There are certain known facts about vampires. They revile change. They are obsessive-compulsive. They are illogical. They are cursed. They will burst into flames in sunlight.
They are dying.
With less than a hundred vampires left in the world, Yas...
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Vampires were a societal species, focused solely on survival. Little effort was spent towards turning others, except when in dire need. As long as they were within a Circle, they could mostly subsist on mundane food—meats, grains, plants, the like—and curb the worst of their appetites with the blood of better fed Circle-mates. That was not the case with aggression anchors.
The Circle might have stamped out all vestiges of aggression from their kind, but a passive species would not last long, ripe to be preyed upon by others. Aggression anchors were kept alive solely to protect the Hive. Not with strength, but with personality. Because while the vampires were weak compared to other species, once upon a time they had been numerous. A Circle of ten submissives could temporarily cede control to an aggression anchor, who would initiate a feedback loop and infect the rest of the Circle with violence. Coupled with the slightly-telepathic coordination afforded by the Circle's magic, the vampires could defend themselves through force by numbers, much like a swarm of bees protecting their nest from a bear. For this sake, aggression anchors were always primed with near starvation, ready to share their hunger for blood at a moment's notice.
Even though she hadn't a Circle to defend, Yasuko hadn't shucked the habit.
Not sure what good it'll do me, she mused sourly. There wasn't a Circle for her to influence, and she knew better than to exaggerate her fighting ability. But what she did have confidence in, if anything, was her speed. And according to Libby, the element of surprise.
