Who are Real Life vampires?
If vampires don't have super human strengths or fangs, it can be confusing when someone says they are a real life vampire. Their symptoms are much different from what most people imagine a real life vampire is supposed to be like, therefore many people jump to conclusions that real life vampires are simply people who just believe they have special abilities that they can't even demonstrate.
According to Belfazaar Ashantison, a real life vampire in New Orleans, the definition of a real life vampire is someone who "believe[s] they have an 'energy leak,' which makes them sick, depressed, lethargic, and say that only by feeding on other people's energy or blood do they feel better" (9). This energy leak cannot be fixed by simple means such as sleeping or eating nutritious food. For more about symptoms, click here.
When one recognizes vampire-like symptoms, sometimes gradual or sudden, and starts feeling a change in energy, that is when they have awakened to be a vampire (15). A change in energy ranges from feeling very different in general or even seeing energy auras around people. Real life vampires can awake from the coffin and become either a sanguinarian or psychic vampire, which are defined by how they address their energy leaks.