Thursday's Ask Jullian

One of my favorite characters is Jullian Phiffer. He is what inspired Silver Bullet. I decided that it would be great to really bring him to life by interviewing him. Not just me, but everyone. This week I will be asking the questions, but I'll try to talk him into taking questions from you guys next week and possibly every Thursday in the future. So, this week we start with the basics.

Jullian isn't very tall, only about 6'. He has blond hair that hangs down past his blue eyes and he's a bit on the thin side. If you didn't know what he was, you'd think he had a problem with anorexia.

Me: How old are you?

Jullian: As far as you are concerned, I am twenty-three.

Me: What's that supposed to mean?

J: It means next topic. *glares*

Me: *shudders* Fine. Are you human?

J: *grimmaces* I'll probably have to kill you now. No, I'm not human anymore.

Me: *gulps* Well, what are you?

J: I'm what you would call a vampire.

Me: So, vampires do start out as humans?

J: Are all humans from this decade as simple as you? Yes, vampires are born from humans.

Me: How does that work?

J: No one really knows for sure. The change is caused by exchanging blood. Many of us think our bodies create a specific antibody in our own blood to prevent the human we intend to change from fighting it. At times it seems like an infection, others it's more like a virus, and sometimes it looks almost like a parasite.

Me: How so?

J: In what ways does it resemble what I have just said? *waits for me to nod* It resembles an infection in the sense that it invades the body and begins to kill it. Those who have survived the change know what this feels like. It isn't something easily explained. The organs die while the brain registers all of it. I understand that a virus could be considered a parasite or an infection, but I'm speaking of something different. The virus aspect of vampirism is that it reproduces once inside a living organism. Vampires can share blood with each other and it does nothing to us, but to a human it initiates the change. As a parasite, it feeds on the life of its host. The change is a slow process, often taking weeks, if not months. Humans may not even realize that they are going through it until they have either died or changed. They may believe they have the common cold or influenza. It isn't until they can no longer digest food or suffer from heart palpatations that they realize it is something more serious.

Me: Who was the first vampire?

J: None of us know his name anymore. Or they refuse to tell. As I said, the name vampire is not fitting. Many refer to the first as "the creator." He was a man endowed with immortality. Some think he may have been a god. He was bitten by a spider. That species is now extinct, you see, or we may have found a cure to this life. After being bitten by this fanged creature, it changed him. The spider's blood mixed with his own. He became faster, stronger, and had supurb senses. He found he was drawn to blood. Especially human blood. The spider that bit him was primarily cannibalistic, though it would take its blood from where ever it could get it. That agression came through, also. Oddly, when "the creator" shared his blood, it would kill his prey. It wasn't until he had fed from a beautiful woman that he regretted biting that he figured out how to make others change. He gave her his blood after drinking from her, and she didn't die. In fact, she eventually became like him, even sharing in his immortality.

Me: Well, this has been very... interesting. Thanks for sharing so much. Do you think you might be willing to do this on a regular basis?

J: *purses lips* Perhaps. At least as long as you amuse me.

Me: What if I'm not the one asking the questions?

J: We shall see.


Well, I think that went as smoothly as possible. If you would like to ask Jullian a question, feel free to leave a comment for this post. I will make sure he gets them next week. Maybe he will tell us how old he is next week!