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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41940
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Vampires and werewolves are such a staple of folklore that introducing the reader to the fact of their existence can be done in many ways.

In Interview with the Vampire a nervous journalist saw something he couldn’t explain and learns about vampires from a world weary vampire.

Perhaps your MC collects the various items that are said to be weaknesses of vampires. His home might have many mirrors, garlic hangs from his door and festoons the kitchen. His picket fence looks remarkably like a series of stakes hidden in plain sight and he never invites people into his home.

You could mention the various things he collects and the reader will probably start wondering if there might be a vampire in the closet.

Perhaps a neighbor who watches too much television or reads gothic novels stops by and wonders if the man is preparing for vampires. He might even joke about it.

Drop hints about why your MC is in on the secret - was a loved one killed? Did he witness something that changed his life?

Moonlight did it well - a private investigator who works at night and has some odd quirks because he a vampire living among us.

In Forever Knight, the MC is a detective who is a vampire and his partner learns the truth - and that there is a hidden subculture of vampires in the city he thought he knew so well.

There are so many vampire/ werewolf tales out there that you can be rather subtle and build to the first time it is crystal clear that there are other species among us. Your reader will probably figure it out rather quickly.

Prey took that and gave it a twist - a new species of human that is stronger, faster and smarter than homo sapiens. The enemy was evolution.

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