1. A blood-sucking ghost; a soul of a dead person superstitiously believed to come from the grave and wander about by night sucking the blood of persons asleep, thus causing their death. This superstition is now prevalent in parts of Eastern Europe, and was especially current in Hungary about the year 1730.
2. Fig.: One who lives by preying on others; an extortioner; a bloodsucker.
3. (Zoöl.) Either one of two or more species of South American blood-sucking bats belonging to the genera Desmodus and Diphylla. These bats are destitute of molar teeth, but have strong, sharp cutting incisors with which they make punctured wounds from which they suck the blood of horses, cattle, and other animals, as well as man, chiefly during sleep. They have a caecal appendage to the stomach, in which the blood with which they gorge themselves is stored.
4. (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of harmless tropical American bats of the genus Vampyrus, especially V. spectrum. These bats feed upon insects and fruit, but were formerly erroneously supposed to suck the blood of man and animals. Called also false vampire. Vampire bat (Zoöl.), a vampire, Vampyrus spectrum
The persons who turn vampires are generally wizards, witches, suicides, and persons who have come to a violent end, or have been cursed by their parents or by the church. (Encyclopedia Britannica)
The legend of the vampire can be traced to approximately 125 AD, where a Upir, a creature with vampire qualities, occurred in Greek mythology. The word Upir is found for the first time in written form in 1047 in a letter to a Russian prince. Upir later became vampire, and some of the early legends came from the far east. Much has been lost throughout history...
Vampires are similar to man in respect that no two are alike. No two men have the same physical abilities, or the same senses of hearing or sight. This is true of vampires as well. As there are several races of man, there are also many races of vampire.
Each race of vampire share similar, although not identical, abilities. Each race of vampire have different origins, unlike man. An example of one race is the Kindred, as portrayed by White Wolf. The Kindred are then further subdivided into "clans." Other examples include the Carpathian race, of which Count Dracula, or Vlad Tsepesh (or Tepes), was descended from.