Vampires (Anita Blake mythology)

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Vampires in the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton closely resemble the popular depiction in other fiction and mythology. They are blood drinking former humans, risen from the dead to prey on the living, with a variety of diverse powers.

[edit] Physical characteristics

All vampires are extremely strong, enough so that even the newest can lift 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.
Another characteristic of vampires is their 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 remain completely still, giving the appearance of being dead.

[edit] Vampire feeding and conversion

Vampires can drink human, animal, or lycanthrope blood for sustenance and to maintain their spiritual power. However, they cannot eat physical food. A vampire can survive for extended periods without blood, but may be driven insane by the experience. One such vampire began to rot from the inside out.
Vampires are usually made when a victim receives three successive bites from a single vampire within one month, resulting in death. Unless the corpse is staked and beheaded, the victim will rise three days later as a vampire. As a result, vampires usually will not bite even willing humans more than twice in a single month, unless they wish to "bring over" that person as a vampire. A sufficiently powerful vampire, however, can turn a human with a single bite.
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.

[edit] Repelling or killing vampires

If held by a person with faith, holy objects, such as blessed crosses or Jewish holy books, will repel most vampires. As the vampire approaches, the object will glow or even give off heat. If the vampire contacts the object, it will grow hot enough to burn both the vampire and its wielder. Although Anita states that a cross must be wielded by someone with faith, both humans and vampires use crosses set into walls to restrain vampires.
Vampires cannot enter a person's home without invitation. Once invited, a vampire may enter at will unless the person who invited the vampire revokes his or her invitation. This invitation, however, need not be from the actual owner of the house, merely any human/lycanthrope who can enter the house before the vampire.
Most vampires are nearly dead during daylight hours, with little to no heart rate and no ability to respond to threats.
Vampires can typically only be killed by fire, sunlight, decapitation, or a stake through the heart. Silver will typically not kill vampires, but causes wounds that heal with approximately the same speed as humans. Contact with holy water or a holy object will leave permanent scars. Edward has killed vampires by injecting a solution of silver nitrate into their bloodstream, and Anita has killed them by destroying their heart with a blast from a shotgun loaded with silver shot.

[edit] Mental powers

Vampires have a variety of mental powers, most of which depend on eye contact.

"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.
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 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.
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.

[edit] 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 grown any stronger without magical assistance.

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:

[edit] General master level powers

Master level vampires may have some of the following abilities.

[edit] Flight

[edit] Ability to call animals

Some master vampires have an animal to call, which allows them to summon and command animals and lycanthropes of that type. A sufficiently powerful lycanthrope can interfere with this call. For example, Nikolaos had the ability to call rats and wererats, but Rafael blocked her call, preventing her from calling rats, or from calling wererats against their will.

[edit] Early rising

Some master vampires, such as Nikolaos, Oliver, and Warrick, are able to wake, move, and use their powers during daylight (but must remain in shadow). It is unknown, however, how far Warrick's power extended. Aubrey, although not a master vampire, was capable of at least reflexive motion during daylight if threatened.

[edit] Voice

Jean-Claude and Mr. Oliver have the ability to form an emotional or hypnotic connection with their voices. Anita characterizes Jean-Claude's voice as having an almost physical sensation, and typically describes his voice as "silk against skin" or "fur against skin." Asher also has this power, but while Jean-Claude is able to portray joy and pleasure better, Asher is able to portray sadness and bitterness better. It is somewhat unclear whether this difference is inherent in the power, or simply due to the individual vampire's personality.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Triumvirate

If a vampire binds a human servant and lycanthrope servant 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.

[edit] Resistance to silver

Some vampires are not harmed by silver.

[edit] Drawing blood from a distance

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

[edit] Power drain

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

[edit] Calling shadows

Some master vampires can call shadows, cloaking an area in darkness.

[edit] Pyrokinesis

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

[edit] 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.

[edit] Rotting vampires

Rotting vampires, such as Janos, 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Belle Morte

Many of the master vampires in Belle Morte's bloodline have powers relating to love, sex, or seduction. Most of these related powers are "two-sided." Unless used very skillfully, they work simultaneously on the user and the person on whom the power is used.

[edit] Ardeur

The greatest of the powers in Belle Morte's bloodline appears to be the ardeur. Belle Morte, Jean-Claude, and Anita are the only living persons known to possess this power fully. The ardeur appears capable of inflaming passion, inspiring love and devotion, addicting people to its effects, and even shaping people into one another's ideal lover.

As Anita has learned, the ardeur must be "fed" -- if she does not use the power, it forces her to use it, which usually results in Anita having "emergency sex" with the nearest likely candidate.

[edit] Incubi/Succubi

The most powerful of Belle's line are referred to as incubi (if male) or succubi (if female) -- vampires with the ability to inflame lust, and to draw power from lust, both through the ardeur.

[edit] Other related powers

Several master vampires in Belle's line have powers related to the ardeur.

Asher's powers seem to revolve around intimacy and seduction. He is unusually strong at "rolling" his victims mentally, and has a power to "fascinate" others. Asher's bite is literally orgasmic, and his victims often are addicted to the experience and/or experience "flashbacks" of the orgasms received from his bites. Although Asher does not appear to draw strength from lust itself, he can draw power directly from Anita, or, presumably, from anyone else he has seduced as deeply as he has her.
Augustine has the ability to make others love him. As with the other powers in Belle's line, unless he is extremely careful, the power also works in reverse, forcing him to love his victim.
London's power is that he is exceptionally good "food" for the ardeur itself. Using the ardeur on him generates additional power, and he is capable of satisfying the ardeur much more often than anyone else.
Requiem can inflame physical lust in his victims. (And, of course, in himself).

[edit] 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 possible 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.

[edit] 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.

With the exception of rogues and members of Malcolm's Church of Eternal Life, all vampires are bound to a master. 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.

- Vampires may mentally dominate humans, forcing them do their bidding. Vampires refer to these humans as Renfields or more simply slaves.

- 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.

[edit] Vampire terminology

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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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Categories: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter | Vampires in written fiction