Eli Damaskinos is the secondary antagonist of Blade II. He is an ancient pureblood vampire and the supreme ruler of the Vampire Nation. He is also the father of both Nyssa Damaskinos and Jared Nomak. He is portrayed by Thomas Kretschmann.
History[]
Eli Damaskinos was the Overlord of the Vampire Nation and had lived for many centuries, perhaps millennia. Due to his great age, his skin had taken on a pale, marble-like tone and his blood ran black through his veins. For a long time, Damaskinos had worked to try and rid the vampire race of their hereditary weaknesses. As technology advanced, genetic engineering became the next logical step and the Overlord attempted to design a new breed of vampire that would be immune to silver, garlic and even sunlight. He had experimented on Jared Nomak, his own son, but his experiments only yielded failure. Nomak's mutation, dubbed the "Reaper" strain, was immune to silver and garlic, but not sunlight. Even worse, the Reaper virus amplified Nomak's thirst exponentially and drove him to feed on vampires as well as humans. Disappointed, Damaskinos discarded Nomak.
Left to run wild, Nomak began feeding on the vampire population of Prague. Damaskinos saw this as an opportunity and sent his daughter Nyssa as an envoy to meet with Blade, the Daywalker. Nyssa proposed a truce between the Vampire Nation and Blade, bringing him and his allies Whistler and Scud to the House of Damaskinos' fortress. When Damaskinos met with Blade, he informed him about Nomak and the threat of the Reapers, requesting that they work together to stop them. However, his true plan was to have Blade exterminate the Reapers and then harvest him for experimentation, hoping to use his blood to create new Daywalkers.
Death[]
After Blade and the Bloodpack had exterminated the Reapers in Prague's sewers, Damaskinos had Blade and Whistler captured. However, Nomak was still alive and had followed Blade and the others back to his father's fortress, intending to exact vengeance against those who had made him a monster. Nomak breached the fortress and slaughtered everyone who got in his way, pursuing his father and sister to a private chamber. When Nomak entered, Damaskinos attempted to appease him, promising to find a cure for him. Nomak didn't listen and tore out his father's throat with his teeth. Damaskinos collapsed to the floor, his oily black blood oozing from his neck. As he died, Damaskinos' body petrified, becoming brittle like alabaster and cracking.