Eric Brooks

Frank Blade

Lucas Cross

At least 190 other aliases

Eric Brooks, born as Abraham Van Helsing, is Blade.

## Origins

Eric, born as Abraham Van Helsing, was born somewhere in Virginia in 1792 to Frederick Van Helsing, a descendant of the legendary Van Helsing monster hunter family, and former slave Tara. He was raised to learn how to fight monsters, mainly vampires, by his father from a young age, and would grow up to hunt the night. At some point in his teens, the legendary Dracula, lord of the vampires, killed his parents, causing him to swear revenge against the night.

## Bram Stoker's Dracula

In 1819, Abraham heard a rumor that Dracula had moved into a new castle near London, England, and he was terrorizing the Seward family. He went to them and offered his monster hunting expertise. Fortuneteller, one of the daughters in the family had already died and had been turned into a vampire, so Abraham was forced to stake her heart. Eventually, the family's other daughter was kidnapped by Dracula, so Abraham and the remaining family members assaulted Dracula's castle, only to find that the second daughter had already been turned. In the chaos, everyone aside from Abraham was killed by the daughter, and Abraham was forced to slay the daughter. Now alone, Abraham confronted Dracula, only to be bitten by him on the neck. Abraham was forced to pour holy water on his neck to stop himself from turning into a vampire, before it was too late. Unfortunately, Dracula was able to escape in the chaos, and Abraham was left with a massive scar on his neck from where the holy water had burned him, due to his bite.

## After 1819

Abraham quickly realized that, while he had stopped himself from turning into vampire, there was still one side effect to his bite. He now no longer physically aged. Abraham would use this to continue hunting monsters for far longer than any of his ancestors. Abraham also changed his name every few years to keep people from questioning why he wasn't aging. In 1897, with his current name being Frank Blade, Frank would tell author Bram Stoker the story of when he fought Dracula, causing Stoker to turn it into a book, though he made many changes.

## Modern day

Abraham currently uses the identity of Eric Brooks, and continues to hunt monsters, specifically trying to find Dracula. The monsters now know him as "Blade, the hunter of the night," and greatly fear him.

Rest is TBA

## Appearance

Blade is an adult, African American, bald man with a strong stature. He wears a pair of red sunglasses and black, 1800s-period appropriate clothing, along with a black trench coat. He carries two silver katanas, a some holy water, and multiple crosses wherever he goes. He also has a massive scar in the shape of water running on his left shoulder and left side of his neck, with two smaller, circular scars inside of that scar. Additionally, when he first fought Dracula, he didn't wear sunglasses, instead wearing a weathered, black top hat and sporting shoulder-length, black hair.

## Powers and Abilities

* Doesn't physically age. Due to this, he cannot die of old age.
* Can't get sick. Due to this, he cannot die of any diseases.
* Incredibly knowledgeable about monsters and how to kill them.
* A lot smarter than average due simply due to how long he has been alive
* Incredibly skilled in many forms of combat, as well as how to use katanas.
* Carries two silver katanas with him. They are silver because that is the weakness of many different monsters, most famously werewolves.
* Carries crosses and holy water with him to use against monsters.

## Trivia

* Eric is not weak to holy water and crosses. That was a temporary problem that was solved after he poured holy water on himself, though it did still leave a scar in the brief time it did burn him.
* Van Helsing pouring holy water on himself is inspired by the film *The Brides of Dracula*.
* The changes made to Blade are inspired by both the Van Helsing character and the Belmont family from the *Castlevania* video game series.
* Blade's birthday is on the day that *The Tomb of Dracula #10* was released, aside from the year. This is the comic issue that Blade first appeared in.
* Blade has a habit of speaking in 1800s era english instead of modern english from time to time. Characters are constantly confused as to what he is trying to say until he catches himself.