Tara Brooks

Tara Brooks was an American woman who suffered through an extremely difficult pregnancy. Her friends tried to provide her comfort, but the labor pains grew increasingly difficult. Due to the area in which they lived, it was difficult to find a doctor who would come to the house to treat her. However, one man did show up; a tall, menacing-looking German man with piercing red eyes and long, slicked back white hair. His name was Deacon Frost and he was a vampire. Frost took advantage of Tara's weakness and bit her upon the throat. As she screamed in pain, her friends came into the room, but it was too late. Frost had his fill of her blood and Tara Brooks was dead. Her baby however, survived. The infant, who was named Eric, grew up to become a legendary vampire hunter code-named Blade. Due to the infusion of vampire saliva in his mother's body, Blade was born with enhanced physical abilities of supernatural origin. Blade would spend years searching for the vampire who killed his mother.

Notes & Trivia

 * Tara Brooks existed prior to the modern Marvel era and has never made an in-universe appearance. All of Tara Brooks' appearances are in flashback.


 * The father of Tara's child was later revealed to be a man named Lucas Cross. Lucas was featured in the sixth volume of the Blade comic book family of titles.


 * A version of Tara Brooks was presented in the 1998 Blade feature film where she was named Vanessa. The character was played by Sanaa Lathan and her origin was very similar to that of her Marvel Comicscounterpart. In the film however, Vanessa survived Deacon Frost's attack against her, and rose as a vampire. She met her son as an adult many years later and Blade was regretably forced to bring her everlasting peace.