Infected Vampires is the term that the writers have used to describe the vampires who have survived being infected with [[Hepatitis V]]. In addition to having some physical characteristics slightly different from normal vampires, vampires infected have a greater thirst for blood and their attitude is more animalistic than other vampires.
Infected Vampires is the term that the writers have used to describe the vampires who have survived being infected with [[Hepatitis V]]. In addition to having some physical characteristics slightly different from normal vampires, vampires infected have a greater thirst for blood and their attitude is more animalistic than other vampires.
"Just because you understand the mechanics of how something works, does not make it any less of a miracle ... which is just another word for magic. We're all kept alive by magic, Sookie. My magic's just a little 'different from yours, that's all."
Vampires are supernaturally corpses, inhabited by a human soul, that drink blood to survive and maintain their powers. They were originally humans converted by a into a vampire by a "maker". Being technically deceased, their primary characteristics include a lack of a heartbeat, brainwaves, electrical impulses, need to breathe, and other bodily functions.
Due to the creation of synthetic blood (Tru Blood), vampires have revealed themselves to the global population. As vampires are able to sustain themselves on synthetic blood instead of human blood, vampire representatives have assured the human population that vampires are no threat. Vampires live in close contact with humans, but retain their own laws and traditions.
Reactions to vampires varies greatly. They are considered legal citizens within the United States, albeit with limited rights and strict rules.
Vampires have existed since the beginning of humanity. According to the Vampire Bible, God created the first vampire, Lilith, followed by the creation of the first humans, Adam and Eve. They were said to have been created as sustenance for Lilith, but the truth of this statement is unknown. Members of the Fellowship of the Sun have their own theories of the first vampire, including Jesus (who rose from the dead), Lazarus (who also rose from the dead), and Cain (the son of Adam and Eve, who committed the first murder). However, most humans from among the right-wing Christians believe that vampires were created by the Devil and that they have no souls.
Bill Compton has stated that, many centuries ago, vampires created many of the vampire myths themselves in order to protect themselves. For instance, since it was believed that vampires could not be seen in the mirror, a vampire could prove that they weren't a vampire by appearing in a mirror. Other myths include holy water, holy grounds (i.e. religious buildings and establishments), crucifixes, and photography (i.e. it is possible to take a photograph of a vampire), which have no actual effect on vampires.
1600's
In 1610, a powerful witch named Antonia Gavilán de Logroño cast a spell that summoned all vampires within a 20 mile radius to expose themselves to sunlight. This caused a number of vampires to die.
2000's
In 2006, vampires revealed their existence to humans, an event referred to as "the Great Revelation", "coming out of the coffin" and "mainstreaming". During the revelation, vampires began claiming that vampirism did not indicate rising from the dead, but that it was a disease which makes vampires allergic to sunlight and alters their dietary needs.
In 2010, Russell Edgington ripped out the spine of TBBN newscaster Jerry McCafferty on live television, which increased prejudice and hate crimes towards vampires. In addition, Russell became the poster boy of the Sanguinista movement, sparking more conflict between humans and vampires.
In 2011, 400 years after the death of Antonia Gavilán de Logroño, a witch named Marnie Stonebrook summoned her spirit. Antonia used Marnie as a host to control her, and cast the same spell she cast in 1610. However, as the vampires knew of her intentions, only one vampire perished. Marnie mentions vampires being politically powerful throughout the centuries, writing propaganda on witches and exaggerating many of their myths.
In order to create a vampire, a human must be drained of their blood by a vampire and the blood lost needs to be replaced by some of the vampire's blood. The vampire and human must then sleep in the ground until the newborn rises as a vampire the following night. The newborn and the maker will have a maker-progeny bond, unless the maker deserts or releases their progeny.
Newborn vampires will be thirsty and will need to feed to survive. Although newborns have some control of their abilities, they are mostly controlled by their impulses and can cause serious harm and accidental deaths to humans around them. In addition, newborns cannot resist blood at all, as resistance develops with age.
A newborn's existence depends upon their abilities, which are taught to them by their maker. These abilities take time to learn and develop. As vampires age, they become more adept at controlling their ablities. According to Bill Compton, two-thirds of newborns die during their first year without the guidance of their makers.
Maker and Progeny bond
Godric about to become the maker of Eric
Makers are vampires who have turned humans into vampires. The newborn vampire (known as a progeny) must then stay with their maker until they are released and know enough about the vampire laws.
A maker has a deep connection with his or her progeny, something that no human can fully understand. During the transformation from human to vampire, both the maker and soon-to-be progeny are buried together during which they 'share their essence', a supernatural process that not even vampires understand.
Bill teach his progeny Jessica how to live the Tru Blood.
The relationship between maker and progeny varies between individuals and in many cases depends on a given vampire's personal outlook. At one end of the spectrum, vampires like Rosalyn Harris and Bill Compton treat their progeny as a human would treat their children and have exclusively parental relationships with them. On the other hand, vampires like Lorena Krasiki and Russell Edgington create progeny to keep lovers close and continue their romantic and sexual relationships. Godric turned Eric Northman for reasons that are not entirely clear, but is suggested to have turned Nora Gainesborough so that the vampire race might benefit from her keen political mind. Most vampires do not take becoming a maker lightly. Eric has been a vampire for 1,000 years, yet only produced two progeny, and his own maker is only known to have had one progeny besides Eric. On the other hand, Pam turned Tara because she wanted a favor from Sookie and admitted to creating another progeny purely out of curiousity. Rosalyn seems to have gone a bit stir-crazy with 204 progeny.
A progeny may turn a vampire and become a maker themselves while still under the influence of their own maker. The "grandparent" has no actual control over the "grandchild".
Maker abilities
Makers has a certain amount of control over their progeny.
Empathic Link - A maker can sense if their progeny dies, or is in pain or duress. It is unknown if a progeny can sense the death or pain of their maker.
Bill calling his Progeny, Jessica (click for animation)
Calling: A maker can "call" their progeny whenever they want to. During a calling, the maker has to say the name of their progeny, and the progeny will feel a shiver and, if the maker chooses to, become aware of where their maker is.
Commands: A maker can force their progeny to do anything they want, and this is enforced by saying "As your maker, I command you". However, this ability has no effect if the progeny has been released.
Releasing: A maker can release their progeny by saying "As your maker, I release you", granting them free will.
Characteristics
Biology
Appearance
Vampires preparing to feed on a human.
Vampires are indistinguishable from humans, and appear as they did when they were turned, albeit with a paler complexion due to lack of blood flow. Also, they have fangs that usually extend and retract willingly, though they can be stimulated to unwillingly extend. In addition, vampires are classified as being "undead".
Vampires remain identical forever after they are turned. Due to this, vampires cannot lose or gain weight (as explained by Eddie Gauthier, who said that, due to lack of exercise and a bad diet as a human, he remained overweight as a vampire) ("I Don't Wanna Know"), or change their body in any way (for instance, Jessica Hamby was a virgin when she was turned, and, after having sex, her hymen grew back).
Vampires are recognizable from their fangs, which are located behind the maxillary lateral incisors (as opposed to the canines, as per vampire mythology). Fangs can be extended and retracted by choice, and are controlled by the movements of certain facial muscles. However, fangs protrude automatically when vampires are feeding, angry, excited, sexually aroused (colloquially referred to as a "fang boner"), need to fight, or see blood. Fangs can also be removed, but grow back after three months. Without fangs, vampires cannot feed on live victims unless the victim is already wounded.
Due to the lack of blood flow, vampires do not have any bodily functions. Because of this, vampires do not produce waste, and are unable to become pregnant, impregnate female humans or supernatural creatures, and have lower body temperatures than humans.
Vampires have anatomically different tear ducts from humans, as they expel blood, not tears.
Vampires do not need to breathe, even if they still do so out of habit, to speak and probably to take advantage of their sense of smell. The fact that they do not need to breathe indicates that vampires could survive in toxic environments, and divers.
Feeding
Pam teaches Tara how to feed without killing.
Vampires are reliant on human or synthetic blood, as they cannot ingest normal food or drinks, nor supernatural blood (with the exception of faeries).
Synthetic blood is comprised of a varied cellular content, and comes in flavors such as O, A, B and AB, in both positive and negative varieties. Although Tru Blood can sustain a vampire nutritionally, it does not truly satisfy the vampire's cravings. Because of this, many vampires opt to drink human blood. Allegedly, virgin and baby blood taste the best, and faerie blood is expressly sought out by vampires, being referred to as "catnip for vampires".
If a vampire abstains from drinking blood, they will experience the "bleeds", during which the vampire will begin to bleed from their ears and nose. In addition, vampires experience the bleeds if they do not sleep during the day. The bleeds stop when the vampire feeds or sleeps, depending on what caused the bleeds in the first place. If a vampire experiences the bleeds long enough, they will perish.
While vampires are unable to hold in anything but blood, they can experience joy in smoking cigars and cigarettes. Since their bodies heal any damage rapidly, smoking will not have any lasting effect on a vampire.
A vampire that has been incapacitated without the ability to feed will henceforth continue living, albeit in great constant suffering due to the lack of sustenance, and will eventually perish.
Vampire blood, or "V", is the life essence of vampires.
It is illegal to hold or ingest vampire blood due to its drug qualities, and, since the Great Revelation, there has been a growing black market for vampire blood. Some vampires are kidnapped by "Drainers", who are people that capture, drain and leave vampires for dead in order to get vampire blood. Vampire blood is sold for $200–$600 per 1/4-ounce, and is ingested in small amounts (1-2 drops). If the blood is not fresh, it can be cut with aspirin to prevent it from coagulating, and to extend the high.
Vampire blood has the following effects on humans and supernatural creatures:
Healing - A human or supernatural creature that ingests vampire blood will be able to heal wounds at an accelerated rate.
Enhanced Abilities - The user will experience enhanced strength, senses, aggression, and libido, that will last as long as the blood is in their system.
Bonding - If a human or supernatural creature drinks fresh blood from a vampire, a psychic and emotional bond is created. The human will become sexually attracted to and have sexual dreams about the vampire. The vampire, in turn, will be able to sense the location, emotions and state of the human.
Drug Qualities - A human or supernatural creature that ingests vampire blood will experience hallucinations, which vary from person to person (for instance, while Jesus Velasquez and Lafayette Reynolds experienced spiritual hallucinations, Jason Stackhouse and Amy Burley experienced more trip-like hallucinations).
Withdrawal Effects - If a human or supernatural creature is addicted to vampire blood and stops ingesting it, they will experience withdrawal symptoms, which are similar to those of heroin withdrawal (such as tremors, cramps, muscle and bone pain, perspiration, tachycardia, etc).
In addition, if a human ingests an excess amount of vampire blood (i.e. more than 1-2 drops), the effects may persist longer than intended. For instance, after he drank a vial of vampire blood, Jason Stackhouse experienced sweating, exhaustion, and a persistent erection (which caused priapism), resulting in Tara Thornton taking him to the hospital.
Psychology
Vampires are extremely feral, predatory creatures, and far more brutal and savage than their human appearance suggests. They growl, hiss, growl, and her lips curl back revealing fangs as signs of aggression when provoked. Despite their nature, vampires are also capable of human emotions, such as compassion, love, and self-control. However, normally, the emotions of a vampire are less intense than those of a human being and this can make them appear insensitive and socially unsuitable.
An ironic thing is that vampires can live for eternity, but as they get older, the vampire sometimes would not be a vampire or try to understand the meaning of their life, an example is Godric who had lived for more than 2,000 years and felt that the co-existence between humans and vampires can be done and yet it was brutal and savage millennia ago, when Eric has changed.
Aging
Vampires are immortal and do not physically age. Unless they are manually killed, they will live forever and will not suffer from any disease accept Hepatitis D and V. Despite not physically aging, vampire do grow stronger and faster over time. Older vampires dominate the younger vampires, but also protect them against attacks from humans and other creatures.
As we age, vampires could undergo some changes. For example it is possible that their fangs become longer and sharp and that their skin becomes progressively more pale. Lilith and the Sirens, the older vampire known, they also have the ability to appear covered with blood.
Powers & Abilities
The supernatural forces that give vampires their "life" also endows them with heightened senses as well as superhuman abilities which make them physically superior to humans.
Common abilities
Superhuman Strength - Vampires are noticeably physically stronger than humans, werewolves and shapeshifters. They slowly grow stronger with age and experience; older vampires can subdue younger ones with minimal to no effort. Feats of their strength include being able to press the weight of a small car, uproot trees, dismember grown men, and flip mobile homes over. Even newborn vampires generally have the advantage of physical strength when in direct hand-to-hand combat with a human; able to single-handedly lift a grown man off the ground and hurl him across a room.
Lorena displays superhuman speed.
Superhuman Speed - Vampires are the fastest supernatural creatures. They are able to move much faster than humans and even faster than the human eye can perceive. Vampires themselves however, are able to perceive this movement. Their vision is accelerated like their movement, as shown when Eric Northman was able to see a speeding bullet in slow motion, and himself in normal motion while moving at superhuman speed. Speed, just like strength, advances with age, as older vampires are significantly faster than younger vampires. In addition, vampires have heightened reflexes.
Superhuman Senses - Vampires have much stronger senses than humans. They are able to see, hear and smell better and can even see in complete darkness.
Superhuman Durability - Vampires are able endure physical pain better than humans and can recover from attacks that would cripple, maim, or kill humans with minimal effort.
Eidetic Memory - Vampires are said to possess perfect recall and to be unable to forget. Their minds are often called "vaults" in which they store all information permanently.
Healing Factor - Vampires have an accelerated healing factor. They are able to heal all types of wounds, including open wounds, massive burns and tissue damage. If an injury is severe, vampires need human blood to initiate the healing process. they are also immune to all disease, save for Hepatitis D and V.
Glamour - Vampires are able to "glamour" humans and a few of the more common supernatural creatures such as werewolves. Glamour is a form of hypnosis or mind compulsion, which requires vampires to make eye contact and use their voices to make humans do their bidding. Glamouring does not affect other vampires, powerful witches, maenads or fairies. Excessive glamouring can have a negative effect on the mental stability of a victim. Glamouring is not an innate ability, as it needs to be taught and practiced. Vampires can glamour at least two humans at the same time, as both Jessica Hamby and Eric Northman have been seen to do so.
Sophie levitates to soon take flight.
Flight - Some vampires have the ability to fly. It is suggested that older vampires can fly, while younger vampires can merely levitate. When Sookie Stackhouse asks Eric Northman if all vampires can fly, Eric responds "can all humans sing?", suggesting that not all vampires have this ability.
Voice Imitation - Vampires are able to imitate voices; for instance, Bill Compton has been shown to be able to imitate Eric Northman, while Eric himself has been able to mimic the voice of a guard at Governor Burrell's Vamp Camp.
Fangs - Vampires can grow fangs that they use to feed themselves, they might come out when a vampire is close to blood or angry. The bite of a vampire can sever the limbs of humans and other creatures
Unique abilities
Lilith, the sirens and Bill (Bilith) showed some abilities not possessed by other vampires.
Lilith rips the head of Godric, a 2,000+ year old vampire.
Advanced Vampiric Abilities - The powers of Lilith, either because of age or other factors were far more developed than in normal vampires. After consuming the blood of Lilith, his strength has increased to such an extent that it was able to easily overpower a 1,000 + year old vampire like Eric and can jump higher and farther than normal vampires. In addition, much earlier, an apparition of Lilith was able to surprise Godric and rip his head.
Longer Fangs - Lilith, the sirens and Bill fangs are longer and sharper than those of a normal vampires.
Self-Control - Both Lilith and Bill have been shown to maintain an enormous degree of self-control in the presence of faeries and Halflings, which is highly impressive as the scent of Faerie blood is highly appealing to vampires.
Hemokinesis - Lilith, the Sirens and only to a lesser extent, Bill can be covered with the blood and also make the blood dissipate at will. Lilith also seems to have control over her blood, even after she died the true death. During his "coma", Bill was able to drink all the blood of a donor simply making travel from the body up to its mouth.
Astral Projection: The spirit of Lilith can manifest herself physically; even after her true death. Lilith can also project her consciousness into the minds of those who consume her blood. Bill is also capable of astral projection, if almost completely drained of his blood Bill may appear on the astral plane where he currently resides Lilith.
Teleportation: While on the astral plane Lilith and the sirens have demonstrated the ability to appear and disappear in a cloud of blood.
Blood abilities: The blood of Lilith can affect other vampires in the same way that if affects humans, causing euphoria, increased thirst of blood, and allowing the spirit of Lilith to connect with the consumer.
Bill survives the stakeout
Stake, Fire & Invitation Immunity - Bill was immune to fire and survived a direct stake to the heart without too much damage. Bill can also enter the house of human beings without an invitation. Bill is also supposedly immune to silver but is still vulnerable to sunlight.
Species Detection - Bill could determine the species of an individual with the view and not just smell, he could view the luminescence emitting from Sookies mouth whilst she spoke.
Advanced Progeny Calling: This call is much more powerful than normal and may cause the progeny to vomit blood and suffer from acute chest pains if not responded to.
Bill manifest telekinesis, to save the falling cup.
Telekinesis - Bill could freeze and move objects with his mind. His power was so powerful it could even shake a whole house.
Precognition - Bill had acquired clairvoyance and now has the ability to perceive the future and was capable of Panempathy with all the vampires in the world. As he states that he can feel their "pain".
Glamour Advanced - The sirens have demonstrated the power to put a person in a state somewhat hypnotic.
Intangibility/Invisibility - The sirens and Lilith are intangible and invisible to normal vampires.
Weaknesses
Vampires have a number of weaknesses, which range from irritating to fatal (it should be noted that the death of a vampire is referred to as the "true death").
Common weaknesses
Sookie uninviting Bill.
Entry to homes: Vampires cannot enter private human homes unless they are invited in by the owner of the house. Vampires do not need to be invited into public places (such as bars or restaurants). Humans can rescind their invitations from vampires, which causes the vampire to immediately leave the house. Vampires can get around this by glamouring a person into inviting them in. Ancient vampires might not be subjected to this weakness, suggested by Bill who drank Lillith's whole remaing blood and Warlow that has never been invited to Sookie's house.
Excess blood: If a vampire drinks too much blood, they will display alcohol intoxication-like qualities (such as euphoria, confusion, stupor, etc).
Exsanguination: If a vampire is completely drained of their blood, they can become comatose, and eventually perish.
Fire: Vampires can heal from burns, if given time and blood. However, if a vampire cannot take the time to heal from the burns, the vampire will die.
Hepatitis D: A virus that can be transmitted through blood that weakens vampires for about a month.
Hepatitis V: A new strain of the hepatitis disease that can be spread to them via sexually, ingestion, and injection. Once in the vampire's system, the vampire will begin to weaken and eventually die.
Maenad blood: If a vampire drinks maenad blood, they will begin to choke and vomit.
Magic: Vampires have no particular resistance to the effects of magic, and are vulnerable to necromancy.
Garlic: Garlic is "irritating" to vampires. Likely vampires find the smell of garlic annoying due to their acute senses.
Silver: Any contact with silver will burn and melt the surface of the vampire it touches.
Sleep or blood deprivation: If a vampire does not sleep during the day, or does not feed for a period of time, they will experience the "bleeds". The bleeds refer to vampires bleeding from their ears and noses. If a vampire continues to be deprived of sleep or blood, they will die from blood loss.
Bill in the sun.
Sunlight: Vampires cannot endure ultra-violet light in any form. If a vampire comes into contact with sunlight, their skin will burn and they will be severely weakened, and, eventually, burst into flames and perish. The older a vampire is, the quicker they will burn; when Godric walked into sunlight, he perished in about 30 seconds, while Bill Compton was just severely charred after 3 minutes. UV light burns heal more slowly than regular burns, such as those inflicted by fire.
Frankilin after being staked.
Wood: Vampires are susceptible to wood and wooden objects, including stakes and wooden bullets. If the heart of a vampire is pierced with a wooden object, the vampire will explode, and leave a mass of blood where they were previously standing. Ancient vampires can become possibly immune to staking, as seen when Sookie staked Bill, who was able to remove the stake without meeting the final death. If so, the age of a vampire rendered immune to staking is really ancient, as neither Russell nor Warlow were immune, though they were from 2,800 to 5,500 years old.
Decapitation: If the head of a vampire is severed completely, the vampire will perish. Breaking the neck of a vampire only causes mild discomfort.
Enhancements
Vampires can achieve a temporary invulnerability to at least some of their weaknesses consuming the blood of a Faerie.
Depending on the amount of blood drank, vampires grow immune to their weakness to sunlight after drinking fairy blood. The effects last shortly, however, and the pureness of the blood is a factor too; after drinking a hybrid's blood, Russell Edgington burned in the sun quite shortly afterwards (though the blood did prevent him from bursting into blue flames like Godric), while Eric Northman spent at least an hour in the sun after completely draining a full-blooded faerie.
Delayed true death of Russell.
Russell Edgington has been shown to be able to resist for a short time at the stakeout after drinking the blood of Fairy. At first his wounds begin to expel a bright light, because of the blood Faerie, shocking everyone including Russell, who thinks the fairy blood would allow him to survive. However, in light of the fairies expulsion from him soon wears off and proceed to decompose and implodes meeting the true death. It is further to be doubted that Faerie blood renders a vampire immune to staking when even Warlow, a vampire over 2,600 years older and Faerie-vampire was not able to resist the staking.
Also, when a vampire has drunk the blood of a fairy, become immune to the magic of the fairies including photoknesis and are able to see them when transmitting invisible.
Blood of a Faerie-vampire will allow a vampire to walk the sun indefinatly. The effect of faerie-vampire blood disappears immediately upon the death of the source, regardless of distance. It can be both felt and has a visible light expulsion effect when it occurs.
Sociology
Government
Vampires have their own governmental system.
The Authority: They highest ranking governmental body is The Authority, which has existed for several centuries and oversees all vampires. All vampires, regardless of age, must respect the Authority.
Magisters: Magisters give rulings directly under the Authority. They rule over entire continents.
Vampire monarch: Directly under the Magister are the vampire Kings and Queens. Vampire Territories are devided into kingdoms and queendoms, which are ruled by a king or a queen, or both. Each kingdom or queendom is furthermore split into areas.
Vampire Sheriff: Vampire kingdoms are divided into smaller territories called area's. These area's are each overseen by a Sheriff. A sheriff is mostly the oldest and most powerfull vampire in the area. His'her duties include maintaining ordor amoung the regular vampires and reporting back to the monarch.
Nests: Within areas, vampires can arrange themselves into nests, in which a group of vampires live together. The hierarchy of a vampire nest follows by age. Ranging from oldest to youngest.
Social interactions
Within vampire communities, most vampires live in harmony, and racism and homophobia are virtually non-existent.
Some humans display bigoted and racist attitudes towards vampires due to fear. Others support the Vampire Rights Amendment (which campaigns for equal rights between humans and vampires).
Human interactions
Nan Flanagan on TBBN as a representative of AVL.
Since the Great Revelation, vampires have been involved in human politics through organizations such as the American Vampire League, in order to campaign for equal rights for vampire, such as allowing vampire-human marriages.
The festival of tolerance, an event pro-vampire.
Vampires have been shown to be tolerated by the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, and the majority of MED countries. However, vampires are hunted in the majority of Islamic and South American countries, and most African countries refuse to acknowledge the existence of vampires.
Vampires maintain differing opinions concerning humans. The Authority and the American Vampire League aim for mainstreaming. While some vampires agree that humans and vampires should be equals, others believe that vampires are above humans. The Sanguinista movement is opposed to mainstreaming and supports the belief that vampires should dominate humans.
Nonetheless, vampires have engaged in relationships with humans, in which vampires claim a human they believe needs protecting, or whom they care about. The vampire identifies the human as "theirs", and this claim prevents other vampires from touching the human. A vampire can only claim one human, and a human cannot be claimed by multiple vampires at the same time. Vampire groupies, or people who have sex with and are willingly bitten by vampires, are referred to as "fang bangers", which is viewed as a derogatory term.
Supernatural interactions
Vampires dislike shapeshifters and werewolves. They are accepting of practicing witches, but do not condone necromancy, as this is a possible threat to them. Vampires find faeries irresistible because the smell of their blood is extremely enticing to them.
The majority of Vampires does not know about the existence of Maenads. This is shown when neither Bill nor Eric knew what Maryann Forrester was and had to seek Queen Sophie Anne`s assistance. Sophie Anne only knew about Maenads due to a book she had. It can be assumed that Vampires are not too fond of Maenads as their black blood is poisonous.
Law
Laws
A vampire who has broken the law.
Vampires live according to the laws of the Authority. Magisters, kings and queens however, can declare edicts and create new laws. Laws Amoung vampires include:
Killing another vampire
Selling vampire blood
Feeding from another vampire's human (punished by fang removal)
Stealing wealth, real estate, or other property (including humans) from other vampires
When a vampire enters or departs an area, the vampire is required to make this known to the sheriff of the area
makers are responsible for the actions of their progenies
Vampires also have laws regarding humans. These are not recognized by human systems, but will be maintained if possible. These Laws include.
Dealing or selling vampire blood
Draining a vampire
Kidnapping a vampire
Killing a vampire
Punishments
Punishments, due to violations, are administered by the Authority, Magisters, kings, queens or sheriffs, depending on the seriousness of the crime. There are set punishments for crimes, but a Magister can change the punishment if they wish. For instance, when Bill Compton killed Longshadow, the set punishment was five years in a coffin encased with silver. However, as the Magister was intrigued by the case (as Bill killed in order to protect Sookie Stackhouse, a presumed human), he decided that Bill had to create another vampire, Jessica Hamby, to replace the vampire he killed.
A Faerie-vampire is a combination of a vampire and a faerie which has both traits and also have both abilities. These type of hybrid are created when a faerie is bitten and turn by a vampire. They will become a vampire with both powers of a faerie and a vampire which make them even more powerful.
Infected Vampires is the term that the writers have used to describe the vampires who have survived being infected with Hepatitis V. In addition to having some physical characteristics slightly different from normal vampires, vampires infected have a greater thirst for blood and their attitude is more animalistic than other vampires.
Vampires can become ghosts or spirits, as demonstrated by Godric.
Vampires possess many of the abilities of mythological vampires.
If a vampire becomes a spirit, he\she will still have their vampire powers.
Vampires enjoy stalking and playing with their victims before biting and drinking their blood.
Vampires are excellent predators, as they can hunt their victims, while remaining invisible.
Vampires are not theriomorphic, which means they cannot alter their bodies. They can therefore not turn into bats (unless perhaps they are a shifter that had been turned).
Unlike the classic legends a vampire society has been set up, with a code of conduct that provides its members with a greater chance of survival than if they were alone.
Vampires are infertile, i.e. not able to have children.
Aside from humans, some if not all supernaturals can be turned. This has been demonstrated by the vampire-faerie hybridMacklyn Warlow. Although other vampiric hybrids have never been seen in the course of the series, in the early episodes Bill tells Sookie that some vampires can change their shape. These vampires are likely shapeshifters or weres that have been turned by vampires.
Vampires have no working nervous system, brain waves, heartbeat or "living" bodily activities - all of the vampire's life force is found in the blood, which is said by Bill to regulate all the vampire's bodily functions. A vampire's blood may even be where the vampire's consciousness is found, as one who ingests V can feel the consciousness of the vampire the blood came from and Lilith's consciousness was still stored in her blood even though she'd been dead for over five millenia.
