Okay Tumblr is being a really butthead so I had to remove the gif in my post and redo it. Typical.
So hello my dearest fang babes, I am back again with another edition of Vampiric Science! I do apologize if closer to the end I go on a tangent, I just get overly excited when I write. So, with that being said
*clears throat*
Turning HURTS.
We've already seen a prime example of that just from the short clips of Michael, but let's be fair he had it easy. From what I could see it was similar to a heart attack, and afterwards he struggled to get a handle on his flying
Personally I still like the idea of vampirism being transferred by both bite or blood. Towards the end of the film, Max tries to bite Lucy not make her swallow his blood. I think David just preferred the bottle because let's be honest, Michael was gullible and our David has a flair for the dramatic. If we're going by how something spreads, we have to think blood vs venom.
Were the vampire venom to be carried via consumption it makes sense why it took Michael over a day and a half before he started turning, officially. It has to be absorbed through your stomach into your blood stream, then even after that it has to circulate through your body and to your heart before I think the transformation can occur. Saliva can severely dilute something like venom if you're only getting a small taste. A kiss, for example, would do fuck all. Well, except make you happy haha. So it was best for stealth to go with a drink approach. They needed Michael's transformation to take enough time for Max to swoop in, seduce Lucy, and make it easier to persuade her later on.
Now onto venom. Vampiric venom would be directly injected into the blood stream via bite. Think of vampire fangs for a second almost like those on a viper, hollowed out with some sort of toxic glands running through them. Sharp as a needle, as soon as they pierce your neck it'd be coursing through you veins. I think it would still take several hours before it stopped your heart as everything would have to shut down as well, but it wouldn't take nearly as long as blood drinking. Keep in mind, David most likely turned Michael because of Max. It's likely they had intended to use Star as a lure on the boardwalk, but when they got back Max pulled him aside and said he's met Michael's mom, and there's gonna be a change in plans. It had to be stealthy of course, turn Michael first, then turn Sam. Easy peasy. So when it comes to consumption, blood is the best way to go. Especially because a direct approach would just be boring, and frankly messy. More than anything Max needed Michael alive- sort of, to use as bait for Lucy. If you really think about it, if Michael had no significance to Max, the night Star was supposed to kill him, the boys would've just done it themselves!
"Star you were supposed to eat the bastard, not fuck him!"
Keep in mind Star had no idea about Max, so she probably just assumed David was playing some cruel joke on Michael solely because she liked him so much. If Max hadn't told them to turn Michael, I can 100% guarantee they would've slashed that himbo the moment Star failed to kill him.
Well down to the nasty part of it.
Why DOES turning hurt. The easy answer is: they're dead. Half vampire or full, your body must die in order to be reborn, in a sense.
The muscles probably shut down first, twisting and morphing into something stronger, bones stretch, your teeth are being pushed and extended into points, and you pretty much go through a massive heart attack. It just stops. The idea of dying after you've been turned isn't unheard of. If you remember in Anne Rice's Intwrview with a Vampire, the process is quite excruciating. Worse than what we see with Lost Boys. It leaves you in utter agony. You are writhing and thrashing on the floor, screaming at the top of your lungs with your mouth agape in horror. Watching it again I can almost physically feel the pain. It's not just your body that's dying, it's your soul.
Even in American Horror Story they emphasize the importance of drinking blood having to do with replacing the nutrients that normally should be carried through the blood stream. I'm not sure if some of you know, but a normal human cannot consume quantities of human blood, it actually makes us sick. You drink a cup of human blood and I guarantee youll puke it up. I imagine with a vampire, its absorbed into their dried up insides, which essentially keeps everything running smooth and dandy. They have no blood running through their veins now, so what they eat is replacing that blood stream and preventing further decay. Personally, I don't think a lack of blood would necessarily kill them, but rather like the vampires in the Underworld series, you are a mummified, and it fucking hurts. The vampire's system seems to be on hyperdrive, particularly with vastly replicating cells to prevent aging, and attribute to their rapid healing process, and no doubt a speedy metabolism too to process the blood they drinm. It would explain why they have to hunt almost every night. Without that constant refresher to revitalize your metabolic systems, you begin to revert to what you should be. A corpse. Physical weakness, loss of weight, gnawing uncontrollable cravings, your stomach starts eating itself as theres nothing in it that can provide the nourishment you need.
That also contributes to their inability to thrive in sunlight. Last night, I did a little digging to find the root of what a sun allergy is. Yeah, that is a thing. A sun allergy is a condition that happens when the immune system reacts negatively to sunlight of any kind, usually direct UV rays. The immune system treats sun-altered skin as foreign cells, leading to violent reactions. The reactions that can occur include a rash, blisters or hives. Well considering our fang babies are walking corpses, they can't process any light at all, it's like sticking a marshmallow in a brick oven. They burst up. Now in reality, one of the potential reasons that causes hypersensitivity to sun rays is if you don't get enough of some nutrients.
Pellagra, for example, is caused by a niacin deficiency and leads to photosensitivity. Other nutrients, particularly antioxidants and flavonoids, may help protect skin against sun damage in healthy people. Again, vampires are far from healthy. Not to mention, they lack the necessary antioxidants that should be naturally produced on their own due to their blood already being decayed. So whatever they can get from blood consumption is contributed to them continuing to live in a half-dead or undead state. My theory, in conclusion, is that the entire process of vampirism is pretty damn painful. Being turned, you will feel every part of you die and you better be prepare because it will be agony. The hunger is you dying all over again, it's your body warning you that it's running out of fuel to keep this busted machine rolling. But hey, at least you look hot doing it!













