The VD Vampire
I know everyone is thinking that this section was added just because there are vampires in the story. They're half right, this section was also added because of Meredith's history with vampires or rather her grandfather's experience with vampires.
The Vampire Diaries vampire has Powers that differ from your typical creature of the night. Unlike the stereotypical vampire, they are able to travel around in the sunlight with the aid of lapis lazuli. The lapis lazuli may be laid into a piece of jewellery such as a necklace or a ring like those worn by Stefan, Damon, Katherine and Elena. But the sunlight also lessens their Powers, so in an effort to retain their Powers, the stronger vampires can control the weather and can make the sky overcast or cause storms to occur.
A Vampire Diaries vampire can be killed by being in the sunlight with out their talisman, being beheaded, driving nails through their temples or putting a wooden stake through the heart.
Some herbs and plants can protect those who are at risk of falling under a vampire's Powers. One of these is vervain, which keeps your mind clear when someone is trying to use their Powers on you and protects against bewitchment.
Blood from humans makes a vampire stronger than if they were to drink from an animal, as human blood contains the ka or essence of the person that they are drinking from. The more human blood they take in the more Power they receive. Some of these larger Powers are those like weather control, clear telepathy and shapeshifting. In the trilogy the most forms a vampire could take on was three, but that was just for the strongest of the books. There could be much stronger vampires who can take more than three forms. The forms taken by the vampires were as such: Damon, wolf and crow; Stefan, falcon; Katherine, owl, tiger, cat.
Throughout the series we are in awe of all these Powers that the vampires have however, with great Power comes great responsibility and also greater limitations on your Power. Stefan tells Elena that a powerful vampire would not be able to cross running water, that the more Powers a vampire has the more they are limited and the more the darkness binds them.