White Court Vampire (Dresden Files)

The White Court is one of the Vampire Courts in the Dresdenverse. White Court vampires are the most human-like of the Vampire Courts. They feed off the emotions and life force of their prey. The Raith family, who almost uniformally feed on lust and/or passion, are commonly referred to as Succubae.

The White Court

White Court vampires are born to their vampiric state, rather than being created (as is the case with Black and Red Court). They are for all intents and purposes human until their vampirism manifests sometime around the age of their maturity. As with the Red Court, their first feeding (with its subsequent and almost inevitable kill) usually marks their full transformation. However, under specific circumstances, individuals descended from White Court vampires may curtail their transformation into vampires.

There are different Houses within the White Court, each comprising a close-knit family. There is much in-fighting between the Houses, but House Raith is considered to be the most powerful, with Lord Raith acting as King of the White Court. The Houses are mainly distinguished by their choice of emotion to feed upon, but this has been represented as a strong preference rather than a restriction.

Those of House Raith are sexual predators, using their supernatural good looks and psychic aura to attract both men and women. During intercourse, or any direct physical contact where emotions like lust are heightened, they feed off their prey. Victims of the feedings of House Raith grow to enjoy the experience and become bonded to their predator like a drug addiction.

House Malvora's members feed off fear. Most prefer very strong fear such as that of being in a potentially deadly situation, but some (such as Thomas's cousin Madrigal) satisfy themselves with smaller scares like those created by horror and slasher movies, of which Madrigal was a writer and director.

The vampires of House Skavis feed off despair, preferring to drive a victim into the depths of depression and in many cases driving them to suicide.

The White Court is not endowed with as much physical strength as the Red or Black courts under normal circumstances; usually, their physical performance levels (standing jump heights, endurance and so on) are slightly better than those an ordinary human of equivalent size and health, but they can channel unused emotional energy as fuel for performance boosts of limited duration. On the other hand, they make up for it by having far fewer vulnerabilities. Sunlight and symbols of faith do not harm them at all (Thomas feels "uneasy" at the thought of entering a church, but this is possibly due more to his own guilt than any objective vulnerability, as he was in fact able to enter the church). Their power derives from an internal demonic essence they call the "Hunger" which acts like a battery. If they refrain from feeding for too long, the "Hunger" drives them into a frenzy where they must feed (almost always killing their victims), and can drive them permanently insane. When needed, they tap this store of energy to augment their strength, speed, resilience, and healing ability far beyond normal; while doing this, they radiate waves of cold (possibly an illusory reaction of normal humans to their energy sink), their skin whitens, and their eyes turn an unnatural silver. White Court vampire blood is pinkish instead of red.

Their largest weakness is true love: people who are, or have recently been, in real, affectionate and sacrificial love are highly resistant to White Court control, and can even physically burn and blister vampire skin. Also, White Court vampires are born, not turned like Red and Black Court vampires; if the offspring of a White Court falls in love with someone that feels the same way before feeding for the first time, the love can destroy the demonic side before it can manifest allowing the person to live a normal, mortal life.

Unlike the other courts, the White Court prefers to avoid direct confrontation. They are a court of schemers and prefer to stab each other in the back in exquisitely detailed plots to impress the others in the Court, to the extent that direct confrontation is looked down upon and socially damaging. At the moment Thomas's father is, in name only, the King of the White Court. In reality, Thomas's older sister Lara is in charge, pulling the strings from the background to keep up appearances.