They're the ultimate loners, not just nocturnal but immortal, drifting endlessly from place to place for all of time. Their origins are frightfully romantic: the castles of medieval Europe, the sweaty bayous of Louisiana. By reputation, they are erudite and polite, well-dressed, well-spoken and fabulous in bed. Really, a vampire is the perfect love object—except for (or maybe because of) those gleaming, sharp teeth.
The lusty, sexy bloodsucker has been with us for, well, centuries. Personal favourites in the somewhat recent past include Brad and Tom in
Interview with a Vampire and Salma Hayek in
From Dusk Til Dawn. During season three of
The L Word, Alice found herself
both attracted and repelled by the talon-nailed, peak-toothed academic Uta Refson (read her name backwards, get it?). More recently, teens got turned on to the vampire scene through the
wildly popular Twilight novels. And, of course, Alan Ball has a new hit on his hands with the launch of the HBO series
True Blood. Anna Paquin plays Lousiana native Sookie Stackhouse, a naive telepathic attracted to a vamp that's been dead for over 100 years; Bill Compton, the object of her affection, isn't so much scary looking as moodily handsome.
Vampires didn't always have a magnetic draw: for centuries they were merely Satan's undead minions, striking genuine fear into the hearts of simple Christian peasants. The original Count Dracula was depicted as old and rather wrinkly, with grey hair and knobby fingers. Perhaps his knack of charming young virgins (using the special vampire hypnosis that some call "glamour") into letting him bite them was one origin of the hot vampire legend—Dracula's victims then became nubile creatures of the night themselves, preying on unsuspecting males.
These days, pop culture vampires are scary but buff too, and the prospect of becoming involved with them has a certain spooky cachet. Not only is their sexual prowess reputed to be extraordinary, the idea of showing vulnerability to a murderous creature adds a special thrill. In books like
Twilight and
Heather Graham's Blood Red, that thrill moves the plot along—there's a genuine attraction between the female mortals and male vampires, but it's hard to ignore that the vampire's essential nature is bloodthirsty.
True Blood's Sookie is a virgin, which makes her a target for all sorts of unscrupulous human males—Bill Comptom presents himself as a gentleman, but anger, lust and other strong emotions spur his fangs. Sookie is left confused and we all remember that no romance is without its scary side.
Perhaps you're unconvinced—vampires don't exist, scary novels are just for fun, and vampire fuckers are ridiculous freaks. Perhaps you're right. But it's October, so indulge me. Spend a night with the lights off, candles flickering, a vampire novel in hand, fangs flashing across the television screen. Is that just the wind rattling your window? Or is it something terrifyingly sexy?