What IS it with the vampires?

Seriously! My first introduction to the fangs was on sesame street and well, we all know that Count Von Count is more, fuzzy, than hot. Then came Grandpa on The Munsters, the sarcastic old bat. Then came a brief mention of Bram Stokers Dracula when I was in 5th grade, that got voted down by the popular nerds in my honors English class in favor of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. The Lost Boys rocked my world, mostly because of "The Coreys". Then there was Buffy in the early 90's, totally lame. Then came Interview with a Vampire. I was 4 months pregnant with my son, we (my husband & I) were staying with my brother in Chandler (AZ) and it scared the crap out of me!

In October 1995, I'm put on bed rest, I'm 8 months pregnant with my son. I'm bored out of my mind! My mom was staying with me and she was reading Anne Rices The Mayfair Witches trilogy. I started reading the set and I was drawn in, I WANTED to be the one standing on the sidewalk looking at the house, wondering at the goings-on inside. I wanted Lasher to show up and steal me away into the unknown. I devoured the trilogy, then re-read them. The haunting descriptions of the houses and neighborhoods called to me. Then my son was born and life moved on.

Then came Queen of the Damned and OMFG, not only was Aaliyah hot as hell, but Lestat became THE hottest vampire to flit through my dreams. He stirred things up inside that I thought only belonged in books. How strange and strong the pull to become part of the darkside (the cookies aren't better). It is a fantasy that has been dancing on the edges of my sanity for years. Occasionally it will rear its head in, intimate moments of frenzy, and surprise my husband.

Then came Twilight and True Blood. I'm sure there were others in-between, but none that caught my attention. In all honesty, I really only like Twilight because of Jacob. I really wished that Bella had picked him. One can hope. I didn't even like True Blood when season 1 aired, my husband did. I saw the opening images and got grossed out. I skipped the entire season.

I was flipping through the channels one afternoon and caught part of PLASIR D'AMOUR. I was all like no way, this is NOT the same crap he was watching. I went on to HBO's on demand channel and spent the next few days watching season 1. I'd been seeing commercials about vampires voting and wanna-be vampires talking about vampire rights, but I had no idea what they were referring to. I kept thinking to myself "is this real? are there really people out there living like vampires?"

Now I'm a total fanger. I countdown to True Blood every Sunday during the season. I mourn it when the season ends. I talk about Sookie, Bill, Tara, Eric & even Godric like they are real. I told my husband that I'd totally let Eric bite me, chain me up and school me in vampire sex. What IS it with the vampires that bring this out in some of us? Is it the fantasy forbidden fruit?