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_________Vampirism is fun stuff. We never have to eat, or sleep, or go to the bathroom, or even breathe (though you can’t talk if you don’t have air in your lungs). Pretty much all you need to do to take care of yourself is make sure you get enough blood on a regular basis, and don’t stay in the sun for very long.
_________The abilities are great—superhuman speed, strength, sight, smell, and hearing, to begin with, and then there’s increased mental capabilities, including an incredible memory. That last part is both a blessing and a curse—you might not have thought about it, but there are a lot of things in human life that you happily forget. In our “life,” we can’t forget anything, no matter how hard we try. For the most part, though, it’s pretty great.
_________The main problem vampires face is time. Let me explain. When you first become a vampire, assuming you became one by choice, your first reaction is probably something along the lines of “Sweeeeeet! Freakin’ FINALLY! This is great!” followed by checking out your new abilities and altered physical appearance. The gray eyes can be disconcerting if you’re used to a different color, but you tend to get used to it. Worst come to worst, you can use contacts. Of course, what people tend to notice most is how incredibly hot they are. Vampires are naturally attractive to lure in their prey, and they never get old or overweight. Immortal, you know.
_________The moment (or moments, really) of awe tends to take a few minutes at most, after which you get struck by the thirst. Hard. There are several methods of quenching it available to the modern vampire.
_________1: You could buy donated blood from a hospital or the like. It’s human, so it’s good for the thirst. You don’t know who it came from until you taste it, though, so that can lead to some unpleasant surprises. Also, they freeze it. You can either drink it cold or nuke it in the microwave, neither of which is particularly pleasant.
_________2: You could hunt animals and drink their blood instead. It’s alive, it’s warm, it’s fresh, and it’s moral, but naturally it has a downside. It’s not human, and it doesn’t taste human. Some vampires learn to like it, others tolerate it, most are repulsed by it. It’s just not the same, and it doesn’t satisfy the thirst as much.
_________3: You can find a human “donor.” It is possible to drink a human’s blood without killing them or turning them into a vampire. It’s risky, though, because it requires a lot self control on the part of the vampire. Drink too much, they become a vampire. Drink even more, they die. Nevertheless, some humans are willing to take the risk. I do not pretend to understand their motives.
_________4: Screw the rules, and hunt however the heck you want. It’s risky, it’s immoral, but it’s oh-so-satisfying. There aren’t that many vampires out there that do this anymore, and those that do are breaking several different laws from several different governments. They are being hunted down, but they’re smart and have superhuman abilities, so it’s not exactly easy.
_________When you first become a vampire, most people don’t have a lot of self control. If you aren’t under careful supervision from an older vampire, you’re probably going to go after whatever is closest to you when the thirst hits. If you’re in, say, a forest, this isn’t so bad. If, however, you’re in the middle of a crowded city, this is a really dangerous thing.
_________Anyway, eventually you learn to control the thirst. Then what? I mentioned that the main problem vampires face is time. You probably don’t realize how much of it vampires have. Every night, humans spend around eight hours sleeping. That’s eight hours of free time vampires get right there. Now add in the time you won’t need to spend in the bathroom, most of the time you would’ve spent grooming, and consider that vampires only have to feed about once a week. That’s a lot of free time. So maybe you have a job, or you go to school. Okay, that takes up some time. You can take up some activities, maybe study some things, or amuse yourself by winning at sports and learning with ease. Sooner or later, though, you’ll probably get bored.
_________There are only a few types of people who tend to last very long in the vampire world; couples, people with an overarching goal or purpose, and the incredibly curious. Everyone else tends to get bored. It may take a while, maybe a couple hundred years, but eventually you’ve run out of things to do. There are exceptions, of course, but most start looking at death with more and more curiosity. When they do, they are faced with the challenge of finding a way to die.