"What is it Like?"

Many years ago I worked at one of the few Vampire Treatment Facilities in the western US. Here is part of a transcript of a session, (with ID info removed):

"What is it like?”
“What is it like. At first it was like being a vegetarian with an insatiable appetite for red meat. You can’t believe what you’re doing, what you must do to maintain your—existence. You try not to do it. You try to find ways to minimize the damage, to do as little harm as possible... So you swear off live blood. Or you take only from the willing. But of course you do damage. It’s your nature—you are a dealer of death and destruction. You swear off blood altogether. You starve until you’re ravenous, a sick, weak animal. And then you come upon a human—even sick and starving, you’re stronger than they are—and you can’t control how you feed. You are nothing but the Thirst. Any humanity, any consciousness, is burnt away in the fever for blood.”
“The Thirst?”
“Food and drink and sex all mixed into one. And sin, and death, and hell. The certain knowledge that if you are destroyed it is the cold dark or the fire.”
“Do you know?”
“I know who I am, what I am. But if there’s anything after destruction—ask the demons.”
“God help you.”
“Don’t let me mislead you. Plenty of people envy the vampires, want to be one of the Undead. I did when I was human. There’re many volunteers. The vampires are beautiful and strong. And they have one huge advantage over humans. They’re heartless. They don’t care anymore—they have nothing to care with. They’ve moved beyond caring. They’re invincible. Nothing touches them. Nothing hurts them.”

Patently untrue, as this vampire no longer exists. But his responses to my questions still haunt me.

"Living With the Undead"

I just finished famed vampire-hunter Liam McInnis' new book Living with the Undead: Anti-Vampire America since the Attacks of October. His explanation (in the preface) of the difference between European and American vampirism is interesting:

Vampires have always existed. For ages, tales of the bloodsucking immortals—nightmare creatures from the far edge of human consciousness—have frightened children and travelers away from the Dark. In late 19th century Europe, several spectacular vampire attacks provoked public attention and concern; the Victorian press gave Undead sightings as much breathless attention as they gave the exploits of serial killers; and for a time the infamous (and possibly mythical) Dracula rivaled the notoriety of Jack the Ripper. We in the US were slow to recognize the danger. Allied governments suspected vampire involvement in the early conflicts of the 20th century, particularly with Hitler’s Werewolves after the Second Were War, but decades passed before relevant WWII reports were declassified, published, and discussed in the media. More secretive than other major groups—the partially assimilated Fey populations, for example, or the North American lycanthrope clans (which have admittedly made progress in controlling the Change with medication)—the few vampires in the U.S. kept to the shadows, concealing their predation and avoiding publicity. Rumored Undead activity was left to the dubious defensive expertise of local ward-crafters, magicians, or exorcists. Official law enforcement seldom dealt with them. Certainly they were not viewed as serious threats to national security.

Vampires, however, have been documented—if sporadically—in the New World from the time of the European conquest. Visitors to Rio or São Paolo, or to certain Caribbean islands, are routinely advised to take precautions against vampires, as against voodoo or intestinal parasites. New Orleans has titillated tourists with rumors of the Undead since her inception as a city.

But after the new Millennium came the Attacks of October. And everything changed.