I've traveled a long way to talk vampires with Dan Matei Agathon, Romania's minister of tourism. As I wait in his cramped anteroom with its tattered wood trim and 1960s-era vertical blinds, assistants flutter to and fro, one of them bearing boxes that look like gifts for some visiting dignitary.

Slice my wrist at the break of day.
Drink of me that you may
Know who I am.

Your words and eyes
Say you are ready
To face all I offer
But you hesitate before
My hand you take......

Do you fear the absence of light?
Why fear the night?
The moon has its own sense of warmth,
That greets us with its silvery light.

Tell me now
Before it is too late
And the blood in your veins
My hunger awakes.

Life without Life --
Immortal Night
Or what death offers
Tis your choice--

Vampires in our culture? Yeah, sure, there's a lot of vampire stuff out at Halloween. But most people see vampires nearly everyday, the other 364 days a year, and don't even know it. To begin to study vampires in pop culture, we must first identify all the places they pop up.

The story of Arnod Paole is one of the few vampire histories that has been sufficiently documented over the years to lend it historical validity. In the spring of 1727, Arnod Paole returned from service in the military to settle in his home town of Meduegna, near Belgrade. He bought some land, built a home and established himself in the community. After a short time, he was betrothed to a local girl whose father's land bordered his, and the two were wed.

James Riva claimed to hear the voice of a vampire in April, 1980, before he shot his grandmother four times with bullets that he had painted gold. He then tried to drink her blood from the wound in order to get eternal life. Finally, he set her corpse on fire. Carol Page documents his tale and includes her interview with Riva in Bloodlust: Conversations with Real Vampires.