Why I Love Vampires

In 1994, I was twelve and somehow talked my parents into letting me watch Interview with the Vampire. I guess they figured I’d read the book; I might as well watch the movie. Plus, I had this serious little girl crush on Brad Pitt. I had a crush on Brad Pitt before I ever knew what a crush was. I just knew I liked staring at the guy.

Anyway, there I was in my parents’ basement trying to get over the fact that for some stupid reason my Brad had brown hair. Whatever. Moving on. I watched the whole movie in a sort of hormone-induced trance. I won’t say a two-hour movie made me blossom sexually, but a two-hour movie made me blossom sexually.

I still remember the first time I watched that scene with Antonio Banderas and the naked chick when he’s like, “No, it’s cool. I’m super hot. Don’t worry about being eaten alive.” And she’s like, “Okay. Cool. You are, in fact, super hot. Thanks.” It was all just super hot.

That was over twenty years ago.

When I first got the chance to stalk my husband’s movie collection, I think I yelped when I saw he owned Interview with the Vampire. (He also owned Corky Romano, but nobody’s perfect.) I knew we would be good together, because we apparently both liked freaky, sexy, morally questionable protagonists.

And that’s really why I love vampires.

Think about it. Gary Oldman’s Dracula. Tom Cruise’s Lestat. Gerard Butler’s Dracula. Stuart Townsend’s Lestat. (Okay, I’m seeing a pattern.) The insanely hot femme fatale in We Are The Night. I could continue, but ask yourself: what do all these characters have in common?

What? Oh, yeah, they’re all gorgeous, but THINK. (“It’s the new sexy.”)

They’re all torn between wanting to love you and wanting to tear your throat out. This is the age-old bad boy (or girl) conundrum. You’re not supposed to date that guy with the motorcycle, but oh, you want to.

I’ve had a love for villains for as long as I can remember. Villains are, in fact, often my favorite character in most films. This might be where Imogene came from.

Imogene is the heroine of my new vampire novel, Bite Somebody Else, second in the Bite Somebody series. In book one, several readers thought Imogene might end up being the antagonist. They thought she might end up bad … and they loved her anyway. Imogene was the no-contest favorite character in Bite Somebody, and yet, she was the one cussing, stealing, and running around the hardware store with a scythe. She’s the girl who would steal your boyfriend and then beat you with your own shoes. She’s the one you shouldn’t turn your back on, and yet, everyone adores her.

Back in 1994, I realized villains were sexy. Monsters were, in fact, lust magnets. I realize Bram Stoker never intended this. For him, Dracula was a horror novel. Dracula was a horrific character. He’s rolling in his grave thanks to Edward Cullen (and, no, I’m not going there).

Even good old Bram, though, must have realized that, no matter how much we stretch toward light, humans love the dark. We strive to embrace good while reaching out for the bad. We tire of heroes and often relate more to villains because there might be more villain than hero inside of us—and we know it.

That’s why I love vampires. They teeter between good and evil, and they usually have some chance at love, some chance at redemption. That or they get staked. They give us some kind of hope that, no matter how bad we think we are, there’s a chance that something will save us, whether that’s love or God or, mmm, Brad Pitt.

Vampires are mirrors. They are the monsters we hide, and in the watching, in the reading, they exorcise us and show us something beautiful.

—

Sara Dobie Bauer is a writer, model, and mental health advocate with a creative writing degree from Ohio University. Her short story, “Don’t Ball the Boss,” was nominated for the Pushcart Prize, inspired by her shameless crush on Benedict Cumberbatch. She lives with her hottie husband and two precious pups in Northeast Ohio, although she’d really like to live in a Tim Burton film. She is a member of RWA and author of the paranormal rom-com Bite Somebody, among other ridiculously entertaining things.

About Bite Somebody Else:

Imogene helped her newbie vampire friend Celia hook up with an adorable human, but now Celia has dropped an atomic bomb of surprise: she has a possibly blood-sucking baby on the way. Imogene is not pleased, especially when a mysterious, ancient, and annoyingly gorgeous vampire historian shows up to monitor Celia’s unprecedented pregnancy.

Lord Nicholas Christopher Cuthbert III is everything Imogene hates: posh, mannerly, and totally uninterested in her. Plus, she thinks he’s hiding something. So what if he smells like a fresh garden and looks like a rich boarding school kid just begging to be debauched? Imogene has self-control. Or something.

As Celia’s pregnancy progresses at a freakishly fast pace, Imogene and Nicholas play an ever-escalating game of will they or won’t they, until his sexy maker shows up on Admiral Key, forcing Nicholas to reveal his true intentions toward Celia’s soon-to-arrive infant.

Read an excerpt at the World Weaver Press website: http://www.worldweaverpress.com/store/p125/Bite_Somebody_Else.html.

Links:

Website: http://SaraDobieBauer.com

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2rnSvoC

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorSaraDobieBauer

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaraDobie

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saradobiebauer/

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: On Writing