By Malice Intended

What is the fascination with vampires?  Check the current popularity of the Twilight films and the HBO series True Blood.  Well there is a cliché in modern movies that says a vampire can’t enter your home unless you invite it in. Why are we not more mindful and wary of the destructive people and forces we allow into our lives?  Very often, our own superficial and careless nature causes us to unknowingly play a role in our own demise. 

 Even the films that employ this device are quick to point out that Vampires never reveal themselves as such when they knock on your front door.  Often, their fangs are hidden by a bright smile.  The Devil never shows his horns, and destructive people never reveal their true agendas. Such people prey on our weakness.  They read us like professional poker players.  Almost any interaction with them becomes a game of emotional Texas Hold ‘Em.  They know all of the “tells”.  They convince you that they only want a friendly game when in fact they are rounders.  They aren’t playing for fun.  They do this professionally.

 As human beings, we can be very superficial and appearance driven and most of us are suckers for a pretty/handsome face and a nice body.  We are taken in by charm, personality and articulation.  We unknowingly wear these vulnerabilities on our sleeve, and emotional vampires sniff and seek them out like blood in the water.

 Even more dangerous is the emotional vampire who is unaware of its own bloodlust.  Some people possess the power, intentions, and appetite of the emotional vampire without realizing it.  They may honestly not see themselves as parasites, and are largely oblivious to the heartache and turmoil they cause.  They don’t realize that their comfort and happiness comes at the expense of someone else’s.  Their survival depends on your destruction.

 Regardless of the level of self awareness, emotional vampires are dangerous.  They drain your energy, your spirit and your confidence.  It’s usually because some part of them is lacking.  They are users of the worst order, leaving emotional death and emptiness in their wake.  When your emotional and spiritual reserves have been depleted, they move on to the next hapless victim.  They take the sound of your lifeless corpse hitting the ground as their cue to leave.  They see your dead body as a monument to your inherent weakness, rather than a testament to their parasitic nature.

 It is very easy to ward off these types.  We just have to reign in our own insecurities and self serving tendencies.  Emotional vampires are able to cross the invisible threshold into our lives because they offer something we desire; whether it’s sex, money, companionship, reassurance, protection, or guidance.  They have their own set of “tells” which unfortunately can only be learned from interacting with them.  Most of us are unaware of their existence until after we have fallen victim to them.

 The good news is that, unlike their mythical namesakes, emotional vampires don’t actually kill you.  They leave you emotionally scarred and weak, but in time you will heal, and your experience with them will become a hard lesson learned.  Just be sure that you learn the right lesson from them.  Like their mythical counterparts, they can spread the very virus they are afflicted by.  Their bite can pass on their powers.  Due to our fearful natures, many of us see this as a preferable alternative to being a victim.  Better to be a victimizer. 

 Emotional Vampires are not to be hunted down, but rather avoided and pitied.  Their good looks will fade via the ravages of age, depriving them of one less weapon to use.  Many of their victims become hipper to the game after each encounter.  These factors cause their pool of victims to shrink rapidly.  Their hunt for survival becomes more desperate.  They search for anyone to latch onto, as the prospect of being alone frightens them just as much as anyone else.  In the end, that’s exactly how they end up once their behavior has ultimately driven everyone away.  That’s when the real pain begins. 

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