A comparison of various popular sources for vampire lore against the myths of history. Do all vampire have fangs? Can all vampires reproduce? How do the popular vampires of the 20th century live and die and hunt and feed? S. A. Rudy takes a look at five modern vampire themes.

My desire is burning
Fangs sink deep into my breast
The Immortal Kiss

Forbidden passion
building - devouring me
it demands his blood

My fangs sink deeply
Bonded by blood and body
Ecstacy prevails

Casandra
December 22, 2001

May 7, 2002 (ABC News) - You can probably imagine how long your wait would be at airport security if your passport read "Kingdom of Dracula." Still, the last known relative of Vlad the Impaler, the medieval Romanian nobleman who inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula, says he's fed up with high German taxes, and he's got local support in his hometown outside Berlin to form a vampire paradise.

August 10, 2008 (The Independent / Ian James) -- At least 38 Venezuelans have died as a result of a suspected outbreak of rabies spread by bites from vampire bats. Laboratory tests have yet to confirm the cause, but the symptoms point to rabies, say researchers from the University of California at Berkeley and other medical experts.

In the new blockbuster I Am Legend, virologist Robert Neville (Will Smith) is the sole survivor of a man-made plague that has wiped out all of humankind -- and turned those who didn't die into creepy, vampire-like mutants.