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Vampire (Hunter) Thorn #18

Vampire (Hunter) Thorn #18 published on 16 Comments on Vampire (Hunter) Thorn #18


Leif: Thorn . . .

You are the nicest person I ever met. I don’t mean like the most polite — I mean, you’re kind. Even when you don’t have to be!

Since you got turned, I still like you better than any human I know. I am not afraid of you. I trust you.

I’m not worried for a second that you’re gonna hurt me unless I ask you to.

. . . also, please do hurt me a little, because that sounds hot.

[Mmmm . . .]

[CHOMP]

Leif: Hee! That tickles.

Thorn: Leif . . . I lo–

[FFT FFT ]

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16 Comments

So, these vampires can be tranquilized themselves rather than drugging them via their blood slaves, noted.

Hmmm, I think I see why you’re surprised at other people’s reactions to vampire stories…you read “vampires” and automatically infer a bunch of worldbuilding like “aha, of course, undoubtedly they have blood slaves.”

Which is gonna give you a different reaction from readers who infer the vampire worldbuilding on a case-by-case basis, and consider things like “has this specific story actually said anything about blood slaves?”

do I want to know what blood slaves are?

Also known as thralls. Which can be either someone the vampire bit to enslave them for miscellaneous duties, someone the vampire bit to enslave as a food source.

I can’t think of a specific mythos for certain, but I think Bram Stoker’s Dracula referenced this, as well as the Anne Rice vampire novels, and believe it or not, Terry Pratchett’s Carpe Jugulum.

Yeah, OG Dracula has Renfield, but I don’t think they call him anything, even “a thrall.”

…Somewhere else there’s a series that refers to those characters as “Renfields.”

Dresden Files does that. Great worldbuilding in that series, but people do tend to find the POV character problematic. Which is part of the point, he totally is, but it does mean some people have a hard time getting into it. Which is sad, but fair.

Another series (by which I mean podcast) is the “Beyond Belief” segments from The Thrilling Adventure Hour. A “Renfield” is a thrall/Igor-type assistant/servant for vampires in that world, and considered an expensive status symbol in that fictional universe.

If you’ve never listened to The Thrilling Adventure Hour, I highly recommend it! The bulk of the show was between 2005-2015, but I think they get together even now, and they have an active Patreon.

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