Practical Protection
Speaking from a highly logical and practical standpoint, there are several items that you might simply have around the house that can, in many cases, repel the traditional vampire or act as a testing ground for a modern-era vamp. Garlic, salt, candles, incense, and even bells, among other items, have in the past been proven effective against vampires.
Most of these methods are steeped in folklore and used by early writers of vampire fiction including John Polidori, James Malcolm Rymer, Sheridan Le Fanu, and, of course, Bram Stoker.
Garlic
If you're of Italian ancestry or just a fan of spaghetti bolognese, then it's likely you have garlic in your kitchen. We're not talking the crusty, dried-up powered stuff at the back of your spice cupboard. We mean nice fat bulbs of the stinking rose.
Garlic is one of the most commonly thought of items used to ward off the majority of vampires, and a it's a protection device against evil that's existed since ancient times. In fact, so prominent is garlic that in the vampire realm it's commensurate with repelling the demons.
A member of the lily family, garlic contains natural healing powers and has long been used for medicinal purposes as well as herbal uses. As a vampire deterrent it's arguably second to none as a first line of defense. It's also used in the destruction process.
Throughout much of folklore and in Stoker's Dracula, a vampire's mouth is stuffed with garlic after beheading or a corpse's mouth is similarly filled to prevent its joining the undead. In Dracula, Van Helsing fills Lucy's entire room with garlic flowers and bulbs, even rubbing it all over the door jamb and fireplace to keep Dracula from entering.
Vampiric folklore is rife with individuals making use of garlic as a repellant. Given that a vampire's senses are heightened, particularly its vision, hearing, and smell, it stands to reason that garlic, whether it's worn around the neck as a wreath, strewn around a house, rubbed onto a human, animal, or object, or even liquefied and sprayed would be enough to keep the undead at bay.
During times of plague, it was often believed — with a logical basis — that smells could not only ward off evil and the stench of death, but disease as well. In the case of airborne germs such as pneumonic plague, this did prevent some individuals from succumbing to illness. In light of the fact that vampirism in itself is often considered a plague, other odiferous means were often employed, including incense, juniper, manure, human feces, and all types of perfumes.
One theory of why garlic repels vampires is born of the similarity between vampires and mosquitoes, both of which bite their victims and drink their blood, and both of whom can spread disease through their bites. Mosquitoes and other insects are known to be repelled by garlic. As of this writing, however, no one has as yet manufactured a bug spray for vampires.
Salt and Seeds
As a matter of superstition, there are still many of us who subscribe to several practices including knocking on wood, avoiding stepping on a crack, or tossing salt over one's shoulder for luck or to ward off evil.
In the case of the latter, there's good reason to keep it on hand in case of vampiric incursion. Sodium chloride is a staple of ancient and modern history especially in regard to the supernatural, paranormal, religious, and, of course, the culinary realms. Throughout history, salt has been used as a means of preservation both with food and in the form of natron, which Egyptians used for perfecting mummification processes.
Salt also serves as a symbol of purity and a means by which one can repel evil. In some legends, the undead cannot cross a line of salt, in which case windows, doors, fireplaces, and entire houses were often surrounded with an unbroken line of salt if vampires were thought to be on the prowl.
Like salt, seeds are often used as a vampire repellant. While mustard seed is the most prominent — possibly for its religious connection as mentioned in one of Jesus's parables — other small seeds and grains like poppy, oats, millet, and carrot to name a few, can also be used, as can the thorns gathered from wild roses. One theory is that if a vampire encounters the seeds, he is required to count each seed before coming to a village to procure victims. Some folkloric tales mention that the vampire can count only one seed per year, so even a small handful of the seeds would keep evil at bay for long periods of time.
Another speculation is that a vampire would become so caught up in obsessively counting the seeds that he would lose track of time and be forced to retreat as the sun begins to rise. Seeds as well as salt can also be sprinkled in and around corpses and coffins to prevent vampirism or keep a vampire from rising from the grave.
