Jean-Claude

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For the movie actor, see Jean-Claude Van Damme. For the French theologian, see Jean Claude.

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Jean-Claude is a fictional character in the novel Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series of novels by Laurell K. Hamilton. Within the novels, Jean-Claude's primary role is as one of the primary love interests of the series heroine, Anita Blake.

Jean-Claude is a French-born vampire who is over 400 years old. He was favorite of Belle Morte for his eyes, and, like many vampires of Belle Morte's line, Jean-Claude was selected for his almost perfect mortal beauty. He became the Master Vampire of St. Louis after Anita Blake killed Nikolaos; the circumstances of his arrival in St. Louis and, indeed, in the United States itself were to escape Belle Morte's court with the help of Augustine. Together with Richard Zeeman, Jean-Claude is a member of Anita's first triumvirate.

Jean-Claude's daytime lair is the sub-basement of the Circus of the Damned. As owner of the "JC Corporation," he also owns and runs Guilty Pleasures, The Laughing Corpse, and Danse Macabre, as well as other clubs.

1 Powers
2 Character
3 Biographical summary
4 Story within the novels
5 Appearances

[edit] Powers

Only in recent books has it been revealed that Jean Claude is an incubus, and so gains power through sex and lust. After forging the triumvirate with Anita and Richard he became the Fount of his own Bloodline. His general master class abilities include:

Seeming older or younger than his actual age
The ardeur, which allows him to gain power ("feed") from lust and sex
Hypnosis, including using his voice, gaze, and aura to excite or calm humans, lycanthropes, and lesser vampires
Calling wolves and werewolves
Flying
Controlling the magics of Anita and Richard and being able to shut them down.
Forming a triumvirate with his human servant, Anita, and his animal servant, Richard.

His first business, the strip club Guilty Pleasures, allows him to use the ardeur to his advantage. Revealed in Cerulean Sins that Jean-Claude is now a sour-dre d sang of his own line when Belle-Morte was unable to feed of him.

[edit] Character

Jean-Claude is extraordinarily seductive, both with regard to his mental abilities and conventional seduction. He is superb at playing "vampire politics," and can be surprisingly manipulative and ruthless when necessary. Jean-Claude typically thinks several steps ahead of his triumvirate partners Anita and Richard.

Throughout the novels, Jean-Claude has pursued Anita, both as a lover and a human servant.

[edit] Biographical summary

Jean-Claude is approximately four hundred years old. He was born to a French peasant family in the seventeenth century, and was astoundingly beautiful even as a child. He was selected to be the whipping boy for a noble child of his age. He was raised in a noble household and educated as a noble, but was severely beaten in the place of the young noble whenever he misbehaved. Jean-Claude still has scars on his back from that experience.

As a young man, Jean-Claude was killed and raised as a vampire by Lissette, a vampire in Belle Morte's bloodline. Jean-Claude spent the next five years in the court of Julian, Lissette's master, sleeping with whomever Julian chose, unable to say no while in the grip of the ardeur.

Later, Jean-Claude joined Belle Morte's court as one of her favorites, remaining there for several years.

At some time during the seventeenth century, Jean-Claude left Belle Morte's court and traveled with Asher and Asher's human servant, Julianna. The three travelled together as a ménage à trois for twenty years, ending with Jean-Claude's mother's death. (Jean-Claude also states that at this time, he and Asher were "masters of comparable power," which suggests that he matured remarkably early to have become a master within his own mother's lifetime). This period ended when Jean-Claude temporarily left the other two to attend his mother's funeral, returning too late to prevent Julianna's death and Asher's torture at the hands of human captors working for the church. Asher was disfigured using holy water, and Julianna was burnt at stake for being a witch. Jean-Claude has stated that he "humbled" himself to rescue Asher, agreeing to one hundred years in Belle Morte's service in return for her help saving Asher.

After rejoining the Council's service, Jean-Claude was imprisoned alone in a cross-wrapped coffin for two years, unable to feed his ardeur. Belle Morte also used Jean-Claude as a sort of prostitute for more powerful vampires, presumably both before and after Jean-Claude's travels with Asher (Jean-Claude refers to himself during this period as a "catamite," but it appears that he was provided to both male and female vampires). At some point, Belle Morte gave Jean-Claude to Seraphina. After approximately 100 years of service, Jean-Claude left Belle Morte's court for an unprecedented second time.

[edit] Story within the novels

By the time of the first novel, Guilty Pleasures, Jean-Claude had become a master vampire in the service of Nikolaos, although he concealed the true extent of his powers, apparently biding his time for an opportunity to become his own master. When a series of murders eliminated a number of the other master vampires in Nikolaos's service, Jean-Claude made his move, manipulating Anita into killing Nikolaos and rendering him master of the city.

Throughout the next several novels, Jean-Claude struggled to maintain authority over the city. With the help of Anita and the werewolves of the city, he was ultimately able to fend off a number of challenges from the Vampire Council and other threats and consolidate control.