Vampires are generally thought of as romantic creatures, or have been since the publishing of Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. This may or may not be the case. I believe that they have a choice, as do ol' Edward and the gang.
Being a werewolf fan, I may not be the person to ask, but I think most vampires are the kind in your nightmares. The kind that kill without mercy and hate human kind altogether. Heaven forbid anything be imperfect to them, because if it is, they will obliterate it at any cost. Hence we have...*drumroll please* THE ELDERS! These are the 13 oldest vampires in the world, and they act a bit like the Volturi. (meaning that they work to 'keep order', yeah right, and they are the 'law' when it comes to vamps) These guys are, (obviously) old, but they're strong, definitely not the type you'd want to meet in a dark alley.
But then again, there are the good vampires, like Eddy-boy. They either drink animal blood or don't kill their victims. But they're just as dangerous, so don't automatically assume you're safe around them. They have the same uncontrollable thirst as the rest of them.
As to vampire weaknesses, most of the stake-and-garlic crap isn't true. The only real weakness they have is their thirst. And werewolves. They can kick some serious vampire butt! Garlic, sesame seeds, crossing water, crosses, none of that works. Rip 'em up and burn the pieces, fellas, cause otherwise they aren't going anywhere.
Vampires are extremely pale, and honestly, I don't think eye color changes from their human color unless they drink human blood, and in that case, it's red. They are extremely graceful, and in Bella's words: They are incredibly fast. And strong. Their skin is pale white and ice cold. They never eat or drink anything. Blabaddy blah blah blah.
No one knows for sure the real cause of the feud between the werewolves and the vampires. Some say it's a misunderstanding, some say it's just because they're too different, others say it's a different reason. Whatever it is, don't get in the middle of these two during a fight- you'll wind up dead.
