Any books with a normal dude and a female vampire?

[Jeivar]

The whole "female lead with scary vampire boyfriend" subgenre of urban fantasy really should count as its own separate genre by this point, given how popular it is.

I suddenly started wondering: Is there no reverse to this? Where it's a normal (-ish?) dude with a vampire girlfriend? Or at least has some sexual tension with a fanged femme fatale? I'm suddenly pretty interested in it being the dude who has to show trust, and/or carefully manage his feelings for a powerful, dangerous entity. It certainly would be a good show of non-fragile masculinity.

Can you think of any books that have this dynamic?

Oh, and despite the title it doesn't have to a vampire, specifically. Just any powerful supernatural.

[The Glyphstone]

Would you accept a story about a male vampire lead and a scary female girlfriend? There's an entertaining series called Fred The Vampire Accountant, which is almost 100% Exactly What It Says On The Tin - Fred is a vampire, but he's also unathletic and very timid, whereas his girlfriend is a badass supernatural-fighting agent for the Masquerade-enforcing secret government agency.

[Khedrac]

Not a book, but the Highlander: The Raven spin-off series met this trope.

[Brother Oni]

The whole "female lead with scary vampire boyfriend" subgenre of urban fantasy really should count as its own separate genre by this point, given how popular it is.

I suddenly started wondering: Is there no reverse to this? Where it's a normal (-ish?) dude with a vampire girlfriend? Or at least has some sexual tension with a fanged femme fatale? I'm suddenly pretty interested in it being the dude who has to show trust, and/or carefully manage his feelings for a powerful, dangerous entity. It certainly would be a good show of non-fragile masculinity.

Can you think of any books that have this dynamic?

Oh, and despite the title it doesn't have to a vampire, specifically. Just any powerful supernatural.

Aah! Megami-sama! (Oh My Goddess!) fits the bill - ordinary mortal gets the Norn Verdandi as a girlfriend due to a poorly worded wish.

[Trafalgar]

In Anne Rice's The Mummy or Ramses the Damned, Cleopatra has a fling with a guy. Cleopatra is an immortal, not a vampire but is very similar to one. I can't remember too much as it has been at least two decades since I read it and is not one of Anne Rice's better books.

[Tvtyrant]

The whole "female lead with scary vampire boyfriend" subgenre of urban fantasy really should count as its own separate genre by this point, given how popular it is.

I suddenly started wondering: Is there no reverse to this? Where it's a normal (-ish?) dude with a vampire girlfriend? Or at least has some sexual tension with a fanged femme fatale? I'm suddenly pretty interested in it being the dude who has to show trust, and/or carefully manage his feelings for a powerful, dangerous entity. It certainly would be a good show of non-fragile masculinity.

Can you think of any books that have this dynamic?

Oh, and despite the title it doesn't have to a vampire, specifically. Just any powerful supernatural.

There's a whole fictional genre about were-panther women with normal but hot boyfriends they can tear to shreds. My cousin reads them, it's usually plots like "super powered female wolverine rescues emotionally abused guy by steering him from being a prostitute/underwear model to being her monogamous assassin partner."

I bet you can find an enormous amount of that online too. It's all probably pretty lemony though.

[Jeivar]

There's a whole fictional genre about were-panther women with normal but hot boyfriends they can tear to shreds. My cousin reads them, it's usually plots like "super powered female wolverine rescues emotionally abused guy by steering him from being a prostitute/underwear model to being her monogamous assassin partner."

That's... extremely specific.

I have never, ever, even heard of this existing. I'm not doubting you. Just saying.


I bet you can find an enormous amount of that online too. It's all probably pretty lemony though.

What's "lemony"? English is a second language.

[Vahnavoi]

Not a vampire movie, but I'm just watching a really low quality movie called "Bury the Ex" which is about a guy having trouble with a girl they wanted to break up with returning from the grave, demanding commitment. :smalltongue:

[The Glyphstone]

That's... extremely specific.

I have never, ever, even heard of this existing. I'm not doubting you. Just saying.



What's "lemony"? English is a second language.

It's a slang term used to describe fan-fics with explicit sexual content, with the implicit stereotype that the smut is both poorly written and detracts from the story as a whole. Also used as a slang term for automobiles with severe and potentially crippling mechanical problems, but I think it's the first definition here that applies.

[Vahnavoi]

Basically its smut that makes you cringe like sucking a lemon. :smalltongue:

[Tvtyrant]

It's a slang term used to describe fan-fics with explicit sexual content, with the implicit stereotype that the smut is both poorly written and detracts from the story as a whole. Also used as a slang term for automobiles with severe and potentially crippling mechanical problems, but I think it's the first definition here that applies.


Basically its smut that makes you cringe like sucking a lemon. :smalltongue:

I always thought it was called that because it had a very narrow apeel.

[Murk]

Didn't the author of Twilight also once write a gender-bent version of the book? That would be the exact thing you're asking about!

Oh yes, she did (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_and_Death:_Twilight_Reimagined), and it's exactly Twilight except everyone has different names. So yay, gender equality. I guess.

[Iamyourking]

They were broken up at the time she was turned and never completely got back together, but there's Felix Jaeger and Ulrika Magdova Straghov from Gotrek and Felix. In her spin-off trilogy she has a couple more pseudo-relationships as well.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

I feel sure I've seen this a couple of places, but I'm struggling to remember examples.

"Ow, My Sanity" is a webcomic with a similar premise (swap "vampire" for "eldritch abomination taking human form"), but has been abandoned for the last few years.

It comes up a couple of times in The Dresden Files, though it's not a perfect match. Harry is a wizard, and so an absolute powerhouse when given time to prepare, but in a lot of fights he's essentially a fit dude with a couple of tricks, and several of those times he relies on his love interests to protect him.
The main example being of course half-vampire Susan, but he's also been in a similar boat with Lara Raith protecting him, and the possibility of a romance between the two has been growing.

Ah, and there is a TV Tropes page devoted to the premise, Boy Meets Ghoul (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BoyMeetsGhoul).

[TeChameleon]

Ah, and there is a TV Tropes page devoted to the premise, Boy Meets Ghoul (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BoyMeetsGhoul).

That's actually a sub-trope of the larger Magical Girlfriend (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MagicalGirlfriend) trope, which is basically all about normal schlub with super-girlfriend to one degree or another, although a lot of the time it's more wish-fulfillment where the guy is some random loser getting an awesome girlfriend. But that trope page should at least give you a place to start (assuming you ever come back out again :smalltongue:).

[Ramza00]

Well the modern "aristocrat" vampire (instead of the more ghoulish undead) was written by John William Polidori in 1819 with "The VAMPYRE" a short story.

John William Polidori being the male lover of Lord Byron, and after they broke up he wrote this work of fiction. Note John participated in the Lord Byron ghost story contest which inspired Mary Shelley to later write Frankenstein, The Modern Prometheus. Byron told something that would be similar to a Vampire story that night, and after the two of them broke up John based The Vampyre on his ex. We have writtings both by Byron and John of this chronologically of events and how Lord Byron considered The Vampyre to be fully John's even if Byron told a similar story.

-----

Likewise the most famous aristocratic vampire story is Bram Stoker's Dracula. Stoker being a closeted man married to a women, and we know this fact due to the private letters between Bram and Walt Whitman. Letters scholars labeled as homoerotic. Sidenote in earlier letters to Whitman Stoker references those Romantics I mentioned before of Shelly, Byron, Mary Shelly, etc wanting to recreate a friend group similar to what existed decades prior.

Bram was married to Florence Balcombe. Before Florence married Bram, Florence was engaged to Oscar Wilde. Bram started writting Dracula the month of Oscar Wilde's trial. My point here is themes of LGBT but also the Imperial Gothic pervade the two most famous Aristocratic Vampire stories. Imperial Gothic being stuff like Colonialization infecting the UK homeland, for example Dracula learning the English language, buying property, and so on. [ A better example of Imperial Gothic is Stoker's less famous work The Jewel of Seven Stars, a novel about an Egyptian Queen Mummy, which inspired many future Black and White and Color Movies ]

-----

What I am trying to say here is that the most famous examples of the Vampire Genre are tied to the desires and fears of not the authors, but the culture they were being written in. There is a chimera nature to said story, the vampires representing something forbidden like Men Love Men or Women Love Women, but also an Outsider Loving an English "Noble" Woman either by true love or some form of seductive trick like a spell, money, or the glance of the eyes.

Now Vampires are so popular now that the original genre is not just works of Imperial Gothic anymore. A creature we call a vampire can be in a general Urban Fantasy story, or it can be in an empowered Coming to Age story with a Female Heroine on a broadcast tv station, or dozens of other things.

The archetype was created, and when you deviate from the archetype you are now in conversation (like a mirror) with the original popular thing. Even if the people who made it popular are long dead since Dracula was published in 1897 and thus there is a more gradual reinvention with each new story where you can't draw bright lines where one ends and another begins.

[Rynjin]

The Merry Gentry series stars a sexually uninhibited princess of the Unseelie Fae and I'm sure at least one of her partners is normal. Most are at least "more normal" or less powerful than she is, like the one guy I remember whose entire powerset seems to be turning into a seal (the animal).

I liked these books a lot when I was a teenager, but for some reason came back to them a lot less once I had easy access to the internet.

[Giggling Ghast]

Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story is a novel with a comedic vibe about a redheaded vampire and her human boyfriend. It’s by Christopher Moore.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodsucking_Fiends

I haven’t read it, but I know of it.

[The Glyphstone]

The Merry Gentry series stars a sexually uninhibited princess of the Unseelie Fae and I'm sure at least one of her partners is normal. Most are at least "more normal" or less powerful than she is, like the one guy I remember whose entire powerset seems to be turning into a seal (the animal).

I liked these books a lot when I was a teenager, but for some reason came back to them a lot less once I had easy access to the internet.

You gotta admit, having the magical power to transform into a SEAL (the soldier) would be fairly unusual.

[Rynjin]

I felt the need to specify because the amount of times I've seen people in fantasy series turn into metaphorical or literal seals (like to keep something closed/trapped) ran through my head as I said it. =p

[HolyDraconus]

Aah! Megami-sama! (Oh My Goddess!) fits the bill - ordinary mortal gets the Norn Verdandi as a girlfriend due to a poorly worded wish.
I second this. It’s hilarious to me.

I always thought it was called that because it had a very narrow apeel.

…… you are evil…

[Berserk Mecha]

Does Corpse Bride count? It's a stop-motion film made by Tim Burton about a guy who hooks up with an animated corpse girl.

[Clertar]

The Little Vampire novel series has the regular kid protagonist sort-of date the titular vampire's little sister.

[Ibrinar]

There are some, most I can vaguely remember are YA though. Anna Dressed in Blood was pretty good (dangerous ghost girl not vampire ) not a fan of the ending though.

[jayem]

Focusing slightly more on TV I guess you have The Munster's :)

...of course they think they are all 'normal', and the town don't think Herman is a normal dude

and Jonathon/(Lucy&)Mina from Dracula

I suspect there's a societal expectation thing that changes the dynamics. I was going to make the Dracula example another joke, but I think I'll leave it.

So when it comes to unbalanced relationship Bewitched and Sabrina cover some of the similar space (mortal/human) but with (Good)Witches and more or less have to suppress themselves.
The planet from Foundations Edge/Earth possibly also (and on that basis Trance-Gemini from Andromeda).

There are a number of ones where the girl is Fairy/Goddess (all of Tom Holts for a start), but again that tends to be the reveal at the end. Some others where the wild woman is subdued and tamed.

[paddyfool]

I hear that Let The Right One In and the film of the same name that was based on it are worth a look: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/943402.Let_the_Right_One_In

EDIT: Oh yes, and the American remake of that film, titled Let Me In is reportedly good too.

[Wraith]

Perhaps unsurprisingly, TV Tropes has a pretty big list of Magical Girlfriends (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MagicalGirlfriend) that run the gamut from vampires and werewolves, up to goddesses and similarly cosmic entities.

I can personally account for Neverwhere and Stardust, both by Neil Gaiman. There's shades of it in another of his books, American Gods, which I think is the better story but [SPOILER] the male protagonist turns out not to be as ordinary as he first realised by the end so it might not quite count.

[gomipile]

The Georgina Kincaid series by Richelle Mead is an urban fantasy series about a succubus with a human man as her main love interest.

I enjoyed the series, but you might want to read some reviews of the first book, Succubus Blues, before deciding if it might be for you. I'd definitely class it as aggressively "not for everyone."

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Going back to webcomics, My Succubus Girlfriend (https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/my-succubus-girlfriend/list?title_no=116486) and Spells from Hell (https://www.webtoons.com/en/fantasy/spells-from-hell/list?title_no=2431) are both pretty close, featuring a demon and kitsune respectively instead of vampires. The former is on indefinite hiatus, though.

[Ramza00]

I want another Bryan Fuller type Hannibal show, and I would accept a Female Dracula type figure corrupting the Will Graham type figure so it will be different than BF’s Hannibal.

Especially if the Female Vampire coded figure is like Hela of Thor Ragnarok or Morticia Addams of The Adams Family. Give her a different fabulous outfit or three every week in each individual episode.

[Bohandas]

Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story is a novel with a comedic vibe about a redheaded vampire and her human boyfriend. It’s by Christopher Moore.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodsucking_Fiends

I haven’t read it, but I know of it.

I was about to suggest this as well

[Dragonexx]

There's the Manga series Chibi Vampire/Karin. It also has an Anime (though it goes in a completely different direction than the manga) and some tie in Light Novels for the manga.

[Ionathus]

Perhaps unsurprisingly, TV Tropes has a pretty big list of Magical Girlfriends (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MagicalGirlfriend) that run the gamut from vampires and werewolves, up to goddesses and similarly cosmic entities.

I can personally account for Neverwhere and Stardust, both by Neil Gaiman. There's shades of it in another of his books, American Gods, which I think is the better story but [SPOILER] the male protagonist turns out not to be as ordinary as he first realised by the end so it might not quite count.

Neverwhere and Stardust are both good examples of "mundane guy, powerful gal," though they do both lean pretty heavily on that "in way over his head" style from Harry Potter, where it starts to strain credibility that this random schmuck could survive this long surrounded by much more competent allies and enemies. I'm beginning to suspect Mr. Gaiman had a bit of either wish fulfillment or a certain type of competent female love interest he liked to write.

Season 4 of Buffy also features a pretty mundane dude with a competent supernatural woman. Not everyone liked that romance but I thought it was handled pretty well.

Gunnerkrigg Court features two separate super-badass, super-strong, supernatural women with relatively mundane male partners. Neither is insecure about it.

It's short-lived and not my favorite relationship, but in Legend of Korra Seasons 1 & 2 her boyfriend is pretty chill about dating a physical god. He's just not chill about other personality stuff :smallbiggrin:

Of course none of these are exactly what you're looking for, they're just relationships where the woman broadly has more physical & social power. It's hard to think of actual femme fatale examples, vampire or otherwise, because unfortunately a lot of writers who take that approach are doing it for the smut.

[runeghost]

Nancy A. Collins has written four novels with female vampire / vampire hunter Sonja Blue. She has a human male physic boyfriend in the first one, and a human detective boyfriend in the next two. I haven't read the 4th. (I wasnt't even there was a 4th one until I googled her just now. The first, Sunglasses After Dark was published in 1989, and seems to have been pretty influential on whole modern vampires thing. Fair warning, the books are not exactly cheery, and might be edging into grimdark territory,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_A._Collins_bibliography

[farothel]

The Hollows series (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollows_(series)) from Kim Harrison has some of this in it. It focuses more on the witch Rachel Morgan, but her good friend Ivy is a vampire and has some regular boyfriends. And even if it doesn't fit the trope perfectly, I find them still good books to read.

[snowblizz]

For some reason seeing this thread topic today jogged my memory.

There is a tie-in novel to Warhammer Fantasy hailing form the early 1990s iirc, about a vampire Genevive with a human male beau.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Warhammer_Fantasy_novels#Other_stories

The Vampire Genevieve
These novels were authored by Kim Newman under the pen name Jack Yeovil and collected in omnibus in 2005 (ISBN 9781844162444) and 2021 (ISBN 9781800260733).

Apparently there's a new print of the omnibus version I would recommend. It is quite okay and I hated it (sort of) because it was very non-canonical to the Warhammer fantasy universe back then. And now. But the story itself is fair.

[hamishspence]

Actually it is semi-canon - just in very broad strokes. Genevieve herself makes an appearance in the End Times, as does a resurrected Drachenfels:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/Drachenfels


Canon Discontinuity: Changes to Warhammer canon made after the novel's publication have rendered quite a lot of it incompatible with it, but people love it anyway. Other authors continue to reference it, creating the bizarre situation wherein Drachenfels himself is never brought up but his castle and Detlef Sierck's plays are. The End Times reintroduces elements of the novels in Broad Strokes, with a resurrected (although amnesiac) Drahenfels serving as one of Nagash's generals against the Hordes of Chaos. An unidentified vampire heavily hinted to be Genevieve also pops up a few times to give the heroes significant intelligence.

[snowblizz]

Actually it is semi-canon - just in very broad strokes. Genevieve herself makes an appearance in the End Times, as does a resurrected Drachenfels:

You and all the heretics will burn in the fires. I have called the Witch Hunters.

[LibraryOgre]

While not a major thread of the book (they're secondary characters), The Last Girl Scout (https://amzn.to/3mFmOHo) does have a heroic female vampire and her human boyfriend.

[NegativeGee]

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist - Young, bullied Oskar pretty much hates his life, until a new girl moves in next door... a strange girl who only comes out at night can solve a Rubik's Cube in moments.

[truemane]

Metamagic Mods: any books on the Thread Necromancy rules?