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