The time angle is a good explanation.Rebel Mage wrote: ↑Wed Jul 12, 2023 2:44 am I also think that vampires turning to "ash" could also be them turning to dust, as their corpse is suddenly subject to all the time that has passed since the vampire's first "death." So, if a vampire is really old, they could turn to dust; if they're a younger vampire, you'd just be left with a corpse of an appropriate... "age." That's just how I like to flavour things.
I mean, if we look at Dracula:
It is him turning to dust. And, since Dracula has probably been dead for more than 400 years, it's a natural result of time,,,It was like a miracle; but before our very eyes, and almost in the drawing of a breath, the whole body crumble into dust and passed from our sight.
I shall be glad as long as I live that even in that moment of final dissolution, there was in the face a look of peace, such as I never could have imagined might have rested there.
Alternatively, if you read The Dracula Tape by Fred Saberhagen, that is the result of Dracula faking his own death; turning into vapor to fool the would-be vampire hunters, who are completely out of their depth, misinformed, and won't leave him alone.