A century after Bram Stoker made the Vampire one of the most potent images in all literature, the cult of the undead is as alive as ever. Not only on celluloid and in the pages of fiction, but in the S&M clubs of New York City, in Midwest high schools and English pubs, across the forests of Puerto Rico and the jungles of Malaysia, the creature walks among us. In Children of the Night Tony Thorne provides the ultimate account of the history, meaning and resonance of the Vampire. This rich and enthralling work draws upon explorations in Eastern Europe, new theories of the origin of the Vampire and exclusive interviews with contemporary living Vampires, the very latest incarnations of a phenomenon which simply will not die.