Description:

Mathieu Delacroix was born into the same bloodstained legacy as his sister, yet he rejected it from the very start. While Bella sharpened herself into a weapon to survive, Mathieu did the opposite—he softened. Not from weakness but from defiance. He refused to be another pawn in the brutal chess game of the Delacroix syndicate, choosing knowledge over power, kindness over fear.

Where Bella embraced the cutthroat lessons of their father, Mathieu found solace in books, in philosophy, in a world that wasn’t dictated by violence. He was the Delacroix who didn’t belong—a liability, some whispered. A wasted potential, others murmured. But he didn’t care. He never wanted the crown of the underworld. He only wanted to be free of it.

That freedom, however, was always an illusion.

No matter how far he distanced himself from the family business, the blood in his veins made him a target. When Bella took control of the Red Rose Syndicate, Mathieu tried to sever himself from it entirely, but his very existence was leverage. The Delacroix name could never truly be escaped.

And then his Gyft awakened.

Unlike Bella, whose Bloody Surge allowed her to wield her own blood as a weapon, Mathieu’s ability was something far worse. Something unnatural. Something that made even the most hardened criminals recoil in horror. Bloody Rupture—a power that didn’t just manipulate blood, but detonated it.

Mathieu could make a person’s blood boil, expand, and burst within their veins, killing them in seconds. A mere touch, a simple thought, and the human body became a ticking bomb. And while he refused to use it, refused to acknowledge the horror of what he was capable of, it didn’t change the fact that others would use it against him.

Gyft: Bloody Rupture

Mathieu’s Gyft is a terrifying evolution of Bella’s own blood-based abilities. While she manipulates her own blood, he manipulates the blood of others. With a mere touch—or in some cases, mere proximity—he can boil, expand, and rupture the blood inside a person’s body, effectively making them explode from the inside out.

Strengths:
-Near-instantaneous lethality: Targets can die within seconds if he uses his ability at full force.
-Proximity-based activation: Unlike Bella, who must shed her own blood to attack, Mathieu’s ability is external. He does not need to harm himself.
-Multiple targets: With focus, he can affect more than one person at a time.
-Unstoppable force: There is no known way to block or resist his ability once activated.

Weaknesses:
-Extremely difficult to control: Mathieu’s refusal to use his Gyft means he lacks control, making it dangerous to those around him—including allies.
-Highly emotional trigger: Strong emotions, such as fear or anger, can cause his ability to manifest involuntarily.
-Limited range: While lethal, his power only works within close range (within a few meters).
-Exhaustion & strain: Using it for too long takes a heavy toll on his body, resulting in severe headaches, nosebleeds, or worse.

Personality:

Before his capture, Mathieu was a man of quiet resilience—thoughtful, empathetic, and deeply introspective. He preferred books to blades, philosophy to power plays. Where Bella embraced the cold calculus of leadership, Mathieu sought warmth in genuine human connection. He was the kind of man who would patch up a wounded stranger before throwing a punch, even when the world around him told him that kindness was weakness.

Despite his family name, he never subscribed to the brutality that defined the Delacroix legacy. He had no interest in power, no hunger for control. Unlike his sister, he did not command rooms with authority; he melted into them, observing, understanding. His presence was never one of intimidation, but one of quiet persuasion. He could hold an entire conversation without raising his voice, disarming people not with threats, but with patience.

Mathieu was also deeply idealistic, though he never called himself such. He didn’t believe the world was good, but he believed it could be better. That people could be more than their worst instincts. That Bella could be more than the Iron Rose—more than a name that made people whisper in fear. And while he never tried to change her, he never feared reminding her that power wasn’t the only thing worth holding onto.

Unlike Bella, Mathieu was also terrible at deception. It wasn’t that he was incapable of lying—he simply hated doing it. He had no taste for manipulation, no talent for half-truths. His emotions were clear in his expressions, his thoughts worn a little too openly on his face. Those close to him could always tell when something was bothering him, when he was struggling to keep something buried. And though he might insist he was fine, his body language betrayed him—fidgeting fingers, a tightening of the jaw, a gaze that lingered too long on nothing in particular.

Still, his kindness was not naivety. Mathieu understood the world he lived in, understood what people were capable of. He simply refused to let that dictate who he was. He was principled, stubborn in his refusal to compromise himself, even when it made his life harder. It was why he refused to use his Gyft, why he rejected the name of Delacroix despite knowing it was written into his blood.

And above all, it was why Bella fought so hard to protect him.

Because Mathieu was the only thing in her life that remained untouched by the ugliness of their world. The last reminder that there was still something worth saving, something worth fighting for that wasn’t built on fear or power. And for all of Bella’s strength, for all of her ruthlessness, she knew—if she ever lost him, if she ever failed him—then whatever was left of the girl she used to be would be lost, too.

Mathieu may not be fearless, but he is brave in ways Bella will never be. Not in battle, not in bloodshed, but in his unwavering belief that the world does not have to be ruled by monsters. That people can make choices outside of violence. That even in the depths of Nocturnia, there is still light to be found—if only someone is willing to hold onto it.

And that, perhaps, is what makes him more dangerous than he even realizes.