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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 Daly 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.
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.
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.