Thomas Raith

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Contents

The Mun

The Character

Defining Abilities and Attributes

Thomas is a vampire of the White Court, which means he's more of an incubus than a vampire, feeding on the emotions and life force of his prey. Like all members of House Raith, his particular tastes run towards energy given off during sex. Although the weakest of the vampire courts, White Court vampires have much more endurance, standing jumping height, speed, and agility than an average human and they can channel unused emotional energy to give them a significant power boost (it can also help them heal faster). This boost is known as "The Hunger" and works like a battery- if it's drained, then they're significantly weakened and if they go too long without feeding, then it drives them into a frenzy wherin they must feed and the victims almost always die after. When tapping into The Hunger's stores, they tend to radiate waves of cold, their skin whitens, and their eyes turn silver.

His blood is pinkish, instead of red, and he has a psychic aura and an unnatural handsomeness that causes both men and women find him attractive, regardless of sexuality. (Whether they throw themselves at him is mostly dependant on how weak-minded or already sexually charged the person is- mostly people just find him noteworthy unless he's working the psychic mojo and he... Typically doesn't.) His largest weakness as a White Court vampire is True Love. People who have been or are in real, true and honest, affectionate, sacrificial love are immune to the psychic manipulation and can even burn or blister his skin if he touches them. ...Beyond all that, he's skilled in swordplay (he sometimes uses a kukri in battle) and firearms (he prefers his Desert Eagle or sometimes a sawed-off). He has some skill in magic, but just the basics- nothing compared to his younger brother.

Personality

In a word, flippant. In several, arrogant ("I swear by my towering ego"), charming, generally immune to people insulting him, and has a smartass sense of humor that rivals his brother's, tending more towards witty banter (if anyone can match Harry's banter, it's Thomas). He has a genuinely caring nature that overrides the flippancy and he's capable of violent anger when someone hurts or threatens someone he cares about- and being the opposite of Harry, in that regard, he's pretty much solely in it for himself and his people and doesn't go around rescuing every Jane Doe and her little boy from danger. He's mostly trained himself to seem like an incompetent flake to be perceived as useless by his family, something that's worked well for him over the years up until he met Harry, and, with that in mind, he does have his family's rather duplicitous streak in him, even if he chooses not to engage in it, for the most part. He has an unyielding loyalty to his family (except his father) and would gladly lay his life on the line for any of them (and sometimes people close to them). He can also be generally very blunt, especially with people he doesn't know very well. Despite being a White Court vampire, he's a monogamist at heart and tries to keep his seductive nature in check, going as far as to feel guilty about his inner demons and doing everything in his power to avoid feeding the same way his family does, even if it lessens his power and weakens him significantly. He's also a slob. Massively so.

Background

Thomas was born to Lord Raith, the King of the White Court, and a human woman named Margaret Le Fay, who was little better than a slave to the White King and eventually made her escape when Thomas was very young, leaving Thomas at the mercy of his father. To avoid being killed like his other brothers had been, he learned quickly how to play the role of the harmless playboy to stay under his father's radar. To that end, he became the White Court's black sheep, perceived as generally useless and often sent out as a show of disrespect by his father.

One of these blatant shows of disrespect was sending him to a party hosted by Bianca, a Red Court vampire, which he attended alongside his "girlfriend" (although to anyone else, she was just his favorite plaything) Justine, whom he had poached from Bianca, so... Really, it was just a double insult. It was at this party that Thomas met Harry Dresden... And then promptly betrayed him to save Justine... And then prompy begged him for help when Bianca kidnapped Justine. It's a White Court thing.

From that point onward, Thomas sort of routinely "stalked" Harry or, rather, showed up in places where Harry showed up and offered him subtle help. The reason for this was later revealed to be the fact that Thomas and Harry are half-brothers who share the same mother, which happened around the same time that Lord Raith attempted to kill Thomas in a ritual that was meant to kill Harry, but Harry and Murphy interfered and Thomas's sister Lara put their father in his place, essentially turning his mind to mush and ruling the White Court from behind the throne, with no one being the wiser to her exploits. In order to maintain that illusion, Thomas was exiled from the family and, by association, Justine (whom he very nearly killed the last time he fed from her, but he managed to stop- unfortunately, his love for her and her love for him in return meant that he could no longer touch her without feeling pain) whom Lara promised to look after for him. Having nowhere else to go, Thomas moved into Harry's apartment. This turned out to suck for Harry, because Thomas is a world-class slob (also there's a war between wizards and vampires going on, so... Yeah).

Trying to live a life on the downlow became increasingly frustrating for Thomas as he was unable to hold down a job or sate his hunger without feeling like he was becoming a monster. Eventually, he moved out of Harry's apartment unexpectedly and refused to tell Harry what he was doing that was apparently keeping him fed, which allowed him to be framed for murder, although he proved his innocence to Harry and helped him save the White Court, which allowed him entrance back into the family, although he had already finally found his calling by starting up a salon (under something of an assumed identity)- the intimacy of cutting and shampooing hair allowed him to take small nibbles and kept him from starving, even though he still constantly fights his inner demon and has to work to resist temptation.

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