The Collector

Name: His real name is unknown, but most in London call him 'The Collector.' Others, the few that are familiar with him, call him Lazarus.

Place and Date of Birth: Once more, unknown. But it is believed he was born on the continent of Europe sometime around 900 BC. He, himself, is unsure having no real memory of his life prior to his turning.

Age: Roughly 3,000 although it is believed he is closer to 2,900.

Appears: 40

Status: Vampire

Creator: He is a pureblood

Character background: As far back as Lazarus can recall, he was imprisoned. It is believed that he was born to a prisoner, a woman, whose crimes would never be known to him for she died in child birth. Lazarus was raised by the other prisoners in the dungeon which was visited so rarely by those who guarded it that a child was easy to conceal. If he had been found, he would have been killed for he was a vampire...

Forty long years he recalls being hidden from view. Many great armies marched on the soil above the place he was held captive. He was taught the art of thievery and sword play from those who raised him - thieves, murderers, debtors and the like. They all knew what he was, for his mother had been the same. They fed him blood from every source imaginable from those that died in the prison to the rats that entered unknowingly. He knew nothing of education or religion at this point which why it came as a great shock to him when the prison was raided by warriors who slaughtered the only people Lazarus had ever known as family - his fellow prisoners.

He'd spent the last forty years hiding from view and so hiding from the warriors came easily to him. It was just too long a period of time before they left... days turned into weeks and the ax wheeling mad men remained, using the dungeon for an armory and Lazarus never had a chance to escape and his hunger grew... No one knows how Lazarus eventually escaped from imprisonment, but many of his fellow vampires tell a tale that in the night he drank the blood of over one hundred men in the course of one night before disappearing into the darkness.

For years Lazarus was just a shadow... a vampire capable of hiding just about anywhere. He educated himself and by the 1300s, became a force to be reckoned with. He ruled the London underground, a network of vampires. Only one of the vampires was his by birth. A son. The others consisted of those he had created some strays he had collected, earning him the name of 'The Collector.' He protects young vampires in exchange for their aid as they grow more powerful and older. Most remain loyal to him. Those that do not are killed by the others, who called themselves the 'collection.'

A vampire Lord among vampire Lords, no one questions Lazarus. Not even elder vampires, of which there are many. Lazarus is loyal and friendly to those older than him, believing in the old saying keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer.

In the late 1700s, Lazarus' 'collection' had grown to stretch across the entire island off the main land of Europe to not only include England, but Scotland as well. This is why when Dominic Les Guillaume, a French noblemen, returned from the new Americas, he was brought to Lazarus' attention. It seemed the young vampire, who walked freely in their lands, needed to taught a lesson or collected into the fold of the underground. Lazarus sent some of the collection out to find this 'stray' and bring him in, but to Lazarus' surprise, Dominic was not alone. He had turned another... a native american child who was not solely a vampire, but also part werecreature. Knowing Dominic to be unaware of what he had done, Lazarus informed him and told him to disappear and to hide the halfling... but not to tell this 'William' what he was. There was a legend told to him by elder vampires that said one would come of this breed - half vampire and half were - and he alone would change the way of vampire life as it was known. The elders would kill William if they discovered him, fearing the change. Lazarus, however, knew fate when he saw it... He gave aid to the pair and soon, both Dominic and William disappeared in to France.

Lazarus' son, his only pureblood child, demanded to follow William, to kill the 'half breed' once and for all to end whatever change was to come. To stop him, Lazarus took his own child's life. Destiny was set and unchangeable. William had to live. Lazarus took great pains in keeping William's existence a secret from the elders, but the legend of the half vampire, half were remains to this day.

At present Lazarus is still the leader of London's underground... a collector and vampire Lord. Many know of him, but few have ever seen him...