Do Vampires exist?

By Ebenezer T. Bifubyeka.

IT’S Christmas. Around 3:45am, a creeping, imperceptible monster attacks me. The giant called a vampire and locally known as “Kibandamirizi,” trespasses and invades me in bed. It compresses my entire body nearly to death!

This goblin overpowers me. I fail to get up and run away! Regardless of being a bodybuilder and a recognised heavyweight lifter, the strange tyrant is defeating me. I am so subjugated to raise any part of my body for even an inch from the mattress!

When I endeavour to squeal, it shushes me; “Shhhhh!” I repeatedly try to scream in vain! I can’t utter out a word! Can you imagine? Unable to save my damned life, the super-natural fiend increasingly squeezes me almost to the point of suffocation!

“Oh God! I’ve not been under water to seek for riches from gods or goddesses. I hear people who go underwater are terribly haunted this much. But I haven’t been there. Then why Am I being haunted, for God’s sake?” I wonder what the hell is going on.

I go on marveling, “Did someone bewitch me? I am not rich to be bewitched by jealous people. Neither do I have grudges with anyone. Why is this thing torturing me?” I wish you could see me – the whole strong Mukiga man - trembling like a weak coward!

Still in entanglement of dilemma, I recall a sacred word, “Yesu” – the name for Jesus in Kikiga/Kinyankore language. This word had saved me of three similar tormenter’s night-attacks before. I murmur it out, “Yesu.” Immediately, the ogre releases me!

The Bible says evil spirits or ghosts do fear the Holy Spirit. Mark 16:17 states that “…in my name shall they cast out devils.” Indeed, the word, “Yesu” has conquered this powerful creature and cast it out of my bedroom within a blink of an eye! Halleluiah!

I heave a sigh of relief. Then I feel my body carefully; thank God, it has not harmed me! I squirm whenever some people I tell this horrific experience call it a hoax! Yet they want to hear the story again and again.

What sort of existence do Vampires lead?

Wesley Snipes, in the films Blade 1, 2 and 3, tries to eliminate similar vampire community codenamed, “human bloodsuckers.” These satanic angels that go man-hunting mainly at night exclusively depend on fresh human blood! Blood is their staple food throughout their lifespan of 150 years and over!

If a vampire wants to suck blood, it sighs, turns its eyes from looking human to those of wild cats - then jumps to one’s neck, bites and sips blood! Once bitten by a vampire and survive death, you turn into a vampire within 24 hours! When one kisses or plays sex with a vampire, one becomes a vampire after few hours! Vampires are in many kinds: some resemble humans. Others are like bats!

In Wesley’s films, vampires that are ‘nightwalkers’ (also called ‘night-stalkers’) get destroyed by sunlight – except a few vampire-masters, which are ‘day-walkers’ (these are less or not affected by sunlight). When a vampire, alias evil spirit, is hit by some sunlight, erupts into fire flames, explodes and turns into ash in few seconds!!! This is why most vampires walk at night!

Wesley, an excellent American martial artist, acts as a vampire himself and uses silver bullets and knives to destroy these deadly ‘parasites.’ When this Negro man shoots at a vampire, the sparkling, brownish stuff like dry coffee seeds - pours out! No blood or bones, apart from the skull, are seen when a vampire erupts! Vampire’s blood is seen only when it is stabbed!

The two vampires’ canine teeth, like those of dogs, protrude from the rest of the common teeth! If a vampire – whether male or female – meets you, it clamours and exposes the two canines on either side of both upper and lower jaws! If you see a vampire clamour, believe me, you will raise eyebrows. And whether brave or craven, you must shudder!

It’s recorded in another film, “Revenant” starred by Natasha G. Wagner & Rod Steiger that Los Angeles has a discreet community of glamorous sophisticated and hip vampires! These apparition’s bacchanals of blood and sex are always confined to private underground clubs! If you ignorantly enter such a booming disco club, you are dead!

Throughout the ages, there has been a talk of witches, werewolves, vampires and more. But are these creatures real? And how do they become what they are? One researcher, L.J. Smith has published the history of vampires on the Internet.

Smith’s article, ‘The Tale of the Vampire” under the Vampire Diaries Special, says; in 1047 A.D (after death), the word “Upir,” which means ‘vampire,’ was created to describe a prince from Russia. They called him, ‘Upir Lichy,’ meaning, ‘a wicked vampire!’

In 1560 A.D, Elizabeth Bathory was born. In 1610 A.D, Bathory was tried and convicted of killing thousands of people and bathing in their blood! Finally, she was sentenced to life imprisonment. In 1614 A.D, Bathory died in prison!

In a book, “The Vampire Lestat,” on page three, Anne Rice says there is a description of vampires’ outward appearance. They are strangely and frighteningly beautiful creatures! Their fingernails have a glasslike quality. Their skin is luminescent: extremely white and highly reflective. When hungry, their smooth skin shrinks, and their veins look like ropes over the contours of their bones!

Rice describes vampires’ weaknesses. Unlike traditional vampires, a vampire is unaffected by crucifixes and holy water, and cannot be killed with a stake to the heart! They can, however, be killed by direct sunlight, and must sleep in coffins!

Vampires hide in darkness to get away with the sunlight problem. Powerful vampires that are ‘day-walkers’ are not harmed by sunlight. This makes those vampires virtually INDESTRUCTIBLE, which is a nice thing for some vampires.

Surprisingly, Rice says these brutes are only burnt by sunlight, but not killed! Their souls don’t die! They are like beelzebub! Some vampires just get tired of eternity and go into the ground and bury themselves alive!

One can destroy a vampire’s body either by dismemberment or with fire – preferably both! ‘Dead’ blood successfully kills a vampire. Dead blood is one in a mortal whose heart has stopped. There are poisons used to keep a corpse’s blood warm, thus tricking a vampire into drinking this tainted and lethal blood. It dies after drinking it.

Rice’s story tells the special powers of the vampires. Each vampire that is created is different. The powers they have are determined by the vampires that made them, and how powerful they were.

Some vampires have the ability to read human minds! Others have the power to fly! Rice says, “Only extremely powerful vampires can fly. Extremely powerful means they were made or strengthened by one of the original vampires!

“Most normal vampires have the ability to move extremely quickly and quietly, going completely unnoticed by humans! Their senses are all heightened especially their sight and hearing. And of course, all vampires can kill easily, without a second thought!”

Vampires create others. Rice says, for a vampire to make another of its kind, the first thing it needs to do is to find a human! That human might not want to become a vampire.

The human is drained to death! When the victim is on the threshold of life and death, the vampire lets him drink from his own blood, usually from a vein on the wrist. The human gets vampire blood in his system and his human body begins to die!

This is a usually painful process, but afterwards, the human turns a vampire! Sometimes humans are killed when such co-creation process goes wrong. Vampires do have lineages - traced back to Akasha, the Egyptian Queen! Rice reveals that Akasha turned a vampire when a blood-sucking evil spirit possessed her! She turned into a vampire. She had to drink blood of humans to survive!

Bafflingly, like normal people, vampires have got basic rules! The two major rules for Rice’s vampires are: (1.) Don’t kill any other vampires! (2.) Don’t make humans that cannot fend for themselves into vampires!

Any famous vampires today?

Vlad Tepes Dracula, a human vampire was born in 1430 in Schassburg, Transylvania (now Sighisoara, Romania). The red-eyed and black-haired Dracula, the second son of Vlad Dracul (alias Vlad the Elder), later became prince of Transylvania and Voivode (warlord) of Walachia.

Dracula has had many aliases or titles: ‘Lord of the vampires,’ Count Dracula, the Devil, Doctor Vlad, Dragon, Drake, Justin Drake, Father Death, the Impaler, Lord of the Damned, Lord of the Dead, Prince of Darkness, Vlad the Impaler, Vladimir Tepesch and ‘Kaziglu Bey’ (name given to him by Turkish warriors for encountering the impaled).

Dracula’s powers/abilities:

Dracula’s intelligence is above normal. He was tutored by some of the finest instructors of the 15th Century. Ever since, he has adapted well to know knowledge and technology that has developed over the following centuries!

He is also a good hand-to-hand combatant and swordsman and highly trained (by John Hunyadi) in ancient (15th Century) arts of warfare as well as being a master of military strategist.

In online diaries, ‘Dracula lives,’ Dracula possesses many powers due to his vampirism. Dracula has the metal abilities to control victims he has bitten, temporarily mesmerise any human with his gaze, command mice, rats, bats and wolves, and mystically summon thunderstorms!

The 6.5-feet tall Dracula also possesses all conventional powers of a vampire. He can transform himself into a bat (of normal or human size)! He can turn into a wolf and all or parts of his body into mist while retaining his intelligence! Dracula can’t be killed or permanently injured by most conventional means; he ignores most physical attacks.

Dracula, weighing 220 Ibs, not only has supernatural speed, stamina, agility and reflexes but strength as well, allowing him to lift or press one ton! Dracula’s powers have been, on occasion, greatly amplified or some of his weaknesses have been circumvented through magical sources such as by the spells cast via the Darkholders.

Dracula has weaknesses and limitations like other vampires. He must drink blood to survive. He becomes physically weak through prolonged deprivation from blood. Silver weapons damage him.

Dracula’s blood dependency and weakness to silver happened when he was impregnated with many minute particles of silver sometime after 1875. Silver weakened him, causing him to age rapidly whenever he went a considerable time without ingesting sufficient blood! Consuming enough blood restored him to normal. By the start of the 20th Century, he had recovered from this weakness.

Dracula can be held at bay or physically damaged by religious symbol of Christian crucifix. In addition to the Christian Cross, any religious symbol the holder believes in strongly enough – might be effective. The strength of the belief is much more important than the size of the religious symbol.

Dracula laughed off a cross made by Wolverine, an atheist, but was deeply pained by one held by Night-crawler, a fervent Christian. Often, normal bullets pass through him, causing no harm, whatsoever! A hunter once shot him out of the sky while in bat form!

Why shot? Is he cruel or does he have enemies?

In 1444, Dracula rode to Turkey alongside his father and young brother, Radu, to discuss policies of peace between the Magyars and the Ottoman Empire. They were ambushed and captured by soldiers of Sultan Murad II.

Murad took the two sons hostage, to force their father, Vlad the Elder to adopt policies, which favoured Turkey. For five years, they remained in prison, suffering much torture and humiliation. Radu died in prison and Vlad the Elder (and his eldest son, Mircea) was killed by his own advisors (led by John Hunyadi) for his support of Turkey.

Dracula learned his lessons in cruelty from the Turkish prison. In 1448, Dracula escaped from prison and returned home, taking the title of Voivode (warlord) of Walachia after ousting the Danestis. Fearing the Transylvanians who had slain his father, Dracula fled to Moldavia.

In 1451, Dracula returned to Transylvania. Dracula married Zofia, a Hungarian noblewoman, which had been arranged by his father but Dracula hated Zofia. He expressed his hatred for Zofia, both physically and mentally - abusing her - even going so far as romancing other women while Zofia was locked in the closest of the same room! Dracula forced Zofia and the infant, Lilith to dine with him, overlooking the scene of a recent impaling.

Why Lilith hates her father, Dracula:

As we’ve seen, Dracula hated Lilith’s mother, Zofia. One year after their marriage, Dracula stripped Zofia of her royal standing and gave her one night to leave the castle with her belongings and Lilith. Zofia gave Lilith to an elderly gypsy, Gretchin, paying her to care for her. Zofia then killed herself!

Who is Lilith?

Born at Castle Dracula (original), Walachia, Transylvania in Hungaria, Lilith operates from Area 13, Pine Barrens, New Jersey; formerly Greenwich Village, Manhattan in New York. First Appearance: Giant-Size Chillers (June, 1974).

Lilith uses the surname, Drake purely for legal reasons. Her identity/class is human vampire (atypical); her height: is 6 feet, weight: 125 lbs; the eyes are Red and her hair is black. Lilith has obtained American citizenship with the help of forged documents. Her occupation is Eternal Nemesis to Dracula, Adventurer; government agent. And her group Membership is S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Howling Commandos unit.

Why Dracula and his daughter, Lilith want to kill each:

Years later, after Gretchin had raised Lilith, the now vampiric Dracula slew Gretchin’s son, Arni, and Gretchin magically transformed Lilith into an adult vampire, further empowering her to torment Dracula eternally. After many conflicts, Dracula impaled Lilith in the 20th century, but she was soon reborn.

Lilith was destroyed by Quincy Harker and reborn through human host Angel O'Hara, whose father had killed her fiancé, and she lived a dual existence in Greenwich Village for a time. When Dracula was turned human by Mephisto, he sought Lilith to make him a vampire anew, but she instead tried to kill him.

Dracula became a vampire again, and Lilith sought out Gretchin’s descendent, Viktor Benzel, who separated Lilith and Angel. Lilith then attempted to destroy Dracula, who instead slew her lover, Viktor; he then mocked her inability to kill him herself. While seeking Viktor’s brother, Karl, hoping to find a way to kill Dracula, she solved the murders of the insane gardener, Siegfried.

Lilith possessed X-Man Kitty Pryde in a failed effort against her father, but she died happily when the Montesi Formula (a spell contained in the Darkhold capable of destroying all vampires utterly) later destroyed both her and Dracula.

However, when Dracula was reborn, so was she. Consumed by bloodlust, she sought Brother Voodoo’s aid, encountering Ghost Rider (Dan Ketch) and Scarecrow (Ebenezer Laughton), and then used the Zombie to bring her fresh blood for a vampire army, meeting defeat from Spider-Man and Hannibal King.

Regaining control, Lilith employed Dr. Charles Seward and Anton Florescu to infect Dracula with a lethal virus. Though Dracula survived, Lilith was pleased that he had to sink to drinking the blood of a corpse to do so. (source: http://www.marvel.com/universe/Lilith_(Daughter_Of_Dracula.

Lilith’s powers/Abilities:

Lilith has all standard powers of a vampire, to a higher degree than most, but was unencumbered by most of the standard limitations. She has enhanced human strength; can mesmerise and control others by catching their gaze for three seconds, though beings with sufficiently strong wills can resist her to some degree.

In addition, she has a much harder time trying to maintain control over a group of people. She can transform partially or fully into a bat or mist, she can control the weather, and she can command animals such as rats, mice, bats, wolves, and dogs.

Lilith is immune to sunlight and does not fall into a coma-like trance during daytime hours, and she is not dependent upon sleeping on her native soil. She is not affected be religious talismans and can even wield them herself against other vampires. She is immune to garlic. She heals almost instantly from wounds, and she cannot even be killed by dismemberment.

Lilith can be killed by a wooden stake through the heart or the ‘Montesi formula’ but as long as Dracula exists, her spirit will return. Her spirit can enter the form of an innocent woman who hates her own father, and she can transform that body into a duplicate of her own. Lilith can also regain her own body through an elaborate mystical ritual.

Though Lilith is not dependent upon ingesting human blood to survive, she does enjoy its taste. By biting a person on the neck and depositing an enzyme in their system, she makes her victim highly susceptible to her commands. The victim also develops a perverse erotic fixation on Lilith.

If that person dies, they would rise again in three days as a vampire, though such vampires would have the conventional vampiric powers and limitations. Not all of those bitten in such fashion would be reborn as vampires, but the conditions of such transformations are uncertain.

Lilith possesses a virtually all-consuming desire to see her father dead, but she is unable to cause his death directly. Though she can physically strike him, she would be unable to plunge a stake through his chest. In addition, as long as Dracula exists, so, too, does Lilith. If Dracula is destroyed, Lilith could meet her own death, but her spirit would return as soon as Dracula were resurrected.

How did her father, Dracula become a vampire?

In 1459, Varnae, the first vampire, became weary of his existence, and decided to set up a successor: Vlad Tepes Dracula. Prodded on by strange and deceptive dreams (prophetic visions) of victory sent by Varnae, Dracula led forces of Transylvania in fighting off the third Turkish invasion, with the help of his aid, Claverling. Dracula lost the battle!

Dracula’s troops had actually driven off the wave of Turks, but were then slaughtered by Apocalypse’s Riders of the Dark! Apocalypse himself took down Dracula. The warlord; Turac, with Turac’s ally Baron Korda watching, had Dracula spared, hoping that they could see him control Transylvania. Turac took the gravely injured Dracula to a gypsy, Lianda, who had legendary healing prowess. Lianda, however, was a vampire, and her “healing powers” were used on Dracula – thus transforming him into a vampire!

In 1456, with Hunyadi’s help, Dracula became the prince of Walachia. Dracula realised his powers after Turac killed his wife, Maria: after Turac and his men sexually assaulted her! Dracula broke free from his bonds too late to save her, but did bite and slay Turac and most of his guards.

Leaving them dead, Dracula realised he was no longer a fit father, and dropped his young son, Vlad Tepulus to be raised by gypsies. Then Dracula was confronted by vampires sent by Varnae, who brought the Impaler to a special ordeal, which Varnae arranged to determine Vlad Tepulus’s fitness to become new ruler of the vampires.

Vlad Tepulus fought Nimrod, who Varnae had directed to pretend to be ruler of the Earth’s vampires, and managed to destroy both Nimrod and Lala, a vampiress. However, a group of priests raided the vampire gathering, led by the uncle of a girl, Cristina. They destroyed Dracula – his first destruction as a first vampire!

Despite Dracula being destroyed so soon after first becoming a vampire, Varnae remained firm in his decision to gloom Vlad Tepulus as his successor. Varnae contrived to resurrect Dracula with the blood of Cristina, before this time a virgin, shed upon penetration after intercourse with one of Varnae’s minions, Serge!

The returned Dracula thanked Cristina for her inadvertent assistance! Horrified, Cristina returned to her uncle, but Varnae had already slain him! Serge took on his true, vampiric form, but Dracula killed him.

Then Varnae, despite Dracula’s resistance, fed Vlad Tepulus his blood, making him the monarch of the undead. Varnae put Vlad Tepulus in a coffin to protect him from the sun. Varnae then became the first vampire to destroy himself by willingly walking into the day!

Vlad Tepulus began to feed upon gypsies, blaming them of what he had become; among those he killed was Armi, a daughter to the gypsy, Gretchen. As Vlad Tepulus grew to adulthood, the gypsies taught him to hate his father, Dracula. He tried to kill multiple times to slay Dracula before Dracula finally slew him instead!

In 1459, Dracula returned to Castle Dracula, where he slew Anton Levka, who had usurped his castle and his holdings. He was then confronted by Father Bordia, a devil-worshipping vampire in the guise of a Catholic priest! Dracula overpowered and staked Bordia, and then found a romantic interest in Zaveria, a woman whose husband had been slain by the Turks.

Sifting through Bordia’s possessions, Dracula discovered a disturbing fact: a spell to destroy vampires existed within the parchments of the Darkhold – the Montesi Formula. Dracula fearfully took hostage the wife of the reputedly greatest thief on Earth, Murgo.

For the sake of his wife, Murgo complied with Dracula’s demand to filch the Darkhold from the Vatican library, a holy place where even the Lord of the vampires could not tread. Murgo was ambushed and slain by the sorcerer, Cagliostro, who took the dark tome for himself! Dracula slew Murgo’s wife for her husband’s failure, and vowed hatred undying on Cagliostro for his actions.

Same year, (1459), Dracula invited Sultan Murad II to Castle Dracula, where he gained his revenge (for imprisoning him and killing his relatives). The brides of Dracula vamped Murad’s soldiers, and Dracula bite Murad, before tossing his corpse to his assembled troops outside.

Then Dracula bit and killed the sister of Hans, who sought vengeance. Hans nearly died from frostbite in his long trek to Transylvania, and was nursed back to health by Rache van Helsing. The two fell in love, but eventually Hans went after Dracula, and was slain by him.

Rache, pregnant with Hans’ child, vowed that her unborn son and all his descendants would eventually destroy Dracula – starting the long of enmity between the van Helsings and Dracula.

Over 400 years later, on February 2, 1876, Abraham van Helsing and Elisabeth van Helsing traveled to Bistritz to investigate his newly inherited title of the Baron of Bistritz. While van Helsing was out drinking some wine with his lawyers and looking through some ancient artifacts, the ‘children of Judas’ (whose origin is obscure) stormed van Helsing’s new manor, slaughtered the servants, and abducted Elisabeth. Abraham returned too late to save her, but did manage to track the coven to their Black Mass in a small clearing in the woods.

As this was his first encounter with vampires, van Helsing was ill-prepared to face the coven. When he saw his wife, chained naked and helpless to granite alter, he rushed to the group, shotgun in hand, and ordered them to stop.

Dracula instructed the coven to continue and sent one of its numbers towards van Helsing. Abraham shot the vampire, but was startled when it rose and came after him, despite the large hole in its chest! Nonetheless, van Helsing continued to fire and to use the gun as a club in a vain effort to rescue his wife, who disappeared under the fangs of the coven! Van Helsing would have died but a group of soldiers and priests arrived, using crosses and whitethorn pikes to slaughter several children of Judas, and drive off the rest. Dracula vanished.

However, Elisabeth was already dead! Van Helsing waited for three days to see his wife rise again - as a vampire - and then destroyed her in an appropriate manner. These events drove him to pursue the destruction of Dracula and his ilk for the rest of his life.

As a ‘wanted a man,’ Dracula is affiliated to ‘Children of Judas.’ All children of Judas had deep, blood hair. They hunted the mountains, pulling down unwary travelers, killing them and marking their corpses with three “Xs” (XXX), the price of blood: the number of coins Judas (Iscariot) received for his master’s (Jesus) life!

Why is the Biblical Judas linked to vampires?

Roughly 2,000 years ago - coinciding perhaps - with the death of the carpenter’s son (Jesus Christ) from Galilee, a strange Vampiric bloodline arose in the Middle East. They call themselves Iscariots. Iscariots are believed to be shepherds of Christianity.

A somewhat obscure myth, folklore holds that vampires originated from Judas Iscariot, betrayer of Jesus Christ! Judas agreed to hand Christ over to Romans for 30 pieces of silver, which was enough maybe to buy a new chariot but not enough to retire him! He led the Romans to the garden of Gethsemane, where he identified Christ by kissing Him!

Mathew 27:3-5 says when Judas was condemned, he repented and returned the 30 pieces of silver to Roman chief priests and elders saying, “I sinned, I have betrayed the innocent blood.” The Romans replied him, “What is that to us? See thou to that!”

Judas cast down the pieces of silver in the temple. He departed and committed suicide because of guilt; suicides in vampire folklore were very likely to come back as vampires! So this may have helped contribute to the belief that vampires originated from Judas.

Because Judas betrayed Christ, he and his family were cursed! One Dante describes the place of Judas in the ninth circle of hell – where the jaws of Satan eternally grind him to bloody mush!

Why is Judas said to have gone to hell?

Stacey Lawless, on July 22, 1994, wrote online, “When Christ was being taken to Golgotha, Judas wept at the sight, aware that he had sold him into death and stained himself with innocent blood. In shame, Judas committed suicide by hanging himself on the tree in the dusk of that day. That was his last day of feeling pleasant sunlight!

“Then there came an Unclean One, a lamia of Egypt. He cut down his body and poured his own blood into the mouth of Judas, and awakened him in a blasphemous manner!” Stacey quotes the lamia talking to Judas:

“Long have I sought to make a tool of the Galilean, and you have delivered Him and his followers into my hands. His light will become the beacon by which I lead his followers into Darkness! For your aid, I have made you my son; that you may rejoice in Darkness and taste the black fruits that you yourself have sown!”

Judas stood and said to lamia, “It will not be so. I taste the fruit of my sowing even now. It is bitter and foul. As demons of the desert of your origin fight each other, so I will fight you in Darkness. I will stand between you and His followers and shield them from your evil. I betrayed my friend and I am damned for it, but I will not betray Him again.” Then he turned and fled into the night!

Lamia was an epithet of vampires then. The pouring of lamia’s blood into Judas’ mouth clearly betokens the Embrace. Does this myth hold water? Only “Chineke” (God) knows.

However, vampires’ aversion to silver perhaps comes from this myth, as Judas betrayed Christ for 30 silver coins. When Judas tried to return silver and couldn’t, he cast it away as something hateful to himself. Today, silver is used as a deterrent for vampires.

Vampires descending from Judas were usually identified by their red hair. This probably points to the origin of the myth among the Greeks, as they believed red hair to be mark of vampirism. Among the dark Greek, red hair would certainly seem strange, but among people farther north, closer to the Scandinavian countries, which feature such hair, there would be little to no stigma attached to it.

What do vampires say about sunlight?

Michelle Belanger, who has interviewed some vampires about how sunlight affects them, says, “…Every vampire I have spoken with has had the same complaints about sunlight: it hurts their eyes. Prolonged exposure makes vampires dizzy, nauseous and weak.”

Belanger says the warmth from the sun does not feel pleasant on vampires’ skin; it feels prickly, uncomfortable and very, very hot! Vampires burn very easily. Sometimes reactions are bit more bearable but extremely severe to more sensitive vampires.

What are the oldest vampires?

Stacey Lawless writes that the oldest known, still existing Iscariots are Mathias of Galatia (Embraced 120 A.D) and Anahazra the Gnostic (Embraced 200 A.D). While both claim to have been sired by the bloodline founder, neither one will speak of their Sire in detail.

Anahazra says, “Mathias, who is a colleague of mine in Inconnu, explains that his reticence stems from his Sire’s request.” He says his Sire was a Vampire of the fifth generation and he exhibited all powers of the Iscariot’s bloodline. Anahazra says Mathias hasn’t seen him since shortly after his own Embrace, and that his name was Judas!

What shows that Iscariots are Satanic?

When an orthodox Iscariot wants to purify himself to his most Humane, he spends ‘a year and a day’ in ritual seclusion, then is extinguished by beheading. The blood is collected in a chalice and is used as the Sacrament in a solemn Mass for the extinguished. Other than this requiem Mass, the Iscariots do not perform any Christian rites, though most of them were priests in life and certainly know how! They believe it’s blasphemous to do so.

In 214 A.D., in Jerusalem, Mathias encountered a strange female Vampire, Anahazra, a Gnostic from Samaria. She accused him of being spiritually blind; and of failing in his duty to his flock by entrapping them in the same blindness. Though young as a Vampire, Anahazra was powerful. She told Mathias that her Sire, Judas, had ordered her, “Flee my people from their chains.” Mathias orthodox Christians had declared Gnosticism as a heresy and were trying to stamp it out.

During orthodox growth, Iscariots occasionally appeared to whoever rebelled against the directives of the Childer of Mathias. They seemed members of sects of Orthodox Church punished as heretics. They were Childer and grandchilder of Anahazra, a vampire.

In an effort to strengthen the power of the Church, the orthodox Iscariots helped to institute Crusades to purge the Church of the influence of other Kindred and stamp out heresy. They pushed for inquisition that soon backfired dramatically upon the Iscariots.

Kindred of the newly formed Camarilla and Sabbat, both within and without the Church, ruthlessly hunted down all the Iscariots they could find. Several canny human inquisitors saw in their work a means of ridding themselves of Vampire domination once and for all. The line of Mathias was nearly wiped out. The line of Anahazra was similarly decimated.

Stacey says; few remaining Iscariots have lain extremely low for the past two centuries, nursing their wounds and grievances. “I have ascertained the existence of 20 orthodox Childer of Mathias. Some have hidden in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church! Others - refuges from dissolution of the Soviet Union - have been migrating through orthodox lands, seeking shelter. Clues say they’ve began to Sire again!”

Stacey adds; “Mathias believes, and my research indicates, that Anahazra still exists! A Kindred matching her description has been reported in Central America several times in the last five years, moving among peasant rebels and proponents of “liberation theory.”

To be saved, Iscariots must become Humane. Thus the orthodox spend time and effort trying to suppress these Beasts and raise their Humanity. Many have failed at this task, allowing themselves to become too fond of their own power and influence, and in the process becoming much like the Kindred they so despise.

Aside from the fact that both the Camarilla and Sabbat officially despise Iscariots, they are terribly sensitive to Faith. Any attempts to use True Faith to affect an Iscariot, automatically succeeds. A mere word of God hits them like a bomb blast!

With above experiences on vampires, are you confused or convinced that vampires exist? I think they exist. But if you believe in God, you don’t need to panic. Remember, vampires are demonic - they are backed by powers derived from Satan, the lucifer!

Ends.

Word count: 5,395.