Before we sink our teeth, so to speak, into our analysis of the katakan, the creature to whom the present work is dedicated, by way of introduction let me present to our less-experienced readers what exactly vampires are – and what they are not. To our great displeasure, a great many myths concerning these creatures have arisen over the years, and the popular tales about them have served only to make popular superstitions and falsehoods.
In the common folk's imagination, vampires are dead men and women arisen from their graves, wraiths driven by an unquenchable thirst for warm blood. Yet nothing could be further from the truth! These creatures first came to be on another world, arrived in ours centuries ago and have since learned to live among men and have evolved at our side.
The widespread belief that vampires must drink human blood in order to survive is flat-out wrong, though they do in fact often partake of our vital fluid, for human blood affects their physiology as alcohol does ours. A vampire's bite does not turn its victim into a vampire, a state of affairs which would in fact be counter to logic, for it would mean the world would soon fill with vampires as they multiply at an exponential rate. Running water presents no barrier to vampires, not even if it is cold, for vampires are immune to the forces of both heat and cold.
Now for the most important matter: vampires have learned to live in the light of our sun, which is not harmful to them in the least, though they absolutely never shimmer or glisten when struck with the sun's rays.
