Vampiris Sancti: The Elf by Katri Cardew Page B

Now able
to survive passage through the Reveal and with an appearance
startlingly demon they quickly left the human realm. In their world
within a world, a superman amongst men despite their dependence
upon the beings that sustained them, Vampires developed their gifts
to suit the environment they currently inhabited. With the grace of
a cat they moved amidst humans while keeping peripheral to their
consciousness. They were no more than a glimpse out of the corner
of an eye—there for a moment—gone the next. When changing their
surroundings the Vampire had no issue and moved from light to dark
with the supernatural ease of one adept at handling both.
    Contrary to
human mythology the Vampire, even when a fledgling, once exposed to
sunlight didn’t burst into flames. The sun reduced the strength of
the young to being as weak as and sometimes even weaker than
humans. The older the Vampire the stronger their tolerance of
sunlight was—until they reached the state of Aunsin when it no
longer affected them. Vampires as they aged gained possession of
their demonic strength and could lift heavy weights, leap up and
jump down from great heights, break through many solid objects, and
if attacked heal within hours. They were capable of enduring
prolonged periods of extreme cold, tolerate intense heat, and lack
of food didn’t affect them as they could achieve a stasis which
could last centuries. Bullets didn’t kill them, water didn’t drown
them, poison couldn’t stop them as only fire, beheading, or grief
killed a Vampire. Once dead, the Vampire left nothing for forensic
technology to examine while their remains turned into dust and
passed back through the Reveal as the universes rebalanced
themselves.
    There were
those within the human world that had the natural ability to
recognise the traits of Vampires without years of Oric training.
This small percentage of the population was hypersensitive to their
surrounds and without trying seemed to notice the abnormality
lurking the shadows. Of those that did some would associate with
this world either to offer themselves as fresh blood—warmdri—the
warm drink, a luxury in the modern Vampire world, or in fascination
with the power of this anomaly. The traits of a Vampire were not
too difficult to notice with educated eyes for this being, while
appearing human, exhibited their demonic influence immediately. The
Vampire had pale skin and their features, though diverse, were all
similar in that they attracted. Their proportions were always in
alignment and they were built to please the eye, so if they were
dark, fair, tall, short, they were the handsomest of these. Their
symmetry encouraged granting of their requests, minds to be open to
their suggestions, for the Vampire evolved into whatever pleasure
their victims desired. Their genetic predisposition changed from
human towards demon and as the Vampire aged towards Ancient their
demonic ancestry became more evident. Those of greater age gathered
silver streaks in their eyes and hair until they were almost
glowing in appearance.
    The Vampire
could sense the presence of one of their kind in the immediate
vicinity and if their bloodline was New or Old World. Demons
provided a different challenge for Vampires as they could sense
lower caste demons because they were clumsy and obvious. Those from
more evolved worlds such as Poqir and Varkja could avoid notice if
they were careful. As for the human realm, Vampires were able to
detect movement in the shadows, hear sounds beyond human capacity,
and react faster than the human eye could register. The humans who
viewed such qualities ascribed supernatural abilities to Vampires,
even the belief that they could read minds. Vampires didn’t have
this ability, though they could read blood memory of humans, with
demons they were hyper-observant reading body language and sensing
the emotions of those around them. The older the Vampire the more
powerful their abilities, an Ancient could travel an