September 11, 1997 (NEWPORT, R.I./AP) - Rhode Islanders have been guarding themselves for months against mosquitoes infected with a potentially deadly virus, but Christopher Rondina says the state's past is filled with stories of a far scarier bloodsucker: vampires.

It was misty on a mid-summers night. Cold and damp and I was riding on my horse, it was blacker than the night sky. I passed a stranger as I rode on. He stared then followed me for hours, never taking a rest. As I rode on I cam upon another stranger standing in the bewitching mist, the stranger did yet the same as the first. Both strangers, dressed the same, in black. Now I ride with two strangers in the mist. I'm on a journey to the nearest town out of this misty fores, so big, so dark, so scary and wierd.

February 10, 2007 (David Watkinson / This Is Lancashire) - A teacher at a church high school is being investigated following complaints about her "lurid" gothic vampire websites. English and drama teacher Samantha Goldstone has agreed to stay away from St Christopher's C of E High School, Accrington, during the probe.

A collection of prose and poetry submitted to VO in 2007/2008.

Make a path and let me through
You'll die before I make it to you
Lying in a puddle of blood
With your body faced down in the mud
I'm running trough thorns, mist and trees
I have blood trickling down my hands and knees
I yell and scream out your name
I can't find you%3B I'm to blame
I start to stop and hear a noise
I listen closely, it's your voice
I run to the sound only to see
Your Gravestone staring at me
"I'll love you forever and always",
You you always said