#first installment of me holding up my vampire lore over my head like simba

[katsigian]

𝔐𝔶 𝔇𝔞𝔶𝔴𝔞𝔩𝔨𝔢𝔯 𝔏𝔬𝔯𝔢 001. 𝔅𝔩𝔬𝔬𝔡 𝔗𝔦𝔢𝔰

(Please keep in mind this is my lore specific to my original characters and is my own headcanon. It is not meant to be taken as canon or used for other instances)

First things first imagine this is how I look typing this:

Are you imagining it? Good, now picture Valen and Vesper, the two brothers, my two babies. Both daywalkers on their father's side, but in my worldbuilding, they maintain a lot of usual vampiric abilities. They're really more of a threat to full-blooded vampires, hence why you'll rarely, if ever, see a daywalker within a coven or family of vampires. Daywalkers are also sometimes called 'shadows' - outcasts and outsiders from regular vampire hierarchy. Daywalkers tend to be outcast early on in their lives, usually around their mid to late teens when their abilities begin to reach their strongest point [there's a whole storyline of why Callen had three whole daywalker children, but that's for a different post].

Anyways, one of those traits that are retained is the need to feed. Daywalkers, in my lore, still need to feed from a live source. Not as often as vampires, though, only about once a week rather than once a day, though some can hold off feeding for two weeks [but risk inducing a type of madness - again, for another post]. So, daywalkers won't heal without feeding from a live source, meaning they can actually die from their injuries if it's serious enough [I am getting so ahead of myself but y'all need background lore gjfjehdks].

That being said, daywalkers can still blood bond with their chosen donors just like full blooded vampires can. It's a highly intense emotional, physical, and mental connection that ties the two together for as long as they're alive. It works namely on the basis of hormones and brain chemicals tying the two together through shared releases of endorphins, dopamine, and oxytocin. Although, there is a supernatural side to it that isn't fully understood - it's believed that daywalkers and vampires have so-called "special" platelets within their blood that, when provided to their mates, sustains that bond. There's a hint of mysticism to the entire process that research has yet to determine.

Blood bonding is a very deep, meaningful connection that affect both the donor and daywalker, though the donor usually takes on the title of 'mate' instead. Once the mate and daywalker have decided to bond, not only will the daywalker drink from the donor, but the donor will also drink from the daywalker. This process of sharing blood begins the bond and the more it's carried out, the stronger it becomes. The donor/mate does not need to consume the same amount of blood as the daywalker - a small swallow every couple weeks is plenty for a human mate, though a non-human mate [like a werewolf] can do it more often.

If either the daywalker or the donor were to pass away before their time, it would destroy the other; it's been noted in past cases that if the daywalker's donor were to pass away, the daywalker will soon follow. Usually by starving themselves, not wishing to ever drink from another.

Valen and Vesper both have their mates [non-human], their bonded donors. They can't feed from another without it tasting bitter and metallic. They can't be apart from their chosen lovers for very long without beginning to physically ache. They can pick up on their chosen lovers' emotions and sensations - they'll feel their anger, happiness, joy, sadness, adoration. They both can always tell roughly where their mate is, for example, they can sense when they're getting closer on the way home.

One of the more potent aspects of a blood bond is that Valen and Vesper can feel the enjoyment and pleasure from their mates during sex, including faint physical sensations. Their mates can also feel the same from them. The act of lovemaking is another way for them to strengthen that mental and emotional connection between them. [As a side note, sex is a great way for Valen and Vesper to scent mark their partners; having their partners smell like their natural, sweet/spice musk is very important to a daywalker as it marks them as 'theirs'] It happens very often that Valen and Vesper will feed from their mates during sex because the increased endorphins make the process more pleasurable.

Sex is great for enhancing blood bonds as it comes from a deeply primal and instinctual place which accounts for a lot of how a daywalker lives. Daywalkers are naturally very aggressive when it comes to baser instinctive actions and Valen and Vesper are no exception. Valen especially - he's an apex predator who tends to choose aggression first in any situation. Vesper has that same ability, but was not raised to be a weapon the way Valen was, and is much gentler.

The importance of all this is that when a daywalker blood bonds, they are choosing to open up the most sensitive and delicate parts of them to their mate. My daywalkers soften immensely in the presence of their mates, that blood bond made in such complete trust and loyalty and love that they have no fear being vulnerable with their mates. When Valen's and Vesper's mate/mating instincts kick in, they want to do the equivalent of rolling over and showing their stomachs to their mates. The blood bond opens up the doors to that emotional attachment and makes it very real for these predators, activating those mate instincts and helping them to be better partners for them.