I’m a girl of many passions. I love writing (obviously), art, music, and I’ve always been fascinated by history. As an archaeologist with a keen interest in related disciplines (anthropology, palaeontology etc.) fossils are fairly high up on the list of things I love. But I’m also a lover of fantasy and the supernatural. Vampires in particular (again, obviously), hold a certain allure. I’ve always harboured a deep love for pirates and bandits of any kind, while simultaneously being terrified and enthralled by creates of the deep (I have a slightly out of control phobia of sharks, yet stories of Krakens and Cthulhu delight me).
I drink a lot of rum.
So, imagine my delight this week when three of my passions collided in spectacular fashion and the scientific community announced the discovery of a tiny new microfossils in the rocks of the eastern Grand Canyon that indicated the presence of…wait for it…
TINY UNDERWATER VAMPIRES!
Yes, really!
Okay, technically speaking these tiny predatory vamps don’t have fangs that we know of, BUT, an explanation has yet to be found for how they ‘drilled’ tiny and very fang-esque holes in the cell walls of these fossilised creatures.
This got me thinking…
The deep blue sea is actually the PERFECT place for vampires. There’s no sunlight, little in the way of sharp and pointy wooden objects, and vampires don’t (generally speaking) need to breathe, so the lack of oxygen wouldn’t be a problem. Add to that the fact that humans have a habit of getting on ships and you basically have a regular supply of food that has voluntarily packed itself into a sardine can and floated above your head.
Just wait for the sun to go down, and you can hop up on deck for an all-you-can-eat buffet.
It also leads to an intriguing possibility. If we presume it’s possible for vampires to turn non-humans into vampiric versions of their species (like the vampire dogs in Blade Trinity), is it not possible that these ocean-dwelling creatures of the night might transform the already-fearsome creatures of the deep into even bigger bad-asses.
Imagine Cthulhu with FANGS.
Or a Kraken WITH FANGS.
Now, you might think this revelation would cause me to have an even greater fear of the ocean, but I find it oddly comforting – in a battle between Jaws and Lestat, my money is on Lesat.
Every. Single. Time.
Vampires are just that cool.
