Born in 1810, Ambrosius Vallin vanished from Dante’s Cove in 1840. Ambrosius’ mother, Emily, had groomed her sensitive, obedient son to marry Grace Neville, the presumptive Avatar of the Moon House in Dante’s Cove. But unbeknownst to him, Ambrosious was to be nothing more than a seed producer to be mated with and murdered by Dante’s Cove tradition. It would have happened that way if Ambrosius had been able to control his love and sexual urge for his butler, Raymond.

After Grace caught Ambrosius having sex with Raymond, she locked him away in the basement of the Hotel Dante and placed him under a curse that he would look old and ugly through all eternity until “the kiss of a young man” would set him free. Ambrosious was released from the curse by kissing Kevin 165 years later.

After Kevin freed Ambrosius, Ambrosius became obsessed with Kevin, luring him to the lighthouse for sex and even trying to kill Toby in order to get access to Kevin. With a stockpile of gold retrieved from his own grave, Ambrosius is rich, powerful, and darkly mysterious. He’s not an easy man to resist.

Ambrosius is the lone wolf who’s been burned too many times by humanity. A narcissist, he overestimates his own power and has an inexhaustible need for admiration. His interest in others lies primarily in how they can service his needs: the infinite craving for freedom, power and uncontrolled sex.

These needs were not born in him; they were created. Deep inside of him beats the heart of someone who once had hopes and dreams and desired love. But between constant concealment of his sexuality in nineteenth century society and being trapped in a dungeon for over 150 years, a passionate soul became the wild, wary animal that entwines sex, love and death as he roams the streets of Dante’s Cove.

At his core, Ambrosius is not fully evil. He doesn’t kill for enjoyment -- he doesn’t see himself as a villain, he sees himself as a person who deserves the happiness he’s been denied for so long. He couldn’t kill Toby when he had every reason to, and even the death of the two children weighs on him in his most private moments. He hasn’t lost complete respect for human life; his killing comes from necessity, to gain whatever he feels he deserves, not from pleasure. In another time and place he could have been a gentle, civilized man.

Ambrosius protects himself from self-hatred by cherishing a self-image as a man with no remorse, no true feelings. But in fact he does care deeply about Kevin. Drawn to Kevin’s innocence and loyalty, Ambrosius is torn between the need to possess him, and the overwhelming desire to protect him.