Ripper

A Ripper is an infamous nickname given to sadistic vampires who enjoy abusing, dispatching, and mutilating their victims. They usually have turned off their humanity, therefore simply not caring about their actions. Not to be considered a sub-species of vampires but rather a category of humanity-less/emotion-less vampires though they don't necessarily have to have their emotions off.

Augustine Vampires are Rippers who prey on other vampires as they have been given insatiable hunger for vampire blood through injection with the Ripper Virus.

Nature
Rippers are extremely feral, predatory vampires, and far more savage and beast-like than their human appearance suggests. They growl, hiss, snarl, and curl their lips back, baring their fangs as signs of aggression when provoked. Unlike the average vampire, the enjoyment of hunting and terrorizing humans are far more entertaining to rippers, as they destroy the lives and sever the limbs of humans without hesitation or remorse.

Despite their nature and reputation, some rippers are also capable of human emotions, such as compassion, love, protection, respect, and self-control. Not all rippers are evil killers with no conscience, there are some who are just tragically consumed by their bloodlust to the point that their morality is irrelevant, such as the case with Stefan Salvatore, who when in his true state of mind is a very heroic and moral person. They are the type of vampire that is so consumed by their bloodlust that they are completely unaware of what they're doing and often black out. Stefan and those who know him often refer to his bloodlust as a kind of addiction, such as alcoholism. When he drinks human blood in large amounts, he has a difficult time feeding in moderation afterward, and deals with this much of the time by abstaining from human blood completely and drinking animal blood.

It is unknown what causes some vampires to be rippers and others not. Interestingly, two of the six Heretics Lily sired turned out to be rippers (Oscar and Malcolm).

Dr. Wes Maxfield of the Augustine Society has developed a compound that would turn vampires into Rippers. The compound would make the said vampire salivate at the smell of vampire blood. Once they started feeding, they wouldn't stop feeding. He recently injected Damon Salvatore with the compound causing him to become a Ripper and feed on other vampires, Dr. Wes Maxfield had originally intended to do this to Elena. Elena still became a ripper when Katherine injected Elena's body with a werewolf venom enhanced ripper virus developed by Wes as a last act of revenge against her doppelgänger before her death.

Known Rippers

 * Stefan Salvatore
 * Lily Salvatore
 * Oscar
 * Malcolm
 * Julian
 * Kol Mikaelson

Artificial Rippers (Made by Augustine Society)

 * Damon Salvatore (Cured)
 * Elena Gilbert (Cured)
 * Jesse (Deceased)