Am a bit annoyed that vampires have gone mainstream, used to be a time when they're a sole cult favorite. Now, they're freaking everywhere.

Anyhoo, just for kicks, here's my top 5 favorite vampires:

1. Lestat de Lioncourt (from Anne Rice's novels The Vampire Chronicles)

Anne Rice has the best vampire mythology around, as far as am concerned. The Chronicles are rich in historical detail and filled with interesting personas. Lestat himself is quite a character: narcissistic, depressive and outrageous. Too bad the movie versions failed to capture his personality; Queen of the Damned in particular sucks. It's a shame that we'll likely never see Lestat again (the character was based on Anne Rice's husband Stan who passed away; Anne Rice has stated she wants to end that character's journey. The book Blood Canticle was a Lestat send-off.)

2. Nicholas Knight (from the Canadian TV show Forever Knight)

I hate Moonlight. (No offense to all Moonlight fans out there.) I honestly feel that Moonlight is a Forever Knight rip-off and nothing can beat the original. Geraint Wyn-Davies played his part of vampire-wanna-be-human detective to perfection, and supporting characters Lacroix and Shannette were adorably campy! Too bad this series jumped the shark in Season 3.

3. Sita/ Alisa Perne (from Christopher Pike's novels The Last Vampire Series)

Probably the first vampire novel I've ever read! Christopher Pike is the reason why I love the horror/ sci-fi genre; his books were a large part of me growing up. Like Anne Rice's novels, excellent mythology, and one so atypical as it takes you to ancient Sumer and makes use of Hindu mythology. This books are probably more appropriate to a younger audience but still, a classic.

4. Selene (from the Underworld movies)

All my friends hate the Underworld movies--- but I love it! Bill Nighy in particular is brilliant as Viktor. Okay, so the love story is cheesy, but the idea of three ancient vampires taking turns ruling the world is an interesting political system. That plus vamps vs werewolves battles? Awesome.

5. Wrath, Zsadist, Rhage, Thorment, Vishous and Phury (from J.R. Ward's The Black Dagger Brotherhood)

Okay, these books suffer from Ward's Mary Sue-ing and annoying habit of finding ways to make his mortal characters immortal, but you can't deny she made quite interesting characters. I love the idea of bulky, leather-clad 'gentlemen' warriors who listens to rap music. Overall, it's still worth reading this series for the fast-paced action and really snarky dialogue.

Those are my 5!

New vampires are now growing on me. In particular, Stephen Moyer's Bill Compton in HBO's True Blood/ Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries is fast becoming a fav ( I like him better than Eric Northman).

There are quite a few more vampire movies I've watched and vampire books I've read, but I didn't take to them.

Didn't watch Twilight. I feel I'm too old for it, although who knows I might take a gander at it when I'm bored. Never gave Buffy and Angel a chance (irrational I know, sorry!) because the idea of vampire slayers annoy me.

Do you have any recommendations of other vamps I should check out?