Vamps - Vamps Part 18

PROMISED: The equivalent of being betrothed in true-born vampire society. Vampire children are promised to each other by their elders, who usually draw up a bondage contract that lists how many children and of what gender shall marry between the families. However, New Blood families often break from this tradition, allowing their children to secure "love matches."

RED: Slang for blood.

SCRIVENER'S TALON: A piece of wood or, in some cases, stone carved to resemble a crooked talon. It is the traditional writing instrument of the vampire race and is designed to resemble the claw of their ancestors.

SCRIVENERY: An underground bunker that is a cross between an archive and a library, where the legal doc.u.ments, diaries, genealogies, and other writings of the vampire race are stored beyond the reach of humans. It also means a place where scriveners are employed making copies of pertinent doc.u.ments by hand.

SLUMMING: The act of going to areas where the dregs of human society can be found with the intent of either feeding or amusing oneself by terrorizing them.

SPOD: Someone who is extremely studious; a nerd or a geek.

STAKED: Slang for being killed by vampire hunters.

STORMGATHERER: A true-born capable of gathering light-ning, blizzards, tornadoes, and the like. While all vampires have this ability to some degree, it is rare to .nd one capable of gathering more than a heavy fog or drizzling rain.

STREGA: A supernatural criminal society that has its origins in ancient Rome and Greece. Although founded and run by vampires, the Strega employs witches, werewolves, and other a.s.sorted supernatural creatures as well. It is rumored that the Strega will sell their services to any and all willing to pay the price- including humans.

SYNOD: The governing body that oversees the laws and rituals of the true-born vampire race. The Synod is overseen by the Lord Chancellor, who serves as the .nal judge when it comes to deciding disputes between various families. The Lord Chancellor is also responsible for meting out punishment for those accused of breaking the laws of vampire society. The most grievous transgressions are those that expose its existence to the world at large, whether by aggression, accident, or neglect.

TAP: Slang for drinking blood straight from the vein.

THRALL: A living human who is under the mental control of a vampire. Not all thralls are aware of their condition. Thralls can run the gamut from common servants needed to work during the daylight hours to such people as politicians, heads of state, clergymen, and leaders of . nance.

TOTEM FORM: The animal shape a vampire takes when he or she shapeshifts. While the wolf is the most common, not all vampires share this totem. Depending on their ancestry, some turn into big cats, such as panthers, lions, and tigers, while others take the form of serpents, such as pythons, cobras, and anacondas.

TOTENTANZ: The vampire equivalent of a funeral, although in practice it bears a closer resemblance to an Irish wake. Following the death of a vampire, friends and family gather for a ritual party that consists of feast-ing, dancing, and general roistering, basically defy-ing death's hold. Mourning and tears are forbidden. The longer the party, the greater the tribute to the deceased. In ancient times, a totentanz could go on for weeks, if not months.

TRUE-BORN: Vampires distinguish themselves from the undead by calling themselves true-born. True-born are those who are born of vampire parents. It refers to both Old Blood and New Blood. True-borns are essentially living vampires. Although practically immune to all human diseases and capable of regenerating everything but a head or a heart, true-borns are not immortal. They can live up to eight hundred years, provided they are not killed by vampire hunters or, more likely, a rival vampire. During the . rst twenty-.ve years of their lives they age identically to humans, but when they .nally mature into "adulthood," their aging slows to one tenth of a human's. The last milestones that mark a true-born's maturation are . rst their inability to be photographed, followed by losing their re.ections, and .nally gaining the ability to produce undead with their bites. Infant mortality is still very high among the true-born, and every pregnancy is risky for the mother. Advances in fertility medicine are a recent development but one that might not work as well for them as hoped.

TRUE TONGUE: The ultrasonic language . rst spoken by the Founders.

UNDEAD: Humans killed by a vampire's bite come back to life as the undead. Although they have been altered into something no longer human, neither are they vampires.

Unlike their masters, the undead cannot shapeshift, nor can they .y. Most importantly, they cannot replicate themselves through biting humans. However, they are immortal, though they will spontaneously combust when exposed to direct sunlight. The undead are important to the vampires' daily existence because they do the scut work the true-born are loathe to do-laundry, shopping for essentials, household care, child care, gardening, bookkeeping, security, etc. They are utterly loyal to their masters because, like a queen bee and her beehive, should the vampire controlling them be killed by a vampire hunter, they die as well. Vampire families that have acquired numerous undead over the centuries have learned to warehouse their surplus, placing them in a form of suspended anima-tion until they are needed. A vampire who is ex-tremely wealthy but has few undead servants is socially inferior to one who might be considerably poorer but has numerous undead. Vampires take particular care in the management of their undead, and those who are viewed as being negligent in providing for their legions are dealt with harshly.

USURP: To take another vampire's bloodright by force. This occurs during hand-to-hand combat between rival vampires, when the stronger of the two drinks his or her opponent dry or tears his or her heart out of the chest and devours it.

USURPER: A vampire who has taken a bloodright he or she has no recognized right to. Although a usurper can be from within the same family, such as a younger sibling or cousin, more often than not they are not directly related to the victim.

VAN HELSINGS: The slang term for vampire hunters and those who work for the Van Helsing Inst.i.tute (VHI) in particular.

Va.s.sAL: A vampire whose bloodrights were usurped and has sworn fealty to his or her usurper in exchange for protection and the possibility of being allowed to later remarry into the stolen bloodline.

VENDETTA: A running blood feud between either individuals or whole families. Vendettas are most often pursued by envious rivals, bereft vampires looking to reclaim stolen bloodrights, jilted lovers, or wronged friends.

VENDETTA-FREE ZONE: Designated areas where vendettas cannot be pursued are vendetta-free zones. One such universal vendetta-free zone is the school system. The various schools where vampires send their young to be educated are off-limits. Pupils are considered off-limits too. They cannot be poached and are immune from long-standing family rivalries. Once they graduate-or drop out-the gloves come off. Any illegal attacks on school-age .edglings by adult vampires are cause for extreme measures by the Synod, the governing body that enforces the laws of the vampire race.

WEAK-BLOODED: Vampires deemed inferior and/or other-wise unsuited to a.s.sume the family bloodright are weak-blooded. When there is more than one child, the head of the family must choose which offspring is most .t to inherit. Parents place a high value on aggression as well as physical strength and stamina, followed by various supernatural abilities. Which-ever child is deemed the strongest-and therefore most capable of defending the bloodright from usurpers-is appointed heir, while all others are deemed weak bloods. Weak-blooded siblings or demi-siblings must spend the rest of their lives supporting the chosen heir. They are forbidden to marry or reproduce (at least with other vampires). And when their time comes, they must surrender their blood-and whatever undead and personal wealth they've acc.u.mulated over the centuries- to either their strong-blooded sibling or their sibling's heirs. The only variations occur when an anointed heir is destroyed before a bloodright can be pa.s.sed along or when families wish to cement relations by marrying their weak-blooded children to another family's strong-blooded heirs.

About the Author.

Nancy A. Collins is a recipient of the Horror Writers a.s.sociation Bram Stoker Award and the British Fantasy Society Icarus Award. She's been a writer for Swamp Thing and is best known for her ground-breaking vampire character, Sonja Blue, who .rst appeared in SUNGLa.s.sES AFTER DARK. Ms. Collins currently makes her home in Atlanta with her dog, Sc.r.a.pple.

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