Dark??
Darkness dwells inherent within every soul if darkness were to be defined as that which is found by the majority to be profane...... which is usually the case.... Man is a creature of the day even though we can now move around fairly easily in the darkness... before electricity our fear of the dark was almost a racial instinct...... from this fear were born many differing myths and legends...... the first tales of vampirism were centered around mythic creatures which carried the Sumerian name of Akhkharu...... they were disembodied spirits of great malevolence which would descend upon a man, woman, or child and pierce them in a thousand spots at once and drain the victim of all thier blood....... this supposedly made thier spirits flesh for a time.... sometimes the victim would rise up as a ghoul and haunt necropolisis..... these ancient spirits also suffered from the same discomforts as its modern cousin..... sunlight would destroy the spirit.....
The tears of a God would burn them..... blessed water from which ever Diety one believed in..... the Sumerians had many....

heh....
We conjure these images from the dark pits of our souls....
Our imagination though giving us the greatest succor is in the end our greatest enemy..........