One thing I've always loved about vampire stories is that there are no hard rules. Vampires can be whatever the author wants them to be as long as they're internally consistent within the story. This makes them extremely versatile monsters that can be constantly re-invented and none of them are "wrong".
For example, sometimes all it takes to turn into a vampire is to be bitten by one. And sometimes you have to drink the vampire's blood to turn. Or, sometimes a vampire can just drain your energy without transferring any blood at all.
Of course, the rules can also get a bit ridiculous. Maybe the vampire is required to obsessively count grains of rice first. Or maybe they're required to hop around with their arms out (the chinese Jiangshi). Maybe they can turn into a wolf, a bat, or... fog.
So what's the most ridiculous rule or type of vampire you've come across?
(For the image on this post I wanted the most ridiculous picture of a Jiangshi I could find. I went with a shot from Robo Vampire which has a really fun RiffTrax. The only other Jiangshi I'm aware of is in the NES game Phantom Fighter... because I've never watched any of the Mr. Vampire movies)
Can't see themselves in a mirror but Dracula always had a perfect parting (from Karl Pilkington of course).
If they kill someone once a day to feed and turn them into a vampire in about a month everyone on Earth today would be a vampire, so the maths said they can't be real.
I never liked the media that had them spread like zombies. Just being bit isn't enough to turn you. You have to not die from it, to start. So not every victim becomes a vampire. I prefer when it's a deliberate choice - like they have to be fed some of the vampires blood or something.
Wait a minute, jou just made me think about something. Vampires cabt see themselves in mirrors, but what about make up? Do they just see floating foundation? Whats the average makeup routine for vampires?
Well, if clothing is also invisible, I think makeup seems pretty likely to be the same.
It occurs to me that they must all do each other's hair (and makeup) which is quite nice of them.
The real question is when did vampire become hot? Nosferatu didn't need a mirror. The original count dracula was a slender man with an unusual height, strength and a pale colour when did not find enough victimes. Then vampires became hot. And cute. Castlevania dracula is closer to bram stoker than almost any other iteration.
There is lots of story where vampires have mitigate or eliminate their affliction for day light, either with evolution, magic, science or something else. We may say they don't have a reflection as a general rule but there are some tricks.
Solvable if conversion success rate is tiny
True, no matter how often they're required to feed, you really can't have vampires living for centuries eating that consistently. And with each new vampire also eating that often, you're burning through humans exponentially.
Best exploration of that was the film Daybreakers, where the bulk of humanity had been converted and the remaining humans were a dwindling natural resource. Great flick!
But do the food source have to die? Lucy in Dracula died of exotion after a exsanguination that lasted of weeks. A lot of lady in distress throughout the story are saved by the MC or their lovers after the vampire took a bit. Also vampire may grow old faster but they are not immortal. They have lots of fatal weakes such as the sun, day light, christanity symboles, hunger, disease, angry humans, suicidal thoughts and so on.
It would be a poor parasite which always killed it's host (and parasitic organisms which always lead to the organisms death while said parasites exponentially reproduce in host body ia different imo).
Vampire bats for one don't really affect the cows and whatnot they suck on afaik. Although that reminds me they have to keep constantly pissing because blood is relatively nutrition poor and they'd just become bags of liquid, so they constantly piss while drinking.
Now imagined Dracula with his schlong in one hand every time he feeds