Alexandre Rousseau | Claude Marquis
As a human, Alexandre was Trixxtal's older brother. His name was Claude Marquis and he was the eldest son of a French aristocratic family, Trixxtal, then Nicolas being the middle child and their brother Louis being the youngest. When Claude passed the expected age of getting married, his parents arranged a marriage for him to the daughter of another high class family. Not wanting to go alone to meet her, he dragged Nicolas to come with him. After meeting with her and deciding that marrying her was definitely something he did not want to do, he began thinking up an escape plan, any excuse he could come up with to get out of the arrangement. But the solution to his problem became clear shortly afterwards, though not by his own choice. On the way back from meeting his future wife, Nicolas and him were attacked by bandits. Only these were not normal thieves and they bit him and his brother, draining them of most of their blood. They left the brothers to lie in the middle of the road to die.
But days later, Claude woke up in a strange bed that was not his own. When he investigated the strange room he was in, he was confronted by the very thieves to tried to kill him and Nicolas. They explained to him that they were different than everyone else, that they were creatures of the night who required blood to live and that their leader wanted him and Nicolas to join their coven. Claude didn't believe them at first and tried to leave, but once he stepped outside and the sun touched his skin, it burnt him. Astonished, he had no choice but to believe what they were saying and that he was now like them. But thankfully, he was not alone. The vampires, as they called themselves, had turned Nicolas into a vampire as well, so that they could be together. They took him to Nicolas' room and gave him the privilege of explaining their new situation to him.
Surprisingly, he took the news quite well. Even Claude found himself adjusting to life as a vampire, enjoying the new power the cursed blood had given him. They eventually built a relationship with the coven they lived with, with Chane who had changed them and with Ryhs who was their leader. Nicolas even found love within the coven and for a while everything was okay. The mess the vampires had left on the road gave the impression that he and Nicki were dead, so it would be hard for them to return home, but it gave Claude the way out of his dreadful life that he had been looking for. They spent years within the coven, living and learning the way of life as a vampire. Drinking blood had no lasting effects on Claude's psyche and he even craved it. Chane would often take him and Nicki out on hunting trips in the village and would refer to them as her sons and treated them as such. All was well for many years, until disaster struck.
Rhys' problems with his family leaked into the coven and before they knew it, they were at war with another coven lead by Rhys' twin sister, Rhea. Him and Nicolas were never supposed to fight, that was reserved for the more experienced members, but one night Rhea lead an attack on the coven at night and killed most of their members, including Rhys. Chane managed to protect Claude and Nicki until they got to safety, but she too later died of her wounds she had sustained. Nicolas' lover Jules managed to escape with them, but other than him, their entire clan was slaughtered. With no home or direction, Claude made the decision to return to the Marquis mannor to see what was left of it, now that more than thirty years had passed since their supposed deaths. Nicki, on the other hand, decided not to go with him and opted to leave France with Jules instead, and start a new life in Italy. The two brothers parted ways for the first time in years, but promised to meet again.
When Claude returned to his old home, he found his little brother Louis was now not so young, and had a family of his own. Their mother was a frail old woman who still lived within the manor. Of course Claude couldn't go and talk to them, not when he hadn't aged a single day since thirty years ago, so he kept his distance. He watched over them like a protector, eliminating any threat that would befall the house, such as robbers and thieves. In the last years of his mother's life, she had gone blind and when she was left alone in the garden, Claude would clear the rocks and obstacles in her path to keep her safe. He never spoke to her, or told her that he was her son, but he had a feeling that she knew, because when she tripped and fell one day, Claude being a bit too slow to catch her, she told him that it was okay and stroked his face like she used to when he was a child. She passed away days after and Claude no longer felt like he had a purpose. Louis was old enough to protect his family and he had only been hanging around for their mother anyway. With no direction in his life, Claude traveled to Italy in search for Nicki.
Finding his brother was much harder in those days then it is now, and since he didn't even have an inkling where Nicki would be, randomly searching different cities would prove more fruitful than waiting for them to cross paths. It was during his time in Italy that he met with another vampire, the first one since the downfall of Rhys' coven. His name was Giancarlo Provenza and he was the Don of the Provenza clan. It was similar to the mafia families that the humans had, but it worked within both worlds, the humans and vampires. Coincidentally, Giancarlo was an old friend of Rhys and after hearing of his death, he offered Claude to join his family. Searching for his brother could take years, and he figured that if he had the support of his new family, he would be able to find Nicki quicker. He agreed and became one of Giancarlo's grunts. But before he could make a name for himself, he voluntarily changed his own name from Claude Marquis to Alexandre Rousseau, in case Rhys' sister was still out for his blood.
Over the years, he worked his way up the ranks and surpassed the weaker vampires in the family. Due to Chane's powerful blood flowing through his veins, he had an advantage over them, combined with the skills he had learnt in Rhys' coven. Soon enough, he found himself within the Don's inner circle and became one of his most trusted members. And with that privilege, he became more involved with the Don's personal life, and soon grew close to his daughter. She and Alex were close in age, though she was a pureblood and was much stronger than him. Their attraction to one another did not go unnoticed by the Don and sure enough, he called Alex into his office one day to ask his intentions with his daughter. Honestly Alex had no plans to start a relationship with her so not to ruin his relationship with the family, but surprisingly enough, the Don was practically threatening him to ask his daughter out. He could see that she liked Alex a lot and the only thing he was pissed about was that Alex was refusing her feelings. With the blessing of the Don, he and Gianna began dating.
They didn't get married until much later in the 1620's and she happily took Alexandre's last name, becoming Gianna Rousseau. Now that they were married, she and Alex wanted to go out and explore the world, which Giancarlo allowed, and gave them enough expenses to go wherever their hearts desired. Alex hadn't found Nicki yet, though he had never given up trying, and saw this as a chance to finally find his brother. But in the end the search was fruitless and Alex was still at a loss to what happened to Nicki. Distraught, he and Gianna returned to Italy and joined back with the Provenza family. Alex was promoted even further up the ranks, now that he was the Don's son-in-law, until he was just under his right hand man. For years after that he continued to work for the Don and adapted quickly to the ever changing world.
In 1712, Gianna announced that she was expecting her and Alex's first child together and Giancarlo was ecstatic. He knew how Gianna hated being raised in the mafia lifestyle and that she would never want that for her child, so he bought her and Alex a house in the quiet Italian countryside where they could raise their kid, though they eventually moved closer into the city just before the baby was born. When their son was born, Alex thought about naming him Nicolas after his lost brother, but chose the name Protettore instead, because he knew that the child would inevitably join Giancarlo's family and the name seemed to fit him. They decided to raise Protettore among the humans and to be like one of them, since a childhood as a vampire could be a very lonely one without other vampire children around to make friends with. Human children were not the most ideal play mates, but they had to make due with what they had.
A year after Protettore's birth, Alex received a letter. It was addressed to a 'Claude Marquis' and instantly he thought back to his human life. He ripped the envelope open and found that the letter was from no one other than Nicolas. In the letter, Nicolas explained what had happened to him after they had parted ways and that he had become a pirate, sailing the seven seas with a vampire crew. He no longer went by the name Nicolas, but some strange name instead; Trixxtal. He talked briefly about his adventures, a city of gold, and the fearless captain that he followed faithfully. He went on to explain how he found Alex's address. Apparently, he and his crew had encountered a ship that was carrying cargo for the Provenza family. One thing lead to another and he met face to face with the Don himself. His brother was shocked to find out that Alex was apart of the Provenza family and was alive and well, and that he had been searching for Alex too. Giancarlo had been kind enough to give Trixxtal Alex's address, in exchange for the goods that he had stolen, which was how the letter arrived to their home. Life as a pirate meant being at sea constantly, which was why Trixxtal couldn't stop and visit, though he spoke about a meeting in the future. The letter ended with Trixxtal wishing him well and that he was happy for Alex and his new family. After all those years of searching, Alex finally felt the weight leave his chest and he immediately began writing a letter in response. Trixxtal had left a port address that his crew visited and said that if Alex wrote a letter, it should stay there waiting for him. Alex wrote down everything that had happened to him too, meeting Giancarlo, joining the mafia, getting married, having a kid and everything else he could think of. He asked Trixxtal when he would be able to visit, or if Alex could visit him, and added a family photo in the envelope. He sent it off the next day hoping to get a reply back soon, but it never came. The mailbox continued to be empty day after day until Alex eventually destroyed it out of anger. Rather than think something bad had happened to Trixxtal, like getting shipwrecked or dying in battle, Alex just told himself that maybe Trixxtal hadn't reached the port yet. Months passed with no answer and Alex eventually returned to his normal life and no longer waited for Trixxtal's letter to arrive. Instead he focused on raising his son and living a comfortable life with Gianna.
As Protettore got older, Alex and Gianna were surprised at how well he was adapting to the humans. Or perhaps he was adapting a little too well, because when they went on their first hunting trip as a family, Protettore refused to drink from the human's neck. Alex had to filter the blood into a cup first and have Protettore drink like that, just as he had as a baby. Protettore continued to be soft hearted as he got older and his parents indulged him in that lifestyle, loving him no matter what he did. His grandfather, however, was not as accepting of Protettore's ways and formally dishonored him. He denied Protettore any rights he might get as his grandson and barred him from the family altogether. Alex and Gianna were also affected by this, and could never return to the Provenza part of Italy, but as long as they had their son, everything else didn't matter.
Their life was peaceful until one day pirates attacked their small village. At first, Alex thought that it was Trixxtal's crew and excitedly went out to go search for him, but soon discovered that the pirates weren't just vampires, but a mix of supernatural beings. Alex and Gianna did their best to fend off the attackers, but one of them was an exorcist and immobilized them with a simple touch. The last thing Alex saw as he was being carried away on the back of one of the werewolves was his son crying, calling out after them.
