is a Japanese manga series written by Kyo Shirodaira and illustrated by Yuri Kimura. The story centers around Strauss (a vampire king) and follows his search for his queen who has been sealed away by humans unable to defeat her thousands of years ago. As this takes him to his set-aside Kingdom of the Night where he encounters dhampirs (half human, half vampire), and humans out to stop the reuniting of the King and Queen at any means possible.
The series was serialized in the magazine Monthly Shōnen Gangan from 2003 to 2007 and collected into nine volumes by Square Enix. It was licensed in English by Viz Media, which released the volumes from May 2008 and May 2010. A sequel manga titled Vampire Jūji-Kai: Inu ni wa Inu no Uta is set to begin serialization in Monthly Shōnen Gangan in October 2026. An anime television series adaptation produced by Zero-G and Liber is set to premiere in 2027.
Plot The story follows Strauss, a former vampire king, as he searches for his queen Adelheid, who was sealed away one thousand years earlier. His quest draws the attention of dhampirs, humans, and the supernatural force known as the Black Swan.
Characters Vampires
Age: ~around 1250 (he became king around the very young age of 200 and adopted Bridget around 60 years old) Strauss is the fearsome Vampire king Akabara (lit. Red Rose) who cast aside his kingdom a thousand years ago and went to search for Adelheid's seal and free her. While the other dhampires believe his motive is a deep love for his queen, Bridget believes that Strauss wants to find Adelheid so he can personally kill her as revenge for killing Stella. Strauss is somber but compassionate and does not kill without reason. He is also unusually cool and logical which allows him to master both the politics and the art of war with frightening precision. Strauss was seen by many as a god and thus great things were expected of him. Few ever stopped to think about his personal life as he devoted himself to his duties as general and later king. The many mysteries in the series revolve around him and the mysterious fall of his kingdom 1000 years ago. All attempts to pry information from him failed, and he resents the attempts to bring up the unhappy past. Before becoming king, Strauss was a general of the Kingdom of the Night. During that time he adopted and raised Bridget, a dhampire girl. He was also in love with a human girl, Stella, whom he presented with a pendant made from lunar rock which he collected himself. Later it is revealed that Strauss never loved Adelheid, and that his true love interest was only Stella. As the general, Strauss had never been defeated on the field of battle; because of his exceptional leadership of the armies, the Kingdom of Night went without a loss for over 100 years. While he was a general, Strauss had the cunning and power to be able to control the entire continent. He chose not to, however, because he was content with the size of the Kingdom. He also knew that if he conquered more, the people will hate the Kingdom and rebel, causing the loss of many lives, which would be unacceptable. These same skills were taught to Bridget. Strauss has impressive magical powers far outmatching those of the dhampires. Nevertheless, he chooses to limit his power and fight in close combat in order to avoid damage to the surroundings. He is usually seen fighting with a vibrating edge of magic, although he can also summon a sword and is an expert swordsman. At range, Strauss can cast vibrating magic arrows or destroy missiles with a single gesture of his hand. Although pure-blooded vampires perish when exposed to sunlight, Strauss has overcome this limitation long ago.Vanpaia Jūji Kai vol.6, page 183. Despite being extremely powerful, Strauss is very kind-hearted, gentle, and has compassion for everyone except himself. It is later revealed that he abandoned his kingdom and turned himself into the ultimate enemy so both human and vampire races will collaborate and stop fighting each other, continuing to carry everyone's resentment for him for over 1000 years to protect everyone.
Age: 1190 Strauss' queen and Bridget's half-sister, Adelheid was sealed a thousand years ago when she went berserk and unleashed her power, the . Though unskilled in the use of her magic, Adelheid is potentially more powerful than Strauss and her magic possesses terraforming capabilities; the corrosive nature of her powers resulted from unleashing it all at once and she, like Strauss, is not limited by exposure to sunlight. Legend says that she went berserk when she thought that the king had been killed, though Bridget believes that Adelheid was frightened and thought Strauss was going to kill her when he believed Adelheid had killed Stella and her unborn child. Nobody knew that she had witnessed Stella's death until Adelheid officially became Strauss' queen. Adelheid had a shy and self-conscious personality and she always worried about how others thought of her. Unlike Bridget or Strauss, Adelheid does not possess an exceptional amount of brains or cunning. By comparison, Adelheid was the least skilled of the three but since she was the only pure-blooded daughter of the king, Adelheid was the only one who could become queen. When Adelheid first learned that Bridget was her sister, the future queen felt very guilty over the circumstances of her birth. Adelheid always tried to make it up to Bridget by calling the dhampire 'dear sister' and she and Bridget became close. After she is reawakened, she strives to atone for her weakness and past mistakes, particularly in regards to Stella's death, the deterioration of the Kingdom of the Night, and Strauss' downfall. Gottfried The vampire king that preceded Strauss as monarch. Gottfried is the biological father of Bridget and Adelheid. Like most rulers of the Kingdom of the Night, he became king at the age of 1000. Gottfried is an intelligent man that commanded the nation for several hundred years. As a pure-blood, it was difficult for Gottfried to produce offspring. Thus, when Bridget was born, she was allowed to be princess and heir in the off chance that Gottfried died. As soon as Adelheid was born, Gottfried banished his older daughter in order to prevent civil war between the two children.
Dhampires Those who have both vampire and human blood are referred to as dhampires. All dhampires, except Laetitia, have united under Bridget against Strauss and his quest for the seal.
Age: 1200 Bridget is the leader of the dhampire community, a highly capable and powerful dhamphir who has been fighting Strauss for over a thousand years. Bridget has set up thousands of 'nets' all over the world that allows her to track the activities of Strauss and she is highly organized and efficient. In battle, Bridget acts as the strategist, directing the other dhampires' attacks. Her knowledge of her adversary, Strauss, is second to none. Bridget was adopted by Strauss when he was still a general, and raised like his own daughter; he was personally responsible for cultivating Bridget's abilities. According to Tessenji, Bridget's skill in the area of politics as well as her abilities with a sword, is the only reason that the dhampire survived after Strauss abdicated. Bridget is an expert in small group combat, and she has a keen military intelligence and excellent political sense. Despite the fact that she was only 150 and was a dhampire, she later served as one of his most trusted generals. Nevertheless, Strauss left her behind when he abandoned his kingdom. Despite her history with Strauss, Bridget keeps her personal feelings and that of the dhampire community separate. There are several instances where Bridget allows herself to feel angry that she is not helping Strauss. While serving the Kingdom of the Night, the only thing that separated her from becoming Strauss' lover is the family-like status they had. Though initially jealous that Stella was taking her place in Strauss' life, Bridget later tolerated and eventually grew to respect Stella. As Stella was human and would live a considerably shorter life than her children, Bridget had planned to raise Stella's dhamphir children with Strauss as a surrogate mother. Once the truth behind events that happened a thousand years ago comes to light, she apologizes to Strauss and returns to him as his daughter.
Age: ~600 One of Bridget's followers and the best swordsman in the group; his skills are noted by Bridget to be greater than her own. After Strauss defeats Yuki, the 49th Black Swan and Renka's love interest, Renka swears to avenge her. However, Renka's hatred is so great that he will not hesitate in revealing the existence of dhampire and vampires to the entire human world, which would rekindle the vampire hunts. In a reckless fight against Strauss, Renka was unable to hit the vampire king even once while Strauss cut Renka 25 times. Renka realizes exactly how heavy Strauss' mental burden is, and the dhampire knows that he could never win against the former king armed only with pure rage. Afterwards, Renka starts to retain his composure and becomes curious of Strauss' past and is direct in asking Bridget about the king's past. In combat, Renka uses two sacred swords, Koryū and Kinyou as well as Narutsuki, a sacred katana capable of disrupting the spirit powers of Strauss and the Black Swan. Despite four hundred years of training, his swordsmanship is still unrefined and lacking compared to that of Strauss. For Kayuki's final battle against Strauss, he lends her Narutsuki so she will not feel as though her victory is decided against the vampire king merely because she is the Black Swan.
Age: ~600 One of the dhampires on Bridget's team. He wears a full-body samurai armor suit. In his free time, Tessenji runs a food stall that has good food but few patrons due to his armor. Tessenji is well versed in the daily workings of the dhampire community and its rumors. In fighting, Tessenji is equally skilled in using a long spear for close range fighting and a bow and arrow set to strike from a distance. He rarely speaks but is the tallest and most forbidding of the dhampire fighting team. He is the only dhampire to see Strauss' duel against Renka and is terrified that the vampire could beat Renka so easily by swordsmanship alone.
Age: ~ almost 300 Nicknamed Ethel, Takahashi is youngest dhampire on Bridget's team. He has the appearance of a high school student and fights using a large scythe that excels in wide area damage. He is still relatively new to fighting Strauss and hesitates when forced to hurt children like Laetitia. He has very little vampire blood in him; therefore, he is best suited to traveling in daylight. Thus, Takahashi commonly runs errands for Bridget, which includes bringing data from the dhamphires' information department. He frequents Tessenji's food stand.
Age: 68 A dhampire orphan girl who gave Strauss refuge at her mountain home during his battle against the 49th Black Swan. Laetitia is only quarter vampire, being the child of a dhampire and a human. She later accompanies Strauss and becomes his charge and loyal companion. Unlike other dhampires, Laetitia has little magical or spiritual ability and relies more on firearms with bullets infused with Strauss' magic. While she is the weakest of the dhampires seen, she is still able to outfly a military helicopter. Laetitia acts as Strauss' eyes and ears when the vampire king cannot move about freely. She is also the only one who believes in Strauss even after learning from Bridget of Strauss' betrayal. Bridget nicknames Laetitia 'Mountain Cat' and personally begins training Laeticia's dhamphir powers so she won't be a hindrance.
Black Swan