True beasts cannot be Embraced. They have never had the necessary Humanity. With this power, though, the vampire can complete the process halfway. By feeding a drained animal some of her Vitae, a vampire can infuse it with a fragment of the Kindred’s twilight life. It looks as it did when it died, though if appropriate, it might gain retractable fangs like a vampire. But the fangs are a lie — its true tragedy is that it cannot transubstantiate blood into Vitae. If it was wounded in death, it retains signs of the injuries, but its body functions fully. A coyote crushed by an SUV has a tire track running across it but no crushed bones, and a crow with a busted wing has bone jutting out of the wound but can still fly.
It doesn’t act like a normal animal — it doesn’t hunt for food, nor is it spooked by loud noises. It sleeps throughout the day, but becomes active at night. A human observing such an animal might be able to tell something’s wrong, but only the most grievous wounds usually make them take the time to look.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Requirement: Feed 1 Vitae to the corpse (included in cost) Dice Pool: None
Action: Instant
Duration: (Blood Potency * animal’s Stamina) nights
The vampire feeds one point of Vitae to the animal’s corpse. The animal returns to a semblance of life for a number of nights equal to (Blood Potency * animal’s Stamina). Once she has raised a beast, a vampire can feed it more Vitae; each point ensures the animal’s continued existence as though the vampire had just raised it.
The raised creature gains a semblance of intelligence and a certain low cunning, enough to follow complex orders that most animals could not understand, and to interpret the spirit of commands rather than the letter. Treat the familiar as having one dot of Intelligence.
Infused with Vitae, the familiar takes bashing damage from attacks like a vampire, and does not fall unconscious or bleed out. The animal does not decompose.
The Vitae burning within the animal’s dead veins forges a sympathetic link between it and the vampire. The vampire can use Feral Whispers on her familiar at any time, over any distance, communicating silently or issuing commands at any range. Though she must still roll to see if her familiar interpreted her command, the animal does not resist.