Victoria Lewis is one of a small number of people world wide who are born with an innate psychic ability, known as Espers. These people, around 0.0001% of the population, have abilities ranging from minor mind control to a full house of Telepathy, Telekinesis, Mind Control and Precognition. The power of these psychic abilities is measured on a scale of 1 to 6 (1 being minor, 6 being potentially severely dangerous). Victoria is a level 3 telekinetic, able to lift objects up to her own body weight off of the ground without touching them. This alone would make her a person of interest to many agencies around the world. However, here Esper abilities are not the only interesting thing about Victoria. In her early twenties, she contracted the Vampirism Virus and now her psychic powers are both augmented and tempered by the effects of the condition. This has made her a fascinating case study in both the effects of the virus and how an Espers abilities are affected by such a condition, as is it common knowledge amongst those who deal with such affairs that Espers have immense mental resilience and Victoria has yet to succumb to the viruses influence over her mind. Victoria now struggles with living a normal life whilst also living with her vampiric condition.
Vampirism (excerpt taken from the International Medical Journal. 15th Edition)
Vampirism, like Lycanthropy (see page 89), has long been considered a supernatural phenomenon. However, recent advances in medicine have shown that neither affliction are caused by supernatural means. Whilst Lycanthropy is genetic, Vampirism has been discovered to be an advanced mutation of the Rabies virus. It is contracted in much the same way as a normal Rabies virus, through a bite to the victim. The first symptoms are a change in the pigmentation of the iris, taking on a more reddish hue, and the growth of the canine teeth. The victim soon becomes unable to digest anything but raw red meat and develops a high sensitivity to UV rays and certain chemicals, most notably those produced by the Allium genus of plant (the genus that contains all members of the Onion family, such as Garlic). Last negative symptom to show in victims, is a loss of mental stability, most commonly a loss of empathy and sudden violent rages. It is at this stage that the sufferer will develop the urge to pass on the virus and find a victim to bite. The most common area for bites to be administered is around the neck, however this could be due to cultural influences (from movies and such) rather than a natural instinct. The most interesting aspect of this form of Rabies is that, unlike all other viruses, it actually has positive symptoms. The virus actively keeps its victim alive, increasing their cell regeneration rather than stunting it, so as to give the appearance of the victim aging at a much slower rate than normal, and having a much faster healing rate than a normal human. It also increases the production of adrenaline when in a high pressure situation, giving the victim a further boost to their physical strength and ability to react to stimuli than a normal adrenaline rush would.
