Comic Book Character: Prince Jeromos - Personality Profile

Jeromos, in his late 30’s, is very loyal to the Vampire Guardian Angels and is determined to find ways to cure and heal them. It was this loyalty that led Janos to trust him as his right-hand man, with the power to make and execute any decisions for Janos. Even if he is a royal, he does not let it get to his head, and is less arrogant than Janos, and is more empathic, but only with his own kind and not to humans. This leads the Vampire Guardian Angels to be more likely to revolt against Janos and follow Jeromos, who does feel he deserves the throne more than Janos does. Jeromos is a calculating, careful, intelligent and charismatic leader, who exudes confidence. However, he too holds a grudge against Cameron for killing or injuring his army and his “brothers”, making Jeromos responsible for healing the injuries Cameron caused. Jeromos’s own anger leads him to be careless and to be disfigured by Cameron. However, he knows Ms Price’s blood is a cure, and he heals himself when he bites her and turns her into a vampire.

Unlike Janos, Jeromos is merciful towards some of his army’s mistakes  but can also be ruthless if betrayed. Jeromos does secretly look down on Janos because Janos always relies on Jeromos to defend him. Secretly, Jeromos only respects those who can stand up for themselves. He even admires his own enemies if they display courage and skill and even fairness in battle, which explains why he did not kill Cameron when he was disarmed and he had the chance to. He still abides by some ancient codes of loyalty and honor to his own kind, but those can be broken for his own purposes, and he will not hesitate to either imprison or kill Janos in order to take the throne. But mainly he seeks to unseat Janos only for the purpose of continuing to unite and lead the Vampire Guardian Angels because he knows Janos is a poor ruler. His one obsession and weakness though, is Ms Price. He lusts after her and desires for her to become his queen, and is initially angry at Cameron for his disfigurement and her shock at his appearance, but he manages to heal himself and restore his features back to normal. And he holds Ms Price hostage and becomes completely obsessed with the desire to rule and hold on to her and to as much power as he can.

Comic Book Character: Joseph - Personality Profile

Joseph, in his late 20’s, is still grieving, unable to move on from the death of his mother Christina, and harbors a deep resentment for his stepfather Cameron, who was inadvertently responsible for her unintentional death, although Cameron tries desperately to get Joseph to forgive him and who protects him as much as he can. Joseph can’t let go of his rage, and as a result is hot-tempered, moody, with depressive swings. In psychological terms, he would have what’s known as complicated grief disorder, (traumatic or prolonged grief),   symptoms of severe mourning where he is still pining for the deceased, has difficulty moving on, and harbors anger about his loss. However, he also does harbor fond feelings for his stepfather, but is too traumatized to acknowledge them and he cannot fully trust Cameron, or others. He came very close to developing feelings for someone, an Earth Vampire named Catharina who saved him from Gabriel, but she was killed by Jeromos. Joseph concludes that everyone he cares about has been killed, so why bother to care about anyone.

He is unable to open up emotionally to anyone else, and remains a loner. He does have the potential to become a compassionate hero like Cameron, or become a megalomaniac like Janos. He is torn between one or the other. He is extremely confused by the role he now has to play, whether to be a good angel or a bad angel, and he still is very angry about Cameron turning him into a vampire and his loss of a “normal human life” with his mother. He decides, however, that the only way for him to get revenge on Cameron is to become powerful and take the Kingship from Janos, and that would allow him to avenge his mother by leading the Vampire Guardian Angels against Cameron, since Joseph feels he is not strong enough to destroy Cameron himself, and he also feels that he has something to prove by becoming more powerful than his stepfather, and that this will be the only thing that he thinks will give his life meaning.

Comic Book Character: Gabriel - Personality Profile

Gabriel is in his late 30’s. All Gabriel ever wanted was to be saved himself. He harbors a deep resentment of both humans and the Catholic religion for sending him out as a child to fight an army and, as he called out to his Guardian Angel to save him, he was killed instead. Disillusioned, angry, and having lost any faith completely, he became a Guardian Angel himself. But instead of saving humans, he became a serial killer, mercilessly killing them. He suffers from post-traumatic stress, and any prayers that he hears drive him into an uncontrollable rage. His goal in life is to shut humans up so that he does not have to listen to any of their prayers anymore. In human terms he would be considered completely psychotic, as he hears voices (human prayers), suffers from delusions (his reasoning: “People won’t shut up and they are using him to solve their problems because he’s still a Guardian Angel so he has to shut them up so they can’t “use” him anymore and he won’t be a slave to answering their prayers.”) 

Gabriel has sociopathic tendencies. He appears to humans as a charming,  charismatic, loving and helpful angel who promises he will end their suffering, but he is secretly unable to relate to emotion or compassion. He delights in their vulnerability and desperation, often toying with them before killing them with no remorse or guilt. He is a relentless serial killer, tracking humans down through their prayers of despair, desperate to find them no matter what it takes and killing them. He wants them to suffer as he had suffered as a child. Although highly intelligent, his blind rage makes him careless. He hates both Cameron and Joseph  above all things and is determined to get rid of them, and their confrontations lead him to sustain grave injuries, and ironically, he is saved by Jeromos, who harnesses Gabriel’s deep hatred and lust for vengeance and uses Gabriel, now bound to him to saving his life, as a weapon and as the most powerful part of his army. Gabriel apparently has no problem with this, as long as he gets to kill and as long as Jeromos promises him revenge against Joseph and Cameron.

Comic Book Character: Janos (King Janos) - Personality Profile

Janos, in his late 20’s, used to be a brooding  but gentle introvert who kept to himself and who was focused on intellectual pursuits and philosophical study, but everything changed once he had “awakened” by his hidden Vampirism and after realizing that he was of royal blood and a Vampire Guardian Angel. After accepting his role at the constant prompting of his father Gregory, Janos alternated between deep depressive spells and unexpected, sudden rage with an inner struggle of who he was and what he had become. As time passed he became less human and more monster. He was thrown into power without any guidance, and began transforming into a narcissistic megalomaniac with sociopathic tendencies. He was also initially traumatized by his own killings of humans to feed off them and haunted by the rape of his former girlfriend at the hands of his father and the death of her and her child, while at the same time he was given an army, unlimited power, and made King of the Vampire Guardian Angels. Unable to emotionally cope, he preferred to “erase” his “human” feelings. He became arrogant, egotistic, selfish, and developed a lack of empathy , believing that in his own self-importance, no Vampire Guardian Angel could survive without him. 

But Janos is also a weak, indecisive ruler, showing over-confidence but failing to execute his tasks because of his secret low self-esteem, his withdrawal from danger in cowardly fashion, and fear of his own decisions, leaving his right-hand man Jeromos to often lead and make those decisions in his place. He prefers to work behind the scenes and be out of the line of fire. He prefers others to do the dirty work and he won’t even pick up  sword to fight. If his plans did not go well, he did not hesitate to blame others for any perceived failures. A ruthless ruler who demanded constant admiration and praise for his “bravery” and his being the “savior” of the Vampire Guardian Angels (he thinks that without him, they would all be lost), he executed anyone instantly and without mercy who stood in his way or dared defy or criticize him, showing no compassion for anything, as to show any such emotion is a sign of weakness to him. This led to even his followers, and Jeromos, secretly detesting him.

Comic Book Character: Detective Sebastian Costa - Personality Profile

Costa, in his late 30’s, is a restless, get-things-done type of guy, also a Type A individual. He is very competitive and self-critical, always out to “score” another capture of the bad guys with a heightened sense of urgency, as if he’s running out of time. He makes it his mission to be a hero but he feels no accomplishment or satisfaction. To him it’s just another day on the job. He is constantly “wound up” and focused 24/7 on work. But if he makes it his goal to protect you, he WILL protect you. But his personality does make him so persistent in helping Cameron track down the Vampire Guardian Angels, and it becomes even more of an asset when Ms Price is kidnapped by Jeromos. He’s intelligent and methodical, however, he does have an easily aroused temper when he gets frustrated  which can make him over-aggressive, and can be very impatient, which leads him to become indecisive under stress and reckless, especially if he’s frustrated with himself at not knowing what to do in certain highly stressful situations (such as not knowing how to use a sword against Vampire Guardian Angels) and almost making bad decisions, although he did become more gentler and a little more patient when he met Ms Price.

(PS: a little easter egg--in each issue you will find Costa always with a cigarette in his mouth. In the original novel, Costa is a non-smoker, but artist Andrew seems to have depicted him with a cigarette in every scene, including fight scenes and even where bullets are flying at Costa, as a special homage to the black and white crime noir genre.)

Comic Book Character: Ms. Price - Personality Profile

Ms. Price, in her late 30’s, is a ”Type A personality with a complex combination of both an introvert and extrovert personality”. She finds small talk and general social interaction incredibly tedious and intolerable at times because she is so reclusive and often anti-social, but she also craves genuine interactions with people who she can relate to, such as history buffs or other writers. She spends a lot of her time doing research and she supports herself through freelance writing, book royalties, paid talks and numerous grants, and a small inheritance from the parents she never knew, often describing herself as an author by day and (literal) “vampire” by night since she tends to stay up nights writing, and has been known to frequent university libraries late at night. She often feels “alone in a crowd” and feels that she has to have a purpose to be somewhere, such as a book signing. If there is no point in being somewhere, she won’t go, so she rarely socializes or dates. On the other hand, she gets bored easily and requires constant mental stimulation. She prefers time alone but gets restless. She’s pretty much a loner, social only when she needs to be. She’s been told she needs to “come out of her shell”. She often alternates between phases of working in solitude, and periods of social activity. 

All that changed when she met Detective Costa and when the Vampire Guardian Angels came to life. At first they didn’t get along, and Costa seems to have been encouraging her to “get out more” and not take life too seriously, but after some sarcastic bantering and after he rescued her from one of the Vampire Guardian Angels (Zeke), they grew close and began dating. Their relationship, however, is a stormy one since she hates relying on others and Costa is over-protective and determined to keep her safe from the Vampire Guardian Angels. Little is know about her past other than Jeromos’s discovery that Ms Price also has a royal lineage and is immortal and has possible supernatural “resurrection” powers, which would explain how the Vampire Guardian Angels were “brought to life”. She does have problems sleeping due to nightmares in which the Vampire Guardian Angels appear, either stalking her or chasing her. 

What the Character Ms Price, Author, means to the Vampire Guardian Angels

Why are they after Ms Price, the author, what makes some of them so desperate to keep her hostage, and why is she so important to them?

She’s their “Healer”. In a nutshell, she is considered their life-giving “Creator”  who brought them to life through her supernatural belief that they existed, and so whoever “owns” her will have access to her blood, which can heal and resurrect them.

She’s a potential Queen. She is also of royal blood and although initially human, she was already an immortal being having lived several lifetimes without realizing it, and she was turned into a Vampire by Jeromos. So she would make an “ideal Queen” for any Vampire Guardian Angel with royal blood.

She’s a stalking target. Vampire Guardian Angels, particularly  a defiant Vampire Guardian Angel named Zeke (Ezekiel), have stalked her in her dreams, but only Zeke has made physical contact.  Relentless in his pursuit, he was desperate to claim her, but he was killed by Cameron. After that, she refused to pray and tried to hide from them as much as she could, aided by Costa. What does make her a little harder to find is that she does not pray to them so they cannot track her often if they don’t hear her summon them, so the Vampire Guardian Angels also rely on a network of Earth Vampires to watch and report on her every move. But they can’t just take her. They have to adhere to the strict hierarchy, where only their leaders can determine what can be “taken” and “owned” and “claimed”. Jeromos has claimed the author as his and since he controls the Vampire Guardian Angel army and he is a royal, they must obey his orders not to touch her.

She’s a Prince’s obsession. Prince Jeromos is somewhat delusional in his obsession with Ms Price and his pursuit of her. He associates “owning” her with absolute power and status, even if it is a relationship without any love or affection. He idealizes her as his “perfect match” despite the fact that she has no love for him, does not reciprocate, and is terrified of him. He is convinced, however, that she will grow to accept him, and forces himself on her despite her rejection of him. He is extremely jealous of Costa and of anyone who even tries to rescue her or even looks at her with desire. Jeromos is dominating and controlling towards her because he does not want to lose her to another Vampire Guardian Angel, so he guards her 24/7 and restricts her every movement and allows her no contact with anyone or the outside world. He does not care if she never loves him, as long as he possesses her and can use her blood to heal his army and himself, and use her as a status symbol, a sort of Vampire “trophy wife”, for his own pleasures and for his own “healing”. He knows that as long as he has her, he has absolute control over the Vampire Guardian Angels since he will be practically invincible because of her healing blood and he can use it s a bargaining tool with his own army and followers (as in if they want to be healed, they have to do as he says.)