The Power of the Female Vampire - Thaddeus Romans fictional vampire authority

“When a female vampire takes a mortal lover, she assumes complete command of the relationship. The so-called Alpha Male among mortals is a mere plaything compared to the power of the female vampire.”

                                                                            In The Vampires among Us by Thaddeus Romans

In the movie "Underworld" the character of Selene, played by Kate Beckinsale, answers to no one but the master vampire Viktor. However, in the end she made her point with him. A little joke, so to speak. But it is no joke for mortal men who find themselves in a relationship with a female vampire. Physically she is his master, but so too is she an emotionally. The female vampire has been alive for hundreds of years and gained experience and relationships with men, and the knowledge of power and how to use it.in the vampire novel, Unholy Embrace, Nessa, the vampire, is completely in control of her mortal lover Frank. He puts up a spirited battle to have a more equal relationship, but she is always two steps ahead of him. Only her love for him, which creates a vulnerability, gives him any leverage in the relationship. This is more than can be said of almost all relationships between female vampires and mortal men.

http://neilbenson-horrorandfantasyauthor.blogspot.com/p/unholy-embrace-by-neil-benson-first.html

Unholy Embrace vampire novel by Neil Benson - sex with a vampire?

“May I look through your library?” she asked, examining my bookcases.


“Sure.” I was uneasy with her tendency to ask permission after the fact.


She looked at the titles for several minutes then pulled out Dr. Bova’s book on immortality and extending life. “Immortal life holds a fascination for you,” she said. “You’ll find living a long time doesn’t bring the answers to the questions you seek.”


“Am I to assume you know that from personal experience?”


She put her finger under my chin and kissed me on the lips. “I’ve seen the passing of more seasons then you could ever imagine. Perhaps, if I like you, I’ll tell you about them.”


“That would be interesting.” I'm being seduced by a vampire. Am I out of my freaking mind?


“Hush,” Nessa said, as if she could hear my thoughts. She brushed my cheek with her fingertips, pressed her lips to mine, and parted them with her tongue.


“Come.” She led me to my bedroom

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/56944

http://www.amazon.com/Unholy-Embrace-ebook/dp/B003O2SE0O/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2

Are Vampires Necessarily Evil? - Neil Benson

Let's assume that vampires, the undead kind, are real. When I first started writing Unholy Embrace, I was told by my editor vampires are by definition "evil." My response was to posit a question. If a sixteen-year-old who had never committed a mortal sin, and very few venal ones, was turned by a vampire, why would this person become evil? The response I received stated that if a vampire took the life, or the blood, from another person that made the vampire evil.

However, in recent years, we have seen movies such as Underworld, where the vampires ostensibly did not consume human blood. The vampires in the movie Underworld were a pretty rotten bunch and it would be hard to make a case they weren't evil. For some time, vampires have been able to obtain human blood from blood banks. Ergo, no need bite someone in the neck, lethal or otherwise.

So, if a young woman or man, living a virtually "pure" life, was turned into a vampire at the present time, there would be no need for this person to take blood from a mortal. Clearly, if a vampire kills, then the vampire is evil. However, this would be true of a mortal who commit murders. Without committing any acts that harm a mortal person, it seems to me that the vampire cannot necessarily be considered evil by solely by being one of the undead.

I'm sure that many people would tell me that I have oversimplified the issue or question. If I have, then I would like to hear the "complete" explanation of why a vampire would necessarily be considered evil.

http://neilbenson-horrorandfantasyauthor.blogspot.com/p/unholy-embrace-by-neil-benson-first.html

Interview with Thaddeus Romans Fictional Expert on Vampires

Neil Benson: I'm privileged to have the opportunity to interview Thaddeus Romans, one of the most widely recognized experts on vampires. Mr. Romans served as an advisor for my vampire novel, Unholy Embrace.

Thaddeus Romans: I'm pleased to be here. It was a pleasure working with you on your novel.

Neil Benson: Mr. Romans, many people are curious as to how you obtained your expertise. Where did you go to university?

Thaddeus Romans: University? Who said I went to a university? Don't be preposterous. I learned about vampires by studying them throughout Europe and America. In the course of my travels I became acquainted with many vampires and humans they associated with. This was how I became an expert.

Neil Benson: Were there any books that were influential in helping you formulate your theories?

Thaddeus Romans: Books? I don't read books, I write them. With all the interest in vampires, I have made some good money writing about these creatures.

Neil Benson: Surely you must have read some books about vampires.Thaddeus Romans: Well a few. I read Dracula, by Bram Stoker, and Carmela by Sheridan le Fanu. The rest of the novels are a bunch of silliness.

Neil Benson: What nonfiction books have you read? None. None were worth reading. That is why I did my research. I was the only one to go out in the field.

Neil Benson: Dr. Kathryn Ramsland has gone out into the field and conducted extensive research.

Thaddeus Romans: But she never claimed to have met a real vampire. All of her time was spent talking with a vampire wannabes. A bunch of mishugina people.

Neil Benson: How do you respond to people who say vampires don't exist.

Thaddeus Romans: I invite them to spend a few evenings with me and meet some real vampires. That will end any doubt on their parts.Neil Benson:

Well, Mr. Romans, it's been a pleasure talking with you.

Thaddeus Romans: I'm sure it has.

http://neilbenson-horrorandfantasyauthor.blogspot.com/p/unholy-embrace-by-neil-benson-first.html

An Unholy Embrace vampire novel by Neil Benson - an Excerpt

Nessa stared at me. “Frank, are you okay?”

I nodded. My heart still beat rapidly, and I could barely swallow. I looked up at the night the sky, noting the three-quarter moon. “No full moon?”

“They can inject themselves with a serum that enables them to take on a werewolf shape whenever they choose,” she said.

The werewolves terrified me, but the creature Nessa became frightened me almost as much. I stepped back and watched her fangs disappear as her eyes returned to normal.

She stared at me, and then reached out. I moved away from her.“What's the matter?”“Seeing you like that. What you did. I'm shaken.”“I never wanted you to see me as a vampire. I am sorry the attack by the werewolves put you in danger. Please come to my apartment so we can talk about what happened.” Nessa rubbed my back. “A strong drink will calm you.”I took another step backward, not sure if I was safe with her.“I would never hurt you.” She sighed. “Please trust me.”

“Okay,” I whispered, still numb from what I had just witnessed, wondering what she would tell me.

Unholy Embrace vampire novel by Neil Benson - The vampire as beauty and the beast.

In my vampire novel, Nessa, the vampire, is a beautiful, elegant woman. But as her mortal lover, Frank, finds out early in the novel, she is capable of acts of physical violence he finds difficult to comprehend. Furthermore, when he sees her fangs dripping with blood, the lovely woman he loves is transformed into the hideous, undead creature of myth.

There was nothing startling or revelatory about this kind of change. The duality of good and evil is clearly stated in the Old Testament in the passage that follows.

"I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting men may know there is none besides me. I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things. "(Isaiah 45:5-8)

The novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is about a London lawyer named Gabriel John Utterson who investigates strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr Henry Jekyll, and the vile Mr Edward Hyde. The work is famous for its vivid portrayal of a split personality, split in the sense that within the same person there is both an apparently good and an evil personality each being quite distinct from the other. The novella's impact is such that it has become a part of the language, with the phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" coming to mean a person who is vastly different in moral character from one situation to the next.

In my novel, Nessa strives deny her vampirism as much as possible. She wants to be the "good human," not the "evil" vampire. However, there are times when circumstances force her to become the lethal vampire in her own self-defense, or to save Frank. Even acting in self defense, her ferocity and physical power enable her to act in a way most people would find abhorrent. There are instances in the novel when her actions go far beyond self-defense, and the crueler, aspect of her nature is revealed.

We all struggle with our own impulses of good and evil. In order to retain our essential humanity it is necessary we keep our evil impulses at bay. Recent history has shown that under certain circumstances "good people" can act in ways that contravene the ethical and moral standards under which we live.

Nessa, despite her desire to be human, is the vampire, the beast. So beauty and the beast reside side-by-side.

http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1639917-Unholy-Embrace----First-Three-Chapters

Unholy Embrace vampire novel by Neil Benson -three preview reviews

In the picture below, are three preview reviews. Click on the picture and it will show you the reviews in detail.  A link to the first three chapters is presented below.


http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1639917-Unholy-Embrace----First-Three-Chapters
 
 

Unholy Embrace vampire novel by Neil Benson - front and back covers finalized

I received a galley of the novel and the front and back covers are finalized. A picture of them is displayed below.  It is quite an experience to hold the novel with your name on it. I hope those who choose to buy it will enjoy my tale.  Adventure, romance, battles with werewolves and vampires, a few steamy scenes, and an eventual confrontation with a horrible demon. By the middle of April I will be selling copies here and there will also be a link to Amazon.

Unholy Embrace vampire novel by Neil Benson - excerpt Frank meets Nessa

     I made my way to the bar at the back of the room and ordered a Heineken. From there, I observed the people at the tables nearby when I first saw her. She caught the attention of one male admirer after another, each rebuffed until she sat alone. Her tight black sweater accentuated her full breasts. I studied her copper hair, framing her fine-boned, pale face. She was stunning, unattainable by any of the men who sought her.


    A heavily muscled blond man sat down beside her without invitation. She shook her head before he had a chance to say anything. When he put his left hand on her shoulder, she grasped his forearm with her right hand and twisted. The force of her motion lifted him out of his chair and spun him on to the floor.

     He landed on his back and slid a few feet. He shook his head, as if to clear his mind, and then rose. He rolled up his shirtsleeve and examined his forearm. Even from where I sat, I could see the marks of her fingers. The man backed away, and then walked quickly to the other side of the room. A few people looked over, but turned away. I couldn't imagine how a petite woman could generate such force.

     As I gazed at her, she gave me a bemused smile. I hesitated, even when her smile widened. She beckoned me with her finger, and I walked to her table and sat down opposite her.

     “Hello, I'm Frank Thornton.”

     “Nessa Harcanu,” she said in a husky voice with a trace of an accent.

    “I assume it's safe for me to sit here.”

    “I invited you, but he made an unwanted boorish advance.” Her glinting eyes accentuated her message.

The Vampire Banking System by Nessa Harcanu - fictitious literary character.

The only banking or investment system that was not in any fiscal danger while the world teetered on the precipice of economic catastrophe was the Vampire Banking System (VBS.) Technically, the consortium of investment houses that make up the VBS are not banks. However, we provide all the services that investment houses offer. VBS institutions make individual and corporate loans, but never make or buy home loans. Each member of the VBS is a private legal Corporation in the country in which it functions. Most people have never heard of the VBS because it is private, and caters mainly to vampires. However, some mortals are allowed to use the services of a member of the VBS.


While great investment firms such as Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and others went out of existence, the VBS flourished. No individual or company with assets in the VBS institution was ever in danger of losing one dollar. In fact, from the spring of 2007 until the end of February 2009 the total assets of members of the VBS doubled. How was this possible? Senior members of the VBS institutions have hundreds of years of experience in dealing in precious metal, trading commodities, and knowing the difference between an opportunity and a foolish risk. Vampires running these institutions have an extremely long-term perspective on economic cycles encompassing booms and busts. Most of their clients have very long-term outlooks on their investments.


Starting in the spring of 2007, my firm, Harcanu Associates, began to invest modest amounts of money in trading instruments predicated on the housing disaster that soon followed. As a participant in the VBS Commodities Exchange, we used senior traders whose experience in commodity trading goes back to the Middle Ages. Members of the VBS were long oil while the price of oil was going up, and short oil while the price of oil was going down. Harcanu Associates will continue to look for opportunities, but given the overall yield our current investments, it is unlikely we make any significant new investments. However, as vampires we are the most prepared for the unexpected and will continue to assure the safety of our investments.

Unholy Embrace vampire novel by Neil Benson - an excerpt Paris 1899

New Year's Eve 1899: Nessa walking alone through the streets of Paris.



At 11:30 in the evening, I walked out of my house and joined the thousands of people celebrating the coming of the new century. As I walked among the crowd, I felt disconnected from the people and the celebrations. Alive, or rather undead, for three hundred years, I wandered among people mostly under age forty. What did I have to celebrate? Living forever had been more of a curse than a blessing.


I was walking joylessly through the streets, when a tall, dark-haired man came up beside me. He turned and wrapped his arms around me. He kissed me with great vigor on both cheeks. His eyes glistened, and I could smell the alcohol on his breath.


“It is a great time in which to live,” he said.


“I suppose so.”


“You suppose so? Mademoiselle, you are young and beautiful. The twentieth century will be filled with wonders we cannot imagine.” He put his arms on my shoulders and looked into my eyes. “Be alive, be alive. There is so much joy in life.” He kissed me on the lips then walked away into the crowd, sharing his joy with other women.


If he only knew.


http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1639917-Unholy-Embrace----First-Three-Chapters

Unholy Embrace vampire novel by Neil Benson - revenge among vampires

“Revenge among vampires frequently stretches across the centuries. Retribution is invariably exacted with the highest degree of cruelty.”

                                In The Vampires Among Us by Thaddeus Romans fictitious vampire expert.

At the end of the 17th century, another vampire attacks Nessa, the female protagonist of my vampire novel, Unholy Embrace. Nessa easily defeats the female vampire who tries to kill her. However, Nessa, contemptuous of her attacker, fails to destroy her enemy. This mistake will haunt Nessa for over three hundred years. The other vampire knows she cannot kill Nessa, so she attacks people close to her hated enemy. When Nessa comes to America, she is sure her old nemesis could not possibly have followed her across the ocean. She underestimates the tenacity of her stalker who attempts to kill Frank, her lover. Nessa knows she must kill the creature and does so in a manner befitting the end of a three hundred-year-old battle.

Unholy Embrace a vampire novel by Neil Benson - dealing with werewolves an excerpt

        Nessa ran at a werewolf that charged her. They collided and fell to the ground. The creature staggered from the impact, and she grabbed it by the throat with both hands. It thrust its jaw out, trying to bite her face with its large canines. She pushed its head back until the creature couldn't reach her with its mouth. The werewolf grabbed at her arms to no avail as she tightened her grip until she broke its neck. Nessa pushed the werewolf to the ground, stood over it, and snarled. The moonlight revealed blood dripping from her fangs.



        I scanned the area to check for more werewolves. Seeing none, I took a deep breath and realized my shirt was wet. When I put my hand to my chest, I felt the warm, clotting fluid mingled with tufts of hair. I was glad my stomach was empty when I gagged. I started to speak to Nessa when I saw her turn and walk toward the other side of the building. I went around the car, following a step behind but parallel to her.


        A cloud covering the moon prevented me from seeing what caught her attention. When the cloud passed, the moonlight revealed a huge, heavily muscled werewolf, seven feet tall. The creature growled, revealing three inch-long, curved canines that came to sharp points. The enraged werewolf was the alpha male

Unholy Embrace a vampire novel by Neil Benson - an excerpt from the novel

When I turned around, Viscount D'Alessio stood ten feet in front of me. The hairs on the back of my neck rose. My body froze and my heart beat against my chest.



“Fancy meeting you here,” he said with a malicious smile.


“What do you want?” My voice cracked. I felt perspiration forming on my forehead.


“An opportunity to chat with you, become better acquainted.” His smile widened, making his teeth more obvious, as he stepped toward me. I looked around and saw no one. I turned and ran, but I hadn't gone ten strides when I found him in front of me.


“Running won't save you, and your precious little tart isn't here to rescue you.” He grabbed my throat before I could take a step, holding me off the ground. “It's time to have the dinner I promised myself the last time we met.”


He pulled me into the bushes when I heard a voice shout, “Stop. Police. Neither of you move.” A large man walked towards us. In his left hand he held his police shield. With his right he pointed a large revolver at us.


“What a bother.” The Viscount tossed me into the bushes. “I'll take care of you next. Make a move and your death will be slow and excruciating.” He raised his hands as he walked towards the officer.

Unholy Embrace a vampire novel by Neil Benson - advance praise

The back cover of my novel is completed.There are three positive reviews from other authors offering different perspectives on the novel. A link to the first three chapters is provided below.

http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1639917-Unholy-Embrace----First-Three-Chapters

Unholy Embrace a vampire novel by Neil Benson. - An excerpt from the novel.

Nessa, the vampire, starts off the interchange.

I was lonely, and I sought an interesting and attractive man and decided to let events take their own course.” She paused, lowered her eyes, and remained that way for a long time. Then her gaze sought mine. “It was never my intention to fall in love with you.”



“Love? What we've shared is lust. You haven't expressed feelings, at least verbally,” I said. “From the moment we met, events never took a natural course. You were the sexual aggressor controlling me from the start.”


“You need to take responsibility for your actions.” Her tone stabbed me like a sharp saber. “You made a choice when you responded to my smile and sat beside me. Whatever responses I evoked are part of your nature. My behavior was provocative, but I never apologize for whom I am. You’re an adult. You know the risks you take when you meet a stranger in a bar. Especially when she tells you she's a vampire.”


Her eyes, flat and hard, presented a side of her that I hadn't seen before.


I took a deep breath and met the measure of her gaze.


Nessa stood there, hands on her hips, staring defiantly at me. Now that I saw beyond her beauty, I could recognize her strength in living a life she never chose. I stood at a crossroad few men ever experienced. What I said next could decide the rest of my life. “I love you, but I have no idea how we can become more than lovers.”

We Are the Vampires by Neil Benson

Vampires are us, not other. When we look into the mirror, they are the twisted reflections of that which is evil within us. This is not to say that all, or even most, people are essentially evil. Rather, the vampire is a metaphor for some of our evil wishes. As much as the myth of the vampire is about sex, it is also about greed. The vampire hungers for the blood of the living and takes it by force, not caring whether the victim lives or dies. Of course, there is the exception. That is when the vampire for personal reasons decides to turn the victim into one of the "undead." Evil breeding evil.

Various legends and myths make Lilith, Adam's first wife, the mother of all vampires or all succubi. According to the myth, Lilith refused to subjugate herself to Adam and demanded to be his equal. She might have been the first feminist. For her defiance, she paid an awful price. The Angels killed her children, and she in turn swore vengeance on the descendent of Adam. There are 4000-year-old stone carvings of Lilith. The presence of the carving does not necessarily make her real. However, for people to have taken the trouble to make carvings of her meant she was of more than minor significance. There are legends of vampires in many other cultures separated from the civilizations that arose in Mesopotamia and its neighboring areas.

I believe one way to look at the vampire is to see the creature as humanity disowning its own evil intent. We invent the creature and give it lust and other qualities we deny exist in ourselves. After millenniums passed, the vampire arrived in literature. First in John Polypore's The Vampyre, then in Carmilla" by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, and finally in Dracula by Bram Stoker. It is worth noting that Lord Ruthven in Vampire and Carmilla both appear as "normal" human beings. However, Dracula is described as thin, with a long white mustache, pointed ears and sharp teeth. He is dressed all in black and has hair on his palms. Jonathan Harker notes his "extraordinary" pallor.

I believe Dracula was depicted to make him an evil looking creature, not one of us. A hundred years pass, and vampires are once again indistinguishable from us. In many novels, they are creatures of great beauty and allure. In recent novels, they have been tamed, and were it not for their thirst for blood and immortality, they could probably join the Chamber of Commerce. But in 2007, continuing into 2008 and 2009, a worldwide financial catastrophe brings forth a different vampire. These vampires do not take in blood, nor are they immortal and have inhuman strength. Rather, these vampires sucked the financial blood of the nation that a second Great Depression was only narrowly averted. These vampires are bankers, brokers, heads of investment firms, mortgage agents, and a host of others who fed on society's greed for bigger, better houses.

Vampires will always be among us. For they are "us" in our worst aspects. Whether in the form of the myth or the reality of people so greedy they would destroy an economy, they are us.

Undead Embrace - a vampire horror poem by Neil Benson

Undead Embrace by Neil Benson is a dark poem from a mortal to a vampire lover.

Whenever I run,
wherever I hide,
your dark presence finds me.
It fills me with fear.
It fills me with joy.
I try to resist you,
but my will always fails me.
I am drawn back to you,
across distance and time.
Memories of pleasures,
no mortal could imagine.
Feelings of pain,
no mortal could endure.
My resistance is fading,
closer I come.
Your dark Castle in front of me,
where you've lived for all time.
I go to your chamber
to submit to your will.
Your perfect face before me,
a goddess of death.
Your pale white lips
and dark blue eyes
draw me to your netherworld.
Your mind caresses my cheek
and strokes my body
until I am aflame.
Closer you come,
and I show you my neck.
Ecstasy overwhelms me,
with the sharpest of pain.

Unholy Embrace  is a swift paced, action-packed novel about the relationship between a mortal man and his immortal female vampire lover as they fight werewolves, vampires, and other creatures in their effort to kill a soul eating demon.

If this sounds interesting, and I hope it does, please follow the link and read the reviews on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Unholy-Embrace-ebook/dp/B003O2SE0O/ref=tmm_kin_title_

Unholy Embrace a vampire novel by Neil Benson - encounter with a succubus.

An excerpt from Unholy Embrace

As I glanced at the people, I spied a blonde haired, woman wearing a low-cut, strapless, violet gown, staring at Nessa. Her pale face looked as if sunlight had never touched it. I wondered what was going on.

“Why is that woman looking at you so intently?”

“Because I am a threat to her,” she said, returning the woman's gaze.

“How so?” What's going on, I wondered.

“She's a succubus who has subjugated the man with her. She’s afraid I might expose her.”

“I thought succubi and incubi were creatures of myth.” I gulped. “Besides, aren’t they supposed to be incorporeal beings that come to their victims in the night?” One moment we enjoyed our intimacy, the next we discussed demonology about a woman not twenty feet away.

“They can only manifest themselves if they ingest enough energy. Even then, they usually maintain a solid state for short periods of time. Look at the man she’s with. See how white he is. His pallor is not from lack of sunlight. She’s drained a substantial portion of his life energy.”

Unholy Embrace a vampire novel by Neil Benson - an excerpt from the novel.

“You're not an overgrown boy or a self-styled stud eager to add me to his sexual trophy case.”

“You can tell that just by looking at me?” 

“That and much more.”

“Okay, tell me what you know.” Her gaze caught mine as I issued the challenge.

“You're an architect in his mid-thirties who would rather be a painter,” she said without hesitation. She leaned back in her chair, steepling her fingers, her bright green eyes studying my every move.

“How do you know that?” Was she a mind reader or something?

“There are traces of light green ocher paint under the nails of your index and middle fingers on your right hand.”

I couldn't see anything, even when I held my nails under a light.

“I have excellent vision, especially at night.” 

“There's nothing there to see,” I said.

“You failed to wash off all the ocher and pale yellow egg tempera paint you used.” She licked her lips.

Nessa had just described the colors I had been working with earlier in the evening. “I don't know how you guessed what I was using, but there's no way anyone could see the paint in this dim light.”

“A vampire could.” She leaned forward, opening her mouth, and showing the tips of sharp pointed fangs.

“Are those real?” I asked in a voice barely a croak. My heart beat faster and the hairs on the nape of my neck stood up.

An Unholy Embrace a vampire novel by Neil Benson - an Excerpt

Nessa stared at me. “Frank, are you okay?”

            I nodded. My heart still beat rapidly, and I could barely swallow. I looked up at the night the sky, noting the three-quarter moon. “No full moon?”

“They can inject themselves with a serum that enables them to take on a werewolf shape whenever they choose,” she said.

            The werewolves terrified me, but the creature Nessa became frightened me almost as much. I stepped back and watched her fangs disappear as her eyes returned to normal.

She stared at me, and then reached out.

I moved away from her.

“What's the matter?”

“Seeing you like that. What you did. I'm shaken.”

“I never wanted you to see me as a vampire. I am sorry the attack by the werewolves put you in danger. Please come to my apartment so we can talk about what happened.” Nessa rubbed my back. “A strong drink will calm you.”

I took another step backward, not sure if I was safe with her.

“I would never hurt you.” She sighed. “Please trust me.”

“Okay,” I whispered, still numb from what I had just witnessed, wondering what she would tell me.

Vampires and Sex: Give Me a Break - by Neil Benson

Vampires have been associated with sex since Carmela was written by by Sheridan Le Fanu in 1872. The novel is about a young woman's seduction by an older woman who is a vampire. In Dracula, by Bram Stoker, the tradition continues as Count Dracula takes Lucy's blood, gives her some of his, and converts her to a vampire. This exchange of bodily fluids is a clear sexual metaphor.  Then he turns his attention to Mina whom he bites before he is forced back to Transylvania. It is important to note that no mention is made of conventional sex. Stoker wrote in the Victorian era and doubtless felt constraints on what he could say and portray.


My question is why would a vampire, hundreds of year old, turn his evil attention to these young women? It certainly can't be a case of raging hormones. Dracula is dead; he has no functioning hormonal system. One source I found said the following:

"Stoker used the vampire as a metaphor for the Victorian view of sex as innately dangerous. In Dracula, sex with the Count transformed women into seductive sirens and horrific baby killers – the opposite of the Victorian ideal of chaste and nurturing womanhood."

The above citation greatly oversimplifies Victorian society's view and actions about sex. I don't have the time to explore this complicated issue. If sex was dangerous in that era, it was so because of the deaths of so many women during the process of childbirth.

Jumping ahead to the present time, there is hardly a vampire novel in which sex doesn't steam from the cover until the last page of the novel. This just doesn't mean sex takes place, as in the case in "Some Girls Bite" by Chloe Neill, or the much more popular, Twilight Series. Even in the absence of sex in these novels, the heated looks, and drooling anticipation of sex, pulsates like a chorus of loud drums. In other novels, romance and sex between mortals and vampires is a key element of the plot. In some novels intraspecies sex is the central focus of the plot. I choose not to name these novels for a variety of reasons.

Let's get back to vampires and sex. I've already asserted that vampires have no hormones. Since they're dead, they can't have circulatory systems, ergo no blood flow to a very important organ for the males. What's that you say? The vampires cut themselves and the blood flows? Not bloody likely. Sure, it happens in the novels and in the movies, but that doesn't make it so. I'm currently reading a well-written vampire novel, which I won't name, where the vampires are not only sexually ravenous, but capable of emitting pheromones to control human sexual responses to them. Let's go back to the beginning. No hormones, no pheromones, no sex.

Despite what I said, since it's fictional, anything can happen. In fact, in my vampire novel, Unholy Embrace, there is a passionate love affair between the female vampire and her mortal lover. Probably, for as long as vampire novels will be written sex will take place regardless of the biological impossibility of it. All the more fun.