Howell is still indisposed, where, I know not, yet I am only mildly concerned as this is not an uncommon situation. This is what we currently know of the creatures that inhabit the night.
The Vampire (or Wampyr)
What appeared to be another missing person case involving a young society girl adrift in the alleyways of London led Howell and I to the shocking revelation that not only do many tales of folklore have at their heart a basis of truth, there are those which are wholly true.
I talk of the vampire, a creature I now know to be as real as you or I. As a doctor of medicine I would, before now, have ridiculed such notions, but that comfort is no longer afforded. The vampire is a being that does not live, but is not wholly dead. The word undead has been spoken in the quiet circles we now move in and I fear that it is an appropriate term. The vampire retains its youth and vigour through drinking the blood of its living victims. This appears to give them some form of immortality and they have the strength of many men and centuries of experience to draw from.
There are also stories of the vampire being able to change form to that of a wolf, dog or great bat. I myself have seen the latter. Some, it is said, can even take ethereal forms, drifting as a mist and able to slip through the smallest of spaces. They can also force their will upon others, perhaps through some form of hypnosis or suggestion. That this appears to work on wilder animals such as dogs and wolves confounds me.
No comments:
Post a Comment