We all agree that Vampires need blood to survive. Whether they choose human blood: forced, by trade, or donated, animal blood, or synthetic they must drink blood.
We have gone over some of the old myths and legends believed vampires could eat human food. Dampires usually consumed human food for the human side of their being, but for today let’s just for sake of this post talk only about drinking blood.
Okay, so now we get close to my post today.
I have always wondered why vampires couldn’t drink from the dead. I don’t mean a corpse that has been dead for a long time. A dead body of a day or two, the blood would lack oxygen and nutrients, but what about a body that has just died.
If you were hungry, a bag of potato chips would ease the hunger. It wouldn’t give you the nutrients to survive, but you wouldn’t be hungry. You’d have sometime before your body gave up on you if that is all you ever ate. Therefore, wouldn’t a vampire be able to drink from a dead body. Wouldn’t a vampire be able to become friends with a doctor at the hospital morgue or an undertaker? Well, maybe an undertaker would only have older bodies that wouldn’t work anymore. That would give him some time to find a suitable donor.
I’ve concluded on this matter. While I was away, I had dental surgery. A facial/oral surgeon removed four wisdom teeth; bone from my bottom right jaw was also removed. The first day my gums leaked blood; by the third day, it wasn’t a bloody taste anymore. I remember driving somewhere with my mom, and saying “No wonder vampires don’t drink old blood, it’s disgusting.”
We usually read or see in movies, Vampires who turn their noses at spilled blood. “It’s not fresh,” is usually what were told, but wouldn’t it still be okay, a little snack to hold you off for a few hours? If blood that is flowing from a live body isn’t consumable then blood that was from a bag wouldn’t be either, Right?
Alternatively, is it because spilling blood has been exposed to the air? Would that really make a difference if a few minutes have passed?
In all honesty, I’m not sure.
Anyone care to share his or her thoughts?
Mari Wells 
Hmm… you spell Dhampirs as Dampires. I like it, as people probably have an easier time figuring out how it’s pronounced.
Anyway, to answer your question, not all of the blood in our body is “oxygenated” at once. So, it could be that vampires prefer blood that hasn’t been exposed to the air like you theorize. Blood in a hospital blood bag was taken without being exposed to oxygen.
Although… Vampires go after the carotid artery. According to wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artery), arteries carry oxygenated blood. Still, the blood would be exposed to A LOT more oxygen if it hit the air.
I’ve used Dhampir and Dampire. I like Dampire more, its eaiser to figure out the pronunciation, but also it looks so similar to vampire, you have to know there is a connection between them.
I know not all blood is oxygenated. I believe vampires need oxygenated blood, but oxygenated blood that has been oxygenated from the lungs. I’m not sure but I think there is a difference of blood being touched by air/oxygen and having oxygen added into the blood by the lungs.
When blood is exposed to air, it starts to coagulate and usually as soon as it’s taken from the body die. If the vampire needs oxygen (the carotid artery) from the blood it drinks along with nutrients then dead blood won’t work.
Oh good point about coagulation and nutrients. I think we’ve found our reason 🙂
I have about (well we won’t say, I’ll ust say I’ve loved vampires since before I was a teen) to think about all of this. 😀