The young man opened the doors of his study and ushered in the group of far older, distinguished ladies and gentlemen with amicable urgency. The man was a stark contrast to his guests; not only in his age but his attire, too, was far more modest, only wearing a vest as opposed to an elaborate suit or dress.

"Please," he smiled, "I am so glad you all accepted my offer. Do come in."

The group walked in with an air of arrogance and contempt one would expect from nobility or, in this particular case, elder vampires. They sat down in the luxurious leather armchairs prepared for the occasion.

"Very well, Viktor," one of the oldest men said. "What is this all about? We may have all eternity, but not all the patience," he chortled.

"Trust me," Viktor said eagerly, "what I am about to show you will change your lives." He looked expectantly at his guests but when he realized he didn't quite grip their attention yet, nervously continued.

"Up until today," Viktor said, "we have had to rely on a regular intake of human blood to survive. This not only put us in a morally questionable position, it would sometimes endanger our lives and well-being when the human world caught onto our existence - not to mention professional vampire hunters."

"Viktor," one of the women near the front interrupted, "get to the point."

"Y- yes, of course, Miss Cosmescu," he sputtered out. "There is another way."

He reached below his desk and pulled out a leather case containing several syringes. The elders exchanged puzzled looks.

"These are supplements - iron, vitamin D, some designer medications that are not widely available to the human world, but - in short... they remove our dependence on blood. We still need to eat to gain other nutrients and fat but we will no longer need-"

His eager, enthusiastic presentation ended when one of the men laughed loudly, soon joined by almost everyone else in the room.

"Is this it, boy?" the man said when he, at last, stopped laughing. "A way to stop drinking blood?"

Viktor seemed confused. "Yes, we will finally be able to live peacefully with-"

"The cattle?" a woman interrupted. "Why do you think we possibly care about them?"

"They're intelligent beings like we are," Viktor protested. "We have no right-"

"No, boy, we do have the right," another man interrupted. "We are inherently superior. We take what we want. I will not stoop to the level of injecting myself with some trash just to spare the lives of the worms who writhe in the dirt."

"Please, if you would just consider-"

"If this is all, boy," the man interrupted again, "you have wasted enough of our time."

He started standing up, but Viktor raised his hands. "Please! There is... one more thing. Just a minute more of your time, I beg of you!"

The elders sighed collectively but sat back down.

"You are on thin ice, boy," the man hissed.

"I- I'll just need to gather a few items. Please, I will be right back. Claudia," he said and turned to one of the younger handmaidens standing meekly in the corner, "if you would please help me?"

He stepped out of the room together with the woman before sliding the doors shut. He sighed and rested his head against the door itself in defeat.

"Viktor?" Claudia asked. He looked at her with a weak smile, but then narrowed his eyes and his smile grew wider, happier.

"Your eyes... you... you took the supplements," he gasped. She smiled and nodded.

"I saw the Sun today, Viktor," she breathed quietly. "I saw the Sun."

"Did it meet your expectations?"

"I..." she said, but left her mouth open, incapable of describing her feelings, yet the tears that welled up in her eyes told more than enough.

Viktor smiled before slumping back into a defeated slouch as he walked to a panel beside the door and pressed several buttons. A metallic click rumbled the doors, followed by a spooling, rising whoosh of electricity within the room.

"What are you doing?" Claudia asked. Viktor did not turn to face her. He couldn't.

He pressed another button.

A loud, electric buzzing filled the study, a streak of ultraviolet light escaping it just at the threshold of the door. Screaming filled the room, followed by the sickening smell of burning flesh.

Claudia screamed and grabbed Viktor by the shoulder.

"VIKTOR! WHAT DID YOU DO?"

He looked at her somberly.

"They- they left me no choice. I promised I'd change their lives today," he said. "And I keep my promises."

It was revolutionary, something different to anything we had done before. We discovered an alternative to our ways, a simple little mixture that changed all we had ever known. With the help of humanity’s modern developments, we found an alternative to the crimson nectar that had filled our bellies for millennia. Of course many did not approve.

It was aimed to make peace, originally. To stop hostility between human and vampire-kind, and bring us out of the shadows we had been lurking in for so long.

Previously, vampires as a whole had good relationships with each other. The odd family had a tiff with another, but in the end, people helped each other out. Communities formed in the alcoves of humanity, small groups all working as one for survival.

Instead, it sparked war. Those who did not wish to betray the old ways that guided them for so long, those who sought change, and those who wanted to stop the destruction. The war tore it all apart. A vampire could not wander in their own territory without fighting for their life over their stance on the matter. Covens in the dark were scattered in the wind, even those who hid among humanity were not safe.

It is unknown how many have died, nor how many are yet to, but more blood has scarred the Earth than ever should. Irony is the sharpest blade.

I was only 147 when my parents were taken from me.

Even after all this time I remember it clearly. The screaming, the fire, the mob.

The world was so different then. Electricity hadn’t been harnessed, there was no television.

I lived in the shadows for centuries. I found others like me and we’d help each other for a time. It was never safe to stay together for long or gather too many of us. The ones hunting us would burn down a whole city if they found enough of us in one place.

It was after Chicago that I set off alone again. It was partially due to safety concerns, but in 150 years I still haven’t found another vampire in America.

The only upside of my condition is that my personal resources are at a scale few will ever realize or comprehend. I have no board of directors, no shareholders, and no considerations other than completing my goals.

I invested. 60 teams in 17 countries working on my problem since before the First World War.

None of them know the full scope of what they’re working on or why, and I’m sure that’s slowed them down more than s little.

I’ve got the time though, and the money.

They finished sequencing the genome in 2010, and things have accelerated since then.

I first saw daylight in 2020. Such irony. I walked around without fear while others cowered at home. It was another year before I could make synthetic blood pure enough to sustain me.

It will never replace the thrill and rush of stalking and pouncing on living prey, but I can subsist on it for years.

With my supplements I’ve been able to do something no vampire has ever done before, let myself become well known.

I know those who hunt me are still out there. I know how they find us. They look for certain patterns of crime, and families and estates that persist through the ages.

My private jet and corporate structure has kept me ahead of them as I feed for the past few decades, but now I’m seen in the day, and there are no telltale killings in my wake. I can’t possibly be a vampire.

Once I kick off my presidential campaign I’ll be far above suspicion, constantly on the move, and in a position to do more for my kind than any that came before me.

That’s a challenge for the future though. For now my focus is on creation. It’s hard enough for one vampire to sustain himself and avoid detection for this long. I’d dared not give my gift to another lest we attract too much attention.

Now though, now we can bide our time. Position our chess pieces. We can be seen in the sun, go for months and years without taking a human life due to necessity.

The people alive today won’t see it, but the future of Earth will be very different. We won’t have to hide much longer.

“I am not enthralled with the idea of turning to these…” Isaac paused “Tinctures, instead of our tried-and-true methods of sustaining ourselves “

Elizabeth fought the urge to roll her eyes, why was it that any Vampire who was turned before the telegraph resisted change so thoroughly?

“I’m sure most humans aren’t exactly enthralled with the idea of us eating them”

“You know very well young lady that we have a strict, drink and release program, no harm no foul.”

Only among their kind could someone pushing 90 be considered a “young lady” It was infinitely annoying to be condescended to when she was older than most people alive. Especially by someone who had yet to come around to the internet, which is incidentally where she found this “life hack”

“Fine,” She said raising her hands, “Do what you want, just don’t complain to me when our world moves on without you.”

Which of course, it did. New innovative ideas always catch on and spread, even among the undead. As the younger vampires moved away from their sanguine habits the generational divide already widened with the adaptation of the computer and internet culture turned into a chasm. The younger vamps integrated into wider society. Some of the older folks did eventually catch on and got with the times, however, there remained a subset that became even further isolated and out of touch.

Fucking Blooders

The new generation of vampires was unlike any that had come before them. They were stronger, faster, and more intelligent than their predecessors, and they had discovered a way to survive without drinking human blood.

By taking iron supplements and vitamin D drops, the vampires were able to feel strong and healthy without the need for human blood. This revolutionary discovery had the potential to change the vampire world forever.

But the vampires soon realized that their newfound way of life came with its own challenges. Iron and vitamin D were not always easy to come by, and the vampires had to search far and wide for these essential nutrients.

In order to secure a steady supply of iron and vitamin D, the vampires turned to the world of finance. They began to invest heavily in iron futures, buying up large quantities of iron at low prices and holding onto it until the price rose.

At the same time, the vampires also began to invest in asteroid mining. They saw the potential for vast riches in the endless expanse of space, and they were determined to be at the forefront of this new industry.

As the vampires' wealth and power grew, so too did their influence in the world. They became leaders in the worlds of finance and space exploration, shaping the future of both industries in ways that no one could have predicted.

And all the while, the vampires continued to thrive and flourish, thanks to their clever use of iron and vitamin D supplements. They had truly found a way to live in peace and prosperity without the need for human blood.

"But I Am A Vegan!" I screamed at my obsessive and abusive ex as he sat there smirking at me. He laughed as I tried to throw up thick red liquid he had just forced down my throat. "It's too late Crystal, by this time tomorrow you'll be chowing down on poor old Nancy over there." Samel said smirking. I looked over at my new girlfriend. She was tied up and terrified. I had tried so hard to turn my life around and heal from my childhood. Now all I could do was cry as Samel left and locked the door behind him. Nancy tried to smile at me. "It will be ok maybe there's a vegan option for vampires?" She said trying to comfort me. I crawled over to her and did my best to free her from her ropes.

When we were both finally able to stand up and walk I looked around and saw the window.

The rest of that night became a blur. The next thing I knew I was curled up against a deer in the woods covered in blood, Nancy nowhere to be found. And that's how my next few years were spent. I was too scared to be around humans and possibly hurt them.

-15years later Nancy pov- "And your sure this will work? That this is the proper amount of iron and vitamin D to replace blood for vampires?" I asked looking at my very tired looking vampire lab assistant named Josh. "Yes I've been taking it for a week now and have never felt better" Josh said smiling as he looked at me. "Good then it's finally time to go find my dear Crystal" I said as we headed out to the woods. I had been tracking her movements and working to fix what Samel had broken. He had been a grade a stalker since Crystal left him. When he saw that I had gotten with her he graduated from stalking to doing everything to make her life miserable. He had failed each time until he finally got so desperate as to become a vampire and turn her by force as well. After I find my love revenge on her ex is next.

It was the middle of the night when they met up. It was always the middle of the night. Why, you may ask? Because they would spontaneously combust the second they ever got in contact with the sun. Not even getting severe burns first. Just the second they touch the sun, it’s over. One of them was the third oldest currently living vampire, lord Carvaáles, a vampire that witnessed the beheading of queen Marry and drank coffee with young Hitler in Austria back when he was still an aspiring artist, wearing an old purple cloak decorated with bones. The second was his son, Gourìèl. Even he was old by vampire standards, since his father was a horny teenager back in the day. He wore a tuxedo that was, despite being over a hundred years old, still looking like it just came out of the shop. The third vampire was Gourìèls son, Frank, wearing sweat pants and a Metallica shirt. “Now, my dearest boy, tell us, why have you called an emergency meeting all of a sudden? I have a feast to attend to and the night is not getting any younger!” Carvaáles announced in a raspy, yet wise voice. “Well, you guys remember how we need to drink human blood to live? Which makes us murder a bunch of innocent people?” Frank asked. “That is correct, it is said, however we have to keep doing it, it is our nature. If some higher entity made us like this, then it must be the right path.” His father reassured him about their violent ways. “Yeah… about that… See, one of my human acquaintances, Ashley has this thing called iron insufficiency, so she has to pop pills for it. It also makes her blood not as nutritious. That’s also the reason as to why I stopped when I started sucking her blood when we first met. Anyway-” “Wait hold on. You’re telling me you attacked a human, began drinking their blood, and then stopped, thus letting them know you’re a vampire, while also seeing her?” His father interrupted him swiftly. “Yes. That is exactly what happened between her and I.” “Oh for the love of Dracula, I told you this is what will happen if you father a child of a dumb woman, Gourìèl, the young one has inherited her intellect, or better yet, the lack off.” The elderly jabbed at his only still living son. “Father, we shall not re-open that Pandora’s box. Kriitila is a wonderful woman with whom I’m very pleased with. You’d known that if you actually showed up more. Or if you, you know ATTENDED OUR WEDDING YOUR DEADBEAT ASSHOLE!” “Can I please, for the love of Dracula, finish? I actually have some very important information to share with you two.” Frank requested. “Seeing how I’m in quite of a hurry, let’s let him speak his mind so I can go on with my night as quickly as vampirically possible.” The old one stated. “So anyway, I ate one of those pills by accident, thinking it’s candy-” “What is candy?” Gourìèls wondered. “Sounds tasty.” He also added. “It is, it’s a human thing, but that’s not relevant at the moment. So, I ate one of those pills while I was quite thirsty for blood and wouldn’t you know, I felt less hungry. Then I took two more and I felt like I just sucked an entire human dry. Turns out humans have found a way to take the essence that we need to live and mass produce it. We don’t have to murder people any more.” “That is incredible, what an amazing new discovery! I will definitely try these things.” Carvaáles likes complimenting his grandchild, but he did want to give compliments for a reason and not just throw them around so they’d mean something. And this certainly was worth it. “This… is not a new invention. It’s pretty old. Yeah, we sort of could have stopped killing humans decades ago. But you know, better late than never!” There were suddenly footsteps coming out of the darkness. It was a man with a headlight that was broken. “Oh, I didn’t expect to met other ghost hunters in this abandoned castle. How do you do? The name’s Mickey!” The man presented himself. He had a thick New York accent, a long beard and only a sprinkle worth of grey hair. “Lovely! I have not to find a feast! The feast has found me!” Carvaáles announced. “Time for brunch, father!” His son added as they both pounced on the man. “What the fuck are you two doing? I JUST said we don’t have to eat people any more!” “Oh, you are correct! My apologies, young one, it’s a force of habit! Well, we’ve barely nimbled on him, I am sure he is still alive-” “He’s dead I believe you’ve broke his neck when you jumped on him with such force, father.” Gourìèls interrupted his father amidst a sentence, which he rarely did. “Well, shit happens, just please stop killing people now that we don’t have to.” As both of the older vampires nodded, Gourìèls decided to inquire about the potential length of this meeting. “So, are we done here or is there anything else on the agenda? I’m missing the Vampiric chess world championship over this.” “Well dad, as a matter of fact, there is. There’s actually going to be four of us in the next meeting. I’m having a kid!” “Why that’s amazing, son! I am truly excited!” His father announced. “With Ashley, the human girl!” Frank added. Both of the elder vampires held eye contact for about half a minute and then facepalmed simultaneously. “Oh good lord, he laid in bed with livestock!” Gourìèls groaned. “And now I’m sure they’ll give him some pathetic human name like “Bob” or “Dennis”, the same way you did!” Carvaáles added on. “We’ve been through this, our traditional names don’t blend in with the humans. Do you have any idea how many weird looks I get every time I have to show my ID?” “HER NAME SHALL BE KÄRATĦĨËL, THE EATER OF SOULS, CRUSHER OF NATIONS!!!” Frank yelled as hard as he could. “I suppose some of my common sense skipped a generation!” Carvaáles announced while clapping his wrinkled hands with a giddy smile, seemingly already getting over the fact his great-grandchild will be of mixed blood. “I hate you both.” Gourìèls groaned

"Dang it."

Josh read the label on the unnaturally orange carton: Not a significant source of saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, dietary fiber, vitamin D, calcium, iron, and potassium.

"Really, Josh?" Amanda surveyed the scene from the second floor banister. Haphazardly strewn about the atrium were packing materials, large cardboard boxes, and a few wooden palettes. "Elana is gonna dust you when she wakes up."

Josh sighed, placing the carton onto an unopened box. "She was complaining about the Council's new feeding rules. I figured I'd surprise her. Give her something juicy to drink instead of the pills."

"Oh, don't worry, she'll be surprised all right."

"But for real, why call your product SunnyD if it doesn't have any vitamin D?"

"Josh, please just clean this up."

"Uhh," Josh looked around at the mess, as if seeing it for the first time, "How?"

"I don't know, bro. Call back the driver and enthrall him or something. I'm going back to my room, don't want to be here when Elana sees this."

"When I see what?" A cold, stern, accented voice inquires from behind Amanda, causing her to jump in surprise.

"Elana!" Amanda turns, "Hi! Wow! Your, uhh, your hair is looking amazing this evening!"

Elana touches her unremarkable auburn hair, which is put up in a simple bun. "I have done nothing with my hair, childe. Why do you say this? You know I cannot check to see if you lie."

Amanda slips past Elana, "Oh, what? Why would I lie about that? Trust me, it's great. Anyways, I left something in my coffin. I'll be right back."

Amanda hurried off and Elana shook her head, confused.

From the atrium below, Josh called out, "Hi Elana! Um, don't be mad!"

Elana walked to the banister, her footsteps gliding, impossibly quiet across the carpeted wood. "Joshua! What is this mess?"

"Ha," Josh put a hand behind his neck, not making eye contact, "Well, funny story."

"I do not laugh."

"Right, yeah. So, I figured. Since the Council said we aren't allowed to have blood anymore, except for special occasions--"

At mention of the council, Elana's eyes flared red. "They are foolish," she interrupts, "Your whole generation. You do not respect the old ways."

"Okay, but, I thought," Josh stumbled over his words, "I thought I could, ya know, getcha a substitute."

"Oh," Elana's tone shifted, from anger to grateful curiosity, "Show me."

She motioned for him to bring a carton.

Josh faked a smile, grabbed the carton he'd set down earlier, and walked up the stairs. The old wood of the estate creaked loudly beneath his feet.

"Here ya go," he handed her the carton, "All the vitamins and minerals you need, in an easy to bite container!"

Elana looked over the carton suspiciously. "Sunny Dee." She sounded out the words slowly, methodically.

Elana looked at Josh for confirmation. Josh smiled, and nodded. Elana shrugged, looked back at the carton, and extended her fangs. She bit into the carton, and drank the bright orange contents. In seconds, Elana had drained the carton dry.

"Sunny Dee," Elana said again, "This is good branding."

"Yep!" Josh lied.

"Put these in the walk-in," Elana commanded, "There is plenty room."

"Of course," Josh nodded his relieved assent, "Anything else?"

"Yes. Tell me, childe, why did Amanda leave?"

Panic bloomed pink on Josh's cheeks, "Right, umm. Yeah. You know her, she's just.. weird."

Elana bobbed her head, "You speak truth. I do not understand that one at all."

"Well, I'm gonna get to work here. You headed out?"

Elana walked down the stairs, "Council meeting is tonight. I am going to tell them what I think of new feeding policy." She smirked, her eyes burning ever so slightly red.

Josh gulped down his anxiety, "Welp, good luck!"

As the twin mahogany doors shut behind Elana, Amanda peeked out from her room further down the hallway

"Did she dust you?" Amanda asked.

"Not yet," Josh made a fist over his chest and shuddered.

"Cool lie, by the way."

"You heard all that?"

"Yup. So, like, one problem. What are you going to do when this garbage doesn't keep away the Hunger and she tries to kill us for real?"

"Well, you wanna help me supplement all these?"

"Absolutely not."

Josh sighed, "Okay, in that case, could you call back up the delivery driver?"

"Oooo," Amanda's face lit up, and she grinned, flashing her fangs, "Special occasion?"

"Yeah," Josh said, "special occasion."

The synthetic supplements seemed the only option – a way to keep our deadly cravings outlaid. And so it was. For a time, the plan worked, we kept ourselves healthy, got what we wanted and our appetites kept in check.

It was then that I started to unravel. Physically I was stronger – stronger than ever before. I felt like I could fly if I wanted to – that I barely had to try to be powerful. But then something started to change. I noticed a darkness come over me and my thoughts started to become darker and darker. I hardly recognized myself and I just knew the supplements were to blame. I felt invincible and truly, truly sinister.

The next few weeks were a haze. I found myself indulging in activities I never thought I would partake in. People started to go missing and I'd find myself lurking in places I'd never been before – places of death and destruction. I just wanted to get away – away from my own mind and the darkness I'd created. But it seemed I had no control over it. My addiction was back in full force – the need to consume human blood was pressing. I couldn't help it and eventually I had to give in.

As much as I tried my plan had failed and I had become my own worst enemy. The people around me didn't understand. I was a killer – a vampire with an unstoppable hunger for blood. There was no turning back.

My life has become an endless cycle of guilt, death and destruction. And as for the ending? There is none. Just an endless loop in which I’ll never be free from my bloodlust.

Tanica and I sipped our beers, both of us looking around the packed bar. A decade ago, we wouldn’t be able to sit here, surrounded by food sources, without going into an all out feeding frenzy. Nowadays, it was no problem. Hell, the bartender knew us by (fake, of course) our names, we’d become regulars here.

“I haven’t been able to enjoy a beer in a bar for nearly 500 years!” I said to tanika, who shared my enthusiasm “I sorely missed this” she replied “look at them all, singing, dancing, it’s like I’m home again.” Tanika and I didn’t know each other in our past lives, but we’d been turned at roughly the same time, maybe a year or so in the difference. But our kind has always been relatively small in numbers, so I guess it was only natural we’d meet.

She was beautiful. The same pale skin and slender physique as the rest of us, but with gorgeous red hair that went down to her shoulder blades, and piercing green eyes to boot. Our kind always found the humans depictions of us in media funny. Comically long ears, red eyes, talons for fingernails, the strange ability to turn into a bat, for some reason. I suppose this was their way to distance us from them, make us out to be more monstrous than we actually were. In reality, we looked as human as any man or woman did, and tanika was proof of that.

I, however, was more stereotypical. Tall, long black hair, eyes a shade of brown so dark you could hardly tell iris from pupil. Still, we all passed for human. Their horridly inaccurate depiction of us made hunting far more easier. Until we had no need to hunt.

When Castillo first told me of these “pills” that satiated our thirst, I brushed him off. How could a tiny think replace a body full of blood? “Draco, I’m serious. I haven’t felt the urge for days. DAYS!” “Days?…fine, give it here then.” And just like that, a new era came about. Sunlight still posed a threat, but we could interact with humans more freely than ever before. Within months, most of vampire society had replaced the humans with this pill. Most.

“Don’t be so ridiculous Draco, a pill? Don’t you think, in all the eons, if it were as easy at that we’d have discovered it already?” Of course, the older in our population weren’t so accepting. Samus, the leader of our people, who had been leader for nearly a thousand years, laughed at the idea I presented. “But it worlds, hell, half of us already take them, we haven’t tasted human blood for weeks! Isn’t that proof enough for you?” “You’ll all go blood crazy before long, mark my words! I won’t be joining you, and I’ll be sure to inform who I can about your crazy plans. You can Callisto will be shunned from vampire society.” He was still shouting threats as I walked out. God, that went poorly.

A year in, there was an all out war brewing. We all kept a good front with each other, but we occasionally heard of the “pure” attacking “the bloodless”, and the reports were growing. The society splintered, Callisto lead us, but we still acknowledged samus as leader. Until the Grand Attack.

Callisto had set up a new Safehouse, one that only let bloodless members in. It was a safe haven for us, without the need to worry about random attacks. The pure thought themselves stronger. That we, without our historic food source, had lost strength. The truth was, they attacked only fledgling vampires, and often numbered them 5-1. But still, they WERE outnumbered. Nearly 3/4’s were bloodless, and our numbers slowly grew.

When they attacked, they were in full force, breaking our defence was easy for them, we only had a small number defending the front. We didn’t expect the attack, and they caught us with our pants down, this is true. But they weren’t expecting a force that outnumbered them 3-1, a force that had been training for this very night, a force armed with enough weaponry to give each member 2 swords, and still have some to spare. It was a bloodbath.

They tried to run, but we had them flanked. Callisto lead the battle inside, while I led the battle from the outside. They were surrounded, and they knew it. Many surrendered, but samus, delusional about the odds, shouted from the centre “fight you cowards, fight! They are weak! We can win this! we ca-“ he was interrupted by Tanika, and her sword that had pierced his chest.

“You can what?” She asked, but got no answer. Samus was dying, bleeding more blood than he ever drank. She, as some type of dark joke, took her finger, ran it across her sword, collecting some of the old vampires blood, and tasted it. “Mm, almost forgotten what that was like..” she smirked, and we all saw the life finally fade from the old bastards eyes.

“Hard to believe that was nearly a decade ago, hey Tanika?” I said. I had been lost in thought for…I’m not even sure how long. She knew what I was talking about. “Hm, I can still taste that bastards bitter blood… do you ever miss it? The humans, I mean.” I scanned the room again, my mind filling with memories of screams, of flowing blood, of children, watching in horror as their parents died slowly and agonizingly. “Not really” I said “far to messy, far to…personal.” I stared at the pill, fiddling with it in my hand for a second, before putting it in my mouth, taking a long sip of beer to wash it down. “That…now that’s easy.”

The new generation of vampires was a breath of fresh air in the vampire world. They had grown up with stories of their ancestors, who had been forced to drink human blood to survive and feared discovery by humans. But this new generation wanted more than just survival - they wanted acceptance and integration into human society.
So when they discovered that taking iron supplements and vitamin D drops could help them feel fine without drinking human blood, it seemed like a dream come true! The vampires were able to integrate into society without fear or suspicion from humans - something their ancestors never thought possible.
They spread the news far and wide, inspiring other young vampires to take advantage of this newfound freedom from the burden of having to drink human blood in order to survive. Soon enough, all over the world there were thriving communities made up entirely of vampires living alongside humans peacefully. No longer did these creatures have to hide away in dark corners for fear that someone might discover their secret; instead they could live out in the open as part-time members of society!
As time went on, even more advancements were made within vampire culture: scientists found ways for them not only stay healthy without drinking any kind of blood at all but also develop relationships with humans based on mutual respect rather than fear or mistrust due a lack thereof understanding between both species before this breakthrough occurred.. This era marked an important turning point for both humanity and vampirism alike – one where two different species could coexist peacefully under one roof while each benefiting from what the other has too offer!

This is somewhat related to a plot device in a story I'm writing.

In my stories, vampires have always existed and require the consumption of blood from others to supplement a fictional cell that they cannot natively produce as part of a hereditary curse put on them for the sins of their past ancestors. Human blood contains a good abundance of these cells, but so does animal blood, albiet at a lower quantity and with a disgusting taste. Pacifist vampires willingly stick to animal blood in an attempt to live peaceful lives, but humans will irrationally attack them if they're exposed for being vampires. Purist vampires see humans as inferior beings in every way imaginable and see no reason to take animal blood when humans should be serving then, so they wage war on hunanity every once in a while, but a weakness to sun and silver keeps them in check.

In the present, a cryptobiologist manages to synthesize this cell after freeing a couple of pacifist vampires that the purists were keeping as slaves, but the purists find out about it and go after the biologist for, basically, threatening their image of superiority, but this is in modern times and they terrorize him into patenting the synthesis process and handing it over to them, akin to what they did with insulin IRL, but they have no intention of ever making more of it.

The war against vampires never stopped. It just changed.

The old generation of vampires rolled their eyes and the young ones. Their virtue signaling as they posted how iron supplements and Vitamin D was just as good on TikTok and you didn't even have to murder people. Ohh-la-la. So woke these young vampires.

And then you had the young vampires. Looking at the older vampires with equal if not more contempt. These old vampires who are so set in their ways. Who value 'tradition' more than they care about adapting and becoming better people and treating the world and society better. You would often hear them talk about how the older generation of vampires would just have to eventually die off and then the world would be more woke as the younger vampires got older. But for how many generations have they been saying that?

The divide between generations has just been getting bigger and bigger. The camps have been getting further and further away and they started living in their own bubbles. Young vampires were not talking to older vampires and nobody was able to work together to find a solution that they could both find. But at the same time, whenever the generations were able to come together and try to understand each other, they found they actually had things in common. They both enjoyed sunsets. They both enjoyed turning into bats. They both got annoyed when they had to floss around their fangs because the fangs would accidentally cut the floss.

Maybe if they just talked to each other and saw the others as equals that were trying to get by in a crazy convoluted world, things could get better. Who knows? I'm not going to be part of that solution though, fuck old vampires, they're pieces of shit. I'm gonna go take my iron supplement and some molly and go to a rave.

Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.

Reminders:

>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include "[Poem]" >* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail >* See Reality Fiction and Simple Prompts for stricter titles >* Be civil in any feedback and follow the rules

🆕 New Here? ✏ Writing Help? 📢 News 💬 Discord

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[removed]

[removed]

[removed]

[removed]

[removed]

[removed]

[removed]

[removed]

I was a little kid when i saw a dead human for the first time. I mean, i always knew about how our bodies work, i knew we needed blood, but never thought about it.

Well, my family never had to kill anyone before. We were nobles, humans used to offer themselves for us, it was a tradition. Eventually, they decided to stop, not fight, but stop. Some of them ran away, others just started pretending we wasn't there. Slowly, we became isolated from the world. Segregated. Some humans started thinking vampires wasn't real.

A lot of vampires started killing people, hunting, searching for food in a old fashioned way, a way that my parents never knew. That's when everything started going wrong, we started having ideas, terrible ideas and good ones. We spent the last millenium having ideas, which ended up killing us in most of the time. Some vampires decided to steal dead bodies, a lot of wars happening out there, most of them died eventually from some kind of disease. Others would capture humans and make them "produce" blood, a sofisticated way to call "slavery". That's when the church started getting mad. They never cared for us, actually, sometimes they even gave us blood, we are god's childs too, after all. Well, when the rotten apples showed up, we became an enemy, devil's childs. Fuck, they even took our names out of the popes' book!

My family decided to play the human's game after the "stealing bodies" thing went off. First, we changed our names to look more humanly, my mother hated it, her whole mark was this Von Brandt thing. Then we moved to a big city, no one would search there, it was too obvious. And as a final act, everyone in the family started studying some part of the human culture, my father became a judge, it took some good decades of his life, nothing big for him. My brother followed his steps, and became a lawyer. My mother was bored, she didn't have to do anything, but started giving history lessons as a hobbie. I mean, she lived that. getting food was easy, we just had to, literally, ask. "Hey, we need some blood to... make some rituals", "Fine, just don't let the cops find out.", rich people stuff, never understood that. A lot of vampires did the same, most vampires dying was the poor ones, if we wasn't being chased i would like to make a great social research about it.

I went in a different way. My family worked with things they already understanded, so they would just have to adapt, i wanted something new, and started from the bottom, studying human anatomy and medicine, understanding the differences and similarities between our bodies.

My research started around the 30's, i wanted to know what they had that we didn't, and how to get it. After half century, i understood the reason why we needed blood. We had a crazy need of vitamin D, which you can get from a certain kind of food, but mostly from, surprisingly, the sun. The other thing i found out is that we also need some iron, but analyzing history, we can see that we didn't needed it a couple milleniums ago. Other thing is: Humans also need vitamin D, but they used to need a LOT more. My theory is, humans and vampires had different situations, we needed Vitamin D but the sun always hurt our skin, so we would wait for the night and search for food supplies, our race was entirely vegetarian. Humans, otherwise, needed a lot more of vitamin D, so when the sun wasn't out, they would sleep to keep their energy until the sun comes out again. The problem is, some humans would sleep more, some humans would sleep less, and eventually, they started adapting, but the vampires found out humans had a lot of that special thing they wanted, and this same humans was casually sleeping during a special part of the day, we took advantage of this fact and started drinking their blood. Female humans have a high birth rate, they can have multiple kids in a very little space of time, while vampires, even though they live for a lot of time, can only have two or three kids for their whole life. The conclusion is: We started killing them, but they kept growing in numbers, and their genes would be adapting to the lack of sunlight, but we wouldn't be adapting to the sun since we had free food in the night and never would go out during the day. The sun hurt, but it didn't used to kill, some of us would go out when needed before we began drinking human blood, now it hurts a lot more, even being lethal, and since we was constantly drinking their blood, full of iron, we became dependant. Basically, evolution fucked us up.

I've tried a lot of things, organ transplantation didn't go well, our bodies developed like this as a whole, we can't transplant a whole body. taking the iron and vitamin d supplies daily would be the best bet, but i coudn't find the right dose, and the balance between the two, i spent decades on this, and i think i found the best way to make it. We could take the Iron and Vitamin D supplies monthly or daily through pills. Monthly would be better but the recoil makes you go out for one day, daily is not as effective, but the effects just hit for 20 minutes. The problem is: We are just replacing the blood, not really changing nothing, we still can't see the sunlight.

That's why, after all this, i'm starting my new research: the same iron supplies, but a little less everytime, to slowly erase the dependance out of our bodies. The vitamin D would be through skin, disguised as a sun protector. This way, we are slowly adapting and preparing our bodies to get vitamin D through skin. Maybe, if everything goes right, in one or two milleniums we are going to be totally free!