This hatchling appears to be... dead?

Young dragons are relatively defenseless. They are born with relatively soft scales, which are shed and replaced with harder ones as the hatchling matures. Once a hatchling’s wings grow in, it typically marks the beginning of maturation. At this point they are often capable of hunting on their own and are usually left alone by their mother.

After a scandalous and just plain weird affair between a delirious magi obsessed with his own eyes and a skywing who calls herself a human who is actually his daughter, Definitely Alive was the result. They either forgot about the egg or abandoned it, but either way, it was left alone, easy pickings for anyone hungry. A passing vampire gave the egg a try but decided it didn't taste terribly good, and soon after, it was picked up by some curious wanderers. (They're curious about the egg, and they're a curious band.) They've dealt with tougher, more esoteric creatures before but have never seen a vampire dragon. And they think Definitely Alive is not alive. In fact, the hatchling's name is actually "Definitely Dead" in the acquisition records, and nobody will believe that the moving, speaking, (grumbly) dragon is truly one of the living because zombies aren't either. Definitely Alive can't wait until the "habitual-sleep-curling-up-like-a-dead-thing" phase has passed.