I’m thrilled to have Michele Hauf blogging today about one of my favorite subjects, vampires!

Buffy did it best.  You have to admit, when it came to killing vampires, she had style, efficiency, and even excellent banter thrown in to boot.  One stab of her stake and the vampire ashed.  End of threat.  (Unless there were more of his buddies waiting in line.  Run, buddies run!)  All Buffy needed was a wooden stake, and she was ready to rock.

The methods to killing vampires varies vastly.  From author to author, I suspect, you’ll find many similarities, but as well, differences.

In Dracula, Stoker could fend off vampires with garlic and holy water.  You had to stake the vampire in the heart (or drive a stake through the heart of a dead vampire) and then you should also cut off his head.

The head-cutting-off part has fallen by the wayside in current vamp-killing methods, though I’m sure some authors still utilize that messy addition to the staking.

In my world of Beautiful Creatures, vampires are a tough kill.  And yet, not.  It simply requires the stake, but it’s got to pierce the heart (no where else on the body will deliver that killing blow).  The heart bursting is key to my vampires’ deaths.  You can run a rapier through the longtooth’s heart, pull it out, and he’ll just sneer at you as the tiny cut heals and he lunges for you with his fangs.  Make sure the stake (or item used to pierce the heart) is thick enough to rip that organ apart and cause true death.  Then the vampire ashes (clothing burning in the process) and falls to a heap at the hunter’s feet.  If they are a newer vampire, they won’t ash.

Sunlight may or may not kill a vampire.  Again, it varies from author to author.  My world follows Stoker’s idea that the vampire could walk during the day but his powers are lesser.  My vampires will eventually start to burn under the sun, so they do avoid it.  There is a specific strain of the vampire breed in my world that will instantly burn, and ash when touched by sunlight.

These are just a few methods to ending a vampire’s life.  What are some other methods you’ve read about and how did you find them to fit into the accepted ‘norms’ for usual vampire deaths?

You can find Michele at:

http://michelehauf.com

http://pinterest.com/toastfaery

http://twitter.com/michelehauf

Michele’s Facebook page

Michele’s Club Scarlet

Want to learn more about BEAUTIFUL DANGER? Here’s the blurb:

Could Her Sworn Enemy Lead Her Out of Darkness?

As a member of an ancient order of vampire hunters, Lark has found that eliminating dangerous vampires is about more than duty. It’s personal—a kill for every day her husband was held captive before his death. Staking her prey isn’t a challenge until she confronts Domingos LaRoque. Mad with vengeance and the blood of a powerful phoenix, Domingos tests her skills…and seduces her soul.

Once a talented musician, Domingos can’t escape the constant music in his head…or his need to destroy the werewolf pack that tortured him. Though trusting the hunter ordered to kill him can be his gravest mistake, the dark desires between them can’t be refused. Yet as he and Lark become allies to defeat a mutual threat, loving the enemy may be the ultimate sacrifice.

Visit Lark and Domingos’ Pinterest page!

Thanks to Michele Hauf for blogging today!

Be sure to answer Michele’s question about killing vampires! Leave a comment below.

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