It’s Vampire Week and to celebrate Isaac has graciously agreed to participate in an interview. Stop by Compelling Beasts and visit. It will be illuminating to say the least.

Vampire Week is coming to Compelling Beasts and I’m taking part.  Watch here for updates when my contributions go live throughout the week.  In the meantime, I thought I would give you a little background on the vampire mythos of Harry’s world.

Vampires

Vampires and how they are portrayed can run the gambit.  From the traditional

to the modern/futuristic

From campy

to sexy

to the definitely not-so-sexy.

In Harry’s world there are different types of Vampiro or vampires, with different abilities and powers.

Cutters – These are the wannabe vamps.  They are the Goths that like to play at being vampires.  They are called cutters because of the practice of keeping a small razor blade to slice the skin so they can suck blood.  Most cutters are just posers, but some have the potential to be true vamps.  The ones with potential will actually gain energy from blood, kind of like a high.  Cutters are not undead but they hang around real vampires in the hopes of ingratiating themselves to a powerful vampire in order to receive the ‘Kiss’.

Vampires – are the most common of the Vampiro. They are undead and have retractable fangs.  They must drink blood to survive.  They can still eat and drink but without a daily dose of live human blood they will begin to lose their essence.  Vampires can be of varying power.

Vlads – Powerful vampires are called Vlads. Vlads can go out in the day but tend to have an aversion to direct sunlight.  No vampire, no matter how powerful can be out in the light of the dawning sun.

Princes, Kings, Emperors (and their corresponding female titles) – These are the higher power levels of the Vampiro hierarchy and much more rare.  Depending on how powerful, they can draw life essence from a mere skin to skin touch.  Some can absorb it from their surroundings.  They don’t need to get it from a blood meal.

The Magister – the top vampire in a territory.  The more powerful the Magister, the bigger the territory.

Dhamphirs – Most vampires are made in the traditional way through the Eternal Kiss, but there can also be born vampires. These are people that are born with the vamp ‘gene’ that will kick in on their first death to make them undead.  Dhamphirs are very rare and result from the successful mating between a male vampire and a female human.  While alive, they don’t need blood, but they can get a euphoric high from it.  They may also have some special powers including supernatural healing, super strength and speed, telekinesis, and telepathy.

Here’s my dream casting of the major vampire roles in Dead and Kicking: