Always make it look easy. Sprezzatura. "Backwards, and among heels." That sort of thing.
The reason is quite simple. Most people, trusting appearances, don't know what the world is. And without knowing what the world is, noticing a fellow who is seemingly exerting extraordinary force just to survive can awaken less-than-helpful inclinations.
It's the difference between staring into the abyss, and staring down the abyss. And, given the effects, it's a bit like whistling down the wind.
Vollman's peroration proving interesting. The Romanian/Bulgarian vampiric sections seem to be an allegory for something, but I've only read his later, straight stuff, not the earlier, slanted stuff, so perhaps it's a fascination in itself. Doubtful, though. Bit like the rat wars in Pynchon's V. And the Roland Hedley-esque weeklong war correspondent's return to Sarajevo makes for good lightness of being in a city of shadows. (And ending the tale at the Yellow fortress, which is where I ended my narrative as well, is spot-on. Hopefully not ironic.)