*shudder* yes, there's such a thing as 'vampires' / 'vampyres' / 'v4mp1r3s' / 'vymypres' / whatever the latest 'cool' spelling is.
First of all, let's clear up two of the more well-known 'vampire' traits:
- Sensitive to light: This is a medical condition. One of my close friends is very photosensitive, and has very pale skin. It hurts her, sometimes, to go out in bright light. So, yes, some people <b>are</b> sensitive to light.. This is not to say they have a craving for blood, but..
- Blood-drinking: ..This photo-sensitiveness is normally accompanied by anaemia. Lack of iron in the blood, and as such, lack of red blood cells. My friend takes iron pills every day, else she ends up feeling fatigued. However, despite her lack of red blood cells, she <b>doesn't</b> drink blood

. For one thing, the body's not gonna be able to get that iron out of the blood cells when all you're doing is guzzling it down your digestive system.. The cells are rather large, and aren't going to be able to just seep through the walls. If this happened, blood would be leaking out of our veins into our digestive system continually. Yum!
Now we'll talk about 'real-life-vampyres':
- Blood-drinking: Yes, some people do this. They call themselves 'vampires', and drink blood. They'd normally have about a shot of it a day, by taking it from a willing donor who uses a sharp, clean blade to cut themselves and share the blood. They claim it has a lot of 'energy', and they need it to recharge.. In reality, they're probably running a high risk of picking up blood-borne diseases

. Largely, these people have an underlying sexual blood fetish.. Which is probably also the basis of the reason they became a 'vampire'.
Some 'vampire' groups even go as far as to claim that 'vampirism' is some kind of.. genetic trait, which allows them to have super-human strength, agility, etc.. This 'genetic trait' is usually awoken at some point, or the person's genes are mutated by an existing 'natural' vampire who already has the genetic trait. In reality? It's probably all in their heads. Don't you think if there were some way of 'activating' a secret human gene that gives us all super-human abilities, then you'd see a lot more super-human people

?
Anyways.. To answer your question properly, and finally, yes.. There are real-life 'vampires'. These people have pale photo-sensitive skin that hurts when they go out in the sun.. And a lack of red-blood cells, meaning they need to top up their iron levels. There are also, alongside these, several groups of people who like to drink blood for fun, and claim it gives them energy.
(Why I didn't just summarise it like that I don't know.. I guess it <b>is</b> a little late for me to still be awake.. Or should that be early? Haha

).
Elem