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“ | First of all, they're not romantic. It's not like they're a bunch of f--kin' fags hoppin' around in rented formal wear and seducing everybody in sight with cheesy Euro-trash accents, all right? Forget whatever you've seen in the movies: they don't turn into bats, crosses don't work. Garlic? You wanna try garlic? You could stand there with garlic around your neck and one of these buggers will bend you f**king over and take a walk up your strada-chocolata WHILE he's suckin' the blood outta your neck, all right? And they don't sleep in coffins lined in taffeta. You wanna kill one, you drive a wooden stake right through his f**kin' heart. Sunlight turns 'em into crispy critters. | „ |
~ Jack Crow about the Vampires. |
Vampires are vicious and bloodthirsty supernatural creatures of the night in John Stakley's horror novel Vampire$ and John Carpenter's loose movie adaptation. They serve as both the novel and the movie's primary antagonists.
Types[]
Thralls[]
Thralls are people who have been bitten by a master vampire, but not completely drained. Thus, they do not become vampires, but instead fall under the master’s sway. Their resistance to vampiric hypnotism is diminished (they will even do things that they would normally object doing) and they will remain loyal to the master that has bitten them even when he/she is not actively mesmerizing them.
The fate of thralls is almost inevitably death. Some are killed by their master, either by being drained completely and turned into a vampire or simply being murdered for their Master’s amusement. Others will be driven to suicide from guilt over their inhuman actions in service to their masters; some of the stronger-willed thralls may fight off their master’s corrupting influence during the day and take their own lives and all other thralls have killed themselves when their master died.
The two known occasions where live thralls have been saved (does not mean de-vampirized but to maintain their humanity) both involved Team Crow (later to be renamed as Team Felix): Team Crow rescued some of the thralls of the masters in Cleburne. They had only been thralled a short time, had not been forced to commit any of the degrading or evil acts traditionally inflicted upon thralls yet, and they had been excessively drained (Cleburne hosted three masters, the highest number ever heard of in a single place) so they were too weak to put up serious resistance to Team Crow or to hurt themselves.
The second occasion involved Davette Shands, the thrall sent to find Team Crow in the guise of a reporter. Davette has suffered the life of a thrall for some time, but had great reserves of mental strength and spent enough time away from her master to overcome the weakening effects of his bite, as the search for Team Crow having kept her away from her master for a much longer time than any thrall would normally be allowed.
Known Members[]
- Katrina
- Davette Shands
Goons[]
If a human being is completely drained by a master vampire (i.e. dies because of said vampire’s bite), he/she will appear dead in every way. The body will even begin to decompose and insects may lay eggs in the corpse like they would with any other dead animals. The only notable difference is that the body will burn with an unnaturally bright flame when and if set afire (beheading and then either burning the body or impaling the heart with a wooden stake are required to prevent the deceased from becoming a vampire).
After an indeterminate period of time, the vampiric curse will take hold and the corpse will heal itself, rising as a vampire, commonly referred to by vampire hunters as goons.
Goons are the most numerous and weakest of the vampires (though still quite formidable to normal humans). They enjoy enhanced strength but lack all of the other supernatural abilities of vampires and have vastly diminished intelligence as well. Goons operate on an instinctive level when they are not acting on the direct orders of a master, moving after prey at standard human speed unless enraged (which they become after being injured) or hungry.
At some point a goon can become a full-fledged vampire. At minimum, the transformation from goon to vampire requires a few days; it is unknown if other specific acts must be undertaken or if it is simply a matter of time, though new vampires apparently have to remain near their leader at first.
Known Member[]
- Jack Crow (at the end of the novel)
Typicals[]
Typicals are goons that regained their original human intelligence. They appear fully healthy and alive, as well as possessing even greater physical power than goons, but they are not as puissant as their master vampires. There are usually two or three of these creatures accompanying any particular master vampire. Most vampires have no life outside of serving their leader, so they will not have any independent wealth or social ties, relying on their master to provide everything.
Whether or not a vampire’s master has to have any specific connection to his charges or if he compels obedience by simple virtue of being the most powerful vampire in the group is unknown.
Master Vampires[]
The Masters are powerful deadly Vampires that control the undead bloodsuckers and they are both minor villains in the novel Vampire$ and it's 1998 horror film adaptation John Carpenter's Vampires. They are vampires that have fully developed their vampiric abilities and managed to retain human memories and intelligences. Valek is the first and most powerful Master since the first of all vampires. While there are Masters that are male, other Masters that are female are called Mistresses.
Masters are also those who have lived long enough to acquire a great deal of influence and wealth.
Masters usually associate with a number of lesser Masters whom they dominate, but whether this dominance is related to their vampiric abilities or simply reflects their greater strength of presence and social status is unknown. Some masters are subtler and thus able to interact with mainstream society without being detected, so much so that the Vatican’s vampire hunters were apparently unaware of vampires living within mainstream society at all. Masters may even be well situated enough to carry on a normal human existence in a highly populated area such as a metropolitan city.
Known Members[]
- Johann Valek
- Ross
- Simon Kennedy