A Field Guide to Vampires (3 page)

Mom helped with that! And so did Bruno. And I think they might have dated but neither of them will admit to it.

Raktapa Council:

The three ancient families of Drake, Joiik, and Amrita form the Raktapa Council. They hold some sway over other vampire tribes, but exactly how much is not known.

Leander Montmartre is known to all vampires and hunters. He has been creating his own army of vampires for centuries. They are known as his "Host." Once a lover to Lady Natasha. Reason for separation unknown.

Montmartre was a creepy old perv.

Habitat:

-Manor houses in private countryside settings

Distinguishing Characteristics:

-Fealty oaths sworn to Montmartre

-Act as his personal bodyguard and army

-Uniform of brown leather tunics

Food:

-Blood, preferably human. Take unwilling donors.

Strengths:

-Trained fighters

-Extremely fast and strong, well-developed sense of smell and sight, quick healers

-Unified in purpose

-Loyalty

Weaknesses:

-Usual vampire weaknesses (see section 8)

-Arrogance, blind obedience to Montmartre, power-lust

Reproduction:

- The Host are turned by a vampire bite (from Montmartre, traditionally) and abandoned to suffer the bloodchange without guidance or a sufficient quantity of the sire’s blood. This is believed to make them strong. If they survive, Montmartre returns to claim them as his own. This process is notoriously unstable and vampires often go mad. This is how many of the current
Hel-Blar
plague were created.

Political Structure:

-Medieval-style fealty to Leander Montmartre

Hel-Blar
were at one time considered to be rare. They were mostly human victims who were infected and turned into vampires without knowledge of the process and were driven mad by bloodlust and insufficient feeding. Some retain speech and reason but many are rendered insane beyond cognitive functions.

Ew. Seriously. These guys are gross.

Now dangerously common, especially in small European towns and Violet Hill, due to Montmartre’s attempt to create his own army.
Hel-Blar
numbers more than tripled as he perfected his creation of the Host.

Hel-Blar
means "blue death" in ancient Viking dialect.

Habitat:

-Nesting tendencies in abandoned houses and thick forests

Distinguishing Characteristics:

-Sharpened, elongated teeth; every tooth is a fang. Unretractable.

-Blue-tinted skin

-Smell like rotting mushrooms and swampy water

Food:

-Blood. From any source.

Strengths:

-Strong fighters

-Feral

Weaknesses:

-Usual vampire weaknesses (see section 8)

-Can lose themselves in battle frenzy, as did the Viking Beserkers.

Reproduction:

-The
Hel-Blar
bite is known as a "kiss" and, unlike a regular vampire bite, can turn the victim without the need for blood exchange. Saliva in an open wound is sometimes enough.

-Even other vampires fear this bite because of the contagious effect on other vampires.

-Always made, never born, even in ancient families.

Political Structure:

-None, beyond nesting. Work in small clans or tribes.

The Hounds are notoriously secretive and information is difficult to gather and decipher. They know themselves as the Cwn Mamau, “The Hounds of the Mother.”

Habitat:

-Prefer caves, the more remote the better. Walls are painted with scenes from their ancestral myths. Details unknown.

Distinguishing Characteristics:

-Sharpened, elongated teeth; double set of retractable fangs

-Very misunderstood; little is known about them

-Superstitious

-Wild demeanor and appearance is common.

-Pale skin

-Wear bone beads and amulets

-Dogs taken into their tribes as totem-type animal companions

Food:

-Blood, both human and animal

Strengths:

-Strong fighters

-Fiercely independent

-Extremely fast and strong

-Well-developed sense of smell and sight

-Quick healers

-Good trackers and hunters

-Magical knowledge about which we have little information

Weaknesses:

-Usual vampire weaknesses (see section 8)

Reproduction:

-Many of the modern Hounds were turned by a vampire bite and abandoned to become one of Montmartre’s Host. Instead of being reclaimed by Montmartre or another unrelated sire, they are rescued by other Hounds and adopted into the tribe in elaborate initiation rituals.

Political Structure and Miscellaneous Customs:

-By all accounts the Hounds do not swear an oath to a particular royal bloodline. They prefer to follow a shamanka (sometimes a shaman) who rules through the use of ritual magic and superstition. They can be recognized by the bone bead necklaces they wear carved into the shape of their particular animal totem. Teeth pulled from previous shamanka totems are also worn.

My dad wears necklaces like that too.

-Braiding of the hair is an initiatory practice. Seven braids is said to be the number of luck for the shamanka, five for their apprentice, four for the sire of a tribe, three for the ordinary warrior. Newly turned Hounds wear no braids until their first kill; afterward a single braid.

-The Hounds are among some of the oldest vampires known. They are fierce and strong and very solitary. They have managed to avoid entanglement in human history and conflict, preferring life in the deep woods or caves.

Current Shamanka:

Kala:
(white hair in braids and dreadlocks, blue eyes, painted ritual deer cloak)

Little is known. She is at least three hundred years old, rumored by some to be as old as two thousand. She spent several hundred years living alone in the mountains until she took the mantle of shamanka when the last shaman-king was killed. Her witch-dogs are famous for tracking and finding abandoned vampires during the transformational process of becoming Host or
Hel-Blar.
Currently the only shamanka we have intel on; if there are others, they are unknown to us.

Hound Princess:
Kala’s handmaiden

Isabeau St. Croix:
(long black hair, green eyes, favors fighting in leathers with sleeveless shirt and chain mail)

Turned: during French Revolution and left for dead

Distinguishing Characteristics: beauty mark on right cheekbone, petite, double set of fangs, French accent, numerous tattoos (Celtic knot work, greyhound, fleur-de-lis)

Personality: very reclusive, polite, strong

Strengths: good fighter, determined, loyal to shamanka, magical training

Companion: gray wolfhound “Charlemagne,” Magda (Hound), Finn (Initiated Hound)

Point of Interest: parents killed by guillotine during the French Revolution

There’s a whole new vampire race the League didn’t even know about called the Na-Foir. They’re something between a Hel-Blar and a Hound. They were more reclusive than even the Hounds, because their veins are so blue they get mistaken for Hel-Blar a lot and shot on sight. My cousin Christabel was kidnapped by them so she could be a political liaison. They thought she was me. I’m still not sure what to think about that.

The Drakes are of particular interest as they are the current linchpin to most political intrigue within North American vampire society, especially in Violet Hill. Only sons have been born to this lineage since the Middle Ages, until the birth of Solange Drake (b. 1993) to Liam Drake (b. 1901) and Helena Drake (b. 1953-died/turned 1994).

As mentioned previously, a historic treaty is in effect between the Drakes and the Helios-Ra. The Drakes do not drink from humans without consent and never drink enough to cause irreparable damage. We do not hunt the Drakes at this time. A bulletin will be issued should this change.

Exiled but still powerful. Not enough is known about the prophecy regarding Solange Drake.

Because it’s none of your business!

The surname Drake is thought to have originated from the Old English word “Draca,” or possibly from Old Danish “Draki,” both meaning “Dragon.”

Family Motto:
“Nox
Noctis, nostra domina”
(Latin for “Night our Mistress”)

I need my own motto. And maybe a theme song. But I’ll leave the superhero capes to Kieran and Hunter.

Family Crest:
Dragon with ivy in its mouth

Origins:

William Drake is thought to be the first Drake vampire, turned circa late eleventh century–early twelfth century. In 1148, he married Veronique Dubois, lady-in-waiting to Queen Eleanor of
Aquitaine in France. She gave birth to twins (Arnaud and Christophe) in 1149 and would have died in childbirth if William had not turned her. They were chased out of Aquitaine when the twins sickened on their sixteenth birthday and would only be cured by the drinking of human blood, which turned them fully in 1165.

Exiled from the royal courts by Lady Natasha due to prophecy.

Habitat:

The main Drake homestead is in the outskirts of Violet Hill, near the mountains. Several farms comprise the compound and are patrolled by both human and vampire guards. The Violet Hill area is also home to the caves used by the Hounds, until they were taken over by Lady Natasha.

Current Generation

Father:

Liam Drake
(born 1901, turned 1917)

Blue eyes, dark hair; diplomatic strengths

Mother:

Helena Drake,
née Cole (born 1966, turned 1994)

Black hair, blue eyes; skilled in several martial arts (including Tae Kwon Do, Akido), as well as fencing, kickboxing, and hunting, even before she was turned. Do not antagonize.

Sons:

Nicholas
(born 1992, turned 2008)

Gray eyes, dark brown hair

Noteworthy: Drake training, mechanics, newly turned, need to prove himself, over-protective of his little sister, Solange, and of Lucky Hamilton

Logan
(born 1991, turned 2007)

Green eyes, brown hair

Noteworthy: Drake training, wears frock coats and Goth attire, father’s ability to charm, fastidious, cocky

Connor
(born 1990, turned 2006)

Blue eyes, dark brown hair

Noteworthy: twin (Quinn), Drake training, computer tech

Quinn
(born 1990, turned 2006)

Blue eyes, dark brown hair

Noteworthy: twin (Connor), Drake training, charm, overconfidence, especially strong pheromones?

Duncan
(born 1988, turned 2004)

Green eyes, dark brown hair

Noteworthy: Drake training, mechanics, antisocial

Marcus
(born 1987, turned 2003)

Blue eyes, dark brown hair

Noteworthy: Drake training, shy, very intelligent, science/biology

Sebastian
(born 1986, turned 2002)

Amber eyes, dark brown hair

Noteworthy: Drake training, reclusive, very quiet, little else known

Daughter:

Solange
(born 1993, bloodchange expected on August 23, 2009)

Blue eyes, black hair

Companion: Lucky “Lucy” Hamilton (person of interest, human)

Noteworthy: Drake training, acupressure, fencing, solitary, pottery; quiet, seems calmer than her brothers

Point of Interest: First and only daughter born to the Drake clan. Assumed to be the one mentioned in a vampire prophecy to become queen (written down during the reign of Henry VIII, but no other information is available).

Drake Persons of Note:

Hyacinth Drake
(born 1857, turned 1877): married to
Edward Drake
(born 1789, turned 1805, died 1914); lives at the main Drake house, Violet Hill compound.

Geoffrey Drake
(born 1910, turned 1926): brother of Liam Drake; biology teacher at local college, Violet Hill. Lives on family compound.

Ruby Drake

Little is known about her. Loss of family is said to have driven her mad. Avoid.

London Drake
(of the British Drakes): oathed to royal house, currently Lady Natasha (acting vampire queen)

She’s cranky.

Victoria Drake

Poet

I’ve never met her, but sounds like she’d have a lot in common with my cousin Christabel.

Associated Humans of Interest:

The MacAlister/Hamilton family has strong ties to the Drakes.

Posy MacAlister
aided the effort to defeat Lady Natasha’s reapers in the 80s. She dispatched many vampires before and after that event, with her own gang of ex-bikers. Her daughter Janet (changed name to
Cassiopeia)
retired from vampire killing but has maintained strong ties with Helena Drake. Cass married
Stuart Hamilton
and their daughter Lucky is close to Solange Drake.

Lucky Moon Hamilton
(born 1993)

Look, I’m famous!

Brown eyes, brown hair

Noteworthy: mostly immune to vampire pheromones, especially Drake pheromones. Brash, protective, reckless, good aim with crossbow, annoys Nicholas Drake.