From Stoker to Stackhouse: Real Vampires

Field Report
Vampires have been a part of the human imagination for millennia. The ancient Mesopotamians, Greeks, and Romans all had various myths of supernatural creatures and demons that sustained themselves on blood and on human energy in general. Whether you're talking about the eponymous vampire of Bram Stoker's Dracula, or the daywalker Blade, or Viago, Deacon, and Vlad from What We Do in the Shadows, there's a lot more truth to the myths than there is novelty.
The fact is, vampires have walked the earth and had a stake^[1] in shaping society since before the birth of Christ. It is essential, however, to distinguish at this point between the vampire, the demon, and the ekimmu, all three of which are distinct and separate species, despite the seeming supernatural similarity between the three^[2]. Vampires are created from humans^[3] and for the most part do not seem to have a species-wide agenda. They, like humans, can be brutish and selfish, or sophisticated and even philanthropic. Though my sources assure me all vampires are evil, I have no reason to believe that the process of becoming a vampire necessarily turns one evil, and that an "ethical" vampire must surely exist. Generally, not unlike humans, vampires need a source of income. With the ability to wait hundreds if not thousands of years, some vampires acquire vast fortunes through investments and compound interest, but again, not unlike humans, some acquire their wealth through simply taking it from others.
Vampires are "sired" when a vampire drains the blood from a human being and, at the cusp of death, feeds some of its own blood into the human. The process of draining a human's blood can take place over a few minutes, hours, days, or weeks, but an essential part of the process is the vampire feeding its own blood to the human. Simply being bitten by a vampire, through my research, is not enough. A human will typically turn to a vampire in under twenty-four hours and will awaken, fully aware of their abilities. They tend to inherit similar traits from their master (eg, certain aversions, weaknesses, abilities) and will almost invariably obey their sire's commands.
Vampires can also create what I'm proposing the Institute call "ghouls," the best example of which would be Renfield from Stoker's Dracula. Vampires can feed their own blood to a human being; this human can then become a servant of the vampire, and is essentially at that vampire's command. These ghouls can, on occasion, invoke the power of their master. These ghoulsih familiars will serve at their master's beck and call for a long time, often having been promised immortal life; at the very least, vampire blood is said to be incredibly intoxicating and perhaps addictive, so the promise of more blood tends to be an incentive itself.
A vampire's weaknesses are not always known, and they do seem to vary from creature to creature. Some of the classics remain absolutely in play: sunlight, holy water, garlic, running water, fire, and so on all seem to be quite effective. According to one of our field experts, holy symbols themselves (eg, a crucifix) tend to cause fear or hesitation in most vampires, but for quite a few this is a result of movies and novelizations; furthermore, such a symbol wielded by a non-believer almost always has no power. How this functions -- how a vampire can detect whether or not the Hoffman field agent holding a crucifix to their face is an adherent of Christianity or not -- is a matter of great speculation. And, true to form, the only way to fully kill a vampire is to stake its heart while it rests in its coffin, but this, I'm assured, is easier said than done.
In terms of abilities, it is quite difficult to get a full picture. They tend to be stronger and faster than the average human. They are almost exclusively nocturnal. Older, wiser vampires also tend to have more abilities and more powerful versions of those abilities; some reports include the ability to transform into animals and into mist, the ability to climb on walls, to move through dirt as though it were water, to mesmerize or confuse, to fly and to turn invisible; a vampire's abilities are far too varied to list here.
Broadly speaking, vampires tend to function similarly to wolves; there are loners and small pairings and so forth, but in general vampires tend to "pack" up. The exact naming convention of a "pack" varies from group to group; some call themselves "families," "clans," or "packs." In reality, a vampire pack is not dissimilar to an organized crime family or, for the less sophisticated packs, a gang. A large, powerful family might consist of dozens of vampires and hundreds of ghouls, engaged in legitimate or semi-legitimate business (eg, banking) or downright criminal activity (eg, protection rackets). Smaller families might be no different than street toughs, working in a region under the control of another, more powerful family, and working to stay under the radar (vampires tend not to air their grievances in public, preferring to remain in the shadows, as it were).
A vampire pack is typically lead by a single vampire, almost invariably the most powerful and, as vampires tend to become more powerful with age, it's not uncommon for the leader of an extremely large or powerful pack to be hundreds if not thousands of years old. This vampire elder^[4] in most circumstances will also have sired a fair number of its pack members, and certainly some of the more senior leadership and/or enforcers. A vampire's "children" tend to be unerringly loyal, though as with anything vampire-related, there are exceptions. Vampire packs tend to be exceptionally territorial. Pack members tend to go, when in doubt, with whichever elder proves themselves the strongest, so in vampire "wars" when one side suffers a significant enough defeat, it is often enough to turn the tide completely in the others favour. As can be noted with pack animals, younger, stronger specimens may challenge the leadership from time to time, but often ruthless elders will put down such an insurgency before it has a chance to take hold.
This represents the extent of knowledge on vampires that I'm able to commit to the Institute. I am eternally grateful for several "slayers," notably Gabriel Van Helsing of New Orleans, without whom this would be a far shorter report, and would have been no doubt punctuated with my death certificate.
It is my advice that all Hoffman field offices be equipped with -- and that any agents working in/around vampire "nests" have access to -- the following equipment, at minimum:

• silver-tipped bullets
• twelve gauge shotgun
• holy symbols, assorted
• holy water (glass vials preferred)
• white phosphorous grenades
• UVA light system
• mirrors^[5]
• wooden stakes

This concludes my report.
Madison Holden
Field Agent
Hoffman Institute

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Footnotes:
[1]: pun intended
[2]: for differentiation, demons tend to be summoned from beyond through supernatural ritual, whereas ekimmu are visitors (eg, demons are forced to earth, while ekimmu are either residents or visitors of it.)
[3]: there is no evidence to suggest that vampirism can cross the species barrier, but obviously there is a lack of study on this subject.
[4]: different groups use different names, including patriarch and matriarch. It is my preference to use the gender-neutral "elder," although the vampire pack leader might not be the oldest of the bunch, simply the most powerful.
[5]: Gabriel Van Helsing assures me that vampires do, in fact, cast reflections, but several other slayers have suggested otherwise. Can't hurt.

Type

Report, Scientific

Medium

Digital Recording, Text

Authors

• Madison Holden