Half of my blood is Cain's blood
Half of my blood is Abel's
One eye looks to heaven
One eye looks for trouble
-4 Runner

Greater vampires are the race created by the goddess Angelique. She is the goddess of vampires and at the urging of a mage who was interested in this powerful undead, she helped in the research of how to create them. This led to the creation of the original potion that was used to turn the first vampire, namely Maurice, into the first Greater Vampire. His transformation turned him into an extremely powerful creature and he is now the most powerful of that race. It was discovered that the potion would turn only other vampires into Greater Vampires. However, one GV could make another in the ordinary way that a vampire is made.

The differences between ordinary vampires and Greater Vampires are many. The most noted of these is that Greater Vampires become immune to the normal defenses and banes that affect normal vampires. This includes the prohibition against crossing running water, garlic, sesame seeds, or any other such thing. This, of course, can change with an individual vampire. That leads to the biggest difference between Greater and normal vampires.

Each Greater Vampire is a unique creature with unique powers and weaknesses. Those powers and weaknesses are most often dependent upon the personality, skills, and even history of the vampire. Most vampires have 8-10 powers, although each has some things in common. These things include needing magical weapons to hit, regeneration, one or two psionic talents, some way to teleport, shapechange and magic resistance. These do have varying differences even in themselves, however. For example, many will have different rates of regeneration, different creatures that are shapechanged into, varying degrees of magic resistance, etc. Those who go hunting Greater Vampires had best understand that things that work on one will very likely not work on others. The remaining powers other than those noted above are usually of a more personalized nature. There are far too many possibilities to note them all, however some examples can be the ability to drain the life force from another vampire (something that is usually not possible), charming other vampires (again, not usually possible), or even the ability as one has to automatically be transported back to a safe haven upon misting (discussed further below). These are only small examples of the powers and they are not even among the most powerful.

Weaknesses work much as powers do. A normal Greater Vampire usually has three weaknesses, and at least one is usually fairly devastating. These weaknesses, as the personalized powers, can be anything at all. For example, one must take orders from a hated enemy at least half of the time and another can use no magic items whatsoever.

Another thing that all Greater Vampires have in common is their mental connection to each other and to Danielle Sanchez. The reason for their connection to her is that her blood was necessary for the creation of the Greater Vampire potion. Upon the first quaff of a potion, Maurice felt and realized this connection as do all of the Greater Vampires upon their creation, be it by potion or via another vampire. It has been discovered to the dismay of many people that while it is possible with the right means to break a connection between greater vampires, it is impossible even for Angelique to break the connection between any of them and Danielle. This connection cannot even be blocked in any way. This also makes it possible for Danielle and even the other Greater Vampires to spy upon those they are connected with, although it is possible to block out those who wish to spy. It is only the communication with Danielle that is impossible to block. Nobody has been able to find out just why this is so, but it seems rather certain that the connection is not truly a "psionic" one, but one created through blood.

The next point to make is in the destruction of a Greater Vampire. Greater Vampires take much more to destroy than a normal vampire. For instance, most are completely immune to the sun. They can function just as well in broad daylight as at midnight. When a Greater Vampire is taken down to the point where his injuries would be life threatening to any other vampire, a Greater Vampire becomes mist. This mist can be dealt with in certain ways, although it is very difficult. The mist can seep out through even the smallest crack and certain GVs can even teleport in mist form. And so the total destruction of one is a challenging task at best. However, there are possible ways of destroying certain Greater Vampires if you can find out their particular weakness. As for the use of stakes, ordinary wooden stakes will not work on a Greater Vampire, they must be enchanted like any other weapon. And even then, the stake does not kill one, merely paralyzes it. And cutting off the head of one will only result in misting them, not destroying them.

It must also be noted that when a Greater Vampire IS destroyed it results in a "snapping" of the mind from the others that it is connected to. This can be very painful and is particularly painful for Danielle. The closer in one way or another she is to a Greater Vampire, the more painful the snap becomes. It could be entirely possible that devastating results could come if one too close to her was destroyed.

Another thing that is vital to mention is the soul of a Greater Vampire. When one is created, their soul becomes in part connected to Angelique. While she is not capable of taking control of one, upon their death it is entirely possible for her to get past many of the normal methods of taking a soul and reclaiming it for herself to an extent. For example, if a Greater Vampire were to be destroyed and its soul taken after the destruction, she could pull that soul from its new home and take it back to herself. The soul of a Greater Vampire can never really be destroyed for she holds part of it after death. In a way, it is a part of her as well.

They said,
"To die is glorious."
They lied
-Phil George

My fears come alive
In this place where I once died
Demons dreaming knowing I
I just needed to realign
-Godsmack