Pearl Jones

Origin

Pearl Jones was a young girl living in Los Angeles in 1925. Like her roommate Hattie Hargrove, she dreamed of a career in movies but so far had only worked her way up to roles as an extra. Her big break seemed to come when she caught the eye of movie star Chase Hamilton and received an invitation to a party held by producer B.D. Bloch. Tragically, it was something else entirely. B.D. Bloch was a member of a group of vampires in Los Angeles, and Chase Hamilton fed her to them.

Discarded and dying from being brutally fed upon, Skinner Sweet came to her and injected her with his blood. She rose after dying as the second American Vampire.

Creation

Pearl Jones was created as one of the protagonists of American Vampire by Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque.

Major Story Arcs

Big Break

After turned Pearl Jones an American Vampire, Skinner Sweet left her to her own devices, giving her some tips on how to deal with the older European type of vampire. He also left her a gift. It was the man who turned her over to a horde of vampires to suffer a brutal and painful death, Chase Hamilton.

Hamilton quickly became the first person Pearl had ever killed. She then set about getting her revenge on the vampires who killed her. She was a stronger kind of vampire than them and had no weaknesses they knew of, aside from becoming vulnerable on moonless nights. When that first moonless night came, she found herself in the care of Henry Preston, a traveling musician who had often asked her out for coffee when she was still human. He accepted what she had now become and helped her.

Pearl's friend, Hattie Hargrove, was used as bait to lure into a trap. She knew what this was but not realizing that Hattie was in on the trap. Hattie literally stabbed her in the back, though it lacked the intended effect. Pearl escaped with the help of Henry, and they later returned with Pearl at full strength. Pearl tore through B.D. Bloch and the other vampires, getting her revenge. It was not over, though. She tracked down Hattie and confronted her former friend, only to discovered that Hattie had used her blood from the trap to also become an American Vampire. They fought, and Pearl defeated Hattie by shoving a large gold star through the other vampires mouth. Gold, as it turned out, was their secret weakness.

Pearl then left Los Angeles with Henry.

The Way Out

Ten years later, Pearl was now Pearl Preston and living with Henry in the little down of Arrowhead, California. They had led a quiet life together so far, but that ended when a group of vampires came to town, secretly using a new club in town to drain musicians of their blood in the back. Henry stumbled upon this, but before he could be killed, Pearl arrived. Together, they killed the vampires and the human smuggler who aided them. Afterward, they decided it was best to move on to another town.

Ghost War

During World War II, an aging Henry is unable to join the military by regular means, but is later recruited to go into the Pacific theatre with a covert team of Vassals of the Morning Star members. While volunteering as a nurse, Pearl gets a letter from Skinner Sweet, revealing that he too had infiltrated the very same VMS group that Henry had joined, was was threatening his life. Fearing for the worst, Pearl gets in touch with VMS leader Linden Hobbes and manages to be sent out to the island the VMS soldiers wer stationed on, instantly going on the hunt for Skinner as soon as she landed. Pearl finds Skinner attacking Henry, who had left Skinner behind during a bombing run, and begins to defend her husband. The fight takes the two away from Henry, and as they lock hands, Skinner begins to tell Pearl why he chose her to turn into the second of the American Vampire species, leading Pearl to give into the sexual tension between her and Skinner, and kiss him. Afterwards, Skinner tells her that deep down she knows they were meant to be together, but Pearl says even if it were true, they'll never know, as she pulls out a knife made of gold, the American Vampire species' weakness, and stabs Skinner in the chest, leaving him for dead. Pearl manages to return to Henry, as they both, along with Calvin Poole, manage to be air lifted off of the island, before the US Military's full bombing raid commences.

The Blacklist

In 1954, Pearl and an ever aging Henry are living in Los Angeles once again. One day when Pearl is out of the house, a salesman comes to their home, but turns out to be a vampire, and attacks Henry, leaving him for dead. Pearl comes home to find Henry bleeding out in the doorway. She gets Henry to a hospital and calls Calvin (who had accidentally been turned into an American Vampire after coming in contact with her blood) asking for help after the attack. After Calvin and herself were once again attacked by vampires in the hospital, Calvin offers to transfer Henry to the VMS's west coast facilities, where he'd be safe. Inside the facilities, Pearl meets with Agent Bixby who offers Pearl the chance to go after those who had attacked her and her husband, due to her keen sense and ability to detect and track other vampires. To Pearl's surprise, Bixby reveals that her partner in this mission would be none other than Skinner Sweet, who somehow the VMS have gained control of and employed. Despite this, Pearl agrees, as she and Skinner set out on Hollywood to track down and kill the hiding vampires.

Powers and Abilities

As a vampire, Pearl Jones is difficult to harm and nearly impossible to kill. She is stronger and faster than humans and common European vampires of the Carpathian breed. In her transformed state, her mouth becomes snake-like with notably long fangs and an unhinged jaw and her fingers grow long and razor sharp. Her bite also injects a venom that has a paralyzing effect on people.

Pearl, as an American Vampire, has no aversion to sunlight. In fact, sunlight makes her strong.

Weaknesses

Pearl Jones becomes incredibly weak and vulnerable on moonless nights. Her skin becomes soft, and her fangs barely come out, leaving her so weak she is unable to even feed on a person.

Rather than wood or silver, the only thing that can really harm and kill Pearl is gold.