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I've seen a similar question posted here, but my vampires require specifically human blood. Anything other than human blood or water is disgusting and indigestible to them. Some more notes:

  • Drinking from a willing victim is technically getting blood without hurting them, but it's still not ideal and not exactly what I'm looking for. These vampires don't like biting people and would like to avoid it if at all possible. They're young vampires and are prone to losing control and drinking too much, killing the victim and doing exactly what they don't want to do: kill the living.
  • The setting is modern-day New York. And these vampires aren't all well-off, most of them are working standard jobs on New York wages, so they can't afford to pay people for blood whenever they need it.
  • There is a blood shortage, and these vampires wish to be as ethical as they can be. So, they can't just go steal from blood banks or hospitals.

So far, one of the solutions I've come up with is paying small amounts of money to willing participants to donate their blood for this specific purpose. Unfortunately, I've hit a bit of a block. Any help is appreciated.

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    $\begingroup$ Hello JadeSA, welcome to Worldbuilding. When you have a moment, please take our tour and read first this help center page and then this help center page to better understand how to use this Stack. Just how ethical are your vampires? Why can't they set up their own independent blood bank and tap that as necessary? Do they need hemoglobin, or will blood plasma do? Please edit your question with the answers to those questions. Thanks! $\endgroup$
    – JBH
    Commented Sep 17, 2021 at 5:44
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    $\begingroup$ @ArgentHellion "a laughable concept" Not at all, if you start from the assumption that all Vampires start out as normal humans & ditch any assumption of any built in psychological transformation with the change other than 'blood tasty other stuff not' then for that to be true you'd have to also start with the assumption that no humans are ethical // there definitely are ethical (non-violent non-theft) methods blood might be acquired & the struggle to stay alive with only those methods can make an ethical vampire story interesting. $\endgroup$
    – Pelinore
    Commented Sep 17, 2021 at 11:53
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    $\begingroup$ @ArgentHellion Not cool, no two writers represent vampires in exactly the same way, compare and contrast Blindsight with Twilight with Dracula with the old world legends that inspired Bram Stoker to write Dracula. If JadeSA wants ethical vampires that's fine. Even if it wasn't there are polite ways to point out that a question has started from a false premise your comment is not one of them. $\endgroup$
    – Ash
    Commented Sep 17, 2021 at 12:00
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    $\begingroup$ It is often worth linking a very similar question you have looked at and rejected the answer(s) to so that people can see what you're not looking for as well as reading what you are after. $\endgroup$
    – Ash
    Commented Sep 17, 2021 at 12:04

3 Answers 3

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Expired or rejected blood donations

As with all human processes, the blood distribution process is imperfect. If the rejects are edible, you can use them,.

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  • $\begingroup$ The anticoagulant might be an issue, not necessarily but it is a consideration worth mentioning. $\endgroup$
    – Ash
    Commented Sep 17, 2021 at 12:01
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    $\begingroup$ So they need to get themselves into the biological & medical waste disposal industry (start a company perhaps), a good idea but it depends on if the OPs vampires can subsist on old blood or not $\endgroup$
    – Pelinore
    Commented Sep 17, 2021 at 12:01
  • $\begingroup$ @Pelinore Since vampires are typically immune to human diseases, this might be a pretty nice option for them $\endgroup$
    – Juliana Karasawa Souza
    Commented Sep 17, 2021 at 12:42
  • $\begingroup$ @Pelinore Their objections to stealing from blood banks are ethical, not practical, per the question, so dealing with the ethical objections means it can be done. $\endgroup$
    – Mary
    Commented Sep 17, 2021 at 22:43
  • $\begingroup$ @Mary are you talking to someone else (& you pinged me with it by mistake) or is that last comment meant for something I said on another answer? because it doesn't fit as a response to what I said up there on this thread best I can see. $\endgroup$
    – Pelinore
    Commented Sep 17, 2021 at 22:54
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Assuming that vampires are technically dead and therefore immune to human disease they can tap a large pool of "medically unsuitable donors". There are many people who would donate blood, either as a charitable act or for a small payment who are barred from public blood banks because of known disease infection or a history of risk factors, the commonly listed ones being;

  • prostitution
  • IV drug use
  • receipt of certain blood products, or other human bodily extracts before testing for certain diseases was introduced
  • male homosexuality
  • residence in countries that has high risk factors for Variant CJD
  • sexual involvement with a person from a country with large numbers of HIV/AIDS sufferers.

If they can accept blood from these individuals then they are getting their human blood without reducing the pool of public donors. I would have them steer far clear of risking parasite infection because they less defense against that than living humans. Prion infection should also be avoided on principle because that is probably the one other form of human disease that might even effect a vampire, and it's a terrible way to go.

IV drug users are probably their best target group as they're always looking for a quick buck. The vamps might even go so far as to consider going into the drug trade. It would give them a stronger hold over their blood supply and on the altruism front they'd be able to keep people who would otherwise put anything into themselves until it killed them on drugs of known quality and at safely controlled doses.

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Medical benefits:

  • Do you know that a vampire drinking your blood can help you with your high blood sugar.
  • Do you also know that a vampire drinking your blood lowers the risk of High BP, Heart attack, blood clots, and some specific cancers because their saliva has anti-blood-clots just like mosquitos and other unknown benefits.
  • Do you also know that there are some vampires, higher up on the medical research ladder who can publish these types of papers and no one is actually smart enough to debunk them.
  • And yes there are no harmful effects for sure, with minor benefits, rest is just a placebo.

Entertainment:

  • Do you know how stupid a drinking party can get, so much so that they are willing to pay vampires to see them drink blood, just for fun, trend, selfies, and FB posts.
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  • $\begingroup$ The element of fraud involved may contravene higher standards of ethics, as long as no one died from it not mine if I had to consume blood to survive, but then I've never claimed to be the 'most' morale of people :) $\endgroup$
    – Pelinore
    Commented Sep 17, 2021 at 12:06
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    $\begingroup$ Do you need leech therapy but are disgusted / horrified by leeches? There you go. $\endgroup$
    – Juliana Karasawa Souza
    Commented Sep 17, 2021 at 12:44

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