Ashen Cults (Vampire: The Dark Ages (Paperback))

Countless killers during the 20th century have been inspired by the predatory and seductive manner of the most famous vampire in fiction and film, Count Dracula. Published in 1897 in England, the novel Dracula has never been out of print. According to vampire scholar Martin V. Riccardo, of the approximately 300 vampire movies made since Bela Lugosi played the bloodsucker on the silver screen in 1931, a third have been about the character of Dracula.

The Old Testament warns against the drinking of blood: "But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat." (Genesis 9:4); "Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh." (Deuteronomy 12:23)

In _The_Dracula_Tape_ by Fred Saberhagen, Count Dracula explains that he is not frightened by religious symbols, but that he has such respect for Christianity (being a Catholic himself, as I recall) that he objects to the profaning of sacred symbols by their use against him. He is physically unharmed.

Let's start right in at the beginning then, with the first Renfield. At least, the first Renfield who was actually called by that name. He is a character in Bram Stoker's classic, _Dracula_, who is somehow psychically linked with the vampire.