”Our western image of the vampire - suave, cultured, handsome, pale, thin, nocturnal – is surprisingly different from the original vampir, who was often corpulent, ruddy-faced, decaying, slow-moving and diurnal as well as nocturnal.” The common idea of a vampire’s appearance is influenced directly by Dracula . Here follows the description Stoker used for his villainous vampire.

”His face was a strong – a very strong aquiline, with high bridge of the thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils; with lofty domed forehead, and hair growing scantily round the temples but profusely everywhere else. His eyebrows were very massive, almost meeting over the nose, and with bushy hair that seemed to curl in its own profusion. The mouth, so far as I could see it under the heavy moustache, was fixed and rather cruel-looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth; these protruded over the lips, whose remarkable ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a man of his years. For the rest, is ears were pale, and at the tops extremely pointed; the chin was broad and strong, and the cheeks firm though thin. The general effect was one of extraordinary pallor.”

Stoker also illustrates a picture of the sleeping, vampiress Lucy later in the novel. ”There lay Lucy, seemingly just as we had seen her the night before her funeral. She was, if possible, more radiantly beautiful than ever; and I could not believe that she was dead. The lips were red, nay redder than before; and on the cheeks was a delicate bloom.” Modern vampire novels have clearly been influenced by Stokers idea of vampire. In Interview with a Vampire, Rice describes, from the point of view of The Boy, the appearance of her vampire, Louis. ”The vampire was utterly white and smooth, as if he were sculpted from bleached bone, and his face was as seemingly inanimate as a stature, except for two brilliant green eyes…he stared at the vampires full black hair, the curls that barely touched the edge of the white collar.” The same elegance and supernatural beauty is present here, a trademark of Dracula.

Brian Lumley has been highly influenced by the novel, Dracula, so much that in the second book of the Necroscope series he describes a nearly identical vampire to the Count Dracula.

”He seemed to exclude age like some ancient monolith, and yet moved with the incredible speed of a striking serpent and the lithe suppleness of a young girl…As for the Ferenczy’s eyes: they were deep-seated in triangular sockets, heavy-lidded, and their true color was likewise impossible to fathom. From a certain angle they were black, shiny as wet pebbles, while from another they were yellow, with gold in their pupils…Faethor Ferenczy’s nose, along with his pointed, fleshy ears, formed the least acceptable part of his face…Directly underneath it - too close, in face – the man’s ridgy mouth was wide and red against his otherwise pale, coarse flesh….Also glimpsed: incisors oddly curved and sharp as tiny scythes, but Thibor couldn’t be sure. If it was so, then the man would seem even more wolf-like.”

Some of the physical characteristics are obviously taken from the Romanian roots of the vampire, the dark hair and eyes. The animal characteristics, such as the ’lofty forehead’, ’arched nostrils’ and ’pointed ears’ all possibly come from the fact that vampires were thought to be able to take the form of animals at will, specifically the wolf and the bat. This is also the case with the Count Dracula. When the boat carrying him and his supplies runs aground in Whitby harbor after a strong storm ” A good deal of interest was abroad concerning the dog which landed when the ship struck…” The great animal is undoubtedly the Count himself grossly transformed, as there are no other souls aboard the ship.

Bram Stoker’s vampire also has the ability to be able to control animals. As the book progresses, the characters of Dr Seward and Renfield are introduced. Dr Seward is the proprietor of a mental hospital, of which Renfield is a patient. In a series of diary entries (Dracula p78-81), Dr Seward explains the peculiar behavior of Renfield, a man that is later disclosed as a servant to Dracula. ”His redeeming quality is a love of animals” states Dr Seward. Renfield control many animals as ’pets’ and secretly feeds the smaller animals he obtains to the bigger ones and then eats the latter himself. ”…what he desires is to absorb as many lives as he can, and has lay himself out to achieve it in a cumulative way…”

This vampire aspect has also been inducted into other novels. Lumley’s breed of vampires can not only hypnotize animals but also humans. In the second book of the series, Vamphiri!, a boy named Yulian Bodescu is born into the world as a vampire. He has his faithful dog, Vlad, always by his side. ”…George paused hearing a low growl of warning which came from an open cloakroom in an alcove to one side of the entrance hall. In there, in the deepest shadows behind a dark oak coatstand, something black as sin moved and yellow eyes glared.”

Yulian also had power over those around him. In the book it is rumored that he ”…seduced a male teacher” at his boarding school, but as the book continues, Yulian hypnotizes his entire family, making them all vampire slaves to do his bidding. At one point Yulian is confronted by his ancestral vampire, Thibor, in a dream. The following passage shows some of the different aspects bequeathed to Lumley’s vampires, named the Wamphyri.

”Can you put on the shapes of lesser creatures?
’I can go on all fours like a great dog,’ Yulian answered
…’I can make others like myself!’
…’When harmful men are nearby, I can sense their minds…’
…But can you bend those minds to your will?
’With my eyes, yes.’”