Barlow does not turn Father Callahan into a vampire, but he does make him "unclean." How does Barlow sully the priest?

Barlow sullies Father Callahan by forcing him to drink the vampire’s blood, making Callahan “unclean” without turning him into a vampire.

The scene occurs at the Petrie house, where Callahan confronts Barlow alongside Mark Petrie. Callahan’s faith fails in the vampire’s presence, leaving him spiritually—and symbolically—vulnerable. Barlow tears open his own throat and compels the priest to drink from him as an act of domination and desecration.

This is not a conventional vampire bite or blood-draining attack. Callahan is not transformed into one of Barlow’s undead servants, nor does Barlow rape him or make him a human familiar. The violation is specifically the forced consumption of vampire blood, a dark parody of a sacred religious sacrament.

Afterward, Callahan cannot enter his own church and describes himself as “unclean.” His story continues in Stephen King’s later Dark Tower novels, where the disgraced former priest becomes an important recurring character.