Post by Casey Romano on Sept 10, 2009 15:57:15 GMT -5
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 later books Anita says that vampires move like blurs or they could fly away. Although in most cases 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 make no noise, even the newborn vampires don't make any noise when moving around.
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.
When a human is bitten, the age that they were turned at is the age they will stay at for their afterlife.
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. One such vampire, Sabin, began to rot from the inside out after trying to go off blood "cold turkey" at the request of his lycanthrope lover Cassandra.
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. In Laurell K. Hamilton's short story, The Girl Who Was Infatuated With Death, Anita explains to a client, "It has to be three bites within a very short space of time or the body fights off the infection, or whatever the hell it is."
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 the vampiric blood was weaker than it is now so human beings could 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.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampires_(Anita_Blake_mythology)#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 later books Anita says that vampires move like blurs or they could fly away. Although in most cases 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 make no noise, even the newborn vampires don't make any noise when moving around.
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.
When a human is bitten, the age that they were turned at is the age they will stay at for their afterlife.
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. One such vampire, Sabin, began to rot from the inside out after trying to go off blood "cold turkey" at the request of his lycanthrope lover Cassandra.
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. In Laurell K. Hamilton's short story, The Girl Who Was Infatuated With Death, Anita explains to a client, "It has to be three bites within a very short space of time or the body fights off the infection, or whatever the hell it is."
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 the vampiric blood was weaker than it is now so human beings could 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.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampires_(Anita_Blake_mythology)#Physical_Characteristics