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.

When Tenderheart first stumbled across a mysterious punctured egg abandoned in the middle of nowhere, she had no idea what she was getting herself into.

Tenderheart incubated the small brown egg as she would any other egg. When it hatched as a mangled, petrified thing, she went into mourning. What she wasn't expecting, however, was the petrified rock of a dragon to eventually begin moving again. First it was tiny twitches. Then suckling on small carcasses placed before it. Then walking. By the time it began maturing, the dragon, dubbed Imelda, was attacking other hatchlings. Horrified, Tenderheart had to have Dewclaw Swift restrain the vampire dragon and trap her in a cave.

That was not the end of Imelda. Tenderheart wouldn't give up on the hatchling who she had nurtured back from its catatonic state. When a young silver dragon, Danel, expressed interest in helping the lonely dragon locked away in a cave, Tenderheart carefully introduced the two, and they are now an inseparable duo.