Damien Darkblood

**Damien Darkblood** is a demon detective who seeks justice on others to save his own soul. He previously worked for the Global Defense Agency, before being sent back to Hell after disobeying orders from Cecil Stedman.

## Appearance

Darkblood stands at an average human's height, is potbellied, has red skin, a mildly long tail, eyes with yellow sclera and white irises, and grey hair with a white geometric-patterned shaved region. His other facial features include a broad nose, thick chin with two horn-like protrusions on the sides and pointy ears faced to the sides. Both hands each have four fingers: an index, a middle finger, little finger and a thumb. Damien's attire consists of a skintight, two toned grey undershirt with an abstract geometric pattern on the chest, a cream raincoat, worn unbuttoned, and a russet fedora hat with a grey strap. He walks barefoot.

## Personality

Darkblood is a stoic, often expressing very little emotion in a monotone, hoarse voice. When talking with people he is straightforward and harsh about the facts, which often makes him seem off-putting and rude. He claims that the nuance of human speech is difficult for him to comprehend, although he could have been deliberately provocative. Both Cecil Stedman and Omni-Man, two very thick-skinned individuals, find him displeasing and intimidating due to his bluntness and dry-wit, neither of whom can't help but insult the demon at every encounter. In spite of his outward appearance, Darkblood is self-described as a repentant demon who believes in justice, trying to do good, although mostly so that he could escape having to return to Hell. The only instances wherein Darkblood shows aggression is when Cecil has him banished back to Hell, cursing Cecil for his bullheaded decisions, and when Donald Ferguson acts mildly scarred at him, snarling back at him.

Darkblood's biggest weakness is his overconfidence. His desire to find the truth is so uncompromising that he is completely unafraid (as well as uncaring) of any consequences that may follow from revealing a truth prematurely. Furthermore, as Cecil states, Darkblood prefers to see things only in one light; choosing not to see the big picture when it comes to dangerous cases and refusing to compromise his worldviews (especially if it challenges his perspective of right and wrong). His rebellious attitude and uncompromising behavior has made him near impossible to work with, resulting in him often being alone. He was overconfident that both Omni-man and Cecil could do nothing against him, unable to see how far both were willing to go in order to resist him.

## History

### Death of the Guardians

Cecil asks Donald for some good news, but he tells his boss that whoever had killed the Guardians had turned off the cameras and security systems. Cecil complains that what he had said was not good news and tells everybody to get out. He tells the demon detective Darkblood to reveal himself. Darkblood looks around and tells Cecil everything he knows. Cecil tells Darkblood to have at it and let him know if he needs help.

Omni-Man spots Damien Darkblood, telling him that the ceremony was private. He complains that he never gets invited, but reminded him that he always showed up anyway, adding that he wanted to discover clues and catch the killer, but Omni-Man told him not to pretend to do it because he cared, knowing he only did not want to go home and told him that he had already told Cecil everything he knew. Darkblood repeats that he knew Omni-Man had seen and heard nothing, having been left for dead. Omni-Man asked if he was insinuating something, but Darkblood said that he simply did not understand how to communicate like humans.

Debbie sits down while working at the kitchen, when she gets cold. Her computer turns off and she faces Damien, who apologizes. She asks him what he is doing, and he explains that he was looking for clues since the massacre did not make sense to him. He points out that there had been seven dead and only one alive - her husband, so he wanted her to help him since his answers had been unsatisfactory. She asks Darkblood why he cared and he explains that he had escaped from hell and now seeked justice for others so he could save his soul. He asks if her husband had not told her anything to soothe her fears, but she mentions that he had not, leaving once Nolan turned on the light. After asking her if she was all right, he felt the cold and knew Darkblood had been there, which he did not like.

### Investigation on Omni-Man

Darkblood pours himself a drink and receives Nolan, telling him that he had wondered if he would come. Nolan tells him that he had been in his house and frightened his wife. Darkblood mentions that he had murdered seven people, but Nolan tells him that perhaps it had been him, going to his house in order to finish the job he started, being a demon. Darkblood tells him that demons know evil when they see it, but Nolan ignores and tells him that if he goes back in his house he would not have to do anything, since people would believe him over the demon. Darkblood tells him that he would not give up, since the truth could not be hidden and his wife already suspected, wondering how long until his son did as well.

Back at the Grayson's, an orchid freezes as Damien Darkblood shows up and looks around. He takes notes and sees Cecil is there as well with cops, who point guns at the demon. Cecil tells Darkblood that Nolan had warned them about him.

### Sent Back to Hell

At the Pentagon, Cecil and the officers took Darkblood through a hallway. Cecil told him that when they had searched his office, they had found dried blood. He tells him that it was planted since he did not try to kill Nolan or the Guardians. Cecil tells him he knows, but had to banish Darkblood anyway since he continued investigating despite Cecil's orders. Darkblood scoffs at the idea since he had destroyed the *Demonius Ex-Mortum* book that is used to banish demons centuries ago, but Cecil informs him they used artificial intelligence to reconstruct the fragments into legible text. As the ritual starts, Cecil explains demons see reality in black and white, but Cecil needed more time to know why Nolan had killed the guardians and how to stop him. Darkblood is grabbed by chains and taken back to Hell not before cursing Cecil that he will see Cecil in hell someday and there will be a worse place for him in the inferno.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Teleportation**: Damien seems to be able to appear anywhere without restriction. Unless, presumably, he was trying to enter an area that was supernaturally guarded/warded against him or his kind or disruptive to magic in general, he can appear in any location no matter how secure. The only warning that he is approaching is that it becomes cold enough in the area that breathing starts to fog.
* **Psychometry**: Damien can gain impressions on crimes by touching evidence and the remains of the victims. While these visions show him how the victim died, they don't show him who perpetrated the crime.
* **Intuitiveness**: Damien is a skilled detective and can survey a crime scene with relative ease.

## Weaknesses

* **Exorcism**: As a demon, Damien can be banished from the mortal plane of existence back into Hell by means of a simple ritual. Damien must be placed inside a broad white circle near a table (possibly an altar) with a lit candle, an iron bell and the *Demonius Exmotum*, a spell book or holy scripture written in Latin. One man chants an incantation from the book, while another rings from the bell. A gust of wind surrounds the circle, followed by the appearance of a bright glowing red pentagram inside the circle. Chains emerge from inside the pentagram, binding Damien, dragging him inside a portal and back into Hell.

## Relationships

### Enemies

* Nolan Grayson/Omni-Man
* Global Defense Agency
	+ Cecil Stedman
	+ Donald Ferguson

## Trivia

* Despite some parallels to the occult detective archetype, Damien Darkblood is more akin to Rorschach from the *Watchmen* graphic novel, in terms of personality and motivations. The comic book version of Darkblood is even dressed identically to Rorschach.
* Damien's appearance seems to be heavily inspired by Hellboy, who is also a demon anti-hero.
* War Woman mentions Damien, suggesting that Damien has been around for a long time on Earth as the guardians are well aware of his existence.