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The bite on the neck. The pallor of undead skin. The human shape that casts no shadow and receives no reflection from the mirror. The nocturnal wanderer, the nighttime feeder, the bat... Vampires terrify us because they bridge the human and the non-human. They possess human desires - for nourishment, company, long life. Yet their nourishment is hideous - the human's life blood - and their centuries-long existence brings only pain and loneliness. They look like us yet they are of an alien species. They befriend us - worse yet, seduce and make love to us - while secretly they stalk us and plot out horrible vampiric transformation. Only the cross can protect us. Only a stake through the vampire's heart can save us. But sometimes, we are willing agents of our own doom. Complex and mysterious, the award-winning stories collected here highlight vampires' most curious aspects: their uncanny ability both to attract and repel human beings. We feel ourselves drawn to their strange ways and melancholy manner - even as we are disgusted by their thirst for blood and corpse-like existence. The vampires in this collection are not the fanged villains you've seen in late-night horror film marathons. These vampires are more often beautiful women with luminous eyes and long, flowing locks of hair. Their human lovers succumb willingly to the fatal bites - they prefer an eternity of other-worldly sensual experience to the ordinary life of a human being. These gorgeous vampires lead their prey through urban labyrinths readily familiar to us. They arrive in taxi cabs, they languish in pubs. It is often difficult to determine who is saving whom, who is stalking whom, and who, in the end - the human or the vampire - comes out the winner. Provocative, erotic, and chilling, these stories give new meaning to the idea of The Undead. The role of the Living in this dance of death binding the two worlds together is left for you to decide.