The Logic of The Little Vampire part 4: A Further Study - Changing Things Up

The logical successor to a study in vampire teeth is a study in vampire venom, of course, since that is the whole key to vampire reproduction. Biting a victim injects, as a side effect, some substance (called venom because a better term eludes me) into the blood stream while the vampire feeds, resulting in a slow but thorough transformation from mortal to immortal. So what changes?

Vampires have such characteristics as enhanced speed and strength, psychic powers, superhuman senses, and immortality, and all are a result of the venom acting on the body. It acts as a steroid on the muscles, stimulates the cones and rods, nasal chambers, etc., to pick up more than they have been, and has a supercharging effect on the brain, resulting in the development of telekinesis, telepathy, the ability to fly (which can be considered an extension of telekinesis), the ability to shapeshift (also an extension of telekinesis), and other such powers. It acts as a preservative, keeping every last tissue in the victim's body (now effectively a corpse) from decomposing as the years, decades, and even centuries wear on and even after the vampire has been killed and has lain dead for hundreds of years (see Part 11). It even stimulates the growth and development of fangs to allow the vampire to feed and reproduce.

But it comes with a price. Venom forever damages the skin's ability to handle light and light radiation, resulting in combustion should a vampire be exposed for too long. It also creates a craving for human blood that must be consciously controlled, by the self or outside sources (demonstrated by both Frederick and Gregory, the latter twice). For perhaps magical reasons, venom creates in the vampire an aversion to holy symbols, and it may, as a result of its effects on sense of smell, also create an aversion to the strong odor of garlic and similar foods.

In short, being bitten by a vampire is the start of a drastic change in how someone percieves the world, oral physiology, and mental power and functioning. Though we are never shown what happens when a vampire wakes up on the first night of its new life, besides go find a meal, it's easy to imagine there's quite a lot to take in.