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= Audric Ackerman = "This article is about the French vampire. For other uses, including the lost Liebeslieder written by Schubert and the Winterhalter painting series, see Audric Ackerman (disambiguation)."

Emilein Audric Ackerman von Windisch de Salviati d'Aubigné (born 13 July 1572) is a vampire, former member of the Black Cathedral sun cult, and current soldier-under-oath to the western United States branch of the Hunters Alliance, Los Angeles office. He was fourteenth in line to the inheritance of the hereditary Windisch-Salviati vampire family, but was disinherited after the conflagration of the family's estate, the historic Château de Talcy, in 1721. Aside from his former cult membership and current rank as the first vampire officer-under-oath of the western United States Hunters Alliance branch, he is known primarily for his suspected involvement in multiple major conflagrations, his status as a particularly popular salon leader in the Habsburg Empire, and for having inspired several works by well-known poets and painters.

Ackerman's accomplishments as the first sworn vampire officer of the western United States branch have not been particularly notable, although he has been "invaluable" in providing inside information on the Black Cathedral (Cathédrale Noire) cult. He occasionally serves as a translator for the branch on overseas missions, due to his fluency in most European languages, including Italian, German, Dutch and multiple dialects of French. Recently, Ackerman and other officers-under-oath have been entrusted with the job of arranging treaties between local vampire clans and the western United States branch as well, in the hope that species loyalty will encourage such clans to be more receptive to offers of peace.

Early life
Emilein Audric Ackerman von Windisch de Salviati d'Aubigné was the youngest son, and third child, of Sophie von Windisch de Salviati and François-Marie d'Aubigné. His mother Sophie was the heiress to the Windisch-Salviati line, which, like most hereditary vampire bloodlines, is matrilineal. It is presumed that her marriage to François-Marie d'Aubigné, a wealthy young nobleman who stood to inherit the Château de Saint-Maury, was an arranged one, and occurred sometime during the 1520s. Their first child, Magdalena Ludovika, was born on November 4, 1531, followed by Ackerman and twin brother Valentin Cesare on July 13, 1572, and youngest daughter Gisela Angelika on June 17, 1581.

On July 13, 1590, Ackerman underwent the sang échange, a ritual used to turn the children of hereditary bloodlines into vampires, along with his twin brother. Sources indicate that this ritual, performed on the child's eighteenth birthday, involves a process of drowning in holy water before being revived and turned by the eldest living member of the bloodline, at which point both parents will feed their blood to the child to symbolize its official entrance into the family. Due to the inherent risk of the process, survival of it is rare, and the successful turning of all four children was a remarkable occurrence.

There is little concrete knowledge of Ackerman's activities during his early years as a vampire. It is known that he attended the debutante balls of both his sisters, as well as those of his cousin Léontine-Anne von Windisch und Nassau-Siegen and young vampire heiress Marie-Adélaïde "Minette" d'Austria-Este et Rochechouart de Mortemart. It has been proposed by some biographers that Ackerman's mother Sophie, a close friend of the Este-Mortemart line, arranged a marriage between her son and Marie-Adélaïde, and that a dislike of this marriage was an influencing factor in his later disappearance from the family estate. The Windisch-Salviati children were extremely popular at the court of the colloquially known Triangle River (Triangle Riviére) clan, with Audric in particular remarked upon for his extraordinary good looks, intelligent and philosophical nature, and devoted attention to his sister Gisela, who was considered too frail to leave the château.

In 1650, the Triangle River court historian recorded the move of the Windisch-Salviati family from the Château de Freundstein in the Haut-Rhin region to a larger and more notable family estate, the Château de Talcy, located in the Loire Valley. This placed the four children and their parents under the jurisdiction of the Loire Valley clan known as the Shadowmakers (Décideurs de l'Ombre).

Disappearance from Château de Talcy
On December 27, 1721, a fire took place at the main house of the Château de Talcy. It gutted the Gothic Renaissance château itself, collapsing the turrets and leaving only the original stone, consumed the dovecote and vegetable garden as well as a village church, and threatened the nearby village. The death toll of this fire is unknown, as the deaths of villagers in the area were not recorded, although no deaths occurred among the vampire inhabitants of the estate. It is generally accepted that the Talcy fire was set by Audric Ackerman himself, partially because of his known tendencies toward arson, and partially because of his departure from the family estate the same day. At the time, Sophie and François-Marie simply assumed that their youngest son had died in the fire, and organized a lavish funeral before focusing their attentions on the reconstruction of the château.

For several years following Ackerman's disappearance from the estate, his whereabouts remained unknown. He withdrew from all contact with friends, family and the Shadowmaker court, including his surmised future bride Marie-Adélaïde and beloved younger sister, even though Gisela von Windisch was reportedly "inconsolable" at her favorite brother's supposed death. This total loss of contact may have been a conscious attempt on Ackerman's part to maintain the widespread belief that he was dead.

Life in the early eighteenth century
Between approximately 1720 and 1760, Audric Ackerman remained, for the most part, underground and undetected by either vampire clans or local small-scale groups of hunters. It is believed that he spent some time in the royal court at Versailles, taking his father's name to become François-Emilein d'Aubigné, where he was granted an apartment and a small royal pension by Louis XV. He may also have been offered a military governorship, but if so, it was turned down. Illustrations of productions at the Páris Opera seem to indicate that, around the same time, Ackerman had a short-lived but fairly successful career in opéra-ballet, including a performance in Rameau's famous Les Indes galantes.

Life in the Austro-Hungarian Empire
In the mid-1760s, Ackerman resurfaced in Prague, at the time the capital of Bohemia and one of the major political centers of the Habsburg monarchy. Once again under a modified version of his birth name, this time Audric von Windisch, he founded a literary and artistic salon near the palace in Prague formerly owned by Emperor Rudolf II. Charming, intellectual, and attractive, he quickly became a member of the upper echelons of Prague's social circles, and used that position to get loans of money from wealthier friends in order to sustain his lifestyle. It is suspected that the political conversation that went on at his salon allowed Ackerman, if necessary, to blackmail his rich acquaintances into handing over considerable sums, and Ackerman is also connected with a series of murders that occurred at regular intervals while he lived in Prague. Nevertheless, the Windisch salon remained a staple of culture in Prague for over thirty years, gaining the attention of the royal family, and over time Audric Ackerman became a favored confidant of Bohemian nobility in the area.

Although he had been steadily gaining political influence over the past few decades, Ackerman was forced to abandon his salon in Prague around 1785, likely due to acquaintances beginning to question his unchanging appearance. What he did after that is unknown, although it is presumed that he resided in Vienna at some point during the next sixty years, because Ackerman became close enough friends with composer Franz Schubert for Schubert to dedicate a score to him. This score, poems from Heinrich Heine's Buch der Lieder set to music and known as Schubert's Liebeslied, is unheard of among those not also knowledgeable about the supernatural realm, and remains lost to this day even among those aware of supernatural societies; it may still be in the possession of Audric Ackerman himself.

Black Cathedral sun cult
In early February of 1832, Audric Ackerman became a sworn member of the Black Cathedral (Cathédrale Noire), a Parisian vampire clan and cult of sun-worship. The Black Cathedral has been headed since the 1600s by Armand-Augustin de Chevalier, marquis de la Seine, and is known primarily for its political influence and religious practices, which involve committing the seven deadly sins - supposedly in order to better comprehend them - and then performing mortification of the flesh in order to repent. Armand de Chevalier, in particular, is known as a clan leader for his infamous "banquets of blood," at which guests are invited to consume the blood of chosen humans, and chosen guests are then killed in turn as a method of repentance. Ackerman's reasons for joining the Black Cathedral remain a matter of obscurity, but once a member he ascended in status rapidly, enlisting in the most delicate and controversial cult operations and appearing in public alongside the highest-ranking members of the cult.

A mere two years after first swearing himself to the Cathedral, Audric Ackerman began to appear in records as Armand de Chevalier's official consort, which was a fairly dubious honor given that the requirements of penance increase along with distinction in the cult's ranks. Moreover, sources indicate that the relationship between Ackerman and de Chevalier was extremely codependent, violent and unstable, and may have been the result of some kind of compulsion, possibly the oath sworn to the cult upon entrance. The majority of Ackerman's recorded charges for arson date to the years he spent in Paris, leading to the conclusion that de Chevalier may have encouraged and probably contributed to his extreme pyromania as well. The extent of the emotional and physical abuse endured during Ackerman's time in Paris is unknown, but at his trial in 2011 for conspiracy to murder, questions regarding Armand de Chevalier appeared to visibly disconcert Ackerman to the point that he had difficulty speaking on the witness stand. Nevertheless, his position as consort lasted for approximately seventy years, until his disappearance in 1911.

It should also be noted that sometime during the 1850s, Franz Xaver Winterhalter was commissioned using cult funds to paint a series of oil portraits of Ackerman, most of which have been lost since their original completion or burned in the Black Cathedral fire. However, at least three are known to still exist, two of which can now be found in the Royal Council Gallery at Meiringen. It is believed that Ackerman himself is still in possession of the last portrait, but these rumors are unconfirmed.

Black Cathedral fire
The burning of the Cathédrale Noire occurred in May of 1911, not long after Armand de Chevalier's third coronation as clan leader. Known as the Black Cathedral fire, this conflagration struck not only the historic cathedral itself - in the process destroying matchless examples of Gothic architecture and stained glass windows originally constructed in the 11th century - but also the majority of the buildings and shops surrounding it, including other public monuments in the area. It is considered one of the worst disasters in French supernatural history, and would likely be considered one of the worst disasters in French history as well, had the local hunter branch not done an "exemplary" job of repairing the situation.

On trial in late 2011, Audric Ackerman personally confirmed that he was responsible for the Black Cathedral fire. It has been speculated that the coronation, and thus the threat of another hundred years under de Chevalier's rule, was the trigger that led him to set fire to the clan's headquarters, or that it was simply the result of a breakdown in what little mental stability he still possessed. Moreover, suggestions have been made that Ackerman had an accomplice or several in the Cathedral fire, due to the massive scale of destruction, but no concrete evidence exists to substantiate these claims.

Life in the 20th century
Very little information can be found about Ackerman's activities between his departure from Paris in 1911 and appearance at the Saint-Romain estate in 2010, despite the fact that, as a Cathédrale Noire member, he remained on multiple international hunter watch lists. This century has been referred to in some cases as the "lost years", due to the fact that his places of residence are also still undetermined.

It should be noted, however, that between 1995 and 2008, Ackerman is known to have spent some time in the western United States, more specifically the Greater Los Angeles area. While in Los Angeles, he befriended Fitzgerald "Fitz" Clarence V, son of crime lord Fitzgerald "Gerald" Clarence IV and as of 2009 head of the Clarence crime empire. Both Audric Ackerman and Fitz Clarence were charged with multiple counts of arson and property destruction during the early 2000s. Ackerman remained in Los Angeles for almost a full year after Clarence's father's death in December of 2008, and was one of the only people who Clarence maintained contact with during this time.

Visit to Saint-Romain estate & capture in New York
In May of 2010, Audric Ackerman called on Achille de Saint-Romain, head and founder of the Romain-Orléans blood smuggling ring, at his estate in the rural Pacific Northwest. It is presumed that he intended to seek refuge at Saint-Romain's estate, although why he chose to do so is unknown, given that Saint-Romain is known to be a close business associate of none other than Armand de Chevalier. It is possible that Ackerman may have known Saint-Romain's business partner Philippine d'Orléans during his time at Versailles in the early 1700s, and thus expected to gain some assistance from her.

Nevertheless, Achille de Saint-Romain refused to grant Ackerman asylum at his estate, probably in order to avoid offending a major client given that the Black Cathedral has been purchasing blood from the Romain-Orléans ring since its inception. Saint-Romain went so far as to attempt to return Ackerman to the Black Cathedral, ordering his ward and heir Jehan Desjardins to escort Ackerman to New York City, where he intended to have his smuggler and associate Harriet Levy arrange transport to the European border. For approximately a month after arrival, Ackerman and Desjardins remained at Levy's New York townhouse, also inhabited at that time by Levy's romantic partner Zelda Day Vogel, her two business partners Walter Hall and Isabel Tang, and close friend Kiefer Marsden.

On June 15, 2010, Harriet Levy conducted Audric Ackerman to the New York Harbor, where, as per Achille de Saint-Romain's instructions, she intended to stow him away on a transatlantic freighter to Italy. However, before the pair were able to break into the ship in question, they were discovered by the New York Hunters Alliance office's harbor watch. Reportedly, it took seven hunters to capture the two of them, after which they were promptly conveyed to the New York hunter headquarters in Manhattan for questioning. Later the same night, New York hunters tracked down Levy's townhouse address and raided the house for information about the Romain-Orléans smuggling ring, taking Desjardins, Vogel, Hall, Tang and Marsden captive in the process.

Transfer to Los Angeles
After consulting the Hunters Alliance Council on the matter, the New York office's Scion Captain decided to keep Levy for further questioning under blood oath, mainly regarding Romain-Orléans smugglers in the area, while Vogel et al were placed under house arrest. With their official interrogation having ended, Ackerman, Desjardins and Marsden were confined in New York headquarters for several weeks as the Council and the New York office debated where they should be sent.

Eventually, the New York office released a statement that all three of them would be transferred to the Los Angeles office of the western United States branch, by decree of the Council. Since the researchers of the western branch were at that time heading up the investigation into Black Cathedral practices, Ackerman was expected to be valuable in that respect; Marsden, as a known former associate of the Clarence crime ring, was transferred in the hopes that he might be able to assist in negotiations between the empire and the local hunter office. The reasons for Desjardins' transfer to Los Angeles remain unknown, but it has been suggested that he did not wish to be separated from Ackerman and/or Marsden, along with the possibility that he would be able to help arrange a treaty between the western branch and the Romain-Orléans ring as well as other local clans.

Audric Ackerman, Kiefer Marsden and Jehan Desjardins were sworn into the western branch of the Hunters Alliance under Scion Captain Maya Verkaik on September 22, 2010. Their initial blood oath conditions, as reported by Verkaik's secretary to the Council, entailed residence inside the metropolitan area of Los Angeles at all times, a hunting quota of one death every ten weeks, and unquestioned obedience to any orders given by Los Angeles hunters above the rank of sergeant. Due to his association with the Black Cathedral, Ackerman, in particular, was sworn in under the threat of immediate execution should he break the oath.

Trial for murder, 2011
Due to his involvement in the Cathédrale Noire, shortly after being sworn into the western United States branch, Ackerman was indicted for multiple counts of first-degree and second-degree murder as well as several counts of conspiracy to commit murder, arson, and property destruction. In October 2011, upon hearing of the indictment, Ackerman went so far as to break his alliance oath and kill multiple civilians. As the conditions of his blood oath had been reduced four months before, he did not face execution without trial, but several more counts of murder were added soon after the date of the trial was set. Witnesses at the trial included several former Black Cathedral members, as well as Achille de Saint-Romain, who testified as a business partner and frequent visitor of the Cathedral, and Kiefer Marsden as the only living observer of the later murders. Ackerman's defense attorney filed a double plea of insanity and coercion, and the criminal charges against Ackerman were dropped under the agreement that the blood oath conditions placed on him by the Los Angeles branch would be increased again, until the Hunters Alliance Council decided otherwise.

It should be noted that in most trials of sworn officers, the Scion Captain of the branch is listed as the plaintiff, which would have designated the 2011 trial Verkaik v. Ackerman. However, Maya Verkaik refused to take that position, due to the fact that the majority of Ackerman's charges had occurred before his entrance into the branch, as well as her personal belief that the trial itself was "pointless" and that Ackerman had been a victim, not a willing accomplice, of the Black Cathedral.

Annemarie Manet
Shortly after Ackerman's trial in 2011, Scion Verkaik recruited Sasha and Annemarie Manet, two young, self-trained demon hunters from rural Louisiana, in order to help control a demon incursion in Las Vegas. It is presumed that Audric Ackerman and Annemarie Manet first met at the height of the Las Vegas operation, as Ackerman was temporarily released from house arrest by blood oath due to the severity and scale of the incursion. Since 2011, Ackerman and Manet together have been charged with multiple counts of shoplifting, fraud and property destruction, mainly committed at large malls such as the Americana at Brand and Rodeo Drive. The pair have also been known to request off days from the branch at the same time, but these requests have been repeatedly denied by Maya Verkaik herself. Of the Los Angeles hunters not under oath, Annemarie Manet is the only one who is known to have any kind of close relationship with Ackerman, although reasons for this selective friendship remain unclear.

Alouette de Chevalier
It is assumed that Ackerman first met Antoinette Louise de Chevalier, the younger sister of Armand de Chevalier, during his time with the Cathédrale Noire. Very little information can be found about Alouette, as she is known, and it is unknown whether or not she ever officially joined the cult, but Black Cathedral records indicate that she resided at the Cathedral throughout her brother's first four centuries as clan leader; as Armand's sister, she possessed an inherent measure of status within the clan. Alouette is suspected to have joined the cult by the early 1900s despite the lack of available records, since she became Armand's right hand and banquet hostess after the Black Cathedral fire, due to the fact that her brother refused to choose someone to replace Ackerman as official consort.

In late 2015, Alouette de Chevalier was captured in Paris during an international Hunters Alliance raid. Following her capture, she was indicted for murder as well as abetment and conspiracy to murder, and transferred to Los Angeles due to the precedent of trials for other Cathedral members being held there. While Alouette was imprisoned for the two months preceding her trial, Audric Ackerman is known to have made repeated visits to the location where she was incarcerated. Ackerman, as a former member of the Black Cathedral who had known Alouette de Chevalier during his time there, also stood as a witness for the defense at her trial, presenting information that is thought to have greatly contributed to the jury's final decision to clear Alouette of all charges. Furthermore, since her trial ended, Alouette has been temporarily living at the Los Angeles apartment which Ackerman shares with Desjardins and Marsden; how long she will continue to do so is uncertain.

Fitzgerald William Clarence V
Sometime during the early 2000s, Audric Ackerman became a close friend of crime lord Fitzgerald Clarence V. How the two met is uncertain, but it is believed that they became friends due to common interests, including wine, antique furniture and clothing, and arson; Ackerman has been charged with multiple counts of arson, property destruction, and theft in conjunction with Clarence. The pair are known to patronize antique stores in and around Los Angeles, and have also become somewhat infamous at several local restaurants and cafés. Sources indicate that Clarence has made attempts to hire Ackerman as an associate of his crime ring in the past, and Ackerman is known to have attended Clarence's wedding earlier this year.

Various rumors persist regarding how Ackerman and Clarence first encountered one another. It has been proposed that the two initially met through Kiefer Marsden, who was employed by the Clarence crime ring during the 1980s and early 1990s, and may have been a close friend of Fitz Clarence's mother Elizabeth Clarence. This possibility remains unconfirmed and fairly unlikely, since Marsden does not appear to have remained an associate of the Clarence crime ring after Elizabeth's death. Furthermore, Ackerman stated at his interrogation in New York Alliance headquarters that the first time he encountered Marsden was during their common residence at the home of Harriet Levy.

Kiefer Marsden & Jehan Desjardins
Since their transfer and entrance into the western United States branch in 2010, Audric Ackerman's closest known relationships have been with Kiefer Marsden and Jehan Desjardins, his coworkers and housemates for the past four or so years. Ackerman and Desjardins met when the former paid a visit to the estate of Desjardins' adopted father and guardian, Achille de Saint-Romain, and they became acquainted with former soldier and weapons dealer Marsden while staying in New York City. After they were sworn into the Los Angeles office, the trio moved into an apartment together, located in the Silver Lake area and rented on their behalf by Maya Verkaik. They have been living in the same household since then, although the exact state of their relationship remains unclear, as it is debatable whether Ackerman is romantically involved with Marsden, Desjardins, or possibly both.

Though no substantiated evidence exists for a serious romantic relationship between any of them, the trio have appeared in public at multiple Alliance events during the past year. They have also been known to go on day trips together, often alongside Ackerman's close friend Fitz Clarence and his husband Ronan Salander. Moreover, Ackerman's reactions to the endangerment of either of his housemates seem to indicate that he cares for them greatly, enough to risk his own safety for their sake. After Marsden was presumed dead in a bomb fire that occurred while the branch was raiding a vampire nest, Ackerman proceeded to burn down an abandoned mansion in Los Feliz, and is thought to have attempted to kill himself in the fire; mission reports from the branch state that he was rescued from the house by none other than Jehan Desjardins. The three of them did not volunteer for any missions for almost a month after the incident, and for the most part were known to refrain from leaving their apartment for longer than a few hours at a time, although they were visited during the month by fellow hunter Sabrina Goldstein as well as Annemarie Manet and Fitz Clarence.

It should also be noted that Marsden played a significant part in Ackerman's 2011 trial, making a vehement speech on the witness stand regarding Ackerman's position as a victim of the Black Cathedral and how "absurd" the later charges for murder were; he refused to stand down, and was nearly removed from the court. He has also been indicted for some crimes alongside Ackerman, although fewer than in conjunction with either Clarence or Manet. On the other hand, Ackerman's convictions of crimes such as murder and arson have generally, if slowly, decreased in the past three or so years, and it is accepted by and large among the western branch that this improvement can be credited to Desjardins, although why or how is uncertain. Desjardins also appears to have established an unspecific truce among Audric Ackerman and Achille de Saint-Romain, aside from the more broad treaty between the western branch and the Romain-Orléans smuggling ring, given that Ackerman as well as Marsden have gone with him to Saint-Romain's estate at least once during the past two years.

Generally speaking, it appears to be accepted among the western branch and their close contacts that Ackerman is romantically involved with at least one, if not both, of his housemates. During an interview earlier in her tenure, Sabrina Goldstein, known to be a close friend of Desjardins, said that while she had no definite comments to make, "I think Jehan would go back to them no matter what. He knows what they've done, and he's still totally devoted to the pair of them. It's like the three of them are in their own little world. I honestly don't understand it, myself." Nevertheless, no sources have officially confirmed the possibility of a romantic relationship between the trio, and attempts at interviews with the three of them have been met with threats of extreme violence from both the vampires themselves and their Scion Captain; thus, it seems that no verification of their involvement will be presented at any point in the near future.