'Vampire Diaries' Actress Courtney Ford Joins 'True Blood' Cast

Looks like Courtney Ford is the latest actress to be bitten by the vampire bug. She recently appeared on "The Vampire Diaries" as Duke graduate student Vanessa, and now she's the latest actress to come on board for "True Blood"'s fourth season.

Just like on "The Vampire Diaries," Courtney will be playing a human character surrounded by vampires, but we're hoping her stint on "True Blood" lasts a bit longer. Deadline reports that she will be playing Portia Bellefleur, the stiff, lawyer sister of Detective Andy Bellefleur.

For those of you who have read the "Southern Vampire Mysteries" novels, you know that Portia's first appearance serves a very particular purpose in the Sookie-Bill romance.

Considering the two of them weren't on the best of terms when season three finished, we could see Alan Ball cooking up a very similar plotline for the television series.

As far as we know, Portia isn't an integral part of the witches plotline like "Harry Potter" star Fiona Shaw is, but Alan has a habit of manipulating the stories Charlaine Harris wrote for his own purposes.

Read more: MTV