Bloody Question

So” said she “I am an appriser. Not a warrior. Both roles are important, but if I can say so myself we do have a little more status. Due to our rarity.

By now you know how ‘this vampirism thing’ works. Timeless youth, strength, speed, reflexes, just above the human limit the night we are turned. Multiply one by the other, that is how much more durable we are, how well we resist injury. Broadly speaking. Two years latter we get the capacity to affect human mind with our words. Induce short term amnesia in all but the strongest people, at first. All that improves as time passes, hundreds, thousands, in very rare cases millions of years. Is a slow process, but one that requires no deliberate effort from our part, just happens.

Men start stronger than woman in all that, and advance faster. Specially in the physical stuff, a little less so in the mind-control. But still, male vampires get significant advantage what is major reason why our society is even more androcratinc than the average human culture.

You also know that we are divided in families. Each Vampire Family has human members, the new generations, and chooses their new vampires from that group. For the most part. That is true about the “High Vampires”, our nobility. “Low Vampire” bands have no mortal relatives, are little better than animals, and keep a very low profile because our laws demand we hunt down and destroy them every time we find one.

Didn’t knew about that part? I apologize, but someone who isn’t me should have mentioned the Ferals to you.

Anyway, the basic super-human vigour and senses, with additional mind-control power, is more than enough to make us able to hunt humans and take their blood by ****. We need to do that, from time to time, not just drink the blood but take it from unwilling donators. We lose control and kill our prey sometimes too, that part cannot be avoided. Because our capacity to remain mentally stable and function as people depends on it.

We burn and die if we are touched by the sun, even indirectly. Like being a room with sunlight entering from a window. Direct contact is certain **** and kill us very fast. There is really no other downside of being a vampire. We can real very fast, regenerate lost wounds, anything that fail to kill us immediately will eventually not leave any visible scar. From most injuries that would mutilate humans permanently, or even kill then, we recover in one day of sleep.

The part we usually neglect to mention, and avoid talking about in presence of outsiders, is the “blood seeds”.

Those are special powers, almost all High Vampires have at least one, most have a few. Unlike our basic gifts they need work to develop. Some are more usual to girls, some are more common in vamp boys, but, in the end of day, the development of those powers is fairly based in personal dedication and merit. Sex is irrelevant. And time do not does the work for you.

The most basic example of blood seed is the Royal Seed. You see, not all vampires can turn humans into new vampires, only those with this seed can do that. It gives considerable status, as you would imagine, there is a natural bond between the creator and its children. Obedience is not guaranteed always, immediately, but is hard to avoid for long. And we cannot hide from our creator, they always know where we are, how we are feeling. Can always call us to them. We never fight them, we cannot use **** against them, not even indirectly put their existence in risk. Not knowing what we are doing.

Less rare than the Royal Seed, usually owned by those who have the Royal Seed, there is the Thrall Maker seed. About one in five vampires has it. Gives you the power to turn humans into slaves, permanently, by letting them drink your blood. Nice thing to do, those Thralls do not age for centuries, possibly dozens of thousands of years, if you develop the seed fully. They are still humans, for the most part, but get a little of the advantages of being a vampire, without the disadvantages. Immensely useful pets.

Oh, do not look to me like that! As if you didn’t liked the idea of having some pets like that for yourself!!

Some seeds allow faster grow of physical strength, speed, endurance, mind-control powers. Getting young vampire ahead of some older ones in one or more of those characteristics. Some allow more exotic things, like see and walk through solid objects. Turn into animals after consume the blood of one specific specie for some time, to learn its shape. Even talk to plants, and make them grow weird, fungus too. There is the “Artificer Seed” those who have it can bleed and give their blood the properties of any material they know, adding some supernatural extras in the mix as they develop the seed.

Anyway, the variety is potentially infinite. However, some seeds are way easier to find than others.

Is extremely difficult to transfer a blood seed. To have any chance to even try the vampire needs to have developed to exceptionally high levels the seed he is trying to share. Creators need to develop the Royal Seed considerably before they can do so, but they can transfer one or a few of their seeds to their children. And, harvest their seeds, once they have developed enough. Which is one of the reasons why creators tend to be the most powerful vampires around. The heads of all vampire families.

Anyway, the Apprisal Seed allow Apprisers like myself the capacity to “taste seeds”. By drinking blood I can tell which seeds exist in that blood. If that is vampire blood I know which ones are developed. The more advanced we became, the more developed our Apprisal Seed is, more detail we can get. Subtle, less likely and less familiar blood seeds can only be detected by some among us. Also, we get some idea about how compatible a blood seed is with the personality of the individual.

That is how humans are chosen. Is not the entire process, but is a considerable part of the selection.

When a human is found who has some rare and important seed. If the personality is compatible with the blood seed. And we think we can tolerate the individual inside the family. Is almost guaranteed the family will recruit this individual. Even if the human is not from our blood family. And we need reject some candidates from the current human generation.

Rules about how many vampires each family can have are very strict and restrictive. We all understand the need for such rules. Choose carefully between our options, to get the best competitive advantages, is what keeps the family alive.

Make no mistake, we live in opulence and luxury. But not in safety. We must keep vigilance, war is always imminent. We must fight for our existence every time someone challenges our right to be here. All families want to expand their domains, and the strong are constantly devouring the weak. That is how our existence is, and that is how it is supposed to be.

Still far better than being part of the herd we hunt, that is for sure.

So, now! You are a human with no vampire relatives, and not one too bellow average in terms of intelligence. I hope. And I just told you all that. Do me a small favour in return.

Tell me now, why I just told you all that."

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