Benedict is the most beloved fledgling of Rhoshamandes. Both of them are duped by Amel into becoming two of the most notorious villains in recent vampire history. Benedict appears in Prince Lestat (2014), Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis (2016), and Blood Communion (2018).
Born during the Dark Ages, in the time of the Merovingian dynasty, a member of the royal classes and a Latin scholar, Benedict is eighteen years old when Rhoshamandes imprisons him for six months so that his monastic tonsure can grow out into long locks before he turns Benedict into a vampire. Not simply raised a Christian, he also enters the monastic life and has such a deep personal encounter with God that he becomes a mystical saint in his day.
Due to his Christian belief in the Final Judgment, Benedict fears damnation for being turned into a vampire. But his fears soon subside and he comes to love Rhoshamandes as an intimate companion, although he never forsakes his great cosmic fears of an Eternal Maker and Judge. Maintaining a childlike attitude without cunning or guile, he clings to Christ’s teaching that one cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven unless he or she becomes like a little child (cf. Matthew 18:2–4). In this way, Benedict feels a deep empathy for Louis’s struggle to accept his vampire nature, particularly when he reads Louis’s book, Interview with the Vampire. Similarly, he does not simply suffer alongside Louis but also greatly relates to the Vampire Chronicles that Lestat writes. In them, he sees how much he, too, desires to cause a wild rebellion in the vampire structure of belief and behavior, but he does not have Lestat’s gall or bravery.
Before the end of the first millennium of the Common Era, Rhoshamandes makes several other fledglings, whom Benedict considers to be siblings, namely what Rhoshamandes comes to call his line of de Landen vampires, which includes Allesandra, Eleni, Eugénie, Notker the Wise (who is also a monk), and Everard. When the Children of Satan attack Rhoshamandes, the wicked coven captures Allesandra, Eleni, Eugénie, and Everard. Wanting not to fight them but rather to live in peace, Benedict moves with Rhoshamandes to the north of England, where they build a fortress castle that will stand for the next thousand years. Benedict remains with Rhoshamandes during all those centuries. Together they defend and guard their land, which comes to be known as the realm of Rhoshamandes. Despite their defenses, Benedict reveals to an acquaintance the hidden location of his daytime resting place. A mortal alchemist named Magnus discovers Benedict’s lair, binds him in chains, drains Benedict’s blood before draining himself of blood to the point of death, and then Magnus drinks Benedict’s blood, which turns him into a vampire, making Benedict his maker without Benedict’s consent. Benedict is severely humiliated by the experience and becomes a laughingstock among other vampires.
To better protect Benedict, Rhoshamandes teaches him how to use the Fire Gift and the Mind Gift in defense of any other vampires who will seek either to destroy him or take his blood again. Over the years, Benedict uses his powerful abilities against numerous foes and practice objects, such as blowing massively heavy doors off their hinges.
In the twenty-first century, when the spirit of Amel becomes very discontented living in the wounded mind of the witch twin Mekare, Amel convinces Rhoshamandes to kill Maharet and Khayman in order to devour Mekare’s brain and take Amel, the Sacred Core, into himself, making Rhoshamandes the new host of vampire existence. Benedict helps Rhoshamandes decapitate Maharet and Khayman and then futilely kidnap Lestat’s son, Viktor, in an effort to fulfill Amel’s plan. When Lestat severs Rhoshamandes’s arm and brands him with the mark of Cain, stating that no vampire is to harm Rhoshamandes for his crimes against Maharet and Khayman, Benedict retreats with Rhoshamandes back into their fortress castle, where they remain until another vampire, Roland, invites them to his compound. There, Roland shows Rhoshamandes and Benedict a Replimoid alien named Derek from the planet Bravenna. Roland then explains to Rhoshamandes and Benedict how Rhoshamandes might use Derek to regain power among the vampires. But in time, this plan fails, and when a group of vampires destroy Roland, Benedict helps convince Rhoshamandes to end his vengeance on Lestat and the other immortals and to live in peace with them.
Benedict lives for a time on Saint Rayne, a private island sanctuary owned by Rhoshamandes, but he leaves the island and his maker because of a greater attraction to Prince Lestat. He lives at Château de Lioncourt, where he learns that the Court of the Prince desires to vengefully destroy Rhoshamandes for killing Maharet and Khayman. He agrees with the judgment and feels that he, too, should be destroyed for his compliance. He kills himself in the middle of the Court and allows fledgling vampires to drink his blood until nothing remains but his husk. They burn his body and scatter the ashes.
For more perspectives on Benedict’s character, read the Alphabettery entries Allesandra, Amel, Children of Satan, Eleni, Eugénie, Everard, Fire Gift, Khayman, Maharet, Maker, Mekare, Mind Gift, Notker the Wise, Rhoshamandes, Roland, Sacred Core, and Viktor.