Do people still remember Dracula?
I’m not talking about the story. I mean the actual man.
Vlad Tepes of Wallachia, “The Dragon”, “The Impaler”. He’s actually quite a calm guy when you get to know him.
The tales are brutal, more brutal than he was when he was alive. Not that there wasn’t precedent for his brutality. But we wouldn’t want to be judged for our actions as children.
He fought on behalf of God actually. A man of faith, in the beginning. But no one gets to thrive forever in a war. His own people ran his name through the mud. Branded him as a monster once the war was nearing its end. He was tied up and the only thing he had left was the rivers of blood pooling from those he had slaughtered. Abandoned by the God he swore to fight for.
So the man shoved his own face in the bloody ground. He gave up on all humanity and drew in the blood of those he slaughtered, he killed his heart and swore never to partake in food again. The only sustenance he would allow is that of mankind. A Faustian bargain.
That was the day that both Werewolves and Vampires were born.
You should have seen him. On full moons he would ride across the sky as a brilliant beast of bright white fur. His fangs, spears. His claws, the chill nights wind. He could fight forever and never tire. Wood, garlic, the sun would all be ineffective. Silver swords would bound off his skin.
He once willingly placed his head on a chopping block, fifteen axes were sacrificed that day.
Now he wasn’t unkillable. He had no aversion to wood crosses, but those of silver affected his body. Only that which was holy and silver would pierce his flesh.
Eternal life also allowed him to tame the wolf within. He could willingly change and maintain his intellect. He could play the organ like a master, and he commanded magic with the same ease as taking a breath.
Nobody really caught on to his nature as both a vampire and a werewolf. Most likely because of the feuds between the two groups.
The legend of Vlad Dracula, the first vampire caught on. But it took a little bit of insight to see that behavior and scent all led to lycanthropy.
Dracula finally met his end a couple of years ago. A brilliant hunter, probably from one of those family lines he killed long ago.
But I will always remember how he spoke like moonlight upon a rose. His eyes wore the knowledge of ages.
For as much as I love the man. He did do some horrific acts. He tortured and killed countless. A life of constant violence and death. Even when he settled down, Dracula would kill all who entered his domain uninvited.
Dracula had sent me an invitation and a game. “Hunt down each of my prodigious children. Teach them the secrets I could not. Ensure that the Tepes family is not squandered by false lions.”
I have tried to track down any of his Offspring. However, most individuals that claim to be of the mighty Dracula are all boast.
This may have to wait till fate brings them across my path. I miss his stories of the past. But once it is finished I will travel through the gates of hell. To the deepest layers where he laid fate, and tell him stories of the modern world.
