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"I have lived with others more powerful than I in Belle Morte's line for centuries, Anita. I, more than most, know just how much you must fight every night of your existence not to be consumed by their power. If you are not careful, their beauty will become both heaven and hell, you will betray every oath, abandon every loyalty, give up your heart, your mind, your body, and your immortal soul to have them near you but one more night. Then one cold night, a hundred years after the passion is spent, and nothing but ashes remain, you look up and see someone gazing at you, and you know that look, you've seen it before. A hundred years later and someone gazes upon you as if you were heaven itself, but you know in your heart of hearts that it's not heaven you are offering them, it's hell."
—Requiem[src]

Requiem is a powerful British-born vampire of Belle Morte's line. His name comes from being "poetic, but damn depressing". Requiem is introduced in Incubus Dreams when he is already Jean-Claude's third in command, and he becomes Anita's emergency food for the ardeur.

After falling in love with Anita, Requiem requests being sent to another city, and he goes to Philadelphia for a trial visit where he could be second-in-command. Jean-Claude and Anita need to decide if they should have him return to Philadelphia, but their decision is unknown.

Appearance[]

Requiem has waist-length straight black hair, pale skin, startling cornflower blue eyes with a hint of turquoise, a trimmed black thin mustache and a black Vandyke beard. He likes to wear a long, black cloak, and has mannerisms that would go better together with more old fashioned clothes. He is very handsome, but melancholic, and has a habit of quoting poetry. When he stops quoting poetry, things tend to be bad.

History[]

Before the series[]

The name of Requiem's original master hasn't been revealed, but at some point in time Belle Morte offered to buy Requiem from his master to complete her blue-eyed trio: Jean-Claude the Darkest, Asher the Lightest, and Requiem the Brightest-eyed. Requiem and his master fled the continent so that Belle wouldn't keep him, but the master later died in an accident and Requiem ended up with Belle anyway, for a long time.

Belle addicted Requiem to ardeur, as is her habit, and then used it to control him. He refused to do men, and Belle punished him for it for centuries, but he never wavered in his desires or lack of them. Then an extended mission to seduce a noble couple took him away from Belle for a long time, and he fell in love with his companion on the mission, Ligeia, possibly aided by her own version of ardeur. That cured him of his addiction, and when he got back he no longer desired Belle. Belle, enraged from this, had Ligeia killed, and Requiem says this killed his heart for a second time.

It's unclear how Requiem got away from Belle, but at some point he ended up in London in Dracula's court. Like Belle, Dracula had Requiem to seduce women on command, but at least men were off the menu. Requiem stayed with his new master until Dracula went insane and started slaughtering people. The Vampire Council had Dracula assassinated by sending the Harlequin after him, but before they did that they messed with him, and his court. Requiem finally ended up in bed with men, including Byron, who appears to hold some hidden resentment about the matter, possibly because Requiem presumably broke it off again once he regained his senses. It's also possible, although by no means certain, that he refers to this when he says in Incubus Dreams, long before we learn of these events: "A person likes to think of himself in a certain way, and when something happens that makes that no longer possible, you mourn the old self. The person you thought you were."

Once Dracula was dead Belle tried to use the opportunity to recall all members of her line to her own court. Jean-Claude offered many of them an alternative to come work in his clubs, and caused a mass migration to St. Louis instead. Requiem didn't wish to be punished for all eternity for falling in love with someone other than Belle, so he took Jean-Claude up on his offer, and became his third in command either immediately or in a very short order. Requiem later says that no one else than a sourdre de sang could have protected him from Belle's call. This may be an indicator that Belle had sent Requiem away (possibly as a punishment of sorts), as Dracula wasn't a sourdre de sang himself.

Incubus Dreams and Danse Macabre[]

Requiem ends up being Anita's emergency food, but what he truly wants is love, and Anita doesn't have room in her life and heart for him. He's a bit worried that ardeur will turn Anita into another Belle Morte, but their interactions reassure him. He also ends up assisting Anita in a zombie raising that goes slightly wrong.

Requiem takes up an open relationship with Meng Die for a while, but puts a stop to it in Danse Macabre in the hopes of getting closer to Anita. Meng Die doesn't take well to this, and attacks him with a silver knife, hoping to kill him or, failing that, to ruin his chances forever by destroying his beauty. In addition to his third-in-command rank Requiem is at this time the second- or third-most powerful vampire in St. Louis, with Jean-Claude at the top and Meng Die being the other contender for the spots. Requiem would be powerful enough to hold a city of his own, but unlike Meng Die he doesn't have the ambition for it.

They finally realize that Anita's ardeur has addicted Requiem at some point, even as she's been trying very hard not to make him an actual lover. They manage to break him free of it, and afterwards he's secretly worried she'll enslave him again if he feeds the ardeur for her, but still happy enough to be a snack and friends with benefits when she's in better control of her powers. Anita eventually manages to heal the damage Meng Die did to him.

The Harlequin[]

By the time of The Harlequin it has become apparent that Requiem isn't really happy to be just a friend with benefits, and the Harlequin use that to mess with him for a second time. He becomes even gloomier and more prone to quote poetry, as well as more sarcastic. Anita feels pressurized by his neediness and attempts to make their relationship more than what it is, and even if it's mainly the Harlequin making him act on his feelings, the feelings are already there to be manipulated. Having sex has ruined what friendship they once had, and they are never going to be the lovers he wants them to be.

Skin Trade[]

By the time of Skin Trade Anita has tried to remove Requiem from her feeding list. She isn't happy that he's sent among the group to assist and feed her, as she hasn't seen him fight, even if he's said to be okay at it, and she doesn't want to use him as food anymore. The reasoning for his presence is to have someone at hand who is more diplomatic than the rest of the group, in case there is need for negotiations with Maximillian. Requiem isn't happy in his turn, because he's being loaned out as a dancer to Max's revue at Taj for a month in recompense for allowing that big group into his territory. Max has wanted to borrow Jean-Claude's dancers for a while already.

As a further downside, Requiem does expect to be on the menu, and has been clinging the harder the more Anita has tried to distance herself from him. He finally reveals to Anita that he as asked Jean-Claude to find him a new city where he can get a higher rank and have a chance to find a woman who loves him and him alone. Vegas is the first step on that quest, and if that doesn't work out (and he doesn't expect that it will), Philadelphia has the position of second-in-command open with preference for a man of Belle Morte's line. In either case, Requiem won't go back to St. Louis, and she will miss him even if it's the best solution for them both.

Later during the course of Skin Trade Requiem ends up being held and tortured with holy water by Vittorio. Afterwards Requiem suggests they cut away the burns and try to heal the damage with sex again. It works, and presumably he is able to stay and complete his month of striptease as planned.

Hit List[]

By the time of Hit List Requiem has left St. Louis for good and become the Témoin of the Mistress of Philadelphia as well as her main lover.

Affliction[]

By the time of Affliction, Requiem has returned to St. Louis and Anita has spent some time with him. Jean-Claude and Anita will need to decide if he should return to Philadelphia permanently. Anita is uncomfortable sending their people away and she knows that Requiem isn't in love with Evangeline, the master vampire of Philadelphia; he's in love with Anita. Jean-Claude believes Requiem loves Anita not because of the ardeur, but because of who Anita is and because Requiem is a hopeless romantic. They talk about suggesting Requiem see a therapist, but Jean-Claude thinks Requiem doesn't want to "recover from this sickness of love."[1]

Jason[]

Requiem is mentioned for "detoxing" from Anita.

Crimson Death[]

Requiem is mentioned as having been previously used by Anita as a power boost. Anita isn't certain if she can use any vampire that way, or only vampires who are bloodbound to her and Jean-Claude.[2]

Trivia[]

  • Doesn't know how to drive a car (Incubus Dreams)
  • Is powerful enough to become a Master of a City, but lacks the ambition (Danse Macabre)
  • Hates stripping, but is good at it (Skin Trade)

Powers & Abilities[]

  • Raise Lust. Requiem has the power to exponentially raise the sexual arousal of those around him; Anita describes his power as "like hours of really good foreplay packed into seconds".  His power is similar to Jean-Claude's ardeur in that it incites physical arousal, but it cannot incite emotions such as lust or love, nor can Requiem feed off of sexual energy. Further, Requiem is always fiercely polite and sees taking advantage of this power as rape, refusing to use it uninvited, now that he has the freedom to do so.

References[]

  1. Affliction, chapter 03.
  2. Crimson Death, chapter 49.
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