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 Heavy Metal: Welcome to the Underground Products

Leopold Veralic

The son of a poor farmer and his wife, Leopold Veralic, originally Leopold Van Valeck, was born in Rotterdam in 1598. Often
shirking his duties on the farm, by the time he was fifteen, Leo spent most of his time within the city, drinking at the local bars and flirting
with the patrons, both male and female. These habits often got him in trouble with the city, both because of homophobic tendencies of olden times
and because he risked ruining the young women's reputations, and their virginity. More than once, Leo's strict father 'punished' Leo, trying to rid him of these
'impure thoughts and actions'. The fact that Leo was open with his bisexuality was a particular thorn in the side of his religious father, and more than
once the two were heard fighting loudly about it. These fights normally ended in Leo loosing to his father who, after working on the farm all his
life, was much stronger. Leo grew to particularly loath his parents, his father who abused him, and his mother who sat to the side and ignored
it all, preferring to knit and look away, refusing to even speak of it afterwards.

In the year 1617, at the tender young age of 19, Leo's fate was changed forever when he spent a night drinking with an attractive, fair skinned stranger.
The stranger introduced himself only as 'Nero', and didn't seem to be afraid of the boy's shameless flirting. In fact, he even flirted back. By the end of the night
Leo found himself out back of the bar, kissing the stranger deeply. However, the stranger attacked the young man, revealing himself to be a vampire, a demon that
Leo had heard the old folks tell stories about, but had never really believed in until that moment. The vampire let the boy go to run for safety in the woods, towards his
home. The vampire toyed with him through that run, but in the end, caught up with him in the very front yard of his home. Used to the boy's drunken hollering,
his parents within ignored his screams for help. Nero drained him to the point of death before whisking him away. Then, hidden safely from anyone
he knew, Nero turned Leo into a vampire like himself, though Leo fought it to the very end.

For days, Leo refused sustenance, until he was starved for blood. Only then did Nero let him out, depositing him at his father's home within the woods. To
crazed to care Leo slaughtered both his father and his mother, and even the farm hand that lived with them. Nero watched all this,
laughing as Leo toyed with his father before killing him. Approving of this behavior completely, he seemed to not understand when Leo felt guilt at his actions
once everything was over. This began three centuries of violence and pain at the hands of the vampire that had turned him. Despite several attempts to
run from the Ancient, Nero always captured the other, and punished him worse than his father ever had. He was forced to watch as Nero slaughtered
his way across the Netherlands during those three centuries.

For 290 years he lived beneath the insane Caesar's reign. As with all vampires, though, he grew stronger with time. This was increased with regular infusions of
the ancient vampire's blood. Around the 1850's, when he and Nero fought, it often ended with them both benign seriously injured. In 1907 Leo finally
managed to escape Nero, and the other could no longer force him back into his hold. Nero was forced to let the other go. However, that did not
stop the older vampire from pursuing Leo across the Americas that they had moved to in the late 1880's. To this day, Leo lives in constant fear of the 'presents'
that Nero will often send to him, or the things he will do to those that he loves.

Leo is a quiet man, and through many years of suffering, he has come to be delicate, but strong. Tall, with black hair that reaches down to his ankles
when it is bound in it's normal tight braid, he is thin and almost feminine in nature. He is often even mistaken for a woman from behind. He speaks
lowly, and even after four centuries his dutch accent still flavors his words, voice melodic in a way, and rather hypnotic to those that listen
to him. His facial features are small and sharp, with vampiric white skin, and large, bright green eyes, and a smile that seems to light
his face up, coming easily now that he had been away from Nero for almost a hundred years. He dresses constantly in a black suit, complete
with vest and tie, though is boots tend to be a little racy, if one was able to see them, though they are often hidden by the cuff of his pants.
He owns his own home, now, and several other vampires tend to take haven within it, including the young vampires Ala and Locke.

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