The Van Helsing Legacy: Part 1

Lawrence Van Helsing was born in the year 1822 in Holland. He came from a fairly well off family and had aspirations of being a doctor from when he was a young man. Ultimately however fate took Lawrence's life in a very different direction.

The young Lawrence had his first dealings with the occult when he travelled to the town of Janssen to attend its prestigious university. He rented a flat with another local student Frances Gough. The two became great friends in a short time, sharing a number of interests and were a great help to each other during their first academic year. It all changed however part way through the first term, when Gough's girlfriend Valerie suffered a terrible tragedy. Her father, who had always been a kind man in a happy relationship, suddenly and inexplicably killed her mother before killing himself. Valerie refused to believe it even in the face of overwhelming evidence and kept searching for something to prove her fathers innocence, as futile as that may have seemed.

A few weeks after the tragedy, her fathers ghost began to haunt her however, appearing as a mirage for several nights. At first Valerie thought she was going mad and moved out of her house into Lawrence and Frances flat. Even there however, her fathers spectre which was tied to her, continued to appear sporadically, which alerted both Van Helsing and Frances to what was really happening.

Frances decided to visit Professor Abercombe, a local expert on the supernatural who worked for Janssen's mysterious Library, at that point the single largest source of information on the occult in Europe (outside of the Cushing's base.)

The reason this seemingly innocuous town contained such a Library, was because Janssen had been near the vandals base in Holland. Whilst the vampires and Cushings made off with most of what they could of the vandals magics after killing the demons. A secret bunker of supplies eluded them and was found several years later by a powerful warlock named Kamfa.

This warlock however did not use the vandals magics and secrets for his own gain. Rather he built, using his own magics, the Library to supply all of the vandals information and magics to the people of Europe to aid them.

The Library as it was simply known, was guarded by a spectre of one of Kamfa's worst enemies, a power hungry warlock named Lasinka that had fallen completely under his control thanks ironically to the vandals magics. (Not surprisingly their knowledge of how to bind souls was second to none.) Any attempt by Lasinka to escape or use anything in the Library for his own ends would cause his soul to be sent to the very worst hell dimension, Quortoth. Reportedly even Satan kept out of that dimension, finding it to be too wild and unpredictable. Finally Lasinka was also compelled to only give the secrets and magics from the Library to people who were judged worthy to use them by Kamfa's magic, that the wizard claimed could see the pure intentions of someone.

Aside from Lasinka however, there were numerous humans and witches who helped keep the collection safe and organised, and Professor Abercombe was one of them. He had not been selected by Kamfa himself however. The Library had stood for over 40 years, whilst Professor Abercombe had only arrived in Janssen 10 or so years ago when he was hunting a powerful demon known as Askerely. This demon was a former torturer of Satan that had gone rogue. He was tired of only being able to torture those who Satan wanted, and began torturing lost human souls on earth, regardless of whether they were wicked or not. Abercombe, had been alerted to the demon and the existence of the supernatural, when Askerely targeted Abercombe's fathers ghost who had died of natural causes. Abercombe's father was tortured to madness by the demon and the Professor subsequently spent decades chasing Askerely, whilst honing his skills as a hunter overall.

It was only with supplies from the Library who deemed Abercombe's intentions worthy that he was able to finally gain the magics needed to slay the beast and avenge his father.

After this, the Professor who had sacrificed so much in chasing the demon. Decided to stay, as the Library provided everything to those who worked in it, accommodation (Which was in the Library itself) and food. Abercombe's days as a hunter were pretty much over anyway due to his advanced age (by that time's standards) and a history of injuries.

It was a relatively calm and peaceful life in the Library for the next decade or so barring the odd attack from a rogue demon and witch who wanted to try and steal the Library's collection. Even then, the staff rarely had to battle the creature, with the Library's defenses dealing with most threats.

Frances meanwhile had first met Abercombe when he slew Askerely. In fact the old hunter had even saved Frances' life, as the demon had captured the boy along with several others in an effort to use their blood to restore its strength, after the professor had wounded Askerely with the weapon he got from the Library. Whilst Frances parents thanked Abercombe and even hailed him as a hero. Frances tried for so long to convince himself that what he saw was a trick, and that the demon was just a lunatic. It got so bad that every time he saw Abercombe walk down the street, Frances would go in the other direction. Abercombe wasn't hurt by it. He was used to people having that reaction to the truth about what was out there.

Among some of the locals of Janssen it was an open secret about the supernatural, but most flat out denied it and viewed the Library as just a creepy place run by the local weirdos and chancers.

Either way hardly anyone from the village ever visited it, with its customers almost all coming from around Europe.

Now faced with the reality of Valerie's father however, Frances couldn't shut off what he knew to be the truth about the supernatural anymore and approached his former rescuer. Abercombe was happy to help, though he wasn't willing to give up anything from the Library. Even though he believed their intentions were pure, the Library still did not allow someone to use their magic if they were inexperienced for their sake. Fortunately however Abercombe felt he wouldn't have to rely on the vandals magics for what he assumed was a simple exorcism.

However when the Professor captured Valerie's fathers ghost during his next visitation. He discovered that her father actually wasn't responsible for the murder of his wife after all. Valerie's father had been possessed by a demonic spirit named Zerkan that had arrived in Janssen a few weeks prior, wanting to steal the books from the Library. It was one of the few intruders to get by their security, forcing the Library's staff to banish the creature to hell. Zerkan however managed to cling onto her fathers body in an effort to survive. Demons were always harder to banish when they were in a host body.

However the strength of the Library's magics still pulled Zerkan out, but in an act of pure spite and malevolence it killed Valerie's mother first in its death throes. However the demon was still not completely banished yet. It managed to cling onto this world, just about using the spirit of Valerie's father who it also made kill himself (as it would be easier to control his spirit when he was dead.) It was literally teetering on the brink of hell, unable to to affect our world, but also limiting her fathers soul's existence within it, hence why he could only appear fleetingly.

This was a rare species of demon. Even the Library didn't have information on it, though that said their magics were still powerful enough to ultimately repel the monster, but it still evidently had a few tricks that shocked even them.

In order to ensure that Valerie's father was not pulled into hell with the demon, which completing the exorcism would have done. His soul was taken to the Library by the Professor where they could separate them, though this ultimately allowed the demon to get into the Library itself through him.

With the aid of the other Librarians, Abercombe finally purged the demon and sent it to Quortoth. Valerie's father was then able to cross over, though not before sharing a final goodbye with his daughter.

This experience not surprisingly had a profound and moving effect on Van Helsing, and afterwards he developed an interest in the supernatural. Though he later admitted that he wasn't sure if this interest was more paranoia, as the terror he felt in the presence of the demon was unlike anything he had ever experienced before. He never wanted to feel it again.

Ultimately Van Helsing didn't get any information on the occult from Abercombe's Library, as it did not at least at that point consider him worthy. Still he, Valerie and Frances kept in touch with Abercombe who supplied Van Helsing with knowledge from his own personal collection, and even served as something of a mentor to Lawrence during this time.

The trio were also soon forced to help the Professor deal with another supernatural problem in the town, just a few months later.

A former member of the Library, Hamilton had stolen one of its books and used it to bring the dead back to life. His aim was to create an army of slaves to take the Library by force and use its magics to create a new power base in Europe, one which could take the place of the Vandals, but in his mind benefit the world.

Zombies began to rise throughout the village, attacking and murdering its people. Van Helsing, Frances and Valerie helped Abercombe deal with the zombie menace before it could spread throughout Holland, though ironically at least according to his memoirs. Van Helsing was actually the least willing to take on the zombies and to his shame at one point fled and left Frances and Valerie who barely escaped afterwards. Ultimately however he came through in the end and helped the library undo the effects of the zombie plague.

Despite helping to stop the plague however Van Helsing was left with a crippling fear of zombies when he saw several of them devour a fellow student. He didn't know the student very well, having only spoken to him a few times, but to see someone he'd known in any capacity die in such a horrific way stayed with Lawrence. The initial terror and trauma in fact could very well have ended his career there and then. Thankfully however Van Helsing was given a chance to overcome his phobia of the supernatural at least, just a few weeks later. A follower of Askerely arrived in Janssen looking for its revenge. The creature was able to capture and torture Abercombe, who underestimated it, but Van Helsing, Valerie and Frances managed to track it down, using Van Helsing's own knowledge of Abercombe's studies and rescue him.

Abercombe was impressed by all three of them, and ashamed of himself. He had become lazy and weak in all his years in the Library to the point where a lowly demon had been able to capture and torture him, then there was also the mistakes he'd made in dealing with Zerkan and allowing Hamilton to join in the first place. Abercombe was desperate more than ever to prove that he wasn't a sad old relic, and foolishly tried to throw himself back into the fray. It wasn't that Abercombe was simply too old however. Truth be told he was never that much of a hunter. He was brave and determined and his motives were pure, hence why the Library trusted him, but in terms of skill, he was fairly average. Enough to wield a weapon, but even the Library should not have trusted him with anything greater than that.

Still the combination of the Professors hurt pride and his faith in Van Helsing and the others would later led to him inviting the three of them to take part in a mission against the most evil creature he had ever faced. Count Dracula.

Now Dracula's history has been somewhat misinterpreted over the centuries by a combination of fact and fiction. Bram Stoker. A student of Van Helsing, later wrote a book based loosely on their final battle in London, which soon entered popular culture. At the same time however Dracula's life as a man, where he was known as Vlad the Impaler also entered the history books, though obviously with many revisions.

In truth the real Vlad Dracula's reign of terror spanned several centuries, with the after effects of his monstrous actions still affecting the world even today.

Born in 1428 to Wallachian royalty. Vlad ruled Wallachia and Transylvania just twice. (Unlike the history books which state he ruled them three times. The third time was simply an impostor to help keep order.)

Vlad's first rule occurred shortly after the death of his father and elder brother in 1448. This reign however barely lasted a few months and later that same year, his army was crushed by his enemies and prince Vlad was forced to flee to the Ottoman empire.

During this period Vlad with no other options, turned to the black arts and eventually joined Scholomance. Kilgharrah was unhappy at the prince's inclusion. Normally in order to be eligible for Scholomance you had to have mastered magics to a certain degree, but in Vlad's case Mephistopheles took him in despite his lack of experiences for two reasons. First his influence. If Vlad reclaimed the throne, he could obviously spread darkness to a greater extent. Second of all, Mephistopheles could sense the darkness and bitterness within Vlad, that was quite unlike anything he had ever seen before.

Luckily for the former prince he proved to be a natural at the black arts, though even then it is speculated that Mephistopheles may very well have helped Vlad cheat the final exam, so that the prince could make his own way in the world, rather than be a slave to either himself or Kilgharrah. Mephistopheles was excited at what Vlad could accomplish with this power and his own cunning and ruthlessness.

During his time at Scholomance Vlad had a romance with another student. Eva Ernst. She resented Vlad at first due to his lack of skill as a sorcerer compared to the other students, but in time she came to admire his ambition and brutality.

After graduating the two travelled the country gathering followers, both human and demon with Vlad planning to take back Wallachia and have Eva be his queen. Together he hoped their magics would allow them to rule indefinitely and expand his empire.

Their twisted affair eventually led to Eva becoming pregnant. She decided to keep the baby however, only so she could use its blood in a ritual to give herself greater power. This spell in question, one of the darkest that none of even Scholomance's students had dared use before, could grant someone control over the most powerful form of dark magic a, but demanded the ultimate price, the death of their own infant child. Even for the most evil of Scholomance's students this was too much to ask, but Eva was simply upset at having to wait on the baby for 9 months while it grew. Vlad meanwhile also had no problems about killing their baby either. He didn't want it in the first place, as in his mind children end up usurping their parents. His only problem was that he did not want Eva to gain more power than him, blissfully unaware that at that point she could have torn him apart if she wanted anyway.

Thankfully however, one of Scholomance's other students, Gloria Zaleska who knew about Eva's pregnancy, having fought with the twisted couple many times since graduation. Stole the baby before the ritual could be completed and subsequently raised it as her own.

Eva continued to experiment with dark magics after the loss of her daughter, including even those that Mephistopheles was scared of in Scholomance. She was determined to become the strongest and most powerful witch. Whilst she did develop incredible power, sadly it came at a price. Her humanity was literally eaten away and Eva was transformed into a hideous, deformed monster. It was at this point that Vlad abandoned her. Naturally his "love" for her had only ever been in the shallowest way possible. She was an incredible beauty before her transformation with her huge nose, dark hair and eyes and striking cheek bones.

Now however her hair had fallen out, her eyes had become blood red with no pupil and her skin had become scaly and slimy.

Still she regretted nothing. The power Eva gained allowed her to not only take over several witches covens, but transform hundreds of witches and warlocks into monstrosities similar to her, albeit less powerful.

Eva essentially created a new and twisted form of magical creature in herself and the others she infected, though she would still refer to herself and the others like her as witches, which only sadly further contributed to their demonisation.

In time Eva became known as the Grand High Witch and commanded an army of similar monsters around the world to inflict horrific curses and spread dark magic. The more dark magic there was in the world, the stronger Eva became, with her ultimate aim being to spread enough dark magic to the point where she could become a goddess. These witches enjoyed targeting children most of all for two reasons. Eva's own disgust with children after what happened with her own daughter. Incredibly enough she actually came to resent her daughter for robbing her of the power. (That was her last chance for it to work, as whilst she could still have children, they would now be creatures of magic with the spell having specified a natural creature.)

The other reason was that due to their innocence, curses against children increased the presence and strength of dark magic tenfold, giving Eva and her vile subordinates greater strength.

As the Grand High Witch, Eva became one of the most evil, despised and feared women throughout all of history, responsible for the death's of thousands directly, never mind how many through the other monsters she created.

Vlad meanwhile after abandoning Eva was forced to flee, having underestimated her new power. Most of their followers took her side out of terror. She obviously did not love or even really care for Vlad. Her interest in the prince was every bit as shallow, but she bitterly resented the insult of being rejected by a failed prince.

Fortunately for Vlad, one of their few minions who had remained loyal to him (more out of loyalty to his father), had earlier discovered the book of Khastran. It had been brought to Wallachia many years prior by a pack of vampires, simply because the region was just out of the vandals reach by that point at least.

These vampires had hoped to build an army here, but they were slaughtered by ironically Vlad's father. This servant meanwhile, who had been a loyal follower of Vlad's father at the time and had only joined his son and Eva's ever growing cult for that reason. Remembered the victory over the demons and searched the area, discovering the book which had simply been left to rot. Vlad's father due to his dislike of the vandals, ironically despised all supernatural creatures and refused to ever use magic. Even the servant had been reluctant to reveal it to Vlad at first out of fear of what the book would do to his prince.

Sensing a huge power from within it, Vlad's greed and ambition overcame everything else and he spoke from the book transforming himself into the first of a new breed of vampire. One that would become the most common throughout Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. This breed of vampire was extremely powerful physically and possessed great hypnotic abilities. Their greatest strength however were their restorative powers. They were easier to resurrect than most others. At the same time however, Dracula's breed also suffered from many traditional vampire weaknesses, such as wooden stakes, crosses, and sunlight in particular.

Upon becoming a vampire, Vlad instantly drove back Eva's followers, forcing his ex to retreat for the time being. It would be quite a while before she was able to build up her own power base to challenge her former lover. Vlad's breed of vampire also possessed a greater immunity to magic making them particularly dangerous enemies for Eva and her followers. Still Eva didn't give up and the two remained bitter enemies for centuries afterwards.

After defeating his equally vile former lover. Dracula headed for Wallachia with an army of vampires and easily took control of the region. For the next 20 years Wallachia and other regions the prince conquered such as Transylvania became a hot spot for vampires and other supernatural creatures. Most of its human population were kept in cages and tortured and devoured by the vampires and demons. Vlad's brutality as a ruler far eclipsed even that of Prince John and the Sheriff. Vlad is believed to have tortured and killed over 80 thousand people during his second reign, though even that is a more conservative estimate.

One of Vlad's favourite methods of execution was to impale those he couldn't be bothered to feast on, with wooden stakes. This was Vlad's way of making a mockery of the fact that wooden stakes through the heart were a fatal weakness to his and many, many other vampire breeds. This earned him the gruesome title of Vlad the Impaler, which he wore with pride.

During his time as the ruler of Wallachia, Vlad also went under the title of Vlad Dracula (after the order of dragon that his family had long been a part of.) This would eventually become the name he was most associated with over the years.

Dracula held the vampires and demons together through tyranny and fear like no other before him. His reign also saw the supernatural fight back against the vandals, not just from his own armies, but he inspired vampires and demons within Europe to do as well, which further helped to cripple their power all over the continent. Dracula became a hero, a symbol to the vampires all over the world as the man who would lead them to glory. The vampire however faced many great threats to his rule, such as Eva and ironically the Ottoman empire. The combination of his vampiric powers, knowledge of the black arts from Scholomance and skills as a warrior and tactician allowed Dracula to fight off the multiple enemies at his gates from vandals to witches to empires for decades, though admittedly had it not been for the combination of all these enemies. Vlad's dark empire could have spread considerably wider.

Aside from his former lover meanwhile. One of Vlad's greatest individual enemies during this time was his own daughter. Having been raised by a Gloria. Vlad and Eva's daughter who now went by the name of Marya Zaleska became determined to destroy her loathsome parents after they caused the death of her beloved step mother.

Gloria had since stealing the baby retired from using her powers, as she did not want to bring a child into her war against the paranormal. She and Marya were happy together for years, but sadly Eva, desperate to make both of them pay. Had one of her minions track Marya down and drug her with a magic apple.

The apple trapped Marya in a painting and in order to undo its horrific effects, Gloria was forced to use up all of her magics, leaving her vulnerable and weak.

She and Marya then fled from their home. Eva had by this stage greased her way up through the ranks of the Ottoman Empire to help them take down Vlad, with it only being through their resources that she was able to find her daughter. This sadly meant that both Gloria and Maria had to flee the empire to escape. Unfortunately this in turn just made them vulnerable to Vlad, and despite Gloria's best efforts, she and her step daughter were captured by his forces. Once again however Gloria without a seconds hesitation sacrificed herself to protect her daughter, with her final actions allowing Marya to escape from Dracula's castle.

Gloria was tortured to death by Vlad personally, who just as he had down to thousands had her impaled.

Trapped in Transylvania and having no knowledge or skill of the black arts (as he mother had forbid it.) Marya instead turned to a renegade pack of vampires for help in getting revenge.

These vampires despised Vlad just as much, as they were what is known as soul vampires. Whilst there are hundreds of species of vampires, they can all be divided into four categories, savage vampires, pure vampires, born vampires and soul vampires.

The differences between these four types stems from how a person is transformed into a vampire. The process of infection can vary, but it always begins the same way, with a tiny piece of a vampires demonic energy being injected into a person, through various means, biting, transfusion of blood, demonic possession etc. Afterwards it will always grow and affect the person in one of the following four ways, leading to four different kinds of vampire (who are in turn divided up into hundreds of breeds.)

Savage vampires are where the demonic energy grows into a full demonic spirit that casts the infected's soul from the human body which it then takes over and transforms into a demonic one completely. The person may have to be dead for this to work, though in many breeds of savage vampire it can happen when they are alive. As we have explored before, the soul is where everything you are comes from. Mind, memories, personality etc. Normally when you die it floats off either to the great beyond or it may be kept on earth, by a persons will or supernatural upheaval, creating ghosts. (Or it may be sent to other artificial afterlife's or Satan's hell universe if you are corrupt.)

Sadly in the case of a savage vampire, the persons soul is sent to Khastran's dimension.

Savage vampires therefore are not the people whose bodies they take over. They are demons right through to their core. Savage vampires also possess little higher intelligence. They are as single minded as animals and live for nothing but hunting and killing. They are also among the most powerful breed of vampire too. The Jiang Shi of China is among the most notable examples of a savage vampire.

Pure vampires meanwhile are where the demonic energy infects the persons soul and transforms it completely into a demonic soul. Once again much like savage vampires this can happen whilst the person is alive, but it can also happen when they are dead. In that case the demonic energy traps the soul in the body after death whilst it transforms it, after which the person rises.

As a result of this pure vampires are the same people they were in life, but have now lost all humanity both literally and figuratively. Pure vampires are incapable of emotions such as love, compassion, remorse and empathy. They are not only driven by a desire to kill and torture, but any negative traits a person had in life, will be brought to the fore and amplified once they become a pure vampire. This is why they often choose people who are already twisted, or at least bitter and full of rage to join them. Pure vampires are by far the most common type. They account for up to 95 percent of all vampire breeds. Dracula, the Sheriff of Nottingham, Nero, and Prince John were all pure vampires. The soul of any pure vampire that is slain is sent to Khastran's dimension too.

Born vampires meanwhile as their name would suggest are those born with the condition. They are the offspring of two pure vampires. Only pure vampires can produce offspring and even then only a very few breeds are capable of doing that. Born vampires unlike all other breeds do age, though only until they reach adulthood, and they also age considerably slower than us. Born vampires much like pure vampires, do possess intelligence, and similarly lack any compassion, empathy, remorse or love. They are the most powerful vampires of them all, the most monstrous in appearance for the most part and generally at the top of any vampire hierarchy. Their souls are also sent to Khastran's dimension at death.

Finally soul vampires are where the demonic energy creates a new demon soul in the persons body, but it does not eject the human soul. On the contrary, the human soul and the demon soul merge to some extent. As a result of this soul vampires have more humanity in them than most other breeds. Soul vampires are not only weaker than most of the other breeds, but the fact that the human soul remains, even if it is being influenced by a demon, means it is possible for them to fight the demons influence and hold onto feelings like love, compassion and remorse.

Now it must be stated that the absolute majority of cases, even today, of soul vampires are just as evil as pure vampires. The demon usually succeeds in suppressing all positive emotions the person has and turns them into twisted, demonic caricatures of who they once were. (Soul vampires are also sent to Khastran's dimension too when they die.)

Still there have been a few isolated cases throughout history of certain soul vampires, for whatever reason managing to fight the demons influence over their mind and use their vampiric powers for good.

Examples of heroic soul vampires include Professor Fang, Carlene, Aimee Agyeman and Varney. It is for this reason and their generally more human nature, that soul vampires are regarded as filth by pure and born vampires. Generally speaking soul vampires, if they are accepted by others at all, occupy the lowest ranks in vampire, packs, societies and clans.

It should be noted that this same principle also applies to the vampires sworn enemies, the vandals too, who are divided into savage vandals, pure vandals, born vandals, and soul vandals. Unlike vampires however, soul vandals are accepted by the other breeds who believe they can use them to infiltrate human society more successfully.

The pack of soul vampires that Marya stumbled upon were not remorseful or heroic meanwhile. They simply despised Dracula because he had badly mistreated him and their kind and wanted to bring the tyrant down.

Marya not only agreed to help them, but also asked to be sired. All she cared about was in making her father pay. She didn't believe she even had a soul to damn, after seeing how vile both of her parents were. Marya always felt that she had to be evil deep down anyway, as surely nothing good could have come out of their twisted union. That said however Marya, had specifically chosen these vampires to be sired as she knew the difference between soul and pure vampires, unlike most people. This was thanks to her mothers extensive knowledge on the occult from Scholomance. Marya knew there would be a better chance of her controlling herself, long enough to remain focused on killing her father rather than just simply becoming a monster.

After becoming one of them. Marya led her vampires to free several of Vlad's human prisoners and slew some of his most powerful minions. The vampire king was taken aback, with Marya having managed to make a dent in his armor the likes of which her mother, the Ottoman empire, or indeed even the vandals had not been able to before now.

Granted she didn't do it alone, and unlike them she was on the inside, but still for the first time in a long while, Dracula was genuinely scared.

Like Carlene, Professor Fang etc, Marya controlled her blood lust. She later claimed that she only did so to further humiliate her father by showing that the curse of vampirism could be fought to those who didn't know any better.

Marya also forced the other vampires not to feed on humans. Not all of them agreed, but at the very least a few did for the time being, believing that the threat of Vlad was too great.

For a while Marya became a symbol to other supernatural creatures in Wallachia that wanted to live in peace with humans, or at least had human allies, lovers and associates but had been forced to turn on them after Dracula took over.

Sadly however Marya's rebellion was not to last as she was betrayed by one of her own vampires, who grew tired of not feeding on humans and sold her out to Vlad.

All of Marya's team, including the traitor were put to death by Dracula, but the vampire king prepared a much grizzlier fate for his daughter.

He locked her in his castle and forced her to prey on peasants that he could not be bothered to feed on. At first Marya tried to control her thirst, but the longer she went without it, the more the demon came to influence her, and after her first victim. A young peasant girl, she had earlier saved, feeding became easier until Marya became a monster. Even then however her father still kept her locked up just in case. He was far too sadistic to simply kill her, but was wise enough not to let her go free either.

Following Marya's defeat, Dracula's empire continued to expand for a few more years. During this time however the vampire king kept the book of Khastran locked up, as he did not want any other alpha vampire to be created that could challenge him.

That would change however one day when Dracula was contacted by the father of all vampires. Khastran. The demon god was not quite as dead as his enemies had believed. Traces of his spirit still survived across the earth, though not enough for him to truly live again. Still every once and while these traces could form together briefly to allow Khastran to be aware for a short time before they vanished. It is not known how this monster influenced our world in the other brief periods he was conscious (though some have speculated that the was responsible for spreading the bubonic plague, in the hopes of killing off all of humanity except for his children, allowing him to live again.)

This time however, Khastran's spirit came to settle near where he had died in what would one day become the Czech Republic. It had long been a hot spot for demons drawn there by Khastran's left over demonic energy. A castle had been constructed over the exact site of his death, Housaka castle, to contain what was believed to have been a portal to hell, due to the influx of demons.

Khastran's spirit during one of its brief lucid periods, utilised the demons inside the castle and had them use magics to try and stablise him. Unfortunately for the demon god however, they could not hold him together indefinitely. As it was he lasted a lot longer this time than any previous period as a ghost. Roughly two years inside Housaka castle, and during that time Khastran was able to communicate with Dracula. Khastran regarded Vlad as his most evil and despicable child. He genuinely believed that Dracula could lead his children to victory by uniting them in terror like none before him. Still in order to truly triumph over humanity and the other demon species of the earth. Khastran believed that Dracula would have to use the book of Khastran to create more alpha vampires like him, and more breeds.

The father of the vampires however was only able to fleetingly contact Dracula from his pit in Housaka castle. His messages appeared as visions in Dracula's mind which confused and even frightened him at first. The tyrant had no idea what they were, but he knew that whatever was sending them made the prince of Wallachia, for all his kingdom and influence, feel like an ant.

Dracula's fear of this power eventually led to him tracking it down with magic. Not wanting to entrust its discovery to any of his minions. Dracula briefly left Wallachia himself, discreetly with a small pack of vampires and demons and headed to Housaka castle.

When he arrived there, the demons welcomed Vlad and informed him of Khastran's intentions (though even then the vampire was still forced to slaughter several local villagers by Khastran's minions to allow Khastran to properly manifest, which he was more than happy to do.)

Khastran and Dracula talked for several days. Though the vampire was terrified at first, he soon grew eager to learn more from Khastran about the world and the universe itself. He agreed to help Khastran, on condition that after Khastran was reborn and gained access to the mystic realm. Dracula would be allowed to share in his power.

Whilst Khastran was naturally unhappy about this, he agreed to Dracula's terms and performed a ritual that bound he and Dracula's souls together meaning that one couldn't harm the other. Khastran was desperate, being not sure if he would be able to reform again without his children's help after this time. Ironically the magics that had been used to keep him here longer also threatened to drain what was left of his soul. He felt it was worth it if he could use that time to guide his children. Vampires in general had long since given up on the myth of Khastran. Few vampires even knew who he was anymore, with even the book being simply referred to as the book of vampires. Khastran knew he needed a leader to unite them to spread across the world and fulfil their original goal, and Dracula it seemed was the only man who could do it.

Sadly however for Vlad in the weeks he was away from Wallachia, his empire crumbled. Without him to lead them, the vampires and the demons soon turned on each other, which allowed the Ottoman empire to launch a final decisive strike against Dracula's demonic kingdom.

Even then the Ottoman's endured heavy casualties and only really triumphed due to their superior numbers. Still for the second time Vlad Dracula was overthrown and forced to go on the run through Europe. That said however whilst his kingdom came to an end, the effects of his rule are still being felt today. Transylvania is still a hot spot for vampires, demons and supernatural creatures thanks to Dracula's rule. Furthermore the magics Dracula used to protect his kingdom, still ensure that is is home to all manner of twisted and unnatural phenomenon

Still the fall of Wallachia was truly devastating for Dracula not just because he lost his power base. His daughter also escaped during the conflict, and the book of Khastran that had been kept in the castle was stolen by the invading Turks. Dracula had ironically not taken it with him to ensure that it wouldn't fall into anyone else's hands, whilst he was away, genuinely believing his kingdom would be more secure than he was on the road.

We will explore what became of the book later.

On the run from the vandals, the witches and his own daughter, the next few centuries of Dracula's life were more desperate. The vampire travelled from town to town, desperately trying to get any support he could, whilst indulging in his own perverted and twisted desires. He still caused considerable trouble for the vandals during this time, and none of his enemies came even remotely close to catching him. The knowledge Khastran had granted him allowed Dracula to battle the vandals through a wide variety of means beyond magic. Thanks to Khastran, Dracula possessed a far greater scientific knowledge than almost anyone from his time. (Though even then his knowledge was still limited, as ultimately he found it difficult to understand the full extent of what Khastran told him.) Still he always remained a most formidable enemy, even if he was forced to always be on the move.

Following the fall of the vandals, Dracula was able to establish a secure power base in the area of Klausenberg, which he ruled from his new castle with an iron fist.

Even then however by this stage Dracula had lost faith in Khastran, since he vanished once again. That coupled with the loss of the book, that he was no closer to finding caused the vampire to seemingly be content just to live a twisted, cruel, hedonistic life for a few centuries.

It was near the end of this point of the vampires life where he now going by the title of Count Dracula, that he first came into conflict with Abercombe.

Whilst searching for his demonic nemesis. Abercombe stumbled upon a young woman who was being pursued by Dracula. The vampire seemed to derive a sick pleasure from hurting women above all else. Some have speculated his violent, sadistic misogyny stemmed from his experiences with Eva, but whatever the case, during his rule over Klausenberg. Dracula would pick the women at random and terrorise them every night for days, sometimes weeks, sometimes months on end. Some nights he wouldn't even do anything. He'd just peer outside of their window to intimidate his victim. Other times he would hypnotise his victims and force them to do something horrible. Sometimes it would be something as simple as humiliating themselves, others it would be more gruesome and he would make them self harm. In extreme cases, he even forced them to kill their pets and family members. Other times he would threaten to harm everyone they ever loved ( a threat he often made good on.) He also enjoyed slowly transforming them into vampires, so that they could feel their humanity drip away. A quick transformation Dracula believed wasn't good enough. He wanted them to know what they were becoming and act on violent urges whilst they still had some form of conscience.

The end result was always the same with Dracula killing his victims though sometimes he'd turn them into a vampire. Dracula's brides however rarely lasted long. Once he had no use for them, he'd kill them a second time.

Whenever a family became the target of Dracula, they received no help from their neighbours. Not only did the local villagers not have much knowledge of the ways of the vampire, but any attempt to slay the vile Count failed miserably, with Dracula's retribution towards the village as a whole always being extreme. The people of Klausenberg longed for the return of the vandals ironically, who not only killed fewer, but whose sadism couldn't possibly compare to that of Dracula's.

Dracula's latest target meanwhile, a young woman named Barbara had fled Klausenberg to escape the arch vampire along with her family. One by one however, the count picked off her family, until only she remained. With Abercombe's help (who had been drawn in by the reports of vampire killings.) Barbara once again escaped. He was only successful because Dracula at that point was distracted from his usual pathetic, vile games because of the appearance of his daughter who had tracked him down to Klausenberg.

Since escaping from his castle, Marya found it hard to not feed on humans again. She only didn't want to because of her hatred of her father, but even then whilst she for the most part avoided feeding on humans, every now and again the demon's influence became too great. Unlike Varney she was not picky about who she fed on.

Sadly Marya though having become a powerful and dangerous hunter in her own right, ultimately froze up when she faced her father. The horror of the years she spent locked up, as well as the faces of the people she butchered became too much to ignore when she confronted Dracula, and for the first time since she became one of the undead she actually fled rather than face a threat down. It was many years before she overcame the shame of it, during which she laid low.

In the time it took Dracula to fight off his daughter and track down Barbara. Abercombe and Barbara fell in love. The professor had previously been dedicated to hunting the torturer of his father that he hadn't really bothered with much else in life.

However he and Barbara, bonded over what had happened to their fathers. Dracula hadn't just killed Barbara's father, he had turned him and her mother into vampires, who she had been forced to slay.

When Dracula returned, he forced Abercombe to watch as he turned Barbara into a vampire. He then left him. Quite why Abercombe wasn't sure, but he believed that it was because Dracula wanted the Professor to live with the shame of failing to save the woman he loved. The fact that Dracula did not see him as a threat was a further insult to Abercombe.

Ultimately Abercombe swore to himself that he would avenge Barbara after destroying his fathers killer. Unfortunately however the Library itself did not give him the secrets to destroy Dracula, simply because it didn't have them. The Cushings had made sure they got all of the vandals knowledge of the vampires, with the secret supply the wizard had stolen sadly containing very little information on the bloodsuckers. By this stage other than the Cushings who kept the knowledge to themselves. Very few even hunters had extensive knowledge of vampires, due to the vast number of species, and myths that had been built up around them. It was damn near impossible to separate fact from fiction. One hunter might spent years fighting one breed in their area that is immune to the cross, and conclude that the crucifix hurting vampires is a myth, only to encounter one that is affected.

This coupled with Abercombe's age convinced him to abandon his plans for revenge, but now for the first time in years. Abercombe's belief that he could destroy this monster was reignited by a group of hunters who had formed an alliance to take down Dracula.

For reasons that eluded the hunters, Dracula had in the last few years been building an army in Klausenberg and had even reached out to other vampire kings to form an alliance. (In reality it was to find the book of Khastran.)

The hunters who were all terrified of Dracula (even the Cushing's had not been able to topple him) could not allow him to become as powerful as he had been when ruling over Transylvania. They had reached out to Abercombe for help, simply because of his association with the Library, hoping he could give them access to its secrets.

Once they found out the library was of no use, Abercombe hoped the hunters would still have use for him if he brought Lawrence, Valerie and Frances with him. The hunters agreed, albeit reluctantly. Whilst Abercombe did believe that all three had come along in the time he had known them. He was also aware that this was his last chance against Dracula. The hunters meanwhile accepted out of desperation for more help, but in retrospect it was a gamble that Abercombe should not have taken with their lives and souls.

The alliance of hunters didn't even make it to castle Dracula. As soon as they arrived in Klausenberg the hunters were betrayed by one of the villagers, the landlord of a pub. He had bravely led an attack against Dracula's castle a decade ago which caused the vampire to not only murder his wife and daughter, but 17 other young girls in each of the nearby villages.

Years later the landlord after fleeing Klausenberg was able to overcome the horror and fell in love again, but his new love became a bride of Dracula who had tracked the landlord down and personally followed him as well. The landlord was forced to return to Klausenberg by Dracula, as the vampire king did not like the idea of anyone ever escaping his territory. The landlord continued to live in terror, shutting himself off from anyone out of fear of what Dracula would do to them, and never setting a foot wrong in case of incurring the vampires wrath again.

Aside from the landlord's betrayal however, the hunters were useless against the vampires anyway as again they simply didn't have the knowledge.

The hunters and Frances were butchered by Dracula's minions, whilst Valerie as the only woman there was turned into a vampire. Van Helsing was the only survivor thanks to Abercombe, who distracted one of Dracula's minions, at the cost of his own life long enough for Van Helsing to escape into the woods. There he hid in a cave until they day light, though in the morning he had to deal with Dracula's human minions, one of whom very nearly tricked and captured him. Ironically however Van Helsing was saved by the landlord who feeling shame for his earlier actions helped Lawrence flee the town before killing himself, in order to rob Dracula of the chance to hurt others, just to make him suffer.

Upon making it back to Janssen. Van Helsing however soon discovered that he was not safe yet.

Valerie was sent there to finish him off. By this stage Dracula didn't have the time to indulge in tracking down his enemies, or loose ends himself, so he sent his lackeys to do the job instead.

After barely escaping an attack from Valerie, Van Helsing went to the library for help. Unfortunately however its staff were cowards. They knew of Dracula's reputation and did not want to provoke him. In fact they even captured Van Helsing and hoped to offer him up to the vampire. Ironically however it was Lasinka that helped Van Helsing escape. Not through his own morality, but simply because he was compelled by the wizards magic.

Van Helsing subsequently escaped back to England where his uncle lived. Van Helsing did not want to return to his parents in Holland out of fear that Dracula would track them down and he knew he couldn't stay in Janssen. Even if he slew Valerie, Dracula would just send more. For now he had to remain hidden.

Lawrence's uncle in England Jack Van Helsing had the resources to shelter him for the time being. Whilst Jack tried to force Lawrence to get a job, instead he spent all his time researching the occult in the hopes of fighting back against Dracula and avenging his friends.

Valerie however knew she couldn't go back to Dracula after her failure, and stole several books from the library before fleeing across Europe for protection, not that they could do any harm against Dracula, but she hoped they could at least shield her. Whilst she remained Dracula's enemy, unlike Marya. Valerie had no remorse or compassion and was just as much a sadistic killer.

In the next chapter we will explore how Valerie and Van Helsing would finally have their vengeance against Dracula.