
Some choose to consume donations from blood banks as a more ethical way to satisfy their needs, while other vampires feed off of willing or compelled individuals. The majority of vampires drink human blood. When a vampire experiences moments of hunger, bloodlust, or any other heightened emotion, their vampiric aspect becomes evident in their facial changes-their eyes become extremely bloodshot, the veins around them darken and protrude, and their fangs become exposed. However, the urge for human blood is a crucial aspect of life as a vampire- the bloodlust and hunger becomes as constant as breathing, and every individual must learn to adjust to this new lifestyle in order to maintain self-control and to avoid exposure. (An example of this is Bill Forbes, who died after failing to drink blood to complete his transition in Bringing Out The Dead). If an individual chooses not to feed and resists human blood, the transition will not be complete and the individual will die permanently within twenty-four hours. Witches can integrate the use of blood into their magical practice to strengthen certain types of spells, which range from simple and minor locator spells to more powerful and complex curses and hexes whose effects can be so devastating that they can even kill a human or supernatural creature.įeeding on human blood is the final phase in becoming a vampire after a human has died with a vampire's blood in their system and has subsequently reawakened in transition.

However, animal blood does not provide the same level of nourishment to vampires as human blood does, which is why most vampires won't even consider it unless they have no other option. Most vampires drink human blood, but there are some who choose to exclusively drink animal blood, such as Stefan Salvatore, or vampire blood, such as Mikael.

Blood is also what provides vampiric beings with their supernatural abilities, such as enhanced strength, speed, agility, senses, healing, and mind control, and as a result, the strength of these abilities can be dependent on how recently they've fed starvation can weaken a vampiric being's powers considerably, whereas someone who has just fed on a significant amount of blood will experience a slight increase in the strength of these powers. If a vampiric being cannot feed on blood for an extended period of time, they will weaken to the point of desiccation, which will essentially turn them into a statue-like state until someone else feeds them. Immortals, vampires and hybrids need to drink blood to function.

Rebekah on the biggest consequence of vampirism in Ordinary Peopleīlood is a specialized bodily fluid that is responsible for both delivering nutrients and oxygen to the cells as well as transporting metabolic waste products away from those cells.
