sometimes guzzling nearly two litres a month.
Julia Caples, 45, has been sucking theblood of willing donors for more
than 30 years.
She meets fellow vampire enthusiasts at a local occult and oddities
store where she cuts them with a pagan-style knife before lapping up
their blood.
She believes it keeps her young and vigorous, just like the ageless
bloodsuckers from movies such as Twilight.
The blood-thirsty care worker claims there is a huge sub-culture of
blood drinkers across the world.
But she is trying to keep her strange hobby away from son Alexi, 11.
And daughter Ariel, 24, hates her mum's obsession – urging her to
stop.
Julia, from Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania,US, said: "When I feed off of a
personand drink their blood I feel stronger and healthier.
"I know scientifically there's not a lot of nutrition in blood, but
maybe there's some value we haven't discovered yet.
"I feel more beautiful than any other time when I'm regularly drinking.
"I'm also extremely healthy with no major health problems, and I have
anabundance of energy all the time.
"At times I've drunk half-a-gallon a month."
Julia's fascination with blood began as a young girl, during her first
kiss as a teenager, when she got the urge to bite her sweetheart.
She said: "It was my natural instinct and I liked the taste. I just
got an urge and can't really explain it. It's never gone away.
"Needless to say though, he never kissed me again."
But Julia did not start drinking blood regularly until she met her now
ex-husband Donald, 49.
Counsellor Donald and Julia got married in a vampire-themed wedding in
October 2000 and even drank from each other to celebrate.
The pair became part of a sub-culture of vamp fans who visitedNew York
nightclubs and drink from each other.
But when the pair had son Alexi, Donald vowed never to drink again.
He said: "I gave up, so Julia didn't have to. We agreed that one of us
would need to stop and focus on parenting full time.
"Julia still likes to drink, but she's alsoan amazing mother, and her
childrencome first. She'd never let it stop her mothering her kids."
Despite his mum's efforts to keep herlifestyle secret from him, Alexi
is beginning to suspect his mum's ghoulish ways.
He said: "We have all these decorations at home like coffins and
dolls. I'm starting to think she's a vampire."
And Ariel said: "I think she runs a lot of health risks. I worry she
might geta disease from someone through theblood."
Julia, who blogs about vampirism using her online persona Lady
DarkRose, says she's aware of the health dangers, but all her donors
are tested before she'll drink from them.
She added: "I meet some donors online but I absolutely have to meet
them in person first.
"And they have to get blood tests to make sure that they're not
carrying any blood-borne diseases like AIDS or HIV"
Haematologist Steven Gruenstein, from the Mount Sinai Hospital in NewYork, said:
"There are risks involved. HIV, hepatitis and other viral and
bacterialillnesses can be transmitted through blood, so though these
risks are not large, they are real and it would be an unnecessary
danger.
"Blood does contain chemicals like salt, iron, protein, and people
might be driven to drink it because of a deficiency of iron or some
other chemical."
He added: "There has been a resurgence of cult drinking blood
vampirism in this country and throughout the world, possibly down to
all these TV shows and movies that have become so popular."
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