The vampire lore of the Gypsies of Romania tells of a VAMPIRIC WITCH called a ruvaush. Aside from having the ability to create more of its own kind through magic, it can also shape-shift into a wolf, but one that is much larger than a normal wolf. Grevase of Tilbury (1150–1228), a medieval chronicler, was the first person to associate the transformation of werewolves to the moon and its cycles, but his concept was never popular until it was used by modern fiction writers.

Source: Icon Group International, Victims: Webster’s Quotations, 489; Summers, Vampire in Lore and Legend, 92

In the Republic of Slovenia there is a type of vampiric fay known as a rusalka (“shore”), said to be a member of the Unseelie Court, a spinner of Fate, and a regulator of the seasons. It is created when a child dies before it has been baptized or if an adolescent dies a virgin.

Rusalka descriptions vary slightly from region to region. In some areas it looks like a young girl on the brink of womanhood — very beautiful with long, flowing HAIR that is GREEN and decorated with poppies. In other places the rusalka wears a beautiful gown or tunic or nothing more than some strategically placed leaves. Other accounts describe the rusalka as looking like a drowned corpse or a mermaid. Its male counterpart is called a VODYANIK. It looks like a very handsome young man, but no matter where it is or what it is wearing, the left side of its body is always wet. But no matter the region one is in or the gender of the rusalka one may see, it will always be attractive and in or near the water.

On the nights of the full moon, rusalka can be found in ponds or rivers, and it will kill cattle and horses that come too close to the water’s edge. If it sees a handsome man, it will lure him into the water with it, as it is looking for someone to pass the night in pleasure with. However, the man seldom survives the experience; the rusalka ends up draining him of his youth and life (see ENERGY VAMPIRE), and more often than not, forgets in the throes of passion that its human lover needs to breathe air. However, the very few men who have managed to escape the embrace of a rusalka say that its love is literally worth dying for. Apart from men, from time to time a rusalka will want a child of its own and will snatch one up from the water’s edge. It takes the child to its home under the water, where the human will inevitably drown.