History


Jezebel Disraeli was the child of Alexis Hargreaves' mistress, and he was adopted by the count at a young age. However, though it is not widely known, Jezebel is in fact Alexis' biological son. Jezebel had two older sisters, but Alexis had no interest in them, and one by one, they disappeared from the house and never returned. Jezebel's mother blamed the boy for the deaths of her daughters because she could not bring herself to blame Alexis, and thereafter, she could never bear to look her son in the face. Strangely, this didn't seem to bother Jezebel. He was a happy and gentle child. He loved to wander in the woods around his house, and play with the birds and animals. His most beloved pet was a lamb named Snark.

One day, as Jezebel was playing with Snark, he looked around the yard and saw one of the servants strangling a goose that they were to eat for supper that night. It had never really occurred to him before that day that the meat he was eating was the flesh of the same animals that he played with every day. Jezebel was extremely upset by this, and because his body was weak, his extreme sense of guilt and grief made him sick. Alexis came to him and told him that it was the nature of human beings to feed on the lives of others, and that even by eating only plants, he would not escape that sin himself. It was Divine Providence. He then gave the boy a black cross necklace to wear to remind him of that sin.

Nevertheless, for some time Jezebel refused to eat meat. He became weak and sick, no one knew what to do for child. Finally, Alexis asked permission of Jezebel's mother to try an experimental surgery which might save the boy, but to do so, he would have to take the child away from the house, and he would not return. Jezebel's mother agreed readily.

Jezebel awoke from the surgery, confused, and in new surroundings. He was happy to have the opportunity to live with his father, but he missed playing in the woods with the animals, most especially Snark. Knowing this, Alexis made a deal with him. If Jezebel agreed to be a good and obedient boy, then he would be able to see his animal friends again. Jezebel then swore that he would eat everything on his plate if only he would be allowed to see Snark again, and Alexis promised that if Jezebel did eat everything on his plate, he would most definitely be reunited with his beloved Snark. So, that afternoon, the boy dutifully ate everything on his plate, even the meat. Hopefully, he turned to his father, asking to see Snark, and Alexis said that he had promised to reunite Jezebel with Snark and that he had indeed done it. "Tell me, Jezebel" he said casually. "How did he taste?"

Jezebel was horrified. He collapsed on the floor in shock and disbelief that his father could be so cruel, but the true horror didn't stop there. Alexis cruelly informed Jezebel that in order to save his life, the lungs and kidneys of his dead sisters had been transplanted into his body, that he had consumed his sisters just as he had consumed his cherished pet. Then Alexis drew out a picture of his little son, the child of his true wife, Cain, and told Jezebel that, with the birth of that boy, Jezebel's usefulness had ended.


Knowing that he had never been anything more than an amusement to his beloved father, Jezebel went insane with rage. He destroyed everything in his rooms, and tore through the house like a whirlwind. In one room, he came upon a man who had been locked up and experimented on. The man cried out piteously as the boy passed, but his look quickly turned to hatred as he mistakenly identified the child as one of his tormentors. He lunged at the boy, and in a panic, Jezebel grabbed up a knife and stabbed him in the chest, thereby committing his first murder. When the child was found, he had cut the man open and revealed his vital organs, and lay there with his face pressed against them.

From there Jezebel's insanity and his jealous hatred of Cain were born.

It wasn't until nearly seventeen years later that Jezebel and Cain finally met. Jezebel approached Cain in the guise of Dr. Allen, an old childhood friend. His manner then was kind and concerned, but in truth, Jezebel had murdered the real Dr. Allen so that he could get close to Cain by pretending to be his family doctor. He wanted to disrupt what he saw as Cain's idyllic life. He sought to sow distrust between Cain and his trusted friend and servant, Riff, and even attempted to poison Merryweather, his own half-sister. Luckily, Cain's naturally suspicious nature led him to investigate Dr. Allen's story, and discover that he was not Dr. Allen at all, but Dr. Jezebel Disraeli, adopted son of Cain's own father Alexis Hargreaves. Cain learned that his father had taught Jezebel all his skills, medical and magical, grooming him for a position in the secret society, Delilah.

This was Cain's first encounter with Delilah. Within that organization, Jezebel held a position of power as one of the Major Arcana, officers bearing the name of one of the twenty-two trump cards of the tarot. Jezebel's card was Death. That and his love of butchery earned him the name of 'Soul Taker'. However, although Alexis frequently urged Jezebel to take a position of higher authority as one of the First Tier, Jezebel refused to advance, preferring to remain in the Second. He said it was simply not in his nature to sit back and give orders.

Despite his supposed lack of authority, given his favoured status as Alexis foster son and prodigy, Jezebel is behind most every crime or plot that Cain stumbles across. He and Cain are frequently clashing with each other. Jezebel has an almost obsessive love-hatred for Cain which he believes will only be satisfied if he kills Cain. In particular, he covets Cain's eyes which he wants to remove and preserve in formaline as he has done with the organs of his mother. The green-gold colour of Cain's eyes is very rare and is said to be a sign of the sinful incest from which Cain was born and by which Cain stole the love of his father.


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