They work as doctors and lawyers by day but lurk as vampires by night. While they may not wish to suck your blood, there are plenty of willing victims on tap, according to a top U.S. scholar on a subculture that emulates the undead.
Idaho State University sociologist D.J. Williams, newly hired as a consultant for a proposed television documentary about "self-identified vampires," said true modern acolytes of Dracula seek consensual blood-sharing relationships.
The popular fascination with vampires dates back to the 1897 publication of Bram Stoker's "Dracula", and later books such as Anne Rice's "The Vampire Chronicles."
But it exploded in recent years with the best-selling "Twilight" series of novels by Stephenie Meyer and movie adaptations. The seductive vampire character Edward Cullen in the movie, played by actor Robert Pattinson, became a teen idol and made vampires cool.
