Marcel Lafayette, a character in the Bloodbound series, is a member of the French Monarchy and one of Kamilah Sayeed and Gaius Augustine's allies. He makes his first official appearance in Book 1, Chapter 9. However, Your Character is able to see him in a flashback in Chapter 5.
Appearance
Marcel has ginger red hair, amber-colored eyes and pale skin with a bit of redness on his cheeks. He physically appears to be a twelve year old boy due to being a vampire. He wears a 17th century green formal attire.
Personality
Marcel appears to be a humorous and lively individual. He has an enthusiastic manner when greeting his guests and explaining the history of his castle to your character, Adrian, and Lily. He exudes a carefree spirit as shown when he was seen dancing, laughing, and enjoying his party instead of looking after a newly turned girl in his Clan.
According to Adrian, Marcel's parties and antics are a reminder of that life can be fun. Like the Baron and his dress code for the Shrike, Marcel has a period-specific dress code for the Awakening Ball.
Chapters
Bloodbound
Book 1
- Chapter 5: The Coffin (Determinant)
- Chapter 9: The Ball
- Chapter 10: The Massacre (Offscreen, Physical Appearance Determinant)
- Chapter 12: The Tribunal (Mentioned)
- Chapter 16: The Dawn (Mentioned)
Bloodbound: Dark Solstice
- Chapter 2: He Knows When You're Awake (Mentioned)
- Chapter 3: Silent Night, Unholy Night (Mentioned)
Book 2
- Chapter 8: The Crypts (Determinant)
- Chapter 10: The Plan (Mentioned)
Book 3
- Chapter 15: The Loss (Mentioned, determinant)
Relationships
Kamilah Sayeed
During the second fragment of the Portrait, he fought alongside Kamilah and remained close friends with her. When there was an attack at his castle, she was devastated. His name is mentioned in Book 3, should Your Character choose to rally a speech to ask her friends to remember everyone that he or she lost. Kamilah sadly mentioned Marcel's name showing that despite their differences, he was a good friend.
Gaius Augustine
It is not revealed if Gaius, Kamilah, or Banner turned him, but Marcel was a part of Gaius' inner circle of vampires in Europe. When Gaius decided to leave for the Americas with new challenges and free of persecutions, Marcel followed. After Gaius turned Adrian and Adrian killed Banner, Marcel left the circle (presumably on good terms) to form his clan on what is now upstate New York. Marcel was not present when the Council was formed.
Powers and Abilities
- Immortality: In Book 1, Chapter 2, Adrian confirms that he does not age. Thus we can assume the same can be said for Marcel.
- Super-Strength: In Book 1, Chapter 2, Adrian confirms that he is strong enough to lift a car. Thus we can assume the same can be said for Marcel.
- Superhuman Speed and Reflexes: As mentioned on loading screens across the whole series, vampires possess increased speed and reflexes.
- Healing Factor:: Accelerated healing is an ability that vampires possess that allows them to heal from physical injuries at supernatural speeds. If a vampire uses their blood such as when Adrian was done feeding on Nicole, they can heal the bite mark as well. Thus we can assume the same can be said for Marcel.
- Heightened Senses: In Book 1, Chapter 6, Lily mentions how she can feel the slightest air currents, how she can even see the tiniest pores in Your Character's skin and can hear the water running through the pipes three stories up. Taste is also amplified as mentioned in Book 3, Chapter 1: good things tend to taste better and bad things tend to taste foul. Thus we can assume the same can be said for Marcel.
Weaknesses
- Sunlight: Sunlight is one of vampires' weaknesses. As Adrian stated, sunlight does hurt him and can prove fatal after more than thirty minutes of exposure. It's akin to hypersensitivity; overexposure causes, as Adrian describes it, an accelerated heat stroke. This same weakness can be assumed for Marcel.
- Decapitation: Dismembering or manually removing the head of a vampire will result in instant and permanent death.
- Heart Extraction: Removing and subsequently destroying the heart of a vampire will also result in permanent death.
- Unquenched Bloodlust: When Adrian first became a vampire, he felt the powerful thirst for blood which no amount of water can relieve. In the brief period where he resisted the urge, Adrian experienced severe discomfort whereby he eventually gave in to his instincts. It is unknown yet how long a vampire can remain thirsty or what the extent of pain is when this need is unmet. In Chapter 4, Jax stated that child vampires are tricky. They don't have self-control to feed on humans without draining them.
- A Feral's Bite: A bite from a feral vampire is infectious to regular vampires because it can turn them feral too.
Trivia
- Marcel bares a resemblance to Lestat de Lioncourt (portrayed by Tom Cruise) and Louis de Pointe du Lac (portrayed by Brad Pitt) from the 1994 film Interview with the Vampire, which is based on the book of the same name by Anne Rice.
- As of Book 1, Chapter 5, the Bloodbound Universe now has two vampire children (the other being Lula Jacobs). A later addition is Vladimir, if you choose to free the Baron's prisoners.
- In Book 1, Chapter 2, Adrian mentions that garlic gives him a minor distaste, rather than kill him. This in turn means that it is not a real weakness for vampires as a whole and we can assume Marcel has a similar distaste for it.
- The name Marcel is of Latin and French origin, which means: Hammer, consecrated to Mars (God of war), young warrior, warlike.
- The surname Lafayette is of French origin and means "little beech tree" or "child of Lafay". The name Lafay is of English origin and means "lighthearted man".
- He is included in the "royalty" category due to his past (Human life) affiliation.
- His castle is passed down to Ebenezer.