Friday 11 April 2014

AtoZ Day 10: J is for Junkie, Jaud, John Carpenter's Vampires

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Junkie

The average vampire requires something to survive, blood, life essence, human flesh. It's like eating food to a normal human, however, sometimes stories have the vampire being more like a junkie. Usually the blood drinking vampire is used for this kind of story.

They can either survive on normal fare and drink blood because it gets them high or they do need blood, but they take far more of it than necessary because they are addicted. I think this is a fascinating way to look at it. Some people are addicted to food, so it is perfectly reasonable to think some vampire would be addicted to their food source.

Forever Knight had an interesting take in that it was the blood that kept Nick from returning to being human and he was addicted to the effect.

Do you know of any vampire tales, books, movies that use the junkie vampire as a corner stone? Do you enjoy the premise?

Creature Feature:

Jaud


I only found one full reference for this one, but is was so poignant I had to use it. Zeluna.net says this vampire appears in the form of a child and it comes from the soul of a baby who died before they were born.

Wikipedia compares it to a Drekavac which is a vampire created from the soul of a child who died unbaptised.

Movie Recommendation:

Title: John Carpenter's Vampures
Rating: 18
Summary: Jack Crow is a vampire hunter and he obeys the rules. When his whole team is slaughtered he is out for revenge and he is given the task of retrieving an ancient cross. If the vampires find it first they can use it to complete a ritual to allow them to walk in the sun. It is a race to prevent the undead becoming unstoppable.
Why you should watch this: The vampires are nasty, the vampire hunters are ruthless and it's fast paced and action packed from beginning to end. This is no teen vampire movie, this earns it's rating and it brilliant while doing so.

Unfortunate 
(#10 in The Diverse Life of Ianthe Jawara, Vampire)
by Natasha Duncan-Drake

The first thing Ianthe had to do was make sure Lilith was familiar with the household, so she walked around the side of the house to the back door. It was just easier and she knew she wouldn't bump into Alex that way. She wanted the puppy to learn those she liked first before any tension between her and her maker came to light.

She stilled as Lilith let out a little growl, well little for a hellhound, it would have made a normal dog proud.

"Mistress," said a voice from the shadows and a man stepped out of them, "mistress, please help me."

She knew what he was as soon as she saw him. Thin, haggard and old way beyond the years his clothes suggested; he was a vampire junkie.

"How?" she asked.

"Blood."

"Wait here," she replied, sidestepping him and heading quickly for the backdoor.

"Please, Mistress," the man begged.

She slipped inside quickly using enchantments rather than her key and only stopped when she was safely behind a locked door. The man had been no real danger, but a confrontation could have been bloody.

"Madam," Philips said, appearing as ever; the man was definitely psychic.

"There is an Unfortunate in the garden," she said, "please see to him."

Philips nodded.

Unfortunates was the name vampires gave to those who had drunk vampire blood and become addicted to it. If the vampire did not feed before the blood was given the human gained a few advantages like rejuvenation and slightly increased strength for a time without turning. The problem was if used too much vampire blood became a need, not a high, just like any drug. Effects lasted for shorter and shorter periods and took a huge toll, eventually resulting in the mess of human being that Ianthe had just met.

There was no cure for the poor man in the garden. One day he would take blood and he would die. Until then his life was a never ending search for his fix.

One thing she and Alex did agree on was that there should be mercy for the mistakes of vampires. Only the truly careless would allow their charges to end up in such a state. Alex viewed most humans as cattle, but those he took into his confidence were well looked after.

They kept a few vials of vampire blood in the pantry for any Unfortunates who came asking and any who asked for death would get it. It was the only kindness they could offer.

"Come on, Lilith," she said, "I am sure there is some steak in the fridge."

Philips would help the man as much as was possible and that was all there was to it.

~~*~~
A few of us discovered that we all had supernatural themes for the AtoZ so we got together and did a mini list. If you also have a supernatural theme (ghosts, monsters, witches, spells etc), please feel free to add yourself to the list.

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37 comments:

  1. I'm trying to think. I know I've read/seen a few vampires stories that had blood addictions in various ways, but I can't recall the names of them right now. This is going to bug me.

    ~Patricia Lynne~
    Story Dam
    Patricia Lynne, YA Author

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  2. My vampire series called, Daygar, will feature this issue. Vampires are a bit like the Wraith from Stargate Atlantis. They require blood to feed, but they don't need to kill their victims. Most vampires do kill their victims, not because of the need for blood, but they're addicted to killing. They being junkies is the death of their victim. Also, vampires don't need that much blood to survive, but many vampires, such as House Abchanchu enjoy draining all blood from their victims.

    In the first book (likely to be called Templar Five), we meet a group of Vampires who don't believe in killing humans, and actually are able to give life to their familiars they feed off of to help them live longer. Their familiars tend to be their servants.

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    1. Sounds intriguing and like there might be a lot of conflict there. I like the idea it's the death they're addicted to.

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  3. I really didn't know that much about vampires before your post, but now I'm learning :)

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    1. Always glad to help people find vampires :) Thanks so much for reading.

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  4. It's definitely reasonable to expect that some vampires would have a blood addiction. I've seen John Carpenter's Vampires several times, and I've always enjoyed it.

    http://lgkeltner.blogspot.com/
    http://warpednerdiversity.blogspot.com/

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    1. It's a great movie, very violent, but exciting too.

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  5. Junkie reminds me of Strigoi and Moroi in Vampire Academy series.

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    1. I haven't read that series - isn't it coming to film soon? I hadn't heard of it until I saw posters for it.

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  6. Being addicted to blood, uh, makes sense to me. Why not? You are right. Humans can be addicted to loads of different things. New and interesting approach.

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  7. I've never heard of that John Carpenter movie, but I'm making a note of it. I loved Carpenter's movie "The Thing" from the 1970s/80s.

    Madeline @ The Shellshank Redemption
    Minion, Capt. Alex's Ninja Minion Army
    The 2014 Blogging from A-Z Challenge

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    1. The Thing is epic and Vampires is the same kind of unforgiving characters and plot.

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  8. Ava in Only Lovers Left Alive was a blood junkie - she always wanted more.
    Sophie
    Sophie's Thoughts & Fumbles - A to Z Ghosts
    Fantasy Boys XXX - A to Z Drabblerotic

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  9. An interesting twist to your world. And I love that she named her hellhound Lilith!

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    1. Thank you :) It seemed like an appropriate name.

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  10. The only instance of vampire junkies that I remember encountering was in True Blood where vampires that drank Lilith's blood seemed to get high. Same went for humans drinking vampire blood. I thought it was an interesting concept. I'd be intrigued to read a book about a vampire compelled to drink blood because of addiction (especially if they were trying to fight it).

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    1. It's definitely something that has been tackled on film, but I don't remember it in books, strangely enough. Of course I watch far more than I read when it comes to vampires, so there's probably reams of it out there :)

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  11. aah i love ur theme.. saw ur blog link n theme in some comment n hopped ovr as it said vampires.. n wat can i say? its like love at first sight :-D i hav been fascinated by supernatural all my life n especially vampires! am gng to make time n read all the posts starting frm A wenevr possible.. gud luck with the rest :-)

    http://swathishenoy.blogspot.com/
    a-z participant

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    1. Thank you so much for dropping by, I hope you enjoy the posts as you come across them.

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  12. Yikes. I'm not sure I like the junkie angle you take, but it totally works with the vampire world. I'm just not a fan of junkies, period.

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    1. Junkies can be unpredictable and dangerous in some cases, but I always find it so sad as well. An addiction is so hard to deal with.
      Tasha
      Tasha's Thinkings - AtoZ (Vampires)
      FB3X - AtoZ (Erotic Drabbles)

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  13. I wonder what horror would be like without John Carpenter . . .

    A junkie vampire? Now that is fascinating! ;)

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    1. Hmm ... much less interesting for a start :).
      Thank you.

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  14. I've never heard of "Juad." Thanks for the education!

    Precious Monsters

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  15. Now you say junkie ... would that mean that O negative is like ... cannabis. And AB positive is like ... heroin. ;) And nice use of the word in the story, too.
    Love John Carpenter's Vampires, brilliant film. Not too sure about the Jaud though, a little unnerving to think of a child vampire.

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    1. So O neg would be a gateway drug :)
      The idea of a child vampire is rather chilling isn't it. It's what makes Salem's Lot so creepy.

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  16. Loved forever knight! My favorite was definitely lacroix. I mean he was turned at the time of Pompeii's destruction! His daughter was his sire. Gosh, I need to get the final season now!

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    1. Lacroix did become more awesome the more we learned about him :). It was such a shame how they decided to end it. I refuse to believe that ep was anything by a bad, bad dream.

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  17. I love vampire junkies! :) In my vampire books, humans can become addicted to vampire venom if a vampire feeds on them regularly.

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    1. Ooh, I kind of have that too in my erotic vampire series Soul Reader. Vampire feeding causes metabolic changes which will pass if it doesn't happen again, but if it continues the human ends up addicted and could die if they aren't fed from.

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  18. ..they kept.vials of vampire blood in the pantry. Now that's cool. I keep food in mine.
    Michelle http://www.writer-way.blogspot.com

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  19. One 9 my favourite vampire movies!! The movie is full of action, wit and vampires!

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