Vampire Dragons are members of the undead. They sustain themselves by drinking the blood of others. It is said that they are only “alive” at night, and seem dead or asleep during the day, as they cannot endure sunlight for long periods of time. Vampire Dragons can only reproduce by changing the eggs of other dragons, puncturing the shell with their fangs and injecting venom that kills the baby inside.

Dragons are highly-intelligent reptilian creatures that—from a human perspective, at least—appear to live forever. Many different varieties of dragon exist, each with their own unique qualities, habitats, and behavior. Adolescence in dragons is usually marked by the growth of a hatchling’s wings, although not all breeds of dragons grow wings and some breeds have other traits that indicate the beginning of maturation. In Galsreim, dragons and humans coexist peacefully.

Caelven patrols a third of the territory Cireth's pack inhabits, guarding her other dragons from her Zombies, on the orders of his sire Acharn. He and his partner, the Guardian dragon, Merilissel, have an eight hour shift together during the day. Eight other Vampire-Guardian pairs cover the rest of the territory day and night so that someone is always on guard. If a pair is confronted by Zombies the Guardian shields the Vampire with their tail-shield while the Vampire spits venom at the Zombies. This is normally enough to scare the Zombies away.

During the time that Caelven and Merilissel have been partners, he has come to greatly admire and secretly love her. She is brave and strong and the most beautiful dragon he has ever seen. He will never tell this, though; because he is a Vampire, he thinks she could never love him. He tries to be content with loving her from a distance and makes sure that she never notices his admiring glances.