Adrian Clairmont

Adrian, presumably before joining the ranks of the Society of Leopold, was once an ordained Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church. He was later excommunicated from the Church, and was convinced that this - combined with the many "sinful" acts he had performed in the Society's war against the Cainite threat - would ultimately damn his soul to perdition. Adrian had long since accepted this fact, seeing it as one of many necessary sacrifices for the greater good of mankind.

Adrian and his cenacle were made aware of the emergent vampiric threat in LA after being called in by Agent Drew Handler of Project FIRSTLIGHT. After the spectacular mess that was Handler's failed interrogation of the Ventrue Fiona, Adrian chose to directly wrest control of the SI's operations from him. With the joint resources of local FIRSTLIGHT and SAD assets, as well as his own seasoned ESOG witch-hunters, Adrian coordinated a sudden and brutal assault against multiple Kindred targets throughout LA. Many were captured by the Inquisitors, and dozens more were sent to the Final Death. Of considerable interest to Adrian was one Annabelle Li, as he differed from his fellow hunters in the sincere belief that even vampires' souls could achieve a state of grace and thus be redeemed in the eyes of God. Annabelle, to his knowledge, had not taken a single human life in her now three years as a Kindred. Adrian quickly became convinced of - obsessed with, even - the idea that she was the "miracle" that proved said beliefs. On the eve of the SI's attack, Adrian approached her in person at Griffith College, hoping to convince Annabelle to come with him willingly. He nearly succeeded too, but conflicting orders from his higher-ups within the Society forced him to stake her instead.

Still adamant in his theories regarding Annabelle's miraculous resolve, he brought the captured fledgling back to the Society's Cenaculum at the San Fernando Mission, continuing to entreat her to work with him rather than against him. However, any goodwill Adrian's proselytizing might have bought with the Brujah had long since evaporated. During the Anarch counterattack against the Second Inquisition, she and the Malkavian X broke out of the Mission's holding area and confronted the ex-Bishop. Though Adrian's powers of True Faith made him extremely dangerous, in a moment of frenzy Annabelle impaled the hunter on a broken wooden crucifix, ironically making him the first human life Annabelle ever took.

Annabelle would keep the broken crucifix and carry it on her person during her subsequent travels to New York. During an encounter with an Anarch coterie in the South Bronx, the crucifix was stolen from her by the Tzimisce Isaac Brooke.

The process of taking blood is euphemistically called the Kiss or feeding. Vampires do not have to completely drain a victim, although frenzying vampires are likely to do so. Vampires can hide the puncture marks of feeding by licking the wounds, making the process fairly subtle. The Feeding process is highly pleasurable (arguably the only pleasure) for vampires, and is also extremely pleasurable for victims. Vessels who are drained regularly can become addicted to the Kiss.