“Luke, everything I just told you is extremely valuable knowledge about the origins of vampires. But now let’s talk about the present. There are five great vampire families, each with its own noble bloodline: Nycteris, Antrozous, Barbastella, Lasiurus, and Vespertilio.”

  Charlie belonged to the Vespertilio family, and Luke wanted to understand what that actually meant.

  “Vampire nobility works like multiversal nobility, though they prefer the term ‘family.’ Consider it a Divine Order or faction. Between vampires, these are the five major factions. Others exist, sure, but every single one traces its roots back to these five. There are only five vampire bloodlines, after all. In the end, every faction fights for dominance, for the right to stand as the head of one of the five great families.”

  The letter shifted into a more technical tone, explaining the biological and magical nuances of each vampire type.

  “Nycteris type vampires: Their blood enhances magical capacity, making them excellent mages, especially in necromancy. Even a freshly turned Nycteris human will awaken a second class leaning toward dark magic. Not that other vampires can't be mages, mind you; this bloodline just gives a natural magical affinity.”

  If Luke’s demonic bloodline had influenced his own class, then the idea of vampire bloodlines shaping classes and skills wasn’t just possible, it was expected.

  “Antrozous type vampires: These lean heavily into teleportation and spatial magic. Along with the usual vampiric powers, a high level Antrozous can place a portal on a planet or continent and step through in under a second. Obviously, that's at the higher end of their power spectrum, but you get the idea.”

  The next part continued without pause.

  “Barbastella type vampires: The assassin vampires. If any class fits a vampire perfectly, it’s the assassin. Barbastellas naturally gravitate toward stealth, shadow magic, and invisibility. At this point you’ve probably noticed a pattern, each vampire type specializes in a particular field. Since vampires are nocturnal creatures, this is the bloodline that benefits the most from night based or shadow linked skills.”

  Then came the fourth type:

  “Lasiurus type vampires: Famous hunters. Their senses are heavily enhanced, and they develop telekinetic and telepathic skills, animal control, bodily manipulation, and even time related magic. They’re strong fighters and versatile casters. I once watched one cast a temporal slow field around himself, reducing his enemies to a crawl. With everyone slowed, he tore them apart, an open air blood feast. Fun fact: this is the second most powerful vampire bloodline. Yes, I am listing them in order of potential power. Not that the previous types are ‘weaker’ in a direct fight, but in terms of raw latent potential, Lasiurus ranks near the top. Of course, the System, classes, and individual traits all factor in.”

  The last type of vampire… was the one Charlie belonged to.

  “Vespertilio type vampire: This is the strongest of the five vampire lineages, and also the most dangerous, even to themselves. They lean heavily toward bestial instincts. Of the five vampire families, this one is nearly extinct, mostly because the other four joined forces to eradicate them. The Vespertilio family could overpower two united families if they wanted to. And no, I’m not going to list every trait this lineage possesses. You can figure that out on your own. Just know they’re natural killing machines. Think of the most dangerous shark in an aquarium full of sharks. This type tends to develop classes focused on brute strength, excels in aerial combat, is the fastest of the five races, and… the reason they’re considered lethal even among vampires is that a Vespertilio is the only lineage capable of accessing the powers of the Vampiric Beast Path.”

  Luke and Charlie both narrowed their eyes. The letter stopped there, drifting on to other topics as if deliberately dodging the one thing Luke wanted to know most.

  “The Path of the Vampiric Beast?” he murmured, scanning the page again.

  It was the same name written under her bloodline skill.

  Bloodline Skill: [Path of the Vampiric Beast (Ancient)]

  Luke focused on the description.

  [Path of the Vampiric Beast (Ancient)]: The Noble Vespertilio Bloodline grants the vampire the right to walk the Path of the Vampiric Beast. May your blood remake you into a ravenous, unstoppable creature, capable of seizing everything you desire. May the day come when you are worthy to hear, and answer, the call of the Beast.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  Luke reread the passage from the letter, then the skill, then the letter again. Samael had dangled just enough information to hook him, then conveniently stopped before explaining anything important.

  “Vampires function like a clan, a family. They cannot reproduce like humans. So when a human is transformed, it is essentially an adoption into that vampire’s family. Depending on the gender of the one who transforms them, they are considered either the ‘father’ or ‘mother.’ Those turned vampires obey and respect the one who created them. Over time, this forms large vampire clans. And these clans are often more loyal to each other than to the Five Great Vampire Deity Families, though technically they’re all distant blood relatives through the founders.”

  Which meant Charlie had a vampire parent, someone powerful enough to create a Vespertilio.

  “Another point: if Charlie bites a human to feed, it will NOT turn them into a vampire. That’s not how it works. There is something called the Pact of Vampirism. Only a tremendously powerful vampire can transform a human, and only through a ritual using a special bite that transfers the founder’s bloodline and adopts the human as their offspring. It’s similar to what happened between you and Azazel. Both sides must accept. So forget your movies, Charlie won’t be creating an army of vampires by biting random people. Nothing will happen unless she becomes extremely powerful and intentionally chooses to create her own vampire family.”

  That part eased Luke’s mind considerably.

  “Master Luke, I won’t create any vampire family,” Charlie said quickly. “Y-y-you’re my family…”

  “I consider you family too, Charlie.”

  “R-really, Master Luke?” she asked, lowering her face, which for some reason was glowing red.

  “Of course.”

  And somehow, that made her blush even harder.

  “Just because vampires belong to the same race doesn’t mean they hold hands and sing about the power of friendship. The five great families are vampire factions constantly at war with one another. Each wants to be the only one left standing. A vampire cannot kill the God of their own bloodline, the head of their family. So, if only one bloodline survives, ruled by a single Vampire God King, every vampire beneath that bloodline is forced to obey. That’s why the five races are at war. Each Patron Vampire God wants to wipe out the others until only one Vampire God King remains.”

  The implications were brutal. Luke finally grasped why the conflict mattered. If a vampire could ascend to godhood through the System, then the God King of a bloodline would command every vampire under it. Maybe having five separate bloodlines kept them from achieving total domination, or maybe they were just prideful enough to want their bloodline to be the only one that existed.

  “There was a bloody era in the multiverse when the Vespertilio bloodline was dominant. In fact, of the five Vampire God Kings who rule the families, Vespertilio is the only one who ever died in battle, slain by the combined forces of the other four. Rumor has it the planet where the Vespertilio God King lived still exists somewhere, sealed away in a pocket dimension only a Vespertilio vampire can find…”

  Luke could practically feel Samael smirking as he wrote that line.

  “Vampires excel at seduction. That’s why they’re all absurdly attractive by human standards. To create new vampire servants, they must seduce and convince humans to accept the transformation. It’s similar to that old legend from your world about vampires only entering a house if invited. But during the bloody vampire wars, they tricked humans with promises of immortality. They turned them into vampires, then imprisoned them and purposely starved them into prolonged stages of Vampiric Hunger. Feeding them only occasionally. This eventually triggered the creation of an entirely different vampire species: the Vampiric Beast.”

  “You bastard. You hid the important part in the middle of the letter,” he muttered, and dove back into the text.

  “A Vampiric Beast is a vampire who has fallen into extreme stages of the Hunger curse. They lose their mind and transform into a monster. The body mutates, abandoning its humanoid form. During the vampire wars, this became a weapon used against the Vespertilio. The four families worked together to manufacture an army of Beasts, tricking humans and intentionally forcing them into that transformation, a massive taboo among vampires. These Beasts are incredibly powerful and instinctively hunt other vampires, becoming their natural predators. In multiversal bestiaries, humans classify them as extermination level threats. Because they’re a corrupted evolution of a vampire, they retain vampiric powers and can kill and turn their victims into weaker Vampiric Beasts. Those weaker ones can’t create more Beasts, but they’re still dangerous. That’s why vampire hunting organizations exist: because vampires can indirectly spawn Vampiric Beasts, violating their race’s greatest taboo.”

  The letter went on for a while longer, until a tiny doodle of a smiley face appeared in the corner, followed by a short line of text.

  “The Vespertilio are the only vampires capable of manifesting the powers and full transformation of the Vampiric Beast as they advance through their race levels. So… consider yourself warned. Charlie may be able to walk the Path of the Vampiric Beast without suffering the usual taboo that afflicts other vampires, and she may even return to normal afterward. But that requires training, since the transformation involves a temporary loss of rationality. I strongly suggest investing some of her free attribute points into Willpower as a precaution. A Vampiric Beast is powerful and dangerous, and even you will need to tread carefully when she unlocks that kind of strength. And that’s all the information I’m willing to give you about a Vespertilio. The rest… figure it out yourself.”

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