Vampire Fans?

[Infamous as Elle!]

I like most of that. Alot.  You have successfully gotten around the eating people thing which is good if you want a "good" MC.
The sunlight thing could use a little work i think.  It can be alright that they can walk the day, but i think they shouldn't have ANY powers if they are outside, not just diminished powers.  Or maybe if they eat people they still get their powers. Some sort of temptation/villian setup is always nice. 
Powers...  I like the mental stuff for your heroine.  The really good looking thing is a bit tooooo White Court for comfort (not to say i don't like the White Court angle of DF but you know it could cause some infringement issues).  Maybe you could have Dante be alottt stronger or alot faster than any "normal" vampire?  Or perhaps he could do magic of some sort?  Perhaps telekinesis or pyrokinesis?  Something flashy for those "damn he's such a badass" moments?
Perhaps you could make their powers stronger if they feed on people and snuff them out to give a temptation for them to overcome?

Also, what kind of "crimes for their past" do you mean?  Is it like ANGEL where your MC used to be evil and like to snack on virgins?

Dante's looks have nothing to do with him being a vampire.  He's Italian.  He was born beautiful and with his vanity.  He can only charm with his beauty as much as any good looking guy on the front cover of GQ.  It's not like he can look at any woman and make them into a puddle of desire (don't tell him that though, you do not want to see his sad puppy face).  He's strong and fast though, intelligent enough to become a medical doctor but I'm still working on his specialty.

This is damned good practice and helping a great deal!  Thanks!

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

ps  NO SPARKLY VAMPIRES I HATE SPARKLY VAMPIRES VAMPIRES TURN TO DUST IN THE SUN THEY DO NOT SPARKLE  NO SPARKLES EVER

You're still not using enough gunpowder, I tell you.

[Infamous as Elle!]

My roomie actually has a phobia against glitter.  So you can imagine the hell he's gone through in goth clubs and any other place someone has the opportunity to dress up like a faerie.

It's so bad, he says sparkly greeting cards and Christmas cards give him the willys.  I can chase him around the house with my eye shadow case!

[Yeratel]

The only vampire series that held my attention long enough to read most of it is Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's stories of the vampire Saint-Germain. That's mostly because they incorporate a lot of history into the historical fiction, and deal with a timespan of over 4,000 years from when he was first made vampiric in the late Bronze Age to the present day. Also, there was a real Comte de San Germain in the 18th and 19th centuries that served as the basis and inspiration of the character.
The vampire Saint-Germain doesn't have much in the way of supernatural powers, other than immortality, and somewhat enhanced physical strength and stamina. Sunlight and being over or in flowing water saps his strength, though he can offset the effect by maintaining contact with earth from his homeland, which usually lines the soles of his shoes. The process of becoming a vampire left him impotent, but intimate vampiric contact with a woman when he feeds provides them intense pleasure, and if he cannot find a willing companion, he does have the ability to influence a woman's dreams, and feed on her in her sleep without her knowledge. If he feeds on someone multiple times, it's possible they will rise as a vampire after death, so he's very careful to limit his contact, unless they are close enough to him to be willing (surprisingly few are, over the centuries). His main strengths are the knowledge he has accumulated over the millenia, including the secrets of alchemy, which have allowed him to manufacture gold and precious gems to add to his wealth, and the wealth itself, which enables him to travel and change identities, and conceal his true nature.  He doesn't age, and can heal most wounds, in time, but fire and anything that destroys the brain or central nervous system can still kill him.  A couple of other idiosyncrasies are that he cannot eat or drink normal food ("I never drink. . .wine." pops up occasionally.  ), and religious artifacts like crosses have no effect whatsoever; he was born over 2,000 years before Jesus Christ, after all. 

[Chiroptera]

being over or in flowing water saps his strength

That's a good one that I don't see used in a lot of modern interpretations.  I've always liked it though.  (Empathy I think - I don't like water  )

[Yeratel]

That's a good one that I don't see used in a lot of modern interpretations.  I've always liked it though.  (Empathy I think - I don't like water  )

The flowing water thing and need for his "native earth" are also factors of P.N. Elrod's vampire characters, Jack Fleming and Quincy Morris. They don't have the ability to be active during daylight, though.

[Infamous as Elle!]

I picked up one of those books and for some reason, it just didn't grab my attention.  I couldn't keep track and there seemed to be something tedious about getting through the words.  I don't know why, maybe it was just me.

I also love the story of St. Germaine as it pertains to the tale told down in New Orleans.  The house on Rue Royale is staggeringly beautiful and is enormous, taking up one entire block.  In fact, it's featured in the movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Apparently, they can't keep it occupied though.  The price tag was somewhere around four million for the place but the tale behind it all intrigues me.  A mysterious gentleman showing up with gobs of wealth, dwelling in the worst parts of townn, hosting parties for the rich but never eating any food and having everything catered....then the lurid tales that began with the horror story of one terrified woman before she died, his disappearance and all the massive blood stains found soaked into the beautiful wooden floors.

Yes, very eerie and I'd love to write something around this tale sometime.  After all, I think Vivian will want to be plenty far from Dante, so living down in New Orleans for some period of time may help.

[ballplayer72]

ooo thats another thing.

Does running water, garlic, crosses, holy ground etc.... have any effect?

What, if any, sorts of other creatures, creepy fairy biddies, wizards, etc... exist in your world?

So Dante doesn't have a speciality yet?  Ok then (got confused when you listed Vivians and just put really ridiculously good looking for Dante  ) i suggest something flashy and ostentatious.  Like fireballs. Fireballs are always a good decision. *nods head sagely*

If they're up during the day, and living their 'true' life at night, when do they sleep? Do they sleep?

If they must sleep, or rest, do they do it in a coffin?  (do they do it in a coffin?  lol sorry couldn't help the pun it was toooo good)

Can they regenerate lost limbs?  How about fingers if not limbs?  Do normal weapons harm them?  Must they be staked in the heart to die?  What about decapitation and scattering of body parts?

Another question, is a vampire born, turned, or can it be either? (think the Blade series.)
Does someone have to get munched on (literally none of the eating ambient energy) to rise again?  Is there some esoteric process?

Are there many vampires?  Do they know about each other?  Is there a club with a cool handshake and nifty badges?  Are vampires common knowledge to normies?   


Since this is urban fantasy, let me give you some advice from a concerned reader and all around bibliophile (book lover).  IF you are going to have other mythical/supernatural etc.. beings in your world and IF you are going to have some of those be were-wolves, please please please for the love of all that is good reading don't make said were-wolves and vampires automatically hostile to each other.  Its been done to death.  Not to say that some were's and some vamps can't hate each other.  Just don't make it some sort of given for the universe.  Please.  I'm literally begging you on my hands and knees.

[Matrix Refugee (formerly Morraeon)]

Of all things, an early Silhouette Nocturne romance featured one aspect of vampire lore that is too often overlooked in pop culture, except for Count von Count in Sesame Street:

Obsession with counting things. In a lot of traditional vampire lore, you can curb a vampire by scattering a lot of little things -- usually seeds, but in the Silhouette Nocturne I mentioned, the heroine helps her vampire sweety curb his desire for her blood by scattering rose petals (If I remember correctly) -- where the vamp is likely to find them.

[Starbeam]

Of all things, an early Silhouette Nocturne romance featured one aspect of vampire lore that is too often overlooked in pop culture, except for Count von Count in Sesame Street:

Obsession with counting things. In a lot of traditional vampire lore, you can curb a vampire by scattering a lot of little things -- usually seeds, but in the Silhouette Nocturne I mentioned, the heroine helps her vampire sweety curb his desire for her blood by scattering rose petals (If I remember correctly) -- where the vamp is likely to find them.

This is a good one.  I'm gonna try to somehow use it in the story I'm trying to work on.

One good thing I found with lots of info about vampires, and a lot which is overlooked or not well known, is the Vampire Encyclopedia by Matthew Bunson.  It has several tables of different things, like things to distract vampires, what can hurt/kill them, how they can be made, and so forth.  Along with entries of people considered to be vampires in history and movie vampires and so forth.

[Infamous as Elle!]

ooo thats another thing.

Does running water, garlic, crosses, holy ground etc.... have any effect?

What, if any, sorts of other creatures, creepy fairy biddies, wizards, etc... exist in your world?

So Dante doesn't have a speciality yet?  Ok then (got confused when you listed Vivians and just put really ridiculously good looking for Dante  ) i suggest something flashy and ostentatious.  Like fireballs. Fireballs are always a good decision. *nods head sagely*

If they're up during the day, and living their 'true' life at night, when do they sleep? Do they sleep?

If they must sleep, or rest, do they do it in a coffin?  (do they do it in a coffin?  lol sorry couldn't help the pun it was toooo good)

Can they regenerate lost limbs?  How about fingers if not limbs?  Do normal weapons harm them?  Must they be staked in the heart to die?  What about decapitation and scattering of body parts?

Another question, is a vampire born, turned, or can it be either? (think the Blade series.)
Does someone have to get munched on (literally none of the eating ambient energy) to rise again?  Is there some esoteric process?

Are there many vampires?  Do they know about each other?  Is there a club with a cool handshake and nifty badges?  Are vampires common knowledge to normies?   


Since this is urban fantasy, let me give you some advice from a concerned reader and all around bibliophile (book lover).  IF you are going to have other mythical/supernatural etc.. beings in your world and IF you are going to have some of those be were-wolves, please please please for the love of all that is good reading don't make said were-wolves and vampires automatically hostile to each other.  Its been done to death.  Not to say that some were's and some vamps can't hate each other.  Just don't make it some sort of given for the universe.  Please.  I'm literally begging you on my hands and knees.

Okay umm....hmm....let's address each question at a time.

It may be that running water disperses magic and so it could weaken a vampire but not enough to kill....unless they were being murdered to death in running water.  As for crosses, they're quite fond of looking at crosses (I couldn't help myself there).  Garlic only instinctively makes a vampire hand you a breath mint.  Holy ground....that's a bit more complicated.  There is a respect there if anything for those that believe in it.  I first climbed on board to the idea that places, objects and words can have power but only if you believe hard enough when I first read Death: The High Cost of Living.  I carried that with me and the more I studied religion, the more it made sense to me.  So yes and no.  To each his own.  

I'm debating bringing other fantastical beings in.  On one hand I'm thinking I'm going to have enough on my hands sorting out the world of my vamps and on the other, if there are vamps out there shouldn't other mythical creatures exist?  I don't know, it may be something I work in later if I have enough brain cells.  I also don't want to be ripping off any of my...ahem....favorite authors.

I'll think of something way awesome for Dante to be sure.  Levitation could be a fun option if not a fireworks show.  Well, at least levitation could be a lot of fun for Viv.

My vampires do sleep.  They don't need as much as mortals though.  Feeding tends to be the equivalent of a Red Bull or Sobe Adrenaline Rush (Trademarked but yummy)!  They also don't need coffins but dark helps, sensory deprvation is even better.  If they wanted to do the whole traditional vampire thing, they could but it's purely for show.  Sleeping under glaring lights and the grand stands at a monster truck rally is no fun for anyone.  As for doing it in coffins, kinky and I'll ask Dante sometime.  I bet he'd go for it.  Just not at public funerals okay?  That's the wrong kind of necrophilia.

They are immortal, not starfish.  If they lose a limb or several limbs, it may come down to them gnawing you to death (only the most stubborn and frankly bizarre vamps would dare such a thing).  They heal very fast but scars are with you for life or unlife as the case may be.

Can be born or turned.  The key element is the blood but science lesson later.  If enough blood is exchanged, a mortal can turn and yeah, it's painful.  I'm not sure.  Is dialysis painful?  Doesn't seem so but I've never had it done.  I know IV's hurt like hell, especially by inept nursing assistants who keep missing  your vein and wiggling the needle around but I digress.

There are vampires in every part of the world but I'm thinking that they've been fairly well picked upon (and picked off) by the :Van Helsing Society:.  I'm getting the feeling that they're kind of like another race but I'm not sure if I'd like them to be out and about for the general knowledge of all.  I think they'd be cut up in the name of science and there is the potential for them to be treated as things without rights or feelings.  That is still in debate with me.  I'm not sure which would let the story flow better yet.  As for them knowing about each other, there are some with psychic skill and the Society is relentless in it's pursuit of knowledge so I'm thinking there may be those that know and those that don't.  

As for werewolves, nope, not going the Underworld route.  Lycanthropy exists as a documented medical condition but I'm not even sure if I'm going in the all out mythical/fantastical other creatures route yet.  If there is ever conflict though, it's probably going to be over who cheated at cards or some wise-crack about scruffy looking Nerf Herders.

*smoke begins to drift out from ears before she falls out of her chair and into a panting heap*

[Infamous as Elle!]

This is a good one.  I'm gonna try to somehow use it in the story I'm trying to work on.

One good thing I found with lots of info about vampires, and a lot which is overlooked or not well known, is the Vampire Encyclopedia by Matthew Bunson.  It has several tables of different things, like things to distract vampires, what can hurt/kill them, how they can be made, and so forth.  Along with entries of people considered to be vampires in history and movie vampires and so forth.

Thanks for the tip!  I've seen it but haven't picked it up yet.  Borders is my friend though.  They give me coupons.

[Wolfhowls]

Read stuff from White Wolf. Never read any of it myself but I hear it's meh ok.

[Infamous as Elle!]

I have.  I used have friends that LARPed it and I attended once.  The mind-boggling amount of rules and already established story lines really got me confused.

[The Corvidian]

With theiroanthops (weres) why not go the yokai path. Instead of people turning into animals, have it be animals turning into people.