Vampires have always been a compelling monster for me because of their dark nature, their potential for greatness, and the thin line that separates sophistication from animalistic impulses. A vampire represents the best and worst of humanity, a trade off of some of our weakness for strengths while amplifying our destructive tendencies.

Here are the reason I think vampires make for great monsters.

One Drink From Madness

The bloodlust in a vampire is a bomb waiting to detonate. A properly fed vampire can keep their aggression and violence at bay, but once the thirst rises up from their black souls they must quench it or descend into single-minded brutality to make those sensations go away.

To me this is what makes vampires terrifying, if properly sated with blood they can be reasoned with and even make temporary alliances with humans if it serves their best interest. But thirst will warp their already twisted minds to the point they’ll attack anyone and anything to make that thirst go away, meaning no matter how much you trust a vampire, they can never be trusted or even expected to trust themselves.

Even the most prim and proper vampire can become a slobbering mess if they’ve gone too long without blood. No matter how superior a vampire thinks they are to mortals at least a human can control their urges and curb their addictions, something a vampire can never do.

Its this raw compulsion that makes them terrifying.

Immortal

The idea of immortality is alluring. Living a life to its fullest because you have all the time in the world is a fantasy of every human. If you’re dedicated and passionate this time could be filled growing wealth, obtaining power, and accomplishing all the things you ever wanted and never could with a limiting 100 years of life.

At least that’s the romanticized version of immortality. In reality being an immortal vampire would be terrible. Philosophers believe that immortality would drive us to an early grave, our purpose and happiness in life is defined by our impending death. Without that looming deadline there’s no incentive to do anything or enjoy anything.

For the ultimate procrastinator this would be awful, you now have eternity to get a long, complicated, or challenging project done. Our desires and ambitions would also be warped by the new vampiric impulses, behaviors, and needs.

Sure immortality sounds appealing when you want to become a bestselling author, start multiple businesses, invest your wealth, form multiple nonprofits and travel the world. But it’s hard to become famous when you must remain anonymous, assisting humans in becoming more powerful and wealthy creates a potential enemy for yourself, it’s hard to care for the problems of others when your primary desire is to drink their blood, and traveling the world is awful when you can only go out at night anyway.

Now that you’re an immortal vampire you spend your years hunting for blood, staying alive, and hiding in the shadows. A pariah hiding on the fringes of society and no longer motivated to do the constructive, creative things you once did.

This is the real curse vampires suffer.

Sociopaths

I’ll admit, being an introvert is tough when you also have a conscience. You can only hide for so long before you feel an obligation to go out in the world and socialize.

Especially when there are annoying individuals in the world. People who refuse to bath regularly and don’t care if others can smell their stench, men and women who feel the line between nudity and being clothed is a fuzzy gray area they should explore and test the limits of, people who believe they’re entitled to cut lines, obtain instant respect and adoration from those around them, and endlessly complain about problems they created and they alone are capable of solving.

This is probably the biggest draw about vampires. These are predatory beings with no conscience, empathy, remorse, or guilt. Social norms, rules of kindness, polite pleasantries, and the ability to be patient with those who annoy them doesn’t exist.

As cursed beings they’re free to tap into their sociopathic nature and do all manner of unspeakable and cruel things to exact revenge and remove annoyances.

Not saying I wish I could kill people like a vampire could but having the ability to instill indescribable fear in others just by baring your teeth and displaying inhuman strength would be awesome. Having the ability to not care what others think and do what interests or pleases you at the time would also be handy now and then.

Of course, the inability to experience love, intimacy, companionship, and romance would be absolutely awful. Let’s face it, I may be antisocial and introverted at times, but I enjoy spending hours ranting to my wife about whatever I find interesting at times and traveling the world with her beats hiding inside reading a book any day.

Also, while it would be nice to exact revenge on those who don’t use their blinker when merging into my lane I definitely don’t want to jack my insurance premiums through the roof because of road rage or have to explain to the police why there’s a man in the street with puncture marks in his neck and missing a lot of his blood.

Fallen Humans

All in all vampires are compelling and interesting creatures because they’re humans who have no light in their life. They look like us, think like us, but they are by no means humans. It’s easy to see why some people would become infatuated with them and want to romanticize and fantasize about these dark creatures.

But let’s be honest, they’re terrifying monsters. Parasitic undead freaks who must prey upon humans to survive or they become nightmarish beasts with no self-control. Immortal beings who squander their abundance of free time staying alive by hiding away and obsessing over their next meal.

They are fallen humans. Once kind and compassionate beings who through death have had their redeemable qualities stripped away leaving behind a cold, sociopathic shell. They have lost their souls and now roam the earth as cursed beings clinging to a twisted form of life by stealing it from others.

I love vampires because while you might find yourself attracted to them or even jealous of them, in the end they are in a worse state than we are. There is no beauty in their life, no joy, no light. Just a meaningless existence meant to serve as a plague to humanity, a reminder of why we should fear the night and be wary of mysterious strangers in dark places.

A reminder that we should be grateful for being fully alive and human.