How to become a vampire is very easy in Anne Rice's Vampire books. First of all, you need to be bitten by an existing vampire. When I say "bitten", I mean that you will probably have every millilitre of blood drunk from your body (or thereabouts). Then, as you lie writhing on the floor, your human body will die. Then you must drink of the blood from the vampre who chose you. Usually, you will experience this as a thirst you cannot quench. Your "maker" will invariably have to throw you off, physically. But now there is the unbreakable bond between you. Between the maker and the made.

If the vampire drinks of the blood of the human, it is not enough to transform the human into the vampire. The wounded human, needs to drink the blood of the vampire to seal the deal. The life in between having your blood drunk by a vampire and having your inevitable thirst quenched can feel like torture.

There are many vampires made in the Lestat books - in fact, they are all transformed from their human selves, but let's name them anyway:

• Lestat himself
• Akasha
• Enkil
• Mekare
• Maharet
• Armand
• Pandora
• Santorini
• Louis
• Claudia

You know, I'm starting to wonder why you're reading about How To Become A Vampire. Should I worry ...?