Aniuka

(ON-ee-you-ka)

The Buryat people of Mongolia have a particular cultural fear of death. When one of their own dies, great care and attention to detail is given to the preparation of the body for the grave so that it may lie eternally in peace. Buryat shamans have the power to raise the dead and therefore when they die, the shamans can raise themselves. To prevent this from happening, the bodies of shamans are staked and cremated. Despite the fear that a shaman regenerates in death, he is very important to his people in life. Among his duties and responsibilities he must protect his people from the aniuka. Although no one has ever claimed to have seen one, perhaps because it is invisible or extremely stealthy, it is known that this vampiric being is small. It feeds exclusively on infants and small children, taking enough blood from them to make them sick and weak but not enough to kill them in one sitting. Only the magic that a shaman can offer will banish the creature.

Source: Lopatin, Cult of the Dead, 60