Guest Blogger – Author Caroline Hanson: Best vampires EVER…I think. Or probably. Certainly for the moment.

Today’s post is about my three favorite vampires. But it’s hard to narrow it down to just three. Even VampireNovelFan’s guest post on my blog could only highlight her favorite vampires in newer series.  Depending on the criteria, my choices might change. For example, if the category was best pedophelic vampire, obviously I would choose Edward. If it was hottest gay vampire it would probably be a toss up between Lestat and Ivy. So how did I decide which three are my favorite? I chose a vampire I’m currently obsessed with, one that is my all time fave and one that inspired me as an author.

#3- The Vampire I’m currently obsessed with. Elijah- Vampire Diaries

Elijah hasn’t had a ton of face time but every time he shows up on the screen I’m drooling. He’s everything a vampire should be– rich, aloof, hot and charismatic. He will kill to get things done and he’s smart. And yet, like all dynamic vampires he has a weakness- his family. That makes him a well rounded character and one I want to see over and over again. He also comes across as quite cold and distant which makes me wonder what sort of woman would melt that icy exterior. As far as I’m concerned, he’s O positive.

#2- Favorite Book Series Vampire- Jean-Claude from Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake Series.

Before Charlaine Harris’ Eric Northman there was Jean-Claude. I guess before either of them there was Lestat, but he is gay and therefore does not make the list. I always joke that one of the great things about vampires is that it’s another form of penetration. But it’s one of those jokes that has a lot of truth to it. And If I know the vampire has no interest in penetrating my gender, why bother?

JC has no penetration problems. In fact, he plays for everyone’s team. Male, female, dead, alive, Were, etc. You name it, he’s done it. Despite his skanky ways, he has the necessary credentials: he’s devious, sexy, European, rich and a bit tortured.

I was never sure what his agenda was but wanted to believe he would do right by Anita given half a chance. I’ve read and re-read those books because Hamilton brought her vampires to life. It was the first series I read where my mouth hung open in shock and I thought ‘did she just write that?’ which is an enviable and bold trait in an author. Readers want their author’s to not only bare their souls but convince them their characters are real and worth fighting for.

#1- My all time favorite vampire is…Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

I love Joss Whedon, the man who was the brains behind BTVS. I even have a ‘what would Joss do?’ t- shirt and it’s something I try to write by. He’s the king of complex characters. And Spike is the perfect example of that. He’s not the oldest vampire around, I think he’s under 200. He was supposed to be a one episode vamp but was so scene-stealing that Joss couldn’t bear to kill him off.

His back-story was spun out over seven seasons and he went from incompetent villain who’s girlfriend cheated on him with any monster that strolled by, to a demon fighting good guy. In his human life he was a terrible poet and a mama’s boy and yet he became a Billy Idol-esque romantic hero.

Here is his most famous poem:

“My soul is wrapped in harsh repose,
Midnight descends in raven-colored clothes,
But soft… behold!
A sunlight beam
Butting a swath of glimmering gleam.
My heart expands,
’tis grown a bulge in it,
Inspired by your beauty…
Effulgent.”

See? It’s terrible!

But he wasn’t just a bad poet, he was thoroughly repulsive. He licked up his own nose blood, beat up some nerds and forced them to create him a Buffy sex doll, lived in a dumpy crypt and was not (by his own admission) ‘much of a thinker’ but despite that he’s my favorite.

Spike was passionate. In the end, he changed who he was for Buffy, so that he could be a good enough monster for her to love. He sacrificed his life for her and took care of those that she loved. For me, Spike’s most swoon-worthy moment is after Buffy comes back from the dead and he tells her that he knows he failed her when it counted, then he says, “But I want you to know I did save you. Not when it counted, of course, but…after that. Every night after that. I’d see it all again…do something different. Faster or more clever, you know? Dozens of times, lots of different ways…Every night I save you.”

And I think that is the fantasy we want when we read PNR/UF. We want the hero to change and be reformed/redeemed even if it takes hundreds of years to get there. It’s reading about love that transcends mortal lives and limited emotion. It’s love so intense that we are consumed by it, and know that for all of the centuries, all of the different women who lived, only one was ever special enough to make an impact.