Character History
God and the Devil
Captains Alfonse Kierch and Zebra Herriman are top assistants to Pellon Cross, the notorious leader of C.O.P. (Confederacy of Police) during the era of Innocent XLII. They are both intelligent and effective detectives. Zebra has a metal faceplate and is known for swearing profusely.
Pellon is employed by the Church to find the new Grendel, and also eventually to persecute Orion Assante. Zebra and Kierch help him in these goals. They are also all wary of Innocent’s real motives. Zebra figures out that Grendel may be a user of the drug Arcana Prime, a.k.a. Grendel.
Later, when Cross decides to steal some plutonium for Innocent, he is stuck, half-dead, in the desert. Kierch and Zebra find him and rescue him and the plutonium.
Cross is later turned into a vampire by Innocent. Cross escapes into the sewers. Zebra and Kierch, not knowing what’s going on, interrogate some of Innocent’s flunkies, trying to find him, since he has been missing for several days. They don’t get any good answers and search for him themselves. When they finally find him, Cross attacks them both and turns them into vampires as well.
He leaves before they wake up, so when they come to, they don’t know what’s going on. They kill some homeless people and drink their blood, then wander the streets. They run into some more C.O.P.s and turn them into vampires too. They go inside the precinct and do the same to many others. Cross finally finds them and they all join together, creating a huge vampire army. They march on the Church’s Tower, angry at Innocent, who they feel had been wrongly hoarding the delight of bloodlust which they now enjoy. (Innocent had previously turned very few people into vampires.)
They attack the Tower, which is in the midst of Easter celebrations. However, Eppy Thatcher had sabotaged the celebrations, putting the Grendel drug in the air, turning all the people in the congregation into hyper-violent madmen. The vampires and congregation clash. Zebra and Kierch kill two corporate workers who have been chasing a rat throughout the arc. Finally the Tower collapses under attack from a small army of Orion’s, and it falls on the vampires. Amazingly, many of them survive, including Cross, Kierch, and Zebra. They leave to start planning a new way of life in the world.
Devil’s Reign
Zebra and the other vampires, led by Cross, congregate in the System of VEGAS. At first they just hide out and prey on the weak. Zebra is seen shooting a gang of muggers in an alley and bringing them back to Cross for them to feed upon. Cross now makes others do all his hunting for him, and is clearly luxuriating in his leadership position. However, he is also making thoughtful plans. The casinos do a blood test to see if you’re a vampire; vampires can’t bleed. But Cross sets up a special hemophiliac vampire to get past the test. Then she turns everyone inside into a vampire, and they take over. They rename it Grendel’s Palace and it is their new base. For a while, it is a secret.
However, the new government, run by Orion Assante, finds out and turns it into an internment camp; they are locked inside and given fake blood to survive. For a while it’s a chic location and humans come in to mix with the risk of being near vampires. Eventually the humans are kept out and the casino dwellers becomes more desperate. The vampires are immortal, and face a future where they are stuck in there forever.
However, the high command can get out, and Zebra and Cross go down to South America to talk with Diamond Diego, a drug kingpin who is rumored to be working with Assante. Cross wants Diego to supply them with information they can use against Assante. Diego takes their money and throws them out with flame-throwers. They resolve to stay until after Assante comes and goes. Then they begin a campaign of fear against Diego. They show up on his balcony in their totem (animal) forms, then turn to mist and disappear. They finally break into his room and slaughter him. By this point, Zebra is starting to get fed up with Cross, whose plans are sometimes very effective, and sometimes huge failures. Zebra believes Cross, who is now called the “First One,” is getting too full of himself.
Cross’ next plan works, however: he manages to get the vampires to cause a riot and many of them, including the inner circle, break out of the casino. They start a camp in the mountains. Cross discovers that he can make himself bleed by gorging on enormous amounts of blood, and that if he shares that blood with other vampires, they can acquire the same ability. He now takes on the role of a vampire Christ, using his blood to liberate the vampires. Zebra thinks the whole thing is ridiculous, but his old friend Kierch is a true believer, and tension rises between them. Zebra continues to work as an effective member of the circle, coordinating many of the details of their efforts, and also trying to keep an eye on what’s going on in the outside world. He realizes that Assante has temporarily left the government, but Kierch and Cross won’t listen. Cross’ big gambit works, and the vampires manage to convert their casino guards into vampires, as well as the whole town. Kierch is thrilled, but Zebra thinks it will call too much attention to themselves.
Zebra thinks they need to assassinate Orion or he’ll eventually see what they’re up to. Cross has become almost drunk from drinking excess blood, and Kierch will only do what Cross says,. They don’t care or believe him when he tells them that Orion has made himself pregnant, or recreated Innocent’s Sun Gun. Zebra takes matters into his own hands and breaks into Orion’s sleeping quarters. It looks like he’s got him dead to rights, but when he goes in for the kill, a charged forcefield knocks Zebra out. He is captured, and presumably executed. This event ironically reminds Orion about the vampires, who he had otherwise ignored for decades. He sends a fleet to destroy VEGAS, killing many. Some, however, including Cross and Kierch, escape.
Powers
Zebra has the standard powers of a vampire in the Grendel universe. He has increased strength, speed, and durability. He has fangs and claws. His totem (the animal he can transform into) is a large crow. He can turn into mist. He does not age. Vampire abilities vary, often depending on how close the vampire is in its lineage to Pellon Cross, the most powerful of the vampires created after Innocent. As the first vampires that Cross created, Zebra and Kierch are presumably among the strongest of the breed. He is tough enough to survive the collapse of Innocent’s Vatican Ouest Tower.
He also possesses a vampire’s weaknesses. Water and sunlight cause them pain, and fire can destroy them. However, the inner circle are affected by water and sun less than normal vampires.
Zebra was an excellent C.O.P., possesses high-level detective skills, and is a good shot with his gun.