Once I read the Twilight series, I became very interested in all things Twilight...I became a "Twi-hard" if you will. In perusing the blogs, specifically the Twilight Lexicon, I've read a lot of Q&A's that Stephenie participated in. All this side information I gathered led me to believe certain things, specifically from this question/answer I read -
Q: Do the vampires have blood in their veins even though their heart no longer pumps? What would happen if they were cut or injured in some way?
A: Most human fluids are absent in my vampires. No sweat, no tears, no blood besides that which they ingest–they don’t have their own blood. They do sort of have saliva–the venom makes their mouths wet, at least. When they drink blood, it runs through their body and makes them strong. It floods through their old blood ways, though they don’t have circulation anymore. It lightens their eyes* and flushes their skin slightly.
*This reminds me of a question I’ve answered recently. I thought it was pretty obvious, but then, I tend to do think everything is obvious (one of my editor’s greatest tasks is getting me to explain myself more thoroughly). Vampires who drink human blood have dark reddish irises that fade to black as they get thirstier. If a Cullen were to drink human blood, his/her eyes would turn burgundy. It takes about two weeks without blood for vampire eyes to go entirely black. If that Cullen then returned to an animal diet, his/her eyes would return to dark gold.
Another eye note: brand-newly created vampires are recognizable by their eyes, which are a vivid, bright red due to the massive amount of human blood (the blood that was already in the human at the time he/she was changed) that lingers in the tissues. That red fades slowly over the course of a year. New vampires are also immensely strong for their first year of life, also a product of the excess of blood left in the body. This residual blood does nothing to affect thirst–young vampires are always thirsty.
And since we’re talking physiology…I’ve had tons of people ask if vampires can have babies. The answer is no. When someone becomes a vampire, it’s as if they are frozen exactly as they are in that moment. His or her (and we’ll go with her because it’s more central to this discussion) body no longer experiences change. Hair does not grow, nor do fingernails (if you cut your hair, you’re stuck. That’s why Alice’s hair is so short–it was growing back from being shaved in the asylum). This applies to all changes–so a woman would no longer have any kind of ovulation cycle. If she were already pregnant when she was bitten, both she and the fetus would be frozen in that state. Which would really suck–pregnant for eternity? I’m shuddering at the thought. If a vampire were cut, there would only be blood if he/she had freshly drunk blood (and drunk a lot). Otherwise, there would only be a bit of venom. It would be like cutting into granite.
So, now you can see why Breaking Dawn was shocking to me...I loved being so surprised! I feel really bad though, because Christa's friend Debi actually predicted the main plot in Breaking Dawn EXACTLY, and I told her that she couldn't be right because of what I read on the Lexicon. But of course now we see that Stephenie was very careful to focus on the fact that female vampires can't have babies, not that male vampires can't impregnate a human. Tricky, but very satisfying to not have been able to guess that. The only complaint I have is with the name, but I've gotten over that. :)
So, I'm almost over my Twilight obsession...until the movies come out , of course. :) Here's one last link for my fellow "Twi-hards" - Click here
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