Remember when you were a kid and saw Dracula in his coffin? Remember how he would arise after dark and turn into a bat? Remember how he would fly in through a double window riding a blast of fog and wind? Remember how he would attach himself to the neck of a luscious woman while she slept? Remember how even though she became a vampire herself, she still remained under Dracula’s control? Do you remember thinking that this was romantic? If so, this article is for you.
Many years ago, I met a man and woman who were deeply in love. They had married also many years ago and had two kids.
When they were courting, the man and woman ran into episodic eruptions in their relationship. They fought, for example, when they got together with members of the man’s family for holiday dinners. The woman felt left out because the man paid little attention to her and instead spent time talking with his parents and siblings.
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When the woman tried to tell the man about her feelings, he told her that she was overreacting and that her talk of jealousy was unpleasant to hear. He made her feel that there was something wrong with her. She lost self esteem and wished that she had never shown her feelings to him.
Even so, the woman tried to tell the man how she felt each time the situation came up. Each time, he responded as before. The woman decided that she would work on herself and stop feeling neglected. The man was right. She was overreacting. Believing that she had to fix the problem herself, she stopped talking to the man about her feelings. He did not seem to notice.
The man and woman ignored the problem in their relationship until the woman was involved in a serious automobile accident. She was bedridden for months and had to depend on the man for her daily survival.
It was an intense time for her. She was in nearly constant pain and felt demoralized as a result of her inability to do much of anything. She had minimal contact with other people and felt isolated. She worried about whether or not her injuries would heal. She also worried that she would have to live the rest of her life handicapped.
At first the man was very attentive. He was there to fix her meals, take her to medical appointments, and change her bedding. Within relatively short order, however, he became tired of the sacrifice he had to make and wished that the woman would take care of herself. Although he continued to make sure that her physical needs were met, he was gone most of the time working and spending time with friends. The woman felt lonely and depressed.
When the woman again attempted to tell the man of her emotional needs, he cut her off and told her that he had his own life to lead. He felt that he had been doing a good job of
taking care of her and did not appreciate her lack of appreciation. Besides, she was very needy and hard to get along with as she had been throughout their time together. Before giving her a chance to respond, he left the room.
The woman was again alone. It gave her time to think. She thought back to their first meeting.
The woman had met the man at an office party in a hotel late one Friday night. The hotel banquet room was dimly lit and smoky. The woman was about to leave when the man came out of the shadows and engaged her by telling her that he was disappointed that she was leaving the party so soon. He said that he had been watching her all night and wanted to get to know her. The woman felt an immediate deep attraction to the man and agreed to stay a while longer.
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They danced and drank and laughed until the party was over. The woman loved the man’s piercing looks and his apparent strength and power. She allowed herself to be maneuvered to a hotel room and experienced passion she had never felt before. They parted after several hours when the man said that he had to leave because of a busy work schedule the next day.
The woman asked the man to spend the night and hold her. He refused. He was not there for her emotionally. He never had been. He had been out to satisfy his needs without regard to hers all of the time that they were together. The truth made the woman feel sad, but also empowered her.
The woman looked at the relationship more realistically and came up with example after example of the man’s self-centered dependence on her. She took care of the household and yardwork while he went to his health club. She managed the money (which she also earned) and took responsibility for investing it while he visited his family and occasionally looked for a job. She tried to include him in taking care of the responsibilities they had, yet was met with an argument unless his involvement suited his own individual interests. The man was happy to be involved in making
decisions if there was something he could get for himself. If she left him out of these decisions, she would experience his wrath. She loved him and was under his control.
Contrary to scientific opinion, vampires are real. There are bloodsuckers. We all know a number of them. They come in all shapes, sizes, sexes, ages, and colors. They can be found at work, at school, at home, and just about anywhere that blood is to be found.
You can usually spot vampires if you know what to look for. They always have a hungry look in their eyes. Their needs can be overwhelming. They are ravenous and demanding. They will look you over and over to see if you are willing to satisfy them by parting with your blood.
When a vampire believes that you are willing to give up your essence to keep him or her alive, this creature will inevitably show interest in having a relationship with you to keep the supply flowing. You will find yourself hooked by some aspect of the vampire that you find attractive. They are good at reading you.
So how do you keep yourself safe? Hanging garlic around your neck works well to keep vampires away. Unfortunately, garlic will keep everyone else away, too.
Instead, you might try the following. Learn to identify people with a vampire mentality. See if they have been bloodsuckers in the past. Chances are you have not been their first victim. These guys and gals live a long time.
Learn about what makes you vulnerable to being sucked dry. Don’t expose your neck before you are confident that you know how to check for teeth or before your neck is strong enough to resist being punctured.
If you are caught in a vampire’s spell, get far enough away to be safe and get help from family, friends, and people who have experience with vampires.
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Vampires leave you alone if they think that they will not get your blood. If you resist the vampire’s spell and stop feeding him or her your blood, you’ll have taken the first step toward freeing yourself. If the vampire cannot adjust to being deprived and goes for your neck even though he or she is aware of how depleting this set-up is for you, it may be that you will need to drive a stake into the vampire’s heart by ending the relationship and fly away.