Vampires are definitely a profitable business. From novels that depict heartbreaking love stories between the blood-sucking creatures and innocent humans, such as Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight,” to big or small screen productions which put the vampires in a more or less scary light, the followers of Dracula benefit from both public attention and success.

“Six Feet Under” mastermind Alan Ball created for HBO another supernatural drama that deals with large quantities of blood and the raised-from-the-coffins creatures. “True Blood,” premiering tonight at 9 p.m., portrays the living and the dead trying to accept one another.

Less demonic and more compassionate, less malicious and more complex, vampires have been “out of the coffin” for two years and are striving to integrate in the human-dominated society. The new television series based on the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris focuses on the “V-juice,” more precisely synthetic blood, discovered by the Japanese, which is vital to vampires who are not forced anymore to suck blood and kill for a living, deadly living, that is. This kind of blood is sold in cans and it might as well be considered the vampires’ favorite booze. Nonetheless, humans are after it too, as the potion, how I would like to call it, is known for its impressive healing powers and everybody wants to be hale and hearty, right?

As vampires now represent a minority, they fight for their rights, like others did before them and, in spite of some humans’ protests, they actually represent a bloody part of the society.

Moving on to more earthly characters, Sookie Stackhouse, played by Academy Award-winner Anna Paquin, is a waitress in a Louisiana town, although she’s no ordinary girl. Sookie has telepathic powers and can read other humans’ thoughts, but she hates herself for that, because when she meets a guy she likes she can’t help hearing him think how much he’s longing for sex.

Things changes, however, when Sookie meets Bill (Stephen Moyer), whose mind she cannot enter, as he is a vampire and has been dead for ages. Okay, let’s not make a mountain out of a molehill. He’s “only” 173. Sookie falls for the lifeless creature and the feelings are mutual, it seems. It is unclear though if their strong bond manages to break the line between the living and the departed.

One thing’s for sure: There will be “True Blood.”