Adrian Raines (King of New York)

# King of New York

## Adrian Raines

*What was once an Immigrant from a far off time who’s come to the new world in search of a new life for himself. Only to be eternalized with a long life. In the current era, he’s become a well off business man that supplies New York’s Nocturnal with the continuous supply of blood as the self-proclaimed King of New York.*

## History

### Early Life

Even before the New World was discovered by Columbus in the August of 1492 blood had flown into the ground almost as much as the rain that fell from the skies. Civilizations ruled the land and prospered by sacrificing and massacring thousands, perhaps even millions of people to their Gods. Then the foreign conquistadors came and slaughtered the Mayas, the Aztecs, the Incas, all of them, slaughtered en masse either by sword or by disease.  Then the Europeans carved up the land as much as they did the natives, forming settlements, colonies while they left nothing of the original cultures but the iron scent of blood and the unmistakable smell of gunpowder. Yet despite all this bloodshed the continent remained a symbol of opportunity and a fresh start for new settlers who came from Europe and abandoned their pointless lives in the Old World. They built their farms, harvested their crops, grew their families completely oblivious of the fact that all of their new fortune was paid for with blood…that has always been Humanity’s problem…they never quite understood the cost of blood.

Just like so many before him, Adrian Raines ventured to the New World full of hope and ambition. Hope of a new, meaningful life and ambition for a wealthier life than the one he had in Ireland. Most would already have called him quite fortunate given that he was already part of a rather wealthy family on the Home Islands, yet there was nothing…new about his home. It was all already built, the cities already stood tall, the land he knew like the back of his hand. All he had to do was close his eyes and he could already picture the most impressive thing there was to see in Ireland. The New World on the other hand…that was new. The land was relatively untouched, the mixed cultures who came together was nothing like the world has seen before and the opportunities were absolutely endless! Once he inherits his father’s wealth he could take his money along with a boat and start a completely new chapter in not just his own life, but his family’s story too. Two hundred years from now his descendants would look back at him knowing that he was the one who took the massive leap of faith and made the journey across the sea.

### Coming to the New World

On his twenty-first birthday of all days, Fate struck. His father passed away. Adrian was sad of course…but a part of him, as bad as it made him feel, was also excited. He loved his father of course but it was his father that kept him bound to this bloody island to begin with! His father gave him life yet also kept him from living. Now Adrian felt as if he was finally…free. Free of the chains that bound him to his home. He took his time to mourn his father, as any good son should do, he planned and held his funeral and only a few weeks after his father’s passing Adrian took his first step onto the wooden surface of a boat. Ready to face whatever came his way. The journey across the sea was…challenging to say the least. Only a few days after he left Ireland’s shores a massive storm almost left the entire boat in shambles, it was pure luck that it had managed to hold on at all.  It was almost as if God himself tried to prevent Adrian from crossing. But cross he did, and after throwing up countless times into the sea relief struck him when he finally saw the American coast in the distance, growing ever nearer with the second.

His first three years on the continent, much like the first step he took onto the land, was…uneasy. When he arrived he felt like a man without purpose, so he decided to become a volunteer in a local colonial militia whose  job it was to protect against any Native attacks. The job was rather uneventful, he had a few skirmishes with the natives but the best thing about the experience for him at least was the bond he formed with his mates in the militia. Three years into this new chapter however it all made sense to him. He finally figured out why Fate brought him to the continent, he fell in Love. Most people, Adrian included, never believed in love at first sight but when he laid eyes upon Eleanor… he knew she was the one. He believed with all his heart that she was the one, so only a few months after they got together he proposed to her and they got married. A few months following that Adrian learned that the militia he was a part of had been ordered to disband by his Majesty’s Royal command. As frustrating as this was, he accepted it, for the sake of his wife and the child they had both conceived together. In 1777 he bought 20 acres of land in upstate New York, he even built a house for himself, his wife and his now eighteen month old son.  Things were perfect…but as we all know…good things never last…

### The Revolutionary War

When the Revolutionary War broke out and the Colonies began to fight against British Tyranny, Adrian was one of the first to sign up. Not because he felt overly patriotic for this new country he was a part of, but because he wanted to fight for his wife and more importantly his son so that he would have even more opportunity than he had in his life. A life in a free country that doesn’t have to pay any more ridiculous taxes to the British Crown. He fought under George Washington himself, he suffered through the horrid winter, he followed the instructions and learned under Friedrich Wilhelm Von Steuben. However, even Adrian’s luck had to run out someday…He was injured, shrapnel pierced his leg. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't fight on, not like this. All he could hope for was that he still had a war to return to when he recovered. The general was kind enough to allow Adrian to recover at home after he himself requested it, a decision he would come to regret very, very soon.

### Tragic Beginnings

When he was home recovering from an injury during the Revolutionary War, Eleanor went out to get water for Adrian and found a hurt human begging for help. She offered him shelter and comfort back at the house. Later that night, Adrian heard a commotion in the main room but couldn't get there in time due to his injured leg. He came out to find the man had killed Eleanor and had fatally wounded Charles, his son. Adrian fought him, was stabbed in the chest, but was able to kill the man by smashing his skull against the fireplace. He was too late to say goodbye to Eleanor but held Charles for a few moments before he died. What sort of thoughts even go through a man when he is dying? Imagine the dread you must feel, knowing you did not only fail yourself but your loved ones too. It is a man’s job to protect his family, and he failed. He had avenged them, yes, but had he not been injured he might have been able to save them…He could feel it getting harder to stay awake…sooo…tired…’I am coming…my love…tell our boy…I am coming…’ he mumbled as his vision began to fade. As his eyes began to close, he could hear the faint creaking of a door opening ‘…who…is that?’ he thought as he saw the figure of a woman enter his living room and approach the dying man…’Ah yes…my Lord…sent the Angel of Death…to escort me to his Kingdom…’ A smile rested on his face, while the last thing he saw was the figure of the woman reaching down at him.

### Meeting Mary

Nothing so torturous as waiting for the sweet release of death which never comes. Accepting that your life on this Earthly realm has passed, yet being cursed to walk it nonetheless. Restricted from being reunited with lost loved ones, barred from the gates of Heaven. When Adrian closed his eyes, he didn’t quite know what to expect. He had hoped he would wake up to the sight of his dear wife and his son, waiting for him in Heaven, perhaps there would be nothing? Just…death. The fear of dying, in humans, had always come from a deeper fear of the unknown. No one knew what happened when you passed away, they turned to religion for some kind of answer that could provide comfort for when their time came but they still feared death nonetheless…because despite all that faith…no one knew what to expect. Adrian certainly didn’t expect to open his eyes and awake in his home…with the dead bodies of his family and their murderer…HIS murderer still there…along with someone else… The knife that originally stuck in his chest, now on the floor, nothing left of his stab wound…or any wound for that matter. He jumped up, turning to the strange woman who just…sat there staring at him with this wide satisfied grin on her face…a black cloak covering his blood red hair and…was that blood on her lips?

‘Humans can be soo cruel…’  The woman said, still with the same sinister smile on her lips. ‘Just look at your poor wife…your helpless boy…’  Adrian’s fists clenched when he turned to the strange woman as he began to shout in a shaky voice. “Who are you?! What did you do to me?! I should be dead! I should be with my wife! With my…boy…!” The volume in his voice grew softer with the word, his clenched fists wrapped around his stomach while he let out a grunt. So…hungry… He thought while the woman rose from her seat. ‘My…my… is that any way to speak to the woman who saved you? I did not kill your family after all…HE did!’  She raised a finger and directed it towards the now dead man who had murdered his loved ones. Adrian turned to the man, staring at the blood leaking out of him. “Blood…” He mumbled all while  his hunger grew and almost as if he turned into some feral beast he jumped on his family’s murderer and began to suck every drop of blood he could out of the man’s corpse all while the strange woman’s sinister smile grew from ear to ear. When he was…finished… Adrian stood up, wiping the blood from his mouth while he turned to the woman and fell to his knees. “Who…are you? What did you do to ME?!” He once again asked. The woman simply caressed his cheek with her finger and smiled. ‘Most know me as…Mary. And I told you already…I saved you.’

### Living through the Ages

Happiness was no longer an option. Not for him. His chance at a happy life was taken away from him. Hell, his life in general was taken from him. All he had left was anger and rage and the urge to exact his revenge upon any human he could get his hands on. Over the decades, he had stuck with Mary, the woman he owed his second chance too. The woman who granted him the possibility of revenge, a woman who could only encourage his desires. All of his desires. Across his time with her, Adrian grew to be a trusted…lieutenant you could say… Someone Mary could rely on to get the job done if she wasn’t already doing it herself. He followed her across the United States, killed  for her and as a reward he had his revenge on the poor souls he could get his hands on.  One day, at the dawn of the 20th century she had sent him back to where it all began, a place once his home and now a prosperous city…New York. It was quickly becoming the center of the World, perhaps the most important city in the country, a person Mary could trust there could be invaluable. Once there he bought the land where his old house had one been, where he now set up his own company. A company that was to bring in profit but also act as a safe haven should Mary ever need it. As always Adrian followed the orders he was given to the exact letter. The company grew, and so did his wealth and thus, Mary’s power. By the time the Depression hit the United States, the Raines Corporation had become one of the largest of its kind, a company primarily focused on technological development and a leader in revolutionary fields such as DNA research. Living in one of the largest skyscrapers in New York didn’t mean he was exempt from orders however and as the city grew in population, so did the population of vampires.

### Waking up to Reality

One night, Adrian entered a house along with one of Mary’s followers, this was where the past came back to haunt him. He simply froze while the vampire that came with him swiftly murdered a woman, a child and…a husband. Flashes of his family’s faces appeared to him and when he finally snapped out of this…panic attack. He approached the feeding vampire from behind and ripped off his head. That was the year he woke up from his bloodlust, the year when he finally ended his quest for revenge. The year he realized not every human is to blame for his suffering. He broke off Mary’s cult, something she was obviously quite unhappy about. He knew he would need some kind of leverage over Mary, a reason for her to keep him alive. So he made himself irreplaceable. New York was filled with degenerates no one would miss, there was an endless supply of criminals and bad people. Every so often, Adrian had dozens of those lowlives kidnapped and taken to a secret location where he would keep them alive as long as he could while taking their blood from them. He knew that with every year it would grow riskier to hunt for New York’s vampires, and many did not even want to. So he created…a blood bank if you wish. Where he sold human blood, at a cost. Adrian’s influence would be felt throughout New York’s underground, while during the day he was a visionary. In just a few years he made it more appetizing for Mary to…ally with him rather than murder him. Which is how he stayed alive to this day. And now here we are, the present. Adrian Raines, CEO of the Raines Corporation, a leader in the treatment of blood and hereditary diseases, gene manipulation and medical technological advancement.  In the day he was kind and a visionary billionaire who gave a lot about Humanity. At night he was the man responsible for countless deaths, a man who supplied the vast majority of vampires in New York with blood, a King in New York.

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

* **Vampirism**
* **Enhanced Strength**
* **Enhanced Speed**
* **Enhanced Senses**
* **Transformation (Via. bat, wolf, mist)**
* **Regeneration**
* **Immortality**
* **Invulnerability**
* **Superhuman Reflexes**
* **Superhuman Stamina**
* **Psychokinesis**

### Abilities

* **Expert Hand-to-hand Combatant**
* **Brilliant Mind**

### Weaknesses

* **Sunlight:** might not kill him or physically alter him but it does weaken his powers significantly to the point where several powerful bullets in the head can kill him.
* **Wooden or silver stakes** to the heart
* **Bloop Deprivation**