Vampire

A vampire (吸血鬼, kyuketsuki, lit. "blood sucking demon") is an undead, immortal, humanoid oddity sometimes referred to as "the king of oddities." Vampires are nocturnal monsters that suck blood not only out of impulse and hunger, but to create servants who in turn become vampires in the process. Sucking blood also seems to empower them, reinforcing their various powers.

Vampires are also known for consuming not only human flesh, but nearly anything at all, including other oddities. If a vampire does not wish to make a minion out of their victim, they will eat them whole before their vampirism awakens. Eating oddities is a proficient way to get rid of them.

Like all oddities, vampires thrive on the fear humanity has for them. Legends of vampires originated in the western world, which eventually became real when enough people learned of them. Vampires had no known presence in Japan prior to the first appearance of Kiss-shot Acerola-orion Heart-under-blade about 400 years before the series takes place. While not of Japanese origin, due to their description and literal translation as blood sucking demons, they are sometimes associated with the Japanese demon: oni (鬼).

Appearance

Appearances vary between many vampires, so much so that telling them apart from humans can be difficult if their unique features aren't easily visible. Vampires are most prominently known for having sharp fangs which allow for blood sucking. Pointy, elf-like ears are also sometimes visible, though it doesn't necessarily seem to be a strict trait. While no vampire in the series has been seen transforming into a full bat, it does appear some are able to sprout bat wings out of their back.

Abilities

As dubbed the terrifying "king of oddities", vampires have a plethora of different abilities.

Regeneration

As immortal beings, most injuries have little significance to vampires due to their intense regeneration skills. While the speed depends on the vampire, almost any injury can be healed within minutes. If a body part becomes decapitated, it will evaporate and begin to grow back from where it was cut off. In addition, application of vampire blood or saliva can also heal wounds on humans.

Energy Drain

A supposedly rare trait, touching victims drains the living essence out of them, limiting their movement.

Shape-Shifting and Matter Generation

Vampires can not only generate matter of their own, but shape-shift their bodies. Dramaturgy uses this ability to forge his arms into swords for combat, while Episode transforms into mist in order to teleport. During one fight, Koyomi Araragi uses this ability to turn his arms into tree branches. The Kokorowatari most commonly seen in the series is a replica created through matter generation.

Shadow Submergence

This ability allows vampires to go inside shadows. Once inside a shadow, the area is supposedly however the vampire inside perceives it to be. Shinobu Oshino has a royal couch inside the shadow she resides in.

Night Vision

Vampires can see in the dark.

Mind Searching

Vampires can search for memories that they can't remember by forcing their hand into their brain, a somewhat messy process where blood and spinal fluid constantly spurt out, though the fluids evaporate instantly.

Ceiling Walking

Likely to resemble bats, vampires can stand and walk on ceilings as if they're on the floor. Shinobu sometimes does this in Araragi's room.

Amazing Speed, Agility, and Strength

Vampires clearly appear to be much more agile than humans. After turning into one, Araragi was easily able to run and jump at incredible speeds and grew an 8 pack which he kept after mostly turning back into a human. It's not clear if this was specially because of how powerful she was herself or if it's a common ability, but Shinobu was able to leap from continent to continent as Kiss-shot, as she did when she first arrived in Japan from Antarctica. She's also apparently able to destroy things by merely glaring at them.

Weaknesses

The Sun

Sunlight causes vampires to catch on fire. Weak vampires will turn to ash instantly, while stronger ones can last longer. Jumping into sunlight is a common way for vampires to commit suicide, although it doesn't really kill them so much as turn them into ash and make it difficult to be revived back into a proper form. Once a vampire is out of sunlight, the flames immediately disappear and no burn marks are left on the body or clothes.

Crosses

Physical contact with a cross causes an intense fiery burning sensation. The wounded area also regenerates at an extremely slow rate.

Silver Material

Not limited to just bullets, touching any silver matter in general harms vampires.

Door Invitation

Supposedly, vampires need to be invited in order to go through doors. It's not clear if this characteristic truly applies to the vampires in this universe however.

• Holy Water
• Garlic
• Stake to the heart

Other Characteristics

• Strengthened power in moonlight
• Charisma - Vampires can supposedly hypnotize people to become their victims with a stare. While not blatantly represented in the series, Araragi's first encounter with Kiss-shot could depict this ability as he appears to be unable to move as imagery showing her eyes zooming towards the screen and him trying to escape but hardly being able to move in the opposite direction flashes briefly.
• No shadow
• No mirror reflection
• Shared senses and feelings with minions
• Tears of Blood

Known Vampires

• Deathtopia Virtuoso Suicide-Master
• Tropicalesque Home-A-Wave Dog-Strings
• Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade
• Koyomi Araragi
• Seishirou Shishirui
• Dramaturgy
• Episode
• High Waist
• Low Rise