A - I, vampire

There is a great deal of myth surrounding vampires, and even more
fictional 'fact'. I have made a study of vampires, first hand, you
might say, so I thought I might give you a bit of basic biology.

Firstly, a single bite rarely turns someone into a vampire, unless the
biter has been a little clumsy and managed to impale their own tongue
first. It is passed on through the blood. Having studied vampire blood,
it is different from human, but not at first sight. You would have to
mix it with human blood first to see any signs of a difference.

The first thing that happens after the blood enters a human
bloodstream, and not necessarily through ingestion, is it attacks the
bone marrow. The vampire blood is, I suppose, a virus, that attacks
certain organs. Why bone marrow? That's where human red blood cells are
made. The human body puts up no resistance, as it recognises the
vampire blood as it's own. The few vampire blood cells within the
bloodstream alter the structure of the bone marrow, so that it now
produces only vampiric blood cells.

The vampiric blood cells are quite different from our own, apart from
in appearance. They can not absorb oxygen, nor can the bloodstream any
longer carry and vitamins, minerals etc. they also react strongly to
certain things: garlic, silver and heat. Vampires are extremely
flammable, which is why stakes work by utilising friction.

At this point, the human may feel frequently faint, nauseous and dizzy.
They will be extremely tired and lethargic. This is because very little
oxygen is reaching their muscles. As the human blood cells die; they
only last for a limited amount of time due to the lack of nucleus;
these feelings become more pronounced, but the vampiric blood cells
have now increased greatly in number and begun to affect other
organs.

The first organs to be affected are the lungs and stomach. The stomach
becomes more permeable, while the lungs less. This is the point at
which many victims 'die', unable to breathe. The heart is also
affected, its beat ceasing during inactivity. The vampiric blood cells
can induce anaerobic respiration, enough to prevent decay, in all areas
of the body during this period, which can last anything from an hour to
two weeks. Both breathing and heartbeat later resume, though breathing
is only required for speech, usually, and the heartbeat is much slower
than previously.

There are two other organs effected immediately by the vampiric blood
cells, the brain and the skin. The brain alters very significantly,
though in ways currently impossible to measure, so I am afraid I have
guessed a little. The area of the brain relating to food and hunger
changes to create cravings for blood rather than, say, chocolate, and
the hypothalamus responds only to levels of human blood within the
vampiric blood stream. There is also some loss of areas relating to
reaction time, which becomes faster, and guilt or conscience, activity
in that area lessening considerably. This allows the newborn vampire to
feed without hating themselves afterwards, though the extent to which
this area is affected seems particular to each individual.

The skin, as most people know, becomes a great deal more
photosensitive. The truth is that the skin now conducts heat a lot
better than before, so that rise in temperature can cause the blood
cells below the skin to spontaneously combust and begin a chain
reaction. The skin also becomes tougher, almost leathery.

Finally, the fangs. Another myth, really. While the senses are more
slowly affected, the eyes developing better night vision, the nose
adapting to pick up the scent of blood, the tongue responding to that
scent, the ears acquiring better hearing, the skin becoming more
sensitive, the teeth themselves change very little. Fangs were invented
by moviemakers after reading Dracula. In some cultures, vampires have
spike tongues. Most fangs and other affectations are just that,
affectations. Many more modern vampires sharpen their own canines. It
does aid with drinking blood, being able to pierce a victims neck with
ease rather than chewing at it relentlessly, and the gums to withdraw
from the teeth over time, making them seem longer than they might
appear on a normal human, but it is a personal choice.

Vampirism is often mistaken for a disease, and diseases can be mistaken
for Vampirism. Porphyria, which is actually a name given to several
diseases, is caused by a metabolic instability and can cause the
appearance of fangs, an aversion to garlic, photosensitivity, lack of
pigmentation in the skin and unusual hairiness, all symptoms associated
with vampirism. I have no doubt that in the past many innocent suffers
were staked viciously, but Porphyria diseases are now medically
recognised, usually by the dark red urine that characterises theses
disorders.

Vampirism is not a disease but a mutation. If it could be passed on
from parent to child, it would be a genetic disease, but as there has
not been any vampiric children yet, one must assume that vampires can
not have children. Unfortunately, this is a somewhat biased conclusion,
since to every one female vampire there are about nine males. It tended
to be that in the chauvinistic roman and Greek eras, females were
systematically wiped out and only males created, so that the vampire
race would be 'pure'. It must also be taken into account that many
vampires develop a liking for either sex as a companion, and prefer to
make more of their own sex, especially those willing to partake in a
relationship with them. There seems to be a greater understanding of
each other.

Vampires are not keen to create more of their own kind, as they are
merely creating competition. If any one vampire finds another that was
not 'sired' by them or by one in their bloodline, they usually kill it.
There are certain cities and areas that would be thronged with vampires
were it not for this 'tradition'. Anywhere where the sun is seen less
often, where there are big cities, and where there are often
individuals that no one would notice if they went missing. When the
pilgrims were heading to America, it was New York that the vampires
loved, being well aware that no one would miss the odd immigrant. There
are still some large colonies there, though the main cause of death
among humans is still humans. Now, however, the vampire population
centres tend to be in the Old World, especially in France and Britain.
There are so many illegal immigrants that the governments to not know
whose there to miss.

London is one of the main Vampire capitals. With the English weather,
the ease with which it can be reached, and the huge number of illegal
immigrants and refugees it receives each year, it is a vampire haven.
London has been the main Vampire capital for many centuries now, since
both the Old Bloods and New Bloods began to centre their activities
there. It is one of the few places that can support both.

There are two main, conflicting, vampire 'philosophies'. Many vampires
find themselves unable to cope with their new lifestyle, and it's
immortality that bites hardest. When a fledging wakes up to find their
friends and family have grown old and died, or when some huge cultural
change has taken place, they can't cope. This is the second main reason
for vampire numbers remaining low; suicide. The Bloods encourage
different methods of coping with and surviving these changes.

The Old Blood philosophy is to withstand change. They have duly noted
that if you wait long enough the same ideas return, the same
philosophies, even the same wars. Human slavery maybe illegal over most
of the world, but the Old Bloods watch with quiet triumph the rise of
machines as slaves. When Antonio read 'I, Robot' the grim smile was
almost frightening. Sometimes I forget how competitive he can be.

The New Blood philosophy is to accept change. This is a lot harder than
it seems. Accepting small changes, fashion etc, that's not so hard. But
when it comes to things like religion or complete social upheaval
(slaves again), that's damn difficult. Even the living sometimes find
it hard to cope, and those centuries old almost impossible. Those born
and turned in the last two centuries, they're the best at it, and
that's why the New Bloods have really become a threat to the Old
Bloods. They're both equally old, both equally established, but the
rivalry didn't really get dangerous until the early 1900s. The most
distinctive difference then was who owned a car; now, it's who owns a
mobile phone.

There are other differences as well. New Blood preaches the 'death of
the deserving', Old Blood the 'little drink'. It's funny, they've taken
the terms from Anne Rice's books. I wonder if that's where they got the
ideas from as well? Both sides have an argument against the other; Old
Blood's ask who has the right to choose who deserves to die and who
doesn't, the New Bloods point out the spread of many diseases can be
traced to vampires. It's true too, the Black Death, much of AIDS, the
vampires do their part. The diseases don't affect them.

Then there is the case of living areas. New Bloods prefer large cities,
Ricardo invested recently in a 'Blade' style club under a slaughter
house.

Antonio and Ricardo are brothers. Whether they were born under the same
father, turned by the same vampire, or just come from the same country,
no one really knows. Antonio affects an Italian accent, an affectation
left over from his Renaissance days. Ricardo has clung to his native
accent, though he has pushed it even further more recently, using the
Bela Lugosi image to his advantage. 'I vant to suck you're blood'
carries a lot of weight, now more than ever. Antonio considers himself
head of the Old bloods, Ricardo the New. The are both the eldest active
members of their side, there are those much older who exist, but they
keep their noses out of it.

I? I am neither Old blood nor New. The way I see it, it's the same as
Old Money and New Money, it doesn't make a difference if you're poor. I
haven't come to the crux yet, my family is still alive and nothing has
happened yet that I can't cope with. I can even get away with being
human, I'm still recognised legally as human. The drinking argument
can't touch me either, I refuse to drink living blood.

It's denial, I know. I have a job and remain in contact with my family.
I still try to pretend I'm human. And if I drank blood, I couldn't be
human. There's always someone who'll sell you what you want, if you
know where to look. Fortunately, I'm not the first to abstain from
living blood; I had someone to show me.

That would Jack. Once Jack the Ripper, he claims that dying gave him a
new point of view on the subject, though he still carries a kosher
knifes and winces when he sees too much bare flesh. Jack's considered
an Old Blood, if wasn't until this decade that he shaved off his
Victorian sideburns and surrendered his top hat. He trades in the stock
market, made his fortune that way, as Antonio did in the property
market.

The other main Old Blood in Jacques, a seventeen-year-old boy sentenced
to death early in the French Revolution but 'rescued' from the Bastille
by Antonio. He whines that he's the 'eternal adolescent'. He still owns
a third of the coffee shop, once shared between Jack, Antonio and
Jacques. I bought the other two thirds from Jack and Antonio, much to
their mutual horror. They're both very chauvinistic males, typical of
their respective eras. Jacques is considerably more easy going, and
viewed the whole thing as a rather wonderful joke.

Ricardo only has one main follower, though a much larger number of
hangers-on. Blanca, nee Bianca, is an albino. She makes a point of
dresses in white, but all her clothes are lined in a red that matches
her eyes. Seduction is food and drink to her, much to poor Ricardo's
distaste. Ricardo's 'second-best' is Sophia, a publisher in Rome, born
in the Renaissance era. They rarely see each other, much to Blanca's
relief, but whenever Ricardo feels the need to call on some back up,
Sophia comes running.

Old Bloods and New Bloods rarely meet, and when they do, it is always
in groups. Hence, when Antonio arrives flanked by Jack and Jacques,
Ricardo must also have Blanca and Sophia behind him. Most of Ricardo's
followers were turned in their teens, and most were turned in the last
few centuries. Sophia and Blanca are exceptions to this rule, but the
fact that Ricardo is accompanied by women while Antonio by men shows
their rate of adaptation to public opinion is still widely
varied.

Here are others as well, many born in the twentieth century as I was,
and still undecided: Arthur and Rose Mackay from Scotland during the
Great War; Daniel from the New York prior to the Wall Street Crash; Jim
the World War Two pilot; Mark the diplomat, younger than I, made by I.
There are others too old to consider themselves part of either group:
Sven, the seven foot Norseman born 3000 years ago; The Siren hiding
herself on an uninhabited Greek island for over 200 years; Chi Sang, a
Chinese vampire that watched the rise of the Chinese Empire; Quintus
the Roman who laughed at Julius's claim to the Roman throne; and Prima,
as she currently calls herself, eldest of us all. None other can count
their age not just in millennia but millions.

We have gathered only once during my time as a vampire. Old Bloods, New
Bloods, Younguns, Olduns and miscellaneous. Prima began these diaries,
and passed them on, and now I have gathered them with intent to publish
them, but that is not why we met. Recently, Antonio left us, and all we
have left is his section of the diaries, last in my collection.