THEY love drinking blood, hate sunshine - and are very kinky.
Meet the young married couple who by night transform into the "vampire king and queen of Austin, Texas", where they are the appointed leaders of a group of 60 self-professed vampires.
Every month the Vampire Court of Austin meets at their private members club - a fetish venue about 15 minutes from central Austin where they hold an official court meeting before relaxing with a drink or a little BDSM on their sex floor.
Married couple Logan and Daley South founded the court around six years ago to provide a "safe haven" for all the city's "awakened vampires" and "otherkin" which includes "werewolves, fairies and people who identify with animal spirits".
They advise members - who include security guards, property managers, ex-military and actors - on how to drink blood safely and shield themselves from "psychic attacks".
These psychic attacks are launched by so-called "Energy Vampires" who feed off people's positive energy in order to boost their own.
Comment: A little projection there maybe?
It is said you can tell if you're suffering an attack by the way you feel when you're around them - sometimes a sudden nausea or stomach ache or stabbing pains around the back, chest and shoulders.
Comment: Has any of those under attack considered that it's probably emanating form the Vampire Court of Austin members themselves?
But these aren't just a group of role players - the members of the court truly believe that if they do not feed - or they spend too long in the sun - they will become ill or even die.
And Austin's vampires are not alone - one census estimated there were 50,000 "vampires" in the US at last count.
Logan is also a "fang smith" and makes realistic fangs for the group
Daley "awoke" as a vampire 15 years ago
Daley, 30, told Sun Online: "You've got vampires who feed from blood - sanguine vampires - you've got vampires that feed directly from energy - psychic vampires - and you've also got vampires who feed sexually, not just from sex acts, but from the energy of arousal.
"You've also got vampires who feed from all three.
"I awakened as a sanguinary blood feeder 15 years ago but over the years I've learned to feed from other methods as well.
"So now I only really need to feed from blood about once a month and the rest of the time I feed from ambient energy in the room or from a crowd or from a donor I feel sexual energy from.
"If you stop feeding for extended period of time, you're probably going to get sick.
"I actually know someone who had a heart condition and she stopped feeding for an extended period of time and they told her she was going to die.
"She started feeding again and her heart condition disappeared."
Comment: Want to get healthy again. Just feed like a vampire!
Brian Ryder, 50, says he has known he was a "vampire" all his life
Many of the court members wear fangs and brightly coloured contact lenses
"A lancet is a simple tool typically used by diabetics," he explained. "You pull the end, you place it on the finger, you press a button and it creates a tiny little pinprick just right on the end of the finger, creating just enough blood flow for any vampire to get exactly what they need.
"I mean, sometimes you might have to do it two, three times, but it's very simple, very contained and it heals up within a day.
"There's not a lot of exposure or risk. You don't want to go cutting into people with knives or anything unless you were a doctor...I wouldn't go cutting into to places where you can have veins and arteries that could be opened and then have someone bleed out just because you thought you were going to make a tiny nick in an area that you shouldn't have.
"And I've heard horror stories of people doing that kind of thing. And I think it's very important that we, that we educate people on how to do that very safely. There's no reason to go cut and slice and when you could just have a tiny little pinprick on the fingertip."
Comment: Oh. See? They just drink a little blood.
Logan with his wife Daley (right) and girlfriend Ilona (left)
Daley and Logan have an open and polyamorous relationship
Ilona is also Logan's submissive
The couple has always had an open relationship - with Daley having her own partners too - saying they broke down "any notions of jealousy early on".
Logan describes his wife as his "twin flame" and his girlfriend as his "soul mate".
Comment: An important distinction.
"From the moment that we got together we decided to have an open relationship and then shortly after that we decided to have a polyamorous relationship, which meant that not only could we play with other partners, but we could also love other people and that would be perfectly fine," he said.
"We decided to break down any potential notions of jealousy early on and realise that the most important thing was that both of us were happy, both of us were fulfilled and we realised that we could be more fulfilled by having other people in our lives, both sexually and in a relationship.
"Primarily the fulfilment was found from in my particular case having my girlfriend Ilona and the beauty that she brought into my life has definitely kind of filled my heart."
Group members took part in an "energy shielding" workshop
Logan says he wakes up at about 6pm - just as the sun is about to set.
"I'll eat breakfast and then I'll go out and I'll check on my horses, goats and my wolves.
"Then I'll do all the different things that I have to do for my business. I mostly work online or in a physical nightclub location or my fetish club vamp here.
"If it's a weekend or an event night, I'll go out usually in a black tailored three piece suit and then I'll go out and I'll have a good time and I'll make sure all my friends are having a good time.
"If there's no event I'll go off with Daley and we'll go to lunch, watch some movie or I'll go off with a Ilona and we'll play some video games. We're big comic book nerds and big video game nerds.
Comment: In other words, these folks mostly live in La La Land.
"Occasionally we'll go out on our own on a night when we're feeling a little frisky - maybe we'll go find some "prey" as it were - whether that's just some cute young thing, male or female - any which way.
Comment: Why stop there?! Why not go cryptozoological?
"We like travelling a lot - we go to Denver, we got to New Orleans, LA, Hawaii, Romania.
"To be honest my day is probably just like anybody else's except for sometimes I might be having a little more fun than them."
Andrea Tolan, 32, says she is a "psychic vampire"
Emily Walker, 30, is the queen of a similar vampire court in Columbus, Georgia
Once inside the group took part in an "energy shielding workshop" where they learned how to protect themselves from "psychic attacks".
They then cheered as one member, Tempest was named as the new "sheriff" of the Vampire Court of Austin vowing to put "her own needs second to those of the court".
The court then talked about their upcoming charity and community work - of which the court is very proud - including blood drives, feeding the homeless and taking part in the upcoming Pride parade.
"We do a lot of community outreach for the Austin community," Daley explained.
"A lot of that is to not only help the community, but it also removes the negative stigma that often surrounds vampire organisations, if they see a bunch of vampires out helping with children's hospitals, blood drives, things like that, then it gives people a more open mind as to what, who we are and what we're doing."
Comment: Why not? Can't bizarre hedonists and fetishists be pillars of the community?
Mikayla Avery, 34, has been a "vampire" for around 10 years
Anastacia Vicars, 24, is a photographer and apprentice "fang smith"
She says people cannot be "turned" into a vampire, they do have a reflection, many can eat garlic - but most are very sensitive to sunlight and prefer to be nocturnal.
Comment: Especially when you've been out partying all night.
"I would say the biggest misconception that we come into contact with a lot is the idea of turning," she said.
"You cannot be turned into a vampire. You are born a vampire and awakened later in life. It's not something that you can just turn someone else into.
"As far as garlic, I've heard a lot of different theories. I personally love garlic I think it's great, it's good for you, it's healthy but I know a lot of vampires who have dietary issues and garlic upsets their stomach.
"Whether or not that's related to them being a vampire, I wouldn't be able to say, but I have seen it quite a lot. It seems to be a half and half deal.
"Vampirism is not evil. It's not a religion. It's not something that you worship or, you know, decide to follow that path it's just who you are.
Comment: No, it's just a more bizarre shade of liberal hedonism for those who don't think a little more about how to have meaningful lives.
Logan and Daley are the king and queen of the court and they also have a sheriff
Brian with fellow court member ex-service man Shadow Scott, 41, and actor Prince Day, 31
"A lot of us are Christian, lot of us are Catholic. There's all sorts of faiths.
"Thank God we can see ourselves in a mirror because I don't know how I would've gotten ready today - that would have been terrible.
"We don't burst into flame the sunlight, but it can make us very ill, very nauseous. A lot of people will actually spike a fever, tremors pass out, headaches, things like that are very common.
"A lot of us are very nocturnal because of that... for those of us that have daytime jobs, that can be kind of difficult and often times those vampires have to feed more more often or from a more intense energy sources to keep themselves healthy.
"A lot of us have increased immune systems and increased healing abilities. I can heal a tattoo in five days where the normal healing time is two weeks, but we're not going to live forever.
"I may live longer than the average person, assuming I don't get hit by a car, you know, as far as that goes, the only immortality that we believe in is what you leave behind."
Comment: This editor doesn't know whether to laugh or cry, but it is reminiscent of this recent story:
The Torture Ship: Hundreds of S&M enthusiasts hold erotic party on German lake (VIDEO)