Interview with a Vampirette
On Valentine's Day, most lovers share nothing stronger than heart-shaped mints and Champagne. Within the so-called Gothic Death Rock scene, a fringe group known as 'practicing vampires' express their love by drinking each other's blood. Dwelling in the urban U.S., numbering in the hundreds, these vampires often communicate in underground magazines like Blue Blood, published in Atlanta. Some believe that blood-drinking insures immortality, but most admit - wistfully - that vampirism is more of a life style. What's involved? From her velvet-draped apartment in San Francisco, Danielle Willis, a pale, attractive 30-year-old, shared the details.
At age 10, overwhelmed by a fear of death, Willis began wishing she were a vampire. After spending her adolescence hoping that a fanged creature would fly through her window, she took matters into her own hands in her early 20's. Now she sleeps by day, works at night (she writes Gothic fiction) and drinks blood. Four years ago, she and her boyfriend sealed their commitment by having a dentist cap their incisors with 'permanent fangs' made of procelain.
In practice, though, Willis prefers syringes to draw the 'coppery'-tasting beverage, which she sometimes drinks a cup at a time, gaining a mild psychological rush from the act. 'The human mouth is filthy,' she says. 'Needles provide the minimum mess and the maximum outtake.' She finds blood-drinking far from repulsive - to her it's the ultimate expression of intimacy. 'It's saying that you trust a person enough to take a body fluid that's potentially lethal into your system.' To guard against H.I.V., she limits donors to very close friends who have regular tests.
As for the surrounding rituals, which are sometimes vaguely Satanic, Willis keeps it simple. 'I extract the blood and drink it on the spot. Or I'll put it in a little vial and wrap it up in red velvet.' She has a tiny leather-bound journal, filled with Gothic drawings, prose entries and blood droppings. 'Sometimes I'll create little keepsakes from the blood. Or use it later in magic rituals.' She shrugs apologetically. 'It's really not that exciting.'
Sunday, February 9, 1997: SUBCULTURES