Popularity of vampires spawns subculture: scholar    • Currently
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University sociologist D.J. Williams, newly hired as a
consultant for a proposed television documentary about "self-
identified vampires," said true modern acolytes of Dracula seek
consensual blood-sharing relationships.  The popular fascination
with vampires dates back to the 1897 publication of Bram
Stoker's "Dracula", and later books such as Anne Rice's "The
Vampire Chronicles."  But it exploded in recent years with the
best-selling "Twilight" series of novels by Stephenie Meyer and
movie adaptations. The seductive vampire character Edward Cullen
in the movie, played by actor Robert Pattinson, became a teen
idol and made vampires cool.   Vampire mania has spawned an
international subculture that strongly relates to traits
associated with mythical vampires. They are believed to be
seductive beings unafraid to explore the dark side of human
nature that is usually masked for the sake of socia