In the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series of novels, author Laurell K. Hamilton has developed a detailed mythology. Her series is an alternate historyin which the supernatural is real, and vampires, lycanthropes, and other supernatural beings live alongside humans in a society that otherwise resembles 21st century North America. Although the existence of supernatural beings has been public knowledge for centuries in the Anitaverse (see select references below), its history has otherwise unfolded so identically to that of the real world that the series contains occasional references to the popular culture of the 1990s, including the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the O. J. Simpson trial, and others. Undead Vampires There are many different types of vampires discussed in Anita Blake's mythology. Generally they are turned by being bitten three times on three subsequent nights. Draining of blood is part of the process, although not all of it as not everyone who is bitten becomes a vampire and the full requirements to go from being human to vampire are uncertain. Once turned the new vampire is then taught by their master on the rights, rituals and general rules of "living," which includes a blood oath between the master and subservient vampire (read: does not necessarily require a newly turned individual). This generally in turn leads to the vampire hierarchy of master to Master of the City. These master vampires in turn owe their allegiance to the top of the vampire hierarchy the Vampire Council. Also included are feral vampires who have either been without blood, tortured and subjected to holy items for too long. Once a feral state, the vampire loses its ability to reason and only becomes obsessed with feeding. When this state is reached by a vampire, it is nearly impossible to reverse or control without being destroyed. Anita managed to bring Damian back from this state by taking his blood oath. Vampire characteristics The only real universal trait is that they are blood drinking reanimated human corpses, risen from the dead to prey on the living, with a variety of diverse supernatural powers which grow stronger with each passing year; Immortality. Being animated by supernatural forces which preserve their souls within their unliving cadavers, vampires neither age nor decay; and although they can starve, they cannot starve to death. They are also extremely difficult to harm; wounds from most objects, even bullets, heal in seconds without causing them