A Vampire Diaries Special:
The Tale of the Vampire

Thoughout the ages, there has been talk of witches, werewolves, vampires, and more. Are they real? How do they become what they are? Is there such thing as immortality? Or the question that stirs most minds at this moment...is it all just in their head? My philosophy teacher told me once that you can will almost anything into being, but you need to take the steps in order to get there. Although, I personally do not take any stands on whether vampires do exists or not, I have put together a history on vampires through the eyes of the authors that created them and placed them under different titles. Enjoy.

Vampire Timeline 1047 a.d.-The word upir(vampire) was created to describe a prince from Russia. They called him "Upir Lichy", or "Wicked vampire".
1428-1429 a.d.-Vlad Tepes (Vlad Trespesh), who was the son of Vlad Dracul, was born. He was also called Dracula.
1476 a.d.-Vlad was assinated.
1560 a.d.-Elizabeth Bathory was born.
1610 a.d.-Elizabeth Bathory was tried and convicted of killing thousands of people and bathing in their blood. Finally, she was sentenced to life imprisonment.L
1614 a.d.-Elizabeth Bathory dies while in imprisonment.
1735 a.d.-the word "vampyr" enters the english language.
1748-"Der Vampire" is published (this is the first vampire poem written by Ossenfelder).
1847-Bram Stoker is born.
1888-"Land beyond the forest" is written by Emily Gerard and it is used as a source for Bram Stoker's Dracula.
1897-Bram Stoker's Dracula is published in England.
1920-Dracula, the first movie based on the novel was put out but there is no surviving copies of this movies left now.
1931-American Film version of Dracula is published.
1964-"The Munsters" and "Adams Family" open on the fall season of television. These are both vampire based stories that are also comedies.
1966-A television show for ABC came out called "the Dark Shadows"
1975-Anne Rice Came out with "Interview with a Vampire" while Stephen King comes out with "Salem's Lot".
1985-"The Vampire Lestat" comes out by Anne Rice.
1992-"Forever Knight" comes out as a T.V. show about a Vampire cop.
1994-The movie "Interview with a Vampire" is out in the movies.

Books and Figures
"Dracula" and Vlad Tepesh-The book "Dracula" was originally inspired by a prince that was born in 1431 and died in 1476. The man origanally ruled Romania.

The Anne Rice Vampire

Outward Appearance:
Anne rice vampires are strangely, frighteningly beautiful creatures. Their fingernails have a glasslike quality and their skin is luminescent: extremely white and highly reflective. When they're hungry, their skin shrinks, and their veins look like "ropes over the contours of their bones."(The Vampire Lestat pg.3)

Weaknesses:
Unlike the traditional vampire, the Anne Rice vampire is unnaffected by crucifixes, and holy water, and cannot be killed with a stake to the heart. They can, however, be killed by direct sunlight, and must sleep in coffins. There are ways that Anne Rice vampires can get around the whole sunlight problem, if they are powerful enough, which makes those vampires virtually INDESTRUCTABLE which is a nice thing, for some vampires. These vampires are only burnt by the sun, not killed. Its like a suntan. Some vampires just get tired of eternity and "go into the ground" which is basically them burying themselves alive, so they don't have to deal with the outside world. Another way to destroy this vampire is by destroying its body: either by dismemberment or with fire. (preferably both) The only other way for the Anne Rice vampire to be killed is if they drink "dead blood." Dead blood is the blood of a mortal who's heart has stopped. There are poisons that can be used to keep a corpse's blood warm, thus tricking the vampire into drinking this tainted and lethal blood.

Special Powers:
Each vampire that is created is different. The powers that they have are determined by the vampires that made them, and how powerful they were. Some vampires have the ability to read human's minds. Others have the power to fly. (Only extremely powerful vampires can fly)(extremely powerful means that they were made by/strengthened by one of the original vampires) Anyway, most normal vampires have the ability to move extremely quickly and quietly, going completely unnoticed by humans. All vampires can create other vampires. Their senses are all heightened, especially their sight and hearing. And of course, all vampires can kill easily, without a second thought.

Creation of others
(and what happens if it goes wrong!)
In order for the Anne Rice vampire to make another of its kind, the first thing that they need to do is find a human. That human doesn't have to want to become a vampire. The human is then drained to the point of death, and when they are on the threshold of life and death, the vampire lets him drink from his own blood, usually from a vein in the wrist. The human now has the vampire blood in his system and his human body begins to die. This is usually a painful process, but afterward, the human is a vampire. Sometimes, the humans are killed, that is usually what happens when things go wrong.

Basic Rules
Basically, the main rules for the Anne Rice vampires are
1. Don't kill any other vampires
and
2. Don't make humans that cannot fend for themselves into vampires.
Those are the two main rules.

Lineage The Anne Rice vampires can all be traced back to Akasha, the Egyptian queen. She was made into a vampire when a blood-sucking evil spirit posessed her. After that, she was what we call a vampire. She had to drink the blood of humans to survive.

There is still much more to come!!!

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