I N T E R V I E W S W I T H T H E V A M P I R E S 1

I N T E R V I E W S W I T H T H E V A M P I R E S   1

I N T E R V I E W S W I T H T H E V A M P I R E S   1
They violate one of our taboo-devouring culture's last prohibitions: drinkin
g human blood. They sleep during the day and have their teeth sharpened into
 fangs. But what's really weird about today's high-IQ bloodsuckers is their
perky rhetoric of personal growth. + + + + + + + + + + + BY CAROL LLOYD Phot
ograph by Charles Gatewood + + + + + + + + + + + ?°i extract the blood and
drink it on the spot." Lounging in tight black clothing on her black couch,
self-styled vampire Danielle Willis displays an array of syringes and pamphl
ets on the "art of drawing blood." Breezily, the pale, icy-eyed woman offers
 to extract a little of her own and give it to me in a vial with a drop of a
nti-coagulant. In the vampiric underworld, I know this is a gesture of gener
osity, but I decline. + + + + + + + + + + + When Bram Stoker wrote "Dracula"
 in his Dublin home 100 years ago, chances are he never dreamed his monster
would one day return as the godfather of a burgeoning youth subculture on th
e other side of the world. Yet in the past decade -- thanks in large part to
 Anne Rice and her millions of insatiable readers -- the vampire has beat hi
s bloody trail across the Atlantic to become the preeminent mythological cre
ature of late 20th century America. In literature, "live action" games like
"Vampire: the Masquerade," films, magazines, fashion, rock music and academi
a, the vampire thrives as one of the most mutable and consuming symbols of o
ur time. But beyond the well-worn paths of mass culture, a small clan stands
 apart. These people, who range in age from their late teens to their mid-30
s, claim their passion for vampirism predates the fads inspired by Anne Rice
. They sleep by day and work by night. Some of them have had their teeth rev
amped into permanent "fangs." And they engage in one of the last intact tabo
os of our taboo-devouring culture: blood drinking