Blake Keely

**Blake Keely** was a student at Yale University and a member of the Omega Fraternity. Keely is not a member of one of the Houses of the Veil.

## Biography

### Background

Blake Keely came from a rich family. In high school, he played on the lacrosse team. During a game with a rival team, Blake kicked an opponent when he was on the ground. As a result, every college—except Yale—had revoked his scholarship. At Yale, Blake Keely would continue to play on the lacrosse team as well as join the Omega Fraternity. As a result, he would live at the fraternity house on Lynwood St.

Additionally, Blake was also a model with Abercrombie & Fitch. His posters were plastered on the store's windows on Broadway St.

### Merity Usage

Blake Keely first got a hold of the Merity drug from Lance Gressang, who sold it to him believing it was bad weed. At some point, Blake Keely would discover the effects of Merity when he drugged women without their consent at Omega Fraternity parties, making them highly suggestible and eager to follow his orders. Blake would keep the supernatural effects of Merity to himself, making his fraternity brothers believe he was simply persuasive. Even without Merity, Blake would repeatedly drug and rape intoxicated women while filming himself. He would save the these videos on his phone. Early on in the year, his lacrosse teammate Colin Khatri would ask where he got the drug and as a result, Blake would introduce Colin to Lance and Tara Hutchins.

At the Omega Meltdown party, Blake would drug Mercy Zhao with Merity, forcing her to strip and perform sexual acts for Blake and other fraternity members. The morning after the party, Blake texted Mercy a video of her sexual assault and tauntingly invited her to another party, likely to cow her into silence about his actions. He would send the video to fraternity members Jason and Rodriguez, the latter of which sent the video to two more people.

### Confrontation with Alex

After finding out what happened to Mercy, Alex Stern went to the Omega fraternity house and compulsed 3 fraternity members, one of which was Blake Keely, with Starpower. After some questioning under compulsion, Blake Keely easily handed over his phone to Alex and confessed he got the Merity from some guy at the forestry school, which Alex deduced was Lance and Tara. When Alex asked, Blake said he didn't kill Tara Hutchins and was visibly confused at the question. Alex used Starpower to make Blake literally eat shit out of a clogged toilet in the fraternity house, recording it on his phone and sending it to his numerous contacts.

### Attack on Il Bastone

Aware of Blake's abuse of Merity while remaining unaware of Alex's interrogation, Dean Elliot Sandow planned for Blake Keely to be the perfect scapegoat for Tara's murder. Using a coin of compulsion, Sandow armed Blake Keely with Starpower and the silver knife he used to kill Tara, and sent him to Il Bastone, ordering him to attack Alex and suggest that Keely himself killed Tara. Tara's voicemail later found by Detective Turner on Keely's phone in which she threatened to go to the police would act as a false motive as for why Blake would murder Tara. Blake knocked on Il Bastone and ordered to be let inside. The Astrumsalinas compelled Pamela Dawes to let him in, only to be thrown against the banister and hit her head against the wall.

Alex threw on Dawes' headphones and ran to turn on the sound panel to counteract the compulsion as she punched in Turner's number on her cell. Blake chased her into the armory and tossed the headphones away, only for Alex to scratch his face and make to run down the hall. Blake quickly tackled her and ordered her to be still and quiet. Angry, Blake beat Alex and spoke, demanding to know why she ruined his life and sadistically remembering how he 'killed' Tara. Sandow then showed up, allowing Blake to order him to stab and kill Alex, who was still under the compulsion to be still and not speak. Alex, taking advantage of the loophole, whistled for the Lethe spirit hounds. The jackals burst in the door, tackling and biting Sandow off of Alex and overwhelming Blake, who was bitten and bleeding from his biceps and his thigh. The jackals retreated and although injured, Blake crawled over to Alex. He began slamming Alex's skull into the floor, only for Pamela to smash his head in with the bust of Hiram Bingham III, ultimately killing him.

### Post-Mortem

After his death, Blake Keely would officially be found to be the murderer of Tara Hutchins. While Alex knew Keely didn't kill Tara due to her interrogation, Sandow explains it away, saying that Blake might've believed his own innocence or had been made to forget by whoever sent the hellbeast after Darlington and the gluma after Alex.

According to the official report given to the public, Blake Keely had attacked a woman in her home and her husband had fought him off with a golf club. Forensics had matched the knife he’d been carrying with the weapon in the Tara Hutchins murder investigation. Even after Alex's recording of Sandow's guilt was brought to the Lethe board, it was agreed that Blake would continue to be blamed for Tara's murder. The Lethe board didn’t want anyone to attempt the creation of a nexus through ritual homicide and they didn’t want Lethe connected to Tara’s death, especially with it being funding year.

## Personal Attributes

### Personality

Blake Keely had anger and entitlement issues he redirected through his sexually violent actions against women. His conventional attractiveness as a white man from a rich family enabled these issues.

### Physical Appearance

Blake Keely was conventionally attractive, frequently described with a 'lazy, easy smile.' He has blonde hair.

## References

1. ↑ *Ninth House* Chapter 24 (Winter)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 *Ninth House* Chapter 14 (Winter)
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 *Ninth House* Chapter 15 (Winter)
4. ↑ *Ninth House* Chapter 29 (Early Spring)
5. ↑ *Ninth House* Chapter 30 (Early Spring)
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 *Ninth House* Chapter 26 (Winter)
7. ↑ *Ninth House* Chapter 27 (Early Spring)
8. ↑ *Ninth House* Chapter 28 (Early Spring)
9. ↑ *Ninth House* Chapter 32 (Spring)
10. ↑ *Ninth House* Chapter 26 (Winter) - "“He seemed impossibly tall, his golden, tousled head framed by the coffered ceiling.”