Dracula the novel actually pretty much stuck to the more ancient Nosferatu myths for example.
Actually, the original folklore was more about the vampire robbing communities of the limited good of society. They were greedy creatures, and evil. They were also created by the liminals in society, the people who lived or died on the outskirts. The book Dracula takes more updated (for the time) ideas. In particular, Dracula as a story is all about how awesome England is (and by extension the Dutch are ok too. And uncultured Americans are good as long as they have a gun, a knife, and they die in the end.) and how horrible the east is. Stoker was really into atavism and Dracula was written with the physical appearances of being an evolutionary throwback. It's really a racist little book.
But yeah, I see vampires as parasites. I don't see them as redeemable. They're undead and they suck people's blood, turning them, against the victim's will, into the undead. I definitely don't see them as tragic or heroic figures. Heroes don't act like parasites. And your immortality is not a tragic curse if all you need to do to end it is hang out outside past your bedtime. So I'm really just not a fan of vampires. I don't get their appeal. Yet the vampire has persisted from folklore to embodying the specific fears of each different society and time.
Anyway, back to King's Quest, I guess.
