Vampires Done Right!

As a published horror author, there are certain things that I hate when it comes to the genre that has allowed me to finally fulfill one of my dreams. Namely I hate it when someone takes an established character and tries to make it their own only to fail miserably. In this case, I am talking about Vampires! Vampires have been an established race in the horror genre for longer than anyone would care to think about and up until just recently they have always been a cautionary tale. Vampires are vicious, vampires are killers, vampires can be sexy, but they are still all the things mentioned before. But now when you look at vampires, thanks to books like the Twilight series, you find vampires that are cuddly, sexy and boyfriend/girlfriend material. Instead of wanting to stake a vampire the girls all want them to have sex with them with now. The worst part for me is that vampires no longer burst into fire in the sunlight, oh no, now they sparkle! So in this post I would like to explore some vampires that have been done correctly.

1. Anita Blake Series- Yes the vampires in the Anita Blake series can be very sexy, but while reading the books you always see trails of blood from these vampires. You can never really forget in this series that yes you may be a sex toy to the vamps but you also make a tasty midnight snack as well. The vampires in these books are all dangerous and deadly and it is shown quite often that we the humans are the prey they enjoy the most.
2. Necroscope Series- This is one of my favorite series to date. A great take on vampires that I love the most because they tell how the vampires get their powers which no one else really does. In most books they say “oh a vampire can do this. Why? Because they are a vampire duh.” Whereas this series says, a Vampire can do this because of the fact that they are… The story line is very interesting as it is about a young man who can talk to the dead and ends up fighting vampires along with a group of British ultra secret intelligence services where every person has some sort of esp ability. Eventually you find out the history of the various vampire families on earth, you find out that earth is not where they are from originally and how they got here. You find out that werewolves are a type of vampire and how that can be, and many many more things about this race. The vampires in this series, when they are in human form, are sexy but they are very deadly, masters of word games and lies, and ever so scary and deadly. Their mantra is ‘ The Blood is the Life ‘ and they will do anything to get this blood.
3. Vampire Earth series- E.E. Knight has definitely tried to make vampires his own character and he has succeeded beyond all expectations. A group of aliens that travel through portals has learned to feed off of other species life forces. These beings come to earth and create something called reapers which feed off human blood with a siphon like tongue that skewers their victims throat and sends their aura/life force to their alien masters. This series is a great post apocalyptic look at the world and is excellently written. It takes vamps and remakes them in a unique way but one that works well.
4. House of Night series- While the vampires here aren’t your typical deadly beings of the night, they do at least feed off of blood and can be deadly if they want. This series is being put in here because while it is not the typical vampire, P.C. Cast and her daughter Kirsten have created a very realistic society for the vampire. In some ways this is a vampire version of Harry Potter but it actually works. They give the vampires a religion, a good biology, and several twists and turns in the story that are only found in this series. While most guys would have no problem cuddling up to some of the main characters in this story, and some popular big name actors in our world are known as vampires in that world, they have still taken the vampire mythos and made it their own in a way that works. You can still look at these creatures and say “yes these are vampires.”

These are my top choices for vampire mythos that have taken this well known and established creature and made them something new and unique. What ones would you have included on your list?