Urbane, well read, and disturbingly inhuman in his looks, Baltasar Ho has spent the last several decades doing his best to curl up with a good book.  Child of a Columbian refugee mother, and a "family built the railways" Chinese-American father, Baltasar grew up walking a fine line between the reality of the Chicago streets around him, and the aspirations of his family.  Embraced in the 1980s by an offshoot of Zelios' line, Baltasar has made a place for himself in Chigaco's grayer markets as a purveyor of  . . . unofficially obtained items.  While his main line is rare books, Baltasar has also handled a range of antiquities, and uses his black market connections to ensure a steady supply of harvested blood, sparing the Nosferatu the need to stalk the streets.

A visible presence in the local book scene, Baltasar has contacts among street level book hunters, small shop owners, and, via his on-line business, a range of wealthy clients.  He's made enemies over the years, both in the business, and among Kindred, but a combination of judicious distancing from local poltics, and a rather snug haven buried deep in the Chicago underground, has helped him survive so far.