Years and years ago, I recall watching the usual Sunday morning duo of "Abbott and Costello Meet the…" and the obligatory Tarzan movie. One particular day this was followed by a black and white movie about vampires. I was only 11, and I can't tell you the name of the movie, because I've never found it again, but I recall thinking, "Wow; now this is cool!"

After that initial viewing, I began to see similarities between lots of TV villains and characters as subtle references to vampires. Anyone remember the Salt-Monster from Star Trek? There were lots of references to "blood-suckers" or "vampires" as I recall growing up. Even women of dubious virtue but undeniable sexual allure were referred to as vamps, which I cannot help but assume bears some resemblance to the sire word.

As I grew older and was allowed to choose my own reading material, I cautiously poked my toes into the world of vampirism. From teen-aged horror schlock to Anne Rice to a dearth of other authors covering the world of Nosferatu, it became clear that this was a passion I shared with a world of other people.

When Francis Ford Coppola's version of Bram Stoker's Dracula came out in 1992, I was terrifically excited to see what the latest reincarnations of Dracula would bring. I was slightly disappointed (Winona Rider sucked in the role of Mina, in my opinion) but even a bad rendition of the living undead was better than no rendition at all.

It was during that time that read an excerpt of an article (which I would cite here if I knew from whence it came) that hypothesized on our vampire obsession. Perhaps, the article reasoned, we were all so fanatically drawn to Dracula and Vampires in those days because HIV and AIDS were on the rise of public awareness. Blood was the forbidden taboo. It was the thing we couldn't have, couldn't touch, and couldn't be around if we cared to live - at least that's how the prevention posters portrayed the height of paranoia then.

I'm not saying that those prevention measures didn't save countless lives - and of course, all those steps are still wise ones to take - but it does make sense to the human psyche that we are inherently drawn to that which evokes fear. We, as humans, generally want what we cannot have. Everyone has that story of someone they were so interested in… until they "got" them and the boredom reigned.

Vampires offer several things - not just blood, or the tinge of death. Vampires offer immortality. They offer the ability to see a life beyond the normal genetic guideline pre-programmed into our DNA. It offers us the chance to cheat the fates, even at the cost of ultimate damnation. They offer supernatural powers of different sorts, depending on whose interpretation you choose to follow. The ability to shape-shift, the ability to read minds, the ability to control someone else's will. To have such a draw, a hypnotic magnetism that others are powerless in the face of your seduction, whether conscious or unconscious, can be a fascination far outweighing the whole blood aspect.

Lately, there has been a flood in the market of vampire-inspired movies. Such as Dracula 2000, the new schlock draw Van Helsing and a host of others. Each tried to find its own interpretation of how Vlad the Impaler (the firmly established Dracula upon whom all legends are based) actually became the most pursued man in history. Each new version of the histories, why's, where's and who's are what I personally find fascinating. Was he actually Judas, as one story suggested, the man who was paid 30 pieces of silver for handing over Christ and was damned for his treachery? Was he Judas, the man who tried to hang himself from guilt and was refused entry into heaven for playing out the role that God had known he would play in order for God's greater plan to occur? Was he a fallen angel, blocked from heaven? Was he simply a man who lost love and swore a blood-vow against God for that loss? All these are interesting interpretations.

Is vampirism nothing more than an infection of the saliva of certain individuals; a virus which can be cured? Can there be cross-breeding from vampire to human? Can vampires breed? Can vampires even have sex? Anne Rice says no. Just why the hell do we find them so damn sexy?

Watch the movie Underworld which offers no explanation as to the creation of vampires, but deals with the hierarchal labyrinths within the centuries-old society. You will still are overwhelmed by the sexiness of it all. This is true in Blade to a certain degree as well. Faces that never age, beautiful, toned and powerful bodies that are even lithe, one might say. There is a wisdom in the characters which seems palpable; an apartness that comes from several lifetimes spent watching lesser mortals be born, live lives and die. This is erotic to me. Think of all you could accumulate in simple knowledge if one were a vampire.

Go to any Goth club and you'll see your fair-share of those who are desperate to portray themselves as vampires. It's something I identified with for years. I even read a book once in which the characters could hear inside the minds of those hapless humans wanting desperately for all the legends to be real, for vampires to be real. When they learned the reality of it, it was not what they were hoping for.

The identification of Goth and Vampirism has gotten intertwined, often to the detriment of the Gothic community. I can recall several high profile murder cases in the past few years where some sick person acted out their vampiric desires to the extreme and murdered. When the time came to present their defense, it more often than not was laid upon the altar of "I was a Goth, look at how that subculture only encourages me. Listen to the music and watch how they act. You can't help but become a homicidal maniac."

Speaking as a Goth, I believe that this community should be regarded with the same tolerance we ask of others looking upon ourselves. Being Goth does not automatically mean one is a vampire, wants to be a vampire or will cut themselves or their lover in some vampiric ritualistic act. The Goth community is about tolerance for those who feel disenfranchised, and if these folks feel at home within our subculture, they are welcome.

But I haven't really said why vampires are sexy, have I?

It's because they get to break all the rules. They live in the nightlife, they don't have to get 9-5 jobs to support the "really cool vampiric" clothing habit. They're free of some of the physical constraints that humans live under, such as their ability to move rapidly or see more clearly in the dark. They're free to avenge themselves of all the wrongs they see done or have had perpetrated upon them. They live on the essence of life for every living creature - blood. They drain a body and sap up emotional histories, sexual memories and lives lived. They absorb a piece of each of their victims.

And that, my friends, is pretty fucking sexy.

Author's note: for more information on Vampires, visit www.vampires.com, a webpage with great factual history and discussion boards. Another interesting site is www.afn.org for an in-depth view of vampirism. For an exhaustive reading list of books on the subject, and I'll recommend my personal favorites.