My Top 10
Favorite Vampires
There
are good vampires, and there are bad vampires. And we can disagree day in and
day out over which vampires fall under which category, but today, I'm going to
share with you my personal top 10
favorites.
I
chose some of these vamps because of their power or presence...some I chose
because I find them incredibly hot. Feel free to agree or disagree with any
vamp on this list. Fill up the comments with your discussion! If there's a vamp
here you've never heard of... look them up and then come back to tell us what
you think!
10.
Father Abel Nightroad, Trinity Blood
I guess technically he's not a vampire, but a 'crusnik', a vampire that
vampires fear. Still, I love him in all his fang-y goodness. He's an adorable,
awkward, somewhat bumbling, sweet friendly priest by day...but piss him off and
he turns into a black-winged, scythe-wielding killing machine. He's got that
long white hair we anime fangirls are always squee-ing over, and honestly, he's
one of the few true-hearted, benevolent 'hero' vampires I can really believe in
and root for. Perhaps it's the setting (Trinity
Blood is an absolutely beautiful anime,
and if you haven't watched it, you should), but in his context, Abel is a
wonderfully good-hearted vampire. I don't really like the 'white hat' vamps but
this guy's truly worth rooting for.
9.
Drusilla, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Who could possibly not love this
complete and utter lunatic? She says the most insane, random things. And yet,
at the same time, so very poetic. Drusilla doesn't have any real 'vampire'
qualities that impress me more than other vamps, but she is nothing if not
totally entertaining. She loses a lot of her speciality after her main season
on Buffy, honestly, but a few
flashback scenes later on still pack that zany "King of Cups"
nuttiness. She does get legitimately
scary for a little while in Angel,
but I think the best Drusilla horror scene is her slow, hypnotic, and wicked
murder of Kendra the Vampire Slayer.
8. Akasha,
Queen of the Damned
This
gal!
It breaks my heart that Aaliyah was killed so shortly after this movie came out
because I watched it once, and I was hooked on her. I realize lots of people
didn't like the film version, but I adored the sensual nature of it, especially
in Akasha. This vamp is not just sexy, she's sexual, and beautiful, and deadly,
and maniacal. If you've read The Vampire
Chronicles you find out so much more about how this creature came to be,
and it is really a terrific, tangled-up story. I'm always going to think of her as this gorgeous creature, though, and
damn if I wouldn't follow her into eternity.
7.
David, The Lost Boys
Keifer
Sutherland's character finds his way to this list mostly because I think The
Lost Boys was something of my first 'real' vampire experience. By that I
mean, this was the first time I really recognized vampires as horror-movie bad
guys, and understood so much of their allure was in their dangerous nature.
David cemented for me how important it is for a vampire to have a really scary
edge, and he might be the reason I so rarely like the 'good boys' of the vamp
world. David will always be my picture of a 'core' vampire: eerily beautiful,
immortal, scary, deadly, and impossible to reform. As a side note: One of the only times I've seen a mullet not look
totally stupid.
6.
Eric Northman, True Blood
Must
have. Gimme Gimme.
I've specifically
chosen Eric's character from the HBO show True
Blood, not from The Sookie Stackhouse
Mysteries. The reason for this is while there's not exactly anything wrong with the book version, the show
version has that wicked edge I like. And Alexander Skarsgård plays him deadly
to the hilt. He's hot, vicious, passionate...just like I like 'em!
Note: Some may think Eric's Viking heritage
was inspiration for the character of Sölva in Lotus Petals, who is also a Viking. Actually, I had conceived of
Sölva many years before being introduced to True
Blood. Frankly, if I'd met Eric first, I might not have made my ultimate
villain share a heritage with him!
#5.
Lestat, The Vampire Chronicles
I honestly don't like either of the two
film versions of Lestat, but I love him in The
Vampire Chronicles book series. Contrary to expectations, though, I don't
find him romantic at all...I simply like his stories and adventures, and his
character in general. The one thing about his stories that game me something of
a twinge was the way The Vampire Lestat
tried to undo all of Lestat's cruelties from The Interview with a Vampire. I got over it fairly quickly and
enjoyed him again as a sort of anti-hero, I just didn't appreciate the way Anne
Rice tried to sweep away his past deeds as all being "for a secret
good".
4.
Spike, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Another anti-hero I
can't help but love, Spike was always the better blood-sucking love interest
from Buffy. He had a better attitude
than Angel, better wardrobe, and when it came to being in love with the girl,
he fought to find a way to get his
soul back. He was never a goody-two-shoes or a true-blue hero, but one of the
most appreciable example of an anti-hero in the vampire world.
3.
D, Vampire Hunter D
Another classic anime vamp from my past,
D holds a sentimental place in my heart. My husband introduced me to D when we
were kids, and it was terrific.
D is a half-vampire, or
a dhampir. Here is another case of a vampire archetype I don't normally
like—the half-human, half-vampire—but D gets away with it thanks to a character
I just can't help but like. He's the strong, silent type, and brushes off human
contact at first blush. When the chips are down, he comes through for those who
need him—while still maintaining that strong, silent demeanor.
2.
Dracula
He will always be the quintessential, perfect
vampire to me, and in my mind he will always be Gary Oldman. There are a lot of
neat, original ideas running around in vampire fiction, and I can appreciate
them when they're clever and good, but when I really want to look to the heart
of vampires, I look back to Vlad Dracul. If there's one vampire Rhiannon
Donovan could ever truly respect, I think it would be him.
1.
Meier
is a romantic/love interest vampire who captivated me the first time I saw Vampire Hunter D, Bloodlust. I think one
thing I love about Meier is that no one ever tries to pretend he isn't exactly
what he is: a blood-drinking creature of the night. Meier is portrayed as the
antagonist and I don't think there is ever any indication to say otherwise—even
from he himself. He loves, yes...but he doesn't pretend he isn't a monster, and
he doesn't intend to redeem himself or become a hero: all he wants is to leave
the human world behind with his beloved and take her to the eternal world of
night, where they can be together undisturbed. Beyond the love story that I
appreciate, Meier is a pretty certifiable badass: he walks out into the sun for
his lady love, faces down a pair of famous vampire hunters, and takes on the
very son of Dracula. I also want to
point out he's beautiful, but in this case I'm referring to the art style of
him: the detail and contrasts in his design appeal to me. I honestly find him
incredibly beautiful character.
Book
cover and blurb
Rhiannon Donovan, daughter to the
vampire Queen, would rather die than be made a bride to a demon Lord. Aijyn,
courtesan to the undead Daimyo of Kansai, can think of nothing more horrifying
than his promise of eternal life. In the
halls of the Blood Lotus Temple, the two women struggle against the chains of
their fate, and find a solace in each other that could mean freedom for them
both... or might cost each of them their lives.
Social
and buy links
Buy
link on Breathless Press: http://tinyurl.com/lm5qk7d
Brantwijn Serrah's page on Breathless Press: http://tinyurl.com/p4bl55r
Brantwijn Serrah's page on Breathless Press: http://tinyurl.com/p4bl55r
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Author
bio
When
she isn't visiting the worlds of immortals, demons, dragons and goblins,
Brantwijn fills her time with artistic endeavors: sketching, painting,
customizing My Little Ponies and sewing plushies for friends. She can't handle
coffee unless there's enough cream and sugar to make it a milkshake, but try
and sweeten her tea and she will never forgive you. She moonlights as a futon
for four lazy cats, loves tabletop role-play games, and can spend hours
watching Futurama, Claymore or Buffy the Vampire Slayer while she writes or draws.
In
addition to her novels, Brantwijn has
had several stories published in anthologies by Breathless Press, including the
2013 Crimson Anthology and 2014 Ravaged Anthology. She's also had a short story published in the
Cleiss Press Big Book of Orgasm and
the anthology Coming Together Through The
Storm. She hopes to have several more tales to tell as time goes on. She has author pages on GoodReads and Amazon,
and loves to see reader comments on
her work. Her short stories occasionally pop up at Foreplay and Fangs, her blog at http://brantwijn.blogspot.com.
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