Vampire City

It's Halloween time, so a little about my city and vampires today. New Orleans is considered the mecca of vampires in the U.S. We have local vampires and a steady supply of vampires from around the world who come here to live in vampire Valhalla. Even vampire writer extraordinare', Anne Rice , is a New Orleans native. Since Hurricane Katrina she has "flown away" , but Ann used to have a big, dreary looking mansion that was the site of quite a few strange parties (The annual Lestat ball was a classic) and to public viewing once a week. Why, you can even visit a vampire sighting forum on Nola.com, a local web site.
There are a number of tour companies who show the tourists the vampire presence in the New Orleans French Quarter, and some tourists an local regularly report sightings of the creatures of the night. In fact, a couple of years ago a Microsoft technician was murdered in his hotel room by several gothic types who imagined themselves vampires and tried to drink the fellow's blood. Even today some New Orleanians practice the "sitting of the dead" ritual, in which when a family member dies, someone within the family will stay with the body until it is placed in a burial tomb. This is done to prevent the corpse from succumbing to vampirism and returning from the dead.
New Orleans inherited it's vampires from the European immigrants to the city who came in the 17th and 18th centuries, a time when vampirism was believed to be a real practice. Now New Orleans has developed a mystique as a place vampires like. The French Quarter has always been a seductive and eerie place. Many people have mysteriously disappeared from the Quarter and teenage runaways commonly flock to the French Quarter to hide. It may be the understatement of all time to say also that people considered weird or with a troubled past love New Orleans and come here frequently. It is a forgiving city, one which is tolerant and unconcerned with what others do or who they are.
So....maybe you are wondering if I am vampire. Hahahaha..Oh, my. I think I hurt my fangs when I laughed...