Bela Lugosi prepares to seduce (Did I say "seduce?" I meant "bite.") a woman in a still from director Tod Browning's film, "Dracula." (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

October is one of my favorite months. The temperature drops, leaves turn, and suddenly it becomes way more socially acceptable for adults to show up in public places wearing costumes. On top of that, the impending arrival of Halloween gives me a great excuse to spend my working hours researching zombies, werewolves and ghosts. It serves up food for thought for my colleagues, too. Earlier this week, one co-worker posed a question: Why are vampires and sex so inextricably linked?

Thanks in part to the success of “Twilight,” vampires are everywhere in fiction, TV and film right now, and most of them seem to be either reveling in or repressing their sexuality. But the connection between vampires and sex goes back much further than Edward Cullen of “Twilight” or Bill Compton of “True Blood” and “The Southern Vampire Mysteries.” Vampire lore winds its way back to creatures like Lamia. In Greek mythology, Lamia became a blood-drinking monster because Hera was jealous — Lamia had caught the eye of Hera’s husband, Zeus.

But to get a clear sense of the link between vampires and sex, all you have to do is read the world’s most famous vampire novel, Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.” Stoker didn’t invent the genre — he drew on numerous inspirations in literature, history and art. One of these inspirations was the overtly sexual vampire tale “Carmilla,” in which the eponymous woman-turned-vampire preys on an 18-year-old girl. The 1847 book “Varney the Vampire” played a role, too, as did the historical account of 15th-century tyrant Vlad Tepes.

After drawing from all of these elements, Stoker wound up with a novel loaded with sexual elements. Stoker wrote during the Victorian era, which is known today — somewhat erroneously — for being a time of sexual repression. While there’s plenty of tawdriness in Victorian literature, there’s also plenty of sexual metaphor in “Dracula.” Nighttime. Biting. Exposed necks. The exchange of bodily fluids. Being impaled with stakes. You get the picture.

But the thread runs to Stoker’s characters, too, beyond the famous bloodsucker. Lucy Westenra is the book’s most promiscuous character — she gets three marriage proposals in one day and continues to string along her suitors after choosing one. Not surprisingly, she’s also the first woman in the book to fall under Dracula’s influence. Lucy’s counterpart, Mina Murray, is far more reserved (she even teaches etiquette). Mina is more resistant to Dracula’s advances, and she pleads with her fiancée to kill her quickly should she become a vampire. When she realizes what’s happening to her, she’s ashamed.

So vampirism-as-sex has been around for a while — but the idea of the vampire as a tragic hero, denying himself both blood and sex for the sake of love, is a little newer. That’s a topic for another post, though.

Read up on vampires and sex at HowStuffWorks:
How Vampires Work
How Sex Works
Who was the real Count Dracula?