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In general
- The Ageless: Vampires are immortal and will stay the age they are turned forever. However, they can still be injured, though unlike warlocks vampires do have some amount of heightened regeneration.
- Fur Against Fang: The vampires and werewolves do not get on well; some claim this is because the two demon species which originally infected humans, giving rise to the vampires and werewolves, were rivaling species who hated one another. This seems to just be an excuse though as a lot vampires and werewolves get along fine as soon as they let go of their prejudice.
- Holy Burns Evil: Holy water is lethal to vampires. They also can't enter hallowed ground, which is why Raphael interacts with Maryse mostly through projection, as the New York Institute was built on top of a church. Sanctuaries were originally built to accommodate vampires, since they alone among the Downworlders cannot enter Institutes. Finally, vampires struggle to say the name of God; it takes years before they can get used to it.
- Immortal Procreation Clause: Like most warlocks, vampires cannot have children.
- Our Vampires Are Different: Vampires in the series mostly adhere to traditional convention. They have fangs, are agile, drink blood, can infect humans into vampires, and are weak to sunlight and holy water.
- Vampire Procreation Limit: Turning a human into a vampire requires a very complex ritual. At first, the vampires must not suck all his blood (then he will just die). After that he has to drink the blood of a vampire. Shortly thereafter, this human must be buried in holy ground. And even then, not every newly-transformed vampire is strong enough to free himself from his grave.
- Weakened by the Light: Like demons, vampires are harmed and will eventually die when exposed to sunlight. The only exception is Simon, thanks to the influence of Jace's angelic blood.
Raphael Santiago
Played by: David Castro (Shadowhunters)
Current leader of the New York vampire clan (although he asserts that he's merely leading in Camille's stead.)
- As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Being Mexican, he tends to interject phrases in Spanish when he speaks. In City of Ashes, he tells Clary that Simon "no es muerto," which is incorrect; it should be "no está muerto." It seems like a classic Google Translate error rather than it being intentional.
- Dead Alternate Counterpart: He is one to his Thule counterpart, who is still alive as of 2014.
- Family Man: He basically tortured himself for months in order to build up enough strenght and self control to return to his mother and siblings.
- Fantastic Racism: Discriminates against anyone who isn't a vampire.
- Grumpy Old Man: Even though he looks fifteen, Raphael acts and talks like a grumpy seventy-year-old geezer (which is closer to his chronological age).
- Heroic Sacrifice: In City of Heavenly Fire, Raphael refuses to kill Magnus and as a result is executed by Sebastian.
- Hypocrite: Badgers Simon relentlessly about the need to accept that he is dead to humanity and must sever all ties to his former life. However...
- Irony: It's said that he puts on a cross and visits his family every Sunday.
- Interrupted Suicide: In The Bane Chronicles he attempts to throw himself into a beam of sunlight after being turned, but is stopped by Magnus.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He is cold and rude to pretty much anyone except his mother and siblings but he did care deeply for Lily It is revealed that in an alternate universe, Raphael started a war because of her murder, Ragnor, Tessa and Magnus.
- Killed Off for Real: In City of Heavenly Fire.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: Was the eldest of seven brothers from a poor family.
- Momma's Boy: He absolutely adored his mother, and was terrified of her fearing him when he turned into a vampire. Some of his last words are about how sacred she was to him.
- Number Two: To Camille.
- Older Than They Look: He is stated to look around fourteen years old, but was actually born in the 1930s.
- Religious Vampire: He's Catholic, and wears a cross that has burned a scar into his chest.
- The Proud Elite: In some cases an even better example than Isabelle, but it's played with as while he's certainly proud and he does see himself and vampires as elite, the magical world (re:the Clave) does not see them as so.
- The Starscream: According to Camille, he was the reason she left - he killed mundanes and blamed them on her, causing her to flee. When she did so, he seized her position and told the rest of the New York vampire clan that she was struck with wanderlust and a desire to travel (something that was not unheard of in vampires. It's later revealed that Raphael did have an ambition to usurp Camille, but only because she was the one who killed the mundanes. He threatened to report her to the Clave, so she was forced to flee.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Implied depending on from which characters perspective he is being seen from. Icy in the main series; in The Bane Chronicles, Magnus says he can have a rare sweet smile, and his mother states that he is the "sweetest of [her sons]". Notably, he is considerably more playfully snarky towards Magnus as opposed to his usual interactions in the main series.
- Super-Empowering: Like other vampires, he is capable of turning other people into vampires.
Camille Belcourt
Played by: Kaitlyn Leeb (Shadowhunters)
Magnus's vampire ex, and the actual leader of the New York vampire clan. Previously, she lived in London, where she first became acquainted with Magnus.
- The Dragon: In City of Fallen Angels, she is one to Lilith.
- Dumb Blonde: Very much averted. Camille is very smart, especially when it comes to manipulating people.
- Eternal Love: She is one of Magnus' few (if not only) lovers who shares his immortality, which means they had the potential to be together forever. Unfortunately for Magnus, Camille didn't see their relationship that way.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- For all of her villainy, she was genuinely in love with a werewolf over a century ago. But he was killed by her clan leader which makes her plot against him for years culminating in his ruin and ultimate death.
- She is also fond of her subjugates and isn't pleased when the New York Conclave kill them in City of Fallen Angels.
- Everyone Looks Sexier if French: Camille speaks with a French accent. Combined with her name, it's implied that she originally came from France.
- Foregone Conclusion: Throughout The Infernal Devices, we already know that her and Magnus's relationship isn't going to last long, as Magnus is single come City of Bones.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: She tortures and turns Maureen into a vampire. Maureen later kills and usurps her as leader of New York vampire clan.
- Interspecies Romance: With Magnus Bane and, previously, a werewolf, which de Quincey frowned upon, because, you know, vampires and werewolves are supposed to loathe each other. Camille really started hating de Quincey after he murdered her werewolf lover.
- Lady of War: As a vampire, Camille can fight, but as a lady of high social standing she carries herself with a dignified manner. Tessa has difficulty imitating her during The Infiltration.
- Killed Offscreen: In City of Lost Souls, she is revealed to have been killed by Maureen Brown, who usurps the position of leader from her.
- Knowledge Broker: Although she'll only share information with Magnus.
- Relationship Sabotage: She tried to sabotage Alec and Magnus' relationship by trying to make Alec insecure about Magnus immortality.
- The One That Got Away: While he has moved on, Magnus is still obviously sore about losing Camille more than a hundred years after their breakup.
- Working with the Ex: With Magnus, which is a little uncomfortable.
Lily Chen
A member of the New York vampire clan. She becomes the new head of the clan after the deaths of Raphael, Camille and Maureen.
- Blackmail: In Forever Fallen, Janus threatens to kill her if she reports him to the Clave. In exchange for not doing it, he promises to arrange her a meeting with Thule-Raphael (who is still alive, as opposed to the main universe Raphael).
- Immortality Bisexuality: She is bisexual; other than her long admiration of Raphael; Red Scrolls of Magic reveals that she makes out with Helen Blackthorn during a party celebrating the end of the Mortal War.
- Incompatible Orientation: She was in love with Raphael, who is asexual and aromantic. Also hinted at in her relationship with Alec Lightwood, who is similarly unattainable because he is gay. Even when a concerned Alec offers her his blood if she needs it, she refuses because "You're not for that."
- Interspecies Romance: Briefly, with Helen (half-faerie half-Shadowhunter) in Red Scrolls of Magic.
- The Nicknamer: She made up a whole slew of inappropriate nicknames for brother Zachariah/Jem Carstairs. These include: brother Sixpackariah and Jem I'd-love-to-climb-'em Carstairs.
- Older Than They Look: Both in-universe and out-universe. Lily claims that she was turned in the 1920s, even though it's really the 1900s. She keeps this a secret because she doesn't like to discuss her past.
- The Roaring '20s: The 1920's are Lily's favourite decade and she often pretends that this was the decade she was Turned. She was actually born around 1885 and made a vampire around the turn of the century.
- Son of a Whore: Her mother was a Sex Slave trafficked to serve an elite man, and Lily herself was turned into a vampire to serve as an exotic prostitute. She does not discuss this with most people (even Raphael had to spend a lot of money on investigations to find it out), but she privately confides in Alec.
- The Starscream: She plotted to have her clan leader Maureen killed. She did this by telling Maia that the werewolves and vampires could form an alliance if she killed Maureen. Maia agreed and pretended to make a deal with Maureen and let her drink her blood to seal this deal. However Maia had injected herself with holy water, so after Maureen drank her blood she died. Lily then revealed to the other vampires that she was the mastermind behind Maureen's death and became the new clan leader.
Alexei de Quincey
The head of the London vampire clan in the 1800's.
- Evil Former Friend: To Camille. Apparently he still doesn't get the message that she doesn't see him as a friend - or anything else, for that matter - anymore, not after he killed her werewolf lover.
- Killed Off for Real: He got killed by Shadowhunters who thought he was the magister.
- Red Herring: He's not really the Magister.
- The Scapegoat: In all honesty, de Quincey is not the poster boy for morality, but he is certainly not the Magister.
- Vampires Are Rich: Known to throw absolutely lavish parties where they abuse mundanes.
Maureen Brown
Played by: Sharlene Garnett (Shadowhunters)
A friend of a cousin of Simon's friend Eric, a mundane teen with a crush on Simon. She gets turned into a vampire and briefly becomes leader of New York vampire clan.
- Age Lift: She's fourteen in the books, but on the show she's around the same age as Clary and Simon, who are already older than their book counterparts.
- Ax-Crazy: Boy howdy. She goes on a big killing spree and she kidnaps Simon believing he would eventually fall in love with her.
- Fangirl: She is a big fan of Simon and his band and she goes to almost all of their gigs. She had a big crush on Simon and she even told others he was her boyfriend.
- Killed Off for Real: In City of Heavenly Fire, Maia tricks her into biting her after she drank holy water. Maureen turns to ashes in less than a minute.
- Precocious Crush: Had one on Simon before she was Turned; she claimed that Simon was her boyfriend much to his chagrin.
- Slashed Throat: She's found in a dumpster with her throat slit.
- Undead Child: A deconstructed example. Because she was turned into a vampire so young, she hasn't yet developed emotional maturity. Even though she takes control of the New York vampire clan relatively quickly, she does anything and everything she likes regardless of their consequences and is oblivious to the fact that her second-in-command is planning to usurp her.
- You Kill It, You Bought It: In City of Lost Souls, she becomes leader of the New York vampire clan after killing Camille Belcourt.
