Welcome to Non-Humans R Us

First, my apologies to the group for my laxity in getting on and posting. It's been a long, strange week or so and I finally managed to wrestle things into order.
Vampires are my first love, and have been ever since I first saw the original Dracula with Bela Lugosi. My dad is a classic film buff, and he rented it one year for Halloween. Ever since, I've been fascinated by the vampire in (almost) every incarnation. Yes, even Twilight, a fact which puts me in the frame for no small amount of ribbing from those who scream, "The sparkles! THEY BURN!!" I have to admit, though, I am a little tired of the stake and garlic shtick.
Shove an oak, ash, or plywood stake through a human's heart. What happens? Naturally, the human in question is going to be messily and permanently croaked. Is it any surprise that the same would happen to a vampire?
What about garlic? What if your vampire is, say, Italian? My solution: vampires have allergies. Where a human is allergic to peanuts and suffers a reaction that might take an Epi-pen and a trip to the ER to get over, a vampire suffering from the identical reaction (anaphylactic shock) is in life-threatening dire straits which may necessitate hospitalization for several days, if they survive at all.
Obviously, I approve of the trend toward looking at the vampire in more diverse ways than just the soulless, evil predator. Why should they be soulless just because they require blood to survive? Does it need to be human? Rat blood is similar enough in composition to human blood to be almost indistinguishable. And in a pinch, I'm sure just about any mammalian would do just as well for a hungry vampire.
Vampires, vampires, vampires. Moving along: I've also done a short erotic story concerning an angel. For two hours worth of work, I'm really proud of that. It's always exciting when you sit back from the keyboard and say, "Yes sir, that'll work." I also enjoy ghosts, although they're a little harder to work with. There are really only so many ways to call up a shade and make it do something, and once you've exhausted those, there's not much left to say.
I would like to try something with demons, and perhaps take a foray into werewolf territory. As I noted in my previous post, however, I don't really have a good template for werewolves that doesn't come from role-playing games. Perhaps someone would offer some suggestions for something they'd like to see done?
I also have a potential children's book in the works concerning fairies. The fey are definitely not my usual line, and for obvious reasons I'd have to severely tone down my writing style, but it will be an interesting challenge to see if I can pull it off.
I look forward to reading what all of you have to offer. It's always fun to discover something new. Until next time, best to all!
J.S.