Vampire : Ways of the Undead

ampires are creatures doomed to walk the earth even after their death. According to folklore, vampires usually haunt the region which they were buried. The spirit of the vampire is unable to rest in peace. It resides in its body during the day and leaves to terrorize the living during the night. The first victim of a vampire are usually family or loved ones. A vampire before his/her victims and feeds on either their blood or their emotions (fear being the prefered emotion). As long as the vampire feeds, its body will continue to flourish in its grave.
Most vampires prefers to attack sleeping or near sleeping victims. When a vampire is strangling his/her victim, it is most likely feeding on the fear from the victim. Vampires feed on victims who are alone. A crowd of people accompanying the intended victim may prevent a vampire from attacking with their shouts. While this may prevent the vampire from feeding on his intended victim, he may attack other people or just terrorize the villagers in other ways.
A vampire also retains his sexual appetite. When not feeding, a vampire may be wearing out his widow with his attentions. The widow slowly wastes away like his other victims. Young female victims are at particular risk, they may suffer rape by the vampire too. Humans killed by a vampire in this manner become vampires themselves. When a vampire doesn't want to create other vampires, he can still cause death by plague, ringing the death knell and using other powers at his disposal. It is accurate to say that only victims of a vampire's feeding will rise as an undead as well.
When not causing death, a vampire makes the life of the villagers difficult. He behaves like a poltergeist throwing things about, opening and closing doors causing banging noises. He can also cause a nauseating stench when he appears, depriving the villagers of fresh air. Livestocks are also in danger from a vampire's feeding. Animals of a vampire's attack do not become vampires. Humans eating the flesh of an animal attacked by a vampire become vampires.
The long term goal of folklore vampires are unknown. Most folklore vampires do not last long enough for us to know much about the way they think. They just continue to terrorize the village they haunt until they are finally disinterred and destroyed. If the initial attempt to destroy them is unsuccessful, the vampire will wreak even more havoc in the village in revenge. It is rumoured that if a vampire goes undestroyed for seven years, they can move on to haunt other places.

The vampire of fiction usually lies low for a few years after his transformation. During this period, he builds up his skills and knowledge while attempting to secure a residence unlikely to attract attention. After he has found such a place, certain precautions must be performed before he can actually move there. The place of a vampire's rest is ideally completely shut off from sunlight.
The spirit of the vampire cannot stand the purifying rays of the sun. During the night, a vampire's spirit surfaces to take full control of the body, allowing it to use all its tremendous powers. During the day however, the spirit withdraws into its body shielding it from the destructive rays of the sun. An older vampire may have more control over its spirit allowing him to rise even during the day but this will greatly limit his powers. When a vampire sleeps during the day, the spirit sinks deep into the body hence a vampire will not burst into flames if caught in the sunlight in this state.
Traditionally, a vampire has a coffin in which he rests during the day. While this is not always the case, it is practical in a few sense. The vampire is securely shut off from the sunlight when resting in a coffin. The coffin also presents some sort of a defense against vampire hunters. Many vampire books like Dracula mentions that a vampire must rest on the earth from his grave, the earth to which he should have gone to.
To make up for the fact that he is vunerable in daytime, a vampire will most likely have a servant to guard his coffin in the day. Dracula had a band of gypsys as his servants during the day. A servant must be some one the vampire can trust. He can be thought of as a human familiar to the vampire. Such a servant will attend to the master's needs in the day and also try to protect the master at all costs. The servant is kept under control by the master's hypnotic powers.
Older vampires powerful enough can elect to create a revenant to serve them. An example of a revenant appeared in the movie Fright Night. A revenant is a victim of a vampire who's transformation was not initiated. The victim rises as a revenant a night after his/her death if the corpse is not mutilated. Only the vampire master can maintain the appearance of the revenant. If the master dies, the revenant will inevitably decay and fall apart. Unlike a vampire, a revenant can withstand daylight without affecting its powers at all. A revenant has great strength and it is immune to the powers of holy objects. It is also immune to normal physical attacks but it can be killed with a stake through the heart. Silver bullet may work but it is better for killing werewolves.
When a vampire attacks, he usually hypnotises his victim to prevent her from making too much noise that will draw attention to them. The vampire usually bites the neck but they can also bite other parts of the body like the inner thigh and near the heart below the nipple. If the vampire wants to create a new vampire, he will trigger the transformation. Otherwise, he will have to mutilate the body to prevent it from rising as a revenant and dispose the remains. A vampire can only create a few slaves at a time as creating too many slaves will weaken the master vampire. In the case of Mina in Dracula, she was not drained to the point of death hence the transformation occurs slowly. During this period, Mina and Dracula had a telepathic link that enables her to see what Dracula sees.
A vampire must take care that he and his slaves do not overfeed. If too many mysterious disappearances occur, the local populace may begin to suspect that there may be vampires in the vicinity. Given a vampire's immortality, he has the time to acquire considerable knowledge of the world. He may also accumulate wealth throughout his existence in the form of antiques and other rare coins. Vampires have great intelligence, their cunning is a measure of the knowledge they gained throughout their existence.
Not all vampires are evil though they do have the tendencies towards evil. The transformation and the powers acquired pulls them towards evil. Vampires that are created by their own actions tend to be most evil because they were already evil in life. Vampires of circumstances or vampire attacks tend to be more reluctant towards doing evil. Some of exceptionally strong will may resist doing evil and retain their original personalities. For most however, the temptation to do evil with their power is overwhelming. Although vampires are capable of feeling human emotions, it is best not to trust them for it may be a part of their scheme to do evil. Due to their appetites, it is difficult for two master vampires to exist in the same area as their appetites may deplete the local population.
For evil vampires, their long term goals are most likely to be dark and twisted. They like to interact with the humans they prey on. They greatly enjoy emulating human behavior in mockery of the human ego. by feeding They continue their existence by feeding on the blood of the living and making other vampires to spread their curse. Relunctant vampires may be searching for a way to end their unlives to become mortal again.
All vampires however, will not seek true death as a way to end their curse. Even for good vampires, the desire to become human is so great, that they are relunctant to end their existence without being human again. When a good vampire and an evil vampire meet, it is possible that conflict may occur and violence as a result of it. It seems like the most ancient of vampires have prescribed rules on maintaining their secrecy. Witnesses of vampire or victims of vampire attacks are likely to be hypnotized into forgeting or silenced.
Vampires can exist forever if they are not destroyed. Even so, vampires are capable of human thoughts and emotions however twisted they are. Like humans, vampires can get bored with the world around them. It not the way for vampires to commit suicide as humans do. In order to prevent themselves from going insane, vampires can "go into the ground" for a few centuries. The process is like a bear's hibernation, with the vampire feeding on more blood than he normally requires before going into the ground. The process usually takes a few nights of feeding and mental preparation. When the vampire is ready, he will secure himself in safe place usually buried in the ground by his servant or victim.
Typically, a vampire can hibernate for tens to hundred over years. A short hibernation usually only helps to sooth the growing insanity within the vampire. Longer hibernations can actually help to vampire to grow stronger in addition to soothing their minds. Long hibernations may be dangerous for the vampire as they may not recover enough to return to full consiousness. When a vampire awakens from its hibernation, its appearance may be horribly withered due to the lack of blood. Upon a few nights of feeding on fresh blood, the vampire will resume normal appearance. Not all vampires can go into the ground, only stronger vampires with the necessary will-power can do so. It is not known for a vampire to repeatedly go into the ground, once or twice is usually enough for an individual vampire.

Modern vampires are very emotionally intense people due to their natures. They are temperamental, unpredictable and are subject to mood swings. A vampire's display of emotions tend to exceed the degree exhibited by normal humans. The degree of their emotions tend to overwhelm the people they interact with. Conversations with a vampire tend to project them as lonely indivduals in need of company. They are attention-seekers with the tendancy to dominate a conversation.
Most vampires display a certain talent for psychic experiences. While some humans have had dreams that came true in the future, vampires tend to have more of such "visions". Vampires have remarkable empathy with normal humans. They can pick up the general emotions of the people around them. Even if vampires are aware of their psychic powers, they may not be fully aware of their vampiric natures. Vampires are typically loners as prolonged relationships with them can place a severe emotional strain on their human partner. They also feel different from most people and that nobody understands them.
When a vampire is not getting enough energy, he may go into a "feeding frenzy" much like when a shark smells blood. During this period, vampires try to take in as much energy as they could. Evolve vampires tend to become more aggressive to gain more attention and pranic energy from the people around them. Younger vampires may be forced to drink blood if they cannot control their hunger. If the vampire is unaware of his nature, he may become an involuntary psychic vortex which sucks all the pranic energy in the area towards him. Such hunger usually passes when the vampire has overfed and is full of energy. Once a vampire has too much energy, its hunger is satisfied and the craving for energy diminishes. Some vampires become withdrawn when this happens and some become overly cheerful depending on their personality.
Relationships with a vampire are difficult to maintain. Their intense emotional needs and sexual appettites may make their partners feel that they are too demanding. While the partner is with the vampire, they may constantly feel uneasy due to the feeding of energy by the vampire. When a human's energy levels are drained off acceptable levels, the human also becomes a psychic vortex. The energy drained from other humans will regenerate the victim's own energy levels. This does not mean that the victim becomes a psychic vampire for the psychic vortex will disappear when the victim's energy levels are stabilised. Such factors are not favorable for a lifelong partner; vampires tend to have short relationships, changing partners regularly. Besides the above-mentioned eccentricities, vampires are usually no different from normal humans in behavior.

A scene from Fright Night 2

Vampire : The Realm of Mist is