How to become a vampire

The most common and sure-fire method of becoming a vampire is to die from a vampire bite. The sanguinary bite (or "kiss") of a vampire is its method of perpetuating its breed, and those rising from the dead to become vampires are subject to the will of the vampire that originally bit him/her.

The bite of the vampire is usually detected as two small but swollen puncture wounds; often referred to as "the Seal of Dracula". Most vampires prefer to attack victims of the opposite sex.

Vampires do not necessarily kill their victims; it seems that they need a relatively small amount of blood daily from their victims. Being evil, most vampires take pleasure in killing their victims, justifying their act by the desire to remain secret or to save their victim’s soul from being damned.

If the victim is not killed, he/she will turn into a vampire within 2 to 7 days (varying according to the stories). The master will then initiate the newborn vampire until he can survive by himself. The victim must drink the blood of the vampire. This is the act that van Helsing calls 'the vampire's baptism of blood.’ Once the victim has swallowed the vampire blood, the victim dies as for a poison to reborn as vampire.

The victim is under the mental domination of the master vampire and can only exert an independent will during the daylight hours or when the master vampire consciously releases his control. Only the death of the master vampire can free the victim from its curse and only if he has not killed to sustain his blood feed.