Twelve Steps for the Undead

1. I admit I am powerless over my lust for human blood—that my undead existence has become unmanageable.

2. I come to believe that the human spirit is a power greater than my vampire self and can restore me to humanity.

3. I decide to turn my will and my undead existence over to the care of my human spirit.

4. I conduct my human spirit on a searching and fearless moral inventory of my vampire self.

5. I admit to my human spirit, to my vampire self, and to another vampire the exact wrongs of my nature.

6. I am entirely ready to have the human spirit and the Bornless Realm remove all these defects of character.

7. I humbly ask the Bornless Realm to empower my human spirit to remove the shortcomings of my vampire nature.

8. I list all persons and vampires I harmed and am willing to make amends to them all.

9. I make amends to such people and vampires wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. I continue to take personal inventory with the human spirit of my vampire nature and when I am wrong promptly admit it.

11. I seek through blood trance and meditation to improve my conscious contact with the human spirit, seeking only knowledge of my human will for my vampire existence—and for the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a personal awakening of my humanity as the result of these steps, I try to carry this message to vampires and human blood addicts, and to practice these principles in all my affairs.

* * * 

In coming posts, I would like to comment on my understanding of “human spirit” and “the Bornless Realm” as they appear in this document from the Blood Creed. Still warm-blooded (blessedly! given such long interest in the abducted dark of the undead), I really have no notion what a vampire understands by these terms. Comments from the Shadows as well as the living are welcome.