"I have personally read all of these books, and no demons emerged. I do know the difference between a book of binding and one of the more ordinary sort."

"And these aren't liable to be picky demons that will sit tight in their books if they don't like the look of you or something?"

"No."

"Let's see... there's the Keys Collated and Revised, in seven volumes, for a general introduction. The most comprehensive available source on vampires is simply titled Vampyr, but its unofficial title is the Leaden Brick for reasons that I'm sure will become obvious the first time you try to pick it up. Magic-eaters, mirror-walkers, and several varieties of usurper all appear in Journeys of the Damned. Demons who possess or command under unusual conditions are the main subject of Goetia Esoterica. I think that's everything I mentioned. Oh, and the Fyarl have their own page in Twelve Hundred Demonic Mercenaries, which contains only one thousand and fifty-eight species."

Kaylo writes all this down. "I think you may have a few too many kinds of demon."

He snorts.

"And none of them can fly? Or the ones that can all get to your planet from other planets?"

"The vast majority of demons originate from hell dimensions, if you go back far enough. Humans, and technically vampires, are the only intelligent species living on Earth who verifiably started out there. But yes, apart from that, very few demons can fly."

"Our vampires can fly," remarks Kaylo.

"Ours can't. Well, one can, but Dracula is a special case in many respects."

"Why, how does he do it?"

"He is a shapeshifter. Turns into, among other things, mist and bats. Or possibly one bat. Reports vary on the number and size of the bat or bats."

"...How in the name of all shapeshifting logic ever would one vampire turn into several bats?"

"I don't believe logic was consulted on the matter."

Kaylo gives him a withering look.

He shrugs and sips his tea.

"Our vampires turn into one bat. Apiece. It's not a specialized skill, even baby vampires can do it."

"...'Baby'...?"

"You... do have babies where you're from, right? Do you not have babies? Am I actually something like ten times your age?"

"We do have babies. We don't have baby vampires. Vampire reproduction is a complicated and unpleasant subject."

"...Why would you not have baby vampires? I'm confused."

"Vampires make more vampires by feeding humans their blood and then killing them. The human's departed soul is replaced by a demonic spirit, and their body rises from the grave as a vampire, with all the memories of their human life but usually a vastly different personality."

"...Okay, so that's... about six reasons why I'm confused that I want to translate the word you're saying into various Elcenian words referring to the species I mentioned that turns into bats and has babies. Huh."

"They also drink blood," he mentions, "which I think is the strongest point of commonality between worlds I've found. Ours and yours are not the only kinds of vampire."