Physical characteristics

* Vampires are extremely strong - even the new dead are capable of lifting cars.

* Vampires are faster than most humans, but it is difficult to tell how much faster. In most cases where a vampire appears to teleport or move with blinding speed, the vampire has actually used its "mind tricks" to conceal its movement.

* Vampires' senses of hearing and smell are also very strong.

* Vampires are able to appear human only after years of practice. Newly made vampires have difficulty smiling without showing their fangs, and feel as if they are made from carved wood.

* 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.

* While "asleep" during the day, vampires actually die.


Vampire feeding and conversion

* Vampires can drink human, lycanthrope, or even animal blood for sustenance and to maintain their spiritual power. They cannot eat physical food, though they can experience the taste of food through human servants. Animal blood is not a sufficient diet. A vampire can survive for extended periods without human or lycanthrope blood, but may be driven insane by the experience.

* Vampires are capable of turning humans into vampires by draining their blood; as a result, many vampires do not drain a human more than three times a month. A sufficiently powerful vampire, however, is capable of turning a human with a single bite.

o In modern times, it is impossible for a lycanthrope to contract vampirism (or a vampire to contract lycanthropy). This, and the fact that lycanthrope blood seems to more sustaining than regular human blood, is the reason why vampires prefer lycanthropes as blood donors. In pre-historic times it seems that human beings could once be infected with vampirism and lycanthropy simultaneously, resulting in incredibly powerful hybrids. The Mother of Darkness seems to be the oldest and most powerful example of such a hybrid. Others include her "children" and certain members of "The Harlequin".

* When a vampire first rises, it may be confused or dangerous. As a result, persons who might rise as a vampire are stored in a locked morgue, and attended by a vampire counselor who supplies the newly risen dead with an animal to feed on and helps them adjust to their new status.

* If a human is killed during a group feeding and then rises (a very rare occurrence), he or she will rise as an "animalistic vampire," with little or no cognitive ability and with extreme strength and resistance to pain, and can only be controlled by the master that made it, and even then only if he or she is powerful enough.

Repelling or killing vampires

* Holy objects will repel or harm vampires, but are only effective in the hands of someone with faith. However, both humans and vampires have been known to use crosses to restrain vampires.

* Vampires cannot enter a person's home without invitation.

* Vampires burn in sunlight, and are generally unable to rise during the day, remaining dead in their coffins or resting places. Age and power allow some vampires to rise earlier than nightfall, and vampires raised by necromancers can move about during the day as well. Lesser vampires who rise during the day may be animalistic, as are several members of Malcolm's Church of Eternal Life when inadvertently awakened by the power of the visiting Traveler. A few vampires are able to walk about in indirect sunlight.

* Vampires can typically be killed by fire, decapitation, or a stake through the heart. Silver generally causes wounds that heal with approximately the same speed as humans, and thus head or heart shots may be fatal.

Mental powers

* "Rolling": Vampires can "roll" victims by making eye contact. "Rolling" typically refers to a temporary hypnotic state that vampires can use to conceal their movements (giving them the illusion of instantaneous movement), to give commands to the victim, or to reduce the pain of a vampire's bite. Victims with supernatural power, such as other vampires, animators, human servants, and lycanthropes, display varying amounts of resistance to this technique, but most people avoid the technique by not looking vampires directly in the eyes.

* "Deep rolling": Given time, a sufficiently powerful vampire can put a victim into an effectively permanent hypnotic state. In Guilty Pleasures, Aubrey uses this technique on Anita's friend Catherine in order to blackmail Anita -- Anita knows that once deeply rolled, Catherine is Aubrey's to command unless Anita meets his demands. Vampires sometimes pretend to release a rolled human to appease the police, but if they have been "deep rolled" they can still recall them.

* Mass hypnosis: Some vampires are able to exert a hypnotic effect over an entire crowd. For example, one of the vampire comedians at the Laughing Corpse used mass hypnosis to convince his audiences that he was funny. Mass hypnosis does not have the same permanent effects as "deep rolling". Mass hypnosis is not a widely known vampire power, and has its limits. For example in Bloody Bones, Anita doubts that any vampire could hold three murder victims simultaneously hypnotized while killing them. This form of "mind control" is the only one currently considered legal.

* Vampire's bite: A vampire's bite can (but apparently does not always) provide the vampire with mental control over the victim. In Guilty Pleasures, Nikolaos bites Anita and states that after a few bites, her control over Anita will be absolute. Anita is able to remove the effect of the bite by disinfecting the wound with holy water. In Circus of the Damned, Anita states that a vampire must enter a victim's mind during a bite to gain control over the victim. A vampire's bite can be sexual.

* Empathy: Vampires refer to being able to "smell" emotions such as fear and lust, and some vampires are able to detect lies. It is not clear precisely how much of this ability involves literal scent and how much involves mental powers. However, mental powers are clearly a significant component; once Jean-Claude makes Anita his human servant, he is unable to read her emotions, which suggests that the technique is not purely physical.

Master vampires
After a few centuries, some vampires reach "master vampire" status. Other vampires will never become master vampires, although their abilities continue to increase with age to a certain limit. For example, although Damian is more than twice Jean-Claude's age and more powerful than most non-masters in the series, he is still weaker than most masters and was unlikely to grow any stronger without magical assistance. A sourdre de sang appears able to mask and retard the development of master vampire status in his or her followers.

Powers

Master vampires are more powerful than typical vampires with regard to the general abilities discussed above, have the ability to control lesser vampires, and may also develop additional powers. Some of the abilities that master vampires may display include the following:

Ability to call animals

Some master vampires have one or more animals to call. Belle Morte can call felines, and the Master of Beasts can call nearly every animal. This ability also allows them to summon and command animals and lycanthropes of that type. A sufficiently powerful lycanthrope can interfere with this call, however. Some masters can call non-animals.

Early rising

Some master vampires are able to wake, move, and use their powers during daylight (but must remain in shadow).

Voice

Some vampires have the ability to form an emotional or hypnotic connection with their voices.

Human servant

Most or all master vampires appear to be able to create a "human servant." By marking a human with four successive "marks," the vampire makes the human into a human servant. A vampire can only have one human servant at one time, and cannot remove a mark once given. A vampire's human servant functions similarly to a witch's familiar in that when the servant is nearby, the vampire's abilities are stronger. Most vampires seem to be able to exercise some control over their servants, but a necromancer servant, such as Anita, has complete free will. The death of either the servant or the vampire may injure or kill the other member of the relationship.

* First mark: the vampire shares energy with the servant. The first mark grants the human servant greater resistance to injury and to vampire mental powers, and an almost complete immunity to their own vampire's mental powers.
* Second mark: Anita experiences this mark as a pair of floating points of flame in the color of the vampire's eyes that merged with her own. The second mark allows the vampire to draw power from the human servant, to experience food and drink consumed by the servant, and to enter the servant's dreams.
* Third mark: The third mark is made by the vampire drinking the servant's blood. It conveys increased healing, immunity to poison, and allows the vampire and servant to communicate mentally even when awake.
* Fourth mark: The fourth mark is made when the servant drinks the vampire's blood. It conveys immortality (from age) to the servant, almost complete mental communication, and allows the servant to draw on the vampire's strength.

Animal servant

A vampire with the ability to call animals may also form a vampire-servant relationship with one animal or lycanthrope subject to the vampire's call. The series does not provide many details about animal servants, but the process and relationship appears similar to that of a human servant. The nature of a triumvirate, however, implies that the two are different enough that a vampire can have both at the same time.

Triumvirate

When a vampire binds a human servant and a lycanthrope who is also their animal to call, within a sufficiently short period of time, the three may form a triangular relationship called a triumvirate. This relationship forms a virtuous circle that magnifies and shares the abilities of all participants.

Resistance to silver

Some vampire are not hurt as badly by silver and some are not affected at all. It depends on how much power the vampire has and how old the vampire is, though age rarely has that effect.

Drawing blood from a distance

This ability allows a vampire to cut or skin an opponent, but only if that opponent has a magical aura.

Power drain

A master is capable of drawing all of the power from vampires that he has personally sired, reducing them to a weakened, near-skeletal state.

Calling shadows

Some master vampires can call shadows, cloaking an area in darkness. Serefina conceals her orchard this way in Bloody Bones.

Pyrokinesis

Some vampires have a minor level of pyrokinesis, but major pyrokinesis is almost unheard of among vampires because flame is an element of purity.

Bloodlines

Each sourde de sang is capable of supporting a bloodline - a group of vampires who draw power from that vampire either by direct descent or by blood oath. Some powers are only seen in master vampires of a given bloodline.

Rotting vampires

Rotting vampires, have the ability to allow their body to rot into a decaying corpse or even fall apart without suffering damage. As a result, they are almost impossible to kill without fire (or, presumably, sunlight). This ability appears to be limited to selected members of Morte d'Amour's bloodline.

Corruption

Morte d'Amour and selected members of his bloodline are able to cause "corruption" with their bite -- unless the victim is sufficiently powerful to resist, even a single bite can cause a victim to decay and die. This ability appears to be significantly more rare in Morte d'Amour's bloodline than the ability to rot and reform.

Ardeur[b]

The greatest of the powers in Belle Morte's line is the ardeur. Belle Morte, Jean-Claude, and Anita are the only people known to possess this power fully. Like all the powers of Belle Morte's line, the ardeur is a double-edged sword, affecting both the user and its target/s. The most basic aspect of the ardeur inspires intense sexual passion in all it touches. Those under its thrall are gripped with an intense desire to have sexual intercourse with the user of the ardeur, or else the nearest person. When used lightly it is possible for a person to chose the one they have sex with, but the more powerful the ardeur becomes, the less picky its victims become (to the point where they would have sex with those they are normaly not attracted to i.e. straight people would choose same-sex partners). The ardeur can be extremely adictive, making those in its grips do anything to have another taste of it. At more powerful levels the arduer can also inspire intense love and devotion towards the wielder of the ardeur. At its most powerful, the ardeur can home in on its victims deepest desires and reshape their personalties to better accommodate those desires. It was through this that Micah and Anita found exactly what they wanted in each other as lovers, helpmates and companions.

The ardeur seems to have a primitive awareness in that it must regularly feed on the lust of its user and others. If it is not voluntarily fed, the ardeur unleashes itself without the volition of its user (often at full strength as well)and forces its user to feed it. This is a necessity as those who wield the ardeur gain power when they feed it and weaken and eventually die if they do not. If the ardeur is mastered it can only be unleashed by the will of its wielder, but the wielder will still decline in health and power it does not feed. The ardeur can be used to feed on peoples lust from a distance without having to have intercourse with them. This process is described as being akin to "pulling velvet through an open wound" and is thus not as pleasant as the more usual method of feeding the ardeur. Furthermore it is not nearly as effective. In the latest novel of the series, "Harlequin", the ardeur is revealed to be able to feed on a master vampire or alpha lycanthrope and thus feed on anyone who has metaphysical ties to said master vampire (all its vampire underlings, human servant, animal to call etc) and alpha lycanthrope (all its pack/group etc), thus accumulating enormous amounts of power.

The ardeur drains the energies of those it feeds on and can potentially drain a person to the point of death. Thus those who possess the ardeur must have several lovers if they wish to properly feed the ardeur without killing anyone. Jean Claude and Anita can only spread the ardeur to other people (and anyone who touches said people)through physical contact. Belle Morte, who possesses the orginal ardeur (which all other are but pale immitations), can spread its influence over great distances (even through dreams and metaphyscial connections), affecting people even if they are not touching her. She has been said to have once used this version of the ardeur on several hundred people with only a fraction of its full power.

[b]Incubi/Succubi

All those in Belle Morte's line that possess the ardeur are called "incubi" (if male) or "succubi" (if female). It should be noted that other vampires automatically assume that all belonging to Belle Morte's line are incubi and succubi.

Nighthags

Also called mora, Night Hags are vampires who have the ability to feed on and create fear in those around them. This ability works similarly to the ardeur in that the vampire who feeds using fear can go longer without blood, though not forever. Damian's former Master, Morvoren, is a very powerful night hag and is possibly the sourde de sang for the bloodline. Night hags cannot completely turn this power "off"; everywhere they go there is a small feeling of dread, no matter what they do. It is a master-vampire power.

Vampire society

In general, vampires are organized in a strictly hierarchical structure, both as a matter of social organization and as a matter of the magical power that animates them.

* In most cases, that master will have his or her own master, resulting in a hierarchy of control. Although a sufficiently powerful master appears to have some ability to control subject vampires through purely magical power, there are numerous vampires in the novels who demonstrate an ability and willingness to disobey their master.

* Each area large enough to support a social group of vampires is controlled by a single Master of the City. Assuming this position increases a vampire's magical as well as social power, as the master draws a share of power from all the vampires under its control. This position is typically transferred only by the death of the existing master. A vampire traveling to a new area must have the permission of that area's master, and when masters of different cities visit one another, they often engage in detailed negotiations of terms.

* All of the individual masters of the various cities in turn owe allegiance to the Vampire Council. The Vampire Council is based in Europe and is composed of several extremely powerful vampires. Normally, a vampire assumes a position on the council by killing an existing member.

* Other than obedience to their masters, the rules among vampires vary. For centuries, the Council required vampires to act with discretion, going so far as to kill Vlad Tepes for drawing unnecessary attention. After the United States began recognizing legal rights for vampires, the Council has supported limited cooperation with legal authorities. Vampires living in the U.S. are forbidden to commit crimes, and many city masters engage in vigilante activities to control vampire crime, often delivering criminal vampires to authorities, frequently in pieces.

* First, vampires gather power directly by feeding, primarily on blood, although some master vampires can also draw power through fear, lust, or directly from their human or animal servants. Vampires also appear to draw power from their subjects.

* In return, a vampire receives its animating force from its master, who in turn receives his or her own animating force from his or her own master. A vampire at the head of a bloodline is known as a Sourde de Sang and need not draw its animating force from any "upstream" master.

* Vampires interact with humans in a variety of ways.
o Vampires may mentally dominate humans, forcing them do their bidding. Vampires refer to these humans as Renfields or more simply slaves.

o Vampires also take blood from willing humans. Some vampires are in romantic relationships with humans who willingly donate blood. Others take blood from humans who have a psychological need to supply blood. These latter humans are known as vampire junkies and attend freak parties where they meet vampires.

Vampire terminology

Pomme de sang

A pomme de sang, or "apple of blood," refers to a person who has agreed to feed a vampire regularly. In vampire society, the pomme de sang is a submissive but valued position, similar to a "kept man or woman" among humans. Pommes de sang are protected from interference by other vampires, and are typically given gifts and otherwise treated as a human might treat a lover.

Sourdre de sang

A sourdre de sang, or "fountain of blood", is a vampire capable of supporting his or her own bloodline. A sourde de sang generates his or her own animating power, and also provides animating power for all vampires that share a bloodline or have taken blood oaths to members of the sourde's bloodline. A sourde de sang is owed a duty of fealty by all vampires that draw power from its bloodline.

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Vampire Council

Belle Morte

Beautiful, pale skinned, dark haired, with eyes the color of dark honey, Belle Morte (or "Beautiful Death") is a Vampire Council member and apparently personally responsible for the rise of "sexy vampires" in the Anitaverse. She is known to be at least 2,000 years old. Her abilities include the power to induce lust from a distance (extending to at least hundreds of people at a distance of miles), the ability to draw power from lust, and the ability to call all of the "great cats" (presumably lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, etc.). All members of Belle-Morte's bloodline tend to be selected for their beauty, and some of the vampires in her line are visited by the ardeur, becoming incubi or succubi that need to feed off of lust as well as blood, but able to also project the ardeur to control others. Belle-Morte can make mental contact with all new vampires of her bloodline, and can serve as a mental "bridge" between willing members of her bloodline. In some cases, Belle Morte has shown the power to actually "resculpt" the features of vampires in her bloodline, making them still more beautiful than when they were chosen. Jean-Claude, Sabin, and Asher are all of Belle Morte's bloodline.

The Dragon

This female member of the Vampire Council is somewhat enigmatic in ancient Roman times. She has the power to draw all of the energy from another vampire, killing it permanently. Like Belle Morte and Morvoren, the Dragon can project her power, and did so in an attempt to force Anita to feed on Jean-Claude's vampires.

In Blue Moon, Damian states that the Dragon had formerly sired many vampires, but has remained largely secluded during recent centuries. In Incubus Dreams, the Dragon sent Primo to St. Louis in an attempt to dethrone or destabilize Jean-Claude. Once Jean-Claude and Anita overcame Primo, the Dragon permitted Primo to remain as their servant and expressed a desire to discuss "Council business" with them.

Marmee Noir

Generally known as The Sweet Dark or as the Mother Of All Darkness, Marmee Noir is the leader of all vampires and the head of the Vampire Council. She is both a vampire and a lycanthrope at once, and is apparently a were-sabre-toothed tiger. According to several of the vampires, she was the first vampire, which means that, like Mr Oliver, she predates the evolution of homo sapiens.

It has been suggested that she is a unique type of vampire, distinctly different, more powerful, from all later descendents; perhaps not even a vampire, per se, but a unique type of monster with vampiric traits. Her powers include control over several species of vampire/lycanthrope mixes, the ability to project her attention and mental powers, and a deep control over darkness.

Marmee Noir and her vampire/lycanthrope followers have been "sleeping" for centuries, for unknown reasons, in an underground tower that looks out on a wide open space. They are now beginning to awaken, spurred at least partially by Noir's interest in Anita.

Merlin was turned by Marmee Noir, and appears to have some idea why she went to sleep, but has not revealed his theory to Anita. Anita believes that Belle Morte is gathering her power to challenge Noir for leadership of the Vampire Council, but Belle appears to be naively underestimating Marmee Noir's true nature and powers. Belle Morte claimed she was the reason why some of Mother Dark's followers had woken, but it was later thought by some familiar with Marmee Noir to be merely coincidental.

Morte D'Amour

A member of the vampire council; although translated in the novels as "lover of death," his name more accurately translates to "death of love" or "death from love." (For example, Aloysius Bertrand's poem "Madam de Montbazon" includes the line "Elle était morte d'amour, rendant son âme dans le parfum d'une jacinthe," which translates to "She had died of love, leaving her heart in the perfume of a hyacinth.")

Morte D'Amour is a rotting vampire with the ability to cause corruption with his bite, and all vampires with either ability appear to be of his bloodline.

Mr Oliver

Also known as "the Earthmover," Mr. Oliver was a member of the Vampire Council and, to his knowledge, the oldest living vampire. Oliver was approximately 4 feet tall, with a sloping brow, absent chin, and expensively cut blow-dried hair. Because it was suggested that Oliver was member of the homo erectus species, a pre-human vampire, Anita estimated his age at approximately one million years.

A master vampire, Oliver's abilities included the ability to cause earthquakes, the power to "draw blood from a distance," levitatation of himself or others, the ability to remain awake during the day and mask his vampire nature almost totally, voice powers similar to Jean-Claude's, and the ability to call snakes and snake-like supernatural creatures. His retinue included Alejandro, Melanie the Lamia, and his human servant Karl Inger.

An opponent of the liberalization of vampire laws, Oliver planned to kill Jean-Claude, become master of St. Louis, then force all vampires in the city to engage in a killing spree to create a political climate hostile to vampire legalization. Although Oliver defeated Jean-Claude, Alejandro and Anita killed him before he could sacrifice Jean-Claude and begin his plan.

Padma

Padma, also known as the Master of Beasts, is originally Indian and wears a turban, He is one of the weaker members of the Vampire Council, whose power is the ability to "call" all animals, not just a single species. Using this power, Padma can bend animals and shapeshifters to his will, and can also use the power as if it were a shapeshifter's "beast" - forcing his power into another, controlling their shapeshifting, and even killing them. He is a member of the only other surviving triumvirate in the novels, with Gideon and Captain Thomas Carswell. Anita successfully demanded that Padma surrender his son, Fernando in return for Anita sparing Padma's life. Anita then gave Fernado to Sylvie, a woman he had raped in an attempt to capture the werewolves, to do as she wished. Sylvie killed Fernando and now wears his bones as jewelry.

The Traveler

It is unknown what the Traveler's true name is. He has the ability to possess other vampire's bodies, though that vampire's consciousness is still awake. This seems to be limited only to vampires considerably weaker than himself; Jean-Claude was once the victim of this ability. He also has the ability to lend power to lesser vampires temporarily, bolstering their inherent strengths, and he can shield others from sensing him. The Traveler's own body was not present on his visit to St. Louis, only his consciousness possessing other vampires, and it was suggested that the Traveler's body is hidden away someplace.

The Traveler was the only member of the council who is revealed to have known Oliver's plans to take over St. Louis and then use the vampires to make them illegal in the states there. He did nothing, stating that council members do not fight other council members. He also does not like Padma.

He is a strictly homosexual vampire, whose human servant, Balthasar, is also his lover. A large part of their relationship appears to revolve around the enjoyment they each derive from The Traveler possessing new bodies for use in their sexual antics.