Kudlac

(CUD-lac)

Variation: Kudlak

Kudlac is the abbreviated form of the Russian word vorkudlak, which is used in the Istrian Peninsula in Slovenia, but each word also represents a separate species of vampire. Akudlac is a person who is born with a red or dark-colored caul (see LIVING VAMPIRE). Predisposed toward evil, he will develop the ability to leave his body at night to fly through the air looking for victims of opportunity to drain life-energy from (see ENERGY VAMPIRE). He will also have the ability to cast magic that he will use to harm the people of his community. Eventually, he will learn how to shape-shift into a black boar, bull, and horse. When he ultimately dies, he will return to unlife as a vampiric REVENANT. In death, as in life, the kudlac takes great pleasure in the pain and suffering it causes, relishing every moment. Fortunately, it is relentlessly hunted by a highly focused vampire hunter that specializes in slaying kudlacs—a KRSNIK.

If a KRSNIK is not near or to be found, anyone can exhume the corpse of a person who is suspected of being a kudlac and cut the tendons behind the knees to prevent it from rising from its grave. Then impale it with a stake made of HAWTHORN wood.

Unlike other vampires who are born destined to become vampires, the kudlac has a way to escape from the curse of UNDEATH if he truly seeks it. While still alive, he must confess all his sins in earnest to God and be forgiven for them. After absolution, he must then never hurt another living soul for as long as he lives.

Source: American Association for South Slavic Studies, Balkanistica, vol. 16, 121; Mc Clelland, Slayers and Their Vampires, 105; Oinas, Essays on Russian Folklore, 11 6; Senn, Werewolf and Vampire in Romania