Internally, the vampire‘s system contains many venom-based fluids that resemble, and in some cases perform the same function as, the human fluids that were replaced. Only the saliva-like liquid in the vampire‘s mouth is venomous. A fluid similar to this venom works as a lubricant between the hard cells of the skin, making movement possible. Another lubricates the vampire‘s eyes so they can move easily in their sockets. However, vampires do not produce tears, as tears exist to protect the eye from damage by small foreign objects, and those objects would not be able to harm a vampire‘s eye. Throughout the body, this pattern is repeated, with venom-like fluids performing the functions that are still necessary to the vampire. Most notably absent is the circulatory system.
Vampires are frozen in the state at which they are transformed.
PHYSICAL CHANGE:
Vampires are frozen in the state at which they are transformed. They do not grow older, taller, or wider, or experience any other physical change, including unconsciousness (vampires never sleep). Their fingernails and hair do not grow. Their hair does not change color.
ABILITIES AND LIMITATIONS
A vampire‘s physical and mental abilities far exceed those of a human being. Vampires can run in excess of a hundred miles per hour. They are able to lift objects hundreds of times their own weight. Their senses are similarly boosted, giving them the ability to see, hear, and smell things imperceptible to humans. Their skin is harder than granite, rendering their bodies nearly indestructible. Their minds work many times faster than humans‘ are capable of, and all vampires have perfect recall.
IMMORTALITY:
Vampires do not age from the moment their transformation is complete. Vampires have no natural life cycle; they exist in this progressionless status indefinitely. This is a conditional form of immortality, as they can be permanently destroyed by fire. However, their speed and strength make it necessary to incapacitate them before burning them. Only another supernatural creature has the ability to incapacitate a vampire, by tearing her limbs from her body (thus vampires are in no danger from human beings). A vampire who is incapacitated but left unburned has the ability to reconstitute herself.
One facet of the absence of aging is that vampires do not develop emotionally or mentally past the age at which they are transformed. A transformed child would remain childlike forever, unable to mature in any aspect.
NUTRITION:
Vampires do not have a circulatory system. Their bodies are harder than human bodies, but their cells are selectively porous. They receive nutrition only from blood, which, once drunk, is absorbed throughout the body. Blood satiates their thirst and makes them physically stronger, but it is not necessary for life. Vampires cannot starve to death; they only get progressively weaker and thirstier as time goes on. They are not able to digest solid food. If a vampire swallows a solid as a subterfuge, that substance will sit in his stomach until he forces it back out through his mouth.
Human blood is the most appealing to vampires — and hardest to resist. However, they can receive the same nutritional strength from animal blood. Vampires do not need to feed as often as humans do; drinking the blood of one human is enough to satiate a mature vampire for a week or two.
SUPERNATURAL ABILITIES
Most vampires find their key personality characteristics intensified by the vampire transformation in the same way their physical abilities are strengthened, but relatively few have abilities that can be classified as supernatural. More common would be a human with a love of learning becoming a vampire with an insatiable scholarly curiosity, or a human with a deep value for human life becoming a vampire with the strength to avoid human blood.
But a few vampires do develop additional abilities that go beyond the natural. These extra abilities are due to psychic gifts in the original human that are intensified in the resulting vampire. For example, a human who was very sensitive to other people‘s moods might develop the vampire ability to read thoughts or influence emotions. A human who had some limited precognition might develop into a vampire with a strong ability to see the future. A human with a good instinct for hunting might become a powerful vampire tracker.
The proportion of supernaturally talented vampires to ―normal‖ vampires is greater than the proportion of psychically gifted humans to ―normal‖ humans. This is due to the same factor of temperament that results in more beautiful humans being selected to become vampires.
Vampires are also drawn to gifted humans when they look to create companions. Some vampires actively seek out the gifted in the hope of utilizing that extra ability in their coven.
―I‘ve always loved superheroes, so the vampires I created actually have a lot more in common with superheroes than with horror-genre vampires.‖ —Stephenie
NEWBORN VAMPIRES
A newborn vampire — defined as any vampire who is less than one year from his date of transformation — is different from a more mature vampire in behavior and appearance. The newborn is plagued by an unrelenting thirst and will feed as often as possible. The thirst is so maddening in the first year that most newborns are more animalistic and wild than their older counterparts.
They are marked as physically different by their vibrantly crimson irises, though in other ways they look the same as mature vampires. Their behavior is more diverse than their appearance. As they age, their behavior generally becomes more rational and constant.
THE TRANSFORMATION PROCESS
The transformation from human to vampire begins with a vampire bite. Once the venom coating the vampire‘s teeth enters the bloodstream of a human, it moves through the human‘s body, changing each cell as it passes. The spread of the venom is swift, but the reconstruction of the cells takes time. This process is excruciatingly painful, comparable to the feeling of being burned alive. The process lasts for roughly two to three days, depending on how much venom is present in the circulatory system and how close to the heart it entered. There is no way to circumvent the burning with painkillers; the most narcotics can do is immobilize the body.
One benefit to the human is that vampire venom is capable of repairing all kinds of damage to the body. A human who had sustained a crippling injury would be made whole again as a vampire. Venom does have limits, though; it could not, for example, regrow a lost limb.
Only vampires with a great deal of self-control are able to remain focused enough to bite a human and then let him live long enough for the venom to effect the change.
The transformation is difficult from the vampire perspective as well. Even mature vampires have trouble resisting flowing human blood. The scent affects them as it does sharks; they can go into a feeding frenzy. For this reason, vampires tend to not hunt in packs. During the irrational frenzy, members of a coven are likely to turn on one another in competition for the blood. The taste of human blood makes it even harder for the vampire to resist. It is nearly impossible for a vampire to not drain the human — thus killing him or her — once the vampire has tasted blood. Only vampires with a great deal of self-control are able to remain focused enough to bite a human and then let him live long enough for the venom to effect the change.