History Main / VampireRefugee

* ''VanHelsing'', turned into [[WolfMan a werewolf]], must kill Dracula as a werewolf (as was prophesied), but Carl and Ana have to get the cure for lycanthropy to him before the stroke of midnight (as that's when he'll permanently be a werewolf). Fortunately for Van Helsing, the stroke of midnight lasts about twenty minutes.

* The third ''ReturnOfTheLivingDead'' movie featured the heroine finding new and interesting ways to cause physical pain to keep from succumbing to her desire to eat folk.

* Rayne from the first ''ResidentEvil'' film gets bitten early on. She spends the rest of the time kicking ass to get everyone out and able to administer the cure to her. [[spoiler: Too bad they're too late]].

* ''VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'' features a "thin-blood" down by the beach who's desperately trying to find a way out of his new condition. You can either a) let him down easy and tell him that he can at least try to go on living, or b) bilk him for all he's worth by selling him a "stake of pure rosewood" he can use to kill the "head vampire" or some vampirism-curing "unicorn blood."

Before the clock runs out, they will do everything in their power to [[FindTheCure find]]... ''(MelodramaticPause!)''... [[AscendedDemon a cure]], use HeroicWillpower to kick ass and bring [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge a world of hurt]] down on the entire race of monsters that infected them...all the while using HeroicResolve to [[WarmBloodbagsAreEverywhere resist those warm bloodbags everywhere]].

* In TabletopGame/TheWorldOfDarkness, vampires would occasionally seek out Golconda, a mystical state of transcendence. Nobody could agree on ''what'' Golconda was, but one persistent rumor was that it would allow you to shake off the Embrace and become mortal again.
* There was one ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' scenario which had the villain trying to eat his way up his "family" tree to cure himself.

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<<|{{Plots}}|>>
<<|VampireTropes|>>

Oh no! The heroine has been bitten by {{Dracula}}! Within the space of days her thirst will overpower her and she will become a bloodsucking leech! What ever will she do?

Running through her options, there's four things she could try: scream "WhatHaveIBecome!?" and have a [[HeroicBSOD nervous breakdown]], ignore the obvious and become a ZombieInfectee prior to full JerkAss vampirism, [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice herself]], or become a FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire.

Well, our heroine isn't a DistressedDamsel! She's the real deal and she [[StagesOfMonsterGrief calls shenanigans on those choices]]! She's going to [[FindTheCure find]]... ''(MelodramaticPause!)''... [[AscendedDemon a cure!]] And along the way she's going to use HeroicWillpower to bring [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge a world of hurt]] to the bastards that did this to her!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it's vampire movie plot and character #1: ''Must find cure to vampirism and kick ass along the way.'' This is OlderThanTelevision, going back to Mina Harker in ''{{Literature/Dracula}}'' itself. It's frequently used NoOntologicalInertia to solve the problem by killing the head vampire, but more modern movies will use outright biological rather than mystical cures for the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent virus-based vampires]].

[[IncrediblyLamePun Nowanights]], has extended to such things as [[WolfMan lycanthropy]], ViralTransformation, TheVirus, {{Biological Mashup}}s, and a few other BodyHorror type [[EmergencyTransformation transformations]] or even outright {{curse}}s. Expect the hero to use HeroicResolve to [[WarmBloodbagsAreEverywhere resist eating a loved one]], and discover they can tap into HeroicWillpower to get a powerup to beat their sire. This last bit can get a bit silly, as the hero-cum-monster is usually [[HorrorHunger starving]] by this point from fasting on blood.

[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0389328/ http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/LucyLiuVampireHunter_5446.jpg]]
[-[[caption-width:208:"My [[MonstersAnonymous Bloodsuckers Anonymous]] sponsor is going to have a [[HorrorHunger field day]] [[WarmBloodbagsAreEverywhere with this]]. [[WhatHaveIBecome Oh, that's right]]; [[GallowsHumor I just ate her]]."]]-]

** There was one ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' scenario which had the villain trying to eat his way up his "family" tree to cure himself.

* ''TheDresdenFiles'' features The Fellowship of Saint Giles, individuals who've been bitten by [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Red Court vampires]], gaining a portion of their power and their vampiric blood lust. However, since they haven't actually killed anyone by feeding, they haven't turned into the horrific bat-demons Red Court vampires ''really'' are. As part of their membership, they gain [[MarkedChange magical tattoos]] that help them keep the hunger in check and turn darker as they start to lose control. [[spoiler: Harry's ex-girlfriend Susan was one of them]].

* ''MageTheAwakening'' features rare wizard refugees in the form of the Banishers. Banishers had their Awakening go wrong in some way or another (it's suggested more than a few of them [[MindRape literally gazed into the Abyss]]); as a result, the very use of magic causes them revulsion, and they spend much of their time hunting down and killing other mages out of the belief that magic is, at its core, evil.
* In the WorldOfDarkness, vampires would occasionally seek out Golconda, a mystical state of transcendence. Nobody could agree on ''what'' Golconda was, but one persistent rumor was that it would allow you to shake off the Embrace and become mortal again.

* This becomes an optional quest in ''TheElderScrolls'': if the hero becomes a vampire. In ''{{Daggerfall}}'' it is offered by a vampire hunter who give you a choice instead of killing you (you can also drink the potion a witch conven ask you to transport). In ''{{Morrowind}}'', it is given by reading a book about a cured vampire and doing a favor for Molag Bal, the "patron" daedra of vampires. In ''{{Oblivion}}'' it involves collecting a long list of ingredients to make a potion.

Compare PhlebotinumRebel, MonstersAnonymous AndThenJohnWasAZombie. Contrast TranshumanTreachery. See also StagesOfMonsterGrief.

* In the {{Ravenloft} novel ''Vampire of the Mists'', Jander Sunstar was desperate to find a cure for his vampirism once he finally managed to become free to seek that cure; he was [[HeroicBSOD heartbroken]] to learn that there was no cure other than true death (and possibly not even then).

* In ''TheBatman vs. Dracula'', our hero finds a cure for vampirism, but it won't work on Dracula himself -- just those he's turned.

[-[[caption-width:208:"My [[MonstersAnonymous Bloodsuckers Anonymous]] sponsor is going to have a [[HorrorHunger field day]] [[WarmBloodbagsAreEverywhere with this]]. [[WhatHaveIBecome Oh right]], [[IHateYouVampireDad I just ate her]]."]]-]

[-[[caption-width:208:"My [[TropaholicsAnonymous Bloodsuckers Anonymous]] sponsor is going to have a [[HorrorHunger field day]] [[WarmBloodbagsAreEverywhere with this]]. [[WhatHaveIBecome Oh right]], [[IHateYouVampireDad I just ate her]]."]]-]

Compare PhlebotinumRebel, AndThenJohnWasAZombie. Contrast TranshumanTreachery. See also StagesOfMonsterGrief.

* In ''Vampire of the Mists'', Jander Sunstar was desperate to find a cure for his vampirism once he finally managed to become free to seek that cure; he was [[HeroicBSOD heartbroken]] to learn that there was no cure other than true death (and possibly not even then).

* One of the paths in ''{{Tsukihime}}'' involves Shiki being increasingly possessed by an ancient vampire sorcerer, gaining the usual powers and bloodlust as his will rapidly erodes, and having to defend himself against his former companions. At first he holds out for a solution from the Church, but when that doesn't pan out he [[spoiler: [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer resorts to his solution to everything else]]—turning his [[EvilEye Mystic Eyes of Death Perception]] on and stabbing ''himself'' in an attempt to 'kill' the vampire's soul]].

* Gordon on ''{{Supernatural}}'' had the perfect set-up for becoming a VampireRefugee, but since he knew there was no way to undo the change, he decided instead to kill Sam and then himself. [[spoiler: Instead, Sam killed him]].

* In the old WorldOfDarkness, vampires would occasionally seek out Golconda, a mystical state of transcendence. Nobody could agree on ''what'' Golconda was, but one persistent rumor was that it would allow you to shake off the Embrace and become mortal again.

* Nick from ''TheForsaken''. It is heavily implied in the movie that ''all'' [[WhoYouGonnaCall vampire hunters]] have always mostly consisted of people who have been bitten. The rules of vampirism state that [[NoOntologicalInertia all potential vampires are freed from their curse if the "head vampire" who originated that strain is killed]] (an idea mocked in the ''[[VampireTheMasquerade Vampire: Bloodlines]]'' video game).
** There was one Vampire The Masquerade scenario which had the villain trying to eat his way up his "family" tree to cure himself.

Running through her options, there's four things she could try: scream "WhatHaveIBecome!?" and have a [[HeroicBSOD nervous breakdown,]] ignore the obvious and become a ZombieInfectee prior to full JerkAss vampirism, [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice herself]], or become a FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire.

!!Examples

[[folder: Anime]]

** But subverted in the second movie. Although D and the Borghoff Brothers assume she's been carried off against her will, Charlotte Ellborne actually [[spoiler: wants Meir Link to transform her into a vampire in order to facilitate their love affair.]] Especially interesting because [[spoiler: Carmilla seems to view thier relationship as a way of fostering better relations between vampires and humans.]]
** Well, that's what she claims. [[spoiler:In actuality Carmilla is brutal and bloodthirsty even by vampire standards, and only cares for humans for their blood. The whole purpose of her involvement in the enterprise was to resurrect herself with Charlotte's blood. Meir (Myer?) ofcourse wasn't aware of this.]]

* Andrew Bennett from {{House of Mystery}}'s "I... Vampire" series straddled the line between this trope and {{Doomed Moral Victor}}. Though he did jump at the opportunity for a cure when he chanced upon one, for most of his unlife Bennett harbored no hope of restoring himself, and was preoccupied with exterminating a bloodline of evil vampires he'd mistakenly sired, by converting his onetime lover. To survive, he bought blood by the bottle from street people.

* The Star/Vladdie subplot of ''TheLostBoys''. "YOU TRIED TO MAKE ME A KILLER!"

** However, it can't cure the titular character of vampirism without taking away his nifty powers (he just uses a serum to suppress his vampiric bloodlust), nor can it cure anybody who was born a vampire. It can only cure vampirism if one contracts it via a bite.

* In the last ''GingerSnaps'' movie, Ginger is given a prophecy that she will need to kill the infected child that bit her to avoid becoming a werewolf herself. In a subversion [[spoiler:the prophecy meant that she should kill the child "before" he bit her.]]

* In ''TheBatman vs. Dracula'', our hero finds a cure for vampirism, but it won't work on Dracula himself - just those he's turned.
* Rayne from the first ResidentEvil film gets bitten early on. She spends the rest of the time kicking ass to get everyone out and able to administer the cure to her. [[spoiler: too bad they're too late]]

* ''TheDresdenFiles'' features The Fellowship of Saint Giles, individuals who've been bitten by [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Red Court vampires]], gaining a portion of their power and their vampiric blood lust. However, since they haven't actually killed anyone by feeding, they haven't turned into the horrific bat-demons Red Court vampires ''really'' are. As part of their membership, they gain [[MarkedChange magical tattoos]] that help them keep the hunger in check and turn darker as they start to lose control. [[spoiler: Harry's ex-girlfriend Susan [[strike:is]] was one of them.]]
* The ''Good Ghouls'' series - the main character gets turned into a vampire and finds out the only way to get turned back is to kill her own maker. Several problems: firstly, it has to be ''her'' who kills her maker; secondly, any vampire higher up the chain, including her maker, is immune to any frontal attack from a lower-ranking vampire, so she has to be sneaky; and thirdly, she doesn't even know who turned her. In the end [[spoiler: she finds out who did it, but someone else kills him for something unrelated, so she's stuck as a vampire.]]

* Igor Dolinsky in NightWatcher. Arguably, all the other "true vampires" qualify as well, as they are the ones who no longer need blood, though they aren't human anymore either (but then, neither is Igor, strictly speaking).
* Kostya in the {{Nightwatch}} series is [[spoiler: the only vampire to achieve "High Vampire" status without killing someone for blood.]] He became a biologist to prevent his vampirism from turning him into a monster. By the third book, he even [[spoiler: tries to turn every human being on the planet into Others]] just so he could be normal. [[spoiler: He fails]]

* The eighties tv show ''Werewolf'' was built around this premise.

* Gordon on {{Supernatural}} had the perfect set-up for becoming a VampireRefugee, but since he knew there was no way to undo the change, he decided instead to kill Sam and then himself. [[spoiler: Instead, Sam killed him.]]

* This becomes an optional quest in ''{{TheElderScrolls}}: '' if the hero becomes a vampire. In ''{{Daggerfall}}'' it is offered by a vampire hunter who give you a choice instead of killing you (you can also drink the potion a witch conven ask you to transport). In ''{{Morrowind}}'', it is given by reading a book about a cured vampire and doing a favor for Molag Bal, the "patron" daedra of vampires. In ''{{Oblivion}}'' it involves collecting a long list of ingredients to make a potion.

* As does the plot of NeverwinterNights2 Mask of the Betrayer, at least for a good-aligned character.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it's vampire movie plot and character #1: ''Must find cure to vampirism and kick ass along the way.'' This is OlderThanRadio, going back to Mina Harker in ''{{Literature/Dracula}}'' itself. It's frequently used NoOntologicalInertia to solve the problem by killing the head vampire, but more modern movies will use outright biological rather than mystical cures for the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent virus-based vampires]].

[-[[caption-width:208:"My [[StagesOfMonsterGrief Bloodsuckers Anonymous]] sponsor is going to have a [[HorrorHunger field day]] [[WarmBloodbagsAreEverywhere with this]]. [[WhatHaveIBecome Oh right]], [[IHateYouVampireDad I just ate her]]."]]-]

** However, it can't cure the titular character of vampirism, nor can it cure anybody who was born a vampire. It can only cure vampirism if one contracts it via a bite.
*** It '''can''' cure Blade; he just doesn't want it to, as it would mean losing all his nifty powers. A better serum would be of more use to him.

Well, our heroine isn't a FauxActionGirl! She's the real deal and she [[StagesOfMonsterGrief calls shenanigans on those choices]]! She's going to [[FindTheCure find]]... ''(MelodramaticPause!)''... [[AscendedDemon a cure!]] And along the way she's going to use HeroicWillpower to bring [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge a world of hurt]] to the bastards that did this to her!

* The comic ''[[ThirtyDaysOfNight 30 Days Of Night]]'' had the [[spoiler: sheriff [[AssPull injecting himself with vampire blood]] to become a "[[WallBanger Good Vampire]]"]] to beat the bad guys.

** If by interesting you mean [[{{Squick}} squicky as hell]], then you're right. My hand hurts just from thinking about that scene.

[[IncrediblyLamePun Nowanights]], has extended to such things as [[WolfMan lycanthropy]], ViralTransformation, TheVirus, {{Biological Mashup}}s, and a few other BodyHorror type [[EmergencyTransformation transformations]] or even outright {{curse}}s. Expect the hero to use HeroicResolve to [[WarmBloodbagsAreEverywhere resist eating a loved one]], and discover they can tap into HeroicWillpower to get a powerup to beat their sire. This last bit can get a bit silly, as the hero-cum-monster is usually [[HorrorHunger starving]] by this point from fasting on blood; maybe abstinence doesn't just stop pregnancy but [[VirginPower grants super powers]]? ''Ba-zing!''