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Powers/Abilities: Blood's abilities varied based on the circumstances, needs, etc.

    As a vampire, he had enlarged canine teeth and fed on blood to survive, although his lover, the Woman, provided him a regular blood supply to prevent him from having to feed on others. He was occasionally overcome with hunger, although, even without feeding, he may sometimes have gone months or even years without feeding and without being affected by the hunger. Time apparently passed differently in the realms in which he existed.

    He was apparently more powerful than the other vampires, and he could fight off a horde of them.

    Sunlight pained him somewhat, but he was more resistant to it than the other vampires;

    On one occasion he transformed his arms into bat-like wings to fly.

    As the Old Man, he could apparently provide food and other needs for an entire village.

    Even after being mortally-wounded, he existed in a bedridden, death-like state for an extended period of time.

History:

(Blood: A Tale#1) - One day in an unidentified realm, the sea turned to blood and from that was delivered a cocoon that contained an infant boy, who was found by an unidentified woman who was happy to raise him as her own. The Old Woman who apparently ruled their people told the woman she could raise the child but would have to give him up from he grew up.

    This happened quickly, and the mother felt as if she had only found the boy the day before.

    The Old Woman then led the mother to "the Monastery" and swatted the mother to the ground when she attempted to resist her son being given over thusly. The Boy followed the mother and was taken in by Brother, one of the Holy Ones and then brought to Father, who was to supervise his education. The Boy roomed with Brother, who apparently abused him, possibly sexually.

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    In the mornings, the boy meditated, locked in his cramped cell; in the afternoons, he sat with Father, studying the Books (written, he was told, in God's own hand). and when the boy asked questions, father beat him; eventually the boy stopped asking questions. The late afternoons were spent in the kitchen, helping to prepare the Holy Ones' meals. In the evenings, he walked the halls of the monastery, and when he returned to his room, he would withdraw into the darkness of his mind. And the Boy grew into a Man.

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    The day before the Man was to take his vows and become one of the Holy Ones, he discovered that Father was actually writing the Books. Enraged and disillusioned, the Man slew Father and Brother, and remorselessly departed in a hot air balloon.

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   After sailing for an undetermined period, his balloon was torn apart by a flock or murder of some black, winged creatures, and he fell to the Earth, arriving in the Valley of Pain, a place of diseased and deformed people. The he met Little One -- which appeared to have stumps for all four limbs and floated via a harness attached to some sort of drone/ship -- and the Old Man, who provided food to this society. During what seemed to be a dream, the Old Man named the Man "Blood" before apparently revealing his own seemingly monstrous nature, leading Blood to shoot him, at least seemingly fatally.

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    Blood and Little One left, entering a forest of vampires, and Little One flew away, leaving Blood to be vampirized.

(Blood: A Tale#2) - The vampires welcomed Blood to live and feed with them, but he fled when they offered him human flesh.

    He was eventually greeted by a female vampire who had retained her personality like him and had been waiting for someone like him to talk to and nurture. After promising to love him always and with all of her heart, she allowed him to feed upon her breast.

    They thusly began their life together, separate from the others but never so far as to arouse their suspicions.

    Occasionally the Woman left him for days, sometimes weeks, but she would return with her breasts swollen and her passion raw. And they shared their thoughts and histories (some of which at least she made up).

    Eventually, one dark winter, they resolved to leave the others, who pursued and attempted to stop or destroy them, but Blood fought them off until they turned back to escape the sunlight. They then encountered Little One who had become trapped in a tree branch; they freed him, and he joined them, following Blood in his quest for...he knew not what.

    They wandered across many terrains before eventually Little One and the Woman convinced him to make their home in an airplane they found.

    They were happy until one day the ship was destroyed by the same bird-creatures that destroyed his air balloon.

    Sometime thereafter, Blood fed on a black panther, apparently the first being he had attacked and slew, and he was appalled; the Woman explained that he had never had to feed because she would feed when she was away from him, which had provided the blood in her breasts upon which he had fed.

    This truth created something of a rift between Blood and the Woman.

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    After they seemingly saw the Old Man and fled from him, Blood scaled a ladder into perhaps another plane.

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(Blood: A Tale#3) - Blood apparently lived a normal human life mirroring that of Reality-78291 before seeing a vision of the Old Man and returning to his own reality.

    Despite the sun having become much more powerful, he wished to head out into the desert, believing the song he was seeking would protect him; the Woman and Little One accompanied him. After an endless day, they found and heard the song...at which point Blood realized that he needed to find the Singer.

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    They continued until they found a wall, and on the other side they thought they could hear the song. As they believed the Singer might be on the other side, Little One pounded on the door until it opened, unleashing a flood of blood under which Little One apparently perished. A ship came along and demanded his body, which Blood and theWoman reluctantly delivered, and then it took him toward the Isle of the Dead.

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(Blood: A Tale#4) - After the Woman apparently revealed that she had had relations with Little One while Blood had been in the other reality, Blood was initially furious. After calming, he agreed to accompany her to the Isle of the Dead to find Little One. She guided him to transform his arms into bat-like wings, and they flew for an undefined time and distance until they reached the Isle. They found Little One there, as well as Father and Brother, but also realized them to be monstrous, soulless bodies.

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    However, they then found the Woman to be swollen with pregnancy, and she believed that she may be reincarnating Little One, Father, Brother or even Blood himself. Hearing the song amidst tremendous labor pains, the Woman died in childbirth. Enraged at the loss, Blood apparently hurled the baby off a cliff into the ocean.

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    Mourning until the Woman's body faded away, Blood slept a long time -- during which his hair turned white -- before awakening to find a caravan approaching, and he followed them. The Silent Ones traveled from town to town, providing a show, receiving meals and beds, and alleviating any suffering they could. Losing his memories of an undefined period amongst the Silent Ones, a Nameless Thing once born within him was roused by the silence (I really don't know what that was).

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   One day, Blood's hunger returned, and he fled from the Silent Ones. Praying, he raised his eyes to the mountaintop, saw the Old Man and then traveled to the Tomb at the top. There, he apparently encountered the Singer, which emptied out his self and filled him with the Song. 

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    Apparently becoming the Old Man himself, he traveled to the Valley of Pain, and he helped and cared for them.

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    After the Man came into the midst and the Old Man named him Blood, the Old Man knew his time was done.

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    Mirroring the situation of his earlier life but now in the other role, the Old Man was shot by Blood, after which he lied in his bed, and his body eventually decayed.

    His dust was carried away by the wind and dropped into the sea, and the sea turned to blood, spawning a baby that was found by the unidentified woman...

Comments: Created by J.M. DeMatteis

    This story was published under the Epic Imprint. I actually have the graphic album that was released by DC's Vertigo line, which I bought for the purpose of this profile.

    The story was very unconventional, and it wasn't always clear what was going on. I enjoyed the story, and I did my best. I focused on reporting the events that happened. If something doesn't make sense, I'm sorry, but it likely didn't make sense to me when I read it.
    But, in case it's not clear, it seems that Blood created himself and the original Old Man he encountered was his future self...
    The best thing to do is to read the stories, because it loses so much in trying to define it in specific events.

    I'm not even sure if this story took place on an Earth or some other realm. Most being walked around naked. There was one reality he visited that at least paralleled an Earth.

    Earth-78291 Blood lived a conventional life in an American city, married and divorced Helen, had 3 children, developed cancer at age 44. Blood: A Tale#3

    There aren't good pictures of him with batwings...there is a picture of her, but its also full frontal nudity. I cropped out her bottom half anyway, but if you failed to heed the Epic warning at the top, who's fault is that now?

    This profile was completed 10/26/2024, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25^th anniversary 's celebratory event.