As far as vampire novels, definitely read Dracula, and definitely read Sunshine if you haven't already (of course McKinley added her own stuff to the usual folklore, but it's just an awesome book anyway). If you're interested in being true to traditional lore don't read Anne Rice and stay far the heck away from that Twilight crap (not that I didn't read the whole book in one sitting. I did. And as soon as I was done with it and no longer in the world of the book I sat back and said 'well that's note a healthy thing for thirteen year olds to base their romantic fantasies on!'). And (people are going to scowl at me for this) but don't look to Buffy or Angel either. Whedon just made up his own vampire stuff, mostly, and it has only a surface relation to folklore, which has kind of been a barrier to me liking it (also I've never had the first season of Buffy, so I never had the chance to get into it at all. But I have watched Angel and I can tell you that the lore is iffy).

For actual reference books I need to give my brother a call--when I want to know something mostly I just call Brad o.0 Vampires are one of his particular areas of interest, so he knows a lot more than I do. He can go on about it at length, and has all kinds of fascinating, obscure knowledge, so he'll know more about the origins of legends and such, and can give you the names of the best reference books--I shall report back! And if you have the History channel and they're doing a lot of reruns, keep your eyes open for their special on vampires--they were airing it non-stop, it felt like, a few months ago, and they seem to cycle these things. It's interesting, if overly theatrical *cough*