I haven't read Whispers, but a good debate is always welcome.
a. Traditional magic is considered some kind of wisdom or skill that anybody can learn, unlike the new witch bloodline thing, so it's possible for vampires to learn magic if they pursue it or if they have witch's bloodline for the modern magic. I wonder what would happen if vampires drunk the blood of special bloodlines?
Magic is considered a hidden knowledge, nearly forgotten, and learning it, just like math and science, requires talent and hard work, not anybody can do it. Because of that and the inconveniences and dangers it has when applying it, it was mostly abandoned by humanity.
You can easily become a sorcerer by learning Arabic, Persian, Latin, Hebrew or etc and reading old books easily found in third world countries if you have acquaintances. BTW, magic just like alchemy (now called chemistry) is not some kind of unknown or otherwordly thing, it's just a way of applying science and technology that's forgotten now. These days, people mostly learn magic to curse others creating a headache for many religious scholars, especially muslims as they openly admit the existence of magic.
b. Well, most sources state vampires are undead creatures. They are basically a smarter, cleaner version of zombies if I may say so myself, so they are generally considered soulless. The no shadow or mirror reflection is based on them being soulless. They would't be vampires if they had souls.
c. Beings like vampires were originally recognized as cursed creatures by some kind of demon, god, entity, witch, etc. So it's acceptable to say their powers are "otherwordly
". BTW, there have been moments in which a guy dies with huge amounts of regret and revives as a vampire. Emotions pulling him back to the world usually partially conflicts with
b.
d. I don't understand this. You need to elaborate that.
e. vampires are already considered soulless, adding that kind of entity (with no body) equals adding a soul. Unless we somehow accept their craziness when craving as demons controlling them.
f. Right now (this era), most vampires except cartoonic and some odd ones can't fly. Vampires capable of flight were popular in count Dracula's era.
Vampires are cursed to look like bats, not be like them.
