I have been developing this flavor of vampire since 2010.
Ask a simple question, get a simple answer! A vampire is a person or creature afflicted with The Vampire's Curse.
What Is the Vampire's Curse?
The Vampire's Curse is a curse originally woven back in like the 14-1600's. Possibly in Europe. Unclear. It was created by a stupid wizard who was inspired by the folklore of his youth and since then, the curse has been spreading and slowly both mutating and unraveling and rewriting the legends that inspired it. When a curse unravels it becomes super magically unstable and in the best cases, simply stops working. In worse cases, a cursed individual might find themselves turned inside out.
Originally, the Vampire's Curse was not meant to be spread. It was one guy trying to get super strong and being super chill with fueling his cool new powers with other peoples' blood. But he forgot a > or a } or maybe a " somewhere in the code of his spell or perhaps he tried to alter the curse after he had already placed it within himself and that caused the mutation. The facts have been lost to time because a) it's not important and not anything I ever plan on exploring and b) I don't feel like doing research. Just bein' real. I write silly supernatural slice of life stories, I don't need to know who the first vampire was. Some vampires do claim to know and to be connected to him but they are full of bullshit.
The mutations mean there are more "kinds" of vampires besides the ones that feature in The Dogtrot Murder and following books and maybe I'll develop one of those strains at some point. I like to keep my options open.
How Is a Vampire Made?
A vampire is made when a vampire does "the ritual" to a living being. It's just called a ritual because I don't know what else to call it and it has to happen a specific way or the curse can not be passed correctly, resulting in the victim dying or worse. More organized vampires called it a ritual but more isolated pockets of vampires might call it something else. Birthing a new vampire. Siring. The Infection. Whatever they think sounds metal.
Anyway, it happens when a vampire sinks its primary fangs into the body of a living being. Then, the vampire's wick (see below) will enter the victim's body from behind the vampire's fangs and push itself through the meat until it finds the victim's heart. There, it'll wrap around the heart. Finally, the wick snaps in two and the vampire retracts their wick, along with a sliver of the person's soul, back into their own body, having successfully passed on the curse.
If this is done while the victim is conscious, it is traumatizing. It feels really really bad to turn into a vampire. Probably why there are so many fucked up vampires! I guess! Anyway, the person is "killed" in that their body is rendered dead. Their heart stops beating and there is brain death. However, with the wick wrapped around the heart and slowly spreading throughout the victim's body, the soul becomes trapped. A vampire is kind of like a ghost haunting its own body.
Most of the time, the turning of a vampire is an intentional affair. Most of the time. Sometimes the wick takes over and well you know how it is with spaghetti.
As the wick takes hold, consciousness will return to the victim (if they lost it to begin with, most do eventually) after a day or three. Some say more "potent" vampires' victims raise from the dead sooner, but it's all hearsay. The wick expands out to the major extremities first, then branches into thin tendrils so that the fledgling vampire can have their fine motor control. They wake up, they are now undead.
Blood and Bloodlust
Bood is what makes a vampire tick. Without blood, the wick will shrivel up. Maybe the vampire goes into hibernation. Or maybe the vampire's soul is finally freed from its body to become a wandering ghost. Different vampires will tell you different things.
To avoid shriveling up like a dead spider, the wick drives its host to seek out fresh blood on the regular. It seeks the blood from the same species as its host. If you are a vampire panda you are kind of fucked I guess. The most nourishing blood comes directly from the source, teeth to skin. Another "ritual". On a regular feeding, the vampire's wick does not enter the victim's body. The "dryer" a vampire gets, the more restless the curse becomes. It dials up all their new instincts in order to make seeking out the blood easier. A vampire will grow weaker the longer it goes without blood. However, right at the cusp of becoming helpless, vampires get a sort of "second wind" with all their power roaring back to the front in a last ditch effort to feed. This is called drying out, going feral, the gas light. Different things. The closer to this happening a vampire is, the more unnatural a vampire will look. Erratic behavior, reddening eyes, skin becoming more pale.
This happens the most to fledglings without an education on their condition. A guy will dry out, lose all lucidity, and get hit by a car or train. Sometimes they're torn apart and killed and sometimes they shuffle off into the woods to become a local legend. A vampire is not always person-shaped when this happens.
The Bloodlust is a hunger that is always lurking under the surface. A vampire can stuff themself silly with normal human food but they will still feel hungry and it sucks. Unless very recently fed, a vampire can not feel satisfied. The hunger is gnawing and maddening and while some experienced vampires can tune it out for a while, everyone bends to it eventually.
The amount of blood each vampire needs between feedings varies depending on the vampire's willpower. Some can get by on a few precious mouthfuls a week and some have to feed every single night.
Vampire/Sire Relationship
When a vampire makes a new vampire, they obtain a sliver of the victim's soul in the process. This gives the original vampire a connection to their minion/child/thrall/new bestie that is unique in that they can enter/alter the minion's thoughts or even control the minion's body remotely. This is something that requires practice and it's a real use it or lose it thing when it comes to keeping a tight leash on any little freaks you've sired. The more minions you have, the more soul slivers you have inside you. It makes the vampire harder to kill but also frays the mind. You have to stay on top of it, you really do.
It is also possible for a very strong vampire to reach down the chain and control a minion's minion. Crazy shit!!!
So the wick is like a very strong spider/octopus/tapeworm thing that looks like a bunch of slimy black thread. The main body of it is balled up around the vampire's heart. It chains the vampire's soul to its body. From the heart, the wick spreads all throughout the body like puppet strings. It goes down to the fingers, the toes, up into the brain, down the spine... If you (somehow) took all the wick out of a vampire, depending on how old the vampire was, how big they were as a person, and how powerful they were, the wick would maybe fill a 5 gallon bucket.
Wick Duct
Vampires have two holes in the roof of their mouths directly behind their fangs. This is where the wick slips out to create new vampires. Destroying these ducts will not 'neuter' a vampire. The wick will just create new holes somewhere else.
The Soul
The soul is a being's purest essence. It's unclear where the divide between the psyche and the soul lay. Dunno. Can't help you there. But a body needs a soul to be sentient.
Bloodsource
Any blood within the vampire's body is called the bloodsource. Sometimes called gas or "the tank", this is what the vampire draws from to use their powers.
Deathly Pallor
The average vampire has a sickly appearance with dark circles around the eyes, purple gums and tongue, yellowed or bruise-colored nails, and pale skin. Sometimes ashy, sometimes almost blue depending on how dry the vampire is. A well-fed vampire can appear almost healthy. Almost.
Unnatural Eyes
Most vampires have irises that grow redder the hungrier they are because I think it is cool. They can glow also.
Fangs and Claws All vampires have at least four fangs, two upper and two lower. Most vampire strains have the fangs growing in place of the canine teeth. Sometimes the rest of a vampire's teeth can become pointed as well during the transformation. When a vampire "grows its fangs" the existing teeth are altered by the curse, growing and altering the skeleton forever. Even the rare-as-a-unicorn cured vampire has fangs.
Some vampires' nails grow thick and hard and become pointed and curved. Other vampires' nails actually fall out and are replaced by true claws which are part of the skeleton. It's kind of a toss-up which one you get.
Semi-Stasis
Vampires' bodies physically stop aging. Sort of. Their body echoes the print their soul left on it when they died. So, a 100-year-old vampire can still look like an eight-year-old child if they died when they were eight. However, their nails and hair will continue to grow (this was woven specifically into the curse due to misinformation) and the brain continues to form new pathways. Somehow. The vampire keeps learning the longer they live, but sometimes they start forgetting stuff from earlier in their life until they don't remember not being a vampire. There aren't a whole lot of vampires this old.
Obscurity
Vampires do not cast reflections or shadows. They do not show up in analog or digital film. A vampire's voice can be transmitted, but it may come across muffled or choppy like a bad cell phone connection. A vampire can hide an object small enough to fit behind one hand in a mirror, but anything larger than that starts to appear as a floating object. Clothes generally don't show up because they're part of the vampire's mental print. A vampire who has been naked for a really long time for some reason and decides to finally put some pants on would show up as a pair of empty pants in a mirror. You don't know how many naked vampires there are.
A vampire experiences some senses more strongly than a living person. Some vampires have sharp enough hearing that they can hear heartbeats through walls if they focus their attention on it. A vampire can smell blood like a hound dog. The shark thing is a myth. Some vampires don't know this and they will tell you they can smell blood like sharks could "smell one drop of blood in an ocean". They are lying.
One thing that IS universally true is that all vampires have excellent night vision. They have the shine in their eyes like coyotes and cats. Their vision in deep darkness is the same as a living person's sight during the day while wearing dark sunglasses.
Strength
A well-fed vampire can be strong as five to ten dudes! Maybe stronger if they're really old and have a lot of minions.
Infection
Vampires have the ability to create more vampires by passing along their curse via a ritual.
Immunity
Vampires do not generally suffer from diseases found among the living. They CAN carry disease though. And there are a few vampire-specific diseases like weeping sickness.
The Eyes
Some vampires can learn to project their intentions onto others via prolonged eye-contact. It's a skill to be trained and a large part of the feeding process.
Shape Shifting A vampire's wick can contort their body into new shapes. The bat is baked-in, its purpose is unclear. Many vampires use it as a stealth option and for traveling long distances in a single night. Like many of the other vampire abilities, this one can be trained and a creative, determined vampire can forge themselves into a whole array of shapes. Some incredibly skilled vampires can even transform into small groups of animals such as a cloud of moths or a murder of crows.
Re-Knitting
If a vampire's arm (or whatever) is cut off, there is a chance that it can be re-attached if the wick ends can be urged to tangle with one another. It could take a few trys and some blood poured over the injury, but it has been reported. If a limb has been smashed beyond recognition the re-knitting can't happen.
Sensitivity
The flipside of a vampire's heightened senses comes the sensitivity. Loud, shrill sounds can bring a vampire to their knees. Strong smells become impossible to ignore. Bright lights can blind them.
Garlic
I'll be real, I just added this because it's funny. But the in-world explanation of it is the aversion to garlic is a result of the curse becoming unraveled. Vampires of old were not bothered by garlic and ate tons and tons of spaghetti. Modern day vampires no longer have the luxury. It can make a vampire incredibly ill and incapacitate them if ingested.
Sunlight
A big one. My vampires cannot stand direct sunlight. It burns their skin within minutes, leaving huge blisters. Some unlucky vampires even burst into flames. Reflected sunlight intensifies the effect. A glance into the sun can blind a vampire for days. The moon does not have the same effect, however and neither do the stars. It's unknown why. Cloudy days, modest clothing, and sunglasses are a vampire's best friend.
Compulsions
Another result of the curse's unraveling. Some vampires feel the compulsion to tidy or count small objects. Weaker vampires bend to the compulsion and can even be distracted from a bloodlust with a scattering of coins or marbles.
Wick Severing
A good way to kill a vampire is to stab the wick's center. Severing enough of the threads will cause the vampire's wick to lose its grip on the soul.
Impotence
Vampires cannot reproduce sexually. No egg, no sperm. They're all dead. There are no half-vampires. Vampires can, however, have sex though they need to have recently fed to get anything done. Don't make me explain it.
Nick Sanders, 2025