The Huntress

Look How Far I've Come

“That’s all correct but can anyone give me a more accurate response?” She asked the group again. This time a girl spoke up, she was small but very athletically built. Alison could see the muscles in her arms.

“You use a wooden stake to the heart as a way to immobilise the vampire but it won’t actually kill them, traditionally hunter’s used the stake to nail the vampire to the coffin so that they wouldn’t fight back. They then use a silver knife to decapitate the head of the vampire: that’s a sure way to guarantee death and prevent anyone else from being changed.”

“Very good.” Alison said, “I would also like to discuss something that is contrary to popular culture. When you kill a vampire, it does not automatically mean that all of the vampires that that specific vampire changed will die. So, if you were to come across a human that had been bitten but had not yet been changed. How would you prevent the change from taking place? Now, there are two answers to this question, both of which posit two very different approaches to the supernatural world.” Alison could see the clogs turning in the trainee’s heads as they tried to think of the answer: she knew a lot of them would get at least one response correct but she was curious to see which of the class were humanitarians and therefore knowledgeable of the alternative.

“Well, the obvious response would be to decapitate the human so that that there is no way that they could change.” A boy announced.

“Good, that’s right. But what is the alternative method?” Alison asked the class again, studying each of their faces to see if she could work out who would be the individual to get the answer. She focused in on a petite girl sat in the second row who was biting her lip in concentration. She was either torn between finding the answer or actually saying what she thought the answer was. Just as Alison thought she was going to say something another, male, voice spoke up.

“You don’t have to kill them. You can reverse the change although that is very difficult to do and highly unlikely. But if you wanted to try it you’d have to sprinkle Holy Water on them whilst they slept during the change process and then place a crucifix in direct contact with their skin.”

“Exactly. But as you pointed out, it has a very low success rate which is why The Company operates an annihilation policy for security. The change process of a vampire is a very complex and closely guarded secret.” Alison said knowingly, drawing on all of her knowledge from Charles Lyson.  “And that very nicely brings me to the main part of my lecture today. The Change Process of a vampire and the mechanics and biology behind it. Now, most of you will be aware that the vampiric community is very isolated. Often living in locations away from human settlements and venturing into them to hunt. But, what you probably won’t be aware of is the fact that vampire society is very muchly regimented and regulated. There is a very distinct and rigid social hierarchy which controls the amount of vampires changed and where they may settle.

“Ok, so I’m going to start by explaining the social hierarchy of vampires. The majority of vampires that you will ever come across will be peasants. What this means is that these are vampires that have been illegitimately changed, or they have left their clan for a number of reasons. Although they will not have been kicked out, if a vampire commits a crime that is serious enough for them to be kicked out of a clan then they will be destroyed by the clan leader rather than allowed to become peasants. Now peasant vampires are easier to kill because they are often on their own, and because they have no clan this means that they are often underfed and weak. They also tend to lack self-control which is why The Company ends up discovering and dealing with these type of vampires the most often. They are not subtle about their whereabouts and frequently leave trails of destruction behind.

“The next level in the vampire hierarchy is a clan member. Now, clans are like families. Within a clan you have a clan leader and frequently their partner. Then you have other clan members whom would be seen as the leader’s children and they span outwards to include cousins and grandchildren, so forth. Some clans choose to live along the borders and sometimes within human settlements. These are the clans that have the most self-control when it comes to hunting and the outside world would view them as just another family, albeit an odd family dynamic. Now, clan leaders, they are the strongest member of the family and often the oldest. Many clan leaders were once members of the aristocracy during their human lives and within the vampiric community they maintain any former title that they may have held. Clan leaders and stronger vampires have the ability to hypnotise humans when eye contact is made. To be appointed a clan leader an individual vampire must be selected by a member of the Royal Family.