There are vampires, and there are vampires, something most lore agrees on. That means there are two distinct types of bloodsucker in plenty of vampire mythos: the original ones, who may well have been born that way, and those who have been “turned,” humans made into vampires. In the world of Lina Lim’s Unholy Blood, the former are mostly so-called “pure bloods,” while the latter are just plain old vampires. They don’t necessarily have to be turned by a pure blood, but unless they get some of their fluids or fight like hell, turned vampires have a lifespan of just five years after changing. And that means that if they don’t want to die out (which someone clearly doesn’t want them to do), they’re going to have to keep ensuring that plenty of humans make the change.
That’s the state of South Korea when the story opens. It’s been ten years since vampires first appeared (or at least, since the turned ones started causing problems), and humans have just about had enough. As the vampires grow more and more brazen and it no longer becomes safe for people to be out at night, protests begin to crop up, most notably at colleges, and that makes Hayan Park very nervous. Why? Because she’s a pure-blood vampire passing as human to just live her life, and she would like things to stay that way.
Hayan’s been doing decently at that. An orphan, she was adopted by Father Michael of a local Catholic church as a child, and he taught her how to maintain her human form and hide in plain sight. It didn’t always work, and one incident in elementary school saw her revealing her true nature to a friend, who promptly ran away. (If he didn’t grow up to be the male protagonist, Euntae Hwang, I would be shocked.) Things have been peaceful on that front ever since, though, especially since Father Michael gave Hayan a crown of thorns to use as a talisman against changing forms. But now that the other vampires are out in the open and wreaking havoc, her life is falling to pieces – especially when the new detective in charge of the anti-vampire task force Euntae moves to the neighborhood.
The first volume of this series is largely devoted to this setup – Hayan and Euntae meeting, establishing the vampire lore, and forcing Hayan to leave her cozy life and act. Volume two is where it actually gets good (not that volume one isn’t interesting): Hayan and Euntae are on the move, and the story begins to explore what would motivate someone to turn into a vampire when they know that they’ll only have five years to live from the moment they change. This is where Lim shows her chops, and the second volume explores three different scenarios in varying degrees of depth. The first is simply mentioned in passing: the discovery of two sisters’ remains after they hadn’t been seen for five years; they chose to isolate themselves until their time ran out so that they wouldn’t hurt anyone. For them, turning was clearly an involuntary and undesired act. But Euntae’s coworker, a policewoman, made the change after being emotionally beaten down for years, passed over again and again for promotion while corrupt male colleagues were given better jobs. Similarly, a high school student dreams of turning because she’s been bullied; for both women, becoming a vampire offers them the power that they’ve been lacking in their lives. Does it make the one a better cop? No, but it gives her the confidence to force her rise through the ranks, while the other is safe in the knowledge that now she has the physical strength to hurt her bullies right back. Both of their cases are strikingly different from Hayan, born to a power she didn’t ask for, and the two dead sisters, who saw their change as a curse rather than a blessing.
This may be indicative of a deeper social metaphor lurking under the surface-level action. Hayan’s desire to just be normal underlines everything she does; her greatest desire is to be a human living with her younger adoptive siblings. When she worries that she can’t keep them safe, she’s willing to leave them for a time, but everything is in service of being like everyone else. This contrasts with the policewoman and high school student, who don’t see any value in being “normal,” or at least have had that value beaten out of them. It feels telling that the mostly male-turned-vampires we meet are all in it for the feeling of superiority; even the backstory we get for Luci, one of the more powerful of the bunch, revolves around his ego. Still, it doesn’t seem fair to say that the women are more psychologically complex because both Father Michael and Euntae have more going on, even if Euntae’s motivations are still in the shadows.
Even with this aspect of the story coming into more prominence in the second volume, this is still primarily an action series. Fights are frequent and bloody, while the social action of the protests also carries an undercurrent of anger that could erupt into violence at any moment. Lim relies a bit much on speed lines for the action sequences, but mostly does a good job at conveying movement and gore, although the most gruesome elements are covered with a mosaic; whether this is also true for the original online publication, I’m not sure. It isn’t too distracting, though, and you can generally tell what’s being covered. The rest of Lim’s art is very attractive, and there’s eye candy for everyone.
Unholy Blood has a start that’s just okay but morphs into a much more interesting story in its second volume. Hayan and Euntae are interesting characters, and the underlying motivations of most major players are well-developed, even if they don’t end up sticking around long. With attractive art, a couple of good moments of humor, and a decent take on vampire lore, this is a series that’s worth checking out – especially if it keeps getting stronger as it goes on.
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