Vampire

     Vampires have been on my mind lately, mainly because I am reading "A Discovery of Witches", a book all about a witch falling in love with a vampire. Tre`s tragique! Oops- did I mention he's french? Halloween is also coming up soon, and vampire's get a lot of screen time around our house then, too. Movies, decoration, costumes...it's hard not to think of vampire's this time of year.
     But I want to think of vampires in a slightly different...vein, this year. So I am brainstorming on vampires this morning, thinking of all the different forms they take, areas they inhabit, myths they star in. I am wondering about their hit dice, specifically, and their points of origin, generally.
     Where can a vampire logically be located? Why does he have to be there, and nowhere else? Is logic a part of his appearance, or can he be thrust into the realm of the incongruous without damaging his credibility? Does he still work if everyone notices him?
     If you notice something out of the ordinary, it can create one or two responses. The heightened awareness works for the event, or it works against the event. It can break a game to have to specific a rule, or it can make the fight that more realistic and visceral. That monster in my bedroom can be scary, or it can just be explained away by my bored mind.
     Vampires have been in the public eye now for decades; in role playing games, television series, several modern fantasy books and many, many  movies. Do they still evoke a sense of drama, a slight frisson of delicious fear and revulsion- or do they vanish in the light of logic's reason, like a puff of smoke...