Vampires survive on the blood of mammals. Human blood is the most nutritious, but it is possible to survive on lesser mammals, it just takes a lot more of them and you will be weak (comparatively) and constantly hungry. You can still eat human food, but it won’t provide any nutrients. If you abstain from blood, you will slowly starve and eventually dry out/mummify.
Vampirism conveys a few extra benefits: super-strength and heightened senses, extra ‘charm’, super speed, but not shape-shifting, mind-reading or flying. There is that immortality and agelessness too!
You-as-vampire will retain your human personality, values, and, if you so choose, personal relationships.
Vampirism comes with some significant downsides: you can’t go out in the sun, you can’t be seen in mirrors or cameras (why is this not a popular part of the mythos any more?), you’re constantly craving human blood, and religious organizations and other vigilante groups are out to kill you. And you are dead – a stake through the heart, a beheading, fire, or various other tricks can still kill you and if they do, it’s off to eternal damnation for you!
Given that, how would you approach your newfound un-life?
Please feel free to elaborate on your poll choice below, or tell me something important I’ve left out.
I’ll try to maintain a normal life until my kids are adults, and/or until they die of old age. In my spare time I’ll alternate between watching over/helping them in their lives, and some superhero-esque crime fighting on the side. During that time I’ll live on animal blood and stolen/purchased blood bank blood as much as possible.
Once my kids die and I’m still an ageless monster, I’ll probably go at least a little insane and withdraw from humanity to some extent. Hopefully I’ll be able to restrict myself to killing evil people, but I can’t make any guarantees. I do plan to watch over & advance the interests of my descendants for as long as I live though.
I’d try to get voluntarily donated blood, it could be much simpler. But I’m a vampire now, I don’t see any reason not to drink fresh human blood from the necks of nubile young women, who will be willing before I’m done. It may not seem fair to you humans, but it’s vampiric nature to us.
Here’s a question for the OP - when I drink blood from a human, which of the following are true?
They die. Once I get going, I can’t stop.
I can stop whenever I want to. If I do, my victim won’t remember a thing.
I can stop whenever I want to. If I do, my victim remembers everything.
I can stop whenever I want to. If I do, my victim becomes a vampire, enslaved to me.
I can stop whenever I want to. If I do, my victim becomes a vampire, completely independent of me.
My plan is to go to a war zone, preferably one where I don’t care for either side, and grab a snack whenever I want. Nobody’s gonna notice a few extra corpses on a battlefield.
You can stop when you want to. Using your charm, you can probably convince them that nothing/something else happened. But there are definitely people who are into it, too.
If you want to make someone into a vampire, you can, but not just by drinking from them. There are other steps (they drink from you, etc.). They won’t be enslaved by you per se, but you’ll feel some responsibility for them as their sire.
Ok, then I’m getting myself some hot salty fresh human blood on a regular basis. I’d guess I’ll get pretty good at figuring ahead of time who’ll be suggestible enough that I can convince them nothing happened. A few who claim otherwise will probably be ignored by the police.
Almost certainly not.
I suspect I won’t be turning anyone else. I’ve read too much Ann Rice before she went nuts to think vampires can get along with each other.
Am I vulnerable to garlic, holy water, or holy symbols? I would seriously consider going public and declaring that I want to be a “good” vampire, and subsist on volunteer donations while doing other good works/fighting crime (or being a cop on the night shift or something like that).
Another question for the OP - Am I unique, or are there other vampires? If so, do they have a society of sorts, or are they just loners who avoid each other, or do they actively try to murder each other?
I suppose I would go the traditional route, preying off of gypsies, prostitutes and hobos.
A bigger question is what do you do for income and a place to live? In film, books and other media, vampires always seem to have the benefit of being independently wealthy before they turned into vampires. I don’t happen to have an ancestral castle, family estate, plantation, or ownership in a nightclub. So now I have to find a job that allows me to work at nights.
No to garlic and holy water. Crosses, crucifixes, holy relics and symbols of other religions (stars of David, crescents, Hindu symbols, etc.) – yes. No church for you!