Although different writers have very different takes on the vampire myth, there are many some common attributes of vampires that appear in many or all stories. These attributes include drinking blood, living a long life, and a fear of religious objects.

Drinking Blood

Vampires need blood to sustain them. They get this by biting their human victims, usually on the neck, with their sharp, pointed teeth. (The first fictional work to describe a vampire bite as being made by two sharp fangs was the nineteenth century serialized novel Varney the Vampire.) They must feed on blood regularly or they might die, or else they might go insane and attack anyone they can out of pure hunger, unable to stop themselves.

A variant of this attribute is psychic vampirism, in which the vampire sustains himself not on the blood of his victim but by “sucking” parts of the victim’s life force.

Seduction

Vampires are commonly perceived as incredibly handsome and seductive. This may be a result of turning into a vampire, or it may be a glamour that the vampire is able to produce. Sometimes the vampire’s bite itself is erotic, perhaps used as a stand-in for sex or perhaps to make the victim keep coming back for more.

Weaknesses: Sun, Stakes, Garlic

Sunlight can burn vampires, perhaps even reduce them to ashes. In many versions of the vampire myth, older vampires can develop a resistance to sunlight, and exposure to it will only weaken rather than kill them. The idea that vampires cannot face the sun is a fairly new addition to the vampire myth, invented by Hollywood.

Vampires can be killed by a wooden stake through the heart, the head being cut off, and sometimes by fire. They may turn to dust, or they may leave a body which must be buried in a certain way to prevent their further resurrection.

In many myths garlic will repel vampires, although this is less common in modern fiction. Silver is sometimes a weakness, albeit one more commonly associated with werewolves. They may also have trouble crossing running water.

Vampires can be repelled or harmed by religious objects such as crosses and holy water. The religious objects are usually Christian, although other symbols may be used as well. Sometimes it is the symbol itself that repels the vampire, and sometime the power is based in the faith of the wielder.

Another protection from vampires is the fact that in many cases, vampires cannot enter a house unless they are invited.

Eternal Life and Healing Abilities

Vampires live forever, or at least a very long time, providing they are not killed. Most often they do not age or change physically at all, although sometimes they might age very slowly. This eternal life is related to their ability to heal any wound very rapidly; this healing ability would extend to the molecular level to prevent the degredation of cells.

Each exploration of the vampire myth makes use of some of these common attributes, as well as others that are less common or solely the author’s invention. There are many different versions of the vampire myth that stem from these common perceptions about vampires.