Vampires

When a young man or woman dies, it sometimes happens that their beloved disappears, and their grave is found opened. Many say that the dead one has risen as a vampire, and convinced their lover to watch over them when they sleep. Others say that there are certain sorcerers who approach the bereaved, offering to bring their beloved back to life. The price of doing so is said to be entry into an unspeakable bargain.

It seems that these tales are associated with the young, and particularly with those whose passion is intense but not crowned with the act of congress. This suggests to me that vampirism may be caused by a build-up in the brain of negative orgone, the etheric sexual energy discovered by the psychologist Wilheim Reich.

Vampires' innards rot like those of inanimate corpses, until they are entirely liquid. Thus a fetid bile will burst forth in place of blood when a vampire is wounded. Their blood does not clot as that of the living, but the skin will be whole after a day of sleep. They are not troubled by infection, perhaps because they themselves are a form of infection.

It is well-known that vampires only go forth in the hours of darkness. Some say that the cause of vampirism (be that cause a sickness or a living thing) comes from the empty gulfs of space, which is why sunlight destroys it. It might be wondered why they do not make use of Darkness Elementals to render bright places safe for them. I put this question to one that we captured on the Abysmal Plain. But he said
"I will not answer. No, not though the Enemy [for so he called the sun] burn my eyes."

It is said that some vampires have only a head, and 'ride' headless corpses, exchanging one for another as a human might change horses, or clothes.

Some say that vampires appear less and less human as they get 'older'; although it is also said that very long-undead vampires can cast a glamour, so that to all but the magically-inclined they appear in the prime of health and beauty. Others say that vampires of monstrous appearance, and those that appear human, are different breeds of vampire.