Kakistos

"For Kakistos, we live... for Kakistos, you die"

- Anonymous minion of Kakistos

Kakistos, the Father was an ancient Vampire master, apparently of Greek origin. He was portrayed by Jeremy Roberts.

Biography
"Kakistos is Greek, it means the worst of the worst. It's also the name of a vampire so old his hands and feet are cloven."

- Rupert Giles

Antiquity
Already old in the time of Greek antiquity, Kakistos had unusually cruel habits regarding his prey. Rather than killing, or even turning all of his victims, he would often torture female prisoners, driving them mad until they became his servants. These mad women became known as the maenads.

At some point, the maenads raided the village where Artemia, the Slayer, lived. Although she was away at the time, both Artemia's husband and daughter, Alexandra, were present during the attack. Her husband was killed in the battle, but Alexandra remained hidden.

On the Father's orders, both Artemia and Alexandra were captured and tormented. Alexandra's mind was broken, and she made a deal with D'Hoffryn to become a vengeance demon. She then used her powers to destroy the maenads, and was about to grant Artemia her dying wish to destroy the Father when a battle in Arashmahaar erupted, robbing Malice of her powers. The traces of this wish would remain dormant for thousands of years.

20th Century
At some point in time, Kakistos became the leader of the Cult of Antemorh. This vampire cult was thought to have been destroyed prior to World War I. Geoffrey Wyndam-Pryce's father had died trying to destroying the cult and its leader. During World War I, Kakistos resurfaced and offered his services to Kaiser Wilhelm II. He reformed his cult, gaining Crixus as his main lieutenant. Along with regular ground assaults on allied troops, Crixus had his vampires drop on enemy forces from planes and zephyrs and feed on or turn them. However, the vampires also attacked German forces occasionally. After each attack, the vampires would leave behind a symbol of their cult, painted with the victims' blood. Geoffrey Wyndam-Pryce, set out to finish what his father started. In France, Wyndam-Pryce formed an uneasy alliance with Angel, and together they ended Kakistos's involvement in the war.

By 1940, Kakistos had moved to the Louisiana bayou, where he established a base. There, he granted Spike and Drusilla permission to hunt down a potential Slayer.

Sunnydale and the Slayer
"I'm going to rip her spine out of her body, then I'm going to eat her heart and suck the marrow from her bones."

- Kakistos

Years later, Kakistos was stationed somewhere around the East coast of America, possibly Boston. There, he confronted Slayer Faith Lehane, kidnapping her Watcher, Diana Dormer. After luring Faith to his lair, Kakistos ripped Dormer in two, and promptly captured Faith. Faith, however, was not as helpless as she seemed. With the aid of Artemia's spirit, she was able to land upon the Father both a sword slash to the groin and an axe wound that cleaved his face in two, a wound from which he would never fully recover. Faith was then able to set the support beams of his lair on fire, brining to entire structure crashing to the ground.

Kakistos traveled to Sunnydale to hunt down Faith. With him came an entourage of his minions, most of them fanatical followers led by Mr. Trick, Kakistos' right hand and a technophile, modern-minded vampire, who abandoned his master to be slain by Faith and Buffy Summers. Kakistos was finally slain by Faith who overcame her fear of him and impaled a two by four through his chest, staking and killing him.

Personality
"There's a reason these vengeance crusades are out of style. It's the modern vampire who sees the big picture."

- Mister Trick

Kakistos was an old-minded, traditionalist vampire who revelled in the torture and mutilation of his victims. He seemingly did not approve of modern developments such as the electric light, preferring to light his dwellings with candles instead. He had little interest on modern comforts that would've allowed him to establish a power base with little effort. It was this short-sightedness that led Trick to abandon his Master to be dusted by the Slayers.

Powers and Abilities
"Guess you need a bigger stake, Slayer."

- Kakistos

Kakistos was an incredibly old vampire, having cloven hooves and a demonic visage. He possessed the same powers as other vampires, though he was less vulnerable to wood, requiring a larger amount to be dusted instead of a simple stake. He also could sense the presence of Angel's soul.

One unique power that he possessed was the ability to "home in" on anyone bearing his mark. In this way, Artemia assured a confrontation between him and Faith by possessing the girl and forcing her to have his mark tattooed on her arm.

Appearances

 * Angel: Blood & Trenches
 * Spike and Dru: Pretty Maids All in a Row
 * Go Ask Malice
 * Faith, Hope & Trick
 * Chaos Bleeds