It's not easy being a supernatural creature in high school. It's even harder being a supernatural creature's girlfriend.

The supernatural creature, however tortured about his vampire bloodlust or lycanthropy, gets to be special. He endures a period of guilt. He struggles. But ultimately he learns to control his urges and embrace his powers. He's the hero who gets to save the day.

And then there's his girlfriend.

This is, of course, an old-fashioned model. Female characters on genre shows — at least the genre shows worth watching — no longer merely exist to stand to the side and look pretty. They're not damsels in distress or clueless foils from whom the main character has to keep his supernatural secret. More often than not, they have powers of their own.

But that's not to say female genre characters aren't still getting the short end of the stake, especially when it comes to supernatural romance. The most infamous example is Bella Swan, the not-quite-heroine of the Twilight series whose primary characteristic is blandness. Even on The Vampire Diaries, where Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) now holds her own as a vampire, the show continues to fall back on her conflicting desires for bad boy Damon and brooding good guy Stefan. (It's a bit more complicated than that, but then, aren't all love triangles?) And where to begin with True Blood's Sookie (Anna Paquin), whose fae powers are secondary to the juggling act she carries on with every male character on the series?

And, of course, both Bella and Elena had to become vampires in order to stand on equal footing with their supernatural mates. But in a world of vampires, werewolves, and the forces of darkness, isn't there something even more impressive about staying human?