Active vampirism within the vampire subculture includes both blood consumption, which is commonly referred to as sanguinarian vampirism, and psychic vampirism, through which the practitioners believe they are drawing spiritual nourishment from auric or pranic energy.

Taken from the Latin sanguinarius meaning 'bloodthirsty' a sanguinarian is someone who believes that their body has a craving (or need) for blood.

According to the published work by the occultist Order of Aset Ka on real life vampirism, the Asetian Bible book, a real vampire can't really be distinguished from being a sanguinarian or a psychic vampire; because what a vampire truly craves is vital energy, known among Asetians as Ka, an Ancient Egyptian concept. By this, it is defended the form of feeding, whether psychic or by the ingestion of blood, ultimately represents a choice from the vampire in his preferred ways to drain vital energy from a human being.

It is debated whether or not sanguinarianism is Renfield's syndrome (also known as clinical vampirism) or another psychological condition all together, as practitioners say they need blood other than their own to feel fulfilled. It should be noted Renfield's is not recognised by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and is thus usually classified as a delusional symptom of schizophrenia.

It is often stipulated that sanguinarians and psychic vampires cannot usually draw energy from the source used by the other type, but that there are those who can use both interchangeably.

Dion Fortune wrote of psychic parasitism in relation to vampirism as early as 1930 (considering it a combination of psychic and psychological pathology) in "Psychic Self-Defense". The term "psychic vampire" first gained attention in the 1960s with the publication of Anton LaVey's Satanic Bible. LaVey, who stated he had coined the term, used it to mean a paranormal entity within such a person allowing the psychic draining of energy from the environment (i.e. people, elements or electricity).

The term is also used by Luis Marques in his work on vampirism and spirituality, titled the Asetian Bible, where the definition of a psychic vampire goes beyond his ability to drain energy, but is portrayed as a definitive condition of the individual's soul and a secret mark of a connection to a shared past. This polemic view of the energy predator is based on an esoteric tradition known as Asetianism, which relies on predatory spirituality and the extensive use of Ancient Egyptian symbolism, whose teachings are strictly and thoroughly maintained by the occultist Order of Aset Ka.

The theme of the psychic vampire has been a focus within modern vampire subculture. The way the subculture has manipulated the image of the psychic vampire has been investigated by researchers such as Mark Benecke and A. Asbjorn Jon.

Vampire lifestylers may listen to whatever music and wear whatever clothing they choose. Those who dress and act like the vampires in literature and listen to "Vampy" music are vampire goths; they like the aesthetic, almost to fetishistic levels, but do not partake in actual vapirism nor do they beleive themselves to be vampires.

Image made on a dress up game, info -save for the last paragraph, which is mine- from wikipedia.