Giles: [to Xander] You're not looking at your friend. You're looking at the thing that killed him.
Giles: A vampire isn't a person at all. It may have the movements, the memories, even the personality of the person it takes over, but it is a demon at the core. There is no halfway.
So basically, a vampire is just a demon which possesses your body, and kicks your soul or whatever out. So, how did vampires come to exist? Read on and find out.
Giles: "This world is older than any of
you know, and contrary to popular mythology, it did not begin as a paradise.
For untold eons demons walked the Earth, made it their home, their Hell.
In time, they lost their purchase on this reality, and the way was made
for mortal animals. For man."
"The books tell that the last demon to leave
this reality fed off a human, mixed their blood. He was a human form possessed
- infected by the demon's soul. He bit another and another...and so they
walk the Earth, feeding. Killing some, mixing their blood with others to
make more of their kind. Waiting for the animals to die out and the Old
Ones to return."
So there you have it, all perfectly explained by the Watcher himself. Vampires in Buffy's world can't fly, and they cast no reflection. They do not need to breathe, but their lungs simulate the action of breathing. They have a hypnotic ability, although some like the Master's or Drusilla's are stronger than others. They cannot enter a private home without permission, but once invited they can return any time. They can enter public places such as schools and churches without problem. They fear the sign of the cross, and are burned by it and holy water, as well as sunlight. There are three main ways to kill a vampire - impaling them through the heart with a stake or similar improvisation, chopping off their head, and burning them (either with sunlight or fire). Other injuries do hurt them, but they manage to heal more quickly than humans. Well, that's about all the vampire information you need right now, so move on.
The Master
Witches
Catherine Madison was homecoming
queen and star cheerleader of Sunnydale High when she was a teenager, but
in an attempt to reclaim her glory days she switched bodies with her daughter,
Amy, and tried out for the current cheerleading squad. However, the switch
was too much for her, and she mucked up the audition, and only made the
alternate team, so she wouldn't perform unless some of the other team members
got sick. So, she used her magic powers to cause Amber to spontaneously
combust, caused Lishanne's mouth to be sealed over, and blinded Cordelia.
Fortunately, Giles was able to cast a spell to reverse the switch, and
Buffy reflected Caroline's spell back at her, ironically trapping her inside
the statue she had won as star cheerleader all those years ago.
She-Mantis
The She-Mantis is a being able to distort perception so it looks like a beautiful woman, and with this disguise it lures innocent male virgins back to its nest to mate with them before killing them. Buffy found out that the sounds of bat sonar send mantises wild, so she use the recorded sound to stun the She-Mantis, before chopping it apart with a large blade.
Anointed One
The Anointed One is a powerful vampire, who has possessed the body of a young boy. He was to be the Master's greatest weapon against the Slayer, and it was him who led Buffy to the Master's underground lair. He also orchestrated the attempted revivification of the Master in the first episode of Season 2, 'When She Was Bad'.
Primals
Primals are animal worshippers who believe that to be animal is divine. They try to invite the spirit of certain animals, like hyenas, to camp out in their bodies. This is what happened accidentally to Xander and the school bullies on a school trip to the zoo, which led to the consumption of the Sunnydale mascot and Principal Bob Flutie. The Primal in the episode entitled 'The Pack' managed to get the hyena spirits to go into him, but ended up being eaten by the real hyenas.
Moloch, The Corruptor
Brotherhood of Seven
Seven demons who must harvest a healthy heart and brain every seven years in order to retain their youthful human disguise. In the episode 'The Puppet Show', Sid the dummy has killed 6 out of 7, and with a bit of help from Buffy and the gang, manages to kill the last one, freeing his soul and allowing him to rest at last.
Invisible Girls
It's easy to feel sorry for Marcie Ross - she had no friends, and as a result disappeared. It was something that was done to her, not something she did herself, and the loneliness and isolation turned her into a raving loony. Cordelia is her prime target, because she is everything Marcie is not, popular, confident etc. It was Marcie's plan to disfigure Cordelia's beautiful face so that no one would ever forget it, but Buffy, using her acute sense of hearing and her Slayer abilities, managed to lay her out. Men in suits then promptly arrived to take her away, to a class of invisible pupils who were learning Assassination and Infiltration. It is a possibility that as Marcie wasn't killed, she may return in a future episode. I love the irony of her line when she realises that Cordelia's attempts at sympathy are just a way of getting out of it: "I see right through you."
Big Squiggly Demons
This is what Cordelia describes the demon trying to surface in the library in 'Prophecy Girl' as. It is one of the Old Ones, trying to surface and live on the Earth once more. Fortunately, Buffy killing the Master makes it go back from whence it came, before it could consume Willow and the other Slayerettes.
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