While Sunday’s annual Endless Night Vampire Ball was themed as an Anti-Valentine’s Day bacchanal, it still involved the deathly decadent atmosphere that attendees have come to love. Celebrating its third year at the historic Globe Theatre, in downtown Los Angeles, the event once again catered to creatures of the night and their bloodlust desires, at least aesthetically.

Organized by Father Sebastiaan, who has been doing this kind of gathering since the ’90s, when he started the Long Black Veil club in New York, Endless Night now hosts parties all around the world (Berlin, Paris, New York, Barcelona, Tampa, Las Vegas, Austria, Amsterdam and New Orleans). In addition to being the creator and host of this haunting and sensual affair, Sebastiaan is a fangsmith, who designs custom fangs for both casual and serious devotees of the vampire lifestyle. Last year, he published his most recent book, Black Veils: The Vampire Lexicon, which is essentially an outline of the philosophy, ethics and culture of the vampire community. This community comprises a subculture, complete with various clans of adherents, including his own clan, the Sabretooth Clan.

This year, the main stage hosted darkwave band The Crüxshadows, DJs and several variety acts, with an emphasis on burlesque performances. Between acts, the screen on the mainstage showed loops from Coppola’s Dracula and Salma Hayek’s sexy snake dance from the movie From Dusk Till Dawn. Next to the stage was the Dark Bazaar, where guests could purchase vampiric-themed jewelry and accessories.

Upstairs, in the balcony area, right next to the tarot card reader, there was a sweets display, wherein bite-size pastries were placed on and around human flesh platters, so to speak — models both male and female. In the basement, the Batcave Club had a mini shindig going, complete with go-go dancers. There was also a bondage demonstration area, and a few more vendors sprinkled among the entertainment and bar areas. Generally, the ball was populated by vampires, cosplayers and members of the fetish community.

Dressed in Victorian-centric vampire mashups and custom-designed evening wear, the crowd was mostly a sea of red and black, and nearly everyone joined in the official evening howl — wherein Father Sebastiaan leads his esteemed guests in a group guttural wail. Before the evening wound down (or up) with after-midnight Cirque-themed amusements, Sebastiaan announced the success of the organization’s sponsorship of Don’t Be a Monster, an anti-bullying charity, proving that creatures of the night do more to benefit society than their blood-sucking image suggests.

See more in the Endless Night Vampire Ball slideshow here.

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