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Vampires

In the Anita Blake World, vampires are blood-drinking former humans who had been infected and turned at some point in their life. 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 do not age, but they can put on muscle and grow their hair.

They live in groups of varying sizes. These groups are known as a Kiss outside of the Vampire Court, and they 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.) This group may be stationary - settled, or it may be nomadic - roaming. Most groups are of the mixed, settled variety.

When this master vampire controls a large territory as well as a group of vampires, the vampire is known as the Master of the City. These territories are generally granted by the Vampire Council (BB), though they may be also be taken by force (GP, BM, ST).

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 Master is also ultimately responsible to both the Human Law and the Vampire Council for whatever the vampires in his Kiss do. (tKD, TH) By drinking the blood of a more powerful master vampire a physic link is created between the vampires and it gives the stronger one some measure of control over the weaker ones. This is known as a blood oath. This bond is similar to but not as binding or strong as that between a vampire and one of its 'children'. This oath allows the Master to 'know' what most of his group are doing, it also allow him to contact them in case of emergencies, and to both draw and give power to them. (DM, TH)

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

They must drink fresh blood regularly to keep healthy. The blood can come from humans, lycanthropes, Fey, or magical creatures such as swanmanes and necromancers.
Animal blood won't work. They will begin to rot if this is all that they drink. (tKD)
They cannot eat physical food, though they can experience the taste of food through human servants. They can drink small amounts of other liquids such as wine. (BO)
They cannot survive off the blood of the dead either, 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)
New 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. The age at which they were turned, is the age that they remain in their 'afterlife. (More on creating a vampire)

Newly made vampires feed hard, like wood. It can take many years for them to change this.
New vampires find it difficult to smile and NOT flash their fangs.
They do not need to breathe or keep their heart beating - they can stop and start these bodily functions at will. This is more common in the older vampires, younger ones tend to continue with the functions out of habit.
They are stronger than humans. Their senses of hearing and smell are also more acute.
They can move very quietly, and very quickly - even the newborns.
The older they are, generally the less human they move and appear. Some older vampires use their speed and mind tricks to make it seem like they can disappear or teleport.
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. (GP)
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. (GP, BB)
Humans who like vampires and like to be bitten by them are called 'freaks'. (GP)

Vampires cannot starve to death, though they will wither and appear frail after periods of prolonged fasting. (NiC)
This is often used as a punishment. (GP, tKD, NiC)
After a period of this prolonged fasting, the vampire must be treated carefully in order to bring it back to health. It is not always fully successful. (NiC)
They 'die' at dawn - their soul leaves their body, and whatever force that animates them releases the body - and rise at dusk. (BB) The more powerful ones can wake before the sun sets or delay the dawn death if well protected from the sunlight.(CotD)
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 true time of death to be determined. (GP)

When a vampire both rolls the mind of a human and bites them, he binds them to him, 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. (GP, BO)
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. (GP) It is a painful process; it burns the skin like acid. Once the bite is 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 fully broken if the vampire is very powerful. (GP)
Vampires smell slightly metallic and reptilian. (GP)

When they die for the day, they still have a heartbeat to keep their blood moving - it is just very 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 sound of a 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 desiccate 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. This is a combination of speed and the ability to cloud the human mind. (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 or contain holy water.
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)

There are a few 'daywalkers'. These vampires can walk in the sunlight. Damian's former master, Nemhain, is one of these. (ID?)
Some vampires can feed on other things than blood. These include emotions such as fear and lust.
Vampire bites do not become infected, because vampires have a natural antiseptic in their saliva. Vampires actually have fewer types of bacteria in their saliva than the average human. (DM)

Some doctor actually wondered why vampire bites don't get infected like an ordinary human bite, or an animal bite. and did tests. The results were published in the Animator. They'd known for a while that vampires have an anticoagulant in their saliva, but this was the first study on other properties of vampire saliva. The bites generally stopped bleeding quickly unless you were cut up. And rarely re-bled without the wound being reopened. (DM)
A bite is a usually a sign of a vampire's favor. (DM)
A violent vamp bite was more like a dog bite; it bled and the edges were raw and torn.
Vampire junkies who tried to hide their habit by having a vampire bite the same wound several times. It didn't really work if you knew enough about vamps to know what a bite should look like, but it fooled the tourists, or the boss at work on Monday. Repeated trauma to an area is still repeated trauma, and that was one of the few times outside of violent attacks when a vamp bite started to bruise and tear.

	Vampires have the ability to remain completely still, expressionless, and silent. New vampires learn this as they age, while older vampires use this often for effect. Vampires cannot enter a person's home without invitation. When Anita revoked her invitation to Jean-Claude, he was pushed out of her home by an unseen force.

Vampires have the ability to remain completely still, expressionless, and silent. New vampires learn this as they age, while older vampires use this often for effect.
Vampires cannot enter a person's home without invitation. When Anita revoked her invitation to Jean-Claude, he was pushed out of her home by an unseen force.

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.
They cannot be seen in photos.

Definitions:

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

Master Vampire	Sourdre de Sang	Pomme de Sang
Stalking Horse	Master of the City	Temoin

The definitions can be found in the Glossary Section.

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
Dead 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
Yasmeen - 500+, Master, killed in CotD
Hannah - unknown, girlfriend to Willie McCoy
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
Seraphina - Master of the City of Branson, killed in BB
Kissa - master vampire, presumed dead in BB
Xavier - master vampire, killed in BB
Janos - 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 - a master vampire from the London Kiss
Requiem - a master vampire from the London Kiss
Primo -a former gladiator master vampire of the Dragon's line
Valentina- 300, child-like vampire of a 5-8 year old girl
Bartolome- child-like vampire of an 11 year old
Musette- at least 600, perform tortures for Belle Morte
Belle Morte- 2,000 plus year old vampire that is Asher's maker and the one that passed down the Ardeur to Jean-Claude
Elinore -
Wicked and Truth - a pair of warrior brothers
London -
Samuel -
Augustine -
Maximillian- Master vampire of Las Vegas
Marmee Noir- the mother of all vampires and the one who set the vampires into a more civilized group. (A million years old?)

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, being trained by Anita
John Burke - only does executions, not hunts
- the guy from New Orleans
- the guy from Las Vegas
- the old one who uses stakes - Anita talks about him in ST

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:

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

Miscellaneous facts about vampires:

The Church of Eternal Life - a vampire church. It is the first church to guarantee eternal life and prove that it can deliver 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.(CotD)
It is not common knowledge that a group of vampires are known as a Kiss (FD?)
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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triscut	Latest page update: made by triscut , Sep 12 2009, 9:45 PM EDT (about this update About This Update fix link color - triscut view changes - complete history)
	Keyword tags: preternaturals Undead Vampire vampires More Info: links to this page

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Anonymous

want to become

Mar 27 2010, 10:53 PM EDT by Sunqueen

Thread started: May 21 2008, 2:11 PM EDT Watch

i ant to become the unliving dead can some one help

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Anonymous

flying vampires

Aug 16 2009, 5:48 PM EDT by layla*monroe

Thread started: Jun 12 2008, 8:04 PM EDT Watch

okay I love the anita blake characters and after 15 books I have to ask why hasn't one of the vampires done the whole superman thing with anita I know that she is scared to fly so it might be cool to see her work throw that issue or just freak out when she notices that one of them has picked her up and flying with her

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osobena

Vampire's babies

Aug 15 2009, 12:34 AM EDT by triscut

Thread started: Mar 28 2008, 10:38 AM EDT Watch

Okay, maybe some of you will think these are stupid questions but I still haven't read all the books and I am curious about a few things:
What happened with Monica and her baby? Did we saw them after Robert's death?
What is Vlad's syndrome? I mean, i know it's a disease, but what exactly?
And what about the babies? Did they live like normal humans or they have some vampire's characteristics?

Nicoloas	Jean-claude	Vampz
"Bullet"	Damien Suggestion	Roleplay in the Anitaverse and Merryverse
msg	J_C	Crispin Glover for Damian.
Asher and Jean-Claude	Casting Call for the Vampires	Truth