The Healer's Guardian

How to Become a Vampire

With the recent success of the Twilight series, people are jumping on the vampire bandwagon. Wouldn't it be cool to be a vampire though? Although there is little or no proof of actual vampires, here are the most commonly prescribed ways of becoming one.

Well first it was Dracula and now it is Edward Cullen. Vampirism holds some kind of mystique, especially in the minds of children. The most recent manifestation of the vampire (the Twilight one) says that not all vampires are bad and they can indeed be controlled, which has furthered the fantasy of becoming a 'good' vampire. But one thing is for sure. Of all the sub or super human characters that have existed in the literary world-whether they be werewolves or Frankenstein - none of them seem to have the class or the charisma of the vampire. A vampire seems to be a lot more suave and handsome than the rest!

Explaining Vampirism

While people actually claim that they have seen people who feed on human blood, sleep in coffins and are repelled by sunlight and garlic, it is mostly an exaggeration of facts. According to Wikipedia, vampires are fictional characters which are on the quest for a revenge from a loved one. Whether blood-sucking or not and whether nocturnal or not, vampires are certainly humans with a heightened psychic ability. Vampires seem to lack some kind of energy which they try to extract from people around them. A vampire is also characterized by an unusually high and intense sexual activity, which increases the fascination of vampires. And vampires are not immortal. They still have a human body which has its life span, though vampires seem to live a lot longer! But the blood-sucking part largely varies from person to person, or should I say, vampire to vampire! Vampires today are an integral part of most forms of art work, be it music, literature, painting and sculpting etc.

Becoming a Walker of the Night

Well, the folklore says that the answer is that you need to be bitten by one. But before you go into the rigors of actually finding a vampire and asking the fellow to bite you, why not first pretend to be a vampire and then see if you actually enjoy it? Because if you become a vampire first and then realize that you're not really enjoying it, you'll feel pretty silly. So I suggest that first you pretend to be a vampire, before hunting for an Edward Cullen and asking him to bite you!

We are all familiar with the look of a vampire; it is largely Gothic. A vampire is usually very thin and very tall with long limbs and a long body structure. A male vampire would wear a dark suit with a white shirt inside. Female vampires usually wear a black flowing dress. A female vampire may tie her hair up or leave it open. Female vampires have poker straight hair, while the males have well styled and gelled up hair. The eyes have a slightly eerie color, which you can get by buying a pair of colored contact lenses that lend your eyes that color. A vampire's features are very sharp so you can accentuate your nose, eyes and cheeks with some make up. Mind you, the make up should make you look pale white. A vampire should look thirsty for blood and so a good tip is looking continuously pale (with make up) which makes it look as if the vampire may need blood very soon! Oh and how can one forget the sharp teeth and nails? An important step in becoming a vampire is to grow your nails long or get fake nails and fake canine teeth.

While the look of the vampire is quite important, one should also pay attention to the personality. A vampire is a very reserved person, as you can see from the movies. One rarely comes across a boisterous or a chatty vampire as it robs him of his mystique. A vampire talks when he is talked to and otherwise stays quietly in his own world.

I still wonder, why go through the trouble of becoming a real vampire for the rest of your life when you could as easily pretend to be one for as long as you want and turn human again at will?

Becoming a Vampire

If you thought that vampires existed only in our imagination as we turned the pages of Bram Stoker's Dracula, then think twice! There are quite a few individuals living with us who believe that they are born as vampires, while there are those who are looking for ways of becoming one because they believe that's where their true calling lies. But before learning the ways to become a vampire we have to first know if vampires are real.

Are Vampires Real? 

Well, this depends upon how you define a vampire. From the stories that we have heard, vampires survive on blood that they suck out of their unsuspecting victims. These blood sucking creatures prowl around in search of their prey at night and shy away from sunlight during the day. They are repelled by garlic and can be killed only by driving a stake through the heart. They are able to shape shift, i.e take any form, and are immortal! If you are looking for vampires with all these features, then no, they are not real. After all which mortal being would survive the blow of a stake through his heart? And if we are talking about mythical creatures, then we do not need to worry about them, do we?

Then why this question about how to become a vampire in real life? Well it is because there are people amongst us who call themselves vampires. Some of them know this right since their birth. However, there are others who realize this later on, only after they have reached adolescence with the event that is termed as the 'awakening'! But what is it that makes such people identify themselves with vampires? The answer lies in their need for energy, without which they claim they feel weak and ill. But these individuals are not the blood thirsty evils as they have been portrayed in folklores. They claim that they drink a very small amount of blood and this feeding is not on a daily basis. Most of them rely on animal blood obtained from butcher's shop. Even if it is human blood then it is obtained from blood banks or from voluntary donors! However, not all vampires are so considerate. Some stray instances of people being kidnapped by vampires for blood have also been reported. These are the 'sanguinarians' - the blood drinking vampires. There are also the 'psychic vampires' who suck the prana or vital energy from the bodies of their victims. This they do by simply touching their victims or by doing some act that would attract their victims. Once they engage their victims' attention, they suck energy out of their victims' body by psychological means. These are some of the common ways by which they obtain energy for their sustenance. Other than this need for energy these people claim to have some supernatural and psychic abilities. For example, while researching on vampires, I came across the case of one vampire who claims to have recovered from broken ribs in just two weeks and hasn't ever been down with any illness! Other than such unusual abilities, it isn't that they can shape shift or can't eat garlic. They are human beings who are very much mortal and there isn't any contemporary vampire who claims to be otherwise either.

Becoming a Vampire 

We all know about the vampire kiss in which the vampire makes two punctures into its victim's neck with its canines. This is how these creatures expanded their tribe as per the various vampire myths and legends. There are certain cults that still rely on a somewhat similar way. However, there isn't necessarily real biting but yes blood of the initiated does drink the blood of the 'sire' (the older vampire). This establishes a permanent bond between the 'childe' and the 'sire' that is maintained due to the same blood flowing through the veins of the mentor and the initiated.

But for those who are faced with the question of how to become a lamia or a vampire without being bitten, there is answer for this dilemma of theirs as well. There are spells and magical means that are used as ways to become a vampire. These spells or magic are said to cast some of the unusual physical and psychological characteristics typical lamias. Which features of a lamia are to be bestowed upon the initiated depends upon the type of spell or magic used. Possession is another method of becoming a vampire. In this the body of the would-be-vampire is possessed by some spirit.

Other than these methods there is another very simple way to become a vampire or rather a 'vampyre'. These individuals are also known as the lifestyle vampires that do not wish to have any physical or psychological attributes of vampires, as we traditionally understand them. Such persons are attracted to the lore of vampires and emulate them by dressing up using appropriate costumes. These people get false fangs, contact lens and even decorate their houses to give a feeling of gloom and darkness. They may remind you of Gothic lifestyle but are distinct from it.

What makes people look for ways of becoming a lamia or a vampire? What is it that triggers in some, the need to extract energy from sources other than food, that biologically meets our energy requirements? Well some say it is a virus, whereas others indicate psychological problems. Nevertheless those who believe that vampires do exist, say it is to meet the supernatural powers of these individuals and so vampires have to rely on this extra source of energy. The mystery behind why some think that they are vampires or need to be initiated into this unexplained world still remains to be unraveled.

Author's Note

ignore grammar problems, what do you think of the dialogue