Background of our story
Old and frail and only a shadow of the vampire he used to be, Alger allowed his body to simply fade away to death, leaving his "blood son" to lead the Hunter Family into a new era. (See
Post 1 and
Post 4).
Upon taking the reins, Joseph Hunter purged the Family of Alger's "blood children", then vampires the former Patriarch had personally "turned". Joseph knew these individuals would not willingly go where Joseph was taking the family: Alger had always preached a quiet life for vampires, feeding sparingly and simply surviving, while Joseph yearns for vampires to rule the world. (See
Post 8.)
At the time of Alger's death, the Hunter Family consisted of 70 vampires. After the purge, 55 remained. Of those:
- 3 are Joseph's blood children: Nick, Naomi, and Isabelle.
- 22 are the "blood children" of the above three.
- 30 more are the "blood children" of the above 22.
- And the remaining 15 are "blood great-grand children" of Alger and his "blood siblings", all now dead.
Loyalty
Loyalty to one's "maker" in inherent and can not be fought. A vampire would kill or be killed without question to save the life of his/her maker or fulfill a task assigned by that maker.
With each generation down the family tree, that loyalty dilutes. For example, Joseph "turned" Nick, and Nick "turned "Petunia" (simply called "Pet"); Nick is totally loyal to Joseph and Pet is totally loyal to Nick, but if Joseph asked something dangerous or controversial of Pet, she may or may not do it without hesitation as her "father" would.
Loyalty outside of a blood line is questionable at best. There is no inherent loyalty, no "forced" loyalty between two vampires not in the same bloodline. For example, Joseph allowed 15 vampires who descended from Alger's siblings to remain. The loyalty of these vampires -- high or low -- comes simply from their respect for Joseph, not from any mandatory blood cause.
Disrespecting, disagreeing with, or disobeying a vampire in your direct blood line can be painful or even deadly for a vampire, to be described later.
