The Embrace is the act of transforming a mortal into a vampire. It is the only act of reproduction of which the Cainites are capable. A vampire drains and replaces a victim's blood with a bit of their own to pass the curse of vampirism to a mortal.
When a vampire desires a childe, due to loneliness, regret at an accidental feeding, a need for a pawn, or any other reason, the first step is to drain the candidate dry. Any technique that results in a bloodless corpse will do, although most sires drain their soon-to-be childer by feeding on them, making the Embrace an intimate experience. Once the candidate is drained of blood, the sire gives the candidate a small amount of their own blood, and this instantly transforms the candidate into a new childe. The moment of rebirth is perhaps the greatest pleasure the childe will ever feel, perhaps the only true ecstasy they will feel other than the Kiss.
The first reaction most childer have after an Embrace is raw hunger. With less than a blood point available and no experience dealing with a fully raging Beast, the childe will most likely enter a hunger Frenzy at the first sight of blood. For most vampires, this means that the Embrace is followed immediately by a moment of degradation. After this point, the childe will experience hours of painful burning sensations as their body undergoes the process of death and disposes of needless waste.
After the Embrace, the fledgling may take several days before the full impact of the curse is apparent. Ventrue preferences take several weeks to define, and the Nosferatu change can take up to a month as the body re-forms to accept the curse.