Are vampires still in existence?

I realize this question has been overused and is very cliche at this point in history. Being brought back in through movies, TV show and literature. With umptions of their creations through just their own species in nature, genetic engineering, bite marks carrying a disease, bite marks from a bat. Any given one of these has been proved or disproved a thousand times over and again. I'm almost positive that because of their "persecution" they have stayed out of the lime light or simply because our fellow mellow minded man has created this mess they choose to stay away from us if they do exist. I know that many of today society believes that they are because they enjoy certain things that our entertainment portrays vampires to enjoy. I.E. blood, pain, lack of sunlight and so on. My question is this, all stories and tales originate from an actual event, even some small part such as a single element in a scene or an entire scene itself that we have manipulated to work in our favor as it is told. That being said stories, movies and other wise of vampires have existed through the years and are now coming up again in more fervor than before. Whether they call themselves by the name we give them or by another but certain qualities aligning do they exist today? How did they get as they have, by blood line, genetic alteration, a different creator, by disease? With any of these possibilities can you become one? Where would they be? How difficult is the life they lead? Do they hide in the wilderness? Are they among us? If you haven't been plugged into society or around others what would happen to you if you became one?