Nina Dobrev says it won't take long for The Vampire Diaries to get your blood boiling.

"The thing about our show is, they're not going to drag it out," said the 20-year-old Canadian, who is the main object of blood-sucking desire in the new series. "They're hitting all the stops right from the beginning of the first episode.

"The second episode is really intense. And then the third one, we went into the read-throughs shocked by how fast things were moving along and how much action and sexuality there is."

The Vampire Diaries debuts tonight on its network of origin in the United States, CW, as well as CTV. Dobrev has a history with CTV, having been a cast member on Degrassi: The Next Generation.

"You're right, a lot of my (Degrassi) castmates and I have been doing a lot of great things," said Dobrev, who was born in Bulgaria but whose family moved to Canada when she was 2 years old. "(Degrassi) is a great training ground. Coming out of it I felt really prepared, and I love and miss everyone already."

The Vampire Diaries, which is based on a series of books by L.J. Smith, places Dobrev at the centre of the action as 17-year-old Elena Gilbert.

As the school year begins at Mystic Falls High, Elena -- who still is reeling from the death of her parents in a car accident -- and her friends are fascinated by a mysterious new student, Stefan Salvatore, played by Paul Wesley. By the title of the series, you probably can guess what Stefan's secret is: He's a vampire.

Stefan is drawn to Elena for reasons that don't completely have to do with her. But the only person who knows that fact is Stefan's reckless and estranged vampire brother Damon, played by Ian Somerhalder.

It all amounts to a love triangle with bite.

So, Nina, who do you prefer, Stefan or Damon?

"Nina or Elena?" Dobrev asked.

Let's go with Nina.

"I don't think I can make that decision," she said. "I love these boys, but they're like my brothers.

"In terms of the characters, Stefan is the man who tries to reach out to (Elena's) soul, whereas Damon has that bad-boy quality. And every girl likes a bad boy at the end of the day."

Is that really true?

"It is and it isn't," Dobrev said. "It depends on the person. So it's a toss-up. They're both great guys, though, I'll tell you that. They take care of me as if I'm their little sister."

Indeed, since The Vampire Diaries films in the unlikely setting of Atlanta (although the pilot was filmed in Vancouver), Dobrev said the cast quickly developed a closeness due to the relative isolation from their acting brethren. Through the summer, Dobrev was sharing an apartment with castmate Kayla Ewell, who plays Vicki.

"At first I was a little skeptical and scared to be moving, because I had just moved to L.A., so I had to get up and move my life again," Dobrev said. "But I got there and there's something about going to work, getting your things done, going home and not really having that much to do and sitting in your sweats and watching a movie. I love that."

Of course, Dobrev's life may become much more tranquility-challenged if The Vampire Diaries is a hit and she has to deal with the intense fans of this genre.

"We'll see if it happens," Dobrev said. "I play it day by day."

Sibling rivalry with pointy fangs

Okay, in most vampire tales, there's always a brooding vampire with a conscience and a bad-boy vampire without a conscience.

In The Vampire Diaries, they happen to be brothers.

Ian Somerhalder plays Damon Salvatore, the fun one. Paul Wesley plays Stefan Salvatore, the serious one.

Somerhalder couldn't be happier about residing on the carefree side of the equation.

"Definitely, Damon is the one who's more fun to play," said the 30-year-old Somerhalder, who previously was best known for playing Boone Carlyle on Lost.

"I've always played roles where I've had to take myself way too seriously. And this is not that."

Was Somerhalder ever considered for the Stefan role?

"Never," he said. "Always for Damon."

As for the 27-year-old Wesley, it took a while to wrap his brain around the fact he's playing a century-and-a-half-old vampire who falls madly in love with a 17-year-old girl, played by Canadian Nina Dobrev.

"All of a sudden, (Stefan) can have that teenage experience, the first love that he has been lacking for hundreds of years," Wesley said. "It's not like some pervy thing."