I am writing a modern family and one part of the story involves a vampire guilty of feeding without consent. I am trying to come up with a name for the crime that is fitting, but doesn't come across as being too edgy.
You're gonna need to explain better. Vampires don't ask for consent, they just feed. The crime would be assault, or murder. But it sounds like you have some very special conditions that require some 'splainin'. And what do you mean you're writing a modern family?
Sorry spell check got me, it was supposed to have said modern fantasy. I can't call it an urban fantasy because a good chunk of it takes place in a small town. In the world that I'm building vampires have built a society that allows them to live among humans without being noticed. The society is very similar to the mafia with each city having a Master or Mistress (Boss) and then a pecking order that goes all the way down to human familiars, which would be like associates. One of the ways that this society has been able to exist in plain sight is by having a set of strict laws such as you can only feed with consent, and there is a group of familiars that are little more than a source of food. There are rare cases where a vampire breaks this law and attacks a human that is not a part of the family to feed. When this happens many victims will survive the attack and have an interesting story to tell their friend, and some will be killed. It depends on the vampire that is attacking and the reason that they are doing it. Usually, it is from a sort of vampire mental illness, but there can be other reasons for the attack. I just think that assault and murder would be what human police would call the crime, but I want something different that the vampires would call the crime.
Just make up something like 'bloodletting' - which doesn't make any sense based on the two common meanings of the word but hey, it's a secret vampire society.
Ok, that makes a lot more sense. So does the rest of it. I had a feeling it was something along those lines, just needed some more details to have a better understanding. The crime could be something like unauthorized feeding maybe? Or an unauthorized draw, meaning drawing (blood) without permission.
I like unauthorized feeding for a simple attack, it sounds like it would be a human crime if all humans knew about vampires. What do you think of aggravated unauthorized feeding or unauthorized feeding with death, for when they kill the victim?
Are you familiar with Vampire: The Masquerade? It has all those elements and the names it uses, to give you a pointer, are: 'Society very similar to the Mafia' = The Camarilla 'With each city having a Master or Mistress' = The Prince (of Los Angeles, for example) 'Pecking order going all the way down...' = Antediluvian, Methuselah, Elder, Ancilla, Neonates, Fledgling '... to human familiars' = Ghoul 'A set of strict laws such as you can only feed with consent, and there is a group of familiars that are little more than a source of food' = This is where your scenario deviates. In those books/games/plays there is a code called, 'The Masquerade', which is not bothered by consent but about letting humans know that vampires exist, i.e. threatening their secrecy. Breaking that code (exposing yourself to a human without 'dealing' with said human) is called, 'Violating the Masquerade' or just 'Violations'.
Hypophagia or Periphagia, from the Greek 'Hypo-' (under) or 'Peri-' (around), as in going under or around the Law, and '-Phagia' meaning ingestion. You can keep the -phagia and use any Greek prefix you'd like, really. And the name for those who commit the crame? Hypophage, periphage, etc.
Theft of a controlled substance? It sounds like blood in this situation might be considered a controlled substance if you can only obtain with (written like prescription? or just verbal?) permission. Just my first thought. Good luck!
