>Growing up, I watched all the old Universal horror movies and I read a lot of books about creatures of the night. You killed vampires by staking them with a wooden stake. You can keep someone from returning as a vampire by cutting his or her head off and stuffing the mouth full of garlic. You can repel a vampire with a cross (although I will accept Fright Night‘s premise that you have to believe).
Werewolves were killed with silver. Shoot it with a silver bullet. Bludgeon it with the silver head of a walking stick (as Lawrence Talbot did, but not before he got bitten). I believe I saw one film where a silver candlestick was involved.
At some point, I think it was in the ’90s, the two myths got intertwined somehow. Now silver is associated with killing vamps. At least in Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series, a silver bullet only slows down a vampire; it won’t kill one.
It’s just kind of irritating.
Rhyme Schemes and Daydreams 
>While LKH is one of the most popular (I use that term loosely) vampire series out there, I wouldn’t call her the authority and I’m not surprised that she would go with the Vampires and silver thing that isn’t all that popular. Her character lines are on the weaker side and it appears she writes the series more as fantasy meets erotica and less about the advancement about the literary species that so many love. I love vampire novels, but have only read one of hers. It was too campy for me and I couldn’t get into them. She might be better than Stephanie Meyers, but that doesn’t say much in my opinion.
>I just read another book, La Vida Vampire by Nancy Haddock, and silver is supposedly lethal to her vampires. Cute story even if she does play fast and loose with the “rules.” I’ve noticed lethal silver used in some vampire movies, though I can’t recall which ones. What are some vampire novels or writers that you recommend?