In older vampire stories, most vampires were male and seduced much younger human women into becoming vampires. Vampires are also commonly said to be not visible in mirrors. Garlic, holy water, crucifixes, and wooden stakes are all said to be tools capable of injuring or killing a vampire.
The idea of vampire hunters, also called slayers, is intertwined with the vampire myth. The most famous vampire story is Dracula by Bram Stoker, where many of the tropes and symbols - such as bats, capes, and fangs - associated with vampires today originated. Vampires originated in the mythology and folklore of Eastern Europe and the Balkans region but they were not the same as what we think of as the vampire today.
