Riley helped himself to another donut, and answered Izzy between bites, "That's a difficult question. Partly because vampires can be very different between themselves, and partly because no two people will see the same vampire the same way. That goes for all aberrations, not just vampires. They're created and shaped by human beliefs." With his free hand, he gestured to the child in the corner, "Take Lil' Vampire there for example. He acts very childishly, no? Even if his appearance was reduced to that of a child, he's still five-hundred years old, and you'd expect him to behave as such. But now take into consideration that the only people that know about him-- you, me, and Trevor --see him as a little boy. As a result, he behaves more like the child we perceive him to be."

He finished his donut, licking the chocolate still left on his fingers as he continued, "The King of Aberrations brings a considerable amount of spiritual pressure wherever he goes. Such is the gravity of his legend. All that it needs added to it is human belief, and an aberration can form. Doesn't take much; a local legend, a ghost story, some native myths, it can be anything. To put it in another analogy, he brought a whole mess of kindling, so all you need is a spark and," Riley snapped his fingers for dramatic effect, "You've got a fire on your hands. All we can do about it is wait for the pressure to dissipate, and clean up any resulting aberrations."

He reclined in his seat, leaning back and kicking his feet up on a nearby desk. "Speaking of him, I was meaning to ask, how is Trevor? Have you seen him lately? I worry about that boy."