The Rev. Marcus Renfield

THE REV. MARCUS RENFIELD

this is your life - and it's ending one moment at a time.

The Reverend Marcus Renfield is a textbook example of an upstanding American citizen and devoted man of God with a successful ministry over twenty years old. Popular among his congregation for holding progressive spiritual beliefs and having a remarkable sense of public duty, he has been known to provide sage advice on a wide variety of subjects to those in need of it, one of many benefits to being over the age of forty.

Adding even further to his appeal is the good Reverend's natural affinity for oration, whether simply passing the time with others through small talk or delivering a passionate sermon on the pulpit every Sunday morning. His are the words of self-assurance, the type of conviction that can only be earned through an unwavering belief in a higher power, which makes the Reverend Renfield especially charismatic in the eyes of those more easily influenced than others.

On the surface, all appears well. But when you start to peel away certain elements of his life, a darker, far more terrifying subtext can be found lurking beneath this preacher's smile and honeyed words. It is still the Reverend Renfield for all intents and purposes, but when that critical shift in perception occurs, no longer does one see the compassionate shepherd tending his flock. What remains instead, is the harrowing image of something entirely inhuman by its very nature: a cold-blooded psychopath with the mentality of a cunning wolf in sheep's clothing.

Imitation is often treated as the highest form of flattery, and it is this particular skill that makes the Reverend Renfield an effective social predator. He merely pretends as if ethics and morality play an integral role in his life when, in reality, such concepts are inherently meaningless and have no real value in the grand scheme of things. Since when were human beings ever consistent with their views of right and wrong?

The Reverend sees his two decades of active involvement in the Church as the single greatest irony of his life, as religion itself is sustained using the principles of deception, and his absence of conscience permits him the freedom to experiment to his sadistic delight. Lying is second nature to him, so who the better to deceive than those who willingly choose to be deceived by others?

In the rare moments the Reverend Renfield is able to discard his elaborate facade and think as himself, one finds that his true disposition quickly changes into that of complete, bitter, nihilistic hatred for humanity and its countless failings as a species. He genuinely wishes to see the world cleansed in the fires of Hell and mankind burned to ashes, and is ambitious enough to seek out forbidden paths and commit unspeakable atrocities to see that it happens without fail. Nothing short of total annihilation will truly satisfy the Reverend Marcus Renfield.


The only child to a Catholic husband and wife, Marcus Renfield spent his formative years living up to the expectations set upon him by his parents. Quiet and asocial for most of his childhood, Marcus received his education at a prestigious boarding school for boys, fully immersing himself in his Bible studies so that he could follow in his father's footsteps to become an ordained pastor, a goal he eventually achieved at the age of twenty-two.

Although fully aware of the philosophical distinctions between good and evil, Renfield received no emotional satisfaction or fulfillment from living the supposedly 'virtuous life' his parents had wanted for him, and spent the next eight years grappling with his thoughts as they compelled him to partake in darker, far more terrible and sinister acts, growing ever more powerful the harder Marcus continued to deny temptation.

At age 30, during the height of his existential depression, Marcus Renfield met 28-year-old Lucy West at a bar in Orlando while contemplating on the deeper meaning behind his violent urges. Desperate for solace from the demons that clawed at his mind, Renfield allows himself the liberty to partake in a one-night stand with Lucy at a twenty-four hour motel on the city's outskirts, but sank even further into despair when his lover's embrace failed to comfort his tortured soul.

Lost and without alternatives, Renfield hoped to end his hollow life by cutting his wrists open with an antique ritual athame he had owned as a desk ornament, entirely unaware that the knife had once been used by renowned Irish author and occult enthusiast Bram Stoker to summon the very demon that served as the inspiration behind his most famous novel: the spirit of Vlad Dracula III, former Wallachian prince and Dark Lord of the Vampires.

Recognizing his own twisted nature within the despondent human, Dracula encouraged Renfield to reconsider his own perceptions of himself by revealing humanity's ugly truths through his own experiences as the feared and dreaded 'Son of the Dragon': Vlad had contributed countless sacrifices at his own expense for the welfare of his country and people, yet was still betrayed by the hypocrisies that permeate and infect every aspect of civilized society, with religion—ergo, the faith in God—as the cornerstone behind his ruin and subsequent 'rebirth' as the blood-sucking monster he is today.

Upon drawing the comparisons, a sinister flame of renewal ignited within Marcus Renfield's blackened heart, compelling an instinctive need to learn more from the Prince of Impalement, for he was now the key to understanding his own true self. But Dracula was not merciful with his demands, and requested that two payments be made in exchange for his dark powers and knowledge: a life for a life, and blood for blood.

Marcus interprets Dracula's commands as an order to kill his one-time partner Lucy West in exchange for his own life, a trade he was passionately committed to upholding by executing the woman in a grisly decapitation using Stoker's athame as the murder weapon of choice, followed by the immediate ritual consumption of her blood as an acknowledgement of his dark master's authority to claim possession of his own for when that time inevitably comes.

The Reverend Marcus Renfield currently lives a quiet, comfortable life in the upper suburbs.

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