Characters / Bloodline (2006)

This page is for characters who appear in the Bloodlines novel, and it’s sequel, Reckoning.

Becky aka Rebecca Bathory

Becky

A nurse who befriends Mary, and helps take care of her ailing father.

• Death Equals Redemption: Dies trying to save Quincey.
• Dying Declaration of Love
• I Love You, Vampire Son: While only a distant cousin to Quincey, she had the honor of being the one to turn him into a vampire, and maintains a deep love for him. It’s not reciprocated.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Plays up her county girl naivety and superstition. Mary also notes she seems to dress deliberately poorly. It’s all an act to conceal her true identity. Once this is revealed, Mary notes that it must have taken her a great effort to disguise her beauty- which would otherwise be a dead giveaway of her vampirism.
• The One That Got Away: Quincey is this for her.
• Kick the Dog: Kills Mary’s father, Dr. Seward on John’s orders.
• Villainous Incest: With her brother, Xavier Bathory.
• Walking Spoiler: Her true nature as a vampire, and an ally of John.

Count Tepes

Count Tepes

The son of Dracula, and the current ruler of House Dracul, the Count is a secretive and manipulative vampire whose plans to restore Dracul to its former glory sends the plot into motion.

• Big Bad: In Bloodlines.
• The Chessmaster: Not the best one, perhaps, but his machinations are decades in the works and very nearly would’ve been a complete success if not for Lily committing suicide.
• Evil Overlord: Acts as this for his house, and a good chunk of vampires in general.
• Generation Xerox: The son of Dracula is more or less identical in appearance and personality to his father.
• I Control My Minions Through...: Fear primarily, but he’s also adept at manipulating their desire as well. As the entry below demonstrates, he’s no stranger to literal seduction to the dark side.
• Kavorka Man: Despite being ancient and decrepit in appearance, Tepes managed to not only seduce Mina, but also Rosemary Shaw, fathering John.
• Orcus on His Throne: Justified, as he is old and feeble compared to other, younger vampires, but Tepes only makes an appearance in the final few dozen pages of Bloodlines. He mostly uses Quincey and Mina as his agents, ultimately to his detriment.

Mary Seward

Mary Seward

A WWI nurse, and the daughter of Dr. Seward, who cares for John Shaw and becomes entangled in Quincey’s plots.

• Black-and-White Insanity: Borders on this. Her rigid morality becomes a hindrance in that she has a difficult time distinguishing between genuinely good and bad people- all she can see are “vampires = bad” and “humans = good”. This results in her distrusting Quincey and siding with Bathory in Reckoning. This is called out numerous times, and Quincey in particular bemoans her inflexible outlook. She does get better, somewhat.
• Chastity Couple: With John, owing to the strict sexual mores of their time period. Although they share a deep attraction for one another, John doesn’t even want to kiss her until marriage- although they do ultimately smooch once they’re engaged.
• Fantastic Racism: Possesses this in spades for vampires. Somewhat justified, as the majority of vampires in the Bloodlines series are ruthless and amoral, but she also distrusts more moral vampires such as Rosemary, and later Quincey, to her detriment.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Subverted. While John often compares her to an angel, and she is a compassionate blonde, Mary is certainly not an All-Loving Hero, and is not adverse to fighting.
• Hospital Hottie: Subverted. Mary works at as a nurse for an organization run by nuns, and not the sexy kind. However, John is captivated by her as she nurses him back to health, and their patient-nurse relationship blossoms into love as he heals under her care. While he is still delusional with fever, he thinks she is an angel.
• Hot-Blooded: Despite her thoughtful nature and proper bearing, Mary is impetuous and often the first to act.
• Love-Hate Relationship: What her relationship with Quincey becomes. She resents her attraction to him and attempts to fight it, and maintains a deep distrust for him due to his actions in Bloodlines. Despite this, she does care for him, and develops an affection and ultimately love over the course of the sequel.
• Morality Chain: For Quincey.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: With Quincey.

Mina Harker

Mina Harker

A vampire who was seduced by Count Tepes prior to the events of the series.

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• Depraved Bisexual: Is an evil vampire who takes pleasure in seducing and being intimate with both male and female victims.
• Evil Matriarch: The cruel, power-hungry consort of Count Tepes, and the face and voice of his will and House Dracul’s worst excesses for most of Bloodlines.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Her machinations lead to John turning evil, Lily killing herself, and Quincey helping Mary escape. All in all, not a rousing success for House Dracul.
• Transhuman Treachery: By all accounts Mina was a brilliant, compassionate woman until she was seduced and turned by Tepes. Post-transformation she revels in her vampiric abilities and takes pleasure in asserting her dominance over humans.
• The Vamp: Aside from her literal vampiric nature, Mina is also a calculated, sadistic woman who uses her beauty and sexuality to achieve her goals.

John Shaw

John Shaw

The brother of Lily Shaw, and the fiancé of Mary Seward, John is brought to the warfront under command of Captain Quincey Harker as part of the vampire’s diabolical plans.

• Bastard Bastard: Played with. He is the illegitimate son of Count Tepes, and becomes a real jerkass, but House Dracul doesn’t see him as a bastard- they consider him a rightful heir.
• Evil Is Petty: His plans in Reckoning involve tormenting Mary and Quincey, and he takes a perverse pleasure in their emotional suffering.
• Face–Heel Turn: Goes from the heroic protagonist of Bloodline to the sinister villain in Reckoning.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Gradually becomes more ruthless and bloodthirsty over the course of Bloodlines. This culminates in John willingly becoming a vampire, and abandoning all vestiges of his conscience and humanity.
• A Lesson Learned Too Well: Quincey attempts to teach him to embrace his instincts and inner darkness. Unfortunately for everyone, it works.
• Manipulative Bastard: Borders on Smug Snake territory- John in Reckoning sends out the Bathory siblings to wreck havoc on Mary’s mental state, and until the eleventh hour his plans work just about flawlessly.

Lily Shaw

Lily Shaw

The demure and innocent sister of John, Lily falls into a dangerous romance with Quincey, ignorant of his larger designs upon her.

• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted hardcore in Reckoning where Lily’s ghost shows up broken and battered from her death in Bloodline.
• Break the Cutie: Begins Bloodline as an optimistic, if emotionally fragile young woman, who is slowly exposed to situations that shatter her idealism and sunny outlook, eventually culminating in her being Driven to Suicide.
• Damsel in Distress: Often. The main thrust of Bloodline is John And Mary attempting to rescue her from Quincey’s clutches. Quincey and Anastasia also have to save her from a rapist, and Lily somehow manages to faint every few chapters.
• Overcome with Desire: Played with. She is extremely attracted to Quincey, and has a difficult time maintaining culturally mandated boundaries with him. Because of this, she eagerly accepts his offer of marriage, as this will allow her to succumb to her desire without guilt. Unfortunately, this plays directly into Count Tepes’ plans.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Beautiful, with fair skin and dark hair.
• Spoiled Sweet: A rich girl who acts as an All-Loving Hero. Lily is one of the most genuinely kind people in the series, and her goals mostly entail trying to ensure that all of her loved ones get along with each other.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Enforced. Count Tepes and Mina allowed Rosemary to send Lily back to England so she could be raised ignorant of her destiny, with the idea that an innocent would be more fun for Quincey to seduce, and ultimately corrupt. Unfortunately, this worked a little too well, and Lily violently rejects her heritage, opting instead to commit suicide.

Quincey Harker

Quincey Harker

The son of Count Tepes and Mina Harker, Quincey is a dangerous vampire who later becomes Mary’s reluctant ally.

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• Being Evil Sucks: Slowly starts to become disillusioned with his mandated “destiny” over the course of Bloodline. Reckoning expands upon this.
• Big Bad: Played with, and ultimately averted. Quincey is the primary villain for the bulk of Bloodlines, but it is eventually revealed that he’s only acting on orders from Count Tepes. Once Tepes is killed, John becomes the villain of the series.
• The Casanova: Much is made of his good looks and charm. Almost every single woman in the series is immediately taken with him, and he uses this to his full advantage. Mary is the only woman who sees through his sleek exterior and isn’t won over by him- especially contrasted with Lily’s POV sections that constantly discuss Quincey’s physical beauty, Mary’s passages in Bloodlines rarely make mention of his appearance. Ironically, she does become involved with him in Reckoning.
• Defector from Decadence: Bloodlines concludes with him leaving Castle Dracula, and rejecting his heritage and title.
• Faux Affably Evil: Despite giving off the demeanor of a charming, genial gentleman, Quincey is absolutely ruthless when provoked. Early in Bloodlines, John recollects that he forced a private who had been sleeping on shift to be chained up in no-man’s-land...effectively a death sentence. When that fails to kill him, Quincey simply drains him of his blood instead.
• Fully-Embraced Fiend: Takes great pleasure in his heritage, and is straightforward with Mary and John about his bloodlust and vampiric nature. In Reckoning, he does undergo a crisis of conscience that lead to him attempting to reject his nature, but by the end of the book he’s gone back to embracing it...albeit more out of necessity than a desire to return to his old ways.
• Heel–Face Turn: Ultimately undergoes one, owing to Lily’s death and his general disenchantment with Tepes’ vision.
• I Hate You, Vampire Dad: Kills his father, Count Tepes, and has a strained relationship with his mother.
• Lady Killer In Love: With Lily, to tragic results. And again with Mary in Reckoning.
• Morality Chain: Attempts to make Mary this for him in Reckoning.
• Noble Demon: Played with. While Quincey has shades of this, it’s undermined by his persistent sadistic streak. Reckoning plays it a little more straight.
• Pet the Dog: Is almost invariably kind to Lily, who also functions as his Morality Pet. He also attempts to reach out to John after the revelation that John is his half-brother.
• Reformed, but Not Tamed: Played with. Quincey’s heel-face turn in Reckoning is genuine, and he does try to leave his vampiric nature behind him entirely. But by the end he’s realized it’s a lost cause, and he goes back to drinking human blood, although this is partially motivated by a desire to stay strong for the battles to come.
• Reformed, but Rejected: Undergoes this regularly with Mary in Reckoning. It’s only at the end of the book does she finally accept he’s changed and fully trust him.
• Took a Level in Badass: Inverted. In Reckoning, his attempts to survive off of animal blood alone leave him gaunt and substantially weakened. Even his appearance suffers, and Mary notices how much less imposing and composed he looks. By the end, when he resumes drinking human blood his beauty is restored and Mary registers how much more powerful he now looks.
• Vegetarian Vampire: Subverted. Quincey attempts this but ultimately goes back to drinking from humans, as animals were not able to sustain him in any meaningful way, and left him weak and vulnerable.

Xavier Bathory

Xavier Bathory

An idealistic, open-minded noble sitting in the House of Lords, Xavier becomes a close and trusted friend of Mary’s- but there’s more to him then meets the eye.

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• Evil All Along: Is actually a vampire in service to John.
• Hopeless Suitor: For Mary, although she eventually returns his affections.
• In Touch with His Feminine Side: Presents as such to Mary, which allows her to let her guard down and trust him. This is an act. When he breaks character around her, she notices that his posture and mannerisms change, becoming more brutal and powerful.
• Pretty Boy
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Is a member of the House of Lords, who aspires to pass laws encouraging social progress.
• Villainous Incest: With his sister, Rebecca Bathory.