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Thoughts on Psi Vampires?
Before I start the post, I should clarify that I'm referring to vampires in fiction - and not the real life "vampire culture", who are actually regular people just like you and me. If actual vampires really do exist, they would probably keep it a secret from us mortals. So, with that out of the way...
Psi vampires are distinct from sanguine vampires - in that it's energy that they feed on, rather than blood. They also typically have psionic powers, but not everyone with psionic powers is a psi vampire (latent or otherwise). It's also possible for mortals to have too much energy, like if they struggle with anxiety or insomnia. So, for those folks, psi vampires would actually be beneficial. If they have the ability of astral projection, they don't even have to be physically present to suck on the excessive energy.
Psionic vampires (or psychic vampires) are not necessarily the same thing as psi vampires, since it's also possible for sanguine vampires to have psionic powers beyond basic telepathy that all vampires typically have - usually those who were psionic mortals before they were turned.
Do you know of any stories when psi vampires co-exist with sanguine vampires? How closely related do you think the two types of vampires can be?




Yes! The Dresden Files has three courts of vampires, the Red court who are sanguine, the Black court who are also sanguine and zombie-like, and the White court who are psi - it's a great book series (they made a short-lived TV show which was also good but the books are hard to put down!)
From what I can gather, it seems that psi vampires usually appear in a different genre than your traditional sanguine vampires do.
Usually, psi vampires are not undead - and they also can't create more of their kind. Psi vampires are usually born that way, even though they might not "awaken" until a later age or so. They may or may not have ancestors or relatives who also have psionic abilities.
ETA: In some fiction where sanguine vampires apparently don't also exist, these type of vampires might be referred to as "psychic vampires" - but that can get confusing, if you also have sanguine vampires with psionic abilities.
Usually I'm not as big a fan of psi vamps. They can end up barely feeling like vampires, or be used as a dodge to make vampires not have to harm victims at all when feeding. The Dresden Files did a pretty good job of making psi vamp feeding destructive, though they didn't quite feel like vampires to me--more like incubi/succubi in some cases, or just general life-draining monsters. You can take certain things out of the vampire template--fangs, dependence on blood, weakness in daylight, immortality, undead, etc--and keep them feeling like vampires, but take too many and they start to feel like some other kind of monster or creature.
But then I was doing some worldbuilding for vampires who can feed on either blood or energy. (That'd be "hybrids" in Real Vampire parlance, but....I'm not touching that.) They need to feed on something, but they can have their pick. Where I had fun with this is that an inexperienced vampire can actually psychically drain people accidentally, especially if they're avoiding blood. And psychic feeding in this is actually much more damaging than taking a little blood, and causes long-term mental and emotional problems, and cumulatively can lead to serious mental illness or even suicide. Thus "good" vampires try to consensually get a little blood to keep themselves alive, while "bad" vampires psychically drain at will, which is much easier to do, doesn't even require knowledge of the victim, and doesn't require anyone to know they're a vampire. But psychic draining is also extremely tempting for the self-loathing vampire in denial. They get to exist without confronting their vampirism directly, or having to handle and taste blood.
While either will sustain a vampire, I think blood is also a bit healthier for them too. It's easier to heal from injuries with a diet of blood, and sometimes draining other people's thoughts and emotions and having all that conflicting energy swirling around inside them can lead to mood swings or confusion.
I think why I enjoyed doing it this way was it never got rid of blood as an option, and provided reasons why a vampire would continue to drink blood even if they had the option to drain psychic energy instead. Whereas making them two different "strains" of vampire means you have vampires who don't drink any blood, which defeats the whole purpose of having a vampire IMO.