Only male vampires have shapeshifting abilities, but there's a distinct drawback . . . after a couple of centuries they end up looking like mummified monkeys, like this guy (Athanasius Kircher).
What's happening is this: the "real" vampire is a parasitic organism that replaces the human host's inner organs, and doesn't merely hijack the bones, nerves and muscles but transforms them to better suit its needs via lateral gene transfer. In female vampires this means subtle changes like the growth of fangs and venom sacks, but male vampires also gain the ability to rapidly reshape their bodily structure into a unique 'combat morph". This is part of their reproductive strategy, as male vampires fight each other viciously in order to control harems of females. Unfortunately for them, the parasite organism capitalizes on this somatic plasticity to continue 'refining' them, for example the mandible atrophies into a simple bone splint because they no longer need to bite down strongly, and the eyes become huge - the better to see in the dark with.
Quick note - male and female refer to the parasite organism only. It's perfectly possible for a male human host to be carrying a female parasite, and vice versa. The parasite effectively neuters the host, so the human's original gender is unimportant.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1294143/ Is a transformed male vampire in his prime.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1305629/ Is a view of the parasite itself.
What's happening is this: the "real" vampire is a parasitic organism that replaces the human host's inner organs, and doesn't merely hijack the bones, nerves and muscles but transforms them to better suit its needs via lateral gene transfer. In female vampires this means subtle changes like the growth of fangs and venom sacks, but male vampires also gain the ability to rapidly reshape their bodily structure into a unique 'combat morph". This is part of their reproductive strategy, as male vampires fight each other viciously in order to control harems of females. Unfortunately for them, the parasite organism capitalizes on this somatic plasticity to continue 'refining' them, for example the mandible atrophies into a simple bone splint because they no longer need to bite down strongly, and the eyes become huge - the better to see in the dark with.
Quick note - male and female refer to the parasite organism only. It's perfectly possible for a male human host to be carrying a female parasite, and vice versa. The parasite effectively neuters the host, so the human's original gender is unimportant.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1294143/ Is a transformed male vampire in his prime.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1305629/ Is a view of the parasite itself.
Category Artwork (Digital) / Transformation
Species Mammal (Other)
Size 345 x 436px
File Size 123.9 kB
Yup. By this point it's more of a modulated hiss or gasp. If you've ever seen that old Twilight Zone episode "The Fever" where an elderly gent gets gambling fever and hears the piles of coins falling out of the machine whispering his name, "Franklin!" it sounds about like that.
"Endangered species" was the best legal solution the most brilliant vampire could get for them at the time, to stop the whole vampire-hunters deal. It's been an interesting aspect to writing this thing, and I've had to come up with this whole alternate history where most of the northeastern US seceded during the first Iraq war and formed their own ultraliberal micro-country because I couldn't see this sort of thing getting passed in the real America when we're still struggling with so many basic civil rights issues. In the story, the vampires pay their way by selling their venom, which is an incredibly complex, valuable biochemical cocktail used in medicines, and have agreed not to prey randomly on people in return for the government setting up clinics where vampires can go to feed on patients in a persistent vegetative state. A big plot element is the vampire boss is having a great deal of trouble actually keeping the others in line, and the whole clinic thing turns out to be part of a Xanatos gambit he's been running for years.
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