Peter Watts' novel Blindsight has explored a scientific basis for vampires, depicting them as an evolutionary offshoot from humanity who were not the dominant species on the planet solely due to an evolutionary glitch making them averse to Euclidean geometry (right angles cause seizures in what is called "Crucifix Glitch", leading to them dying out when modern technology with all its structures swept the world). Implied to have vastly superior intelligence and problem-solving capabilities, they were recreated from gene snippets for special tasks, with special drugs alleviating their crucifix glitch. One particularly important vampire trait is their ability to hibernate for extended periods of time, which makes cryogenic stasis possible and is applied to astronauts via gene-therapy. At the end of the novel it is implied the vampires have taken control of earth and may be exterminating baseline humanity.
Peter Watts' novel Blindsight has explored a scientific basis for vampires, depicting them as an evolutionary offshoot from humanity who were not the dominant species on the planet solely due to an evolutionary glitch making them averse to Euclidean geometry (right angles cause seizures in what is called "Crucifix Glitch" leading to them dying out when modern technology with all its structures swept the world). Implied to have vastly superior intelligence and problem-solving capabilities, they were recreated from gene snippets for special tasks, with special drugs alleviating their crucifix glitch. One particularly important vampire trait is their ability to hibernate for extended periods of time, which makes cryogenic stasis possible and is applied to astronauts via gene-therapy. At the end of the novel it is implied the vampires have taken control of earth and may be exterminating baseline humanity