Bloodfiend
The Bloodfiends were a failed attempt at cloning by the Blood Angels which was soon exploited by Fabius Bile.
History
As a result of the Arkio Insurrection, the Blood Angels' numbers were severely depleted, and one Sanguinary Priest, Caecus, proposed the radical solution of using replicae techniques, similar to techniques that the Raven Guard tried during the Horus Heresy.[Needs Citation] Commander Dante refused to approve the project, but Caecus continued his research in secret.
With the help of a rogue Magos Biologis, Haran Serpens, Caecus created a stable clone from his own geneseed, which he dubbed the "Bloodchild."[Needs Citation] At first the experiment seemed to be a huge success, since the clone emerged with an almost complete Astartes physiology and self-aware enough to learn combat techniques quickly. But when it was matched against Blood Angel sergeant Rafen and a Flesh Tearers sergeant, Noxx, the "Bloodchild" succumbed to the Red Thirst within a matter of minutes, and, after drinking blood from a wound it inflicted on Noxx, transformed into a vicious, rabid mutant.[Needs Citation]
After this fiasco, Dante ordered Caecus to destroy his remaining "prototype" clones. But when Caecus returned to his laboratory, these clones had already been hatched by Magos Serpens, who was in fact Fabius Bile in disguise. He whimsically dubbed the clones "Bloodfiends," and turned them loose on the Blood Angels' fortress-monastery, before making his escape from Baal.
The Bloodfiends attacked in force, being stronger, faster, and much more vicious than the Space Marines, and several of them began to learn the use of armour and weapons scrounged from fallen Marines. Possessed by the Thirst, the so-called alpha clone invaded the Sanguinary Chapel and drained the Red Grail, holding the distilled blood of Sanguinius himself. This only inflamed its thirst, and the Bloodfiends massed together to attack the Holy Sepulchre, where the Primarch's body was interred. Dante led the defense of the Sepulchre, and the last of the Bloodfiends, the alpha, was killed within a hand's reach of the Primarch's sarcophagus by Rafen.[Needs Citation]
Biology and Description
Bloodfiends began life as feral creatures at their most primitive stage, although they became smarter, stronger, and more lethal with the amount or potency of the blood they drank. Corpses left by Bloodfiends were completely drained of all blood and vital fluids.[Needs Citation]
In appearance their skin was dark, reddish-brown in colour, and resilient enough to withstand multiple shots from a bolter. They had extra joints in their hands, legs, and arms, and rows upon rows of razor-sharp fangs that gulped blood from their victims. They also developed fleshy webs between their limbs that allowed them to glide down through the air from a great height.[Needs Citation]
It is unknown how much of the Bloodfiends' makeup was the result of tampering by Bile or Caecus's own relative ignorance of replicae techniques. While making his proposal to Commander Dante, Caecus admitted that the Raven Guard's similar experiments had been a catastrophic failure; when Bile was confronted in Caecus's lab, he mocked that he had been running genetic experiments for over ten thousand years, and Caecus's work never had a chance of succeeding.[Needs Citation]
