Ricot was born to Haitian ritualists Sonclère and Ysoline de Sante, though he was raised alone by his mother in Léogâne. He emerged from her womb with extremely heightened senses and small white and gray wings growing from behind his ears. The stories his mother told him about his father were inconsistent and often disturbing, but she insisted that Sonclère fell under a terrible curse when he found out she was pregnant and suggested they leave their faith and seek a different life with their coming child. Sometimes she wailed that he was transformed into a great misshapen bird forever, others that he was carried off into the afterlife or even killed by one. She warned Ricot that his senses were bestowed upon him so he could flee when death approached him, but that he was cursed with wings upon his head to give him away. Ricot was never certain what to believe, but that his senses ought to be put to good use. Many years later, when Ricot was in his early twenties, Ysoline suffered a bizarre psychotic episode and took her own life.

For a time Ricot struggled with which direction his life should take, but eventually he heard of a military operation in Puerto Rico looking for fresh recruits. He trained as an expert marksman and weapons engineer. It was by a fellow soldier that he came by the nickname “Shrike”, owing to a temperament that was perceptive, poised, and often harsh. 

By 31, Shrike (as he was then more widely known) had journeyed a long way from a respectable military post and had taken up work as a mercenary and assassin, also manufacturing weapons for a group calling themselves the Division Null, apparently a strategic assets segment of a much larger global technology group. He didn’t ask many questions as long as he was paid, and more handsomely as his skills became more and more of a necessity for these operations. During this time he perfected his signature Silver Hemlock Rifle. When Shrike first received a brief to hunt a “demonic creature”, he was more than willing and hit his mark with an unmatched precision.

Though Shrike’s life since has been a bit quieter and he’s had the means to "retire from such work”, he’s mostly lived in peace in America and moved from place to place every few years. Recent rumors of demon activity, however, have captured his notice and raised the question of whether or not it’s time to dust off the Hemlock.