Vampires



How can one recognize a vampire? Not easily. Although all Night People are extremely beautiful, they work very hard to avoid detection. Vampires appear mostly human and ordinary, albeit mysterious. But in preparation for their daily feeding, vampires' incisors grow long and curved, and their irises can turn silver. Their presence takes on a savage air. And they become visibly cunning.

Vampires are predators with incredibly fast reflexes, enabling them to strike their prey with great speed and accuracy. But vampires do not need to kill to satiate their hunger. A vampire can feed on a mortal creature's blood without completely draining its life. Depending on the size of the beast, a vampire may need to feed on a few animals to get his or her daily sustenance. Some vampires prefer human blood, others enjoy animal blood. It's all a matter of taste. Just as a vampire's wounds heal quickly, so too do the puncture wounds from a vampire bite.

Vampires can communicate telepathically among themselves and can also use these powers for mind control. Mind control rarely, if ever, works on fellow Night People but is quite effective on humans. Vampires primarily exert this power when they want a stubborn human to comply with their wishes. Humans register a vampire's telepathic communication as their own internal thought.

Some vampires go so far as to purge an incident from a human's memory. Humans experience this as "lost time." Most notably, Rowan, Kestrel, and Jade erase Vic and Todd's memory of picking up these three hitchhiking sisters in Daughters of Darkness, and Jez cleans the human gang leader's memory in Huntress. Jez touches the human's forehead to erase the memory of their encounter, actually changing the chemistry of his thoughts in the process.

Vampires are a primal clan and are not to be provoked. They are often willfull and would rather fight to the death than admit they are wrond. Most vampires enjoy a good hunt and make formidable opponents as they employ their acute senses to track scents and movements. Their eyesight is particularly impressive, and although vampires are sensitive to the daylight, they have no physical need to be nocturnal. All vampires are vulnerable to wood and fire. But within this clan of immortal Night People, there are two kinds of vampires: those who are born vampires, called lamia, and those who are Changed, called made vampires.

Lamia

 * Red Fern: Maya's son, the first born vampire, and the namesake of the most illustrious vampire family. Red holds a special place in lamia lore. Red receives his name because of the flaming color of his hair, a trait that is passed down through the millennium in the Redfern line.
 * Hunter Redfern: Descendant of Red Fern, Hunter creates an enclave of vampires near Maine during colonial times. Crediting his daughter Dove's staking as the impetus, Hunter resides over the island, which still operates like it is the sixteenth century and has very strict rules about dress, entertainment, and marriage. Hunter is a vicious vampire, willing to forge a bloodfeast alliance with made vampires to ensure that the conservative traditions of the Night World are preserved.
 * Ash Redfern: Handsome like James Dean, this vampire is wickedly charming and - well, just plain wicked. Ash acts as the head of the Redfern family on the West Coast and is quick to defend Night World laws, but the Elders believe he is "too liberal" in his associations with people on the Outside and in befriending werewolves. And that's before Ash discovers his soulmate is human!
 * Morgead Blackthorn: Not all lamia are Redferns, but Morgead demonstrates that all vampires (at least male vampires) share a proclivity toward competition and arrogance. Morgead's protectiveness of Jez, however, does not stem from arrogance. His is the love of a soulmate.

Made Vampires

 * Maya, daughter of Hecate Witch-Queen: Maya's first wish is to be immortal, and with elaborate spells, Maya attains her dream - at a price. She must drink blood daily. Maya is the first made vampire. Her son Red Fern is the first born vampire. Maya is ruthless and vindictive and excruciatingly beautiful with dark hair and a willowy figure. She also craves attention.
 * Thierry Descouedres: The second made vampire, Thierry is Changed by a jealous Maya, who is determined that Thierry loves her more than her sister. But after Maya transforms Thierry, he feels no compassion toward her. Instead, he is struck with hatred. Theirs become a battle of the ages as Thierry, Lord of the Night World, tries to unite with his soulmate, and Maya uses all of her powers to keep the two apart, millennium after millennium.
 * Poppy North: The Elders would never have approved of Poppy's transformation. Opposed to humans becoming part of the Night World, the Elders would not condone James's actions - even if he is rescuing his soulmate. Poppy and James's relationship is one of the first indicators that the soulmate principle is on the rise - and Poppy is perhaps the most famous modern made vampire in Circle Daybreak.
 * John Quinn: Quinn is not pleased about making the Change. He's been eighteen for four centuries and is still bitter. Quinn is turned into a vampire by Hunter Redfern, who believes that he has no living sons and is desperate for Quinn to become his heir. Although Quinn does not bear the Redfern last name, he is considered to be a full-blooded Redfern and sits on the Elder Council.