Mum-of-two Julia Caples is a real-life vampire - who drinks almost two litres of blood a month from willing human donors.
The 45-year-old has been sucking blood for over 30 years while bringing up her two children, Alexi, 11 and Ariel, 24.
Careworker Julia 'hunts' for willing 'donors,' fellow vampire fans willing to let Julia drink from them at her local occult and oddities store.
During drinking sessions at her Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania home, Julia carefully cuts them with a pagan like sterilised knife she designed herself.
She believes that guzzling down the the lifeblood from others keeps her feeling young and vigorous just like ageless vampires from cult movies.
"When I feed off of a person and drink their blood I feel stronger and healthier," she said.
Her fascination with blood began as a young girl, during her first kiss as a teenager, when she got the urge to bite her sweetheart with disastrous consequences.
"It was my natural instinct and I liked the taste, she said. "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."
She says she and goth friends did it occasionally through her teens, but it wasn't until Julia met ex-husband Donald, 49, that she started drinking regularly.
Counsellor Donald, who's still good friends with Julia and shares parenting duties, got married in a vampire themed wedding in October 2000 and even drank from each other to celebrate.
But when the pair had son Alexi, they decided something had to give and Donald vowed never to drink again.
"I gave up, so Julia didn't have to," he said. "We agreed that one of us would need to stop and focus on parenting full time.
- Mirror
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