The Search for the Lure of the Dead Boyfriend - Part 3- The Vampire as a Soulmate

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This is a continuation of the earlier articles- The Lure of the Dead Boyfriend- This is Part 3- The Vampire as a Soul Mate

Christine Meloni mentions in her article, “The Rise of Vampire Literature” that in vampire literature females are very accepting of any suitor. They tend not to be judgmental or fearful of the unknown but to look for their equal in any form. These females result in stronger characters than those written in the past (Meloni, 2007, p. 32). These characters and their readers fall in love with these monsters. Katharine Ramsland, professor at DeSales University describes the vampire as larger than life, charismatic entities of power and mystery that once were human. This new vampire displays abilities beyond human limitation. They can defeat death, seduce anyone at will, obliterate their enemies and still stay up all night (Ramsland, Hunger for the marvelous: The vampire craze in the computer age, 1989, p. 42). This is very seductive to the reader.
 

The vampire’s super human abilities are coupled only with their struggle to hate the monster within. They hate who they are and what they have to do in order to survive. Many are doomed to walk the earth and to repent of their sins from their previous life. During this internal struggle, these vampires tend to find their soul mate, that one woman who can deliver them from hell and love them all at the same time. This is the theme of The Templar Vampire Series by Rene Lyons. In this story there are five Templar Knights who fell from the grace of God by straying from his plan during the Crusades. Each of the five Templar Knights suffered a harsh childhood and an even more devastating adult life as a solider for God. They murdered, raped, pillaged, and stole all in the name of religion but as time went on their mission strayed as did their focus and commitment to God. As it was in history, Rene wrote that King Philip IV of France charged the Templar Knights with heresy and had them executed. But, this is where the author’s story changes history in this series of books. Five of the knights, Constantine, Lucian, Tristan, Sebastian, and Raphael were brought back from the dead by the archangel Michael. Michael thrusts his spear and pulls their heart from their chest. He declares that now they can only enter heaven once they find redemption in God’s eyes for all of their sins. He declares them “undead” “vampire” “soulless” and tells them that in order to earn this redemption they must find the Day Star and protect it till the time for their redemption arrives (Lyons, Midnight sun, 2006).
 

In Midnight Sun, Day Star, and Tempting Darkness, the first three of the five that have been published, the Templar vampires struggle with the fact that they must find redemption and that if one of them fail then they all fail. Each book is the romantic adventure and story of each vampire and his chance at love and redemption. Each vampire struggles with who they were, who they have become, and the fear of damnation as each find that “light in the darkness” that makes them stronger and allows them to find redemption. Allison, Lexine, and Jessica are quite girl next door types who may appear fragile but have the strength and courage to help and to handle the love of the vampires, Sebastian, Constantine, and Lucian respectively (Lyons, Daystar, 2007) (Lyons, Midnight sun, 2006) (Lyons, Tempting darkness, 2007). They follow the basic pattern of most vampire romance novels. They are a little fearful and cautious at first; they struggle together through the adventure while denying their love; then an explosive erotic love scene brings the meant to be soul mates together. The romance is the novel.

According to Amanda Hobson, an English graduate student at Ohio University, vampire romance novels typify fairy tale love with soul mates irrevocably bound to each other. She discerns that for the vampire there is an instant physical attraction while for the female there is a dislike because of his gruff manner or her fear of instant attraction to him. (Hobson, 2009, pp. 12-15) In her presentation at the 2009 National Pop Culture Convention, these relationships feel immediately deeper to the reader thus envying the romance. These relationships are usually harder to keep going because the vampire has been waiting centuries for this one girl to come in and help him understand this new emotional tie. The vampire usually has to fight to keep the woman in their life no matter how much he struggles with that. Hobson concludes that these romantic stories appeal more to women looking for that romantic relationship than those looking just for the erotic novel (Hobson, 2009, p. 15).