Invented Original Characters: Flea-Men

Growing up my dream job was to be a comic book artist/writer. But with very little artistic talent that dream died pretty quickly. Now I do my best to bring my characters to life using apps like factory of heroes, swordmaker, armormaker, you doodle and photo cutout. They don't always turn out looking very good but I get more excited about the concepts and stories behind the characters than how well I can make the character look good. Sometimes my characters are from cultures I am not a part of because I think it fits their story or other aspects about them. I am not a cultural expert but at the very least I hope no one is upset by me using aspects of cultures I'm not a part of and find interesting. That said below is my idea for Flea themed vampires.

Technically the newest known vampire sect, the flea vampire's creation was overseen by a shady American company aiming to use them for bioweapon applications. As part of the effort to keep them subordinate they are typically called flea-men rather than flea vampires. The flea was chosen as the blood drinking animal to model this vampire group after in an effort to avoid "the curse of two" that gave extra weaknesses to bat, lamprey, moth, tick, finch, leech, mosquito and spider vampires around the 1500's. This was successful resulting in flea-men being weak to cold and daytime (like most insect like vampires) while for example the mosquito vampires are weak to cold, daytime, gold and African lavender. However, (even without the extra weaknesses and perhaps because they are a relatively new sect) most flea-men are typically no match for other vampires in direct combat until they latch on to warm blooded animals.

Their ability to latch has been what makes them so appealing as bioweapons. At about 3 feet tall with powerful jumping legs they can lunge at and latch on to humans and sinking their mouths in to feed on their blood. While being fed on a human host will become more feral, powerful and ape like the longer the flea is attached. Furthermore the longer it attaches the less likely its host is to survive if the flea is removed. With that in mind flea-men can be deployed as bio weapons at enemy bases to wreak havoc on them and turn people against eachother. Like other vampires flea-men can turn humans to join their sect but it is only usually done if they are instructed to by their company handlers. Other bioweapon applications of flea-men are when they are used in the "M2 program". This program injects addictive and intoxicating properties into the bloodstream of large warmblooded animals and pairs them with one of the flea-men indefinitely. Notable examples are Project Fenris where flea-men are paired with a wolves and Project Ursa where flea-men are paired with bears. The warbeasts of Project Fenris and especially Project Ursa, are thought to be stronger than some of the most powerful vampires and their opponent's best chance to defeat them is thought to be knocking the flea-man of of their backs. However, the flea-men are secured and protected by increasingly strong cages fastened to the beast's backs. The added chemicals in the host animals blood keeps the flea-man too addicted and lethargic to want to detach and it will remain there until removed or until the host dies.

Most early "M2 Program" attempts have focused on animals native to America but there are devious plans to expand to making new horrible creations using tigers, ostriches, elephants and other exotic animals. It is still unclear if the bigger threat is how the flea-men will be used by their creators or what would happen if they broke free from their handler's control.