White Court Heartbreaker
Kestrel is a younger son of one of the House Raith branches. Regarded by many as young, dumb and full of vigor, Kestrel is not the vapid boytoy he portrays.
Personality[]
Before his change in his late teens, Kestrel was a shy, sweet and kind young man. He deeply loved Adrien deeply, far beyond a mere teenage crush, and was looking forward to spending the rest of his life with the man he thought was his soulmate. In the years since Kestrel's first feeding, he's become a lot harder. He doesn't trust anyone fully, in part because his family kept the truth of his nature from him, which led to Adrien's death, and in part because Adrien lied to him for over a year about his true feelings.
But Kestrel is good at putting on a mask. To the world, he's the carefree assistant, and son, of Lene Raith. He's good at what he does, and he enjoys much of it... but he's also a lonely young man who is almost certain he'll never experience genuine closeness again, if only because true love is holy water to his kind of vampire. He tries to treat the kine with at least moderate respect, and doesn't feed on them as casually as many of his relatives do, his humanity still very much in his recent past.
SKILLS[]
CHARISMA[]
Competent
If there's one thing Kestrel is good at, it's being charming and charismatic. Even if he were a normal human being, he would know how to use his own force of personality to get others to notice and like him with alarming regularity. When he puts his mind to it, he can regularly convince others to do things they might not otherwise do.
COMBAT[]
Expert
In the event that Kestrel's bodyguard was subdued, his mother had him learning self defense techniques at a young age, including a variety of martial arts and sword fighting. On his own, he ranks in at Competent, but when he draws upon his demonic nature, he functions at Expert level due to the demon's increased precision and inborn talent.
EXPRESSION[]
Competent
When it comes to expressing himself, Kestrel has a variety of methods to choose from. His mother insisted he learn at least one instrument, so he learned piano, violin and the flute. She wanted him to embrace his artistic side, and so he learned to draw, to paint and to sculpt from clay. Her exacting standards mean he has an eye for aesthetics that lie beyond current trends when it comes to fashion, and he's a talented dancer and singer, as well.
SUBTERFUGE[]
Competent
When your uncle has knocked off almost ever single male heir he's ever had, and is hundreds if not thousands of years old, you learn to become an experienced liar very quickly. Kestrel is quite good at obsfuscating the truth, either through misdirection and choice of words, or through outright lies. As a result, this also means he's usually pretty skilled at figuring out when someone is trying to play him.
POWERS[]
AGILITY[]
Enhanced
While in his baseline human state, Kestrel is at the peak of human reflexes and speed. Once he begins drawing on his power, however, he's much faster and more agile, able to dodge projectiles like arrows with moderate effort and still keep moving.
FEEDING[]
Enhanced
When Kestrel feeds, it pours intense pleasure into their brain, even as he's pulling their life energies out. It's very hard to resist, even if one knows what's happening. But because Kestrel is young and newer into his power, he is less potent than older members of the Raith clan. It takes a great effort of will to resist Kestrel when his Hunger is upon him, but it is possible. Of note, while Clan Raith prefers to feed off the emotion of lust (replenishing the emotion as they feed), they are also able to feed on other emotions, such as fear, anger, disgust and the like. Doing so doesn't replenish the emotion as it does for lust.
HEALING[]
Enhanced
Kestrel can take a lickin' and keep on tickin'. Due to his status as a White Court Vampire, it takes a /lot/ to kill him, though he's not truly an immortal being. Beheading, a shot directly to the heart, having his life force sucked out of him by another Vampire, massive blunt force trauma, it all could do it. Any damage that isn't instantly fatal, though, Kestrel can heal through the use of his demonic nature. The downside of this is that it leaves him in the grip of his Hunger.
MIND CONTROL[]
Enhanced
Kestrel is a very attractive, charming youth who can turn heads. When he draws upon his demonic nature, however, Kestrel can use his powers to push that natural charm to a superhuman level, causing people who might otherwise be attracted to fall under his spell. Those with opposing sexual orientations or great strength of will can shrug off the effects with effort, but the weak willed and those who already find Kestrel attractive will fall under his sway. Those who truly love someone else, romantically, will be immune to the effects of his mind control.
STRENGTH[]
Enhanced
Kestrel Raith is strong. When in his regular human state, and not calling on his demon, he's at peak human strength, almost hitting Enhanced levels. Once he starts drawing on his demon, however, Kestrel quickly reaches full Enhanced strength, allowing him to perform superhuman feats like bending solid steel, or punching through a brick wall, for example.
ADVANTAGES[]
CARS[]
Kestrel has access to a wide variety of vehicles, both vintage and modern, and drivers to go with them.
CONTACTS[]
Kestrel is the son of Lene Raith, one of Lord Raith's siblings. This means Kestrel has a little pull in the White Court, and affords him access to his wealth, protection from enemies, and a variety of places in which to live. Should he fall out of favor, it wouldn't be a good time.
WEALTH[]
As a scion of the ruling house of the White Court, Kestrel can draw on the Raith family fortune to support himself in a lavish lifestyle, within reason. He's not going to be able to purchase his own country... but if he really wants it, he could probably talk his way into his own country club.
WEAKNESSES[]
HUNGER[]
Kestrel might look like a stunningly attractive human being, but he is, in fact, a White Court Vampire, with all the ups and downs that come with it. Bonus, stunningly attractive. Drawback? Hunger. When he draws too deeply or too often on his demon, Kestrel begins to waken his Hunger. His skin turns paler, his eyes turn metallic and eventually go white, and the inner predator inside him eventually comes out to play, whether or not he wants to. Normally, his Hunger can be kept at bay with sexual, romantic or simply intimate contact with humans, but in life and death situations, his demonic side will always choose Kestrel's life over that of a kine, no matter how much Kestrel might personally object.
NEPOTICIDE[]
Lord Raith has a tendency to off his male heirs, be they sons or nephews. Since his own tastes don't run toward men, Lord Raith doesn't seek to exercise the kind of control he has over his female relatives on the males, but he also tends to kill them after they've outlived their purpose or become a possible threat or even are simply no longer amusing. Kestrel is well aware his uncle might one day kill him, and is keeping a fairly low profile as a result.
TRUE LOVE[]
True Love, that is, love that is reciprocated between both parties, is anathema to White Court Vampires. It blocks much of their power from working on the lovers, and they cannot feed from them or even touch them without burning themselves, similar to other vampires and holy symbols.
UNDESIRED ATTENTION[]
Kestrel has no way to turn off the Glamour that makes others want him. Even when he's trying to be stealthy, even when he's trying to be avoid notice, people will notice and remember him or even throw themselves at him.
Section 1[]
It all starts with a man. Of course it does, it always does. That man was, unfortunately for him, one of my mother's many, many, many lovers, lost to the throes of her passion. And then I was born, none the wiser of my father's identity. My mother raised me with as much love and care as one of our kind is able to give, which is to say... She hired a nanny. She played a distant but loving figure as I grew. I say 'our kind', because my mother is a White Court Vampire, and my father was one of her meals. I was a mildly unexpected result, and foisted on the aforementioned nanny. I grew up in the lap of luxury and never wanted for much of anything, save affection and, perhaps, a father figure. I had uncles, and cousins, but most were much older than me and often quite busy, and had no need to visit with a quiet and oddly solemn child.
Section 2[]
My life was focused on studies, and on social graces, with breaks allowed for normal childhood behaviors. At some point, the rotating staff of nannies became a rotating staff of bodyguards, and at that point, I realized my family might just be wealthy, and not everyone had massive swimming pools and an entire fleet of cars at their command, nor did they hobnob with notables in world government. So it was that at sixteen, I found myself at a party my mother was attending, ostentibly her escort for the evening, but more a chance to show off how I'd been growing to the rest of the family. There, I met a man. He was handsome, with brown hair touched with grey, and piercing blue eyes. And he cut quite the figure in his tailored suit. His name was Adrien, and he was in his late 30s and more than a little enamoured of my appearance. While I hadn't yet found my true nature, I was quite attractive, and knew how to move and dress to accentuate it. Mother insisted, of course. Adrien set on a course to have me for his own, which Mother was all too happy to allow. I was simply flattered at the attention of someone so amazing, and, honestly, I'm sure there were some issues regarding absent parentage involved in the matter. Adrien groomed me for almost a year before he made his first move, inviting me to spend my birthday on his yacht. Having never been on a yacht before, I was excited. Of course Mother agreed. Either she'd gain a pawn to control, or she'd have a much more useful child as a result of my first feeding.
Section 3[]
Adrien's yacht was bigger than most people's apartments, almost more of a private cruise ship. There was a party, full of Adrien's friends, jaded young men and women with hard, hungry eyes. It was my birthday, and they were all there to celebrate it... the way Adrien celebrated things. There's a reason he was on friendly terms with White Court Vampires. More than a little drunk and convinced Adrien loved me as much as I loved him, we adjourned to his bedroom and did what comes naturally to a teenager in love and a predator who's spent years at his craft. The next morning was blissful, waking cuddled up to Adrien, and soon thoughts of marriage, and a family, entered my head. We were blissfully happy for months and months, until Adrien's wife caught us in bed. She never said a word, just walked into his bedroom, turned and walked right back out, the door shutting quietly but forcefully. I didn't know. Not only did he have a wife, he had children, his oldest son almost my own age. I begged him to leave her, told him again, and again, how much I loved him and he meant to me. None of that mattered as much as his image, though. He told me we had to be more discrete, more secretive. Our romance became a series of business trips to other towns with a separate ticket for me, not meeting until we got to the hotel. Weeks from my 18th birthday, he once again refused to leave her, because it would destroy him financially and in the business sector.
Section 4[]
My own family's considerable wealth was definitely a temptation for him, but Adrien refused, again, to leave her. I remember standing on the balcony in a thin, gauzy robe, still feeling heated from our latest argument. The robe had been what I'd begun to call an Apology Gift from Adrien, something he gave me every time I became upset at our situation, something to mollify me and distract from the situation. The most recent had been a pure white horse he'd had delivered to the Raith estates a few months back. I'd named her Zeri, which means 'Unclouded' in Ancient Etruscan, a language my mother had oddly insisted I learn from a young age. I was getting tired of being treated like a petulant child, though... while I stared out at the city and pouted. Adrien came to me, and his hands swiftly awoke fire and need in me, as they always did. But this time, it was different, and I couldn't explain it. My skin felt like it was on fire, and the only thing that could dampen the flames was Adrien... When I came to, Adrien was asleep on the bed, and I lay next to him, breathing hard and feeling... odd. Different. I finally sat up, and realized... Adrien wasn't breathing. Panic set in, and my bodyguard came rushing in when he heard me screaming, and swiftly started gathering my belongings. I didn't even know the man's name, but he was quick to comfort me, but careful not to touch my skin, even as he helped me dress guiding me through the hotel and into the lobby... and into a classic white limo.
Section 5[]
In the car, smiling sweetly, sat my mother. Mother let me weep on her shoulder and explained as kindly and gently as she was able what I was, what had happened. She was not cruel, or even uncaring in that moment. It was one of my cousins, sitting opposite us, who decided to twist the dagger a little to the left. Had he truly loved me, and I him, she explained, Adrien would still be alive, and I would not be burdened with The Hunger. Even more than the loss of someone I loved was the loss of the idea of him, that it had all been, if not a lie, a great exaggeration... and I fell quiet and slept until we returned to the estate. That was over three years ago, and in that time, I've done my best to make myself very, very useful to Mother as her personal assistant, her right hand, and her errand boy, while still doing my best to seem as unthreatening and uninterested in usurping power as I could. I've done my best to avoid harming the humans brought to me, the kine, since then... but I haven't always kept control.