YOOOO I LOVE YOUR HEADCANONS ABOUT VAMPIRE VENON CREATING A BOND TO HUMANS PLS SHARE THEM (if u want to and have spoons ofc)
YOOOO THAT’S AWESOME I WILL GLADLY SHARE I LOVE THIS CONCEPT
-The process of bonding a human to a vampire is usually a decisive action. While some addiction to the sensation of vampire venom can result from extensive biting sessions, the venom that specifically ‘domesticates’ humans is not injected with the regular hunting mix, as not all vampires want a flock of humans clinging to them. Vampires have a very strong control over how much of this specific neurotoxin they inject, as it’s one of the first things they learn how to control when they’re first-turned (bc fledglings are messy biters and the last thing a progenitor wants is for their progeny to have a flock when the vampire is new and has no idea how to control them). To ‘domesticate’ humans, a vampire would begin to slip incrementing amounts of this specific toxin into their normal stunning mix until the human is at their preferred level of ‘domestic’ (amount and time between intervals affects the level of dependency and altering that occurs; little bits over a period of months or years will change a human so subtly that they will barely notice it, whereas an extremely heavy shot of venom to an unaltered human is likely to degrade their brain much faster, oftentimes ruining their mental state).
-A flock of humans is a sign of status and power among vampires, and is one of the reasons why Krul banned direct drinking from livestock. The last thing she needed was for a bunch of prissy nobles stealing more and more kids so they could one-up each other; plus, domesticated humans are usually very loyal to their master, which means they could be used as (somewhat ineffective) weapons of destruction if needed, or a flesh barrier between two fighting vampires, which is not something she wanted to deal with.-A human that’s undergoing or underwent a change loses the ability to recognize human social cues and to emotionally bond to other humans. In essence, they see each other as dumb, insufficient animals, not worthy of their time. In addition to this, their ability to identify or feel strong states of alarm or fear degrades significantly. This decreases the chances of them seeking out other humans for help, ensuring that they go to their master first if they need something or feel afraid, and then other vampires second. It also ensures that if humans did succeed in taking back their missing family or whatever, they would be disinterested in resuming everyday life, making retrieval of the vampire’s stolen property supremely easy.
-The venom also has a slight turning agent to it that essentially alters the humans so that they can easily recognize vampire social cues, vocalizations, and behavior patterns. This makes herding easy; a snap of the fangs or a click in the throat can summon a human to their master’s side and allow them to keep company with them without bothering them. Though they do not have the ability to mimic back these behaviors, they will respond to them with unerring loyalty, and crave their master’s praise above all else- in essence, they become doglike. They also have a heightened sense of territory boundaries, and do not usually stray from their master’s rules or territory markings. This vampire-understanding behavior is at its height with the human’s master, as every vampire has a different variation of their bonding venom. This bond can also subtly alter a human’s blood so that the human tastes sweet to the keeper and ‘marked’ to others, which, combined with the unerring loyalty to their keeper, makes drinking from another vampire’s flock (or stealing) difficult.
-Some humans become romantically attracted to their vampire and their vampire alone due to the venom bond, which is a creepy Stockholm Syndrome concept that would be really good for a horror novel
-A vampire who has a herd usually considers them to be not much more than toys, but they generally become more possessive of them than the rest of their livestock nonetheless, and will spend more time preening their humans/scent marking them if in the presence of other vampires as a territory thing. Think those little fluffy toy dogs that get ridiculously groomed and dressed up so that their owners to show off.
-Do NOT fuck with a vampire that has a herd and tends toward the solitary side. They are the most likely to be possessive of their humans (as they are more likely to see them as pets), and will fuck shit up if you mess with their property. To those vampires, humans are less a status symbol and more of a group of companions, however lesser they may be.
