Aunt Carmella

We usually pay attention to the conflicts between Vampire Families, as if our relationship was of endless war, and each Family was always aiming the total annihilation of the other side. Settling for nothing less. We see alliances as a temporary and necessary way to achieve victory, and imply that once victory is achieved our most powerful allies automatically became the next enemy. When that bias is even noticed as something that needs justification we use our predatorial nature, as vampires, to justify it.

However, there is much more culture and language in that bias than nature, whatever you mean by “nature”.

There is other ways to look at our History.

We do have mutual interest. Cooperation for cooperation sake, and long lasting bonds. We do have protocols of civility that demand one side do not press a momentary advantage to its ****. Protocols that are mutual, not one sided. We just pay less attention to those parts of our society. They are not more real in the Nocturnal Courts than the predatorial elements, but they are as real as those elements.

Some families, like the Condors of High Bridge, specialize in cultivate a specific rare blood-seed, essential for any vampire family. That makes them instrumental for other families, since you cannot ever be sure you will manage to have that resource always inside your house.

Is usual for vampire families to have a resident “guest” from families like the Condors, the Deep-Waters, the Empty. Those de facto diplomats bring their rare blood seed to help the host family, and their families are rewarded by it. The host must protect those guests with absolute priority, since their **** would result in **** retribution. Not only from the family of the guest, but from every Nocturnal Court on Earth.

Those highly specialized families are not defenceless without their diplomatic shield, but their influence in the courts is disproportionally superior to their numbers and strength.

They are the first ones you look when you need to negotiate with an unfriendly neighbour. Since they cultivate a reputation of equidistance, fairness, and respect for contracts. Try to intimidate one of them is never a good idea, the attempt costs your family more than it could possibly get you if successful.

On the other hand, of course, they do not take sides in your internal disputes. They are expected to be polite with all members of your family, and decent. Not spread gossip. Least not any serious indiscretions.

Carmella Condor has been our honoured guest for 550 years. She is the most impeccable example I can think about. An undeniable prove that we are more than feral predators of the night with supernatural powers. We are all that, but also civilized people, able to behave with otherers as we expect to be threated by them.

Not with humans, goes without saying. I am only referring to our equals her, other Noble Vampire families.

Some blood-seeds allow vampires the capacity to boobytrap their own blood. Place poisonous, even fatal, diseases in their blood and pass them to humans who drink or are injected with the blood. The human is not affected, but for some time it remains a trap to any vampire who drink from it.

This can be done as a weapon, to reduce the number of vampires in an enemy family before attack. More often it is used to ****.

The vampire infected gets a temporary antidote in exchange for his obedience.

Apprizers, vampires with the Apprizing Seed developed, are immune to those poison-traps. Generally speaking. What is important, since they must sip a vast variety of blood sources on regular basis, in their search for new talents. The Alchemist Seed that allows the creation of those poisons also provide some degree of protection against it, but only if you are more skilled and developed in the use of the power than the individual who made the power.

To actually cure others, and provide some degree of protection against that and other aggressive powers, you need a different and rarer blood-seed. The Warlock-Seed. That is what the Condors cultivate as their main speciality.

Most of them also are accomplished alchemists themselves, Carmella being no exception.

“Aunt Carmella” as we know her, was one of the rarely seem and shady relatives we all admire and envy. We knew she is not actually family, of course. However, is as if she was of “our” immortal uncles and aunts. The vampiric core of our house. When I got my upgrade in status to immortal vampire, couple decades ago, she soon became my favourite adviser for matters of etiquette and relationship.

Warlocks do more than cure vampires from poison. They burn protective spells, in the form of temporary tattoos, a process extremely painful but that compensates when your foe uses certain sorts of vampiric powers. The spells that keep sensible conversations safe from most sorts of supernatural snooping. That famous spell that keeps a house as a sanctuary where no strange vampire can enter without permission, aunt Carmella does it every year, midwinter. Has to be renewed annually. She also keeps a personal herbarium and mixes the best recreative elixirs I even sipped, but this may not be a common trace shared by all warlocks.

Albeit, they care able to put spells in potions by using drops of their own blood. Like alchemists to. Alchemist potions tend to last longer and be more potent, but warlocks have a larger portfolio of spices they can add to those elixirs.

The most iconic thing about warlocks is the Life Spell. Whenever a vampire has its body completely destroyed, and no piece is left to be dropped in a pool of human blood. However, on the other hand, this vampire was not irreversibly destroyed. The Life Spell is made. It needs a drop of blood from the vampire that needs to be revived, lots of human blood, some other ingredients.

Aunt Carmella herself do not do the Life Spell, it is too advanced for her, only a few old timers in her family do it. Still, when we need the stuff she is the one who contacts the Condor stronghold in Chile to ask the head of her family to get our request registered in his house buzzy agenda.

We are strong warriors, when it come to direct physical combat. And the Artifex Seed is among our reasons for pride. That is the vampiric power that allows a vampire to expand a small quantity of blood in larger volume of material and shift that material into about anything. Including materials that bend if not completely violate the usual laws of physics. We, of course, use it mostly for military purposes.

Still, there is some luxurious items made from the blood of our house circulating around between Nocturnal Courts. To sell those exclusive items is a profitable business for us.

Still, side this rare and extremely hard to grow blood-seed, we mostly focus our attention in develop and use some seeds considered “ordinary garbage” by most more gentle and elegant vampires. All vampires have supernatural strength, endurance, agility and speed. Those things grow naturally over time, no need to develop blood-seeds for that.

The blood-seeds for that exist. They speed up the process, when you grow them. Resulting in 100 years old vampires who can match 1.000year olds in physical capacity. If the younger vampire had many different pertinent blood-seeds and was exceptionally talented in their development, I mean. With strong focus in exercises of combat, mental resistance, tactics and strategy, our family was able to earn a solid reputation as one of the worse enemies anyone can have.

Despite our relative weak capacity in the more exoteric, mystic, branches of vampiric powers.

We would hardly hold our ground as we do, and keep focus in cultivate our strengths, if we didn’t trust the Condors.

This is, goes without saying, a mutually beneficial relationship.

They have similar connection with a number of families that are openly hostile to ours. Even declared enemies. And provide mediation when needed. When something treats our common ally, we find ourselves fighting shoulder by shoulder. Despite mutual hate. This factor greatly complicates vampiric politics.

It also makes our existence, and our society, considerably more interesting than it could be otherwise.

No one would deny the fact that we are supernatural predators. Granted that, we are also a great deal more than just supernatural predators. We are a complex and sophisticate civilization. Of timeless, immortal, supernatural predators.

“Predators with benefits” aunt Carmella likes to say. I couldn’t agree more.

And still, aunt Carmella is a good example of our contradictions as a people.

Because she was my personal reference for a benevolent and patient vampire, who deals with things by a minimal-**** protocol.

However, six nights ago we caught another warlock vampire. A noble lady, who was a rival of aunt Carmella for some time, it seems. We managed to capture her, along with some of her allies, or soldiers. The things aunt Carmella is doing to this poor woman will hunt my dreams for the rest of my existence. Cruel as you may be, you would not be caught doing things like that to a ordinary human. Say nothings about a street dog.

When she saw the shock written on my face, the usually wise and compassionate woman came up with what to me is now the most cynical and dishonest statement ever made:

“Learn this, young Maxuel. Most conflicts of interest and hard feelings in vampiric condition can be solves by diplomacy and honest commitment to mutual compromise from both parts. Patience and parsimony. Most conflicts. Most. Not all of them.”

Vampires condition is complicate.