They say the craziest ghosts are collected and distilled to their very essence. This “rage essence” is said to imbue incredible strength and mania to the imbiber.
If you extracted essence from a vampire, what would it do? What is unnatural about it? What are the drawbacks?
“What is unnatural about it?”
Mate, you’re snorting powdered vampire cocaine, what isn’t unnatural about that?
But to answer your other questions, and mind you I wouldn’t recommend this kind of thing to anyone, no matter how desperate you might be: consuming the essence of a vampire turns your into something like them. Gives you the same spark of the eternal, or as close as you’re like to get without going through the same kind of spooky rigmarole that proper vampires have to go through.
Basically, you can’t die, though you’ll probably wish you could. You could get stabbed, burned, shot, chopped to bits, wouldn’t matter, you just won’t die. Downside is, you still feel all the pain, and you can’t heal the same way they do. Plus, the effects don’t last long. So the stuff could save your life, but you’d better have a stockpile or a good stitch on the payroll if you want it to stay saved.
I’ve got it on good authority that the Bazso Baz everyone knows is just a body double. The real Bazso is just a severed head, and he’s been surviving on vampire essence and running things behind the scenes for years. That’s why the Lampblacks have been getting bolder; he’s running low on his stock and needs to find a new supply line.
Oh, and one other thing: you take this stuff and your soul is gonna light up like a beacon for anyone paying attention. And vampires not only pay attention, but they don’t take kindly to anyone who drinks their kind. It’s all backwards to them, see?
But sure, dose up on the stuff all you want. Any of that is better than turning ghost yourself.
James Etheridge Bloody brilliant.