Jean-Claude

"Jean-Claude certainly has the keys to my libido, but my heart...

Can a walking corpse hold the keys to my heart? 

No.  Yes.  Maybe.  How the hell should I know?

- Anita Blake, Burnt Offerings

Jean-Claude is a Master Vampire and the owner of Guilty Pleasures, a strip club where you will find a lot of lycanthropes working as well as vampires.  He also has other businesses and is clearly not doing badly since he has his own private jet which is registered to J C Corporation.

He has black hair and midnight blue eyes and is usually seen wearing black and white.  Even Anita admits that he is breathtaking to look at.  He tries to hide his true age from Anita and it is believed that he is nearly 400 years old.

One thing about Jean-Claude is the mystery of who he is and his past.  We get a first hint to his past in Bloody Bones when he is described as having been anyone's meat that wanted him.

As a human he had been a French peasant who had been taught with the local castle's aristocrats, he had been used as a whipping boy for an aristocrat's son and retains the scarred back from those days.

He had been made into a vampire by Lissette for lust because he was beautiful.  He had then been passed amongst them.  He believes that when he was first with the Council his master had prevented his powers from growing so that he did not realise that he was a master vampire.  His first master had been Julian who was the Master of the City were Lissette resided.  Lissette was of Belle Morte's line.

We learn far more about his past with the arrival in town of Asher.  He had been part of a ménage à trois with Asher and Julianna (Asher's human servant).  He had been visiting his dying mother when Julianna had been killed and Asher scarred and a seemingly unbreachable gulf opened between the two vampires.

At the beginning of Guilty Pleasures he is described as being the third most powerful vampire in the city.  The master of the city is Nikolaos and he fears her. 

He begins by blackmailing Anita into working on the vampire murder case.

He begins to mark Anita as his and when he has given her the second mark whilst fighting Nikolaos he has the ability to communicate with Anita through her dreams.  He can also taste what she eats and can in effect live through her, at least for a short time.  Anita notices that it is tasting the food which appeared to please him the most about the bonding.

He will do anything to make Anita his and uses not only his vampire powers but also does things such as grow his hair longer as he believes that Anita prefers it that way.  She is also surprised to discover that he has given up women for her, even though she has constantly refused him.

He also has the power to feed through Anita whilst trapped in a coffin by Nikolaos.  He also has the power to restore his strength from Anita without taking blood, something only the more powerful vampires can do.  When Anita kisses him on the heart he steals her warmth.  Any part of Anita's body touching Jean-Claude's deadens as he steals her life.

Jean-Claude has the ability to feed himself through sex as well as through blood.

On the death of Nikolaos he becomes Master of the City.

Jean-Claude's animal to call is the wolf and he has strong ties with the local werewolf pack. 

When Anita is bitten by a lamia, a poisonous bite, Jean-Claude gives her the third vampire mark.  This means that if Anita kills Jean-Claude now it will also harm her.

None of the first three marks had been given with her consent and she resents them for a long time.  Though she does appreciate some of the advantages they have, she can heal like a shapeshifter can and can speak telepathically with Jean-Claude.

Anita describes Jean-Claude as a Master Manipulator.  She is probably right.

On the other hand Jean-Claude can also appear to be very insecure and he is not only jealous of Richard, he fears losing Anita to him.  Richard believes that because Anita no longer sees Jean-Claude as a monster it makes him feel less like one. 

He describes Anita as ma petite, which initially infuriates her and annoys her but later she gets used to it and actually takes offence when someone else calls her by the name.

Jean-Claude has the rare talent to capture another vampire with his gaze.  The vampire he does this to is Ivy in Bloody Bones.

Although Anita wonders why she does not kill him like any other monster she even goes so far as to save his life and opens a vein for him after his battle with Janos.  She also realises that she would avenge his death - something that surprises her.

When Jean-Claude, Richard and Anita merge the marks Anita finds that she also has to feed the ardeur like Jean-Claude has to.  Jean-Claude seems genuinely sorry that he has inflicted this curse on her and guides her through things so that she can learn to control it.

Anita believes that Jean-Claude loves her as much as he is able, but he loves power more.

Text in this colour denotes that it is a spoiler for Incubus Dreams

Jean-Claude fans can relish in the fact that he plays a large part in this book.

Still as devious as he always has been he tries to speak with Damian in German so that Anita will not understand what they are saying.  Unfortunately for him Anita speaks enough German to get the gist.  Though when he asks a short while later if she speaks Italian she shows surprising stupidity in simply replying no.

When Anita makes Damian more beautiful than he was with something that appears to be a power of Belle Morte Jean-Claude reveals that he can't remember what he looked like when he was alive, although Asher's hair had been a different colour.  Jean-Claude was not prepared for what Anita is now able to do and he is as in the dark as she is about what they can achieve.

Jean-Claude helps Anita to focus her powers when up against Primo so that they can defeat him.  Unlike Anita however Jean-Claude is trusting of Primo as soon as he is blood oathed.  Anita is far less trusting and remains suspicious. 

Jean-Claude is aware that the vampires of the city are not the best fighters.  Belle Morte's line were famous for their beauty but not for their warriors.  Now he knows that to keep the city his he must bring in fighters and it is for this reason that he brings in Primo, who he can't control, and later the Wicked Truth whose loyalty has yet to be tested.

Because Jean-Claude is now his own fountainhead of blood he has power enough to accept other vampires to his city who might have instead been forced elsewhere.  When the Master of the City of London is executed he offers a home to all vampires from London who can trace their lineage to Belle Morte.  Two of these are the British vampires Byron and Requiem.

Anita comments to Zerbrowski that Jean-Claude has not made any vampires since he had become Master of the City.

When Anita forms the second triumvirate with Nathaniel and Damian, Jean-Claude finds that he inherits some of Nathaniel's and Damian's neediness. 

"Necromancer with a chaser of werewolf; a drink to make any vampire giddy."

- Jean-Claude, after taking blood from both Anita and Jason - rather drunk.