Vampires

Vampires are a type of undead found in fiction. They are generally seen as nocturnal, fanged creatures who feed on a life essence, usually blood, to live. Though there has been many variations, the most famous vampire, Count Dracula, is typically seen as the standard for vampires.

Vampires in Fiction
Vampire lore has been around in almost every culture before being made famous by the Christian Church and other vampire literature. It was John Polidori's 1819 novella, The Vampyre, that set the stage for the suave, charismatic nobleman vampire, later inspiring the widely famous Bram Stoker novel, Count Dracula.

Ancient Legends
The Vampire had several variations among cultures, but creatures of the night that fed on human's life sources have been around for ages. It was the Christian Church that established a norm for the vampire, an undead human who fed on blood, with many Christian and demonology subtexts.

Popular Culture
Vampires have been a huge part of popular culture, with countless books, movies and games centering around them. Count Dracula is one of the most famous vampire novels, followed by other notable novels such as Varney the Vampire, a gothic horror story and Carmilla, a lesbian romance story. While Dracula saw the vampire as more of a contagious demon, Varney and Carmilla are seen in a more sypmathetic light.

Modern times have valuable contributions to the vampire phenomenon as well. Anne Rice's highly popular Vampire Chronicles, which draws prospects from more classical options, such as being harmed by Christian artifacts, garlic and sunlight. Probably the most famous (and infamous) vampire novel series is the Twilight series, which ignored the effects of crosses and garlic, and changed being harmed by sunlight to simply gliterring when exposed to it.

Blade films and the film Buffy the Vampire Slayer feature vampires as antagonists and expendable. The Vampire Diaries also features themes such as romance and sexuality into the gory subtext.

Description
Vampires have varied greatly throughout every representation, and their characteristics are entirely up to the author. However, the "norm" of vampires is pale skin, fangs, and the need for blood or some other life force. They are mostly displayed as downright demons, especially through Christian interpretations, but have been given more human qualities over the years.

Some abilities given to vampires are invisibility, transforming (usually into a bat or some other nocturnal creature), hypnosis and the inability to have a shadow or reflection.

Vampires in Monster High
Vampires in Monster High draw many classical characteristics, such as pale skin, pointed ears and the inability to have a reflection. While they still feed on blood, it isn't as prominent of a need as seen in other fiction. It is mentioned they are an exclusively aristocratic race, relying on "inferior" monsters, such as zombies, to do work for them. While Draculaura, the main vampire in the series is seen as innocent, other vampire characters, like Bram Devein and Gory Fangtell, are seen as cruel and haughty.