Mimic

The ability to 'Mimic' is an extremely rare extra, which allows a vampire to rapidly absorb other vampire's extras by simply being in close proximity to them and use them at will. Control over these powers can be limited and/or unpredictable without proper development and training. Justin, the main protagonist and narrator of Gone From Daylight is discovered to be a mimic.

According to Vampire lore, the birth of a mimic is rare, and can portend great change for vampire society, as laid out in Comicality's first ever scripture, which linked the mimic legend with the Vampire Dawn. Scriptures in The Nifty Archive – which Justin visited in order to understand more about the prophecy and his own destiny – detail the circumstances and context that mimics will live and eventually die. There must have been "a great deal of sadness and torture in a human's life" – Stew, Gone From Daylight: Nights Eternal, before their crossover. A person must then find "true love in the eyes of another vampire, and give his life over to darkness" – Stew, Gone From Daylight: Nights Eternal. The mimic's Sire, according to scripture, must die before the prophecy is fulfilled and the mimic dies.

Justin's life follows all of the patterns that are required in the formation of a mimic, apart from the fact that, by chapter 24 of Gone From Daylight: Blood Ties, Taryn, Justin's sire and "true love" has not yet died. There are many details about the early life of the mimic during their crossover including being born out of love, the wearing of Eternity Bands on the lover's arms, a commune of other vampires being the mimic's first exposure to the use of other extras, starvation or traditional 'fasting' before the mimic's first kill. There are even mentions of specific events such as participating at Fighting Arenas, the manipulation of another vampire in their tribe, the battle with a horde of thieves that came in the early evening, and the seeking out and eventual training from a 'master' to hone the mimic's skills. All of these event lend themselves to a description of Justin's crossover.

It is known that there have been many mimics before Justin, but the vast majority either went insane, could not control their powers and killed themselves, or were killed by the Elders as a protective measure. According to scripture, the last Mimic (before Justin) lived some 600 years ago, was eventually killed by a large group of hunters, sent by the Elders, who fought with him for hours on end before finally defeating him. One of those hunters, who was mortally wounded several hundred years later just after the Second World War, named Versai transferred all of his memories into the mind of Zero so that the "accurate story" could be told.

There have only been two recorded instances of mimics being elevated to a positive representation in the history texts: "One was a young lady, who did all she could for the vampires in her country. She was remembered for bringing together a large order of vampires together from many different cultures and locations around the globe. The community grew, and was able to govern itself after a while, she disappeared shortly after that. Her abilities became self aware at one point, and she feared that she would begin to tear down everything she had built if she remained alive … She questioned her faith, and her purpose, and eventually took a mountain sun quest before her own power corrupted her completely. The second was a young monk, who, after freeing many vampire slaves that were used as assassins for a tyrannical order, and leading a huge society of vampires to build their own fortress along the Eastern China border, was said to have vanished into the mountains, never to be seen again. But not for a sun quest. It's presumed that he purposely starved himself to death, refusing to feed the abilities inside of him." Extract taken from Gone From Daylight: Nights Eternal.

See Also:
 * Extras
 * Justin
 * Vampire Dawn