Vampire

**Vampires** are a race of undead humans who have died and were reanimated through magical means, binding their spirits to their corpses to persist beyond death. Vampires feed on the blood of the living to survive, and can transform other humans into vampires through venom and blood. Their existence is mostly known to only other supernatural species, and thus they have largely remained hidden from the majority human population.

## Description

As reanimated human corpses, vampires tend to look paler than their former human selves, have much lower body temperature, and lack a heartbeat. Their irises also turn into a noticeably darker shade, and shift into varying shades of red when angered or hungry. Most notably, vampires gain a set of retractable, razor-sharp fangs that usually extend from their upper canines, sharp enough to pierce through human, and occasionally werewolf, skin and flesh. Their fangs extend automatically whenever they are angered or when their bloodlust is roused. Some vampires, especially those turning feral, develop fangs in their lower canines or other teeth as well. Vampires' fangs also contain a unique venom, which can be injected into a victim's bloodstream through bite, and is the primary method of converting humans into vampires. Their venom has anesthetic properties and accelerates healing in humans, but is fatal when injected into werewolves.

Vampires' primary diet consists of blood, typically human or animal, though animal blood notably tastes worse and does not satisfy a vampire's thirst as well as human blood does; and preferably fresh, as packaged or stored blood is also notably less satisfying. Vampires can also consume vampire blood, though it tastes disgusting for vampires, and cannibalism is usually frowned upon as it increases the likelihood of the vampire turning feral. Vampires also cannot typically digest human food as their bodies will reject it and induce vomiting, but some can consume food with much practice.

## Creation

A human, witch, or Hunter can be turned into a vampire after being injected with a vampire's venom, usually through a vampire's bite, then die a "mortal death", triggering their transition into a fledgling; the means or the cause of the individual's death is usually irrelevant as long as the body remains largely intact. The venom will heal all fatal wounds and injuries, thereby altering the fledgling's physiology as they remain in a state between living and dead. To complete their transition process, the fledgling must then consume a sufficient amount of blood from the same vampire whose venom triggered their transition, called their "progenitor" or "sire"; any other vampires' blood will be rejected by the venom already in the fledgling's system, resulting in the fledgling potentially becoming sick or worse. After undergoing the final stages of their physiological change, the fledgling will awaken as a newborn, full-fledged vampire.

It is recommended that a fledgling completes their transition before the night of a Blood Moon, as they may fall prey to the heightened thirst of other vampires, including their own progenitors, or may succumb to their own heightened thirst and die.

Vampires may also inherit certain traits from their progenitors, often called a "bloodline trait". Some traits may be unique to individuals of the same bloodline, and can only be passed from progenitors to their progeny, though inheriting bloodline traits are also not guaranteed and occur only by chance. These traits are also only expressed in full-fledged vampires, and may not be present in fledglings during their transition states. For example, Jesse Whitlock inherited a bloodline trait from his progenitor Lena Carlisle that results in a particularly insatiable bloodlust; similarly, his own progeny, Krystal Liu, may also inherit the same bloodline trait once she would complete her transition.

### Fledgling

Fledgling refers to an individual who has died with vampire venom in their bloodstream, usually injected through a vampire's bite. An individual with venom in their bloodstream alone does not make them a fledgling; they must first die a mortal death before the transition process can be triggered, after which the transformative and healing properties of the venom will repair the damage done to the body whilst keeping the heart barely beating. Hence, fledglings are often described as neither dead nor alive, nor are they fully human or fully undead. The transition process can therefore only lead to either permanent death or vampirism.

While in transition, fledglings may possess several vampiric traits, including enhanced physical attributes and a healing factor, though these abilities are significantly inferior compared to full-fledged vampires. They may also form a "sire bond" with their progenitor vampire. They share some of the same weaknesses as full-fledged vampires, such as fire, holy items, and werewolf venom. Most notably, however, they lack the same vulnerability to sunlight, which only creates a slight odd discomfort, but they are able to withstand even direct sunlight with little to no issue. Fledglings will develop a thirst for blood, but can still consume and digest human food to a very limited degree, and especially when laced with blood. A fledgling's blood notably tastes better than even human blood, and thus may easily fall prey to other vampires.

### Sire Bond

Upon entering the transition state, fledglings may form a special empathic link with their progenitors, dubbed a "sire bond". This bond enables the progenitor vampire and their progeny to mentally sense each other's presence and well-being, as well as experience and share each other's emotions; most notably, a vampire's death would usually induce a significant amount of pain to their bonded vampire, as though they themselves have died as well. They can also lend their own strength or energy to their bonded vampire, and their blood possesses significant healing properties for each other when consumed. The strength of these effects is dependent on the inherent nature of the relationship between the progenitor and progeny; for example, bonded vampires who are lovers or related by blood can easily share their strength or emotions through an extended range and with increased intensity. Sire bonds can also be severed, either willingly by one or both parties; or forcibly, such as through death, or if one of the bonded vampires turns feral. For example, Jesse Whitlock intentionally severed his original sire bond with his progenitor Lena Carlisle, when he willingly denounced her. Once the bond is severed, the progenitor and progeny will no longer possess the additional powers stated above. It is unknown whether previously-severed sire bond can be mended or restored at a later time.

## Powers and Abilities

Full-fledged vampires gain various superhuman powers and abilities, most of which can be improved through training, and with age and experience. Vampires who feed on fresh human blood are also notably more powerful than those who feed on packaged or animal blood.

* **Enhanced Strength**: Vampires are notably stronger than Hunters and transformed werewolves, and much more than humans and werewolves in their human forms, and slowly grow stronger as they grow older. They can single-handedly lift grown men and other vampires from the ground by grabbing their throats, and even snap their necks or rip out internal organs with little to no effort. Their strength also allows them to jump higher and further than any natural creature.

* **Enhanced Speed**: Vampires are faster than Hunters, and much more than humans and werewolves in their human forms. Vampires can accelerate their movements to cover short distances in an instant, sometimes too fast for the human eye to see. Their reflexes and dexterity are similarly heightened, allowing them to catch certain projectiles such as arrows or bullets in the air with ease. Like their strength, their speed also increases with age.

* **Enhanced Agility**: Vampires possess superhuman agility, are able to move quickly, jump very high, climb, and run incredibly fast without difficulty or exhaustion.

* **Enhanced Durability**: Vampires can take a great amount of physical damage and strain without being hindered. Even vampires who have been shot with wooden bullets, which have a weakening effect on vampires, or suffered extensive wounds have been seen to continue fighting so long as they were not shot in the heart or the head. Vampires still react to physical force in a human manner, particularly newly-turned vampires, who can still occasionally be affected even by human force. Vampires can also still be stunned and dazed by strikes and trauma, though their tolerance for it will increase as they get older.

* **Heightened Senses**: Vampires have extremely keen senses of hearing, sight, smell and touch that far exceed those of humans, witches and Hunters. They can hear whispered conversations, even ones in distant buildings and on phones, though most vampires typically learn how to tune out most ambient noises when it is unnecessary to hear them. Vampires can also smell blood or other smells for up to a kilometer away, and can still see in total darkness. These senses improve and grow stronger with age and experience. Their senses of taste are also enhanced as well, allowing them to detect the presence of drugs or alcohol in someone's blood, or identify the source of the blood, whether it is human, animal, vampire or another species.

* **Healing Factor**: Vampires recover tissue from any form of physical damage to their bodies within seconds, though they still feel the pain of the wound until it fully heals. Vampires can snap their bones back into place after they have been broken and have been seen to fully recover from gunshots, stab wounds, and torso impalement very quickly, so long as they consume enough human blood prior to the injury and maintain a healthy diet. Those vampires who feed on animals will heal slightly slower than those who feed on human blood. The healing factor, however, is only limited to physical damage, meaning that magical or psychological damage are far beyond its capability. It is also ineffective against werewolf bites, as werewolf venom prevents the healing factor from working, and is unable to regrow detached limbs.

* **Immortality**: Vampires stop aging once turned, and become immune to all conventional illness, diseases, viruses and infections. Due to the fact that they are reanimated corpses, they do not have a heartbeat and do not need to breathe, though they can still inhale and exhale air. This also makes them impervious to asphyxiation, drowning, or toxic gases.

## Weaknesses

Despite the superhuman abilities they are granted after their transition, vampires are also subject to many weaknesses and vulnerabilities that other species are not as vulnerable to.

* **Bloodlust**: Vampires can only consume blood for sustenance and to keep themselves alive. They typically drink human blood, though can also consume animal, witch or Hunter blood with varying effects from each. If a vampire goes without consuming blood for an extended period of time, they will either lose control over themselves and attack the nearest source of blood, or eventually desiccate into a mummified state and die.

* **Sunlight**: The extent of a vampire's vulnerability to sunlight depends how much humanity they retain: vampires with most of their humanity intact experience significant discomfort and are severely weakened from direct exposure to sunlight, while vampires who have lost a significant portion of their humanity may quickly burst into flames and burn to death upon contact with the sun's rays. UV rays in particular may also burn a vampire's skin upon contact, regardless of humanity retained.

* **Fire**: Vampires are extremely sensitive to fire, and will quickly burn and die upon immediate contact with open flames.

* **Heart Extraction**: Removing the heart of a vampire will result in their permanent death.

* **Decapitation**: Removing the head of a vampire will result in their permanent death. A broken neck, however, will merely incapacitate them and render them unconscious for a certain amount of time, depending on the vampire's age and diet, until the vampire's healing factor starts to heal the broken bone and the vampire eventually recovers.

* **Magic**: Vampires are still susceptible to the effects of witchcraft; significantly fatal spells include telekinetically ripping out their hearts or snapping their necks, magically increasing their hunger for blood to unbearable levels and setting them ablaze with a single spell.

* **Werewolf Bite/Venom**: The bite of a werewolf, which injects their venom into the bloodstream, is extremely lethal to vampires. It can cause them to hallucinate, grow severely weak and go rabid until it kills them. The bite can only be treated with the help of a witch, though there is only a small window of time to do so.

* **Werewolf Blood**: Consuming werewolf blood is typically poisonous to vampires. It can cause them to vomit out the blood upon ingestion, and if the blood continues to remain in a vampire's system, it will eventually make them sick and become fatal to them.

* **Wood**: Wounding a vampire with a wooden weapon, such as wooden stakes or bullets, will incapacitate them, and it will take longer for them to heal their injuries than if the wounds were caused by any other substance. Stabbing a vampire through the heart with a wooden stake will result in instantaneous and permanent death.

* **Holy Items**: Vampires may be vulnerable to holy items such as holy water, crucifixes or any religious weapons, symbols and markings, though the degree of this can vary from person to person, and depends on the vampire's own religious beliefs prior to his/her transition. Therefore, a vampire who did not hold any religious beliefs during their time as a human will not be affected by holy water and crucifixes. However, all vampires cannot enter holy or blessed ground, including churches, temples, mosques or any places of worship.

* **Humanity Loss**: Vampires is that they can lose their humanity if they consume too much human flesh or blood over a long period of time, or consume too much vampire flesh or blood over a shorter period of time. They can also choose to lose their humanity by deliberately "shutting" it off, granting them heightened abilities as well as increased focus as they are no longer hindered by empathy. Losing too much of their humanity for too long will eventually cause them to turn feral.

* **Blood Moon**: In the presence of a blood moon, vampires will have increased bloodlust and are induced into a temporary feral-like state until the phenomenon passes, thereby making them much more vulnerable to extreme thirst, overfeeding, or increased humanity loss. Fledglings are particularly vulnerable to the blood moon, as their mixed blood is particularly enticing for full-fledged vampires to feed on, or they may succumb to their own uncontrollable thirst and die.

* **Bloodstone**: The Bloodstone grants whoever possessing it the power to take full control of vampires within a certain radius against their will.

## Known Vampires

* Lena Carlisle
* Jesse Whitlock
* Nathaniel Jensen
* Adrien Belrose †
* Juliette King
* Matthias King
* Wren Kendall
* Sebastian
* Zeke Walker
* Krystal Liu (fledgling)