Dylan Radcliff

Dylan Radcliff is a fictional vampire and a supporting character on the ABC television series The Gates. Played by actor Luke Mably, he was introduced in the pilot episode of the series. Dylan Radcliff is presented as a vampire entrepreneur who tries to live a normal, simple life with his vampire wife and human daughter inside The Gates. Circumstances force him to call upon the aid of The Gates' new police chief Nick Monohan and the two find themselves helping one another to protect their respective families.

Biography
Dylan Radcliff was the CEO of a bio-tech company that operated in Washington State. In addition to being a vampire, he was also the husband of Claire Radcliff and the adoptive father of Emily Radcliff. At some point in the past, he turned Claire into a vampire as well, but Claire did not possess the same self control as Dylan and her hunger for blood often put the family at risk. To minimalize Claire's bloodlust, Dylan began stealing supplies of blood from his own company.

Around the year 2004, The Radcliffs moved from their home in New York and relocated to The Gates - an isolated community in Washington State that provided protection for his wife and child. It was his hope that living in such a secluded environment might allow him more control over his wife's urges. As it was however, the bloodlust would often overwhelm Claire and she would take more human victims.

One particular victim was a contractor named Mark Woodbury. Claire killed Mark, drank his blood and concealed the body inside a wine room in their house. When Dylan learned of this, he flew into a rage, accusing Claire of putting their entire family at risk. Dylan disposed of Woodbury's remains by driving them outside the Gates where he dumped it by the river. He tore out Woodbury's throat, obscuring the wounds Claire had inflicted and made it look as if he had crashed his truck and been attacked by wolves (as it was, there did exist a werewolf pack that stalked the forests surrounding The Gates).

The disappearance of Mark Woodbury earned the Radcliffs the attention of The Gates new police chief, a former homicide detective from Chicago named Nick Monohan. Nick began snooping around the Radcliffs' estate and Dylan realized that Claire would likely kill him unless he interceded. Dylan intercepted Nick before his investigation could uncover the truth about the family's nature. ("Pilot")

The Radcliffs became the subject of another criminal investigation soon after. Nick Monohan learned that his predecessor, Police Chief David Phelps had been murdered inside The Gates. Researching Phelps' past uncovered several secrets, including the fact that he accepted bribes from numerous residents, including Claire Radcliff. Nick spoke to Dylan about these allegations, but affirmed that his wife was innocent of any possible criminal activity. When he got her alone, he learned that she did in fact bribe Phelps at one point in order to cover up a traffic violation where she had been found with blood on her clothes. Dylan grew frustrated with her again and his trust in Claire began to ebb. ("What Lies Beneath")

Dylan later told Claire about two colleagues of his named Gerald and Lauren Crouse who were coming into town for a business conference. Claire suggested inviting them over for her dinner, and though Dylan was reluctant to bring strangers into their home, he agreed and the dinner party went off rather well. Dylan was impressed by Claire's ability to control herself in front of others. ("Breach") It is believed that Claire and Sarah Monohan conspired to bring their respective husbands closer together by having them attend the 5th Annual Father/Daughter Dance. Things had been tense between Dylan and Nick Monohan and Nick never stopped believing that there was more to Dylan Radcliff than met the eye. As it was however, the two remained cordial and even began bonding with one another at the dance.

As the dance concluded, a woman named Amanda Wolcott (operating under the alias of a photographer named Teresa Goodwin) lured Nick Monohan out into the woods where she intended on killing him. Amanda was the sister of a man that Nick shot and killed a year ago in Chicago. When Dylan saw that Amanda intended to shoot Nick, he leaped from the shadows and pounced on her. He tore out her throat and drank her blood. At that moment, Nick knew the truth about Dylan Radcliff. Nick hoarsely asked him, "What are you?", to which Dylan replied, "You know exactly what I am". ("The Monster Within")

Dylan knew that he was placing himself in a dangerous position by revealing his true nature to Nick Monohan. After disposing of Amanda's body in a swamp, he arranged to meet with Nick at a diner to explain exactly what he was and that he was not a threat to he or his family. Nick had great difficulty in accepting what Dylan was, but could not deny the fact that he now owed him his life.

One of Nick's deputies, Marcus Jordan, had been romantically involved with Amanda Wolcott and was troubled when Amanda suddenly disappeared. Against Nick's orders, he went to Dylan's house and began questioning him about the woman's diappearance. Dylan mistakenly believed that Nick sent Marcus to deliberately harass him and so he accosted Nick in the woods, warning him against such further actions. Nick explained that he instructed Marcus to go to the house. In fact, he deliberately ordered him to stay away from Dylan. Hoping to smooth things over between them, Nick told Dylan that if they were to trust one another, then he would have to tell him where he buried Teresa's body. Dylan wasn't ready to place himself into any further danger and refused to give the chief the information he wanted.

Dylan later told Claire what had happened as well as the fact that Nick now knew they were vampires. Claire told Dylan that it would be in their best interests to make an ally of the new police chief rather than an enemy. That night, Dylan attended a special function at Frank Buckley's house, welcoming Chief Monohan to The Gates. Dylan gave Nick a note with the location of Amanda's body written upon it. Nick decided to place his trust in Dylan after all. ("Repercussions")

When a woman named Barbara Jansen was found to be the apparent victim of a vampire attack, Nick called for Dylan's expertise on the matter. He went to the morgue with Nick to examine Jansen's body and found two puncture wounds on the side of her throat. He promised that he would look into the matter and asks questions within the vampire community. When Nick presented Dylan with a list of people who might have had contact with Barbara, he recognized one of the names as belonging to an old friend - Christian Harper.

Dylan found that Christian had been spending a lot of time at a nearby lounge called the Red Door and went there to warn him. The two old friends were happy to see one another, but Christian told him that he had nothing to do with Barbara's death. Dylan invited him over to the house for dinner so that the three of them could catch up on old times. What Dylan didn't know at the time was that Christian had already been having secret dinner dates with Claire. Claire bristled when Dylan brought Christian into the house, but gave no indication as to what the two had been doing.

Nick soon contacted Dylan to tell him he had solved the murder. The killer was Barbara's ex-husband Alex Dupree - a human. The bite marks were created by a vampire named Gloria Bennett, who had discovered the body and tried to save Barbara's life by turning her into a vampire.

Dylan next received a summons to come to Frank Buckley's house. When he arrived, he found that Nick had been invited there as well. Buckley showed them a video recording of the night that Dylan killed Teresa Goodwin. ("Jurisdiction") Dylan and Charlie met up in private to discuss the Frank Buckley situation. They decided to dig into the man's past in the hopes of getting some leverage against him to prevent him from blackmailing them with the video recording. Their investigation turned up some suspicious information concerning Buckley's old partner W.R. Harrison, who died shortly following a falling out he had with Frank. Dylan looked into the financial statements of Harrison's will and his investments in The Gates, but could not find any motive for Buckley wanting to kill him. They then went to see Buckley's CFO for The Gates Trust, Lloyd Foster. Eventually, Dylan learned that The Gates Trust was just a shell company used to shuffle money and consisted of a single empty office. In order to draw a link between Frank and Harrison's death, they had to exhume Harrison's remains. Dylan found the task distasteful, a fact that Nick felt was particularly ironic given Radcliff's nature.

When Dylan returned home that evening, Claire smelled the odor of the grave upon him and he was forced to tell her the truth about Buckley's blackmail scheme. When Claire asked him what Frank wanted, he told her that Frank wanted insurance that they would be cooperative about maintaining The Gates' secrets. Claire thought that this was not an unreasonable expectation and felt that it was a bad idea for Nick and he to plot against him. As it turned out, Harrison was the victim of murder, but Frank Buckley was not the one who killed him. It was Lloyd Foster, the CFO. ("Digging the Dirt")

Dylan and Claire attended a Homeowners Association meeting at The Gates Country Club where they met up with Nick and Sarah and several other members of the community. A fight broke out between another vampire named Ben McAllister and a werewolf named Simon Ford. Dylan and Nick were forced to separate the two men and Dylan confirmed that while Ben was in fact a vampire, Simon definitely was not. The following day, Simon Ford was found beaten and unconscious on his front lawn. Nick immediately suspected Ben McAllister, but Dylan promised him that he would question others within the vampire community to see if he could find any answers.

The following evening, Dylan suffered a more personal crisis. Claire finally told him the truth about Christian Harper and the fact that she had been secretly hunting with him. When she tried to break it off, Harper attacked Claire, drinking her blood, thus breaking the mystical bond shared between Dylan and she. Though Dylan was always willing to forgive most of Claire's previous transgressions, this particular act of betrayal created a tense rift between them.

Taking Claire's cell phone, he sent Christian a text message and arranged to meet in private. Christian, believing that it was Claire who had sent him the text, arrived at the pre-arranged location and Dylan ambushed him. He beat Christian severely and drove him out to the perimeter of The Gates. As dawn approached, he tied Christian to a tree and doused him with water, removing the vampire's protective sunscreen. He drove away from the spot and left Christian for dead. ("Dog Eat Dog")

Notes & Trivia

 * The character of was created by Grant Scharbo and Richard Hatem.


 * Regardless of being a vampire, Dylan still doesn't care for garlic.


 * Sits on the city council at The Gates.


 * Nick Monohan once had a nightmare wherein he saw Dylan attacking and drinking Sarah Monohan's blood.