Ardeur

"I don't want to introduce the passion of the Ardeur to someone I'm not keeping. It's cruel."

— Anita Blake

The Ardeur is the source power for Belle Morte's Bloodline of Vampires. All of her people seem to be blessed/cursed with this double-edged power to varying degrees.

Origins

"I am Belle Morte, I am Beautiful Death, gaze upon me, desire me, but come to me, my petite ones, and I will give you all you desire."

— Belle Morte

Prior to becoming Beautiful Death, Belle was a kind of Living Vampire now known as a Succubus. Through her psychic abilities she was able/had to metaphysically feed on lust and related emotions as Undead Vampire or Tlahuelpuchi would physically feed off of blood. When she become an Undead, she gained additional Vampire and Succubus Powers grew and mutated. These grew together to become the Ardeur. In time she became Sourdre de Sang, creating a new Bloodline with powers related to love and sexuality.

Ardeur Derivatives

Belle's line inherit the Ardeur to varying degrees. Even the least of Belle's line seem able to boast beauty and a certain sexual facility. While this is known to happen magically, as it did for Damian, it is possible that some of this allure is cultivated via rumor and propaganda. Belle and her people tend to turn those who are already conventionally attractive and skilled in love. Yet the Ardeur does react to others who carry it, even if their version of it, is a shadow of the original.

More potent versions, usually existing in Masters of her line, grant a Vampire one or more abilities Belle herself can work. Greater Fascinations, total control over those you've feed on, creating lust or even love in a victim and a number of other magics born of of Belle's original Ardeur. Occasionally these are more specialized then Belle Morte's Ardeur. Some even have synergy with a full Ardeur, able to feed it's owner more efficiently or control it to a degree. Though all the lesser version of the Ardeur have one thing in common, they do not need to be fed.

In rare cases, though how rare is not known, one of Belle Morte's Bloodline will inherent her full Ardeur, becoming a Succubus. In such cases they may use their Ardeur in a great many ways including some of or all the abilities listed above.

Usage

Feeding

"Sex or love Ma petite, what else is there for us?"

— Jean-Claude

The most basic aspect of the Ardeur inspires intense sexual passion in all it touches. Like all the powers of Belle Morte's line, the Ardeur is a double-edged sword, affecting both the Succubus and her victim. If a victim is submissive enough and/or the Succubus stronger, they may feed through touch and/or kisses without the need for sex. If however the a target has a strong mental shield and/or has a powerful aura, it is necessary for them to achieve climax before the Vampire can breach their defenses and feed fully.

Even when possible feeding through touch alone is sub-optimal, especially since those under the Ardeur's thrall are gripped with an intense desire to have sex with the nearest person. Which is typically is the owner/user of said Ardeur. This tends to be the point; as a Succubus must feed of lust/sex very regularly or they will die. Every twelve hours is what Anita needed before she had her own Triumvirate, after three or four times a day was required. Though that frequency of this need had to do with her feeding those who were closely linked to her. Feeding on a sufficiently powerful Vampire or Shapeshifter outside her Master's power-base and her own provides more energy.

"If I deny one hunger all of them grow worse, don't they?"
"If I deny the lust, I need more blood, and the reverse is true."

— Anita Blake and Jean-Claude

Anita also learned that sex is not all a Succubus needs. Habitually skipping meals and not getting enough rest makes the hunger for lust worse. She learned that sweet coffee and occasional sleep was a recipe for a fussy Ardeur. Though her hunger had to lash out several times before she took this lesson to heart. Even then her and her Servants had to reminding her from time to time.

Feeding on a Group

When the Ardeur is controlled and used with a lightly touch, it is possible for the people caught in it's pull to choose who they have sex with, but the more powerful/underfeed the Ardeur becomes, the less picky its victims become. To the point where they would have sex with those they are not normally attracted to. Such as the Ardeur fueled orgy in Bullet, which saw many unlikely pairings. Though that was also an insistence when the Ardeur had been given not just overwhelming strength, but fantastic range.

Initially Jean Claude and Anita can only spread their Ardeur through physical contact. However when Belle Morte feared The Dark might take Anita, she gifted/cursed the Young Succubus with the power to use her Ardeur at range. While it is something she's had over a year of practice with at that point of said orgy, it is not usually able to encompass an area as massive as the whole of the Circus Underground.

Feeding Remotely

The Ardeur can be used to feed on people's lust from a distance without contact. This process is described as being akin to "pulling velvet through an open wound" and is thus not as pleasant as the more usual methods of feeding. Furthermore it is not nearly as effective. Jean-Claude has proven he can feed in this way for an extended period of time, having only this as an option when owned by Nikolaos. He also continued to use it after taking the City, fearing Anita would not consent to date him if he had other partners.

Anita she has more difficulty feeding with it. Admittedly part of that might be her dislike for being onstage. Though it's clearly not to Jean-Claude's tastes ether. As soon as Anita allows it, he begins feeding from kisses and later from other men and women in their polycule.

Feeding through a Leader

"That's a good question, why don't I feel all ardeurish?"

— Anita Blake

The Ardeur can be used on more then one victim at a time, but this is most efficacious when feeding on a Master of a City, Lycanthrope Leader or similar. This not only strengthens a Vampire and everyone connected to them, but allows them to go longer between feedings. When Jean-Claude and Anita combined their Ardeurs to feed on Augustine, through him they also feed on his underlings, human servant, animal to call, etc. Anyone he had metaphysical ties to. Which is to say every non-human he brought to St. Louis.

Later on Anita did this with Jean-Claude helping her feed on all of Rafael's Wererats. Then without assistance she repeated the process on Donovan and his Swans. Though this time there was not a range limit. She was able to feed on every Swanmane that calls Reece king, thus accumulating enormous amounts of power.

Empathy and Change/Control

"So the Ardeur is what? a Blessing?"
"If the Ardeur hadn't come to you you'd still be stuck were you'd been."

— Anita Blake and Jason Schuyler

One of the most useful powers of the Ardeur is to make it's owner an Empath. All be it toward a limited number of emotions. They can detect lust quite readily, which is food for them, but also related emotions. This allows a Succubus to sense the deepest desires of an individual. Anita once used this to read a room of women attending a bachelorette/hen party.

This has a deeper and more risky purpose in that it allows a Succubus to have food more readily to hand. Once they ken a person's deepest desires/wishes, said Succubus can reshape their-own personalities to better accommodate those desires and in turn reshape the victim to be whatever they need said victim to be.

• An accommodating companions,
• A physically mature housewife,
• An ideal Servant
• A trust worthy bestie.

These is the ways in which Anita changed Micah, Nathaniel, Damian and Jason in that order. Though this was before she gained any real control over the Ardeur or the understanding that this was something she could do. As such she also changed herself in myriad ways she had, equally, never intended.

This alteration ability does have limits. Jean-Claude speculated that If a victim is sufficiently confused about their own desires then the Ardeur can get no foothold to alter them. It also can't make someone into something unrelated to the user's Powerset. Richard wishing not be a Werewolf is a wish Anita would happily grant if she could, but she has no magic to cure Lycanthropy. As such her Ardeur could do nothing to capture him. Changing a partner may also fail if used on a fellow Succubus/Incubus, one's own Master. It will also fail on someone who is in already in love for the Ardeur's powers are always limited against the real thing.

Addiction

"Scared? Sex would make me feel better. Angry? Sex would calm me. Sad? Sex would make me happy. Was I addicted to sex? Maybe."

— Anita Blake

The Ardeur can be extremely consuming, making those in its grips do anything to have another taste of it. Befitting it's double edged nature a Succubus may become something of a sex addict themself. Though as they must feed on lust/sex it is a problem without a solution. Repeated use the Ardeur on a victim can inspire intense love and devotion towards the Succubus feeding on them. Once fully addicted, said victim may come to be feed upon, home-in on the Vampire. as London did after becoming addicted to Anita.

Time and distance can loosen the hold of the Ardeur, but as with many of Belle's powers, the only cure to being addicted is true love.

Loved to Death

"He looks almost as tired as I felt, and why not. Hadn't he collapsed for the same reason I had, because some vampire had been feeding off of him."

— Anita Blake

The Ardeur drains the life energies of those it feeds on and can potentially drain a person to the point of death. This can happen if a Succubus feeds on the same person too often in a short period of time. Days to weeks (depending on the power of the victim). It can also be done in a single encounter if the Succubus wishes it.

Anita describes this as a strong temptation, she well knows the power one gains from taking every drop of power someone has. Thus those who possess the Ardeur must have several lovers if they wish to properly feed without killing anyone. Though there are unusual powers like London who are borderline immune to being loved to death, making them an ideal Pomme de Sang for a Succubus.

Personification

"I understood what it meant to be Belle Morte's line. The ardeur wasn't something I had to feed to stay alive, it was the way I fed. It was my blood."

— Anita Blake

Vampires with this power sometimes speak of their Ardeur as if it's something separate from themself. Their Ardeur, their Succubus, their Incubus. How it wants something or needs to be fed, as though it were something other. A separate consciousness within their body. Very much how Lycanthropes speak of there Beast. This seems to (mostly) be a coping mechanism. A Lycanthrope is their Beast(s) and can not fully control it until they accept that.

So it is with the Ardeur. A Vampire with their own Ardeur is a Succubus, but they will not have fully conscious control over their power until they make peace with it being a part of themself. Even after Anita has learned this, she has moments of "pronoun loss"(her words), where she waffles back and forth between "I" and "we".

This is an issue because when the Ardeur is not under control, it will cause a Succubus to become ravenous, feeding opportunistically, or without their knowledge. Especially dangerous when the hunger is new. Even when this phase has passed the Ardeur can hunt for powerful food, psychically effecting those around it. Seeking it's preferred victims. Ideally a Succubus will be doing this with purpose, but if underfeed one unconsciously. The equivalent of magical pheromones.

This is almost certainly more a survival mechanism more then anything else, but this power does seem to act at times. A primitive awareness that it must be fed regularly and well. If not voluntarily, the Ardeur unleashes itself without the volition of its user (often at full strength) and forces the Succubus to feed. This is a necessity as they weaken if they do not, eventually to the point of death. In this way the Ardeur is like an instinct. It can feel like a separate personality/presence because it is new, or at least not something a Succubus is born with. Yet it often seems as if the Ardeur wishes to grow.

Ardeur Variations

"I think that your ardeur holds not just lust, Anita, but love, as Belle's ardeur did. As my Ligeia's ardeur did."
"I've been inside Belle's head. She wouldn't know real love if it bit her on the ass."
"She knows the ardeur as a warrior knows his weapon. She knows the art of causing love and devotion, even addiction, in others, without suffering it herself."

— Requiem and Anita Blake

Belle Morte's Ardeur

"I am Belle Morte, I am Beautiful Death, gaze upon me, desire me, but come to me, my petite ones, and I will give you all you desire."

— Belle Morte

The Ardeur which all others are but pale imitations. It is the source of all Beautiful Death's power and what she used to gain her vast network of control and descendants. She can spread its influence over great distances. Including through dreams and metaphysical connections and unlike other Succubi and Incubi, she is unaffected by the drawbacks of her own powers. Belle has been said to have once used her godlike Ardeur on several hundred people with only a fraction of its full power.

Jean-Claude Ardeur

"Oh, Jean-Claude, Jean-Claude, what toys you have wright for yourself."
"Not toys Belle, never Toys."

— Belle Morte and Jean-Claude

While unavoidably weaker than the original, Jean-Claude's Ardeur is similar to Belle's, with one important difference. Belle Morte seeks power for it's own sake. Jean-Claude seeks power because he sees it as the only way to guaranty happiness and safety for himself and his people. If Beautiful Death's Ardeur is a sword, Jean-Claude's is a shield. He is able to counter remote attacks and is sometimes able to force even Belle to back off. He usually doesn't counterattack so much as he endures, tries to get to a place where diplomacy is possible. Failing that he has been seen to delay or redirect attacks, as to be less harmful or effect fewer people. In Bullet he redirects Morte D'Amour/Marmee Noir's Hunger for Death into an Ardeur of life. Those in it's thrall survived things they should not have. Including a lethal number of Vampire bites, eight apiece in Anita and Richard's case.

Anita's Ardeur

"My life was all about sharing. The group mattered more than anything else. The group had to survive."

— Anita Blake

Anita's Ardeur beginning as a copy of her Master's. This is not unusual in of it self. One of, if not Anita's primary power, is the ability to learn/copy the powers of others and make them her own. As such it did not remain a carbon copy. Her Ardeur has changed to fit her complex and conflicted nature. Affected by both her inborn Necromancy and her many Beasts. It has also been shaped by how she sees love and power. Anita loves without jealousy and shares freely. As she gains in power; she makes it everyone's power. This giving nature, along with Raina's influence, has allowed Anita to cultivate a healing Ardeur. Like the former Lupa's powers, it only worked on Shifters at first, but eventually she got it working on Vampires as well. Using this power to heal a holy water burn on Requiem.

Richard's Ardeur

"In all the centuries of the ardeur, some had tried to trap Belle in love. Augustine of Chicago had done that, and Jean-Claude and Asher had been her obsessions, but no one had offered this, only Richard. Only he could have turned something that was meant to feed on lust and make it about fiftieth wedding anniversaries and make it sound like a good idea."

— Anita Blake

Richard's "wedding-veil Ardeur" (as Anita calls it) is so far removed from the basal version, that Belle is taken aback by it's power to tempt her. It resembles the effect one gets in ring species more then anything. A mutation of the Ardeur that other Succubi and Incubi don't quite know what to do with. More then the other three, it is a reflection of its Incubus. Richard's power is to make others desire what he finds most appealing, whether they want to or not. Which was the danger when the Ardeur fist rose in him. He nearly used it to reshape Anita into the perfect 50's style wife he always wished she was. On the up he can feed it normally without turning the Kiss into a suburb.

Ligeia

Ligeia was a Succubus and lover of Requiem. Falling in love with Ligeia weaned him of his addiction to Belle Morte and her Ardeur. Ligeia had the full Ardeur, in that it contained the ability to rouse lust and love both. She was nearly crazed with it initially; Requiem was with her from the beginning when it rose in her. The two of them were sent to seduce both halves of an unnamed royal couple on Belle's behalf; they were together for a considerable time on this errand. He refused to have sex with Belle after that, desiring only Ligeia, and their Sourd de Sang was so enraged that she had Ligeia killed. (Incubus Dreams and Danse Macabre)

Etymology

Ardeur is a French word meaning intense heat. It can also mean fervor, passion, enthusiasm, zeal, or feelings of great intensity and warmth. This fits with the verbiage Belle Morte and Jean-Claude frequently use to describe it. Also it seems to produce warmer, more lively Vampires. Not simple in the case of Living Vampires like Anita and Richard, but also sudo-Incubi like Augustine who has a animistic warmth to him.