And it took ten years for Roseline to finally convince her brother to Turn Baptiste. It happened suddenly, and without warning. One evening, Roseline came down into the cellar and without a word, sunk her fangs into his flesh. Baptiste thought she was feeding again, until a burning sensation coursed through his veins. He’d never felt anything like it before. When she left, she kissed his cheek and whispered in his ear: “I hope you survive.”

Pain began to flow through his body, his stomach churned. Nausea was something he was used to feeling but this was something else all together. His stomach lurched before the contents were emptied on the cellar floor once, twice. There was no way to stop it as his body purged what was inside until he was nothing more than a ball curled in on himself as he continued to vomit believing he was sure to die. Baptiste blacked out waking a few times to purge his system once more and every time his vision went black he believed it was for the last time.

When he finally awoke, Roseline was stood in the corner watching him closely. It was a miracle to Baptiste that he was alive. A young woman stood beside Roseline. She was shaking like a leaf, he could almost taste her fear but. Roseline beckoned him over and before he knew what was happening, he was on top of the young woman. New fangs ripped into her flesh. The warm, metallic taste of blood filled his mouth. Sweet, a hint of spice; it was addictive. Roseline had to pry Baptiste off the young woman.

When his hunger subsided, he looked at the young woman who now lay dead on the cellar floor. Roseline watched him with detached interest. Guilt and remorse swept through him at what he had done self loathing beginning to set in as he curled himself into a ball in the corner rocking, trying to block out everything that was happening. This had to be some sort of nightmare caused by Roseline taking too much blood, or at least that was what he had hoped but it soon became clear this was no nightmare but the beginning of his new life.

Instead of teaching him what he needed to know as a fledgling, his sire taught him nothing.Roseline was afraid that he would kill himself, so she allowed him to feed but then weaken him with the poisonous Daystar plant. Another few decades passed in a blur as Baptiste struggled with what he’d unwillingly become. The Daystar was a mercy, it gave him no strength which meant he couldn’t hurt anyone or kill anyone. Roseline regretted her decision to turn him but she couldn’t bring herself to force him into the daylight either.

Roseline’s screams awoke him one day. Cries of true terror and pain, then silence and the smell of burning. Half an hour later, the cellar door opened. As sunlight began to slip into the cellar, Baptiste began to panic. He cursed life as a vampire, but he did not want to die like one Baptiste was even too weak to scream as men made their way down the cellar steps. The sunlight was just unable to reach him. There was a strange scent he didn’t recognize which clung to the men as they approached him, checking his vitals and realizing he wasn’t human anymore. “Let me die,” he pleaded softly. The men looked him over before leaving him alone in the cellar, the door closing once more.

As night came the cellar door opened once again. The Daystar had slowly worn off and his strength began to return. It terrified him. As the men moved down the stairs once more he tried his best to move away from them. “No! Stay away for me! I don’t want to hurt you.” The fear in his voice was real and the men looked between one another before slowly approaching him. Baptiste didn’t fight, he just tried to control himself. But his fangs grew and his throat at the scent of the men. Rope was tied around his wrists and it burned his skin. The young vampire screamed out in severe pain.

A wolf trotted down the steps of the cellar and slowly made it’s way towards him before sinking it’s teeth into his leg. The bite hurt but his energy slowly dissipated as a burning sensation washed over him once again. Would he never be free of this? As he was lead from the cellar, he was informed that the group men were of Therians - beings who could shift into animals. They explained that they hunted down what they called ‘rogue vampires’: vampires who maimed or killed whoever they pleased. The Therians asked if Baptiste posed a danger of going rogue and he couldn’t lie: he explained what had happened during his turning, and that he couldn’t control himself. To his surprise, they took pity on him. Baptiste thought they would kill him, but instead they helped him to find a coven of vampires who would help him to understand what he was.

It took over one hundred years living in the Louisiana bayou with a coven of both blooded and turned vampires. He turned to his faith despite the fact that he was no longer sure what to believe in. It allowed him to hold on to his humanity. There were demons and devils in the world but it wasn’t in the way he had once thought. Baptiste was able to find peace within himself.

Stories soon began to circulate about wolves and vampires in the Louisiana bayou rousing a hunt for the supernatural creatures. Despite the fact that the bayou Therians and Vampires were peaceful, humans began to hunt them out of fear. When the bayou was no longer safe, the Therian pack and the Vampire coven decided to split ways. Some were brave enough to stay in Louisiana but others moved far away. Some of the Theriams became a branch in what is known today as the Valkyrie family.

Baptiste broke away from the coven and made his way to New Orleans, working nights in a local voodoo shop run by a Necromancer named Jacquelyn Benoit. He began to learn about other species which made him feel like he wasn’t so alone in the world. Over time, Baptiste found himself falling for Jacquelyn, and though she was the darker kind of her species, she was a woman beyond compare. She forged a bracelet meant to protect him as a gift for their first anniversary and for a time Baptiste was happy in his new life. That is, until unease between the Fae and Necromancers exploded in the city, and Jacquelyn was caught in the crossfire.

The love of his life died in his arms, refusing the bite that could save her life. Though Jacquelyn loved Baptiste she couldn’t see living her life as a vampire. Her death was what brought about the decision to finally leave Louisiana - his home state that was now tainted with nothing but pain. Baptiste had heard whispers of a city in Colorado that was a supernatural haven of sorts. It seemed like the best chance to start a new life. Baptiste moved to Denver, unsure of where the city was. He worked as a bartender, giving advice to the lost souls and feeding off those too drunk to comprehend what was happening until he finally got a name: Evermore.

Rumors began to circulate that the Vampire King had made a home in Evermore. Baptiste felt as if he were being pulled towards the city. This time, Baptiste took a chance and migrated to the Eternal City. And this time, he felt as if he were finally able to leave the pain behind in Louisiana.