Boys, ditch the hearts, flowers, and chocolates you’ve got for your valentine this year. If the fangirl climate—I’ll give you the weather update in a while, don’t worry—is any indication, you’ll have better luck with anything involving fangs, blood, and undying lust, I mean, love.

Not that yesterday’s sweet and innocent girls have grown up to be lusty ladies looking for something kinky, but if you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that they just have vampires on the brain. Walk through any bookstore these days and the word just jumps out from the covers: The Vampire Diaries, Vampire Academy, Vampire Huntress, Vampire Kisses, and fine, The Twilight Saga, if we’re being obvious. There must be something in the water that’s making girls everywhere a little too bloodthirsty.

Remember the good old days when a teenage girl’s greatest ambition wasn’t about being kissed by a vampire? Better yet, remember when vampires used to be scary? I hate to sound like a hater—that’s “werewolf” to some of you girls—but back then, bloodsuckers conjured up the eerie silence of the night, punctuated only by the terrifying creak of a coffin being opened, the dreadful sound of a bat flapping its wings, and maybe even the tried-and-tested, spine-chilling wolf howl. But these days, the howling has increased a thousand fold, with the shrill, high-pitched shrieks of teens, tweens, and unfortunate adults piercing the silence. Once again, vampires have induced mass hysteria, but this isn’t your regular crowd of pitchfork-toting villagers out to burn the monsters at the stake. Let’s just say that if vampires truly exist, they’re probably hiding in their coffins because there’s an alarming number of love-starved women who are out to get them.

So why are girls suddenly as ravenous for the material as vampires are for blood? Certainly not for the gore and horror, as today’s cookie-cutter vampire stories are doing away with the grotesque Nosferatus and focusing on pretty boys like Twilight’s Edward Cullen. Whereas traditional vampire lore used to be a source of terror, a spotlight on society’s worst fears ranging from the political (parasitic institutions) to the spiritual (evil spirits and curses), the contemporary vampire tale is all about desire. By all acounts, today’s vampires are decidedly sexier, more passionate, and infinitely more human than the cursed embodiments of evil we used to see back then. Notice how the standard weapons of Christianity —crucifix, holy water, rosary—don’t even matter in these new worlds of vampiredom. Authors of chick-lit and paranormal romances have obviously decreed that vampires just aren’t evil anymore.

Take the case of Twilight, where the vampires have gone “vegetarian,” opting to live on the blood of animals instead of killing humans. While main pretty boy Edward Cullen is often all emo about the fact that he’s a monster with no soul, his beloved human Bella helps him realize that choosing true love can lead to redemption. Interestingly enough, our current young adult bookshelves are filled with hot vampires who have far too many redeeming qualities, much like the dazzling Cullens. All these enigmatic vampire boys are dark, brooding James Dean types (read: the epitome of everything attractive in a man) who are just “misunderstood,” which is why every angsty teenager or adult can relate.

It’s also why the ladies keep swooning over the bad yet beautiful vampires of this hot new genre. Forget necrophilia; the lack of a pulse is only a minor detail in the grand quest for undying love. If all the boys are so overwhelmingly good-looking, caring, and adoring, and they live forever, trust the women to come baring their necks for a bite towards immortality. More than eternal youth, women just want eternal love, and therein lies the appeal of undead romance. The new vampire genre awakens a desire for stability and security; it doesn’t matter if the heart stops beating, just as long as it’s frozen in a state of love for all eternity. We want undead romance because it’s intense, it’s perfect, and it’s forever.

And who can ignore the blatant sexuality of vampires? After all, bloodsucking is a strangely intimate thing. Skim through Anne Rice’s novels or watch True Blood’s “Fangbangers” at work and you’ll have an idea of the seduction involved in the vampire world, but popular young adult books also demonstrate how sexy a little restraint can be. In vampire-human romances, the bloodlust is easily equated to real lust, mixed with the appeal of the forbidden. And the human girl in the relationship, much like Twilight’s Bella, The Vampire Diaries’s Elena, and True Blood’s Sookie Stackhouse, often ups the thrill and suspense as she looks forward to being “turned” to a vampire and living with her beloved forever. Ah, the perks of having a teenage vampire for a boyfriend, and oh, the sexy possibilities!

There’s one thing for people to keep in mind when they let underage daughters, lonely wives, and fanatical girlfriends run wild in the paranormal romance section of the young adult aisle. Simply put, some people could just be depressed or repressed, so this endless fascination with vampires might be a small warning sign that we’re craving a little more something. Maybe it’s sex and passion for some, and beauty and romance for others. But here’s what we’re sure of—it has to be powerful, it has to be perfect, and it has to last forever.

Popular New Titles:

The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer: Spawning four books and three Hollywood movies so far, the series follows the love story of the handsome vampire Edward Cullen and Bella Swan, the human girl whose blood sings to him more than anyone else’s.

Vampire Kisses novels by Ellen Schrieber: Goth teenage girl Raven Madison falls in love and finds out that her handsome boyfriend, Alexander Sterling, is a vampire.

The Vampire Huntress Legend series by L.A. Banks: A Buffy-like heroine, Damali Richards, is the chosen Neteru, who must hunt and fight dark vampires with her guardian team.

The Vampire Diaries series by LJ Smith: Already adapted as a popular television show on The CW (starring Lost’s Ian Somerhalder as one the sexy vampires), the books focus on two vampire brothers, Stefan and Damon Salvatore, who fight for the affections of the human Elena Gilbert.

True Blood series by Charlaine Harris: If you enjoy the HBO series, read the books that spawned the show. The novels follow the adventures of Southern lass Sookie Stackhouse in a world where vampires have come out and revealed themselves in the real world.

House of Night novels by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast: The title refers to the “vampyre” boarding school where youngsters must go to become full-fledged vampires. The books follow the story of teenager Zoey Redbird and the dangers she faces as she goes to vampire school.

Vampire Academy novels by Richelle Mead: Set in another vampire school, the story is about half-vampire Rose Hathaway who must train to be the guardian of a mortal vampire, best friend Lissa Dragomir. The two friends encounter forbidden love and unknown dangers as the novels progress.

Night Watch novels by Sergei Lukyanenko: It’s not really young adult fare, but the 1998 Russian novel and its sequels have remained popular for the story’s unique mix of horror and fantasy. Due to the popularity of the books, they have already been adapted into two movies and a television series in Russia.

Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series by Laurel K. Hamilton: Like the True Blood universe, the vampires in this story have already come out to humans and are considered “normal”. Anita Blake is the main character who plays detective and solves mysteries about these supernatural entities.

The Saga of Darren Shan by Darren Shan: The new fantasy adventure film Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant is actually an adaptation of the first book in four trilogies by the author.

Source: Manila Standard Today
By: Bernice Bautista