Hi! Soooo looking at that last post you reblogged... it got me looking through your vampire au tag. I absolutely LOVE IT! (and the concept of azure being a gaster blaster werewolf is making me feral. no pun intended) Would it be alright if I asked for some lore?

sure!! vampire au has been on my mind recently so this is very apt timing (✿◡‿◡)

(cw for discussions of blood and vampire biting and all that)

it's set in the 1880s, Ephialtes (Nightmare) is a centuries-old vampire lord of a manor that houses Bravo (Killer), Reuben (Horror), and Loess (Dust) who are also vampires. they overlook a lil town that they have a very tenuous truce with. they don't eat people, and the people supplies them with animals they can feed from.

Oneiros (Dream) is a daywalker vampire that lives in town and keeps a close eye on the manor to make sure they keep in line. he works with Azure (Blue, a werewolf)! they're best buddies hehe

things weren't always so chill between the town and the manor filled with vampires, hence the need for a truce, but things have been alright for the most part. the manor skeletons keep to themselves mostly, though Reuben and Bravo go into town for supplies (Reuben mostly) or to socialize (Bravo).

despite having a truce and not eating humans, Ephialtes is very comfortable with his nature as a "man-eating monster"; it's just easier living in peace with humanity than being hunted all the time. it's only a recent development, so there's plenty of stories of his days as a "proper" vampire lord and the terror he wrought. he's still very much that monster, too-- he can very easily slip back into acting cold and ruthless when he needs to be intimidating. it helps that he does genuinely enjoy the fear, as it's just as nourishing to him as blood (he does prefers human blood if he can get it). still, he's very hospitable and gentlemanly when he needs to be and enjoys the finer things in life, like art and music. he's very protective of his little rag-tag family he's put together over the years

vampires are made when a vampire's venom becomes too concentrated in the blood (or magic if you're a monster). this is done either by drinking a lot in one go so there's not much blood compared to the venom, or biting too often but not drinking much so it's a slower process. this makes a "vampire spawn" who's sort of under the control of whoever turned them. they're made a proper vampire if the vampire that turned them lets them consume their magic to finish the process.

the "plot" of the au is that Ephialtes hires a painter from the town to stay in the manor to make portraits of the skeletons to replace old ones, and naturally shenanigans occur (and they fall in love)