In the Anita Blake world, Vampires are blood-drinking former humans who have been infected and turned. After their human death, they have risen to prey on the blood of the living.

They have varying degrees of power individually and as part of society, both on their own and more recently in general. They also have weaknesses and although long-lived, they are not immortal and can be killed.

They live in groups of varying sizes. These groups are known as Kisses and are controlled by a powerful master vampire. These vampires may consist of a combination of both unrelated and related individuals and may come from more than one bloodline. (A related group shares a common bloodline.) When this vampire controls a large territory as well as a group of vampires, the vampire is known as the Master of the City. By drinking the blood of a more powerful Master vampire a physic link is created between them and it gives the stronger one some measure of control over the weaker ones. This is known as a blood oath.

It is this Master's responsibility to both provide for and control the weaker vampires under his sphere of influence. This Master must also pay homage to the Vampire Council and to his own Sourdre de Sang or 'fountainhead' of a bloodline.

The following information is known to be true about Vampires in the Anita Blake universe:

• They must drink blood to keep healthy. The blood can come from humans, lycanthropes, Fey, or magical creatures such as swanmanes and necromancers. Animal blood won't work. (tKD)
• They cannot survive off the blood of the dead, E.G. that of other vampires and zombies. (GP)
• Their fangs are fixed - they do not retract or extend. They are also very sharp.
• After feeding, their usually pale skin becomes flushed and healthy-looking. (GP)
• Vampires are made by other vampires feeding from humans. It usually takes three bites with the last bite resulting in the death of the human. (More on creating a vampire here)
• They do not need to breathe or keep their heart beating - they can stop and start them at will.
• The older they are, generally the less human they move and appear.
• They can use a form of 'glamor' to make themselves look more appealing, hide flaws etc. It requires them to use some of their personal power.
• They can strip their physical humanity away - this usually means shrinking their skin onto their bones and becoming skeletal, with glowing veins and eyes. This varies with the vampire.
• Humans who like vampires and like to be bitten by them are called 'freaks'. (GP)
• They cannot starve to death, though they will wither and appear frail after periods of prolonged fasting.
• They 'die' at dawn - their soul leaves their body, and whatever force that animates them releases them. The more powerful ones can wake before the sun sets or delay the dawn death if well protected from the sunlight.
• When truly dead, vampire corpses sometimes do not react in the same fashion as human corpses - they sometimes do not go through rigor mortis. This makes it difficult for the time of death to be determined.
• A vampire bite binds a human to them, making it easier for the vampire to cloud or control their mind, making them slaves, aka Renfields. A second bite enforces the connection, making even strong willed people succumb. With this bond, the vampire can call the human to them at any time.
• The bite can be cleansed or purified by pouring Holy Water onto it - the process usually takes three bottles of Holy Water applied over several days, though it can be done all at once. It burns the bite like acid. Once purified, a cross is pressed to the wound. It will sear and scar the flesh if the bite is not clean enough. Even doing this is no guarantee the bond will be broken if the vampire is very powerful. (GP)
• Vampires smell slightly metallic and reptilian.
• When they die for the day, they still have a heartbeat to keep their blood moving - it is just very very slow. (GP)
• Some vampires can survive their human servant being killed, while others die with them or go insane, the outcome may depend on how long they have been together.
• They can bleed, almost as easily humans do, although the wounds can heal amazingly fast.
• Vampires sometimes don't have the self-control not to drain a person dry. The last blood is said to be sweeter and the frantic heartbeat an incredible high.
• When extremely hungry, the skin of their faces sinks in, and their bones become more prominent. If they are unable to feed they will dessicate like a mummy, but still be alive.
• Vampires can sweat, although this is typically a stress reaction. (BB)
• Vampires prefer being solitary hunters.
• Vampires can move without a humans eyes or ears registering it. (GP)
• A normal bullet will appear to pass through a vampire almost like mist, the vampire heals so fast - as long as the bullet is not silver.
• Holy water still works on a vampire's corpse causing the same reaction on the flesh. (GP)
• Sunlight is harmful to them. Brief exposures causes severe burns and anything more can result in spontaneous combustion. Vampires burn very hotly when this happens and there is very little left. (BO)

Myths:

The following information although perhaps applicable to other vampires in other 'worlds', are known to be untrue of vampires in the Anita Blake universe:

• They can assume the shapes of animals.
• They can turn into mist.
• They have no reflections and cannot see themselves in a mirror or other reflective surface.
• They are repulsed by garlic.
• They turn to ash when killed. (This is true only when fire is used.)
• A heart-shaped gravestone or a yew tree does not mark the resting place of a vampire.

Definitions:

The following are explanations or definitions of terms related to vampires and used in the Anita Blake universe:

Master Vampire: A vampire with enough inner or personal power to be able to rise from the day death by his/her own will/strength.
Sourdre de Sang: A Fountain of Blood, a vampire that has become strong enough that they no longer have to obey their maker and thus can found their own line of vampires.
Pomme de Sang: Apple of Blood, a sobriquet for a human or lycanthrope that has become a willing food source for a vampire. The vampire is duty bound to protect this person from harm.
Master of the City: A Master vampire who is strong enough to control other vampires in a territory. Lesser masters have to ask permission to stay in the city. This vampire is answerable to the Vampire Council.
Stalking Horse: A vampire who acts as a front for another more powerful vampire drawing challenges to that vampire's power base.
Temoin: The second in command of a Master of the City

Known Vampires:

List names, link to their character page, age, power level/position and if 'dead'

• Willie McCoy - new vampire, flunky, less than 3 years dead in GP
• Buzz - under twenty years dead, flunky
• Jean-Claude - master, 205 years dead in GP but turns out to be over 600 in later books (DM), goes from 4th in command in GP to Master of the City in TLaC and then Sourdre de Sang in CS
• Robert - 100+, flunky , ran GP for Jean-Claude, killed in TKD
• Aubrey - 500+, powerful but not a Master, killed in GP by Anita.
• Nikolaos - Master of the City, 1000+, killed in GP.
• Theresa - 100-150, flunky and Nikolaos' Stalking Horse, killed in GP
• Lucas - unknown, dead before GP
• Valentine - 100+, killed in GP
• Jack - unknown ???
• Maurice - unknown, killed before GP, one of the victims of Zachary's ritual killings
• Dave - former cop, owns a bar called "Dead Dave's", less than ten years dead
• Malcolm - unknown, Master, leader of The Church of Eternal Life
• Yasmin - 500+, Master, killed in CotD
• Hannah - unknown
• Liv - 500, flunky, worked at Danse Macabre, killed in BO
• Meng Die - unknown, master
• Faust - unknown, master
• Damian - 1000+, flunky, Works at Danse Macabre, part of Anita's second triumvirate, her vampire servant
• Gertrude/Greta - unknown, ?, intensely jealous of Anita and punished for attempting to harm her
• Colin - Master of Myerton area, killed in BM
• Serephina - Master of the City of Branson, killed in BB
• Kissa - master vampire, presumed dead in BB
• Xavier - master vampire, killed in BB
• Jonas - master vampire, killed in BB
• Bettina - master vampire, killed in BB
• Pallas - master vampire, killed in BB
• Ivy - master vampire, killed in BB
• Bruce - newly dead vampire, killed in BB
• Byron -
• Requiem -
• Primo -

Miscellaneous Information:

List of executioners:

• Anita Blake, legal executioner for the state of Missouri - was also a Vampire Hunter before vampires became legal
• Manny Rodriquez - retired
• Larry Kirkland (new)
• John Burke, also a Vampire Hunter before legalization of vampires

Before the legalization of vampires, Vampire Hunters were the people the police turned to, to deal with any vampire encounters.

Nicknames given to vampires:

• Longfang
• Fangface
• Bloodsucker

Vampire Hate Clubs/Groups:

• Humans Against Vampires (HAV)
• The League of Human Voters
• Humans First (a more militant offshoot from HAV)

Various facts about vampires:

• The Church of Eternal Life - a vampire church. It is the first church to guarantee eternal life and prove it. The members must be over 18 to join. The Church dislikes freaks (people who like to be bitten), the Circus of the Damned and the Blood District.
• Vampire Gangs - In New York and Los Angeles there are gangs of vampires. They tried to spread to St. Louis but they were killed by the resident vampire community. (?)
• The Catholic Church sees voluntary vampirism as a form of suicide. (?)
• There are things that can be done to a corpse to stop it raising as a vampire. Some people make "dying wills' to specify what should be done with their bodies in there is any chance of being turned vampire.
• It is not common knowledge that a group of vampires are known as a Kiss
• The Vampire Quarterly is a preternatural magazine.
• In the early 1900s, people thought vampirism was an illness, like lycanthropy. Dr. Henry Mulligan pioneered the search for a cure, but was killed when one of his test subjects attacked him. (CotD?)
• Vampirism can be cured by complete blood transfusions, but since it is the vampirism that is keeping the body animate, most are unwilling to take the cure. (DM)

References:
Guilty Pleasures
The Laughing Corpse
and Circus of the Damned
Danse Macabre by Laurell K. Hamilton

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