The term “Undead” is generally used in reference to any creature that has died and has come back to life again through unnatural means. That is, being undead is not like being resuscitated. In the Vampire Chronicles, mortals become Undead in the process of becoming vampires: the vampire maker drains them of blood to the point of death, the mortals drink their maker’s blood, then their mortal body dies, and they come back to life, not as mortals, but as immortal blood drinkers. For instance, Louis’s body dies and becomes undead when Lestat turns him into a vampire.
The term “Undead” appears in Interview with the Vampire (1976), The Vampire Lestat (1985), The Queen of the Damned (1988), Prince Lestat (2014), and Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis (2016). For more perspectives on this term in the Vampire Chronicles, read the Alphabettery entries Lestat de Lioncourt and Louis de Pointe du Lac.