Vampires are a varied and dangerous bunch of intelligent undead. The traits that all vampires share regardless of clan and coven are as follows. The need to feed upon the life force of the living through blood and that they are quickly and permanently destroyed by sunlight.

They also retain their personality that they possessed in life, though it may have been warped. Vampires also have abilities dependent upon their clan, generally their abilities are fueled by the blood they feast upon. A starving vampire will go feral and lose control of itself, attacking anything that has blood. - Common Monsters

Adrian

I am both happy with and disappointed in what we were able to scavenge before noon. There was next to no solid food that was still usable. Rotten meat and vegetables galore, over two weeks without refrigeration ruined most of the supplies. At least there were plenty of drinks. The trio are thrilled that there is more soda, they have bothered me for more than once for 'bubbly sweet water'.

The pawn shop and anywhere else that may have had a weapon had been looted before us. All in all there were cases of soda and booze, but not much else that is of use. We found plenty of wrappers, for ready to eat meals, but wrappers are not usable themselves.

An ice-cold soda was however a nice way to start our walking. I stored everything that was still good, but I don’t think that we will consume the alcohol ourselves.

Jason

Thraen’s body withers as I hold him pinned. The shadow man’s explanation of this Devouring Grasp is accurate; it only works on the helpless. When someone is not in a position to defend himself I can consume him.

My eyes itch, each time I blink my vision becomes clearer. I can feel something else enter me as well, an energy that is not the same as the blood I’ve been consuming from my previous victims. I release a groan from the pleasure of my feast.

The shriveled corpse of Thraen falls to the ground, I feel hungry. I need to consume more, and the shadow man is grinning at my actions.

I hear gunfire outside, and smile. We are being attacked again, that means I can feed without restraint. No one will notice a few dozen extra corpses. Did I always think like this? I don’t care, soon I will be strong enough to take back what should have been mine.

This diablerie magic of the shadow man is great. I wonder if I can take the powers of those nerds when I consume them. I run into the servant’s quarters of this mansion of the Sunchasers. There is only one door in and out. They won’t be able to run from me.

I lose myself after starting to consume the first of the maids. Their essence tastes sweeter than Thraen’s. I lose myself to the taste of their essence.

I find myself covered in blood from the maids, I only have a vague memory of what I did. I smile at it, rapping them as I killed and bathed in their blood; all the while draining their essence, it was delicious.

I find myself licking my lips, I want to do that again. I look at my blood covered hands to see my fingers end in claws. I can’t hide that, but then they retract into my fingers. Somehow I know how to extend and retract them. I still hunger, I need to eat more.

I have changed, but I don’t care. I will take what I want from the world. I will devour anything that gets in my way. I leave the room smiling; not noticing the words written in blood on the wall. I want to find the nobles who are left of the family. I will be the last ‘Sunchaser’ before the battle outside ends.

When I finish playing with the patriarch of the family, pain erupts from my back. I can feel new limbs from it. Black bat wings are attached to me now. I can feel how to have them retract. I swallow a piece of raw flesh.

I find it sweet. I feel strong, the battle outside is not yet over but I finally feel full. Whatever changes diablerie has been doing to me ended. I can still eat more but I don’t feel the absolute need to.

I will still become stronger from feeding so I might as well gorge all that I can. So, I walk outside and move to another house of nobles. Many will 'die' to whoever these attackers are.

Adrian

It is about an hour until dusk when we arrive at the neighborhood where Bryan lives. Much like the rest of the city it has debris scattered about and some scorch marks but the only marks of the fallen people are dried blood in the street.

As there were no creatures that waylaid us I can only expect that there is something big nearby that is keeping them either in line or away. We need to be careful, but I can’t find any trace of a large dangerous force.

The car in front of Bryan’s house is his dad’s, it is old and was unfortunately smashed by something. One of the few vehicles that we had a chance of finding the key for. Bryan rushes up to the front door, he still hopes his parents are alive.

There is a chance since the door is locked and the windows were not broken. I hope they are there, but I doubt it. They were old and in poor health before this all started, the only thing that would have been in their favor is that they hoard food. Something that they learned to do during the depression.

The door opens to Bryan’s house key and he rushes inside. I can hear something moving and it isn’t any of us. The house smells of shit and piss but it always does. The pets don’t get taken outside enough.

I hear a jingle of small bits of metal hitting each other as a small toy dog comes into view. That little dog is as old as me, if he is still here than the Grace family might still be alive. Bryan picks up the dog and hugs it. Then he starts calling for his parents as he walks to the back of the house.

If I remember right his mom is practically bedridden and his dad isn’t too much better off. He was raised by his grandparents and they are rather old. I hear Bryan’s voice followed by his mother’s.

“They’re here.”

“Shh, it’s time to pray Bryan.”

Do they even know what is going on? I walk over to the bedroom to find Mrs. Grace in bed and her husband in a nearby chair. I don’t think he is breathing. All of the food in the house has been moved to within arm’s reach of the bed.

Bryan is hugging his mother, I don’t think she is all here right now. There isn’t any water nearby and I am sure that the pluming will not be working anymore. The smell of feces is stronger in this room. Mrs. Grace notices me and asks a question.

“Adrian, are you here for a sleep over? Bryan will have to get the blankets out, Wade already fell asleep. Could you get me some water?”

I exit the room before pulling a water bottle out of Void Cache. I don’t want to shock the old lady’s heart with magic is real. When I walk back in I shift my vision to infrared. Her body is cool, warmer than the rest of the room but not as warm as it should be. She is dying. Her husband is already dead; he is the same temperature as the rest of the room.

“The TV isn’t working. Bryan where are the extra batteries?”

I give her some water, and she smiles. Both Bryan and me ignore the more recent question. Bryan looks up at me, he wants me to help her. Whatever healing his patron grants him must not be enough for this. I don’t know if I can do much, she is dying of old age and disease.

I do what I can, twisting reality to one where she is a bit healthier. One where her blood flows faster and where her breathing is easier. I can feel her life receding faster from the changes I make. I stop, anything I do costs her more than it fixes. I shake my head, I cannot help. Mrs. Grace is smiling as she talks to Bryan. Her eyes are clearer from what I did. At least she can now tell what is going on.

“Bryan, you’re a good boy. Stay safe and be happy.”

She is talking almost in a whisper, I could barely hear her. I am sure other things were said but this is between Bryan and his mother; but I only heard the two sentences. I leave the room and close the door, there is nothing I can do to help. Just wait and help Bryan burry them afterwards. So, I pull out a book and wait.

The girls are all asleep on the couches and chairs, we cleaned up some of the mess in the room for our own comfort. I don’t like how quiet it is here, there are no noises from animals outside. And something in the air feels wrong, I am not sure what but something is wrong.

On whim; I move to look out the window, there does not seem to be anyone outside. Why are there no noises? I don’t notice anything but a bit of movement with Infravision.

I hear a door open and Bryan walks up to me. I know what he wants to ask for, I won’t make him say it and start walking to the garage. There are two shovels there. Once outside, my feeling that something is wrong grows stronger.

We are in the back yard; the fence is broken and the garden overgrown. I start a hole. If Bryan starts another then his mom is also dead. He does start a second hole. We don’t speak until dawn, sometimes we would change holes or help carve out one of the larger rocks in the dirt but we did not speak.

I am sitting on the roof of Bryan’s house; his parents are buried and we will soon move towards my own home. But that will be tomorrow, today we will morn and rest. The trio have decided to sit up on the roof with me. I speak softly with them to not disturb Bryan and Abagail near his buried family.

“Something seems wrong.”

K nods at me, “there is no wildlife nearby.”

“There has to be a reason why.”

No one speaks up in response to my comment. Something is wrong, should I go look around? Hmm, maybe flying around I can find whatever it is that is making this location feel wrong. I speak up to tell the trio of my idea.

“What do you think of me flying around as a dragon to see if I can find anything?”

“What if you get hurt” asks Lysan.

“Then I run away.”

K and Talia also seem worried at the possibility of me getting hurt. I pull them into a hug.

“I’ll be careful and come back.”

I let go of them and undress before willing myself to shift. I only have two other changes of clothes and would rather not end up in rags. The world grows bigger as I shrink in size. At least I am larger than the last time I turned into a dragon. Sitting I reach just above waist height on K so half the size of a person.

I should get this form measured, and my human form for that matter. I hope I can find more clothes before I ruin the ones I still have. I jump off the roof and spread my wings, I can feel the energy of the sun better in this form. The girls watch as I circle around, getting used to this body; something I never did in its smaller prior size.

What little hunger that I was feeling while on the roof dissipates, I can feel something flowing from my wings into my main body. Should I sunbathe in this form from now on? I could stretch our rations 17% longer if I did that every day.

I circle around the neighborhood and the adjoining neighborhoods for a bit. I can feel dragon-me whispering how to fly and control this form better. He sounds tired though, I guess fighting off my second exposure to lycanthropy took something out of him.

Soon, I think I found what the cause of my unease was, the graveyard several blocks away has a camp set up in it. I can see people with injuries that should have killed them walking around, no patrolling the area.

They haven’t noticed me as they are not looking at the sky but I can see that they are patrolling several blocks in every direction. Bryan’s house is just past the edge of the patrols. They feel unnatural, I don’t see any of these groups having a person without a lethal wound on them. Dead orcs, goblins, humans, and other things walking around.