[continued from previous message]   
      
   each, and stealing the voices of the unlucky occupants upon their arrival.   
   Only the sound of a human voice can kill them, but their victims can’t even   
   scream as their still-beating hearts are cut out.   
      
      
   3   
   Santa Claus   
      
   Being a thousand-year-old ex-demon, Anya was often able to provide   
   fascinating, albeit horrifying insight into her former community. For   
   example, in season 5, she reveals that Santa Claus is not a fictional   
   character after all and that in the 16th century, someone by that name did   
   fly with a fleet of reindeer on Christmas night and visit children’s homes;   
   however, he did this to disembowel them rather than leave them presents.   
      
   According to Buffy, Santa was a demon, although his penchant for   
   disembowelment was lost in translation when it came to the popular children’s   
   myth.   
      
      
   2   
   Der Kindestod   
      
   Thanks to its predilection for preying on children, long knife-like fingers,   
   and trilby hat, this demon appears to be a homage to Freddy Kreuger. Its   
   name, Der Kindestod, translates roughly to "child death."   
      
   Buffy encounters Der Kindestod after being confined to the hospital with   
   severe flu in season 3. She notices an unusually high number of unexplained   
   deaths on the children’s ward, soon discovering that the Der Kindestod can   
   be seen only by those with a high fever and that it feeds on the life-source   
   of sickly kids. It does this by sucking out their essence through eyes that   
   protrude on stalks.   
      
      
   1   
   Vampires   
      
   When exploring the demon races of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it would be   
   criminal to neglect the one mentioned in the show’s title. Like most demons   
   in the Buffyverse, vampires are a hybrid, the product of a demon mixing its   
   blood with a human. This created The Master, the main antagonist of Buffy   
   season 1 and the vampire that spawned all modern vampires, including Darla,   
   Angel, Spike, and Druscilla.   
      
                           [The question is, who is older - The Master, or   
   Kakistos, who is so old his hands and feet have turned to cloven hooves? And   
   is the Master older than Dracula?]   
      
   Vampires possess the bodies of humans when their blood is mingled together,   
   a process called siring. Whilst they lose their human souls when sired,   
   vampires do retain some personality traits of their host. Their weaknesses –   
   sunlight, holy water, crucifixes – are familiar in pop culture, but in   
   Buffy, it’s the confusing line between their human and demonic traits, such   
   as the seeming ability of some to feel love, that is most fascinating about   
   vampires.   
      
      
      
   David   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)