Vampire Location

by Destiny
(Bemidji, MN USA)

Question:
Where do vampire's live? Do they all stick together as a group or rather by themselves?

Answer:
All vampires are nomadic to an extent, meaning that they don't typically have one place that they live. Rather, they move around quite a bit to avoid detection. Those who choose to stay in one place for a long time can only do so if they stay fairly anonymous.

Arguably the biggest rule that vampires hold each other to is that they must not reveal themselves to human society. To do so means to endanger the entire race. If humans had hard evidence that vampires existed, they would no doubt hunt them all down. Therefore, it is not only preferable but crucial that vampires don't draw too much attention to themselves or their actions.

That is not to say that no vampires stay in one place for a long time. As with humans, there is a personal preference involved. It only makes sense that some would prefer to be on the move quite a bit while others would want to stay in one place.

While one might expect someone who wants to remain undetected by society to live far out into the wilderness, this is not typically the case for vampires. Small towns and sparsely populated areas do not have enough people in them to sustain a vampire's hunger for long, and in those communities most people know everyone that lives in the area, making anonymity surprisingly challenging.

Those who put down long-term roots are most likely to do so in big cities where they can live fairly anonymously among the people. The older and more densely populated, the better. Older cities, such as those in Europe and Asia, tend to have far more places for a vampire clan to hide, including old stone buildings connected to abandoned tunnel systems. A bustling nightlife just makes things easier, since once the sun is down a vampire can walk among the crowd relatively unnoticed.

Those communities that do host a large clan of vampires tend to be far more rigid and structured than those who live independently. This is by necessity, of course, as space is undoubtedly limited, and a great amount of trust must be placed in each community member, so the whole clan does not have to lose a long-term stronghold. These communities are often limited to the oldest vampires, and operate very much like the "secret societies" of wealthy and powerful human families.

The likelihood of vampires living in suburban settings or small towns is relatively small, though there are no strict rules saying that it cannot be done. Those who want to find vampires, for whatever reason, are more likely to find one either in underground communities in big cities or by chance passing through their town on their way to... somewhere else.

-Mike