"As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me… a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could not conceal."
— Bram Stoker's Dracula
If there is any creature in fiction whose PR department deserves a significant pat on the back, it is the vampire, for he has managed to claw his way up from the role of an abhorred villain to a New York Times Bestseller List hero, the most recently visible of which is Edward from the Twilight series, a young immortal who had women of all ages swooning. And as of this writing, the vampire's status as a romantic hero shows no signs of slowing down.
The vampire started his literary life even before literature was born-back when stories were passed down orally, and the inhabitants of ancient Mesopotamia feared a taloned, winged creature that preyed on humans and, in particular, babies. Such creatures weren't limited to the fertile crescent. Legends involving bloodsucking creatures pop up in numerous cultures, often involving re-animated corpses that feed on the living, particularly children. In Greek mythology, for example, Lamia was a half-serpent, child-eating demon. In Indian lore, a vampire-like creature wandered the earth with a head wrapped in intestines and drank the blood of the living from a skull.
Pretty gross stuff, and yet so prevalent across cultures that it's fair to assume a universal fascination with the underlying concept of a creature that sucks life from the healthy. And as oral tradition shifted to written and then visual media, that fascination lingered, soon to be absorbed into pop culture. In fact, in some instances, such as Bram Stoker's Dracula, the creature and his story have obtained the status of a classic.
These scary, ancient monsters that have long stayed at the forefront of the human imagination have also moved into a position of heroism in genre fiction, particularly romance fiction. Why? Despite some detractors who adamantly insist that there is nothing sensual or alluring about a vampire hero, sales figures suggest the contrary. According to a recent New York Times article (Recession Fuels Readers Urges, Motoko Rich, April 7, 2009), "sales of novels with vampires, shape shifters, werewolves and other paranormal creatures were 'exploding.'" And among paranormal heroes, vampires continue to reign supreme.
It's not the vamps themselves who've effected this change. There is no Vampyric Trade Union. No Vampire Anti-Defamation League. Instead, it is us: the authors and the readers who have come to embrace the once-detested fiend.
So why do we love vampires? Why have we elevated these originally demonic and repulsive, blood-sucking fiends to the role of romantic hero? And is that a pedestal on which the vampires will likely remain?
To find the answers to these questions, I opened a dialogue with readers and authors of romance fiction, including authors and readers of vampire fiction. Although the answers differed slightly, almost every person in some way cited the vampire hero's nature as the ultimate alpha male. And that, of course, suggests power and mystery—power and mystery that harken back to the older gothic romances wherein the innocent, young heroine knew little of her dominant lover, but sensed a deep and compelling danger about him. Despite herself she wanted him, just as despite the rather obvious dangers, the heroine in vampire romances wants the vampire hero. At the risk of overt political incorrectness, vampires provide an element of being overwhelmed, of being overcome. It's not necessarily something women want in real life—or even in "real" fiction. But in fantasy… well, in fantasy, anything goes. And what is more fantastical than an immortal lover who is the very epitome of sin and sensuality?
The allure of vampires is about power. With regard to alpha males in genre fiction, there's no doubt that those characters hold the majority of the power. And yet in romance novels featuring alpha male vamps, the heroines, despite being weaker by the very fact that they are not preternaturally strong and immortal, hold most of the power, because they're the women who can tame these animalistic, often doomed men. A heady proposition, and one that fits well within the structure of romance fiction.
Older vampire movies such as the Hammer horror films starring Christopher Lee aptly illustrate the way in which the very nature of a vampire screams sex and dominance. At the time of their release, those movies pushed the erotic envelope, allowing for pseudo-sexual content in the form of the intimacy of the "vampire's kiss" and the thrill of a dark, sensual secret at a time when film censors were not allowing explicit sexual content in films.
The sexual, sensual lure of the vampire lives on today, with the intimacy of a vampire's power and his need for blood standing in for actual sex. As I write, I'm in a hotel looking at this month's HBO Guide; on the cover is a scene from True Blood: a vampire leans over Sookie, two punctures in her neck, as he looks at her and she looks at the camera. It's a sensual, sexual image, even though empirically it's not sexual at all.
So what's the answer? Why are vampires so incredibly popular these days? There really is no single easy answer, but based on my informal survey, I'd say the desire to get lost in a fantasy plays significantly into the equation. More than that, though, it seems clear that both authors and readers are drawn to the idea that even across species and into the fires of hell, love conquers all. Indeed, it transcends even death itself.
Praised by Publishers Weekly as an author with a "flair for dialogue and eccentric characterizations," Julie Kenner's books have hit lists as varied as USA Today, Waldenbooks, Barnes & Noble, and Locus Magazine. She writes a range of stories spanning multiple genres from humorous paranormal (her Demon Hunting Soccer Mom series) to dark urban fantasy (the upcoming Tainted, Torn, and Turned, November, December, January 2009-10) to dark paranormal romance (including the upcoming series beginning with When Blood Calls, Spring 2010). And, yes, When Blood Calls features a tortured vampire hero. Julie lives in central Texas, with her husband, two daughters, and several cats. Visit her online at http://www.juliekenner.com.