I’m a tattooed, Puerto Rican vampire – I get tan in the sun and don’t bite people but I do drink blood, it’s spiritual
A TATTOOED vampire is setting the record straight on what it’s really like to be a creature of the night.
Though he does, in fact, drink blood, he says it’s a “sacred practice” — and warned that people should believe everything they hear about immortality, pale skin, and fear of garlic.
“I am sanguine, which means that I do partake in blood,” Miguel Valentin, who also goes by Vampyre Miguel, told The U.S. Sun.
“I will say this: That it is something sacred, treasured by someone who I have a connection with on not just a physical level, but also an emotional and spiritual level.
“I don’t need it to survive like some people, you know, like the stereotypical movie vampire that has to consume blood.
“I’ve been able to incorporate the feeding process more through energy than the physical of blood.”
Miguel, who works as a tattoo artist and has his own ink covering his face and body, implements all the precautions when it comes to feasting on O+.
“It’s very sacred practice and we go through testing first, and then it’s almost like a counseling session that I’ll have with someone,” he said.
I don’t burn up in the sun. I’m Puerto Rican, I’m Caribbean, you know what I mean? I tan.
Miguel Valentin
“It’s not a practice that’s not done with extreme preparation and care.”
He promised that his way of acquiring blood is nowhere near as grizzly as the horror films depict vampirism.
“I don’t bite people,” he said. “I think there are cleaner ways to draw from them.”
Valentin also cleared up some other misconceptions people have about vampires from books, movies, and TV shows.
“I don’t sparkle in the sunlight,” he said. “It doesn’t burn me.”
Many of the things vampires have been painted as fearing don’t apply to him.
“I don’t think I’m immortal [or] that I get to live for a thousand years,” he said.
“I don’t burn up in the sun. I’m Puerto Rican, I’m Caribbean, you know what I mean? I tan.”
He added that when it comes to cuisine, his meals aren’t losing any flavor.
“I love garlic in my food,” he said. “There’s no aversion to that.”
Valentin mentioned an appreciation for crucifixes and churches, although he does not subscribe to any one organized religion.
JUST A TASTE
Valentin said his vampiric tendencies focus on energy manipulation as well as drinking blood.
“If I exchange energy with someone, there’s a specific purpose behind it and we both understand that,” he said.
“We both have a common goal, or if it’s a group then it’s group-sharing concept and we know where our energy is being directed.”
Valentin always had an eye for art, creating his very own blood paintings either using his own blood or his blood mixed with the commissioner.
Generations will be still talking about some of the things that I’ve done. My art walks around the Earth, all over the world.
Miguel Valentin
“I primarily I use my own blood. I’m the vampire that gives blood,” he said, chuckling.
Sometimes he works on commissioned pieces, with the client asking to have their blood mixed with his as part of the painting process.
“It’s always consensual, it’s always safe,” he said.
“I’m a trained tattoo artist for 27 years. Every year I have to renew my health department license and I have to renew my blood borne pathogens certificate.
“I always stay up on the latest protocols for things like this.”
VAMPIRIC BEGINNINGS
Valentin said that going to vampire-themed parties awakened another side of him.
“I went to this event, it was primarily black and Latino, and they were either dressed like very Victorian Gothic vampires or very Blade-ish kind of warrior vampires,” he said.
“And I was just like, ‘This is amazing. I’ve never seen anything like this.’ Plus, the women were the same way. They were either in like, Victorian ball gowns or they were in sexy attire.”
There’s been very erotic poetry. There’s been a whole spectrum of topics with the poetry.
Miguel Valentin
Valentin was also moved by the safe environment in addition to the inclusivity.
“[The women were] basically half-dressed walking around and there was none of that disrespectful touching, grabbing their a**es, that type of thing.
“They walked around in complete confidence and the men had this etiquette or chivalrous attitude.”
“I was introduced to a lot of new music and dancing,” he said. “So I had gone to a couple of these events and reawakened.”
POETIC JUSTICE
Valentin runs Hell’s Gate Halo, which hosts the Vampyre Symposium and poetry slams..
They’re open to all who identify as or with mythical creatures, from vampires to witches.
He said the only restrictions he places on the readings is a three-minute timer and that it must be original content.
“I don’t put a limit on what type of poetry you have to read,” he said. “You can read whatever you want to read.”
“There’s been very erotic poetry. There’s been a whole spectrum of topics with the poetry.”
One time, however, someone came to crash the party, but did not succeed.
“I had a vampire hunter come to one of the one of the events,” he said. “It was interesting. He never made it into the club.”
Valentin said it was a testament to the energetic practice behind vampirism.
After Valentin told the self-described vampire hunter that he was welcome to the event if he went home and changed into proper attire, he didn’t return.
“Before he knew it, he was facing the other direction, walking away,” he said.
“That was us de-escalating a situation using energy.”
Valentin highlighted that poetry has a place within vampirism and other lore of the immortal.
“The whole vampiric idea is primarily a metaphorical concept,” he said.
“I believe that through my art, my writings, and different manifestations that I have been able to do I can become immortal.
“Generations will be still talking about some of the things that I’ve done. My art walks around the Earth, all over the world.”
Previously, The U.S. Sun spoke to a vampire and his witch girlfriend.