What exactly is a Vampire? There have been many different thoughts to this question, and when you consider it, the answer is really very simple. As you will see here, a Vampire has been considered to be many different things; Let's see if we can sort this out a little bit.

A Devil?
Vampires are sometimes talked of as devil spawns or even the devil itself. But the bible refers to the devil as a "fallen angel". Vampires are definatly not angels. They have bodies while angels do not. This should prove that Vampires are not devils.

A Demon?
To answer this we need to understand what a demon exactly is. Demons, simply put, are spirits which can enter and posses human bodies. The very same, however, could be said of a vampire because the person's spirit continues to reside in the body, creating an animated corpse. A demon is able to pop in and out of a body as it chooses, but can also be expelled. A vampire is, on the other hand, is unable to leave the body once it takes up residence.

A werewolf?
Vampires and Werewolves were once considered the same creatures in folklore. One reason for this could be Dracula's ability to take the form of a wolf. But as time progressed, this legend split. Other than the fact they can shape shift, there is no real proof that Vampires are not werewolves. Very few people these days actually believe that vampires can alter their shape. The thought of a full grown man changing into a tiny little bat or a wolf is not logical.

In The Movies?
In fiction, a Vampire is undead. This term does not mean he/she is dead or living, but rather existing in limbo, a place between life and death. The undead are said to exist in two dimensions, ours and another, which allows the undead to remain animated. Most organs of the Vampire, excluding the heart and brain, no longer function. With no other organs the Vampire must keep the blood from becoming impure; it accomplishes this by consuming fresh blood, which revitalises the Vampire, giving it strength it would not normally have. The blood-rush they get is addictive, so a Vampire may feed several times a night to sustain its body. If it does not consume enough blood its skin begins to show signs of decay, appearing as if it is ageing. Without blood a Vampire becomes vulnerable, for most of a Vampires powers only work when it has enough fresh blood, and each time it makes use of its powers, it is the freash blood which feeds and sustains that power.

A Vampire generally has a pale complexion, unless it has recently fed, in which it shows signs of some colour, but even this fades quickly. Their eyes are set in deep, dark sockets, which disguises its eyes. In recent movies the eyes are also different from normal eyes, sometimes a hovering pupil on a white ball, other times the iris would have an unnatural glow that can be seen at night. Their lips are full and coloured red, and beyond the lips are the Vampire's trademark, the fangs. Fangs, however, only apply to the stage Vampire; the folklore vampire was never described as having fangs, in fact, parts of Eastern Europe believe that the Vampire had a barb on the end of its tongue, which it used to drill into its prey. Some shows a Vampire with perminate elongated canines, where as others grew their fangs only when they hungered for blood.

In the movies and television shows, some Vampires will dress according to the time they exist in whike others adopt an old fashioned look, but in all cases they pride themselves on their appearance. Some outfit themselves in bright colours and others wear black; this, however, does not apply to all Vampires, especially in folklore. In folklore, some Vampires are part beast in appearance, as is typically found in China and the reverents of mid-Europe. The general public prefers to imagine the vision of an early eighteenth-century garb or an aristocratic look, which is the way most movies will potray them.

In Conclusion
Now that we have looked at all of these statements, the simple answer is that a Vampire is exactly what it appears to be; a Vampire. There are many different ideas of what a Vampire could be. Bram Stoker created a creature who seduced and then created others like himself. He could shape shift, climb walls and control the weather and creatures around him. Much unlike Nosferatu, who was hideously deformed and could not hide the fact that he was a Vampire behind a handsome appearence. He also did not posses many of common myths with which people identify Vampires. What I am getting at is that Vampires are Vampires. Nothing more, nothing less.