The fear of returning from the dead dates back to prehistory, and if there was ever a geographical center for that fear, it was Europe. In an Iron Age site in Bavaria, a violently killed woman was buried beneath a large stone, presumably to keep her from rising from her grave.
Ancient Greece was an early home of the vampire legend. Empusa was the demonic daughter of the goddess Hecate, herself often associated with witchcraft, magic and crossroads. Empusa drank the blood of men she seduced as a beautiful young woman. Another goddess, Lamia, drained young children in revenge for the killing of her own infants by Zeus’ wife, Hera, after the latter discovered Lamia’s affair with her husband.
An Albanian Shtriga, a variety of Strigoi that dispels the myth that all vampires are beautiful. (Reconstruction by Hauke Kock)
Despite their apparently unnatural origins, the first vampires were still limited by certain laws of nature. As a “top predator,” their numbers remained small and they were limited by slow reproductive rates, whether via actually breeding or by the “turning” of victims. Even so, around the Carpathians and eastern Alps, vampires became an increasing hazard for the local population.
It was in the first few centuries AD, and largely through the Christianization of the region, that the first countermeasures were developed against these first “true” vampires, now known as the Strigoi. Hunters used to dealing with wolves and bears refined methods to kill vampires that were initially fairly straightforward: beheading, burning and staking, often all three.
However, with the region’s population becoming more firmly Christian in the following centuries, it seems the first amuletic defences started to become common. Studies indicate that this use of religious symbols to ward off vampires may have arisen as a result of local Christians being turned into vampires. Devoted in their beliefs, it is possible that these victims felt themselves cursed or demonized, and as such vulnerable to Christian symbols such as the cross and holy water. These beliefs could have been psychosomatically very powerful, to the extent that they took on actual physical manifestations, and if the vampires’ beliefs were powerful enough it was passed on culturally within the colony. As such, a psychological belief became an instinctive one, possibly passed on at an almost genetic level.
It was also during the 5th and 6th centuries that the first warrior priests appeared. They were trained in local monasteries, but as boys were already well versed in the art of hunting wolves and bears, and with a deep-rooted familiarity with the surrounding landscape. As such, they knew the likely hideouts of vampires, be it a cave system or an abandoned farmstead, and how to track them to their lair. For the first time since prehistory, humanity was taking the fight to the vampires that they had named the Strigoi.
Like many top predators, the Strigoi have cultures adapted to specialist prey. This has led to the rise in a belief that there are a number of different European vampire types. Actually, they are all now believed to be the same species of the Strigoi vampire, and are found throughout Europe.
Pijavica: a Strigoi particular to the Balkans and Czech Republic, said to be a vampire created by the incestuous union of mother and son, and limiting their prey to family members. (The incestuous union could actually be a case of vampirism interpreted as a sexual act.)
Shtriga: An Albanian variation that lacks the usual beautiful female appearance and is instead hideous or demonic, or like an ancient crone. However, they still favor the blood of infants. Reports claim that a Shtriga can prevent the turning of her victim by spitting in their mouth. This has been interpreted as a possible natural “antivenom” contained within the Shtriga, and efforts are under way by SAU to capture one of these particular specimens. They are thought to be vulnerable to garlic and pig-bone crosses.
Vjesci: A Polish species recognized by a caul (lump) on their forehead. Removal of the lump on the seventh birthday of the victim prevents “turning” (a significant date similar to the life cycle of the cambion, a product of human/vampire procreation). It is reported that they are susceptible to religious icons.
Mullo (Muli = male; Mulo = female): Romany/gypsy variation; considered a person to have died of wrongful or unnatural causes, or for whom the correct funeral rites were not observed. They have a propensity for poltergeist-like behavior, often vindictive or vengeful. This behavior is often focused around family members or those whom the Mullo had a particular grievance against in life.
They also seem to be afflicted with a physical abnormality that varies from individual to individual (a clawed foot or hand, the beginnings of a tail) and are often of hideous appearance. A possible explanation for this is that the transformation to a “true” vampire has failed or been interrupted, perhaps due to some genetic trait or medical condition. It is interesting to note that Mullo rise any time between 40 days and five years after death, which, compared to other Strigoi that rise within hours, indicates some abnormality in the transformation process.
However, the Mullo does retain a relatively “human” state and, as such, they are unable to sire new Mullo but can impregnate human females, resulting in hybrid offspring known as Dhampirs.
This incomplete transformation might also explain the Mullo’s attachment to its family and memory of its previous existence.
Romany methods of disposal are variations on regular methods: metal pins or needles inserted into the heart, mouth, eyes, ears and between the fingers, and hawthorn stakes driven into the legs.
Despite this, the warrior priests were few and far between. It was also a difficult region in which to hunt, a wilderness of high mountains and deep forests, with a multitude of hiding places from which the Strigoi could strike. Because of this, in their Eastern European homelands the vampires went largely unchallenged throughout their early history.
It was not until the time of the First Crusade that any organized defense against the Strigoi and their kin first appeared.
Following the call of Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont in France in November 1095, the First Crusade gathered largely under the auspices of saving the Byzantine Empire from the apparent threat of a Muslim invasion. While the armies of Europe gathered their forces, a rather less disciplined and rag-tag Crusade took up Urban’s call and set off for the Holy Land. With few knights amongst its ranks, the army was largely composed of poor and illiterate peasants, many hoping for a new life and wealth in the east.
In August 1096, the “People’s Crusade” as it was known, swept through Eastern Europe like a locust plague. Poorly equipped and hungry, these “crusaders” sacked any town that could not resist them, be it Christian or not, even doing battle with Hungarian forces when they began to starve.
The People’s Crusade was an unexpected boon for the Strigoi. The poorly armed, disorganized, ignorant peasants provided rich picking for the vampires as they passed through the region. Lost and hungry groups of travelers blundered into the Carpathians and were quickly annihilated, swelling the number of Strigoi and making them confident enough to leave their usual hunting grounds to haunt the peasant crusaders, picking off stragglers and the weak.
Although there are very few written records of vampires from the Middle Ages, depictions of them can be found in artwork and sculptures, such as this grotesque from a Spanish cathedral. (PD)
The People’s Crusade reached Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, in late August and immediately caused enough trouble that the city closed its gates to the peasants. They were, however, quickly offered boats across the Bosporus into the Levant, where they were very soon massacred by local Muslim forces.
The preaching of the Crusade had a horrific impact on European Jews, who many Christians saw as equally the enemies of Christ as the Muslims. By the end of 1095, pogroms had begun in France and Germany, even though violence against the Jews was never sanctioned by the Christian leadership, which was much more intent on converting them.
However, a few monastic scholars began to link Jews to vampires. This seems to have resulted from the fantastical belief that the Jews used the blood of Christian children in such ceremonies as the baking of matza flatbread for Passover, and in the resurrection of golems, animated figures usually made of clay or stone. That the Torah absolutely forbids murder was completely ignored amidst the widespread anti-Semitism of the time, and the twin themes of blood and resurrection of the inanimate were to prove very dangerous for the Jews of Eastern Europe.
The first milites Christi (“soldiers of Christ”) entered the region at the end of the 11th century. Many were educated monks and listened to the local stories of vampires with interest, immediately recognizing (with their own skewed vision) the hand of Satan at work. To them, the Strigoi were nothing less than demons from hell and, interested in seeing the vampires for themselves, they organized the first vampire pogroms, or anti-vampire uprisings. The newly confident Strigoi were suddenly confronted with righteous, well-equipped and confident knights, many battle-hardened from years of fighting in Europe. Despite their natural attributes, the vampires were driven back into the mountains and forests, and vanished back underground into their caves and sarcophagi.
Amongst the more scholarly milites Christi, the link between Jews and Strigoi was hardening. A thesis on the matter, which also sought to establish a similar link with Muslim beliefs, was circulated amongst the knights. They used it to ignore the Christian bishops who called for conversion and set about massacring Jewish populations and destroying synagogues. The Vatican archive also includes reports of knights searching synagogue cellars for vampire lairs. They were of course disappointed to find none, but merely used this as evidence that the local rabbis had warned the Strigoi of their coming, or even hidden them. Many of the Jews were subsequently tortured to glean the “truth” of the matter.
Fortunately, the rise of dedicated vampire hunters at the start of the 12th century discredited the blood libel link of Jews to Strigoi. However, this proved a Pyrrhic victory when seen in the context of the overwhelming anti-Semitism sweeping Europe at the time (and that would continue to do so in the coming centuries).
The Strigoi and humanity reached something of an impasse during the 12th and 13th centuries. The vampires restricted themselves to the shadows amidst the wilderness of Eastern Europe, their numbers stabilizing while they held sway over the peasant populations scratching out a living as sheep farmers on the surrounding hills and forests. As time passed, the theological nature of defense against the Strigoi solidified and the first “vampires” began to hold court in (ironically) abandoned monasteries and castles.
Meanwhile, the milites Christi were busy elsewhere battling Saracens and Cathars. They even, in some cases, turned on their own, when at the start of the 14th century the Knights Templar were destroyed by Philip IV of France, eager to get his hands on their treasury.
By the middle of the 14th century, Europe’s human population had reached a point where the number of people now outstripped available resources – a Malthusian dilemma. A series of harsh summers and terrible winters in the early decades of the 1300s triggered crop failures and starvation. This caused a backlash of wars, social unrest and the rise of apocalyptic superstition. This culminated in the Black Death.
Arriving with the Mongols during their advance west from the steppes of the Gobi Desert, bubonic plague spread from Italy to the north of England in just over 1,000 days. Human populations, weakened by perennial hunger, proved highly vulnerable to the plague. Twenty-five million people perished, up to 60 percent of Europe’s population.
Although the depiction of the vampire as a skeleton is inaccurate, this drawing demonstrates two effective methods of vampire elimination, staking and fire. (Mary Evans Picture Library / Alamy)
It was only natural for many to believe that the end of days had arrived and hardly surprising that many, seeking scapegoats, turned on the Jews in a bloody wave of pogroms.
For the Strigoi, the collapse of social order around them left the survivors wide open to attack. Immune to the plague virus, they once more left the forests and mountains and descended on villages and towns in unprecedented numbers. For the people struggling to survive the horrors of the plague and coming to terms with the sense of abandonment by God, the arrival of the vampires must have seemed to have been the final, sure sign that the end was indeed nigh.
The Strigoi reclaimed many of their old hunting grounds, and for about a century, they seemed invulnerable. Colonies established themselves throughout the Carpathian region, dominating the surrounding areas and even triggering the supplying of sacrifices to certain Strigoi mort (male Strigoi) to ward off their worst excesses.
A depiction of the famous vampire hunter, Pieter Van Sloan, who many credit as the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s character Abraham Van Helsing. Van Sloan operated all over the European mainland in the second half of the 19th century, before disappearing in Bavaria in 1882.
However, the Strigoi had overextended themselves. By the start of the 15th century, the crash in the human population had begun to have a marked impact on the vampires, whose own numbers had begun to collapse as they exhausted their supply of “livestock.” The few travelers that braved the wilderness regions of Eastern Europe reported abandoned villages, towns with a few hardy but perpetually terrified locals who never moved at night, and the sound of terrifying battles emanating from high Alpine forests and distant ravines. The latter is believed to have been territorial wars between vampire colonies as many were displaced when their food supplies became exhausted and they were forced into the territory of a neighboring clan. The result, in any case, was that the Strigoi found themselves victims of their own success.
In 1478, the Spanish formed their infamous Inquisition to maintain Christian (Catholic) orthodoxy in the face of increasing heretical forces. By now, the usual suspects – Jews, Muslims and Cathars – had been joined by Protestants. There was also a growing anxiety concerning witchcraft and devil worship throughout a Europe that was still recovering from the bacterial carnage of the Black Death. The result was that the milites Christi began to organize once more, in one form or another, feeding the mounting hysteria that was to sweep through all parts of Europe. This led ultimately to the auto-da-fé and witch trials that killed so many, as warrior knights and judges took their responsibilities far beyond their original intentions.
In the light of these developments, in 1520 a papal bull led to the organization of the first Vatican-sanctioned inquisition into the threat posed by vampires. This was a minor bureaucratic and administrative event, overshadowed as it was by the coming hundred years of religious wars about to rend Europe, but for the Strigoi it was like the coming of their own Black Death.
Initially, milites Christi soldier-scholars combed reports of vampire activity simply to prove the threat existed. However, when this proved inconclusive and largely apocryphal, a punitive expedition into the Carpathian region was mounted in 1528.
By this point, the Strigoi population was a pale shadow of its former self, and the few local human populations were by now tough and well versed in combating the vampire menace. Their amuletic defenses were also well and truly developed, and the Vatican milites Christi were only too happy to use such tried and tested methods.
However, as the locals were content to tough it out in the shadow of the vampires, so the surviving vampires had made it through very difficult times and learned a few tricks of their own. Many were centuries old and had long abandoned any fear of religious or hallowed weapons. As such, when the milites Christi ascended into the Carpathians seeking to engage the vampires, the first battles proved inconclusive and set a precedent that was to remain largely unchanged into modern times. The numbers of Strigoi were held in check by the organized forces dedicated to their destruction; meanwhile, the older vampires, hardened by decades, even centuries, of battling for their very survival were very hard to kill, and remained locally powerful.
A status quo developed, and from their lairs, manmade or otherwise, these vampires passed into legend – or across the Atlantic, as some of the more wealthy and powerful Strigoi mort sought new and safer hunting grounds.
Yet the vampire myth continued to permeate history, even outliving the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, when many superstitions and folklores were refuted. But still the Strigoi lingered on, especially in Eastern Europe, where the sparse and largely illiterate population made easy prey for venerable and wily vampires. It was only in the 19th century, as the region developed and populations swelled, that the Strigoi found themselves once more being burned out of their ancestral resting places. Ironically, in Western Europe, this was the period when, largely as a result of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the vampire took on its romantic, mystical allure.
At this point, it is probably worth pointing out that the inspiration for Stoker’s Dracula, Vlad the Impaler, was nothing but a man. He masqueraded as a vampire, but was probably nothing more than a megalomaniacal sadist who was clinically psychotic and used the legends and myths of the vampire to heighten a reputation built on fear. But to the Strigoi, nailing hats to heads and impaling prisoners was seen as laughable, the actions of a child burning ants with a magnifying glass.
Since Shtriga vampires are thought to have some kind of vampiric antivenom glands in their throat or mouth, there is currently a large bounty on their heads. (Reconstruction by Hauke Kock)
The Strigoi are the classical European haemophage, the creature that most people in Western society think of when they hear the term “vampire.” Sometimes identified by the classical form “vampire,” they are (or were) particularly numerous in Eastern Europe and the Balkans, but nests or covens can be found in most countries. In the overpopulated 21st century, small communities find it easy to hide in the anonymity and multiculturalism of major cities and amongst the mass migrations of urban populations. This hiding in plain sight conversely makes them very hard to track and hunt.
Strigoi can be identified by their pale, white, almost translucent skin and red-rimmed eyes. They are almost always “beautiful” or “handsome” in appearance. They are also mostly female (known as Strigoaică). They are often thought to be witches, or stryge (French for “bird-woman”). The confusion seems to have arisen from the Strigoaică’s ability to transform into large bats. Some are also able to transform into wolves. They are also famous for their long red hair, giving their human forms a striking beauty, useful in luring eager young men to their death (although they prefer children). Finally, they can “turn” or “sire” victims, creating new Strigoi by passing on their own blood to the victim, who takes on an undead state post-mortem.
The male Strigoi (Strigoi mort) are more powerful, almost demonic in their capabilities. They have a mesmerizing allure and, while the fact that this is somehow psychic has already been mentioned, research hints at a powerful pheromone as the source of this. This magnetism is often seen in psychosexual terms, a lust not just for blood but also for sex. The Strigoi mort is often portrayed as having a particular desire for young women, but it could be rather more prosaic than that; the sexually immature young are simply easier and more suggestible as prey. Male Strigoi are generally very strong and very fast.
Though it is rare, some vampires are turned while still children. These child vampires or Ustrel have a propensity for killing livestock, but this is now thought to be merely practice; it is also easier to hide an attack on a cow or pig by blaming bear or wolf attack. As it becomes more skilled, the Ustrel begins taking human prey. However, even amongst Strigoi, the turning of children is seen as cruel and generally avoided.
All Strigoi, male, female or children, are more vulnerable in their first 30 years as a vampire. During this time, they cannot stand sunlight, must sleep on a bed of their native soil and are only marginally faster and stronger than humans. However, around the age of 30, Strigoi develop into Kukudhi, their adulthood. With this age comes strength, exaggerated reflexes, and fully developed vampiric powers including mesmerism, psychokinesis, telepathy, a resistance to amuletic attack, and zoomutation, especially into bat, wolf or dog-like forms.
For most of European history, hunters have relied on religious amuletic defenses and wooden stakes to take down vampires. Today, their weapons are much more hi-tech.
The creation of a new Strigoi is called “siring” or “turning” and requires blood transfusions between both parties, the most significant being ingestion of the sire’s blood by the victim (although “sire” is generally a masculine term, here it refers to both male and female).
After this event, the victim’s body suffers a catastrophic shutdown of all major functions, leading ultimately to a comatose state that could easily be perceived as death. In this state of medical hibernation, the vampiric vector (possibly a virus delivered by the Strigoi’s fangs, although this has yet to be isolated) begins its radical restructuring of the victim’s major organs and systems down to a genetic level. The skin becomes little more than a chrysalis or pupae, the organs degenerating to a pulp or liquid as they reorganize.
Strigoi rise quickly after being turned, sometimes within just a few hours, but usually within a day. This takes an enormous amount of energy, which is why new Strigoi awake from this comatose state ravenous and quick to make easy kills, although they are often clumsy and obviously inexperienced. As such, the sire is usually on hand to help the new vampire through the difficult transition period, the changes being not only physical and behavioral, but psychological as well. This combination makes new vampires very vulnerable.
The Strigoi generally procreate by turning human adults. However, the Romanian vampire known as the Morai (Moroaică is the female) raises interesting questions about Strigoi reproduction. Traditionally more closely related to werewolves and lycanthropy, recent studies indicate Morai are actually the children of two Strigoi. By and large, Strigoi are sterile; conception is a rare event. Culturally, the Strigoi see such offspring as abominations; they are unusual in being “mortal,” i.e. they have the same lifespan as a normal human.
Moreover, the blood of Morai is much sought after by Strigoi for its apparent potency, and even without their “mortal” lifespans, few Morai survive to anything like adulthood. (They also make fine bait for SAU ambushes.)
Morai are also said to be vulnerable to wolf attack and tame wolves are often used to hunt these unfortunate vampires.
Prior to developing into a Kukudhi, a Strigoi is required to sleep in native soil, either in its original coffin or in a vessel filled with the necessary earth, during the hours of daylight. This limits their movements and, if the location of their resting place can be determined, makes them vulnerable to ambush. More experienced Strigoi will have cached native soil in various locations to broaden the scope of their movements.
Romanian hunters demonstrating that there is no such thing as overkill when dealing with the undead. Note the size of hammer that was presumably used to drive the stake into the heart. Driving wood through a human chest is harder than most people realize. (Historical image collection by Bildagentur-online / Alamy)
Like any top predator, after a good meal Strigoi can become listless and slow-moving; caught in the open, away from their resting place, they are far easier to engage.
The Strigoi can, if particularly adept, try and blend in with human society; however, they are required consciously to breathe and blink, both habits which would be subconsciously noted by people if absent. The vampire’s skin is also naturally cool, even cold, to the touch; they can also appear cyanotic as a result of the lack of blood supply to the skin (which, as mentioned above, is usually pale, even translucent). All these visual and tactile cues can give the hunting Strigoi away.
The principal methods of Strigoi dispatch are the complete immolation of the Strigoi’s body, dismemberment and decapitation, and finally staking through the heart. For creating a stake, hawthorn is the most popular wood, probably for entirely superstitious reasons; otherwise iron or silver work best. These two metals seem to react toxically with vampire blood. A scientific reason may lie in the iron ion that forms the heme group in haemoglobin. Vampire blood in types such as the Strigoi has undergone mutations, probably as a result of the vampire vector and its mutagens, and the catastrophic addition of iron or silver into the Strigoi’s body may trigger a cascade effect or cytokine storm, a massive overreaction of the vampire’s immune system.
Sunlight or ultraviolet light are also potent weapons against Strigoi, as light sensitivity is seen in extremis as porphyria in the Strigoi, where it can cause blistering, scarring and vomiting, and ultimately destruction.
Finally, some Strigoi are vulnerable to amuletic attack. This is most common amongst the older vampires, who shy away from and can even be harmed by the touch of religious weaponry and icons, such as crosses and holy water. Researchers have yet to ascertain why this would be so, but it is generally thought that centuries of psychosomatic belief have rendered the older Strigoi physically vulnerable to such methods as blessed stones or incense pushed into the orifices of the vampire’s body, crosses of garlic or holy water placed on the sleeping vampire, or fumigating the grave with cannabis.
These methods are not to be relied on in combat; the surest way to destroy a Strigoi is to use the first four methods. However, SAU units retain strong superstitious and theological beliefs, and all their weapons and ammunition are blessed and consecrated.
The primary forms of European non-haemophagic vampires (non-blood drinkers) are the incubus, and the female form, the succubus. Their primary form of parasitism is the practice of sex as a method of feeding through the use of heat and energy generated by sexual arousal. This is harvested by the vampire.
This method of feeding also seems to provide an opportunity for the incubus and succubus to procreate. Their success rate is generally low but this may explain their compulsive need to copulate.
Like most depictions of incubi, this drawing shows a demonic creature tormenting his victim. In reality, these creatures appear as very handsome humans and most of their victims are willing participants. (PD)
The incubus is more demonic than vampiric, seducing women through various means. Visually and behaviorally, they are largely indistinguishable from humans. The demonic portrayals of them are usually dream representations and do not reflect their usually very handsome outward appearance. Their methods of seduction may be pheromonal but may also be simple sexual attraction. The victims are not exsanguinated but drained of energy via intercourse. Some succumb to exhaustion as a result of these sexual attacks, although the term “attack” may be misleading, as many victims willingly participate and can even become addicted.
The succubus seduces males for their energy and “seed.” The attacks can take place over a considerable period, weeks, even months, and can be brutal; the sexual organs of a succubus are often icy cold and exude noxious fluids.
During coitus, the generally beautiful vampire may exhibit animalistic features such as bird-like feet or a reptilian tail, perhaps as a result of the loss of control by the succubus. As with incubi, many victims exhibit exhaustion but are willing, if confused, quarries. Death can be through nervous exhaustion, shock or heart failure; as such, many deaths can be hidden as natural causes. Victims can only be determined via long-term assessment.
Incubi and succubi vary in their reaction to religious symbols and icons; it may be largely down to the individual and its upbringing. Many have been found to be immune to amuletic attack, and then it is a matter of conventional means (fire, dismemberment/decapitation, staking, sunlight or UV light).
The result of incubus/human precreation is known as a cambion. Initially they are believed to be stillborn, as they have no heartbeat or pulse at birth. However, at around the age of seven, the cambion manifests itself into an apparently human child. Before then, it relies on the overpowering maternal instinct of the mother to keep it “alive.” Cuckolding the mother like this is often done at the expense of other children, who may end up as the cambion’s first victims.
The best-known type of human/vampire hybrid is the Dhampir (Dhampiresa is the female), usually the result of a coupling between a human female and a Mullo. They are largely beholden to genetics as to which traits are dominant, but they form roughly two divisions. Division 1 consists of long-lived “immortals” with photophobia and zoomutation, but are non-haemophagic. Division 2 defines short-lived “humans” with exaggerated features, dark hair and pronounced canines. They can eat normal food but are generally haemophagic, which provides strength and speed but makes them hyper-metabolic. This might explain their short lives; they literally burn out.
Dhampirs of both sexes are often the most effective vampire hunters, something that has become a tradition dating back centuries. Types from both divisions have joined European SAUs, and with their heightened senses and physical abilities, have proved skilled trackers and hunters, the result of which is that they are particularly hated by the Strigoi and their kin.
These Dhampir are often tragic figures. Vampires will hunt and kill anyone remotely related to them by blood or friendship, resulting in some of the worst atrocities carried out by the Strigoi. As such, they usually choose to live lonely lives, without families or romantic relationships. However, the formation of the SAUs did give the Dhampirs hope of forming close bonds within the units, not unlike those seen amongst elite Special Forces formations.
This drawing of a succubus attack is probably a somewhat accurate depiction. (Mary Evans)
However, as it does not rely on milk, the father or a suitable “nanny” can raise it. On maturing, the resulting children are often beautiful, very intelligent and extremely manipulative. They lack empathy and display psychotic traits but also know how to confuse and obfuscate their true natures; they will eat normal food, but are often bulimic. They are also sexually provocative and promiscuous from a young age, especially as the males develop into adult incubi.
UNESCO studies into vampire evolution indicate that the incubus could represent an ancestral form of vampire. However, the succubus/human hybrid resulted in what appear to be the first “true” European vampires, with previously inert traits such as zoomutation and haemophagy activated.