03-11-2015, 08:39 AM
There's a lengthy update from the Verbena at some point the following morning after Kalen and Ian's encounter with Wesley, imbued throughout with the brunette's particular brand of wry humor:
Are you guys ready for your Vampire Mythology 101 Lesson? I've contacted what was left of my old coven in New York and aside from 'exercise extreme caution in dealings', they came back with some information that might treat us well to bear in mind. Some of it comes from personal encounters like Sera and Grace's and some seems more urban legend as far as I can tell. I also checked out a few personal sources and after cross checking what I could find, here's what we know about vampires, or at least, isn't just pop culture run wild:
The old shtick that they hate sunlight? Actually entirely factual. It's definitely one way to kill them, if you can expose them long enough. The older a vampire is, the stronger they get, that myth is also unfortunately entirely true. Fire and decapitation, pretty much any means you can rip them to shreds is also pretty affective, assuming there's means.
Forget about garlic or crosses, a stake through the heart might temporarily take one down but it's by no means as exciting as Buffy the Vampire Slayer made it out to be. More sedated lump than dust in the wind. They are weaker during the day so if there's scouting to be done, that would be the time, also beneficial for the Vitamin D route of disposing of one mentioned above.
If you're looking to go in armed, these guys can take some serious damage. A regular gun isn't going to stop one, magically enhanced weaponry on the other hand, definitely the way to go if you're packing heat. Apparently back in the day, swords were a favorite, if you listen to my sources. I'm guessing decapitation was easier than most other options, take a thing's head off, it's going to slow its roll -- well, the torso, anyway.
I mentioned vampires are like wine, right? They get more potent as they age, well word is they also have varying powers that do the same. Finding documented proof of what they are is pretty difficult, vampires don't exactly dig being researched so they try and cover their tracks as much as they can. Sera and Grace saw the shadow trick themselves, so there's that one and apparently in their box of tricks is also nasty stuff like manipulation of thoughts and feelings, eradication of memory, total control over free will -- they do love their mind games. Given what Sera told Kalen and I she felt when she experienced what a feeding was like, I'm going to guess it's not unheard of for a victim to be willing for all the wrong reasons.
My Verbena sources also confirmed there's been documented accounts of vampires changing form the way some shape-shifters in our tradition can. Apparently Bram Stoker wasn't totally off base after all.
There's a break, then. Kiara no doubt typing up the rest of her findings, which appears several moments later:
Kalen mentioned vampire war and he's not wrong. The information is scarce and what little I found barely scratched the surface (I'm guessing with good reason) but vampires play politics within their ranks. There's just no way for us to know who is telling the truth or has less dubious scruples than the other -- in all likelihood, both are as bad as the other.
Are they all out to kill every last one of us -- I doubt that. I'm not sure most of us even register to them until we do. They're very old and while some of them might seem more human on the outside, they operate on a wholly different level.
I couldn't scope out much on Kalen's Mr Edevane other than his apparent devotion to the written word or on this Grayson Addario character other than he checks out as the manager of the Black Orchid as far as official business ties go. None of my contacts in the Verbena recognize the names, if they've been around half as long as we assume they have, they haven't run into bad blood with us -- no pun intended.
Which doesn't say much, knowing how slippery they can be.
I'm printing out all of this, so if anyone wants a hard copy, I'll have one at the ready. I'm not a girl to shy away from danger, but I have to side with my friends in the coven when I say whatever we do, however we proceed, caution is absolute. None of these creatures can be trusted to keep their word beyond what's useful to their agenda.
-Kiara.
Are you guys ready for your Vampire Mythology 101 Lesson? I've contacted what was left of my old coven in New York and aside from 'exercise extreme caution in dealings', they came back with some information that might treat us well to bear in mind. Some of it comes from personal encounters like Sera and Grace's and some seems more urban legend as far as I can tell. I also checked out a few personal sources and after cross checking what I could find, here's what we know about vampires, or at least, isn't just pop culture run wild:
The old shtick that they hate sunlight? Actually entirely factual. It's definitely one way to kill them, if you can expose them long enough. The older a vampire is, the stronger they get, that myth is also unfortunately entirely true. Fire and decapitation, pretty much any means you can rip them to shreds is also pretty affective, assuming there's means.
Forget about garlic or crosses, a stake through the heart might temporarily take one down but it's by no means as exciting as Buffy the Vampire Slayer made it out to be. More sedated lump than dust in the wind. They are weaker during the day so if there's scouting to be done, that would be the time, also beneficial for the Vitamin D route of disposing of one mentioned above.
If you're looking to go in armed, these guys can take some serious damage. A regular gun isn't going to stop one, magically enhanced weaponry on the other hand, definitely the way to go if you're packing heat. Apparently back in the day, swords were a favorite, if you listen to my sources. I'm guessing decapitation was easier than most other options, take a thing's head off, it's going to slow its roll -- well, the torso, anyway.
I mentioned vampires are like wine, right? They get more potent as they age, well word is they also have varying powers that do the same. Finding documented proof of what they are is pretty difficult, vampires don't exactly dig being researched so they try and cover their tracks as much as they can. Sera and Grace saw the shadow trick themselves, so there's that one and apparently in their box of tricks is also nasty stuff like manipulation of thoughts and feelings, eradication of memory, total control over free will -- they do love their mind games. Given what Sera told Kalen and I she felt when she experienced what a feeding was like, I'm going to guess it's not unheard of for a victim to be willing for all the wrong reasons.
My Verbena sources also confirmed there's been documented accounts of vampires changing form the way some shape-shifters in our tradition can. Apparently Bram Stoker wasn't totally off base after all.
There's a break, then. Kiara no doubt typing up the rest of her findings, which appears several moments later:
Kalen mentioned vampire war and he's not wrong. The information is scarce and what little I found barely scratched the surface (I'm guessing with good reason) but vampires play politics within their ranks. There's just no way for us to know who is telling the truth or has less dubious scruples than the other -- in all likelihood, both are as bad as the other.
Are they all out to kill every last one of us -- I doubt that. I'm not sure most of us even register to them until we do. They're very old and while some of them might seem more human on the outside, they operate on a wholly different level.
I couldn't scope out much on Kalen's Mr Edevane other than his apparent devotion to the written word or on this Grayson Addario character other than he checks out as the manager of the Black Orchid as far as official business ties go. None of my contacts in the Verbena recognize the names, if they've been around half as long as we assume they have, they haven't run into bad blood with us -- no pun intended.
Which doesn't say much, knowing how slippery they can be.
I'm printing out all of this, so if anyone wants a hard copy, I'll have one at the ready. I'm not a girl to shy away from danger, but I have to side with my friends in the coven when I say whatever we do, however we proceed, caution is absolute. None of these creatures can be trusted to keep their word beyond what's useful to their agenda.
-Kiara.