Haylock

Haylock is the elderly leader of the Thirteenth Vampire Family and a specialist in controlling people and objects with blood-infused strings. He first enters Slough to assess Gary Dem as a potential threat, then becomes one of the three Family Leaders assigned to work with the Howlers against Unzoku's Gluttons.

Biography

Testing Slough's new Alpha

Haylock intercepts Gary during a coordinated vampire incursion and introduces himself only after using a nearly invisible string to redirect Gary's attack. Although he pressures Gary into revealing his stronger form, his purpose is assessment rather than conquest: the vampires want to compare the young Alpha with Lupus, and Haylock refuses to spend his followers' lives on a test. When Gary's fire begins destroying the aura structure connecting Haylock's formation, he aborts the attack, extracts the wounded vampires, and concludes that Gary's youth has not prevented him from becoming an exceptional threat. Haylock later supports the Vampire King's negotiations with the Howlers and interprets Gary's unusual requests with curiosity rather than the reflexive contempt shown by some of his peers. (Chapters 1176–1200)

Alliance against the Gluttons

When the Glutton outbreak reaches Centrefield, Haylock joins Jin and Rowa as the three Family Leaders sent to investigate alongside the Howlers. He tempers Rowa's attempt to intimidate the pack, accepts that the city's crisis cannot be solved by vampire pride alone, and warns the group when direct confrontation would waste lives. At the White Rose base, his strings restrain charging Gluttons and turn them against one another, but the endless numbers force him to conserve strength rather than chase a glorious victory. (Chapters 1756–1796)

Haylock then persuades Innu to surrender bodily control to his strings. The arrangement lets Haylock apply centuries of movement and battlefield judgment through Innu's stronger weapon-bearing body, while Innu studies the footwork he can later reproduce himself. Their cooperation becomes one of the front line's most effective combinations and survives the distrust between human, werewolf, and vampire. Once the immediate position is secure, Haylock agrees with the other leaders that the nationwide threat exceeds their authority and returns to report to the Vampire King, wishing Gary's pack success rather than prolonging the old racial conflict. (Chapters 1797–1809)

Appearance and personality

Haylock appears as an old man with a white beard around the lower half of his face, swept-back white hair, glowing red eyes, and formal grey or black suits. His straight posture and precise speech give him an aristocratic presence even in combat. (Chapters 1176–1178, 1756)

He enjoys danger and the stories it produces, but experience keeps that enthusiasm from becoming simple recklessness. Haylock withdraws rather than sacrifice subordinates, recognizes when diplomacy is necessary, and can treat younger opponents with amused respect. His patience contrasts with Rowa's arrogance and allows him to work effectively with Innu despite mutual suspicion.

Powers and abilities

Vampire physiology and blood aura

As a Family Leader, Haylock has supernatural speed, strength, durability, senses, and access to blood aura. He moves silently enough to seem to disappear, fires piercing red energy from his fingers, coats his hands for lethal close-range strikes, and survives blows that throw him through vehicles. Gary's higher forms can overpower him directly, and prolonged fighting still consumes energy and leaves him dependent on careful tactics rather than limitless regeneration. (Chapters 1177–1191, 1791–1797)

Thirteenth Family strings

The Thirteenth Family can create and control fine strings; talented members infuse them with blood aura to increase their strength and responsiveness. Haylock emits them from his fingers to pull limbs off line, trip targets, swing debris, restrain necks and bodies, or construct a web across an approach. The uninfused strands can be difficult to see, but Gary's claws can cut them and fire can disintegrate the larger aura network. (Chapters 1176–1191)

Haylock's most advanced application connects an aura orb to several allies and moves their arms, legs, and balance as one formation. Cooperative subjects must stop resisting and let him direct them. The technique can push bodies faster and farther than their normal control allows, but leaves them sore afterward and becomes vulnerable if the central aura or its renewing strings are destroyed. With Innu, the same mechanism supplies expert footwork, aerial corrections, and center-of-gravity control while leaving Innu able to channel Qi through his own weapons. The corpus does not explain how the family originally acquired this power or the exact blood cost of each string. (Chapters 1178–1191, 1797–1808)

Haylock also appears able to influence a checkpoint officer into admitting his vehicle without inspection. The scene does not name the effect or establish whether it is hypnosis, social authority, or another vampire ability, so its mechanics remain unknown. (Chapter 1763)

Relationships

Gary Dem

Haylock begins by treating Gary as a subject whose strength must be measured. Gary's restraint, rapid growth, and willingness to cooperate later persuade him that the Howlers are partners worth preserving, even when their races' old hostility would make suspicion easier.

Innu

Innu initially distrusts a vampire taking control of his body, while Haylock considers the human's independent reactions an obstacle to the technique. Their combined defense proves that Haylock's precision and Innu's Qi and weapons can compensate for one another, turning coercive-looking strings into a voluntary partnership.

Jin and Rowa

Haylock is the most experienced field pragmatist among the three Family Leaders. He moderates Rowa, coordinates with Jin, and helps both recognize when their assignment has grown beyond a small punitive expedition.

Items

Haylock carries restorative blood in silver-cased vials during vampire operations. His signature strings are a family ability rather than a separate weapon, and he has no finalized personal item in the supplied inventory.