I got another bit of commentary I'd like to respond to.

"Blood doesn't feed up physiological hunger nor thirst, it's about spirit." It means sanguine vampyres don't need to drink blood to live, it just means they drink blood just to fulfill a mental desire.

From the wikipedia article for "vampire lifestyle". This is NOT A VAMPIRE

Let me stop you there. If you're talking about the people who are part of the vampire subculture, then you're probably reading the wrong blog.

Vampyres aren't monsters. You are assuming that all vampyres kill to drink blood, even though that is not true. They can feed by drawing little blood in a persons body, they don't need to kill in order to feed.Even if they did kill, what makes you think that you have the right to kill them? I don't see you shooting lions every time they kill prey. 

People hunt dangerous animals all the time. And if you think that killing people is somehow not something that should be punishable, then you have a twisted morality.

That being said, when people who are a part of the 'vampire subculture' kill people, they go to jail. When real vampires kill people, I hunt them.

Who's the bad guy? You are.

Alright. Let me stop you there again. I am overwhelmed by the responses I get: some are supportive and curious, some are skeptical...But on the whole a lot of responses I get are like this.  So let me go off on a tangent here. Just a small one.

I have described the creatures I hunt as monsters. Killers. Creatures of evil. So my question, then, is why people seem to find it necessary to defend them. to cite an example from humor columnist Gladstone, it would be like coming to the defense of a person described only as a 'rapist' and coming to the conclusion that they are not a rapist.

The vampires I hunt are not goths. They are not "just people like you and I" and they are certainly not "misunderstood". Go back to your twilight and goth subcultures. I don't hunt you. I hunt the real thing.

I received this delightful comment the other day on a recent post.

You know nothing. Crucifixes as items are useless unless held by someone who beliefs deeply. Blood doesn't feed up physiological hunger nor thirst, it's about spirit. There is no way you can find a vampire drinking blood in a public place.
If you think you've ever killed a vampire... I'm afraid that'd make you a murderer or at least unstable. I just wanted to tell you that it's pathetic and made me angry. Come and get me if you dare.

 I don't have any reason to disagree with this reader on the subject of crucifixes. I consider myself religious, at least to a point, but one of my lodge-mates is a Catholic priest whose only weapon is his faith. He is able to repel the creatures far better than I, which lends great credence to your statement about believing deeply.

Blood is about spirit? I don't even know what that means. I've mentioned in a previous post the idea that blood drinking may be linked to cutaneous porphyria. Blood is very symbolic, though, though I don't know if that's relevant. But you're right on another point: vampires don't feed publicly, though they do occasionally use public spaces (alleys, dark streets, wooded paths) to feed. Vampires seem to scout out good feeding locations far in advance, and I have also noticed that I have never witnessed two vampires hunting in the same general area which would suggest some form of territory marking.

Lastly, I have killed vampires before and I don't really consider myself a murderer when I consider the number of lives I may have saved from exsanguination.

If you're an actual vampire, then I applaud your attempts to twist the morality of the situation. No, the creatures who kill people aren't the monsters! It's the people who KILL the people who kill people that are the monsters. If you're not an actual vampire, then the same applies except that you're also probably a member of PeTA.

But seriously. Don't forget who the actual badguys are.

-Tao

Here's a question from 6the1circle6, another mod from the monstrous.com forums.

In your blog you knock the new "sexy" and "kind-at-heart" literary Vampire, but also claim that relatively new beliefs about Vampires, such as the effectiveness of sunlight and Christian holy items are true...Please explain and reconcile these seeming contradictions.

Vampires are more active at night. That much is a simple fact. I have never seen a vampire out in the day, but that doesn't necessarily mean they get hurt by the sun. There could be vampires walking around in the daylight every day and I suppose you'd probably never know. Generally, though, Rule 10 is to never let your guard down until the sun comes up.

As for the effectiveness of crucifixes, that dates back to the middle ages and I wouldn't bring it up if I hadn't seen the effectiveness of it myself. There's really two explanations here:

First is the metaphysical and religious one, which is best phrased by S.T. Joshi in his book Encyclopedia of the Vampire, that the Christian Church purported that "Just as a vampire takes a sinner's very spirit into itself by drinking his blood, so also can a righteous Christian by drinking Christ's blood take the divine spirit into himself."

The second, more scientific explanation, is that the vampires' reaction is psychological: vampires' reaction to holy items is simply the product of conditioning through vampire fiction; in other words, vampires expect religious items and holy water to have an effect on them, so they flee.

I'm not going to try and figure out which one of these is the correct one. Crucifixes work and I'm happy to just accept that.

-Tao

Short post this time, folks.

Another question from Jake of monstrous.com forums:

I am intrigued as to what happens to the body after it is dead. Does it disintegrate into dust, as the movies usually depict, or what exactly?

 If you remember Rule 6, you're supposed to set the fuckers on fire. That's because they don't turn to ash. This is the main reason engaging a vampire in public is a bad idea: even if you win, you have a body on your hands and you have to take care of it. Actually, disposing of a vampire would be a major, MAJOR pain if it was not for their bodies' acclimation to burning: vampires burn like dry tinder once you set them alight. After it's done all you gotta do its stomp on the bones and crush them to dust (after death, vampires' bones become very brittle, and are in fact hollow) and then scoot the ash off into the grass or whatnot.

-Tao

This quote comes from the forums of the amazing site monstrous.com. Jake asks:

When you kill a vampire, how do you determine that they are, in fact, vampires?

If only it was this easy.

One of the things about vampire hunting is that it is actually really hard to differentiate them from normal people. Because of the fact that there are, sadly, vampire-posers out there, it has gotten to be a lot harder to find real ones.

Vampires tend to be pale, and often have bluish discoloration in their lips, but at night this is actually very hard to notice. The only fool-proof way to know if your prey is an actual vampire is to catch them in the act of feeding.

This is why I was taught to only EVER engage a vampire after being 100% sure (Remember rule 5?). I cannot tell you how many times I was almost positive that someone was a vampire, but I had to let them go because of the word 'almost'.

-Tao

How do you stake a vampire?

I get this question a lot.

An arc stake, a throwing stake, and a cap stake.

The truth is, staking a vampire is hard. In fact, in most cases taking the thing's head off is a much better option. However, stakes are concealable (most of the time legally) and lighter than a blade. Also, if you know what you're doing and get a good stab in, you can, theoretically, drop a fucker in one hit. That being said, I have not been able to perform that feat yet. I've tried, but I missed.

First thing you should know is there are different kinds of stakes. I, personally, have three kinds in my box.

Cap Stakes

The first kind of stake is called a "cap stake" They're your basic, traditional stake and they're called cap stakes because if you don't stick a metal cap on them, they will break when you try to hammer them in which is a major inconvenience. These are the kind of stakes hunters have used for centuries. Traditional hunters often were presented with a mallet and stake upon initiation to their local lodge. (This tradition has carried over into modern times in some lodges. My lodge does not do this.)

The problem with a cap stake is twofold. first, they are not an effective weapon and you need to get really lucky if you have a chance in hell of using it effectively. second, the human heart is protected by a wonderful thing called the rib cage. The ribs and sternum are very good at preventing pointy objects from piercing the heart and for this reason, you need a mallet or hammer to drive the fucker in deep enough to paralyze the vampire. (I use the back of my hatchet, personally, because that means I have one less tool to carry.)

Arc Stakes

Arc stakes, or curve stakes, are much more reasonable when it comes to use as a weapon. remember that rib cage I was taking about? Yeah, arc stakes take care of that. The stakes taper slightly, and curve. They're also sort of flat, which does a couple of things: first, it lets you slip them in between ribs easier, and second, it makes them easier to carry. Basically all you have to do with these is jam them in between two of the ribs, usually about five or so inches from the sternum, and push. Push hard. with luck, you can slam the tip into the heart and the vampire will drop. Unfortunately it is not as easy as it sounds, and you may just as easily end up breaking the stake, or just missing completely.

Throwing stakes

I have one of these but I have never seen it work effectively. In fact, I think that anyone who carries a double-sided stake with the expectation it will actually work is entirely too optimistic, or simply expects a vampire's bones to be made of gelatin. I threw mine once, and I felt really dumb when it hit him, square between two ribs, and then hit the ground because there simply was not enough force behind it. So I stopped carrying it, but I keep it in my box because, hey. It's an extra stake.

Other stakes

Look around your room. You've probably got more than a few 'other' stakes around you right now. Chair and table legs, wooden pallets, grandfather clocks, whatever. They make stakes in a pinch, but I'm gonna be honest with you. If you're breaking chair legs as your only weapon, you're probably fucked. End of story.

-Tao

It's been a while, I know.

I am going to be updating this a lot more often and I apologize that this has taken so long.

In reference to recent events, especially in reference to "face-eaters" and "zombies" I want it to be pretty clear that zombies do not exist. They don't.

Now, that's not to say that one of these attacks was not done by a vampire. Because it was. And I am investigating. My entire lodge has been on the alert about this, so you can sleep well. We're on it.