Vanya
The First Vampire
Chapter 1
She came from a world inside our world, between the northern and the southern poles; she was a creature of light who came to put an end to his darkness…
Origins...
Vanya
The First Vampire
This is a story like no other even if is about the eternal struggle between opposites: good and evil, day and night, light and darkness…
Even if she lived in the days of our past, she originally came from tomorrow, a time of our near future; Vanya will be born in a world inside our world, between the northern and the southern poles where the sun never sets. Vanya will be born in the days of tomorrow, with such purity and innocence that the darkness will hide before her presence. Vanya will be a princess in another world; with her long white hair, her pale skin and her charming bluest eyes. Adventurous and noble, she will travel the realms in her dreams leaving her body behind.
Little we know of her world. What we know came from faded legends and forgotten religions. We know about the people there because we share the same ancestors and because they used to visit us; they were once very familiar to us. We know about the floating island and the great city palace, because in the past we called it “Olympus” and then “Heaven”. Above there, right bellow their sun, the Sacred City is the home of the royals, in those days, Samara, the beautiful Dragon Queen, and Andor the Gargoyle will be the rulers. We know about the white dragons that nest in the Sacred City, because once we called them Pegasus.
You must know that they look like us, but they aren’t, they can materialize their animal spirit and become one with it. We knew then in different times with different names such as mermaids, centaurs, gargoyles, fauns, angels, and even gods. Through a mystic portal, different dynasties of Royals used to come to our world to rule over us, to save us or to destroy us, but since the “Age of the Rebellion” the portal remains close. Even so, them and us can meet in another world: the oneiric realm, (better known as the realm of the dreams).
It is forbidden for them to make contact with us in any way, it is against their laws, but even so, some had broken the rules to face atrocious consequences. “We” are dangerous for “them”, because as we live in a world of dualities with our days and nights and we tend to struggle between the light and the darkness within; but them; they are creatures of light, love and peace.
This is the story of two, this is a story of love, a princess from another world and Vlad II, prince of Wallachia, and together they conceived who history came to know as Vlad III, the Impeller, the Son of the Dragon, Dracula.
Chapter 1
In the early 14th century, north of the Danube, Basarab I gained independence for Wallachia following a rebellion against Charles I of Hungary. For over a century Wallachia enjoyed a period of partial independence thanks to the warrior princes born to the Basarab dynasty, especially thanks to prince Mircea the Great, who was about to witness the birth of his first born heir, or at least that is what he was hopping for.
1400 bC, North of the Danube
Wallachian Sunset
Returning with his guard from a mission to Moldavia, prince Mircea was joyful to be so close home, satisfied about the arrangements to marry his progeny to the Moldavian dynasty. It was an optimistic deal between the young rebel princes as neither of them had yet children of their own. However Mircea was to be a father as his princess was seven months pregnant waiting for him back home when…
Mob
As the Wallachian sun faded away in horizon, the dark vale of the night spread over the Carpathian Mountains when the light of the torches and the screams of the mob delayed the prince’s caravan.
The Witch
Part curiosity and part duty, the prince and his men intervened. It was the sword of the prince that stood between a mob and a young woman, and soon after his guards stood by their prince; saving the beautiful woman with silver hair and yellow eyes from being publicly executed by dozens of his subjects from a nearby town.
The Monster
The people in the mob quickly recognized the prince, and the revered him except for one, the leader of the mob who tried explaining the reason for all this:
—But your grace, this woman is a monster, she is a witch, I demon I say!
The prince was neither amused nor impressed with the villager’s allegations. Mircea was embarrassed before the “man of god” who was the ambassador from the Holly Roman Empire.
—A monster? A Witch? A demon? Which one is it? I only see a girl, running for her life, chased by ignorant savage villagers, subjects of mine.
Beautiful
Mircea helped the woman get back on her feet and for a moment, the beauty of that mysterious woman charmed him when those yellow eyes trapped him.
—You had embarrassed us before monsignor Lupei.—he said What word should our guest bring back to the Holly Roman Emperor of his travels to our Wallachia?
—But your grace…
—I don’t want to hear it. We am not amused. Braco, I want this man under arrest and I want all these people questioned, separately
A warning or a threat?
But then she spoke:
—No, you must let them go.
—So you can speak! And who is addressing us?
—Dacianne, your grace, my name is Dacianne; and if you want to see your wife again you must rush to the castle. Rush before is too late.
Mircea the Great
For a moment, prince Mircea didn’t know what to think or how to react. The young woman before him, beautiful like no one he ever saw, chased by an angry mob for witchery, has just told him he is about to loose his wife. But before the eyes of his guards, his subjects and the ambassador of Rome, he was expected to act quickly, fair and merciless at the same time, as he was the heir of Basarab I, the noble who gained them the independence from the Hungarian Empire.
—Branco, take this woman as my prisoner; lock her in the tower.— He ordered
—Yes, your grace. — Replied his second in command, and two of the guard acted and requested by just a gesture with his head.
And so, Dacianne was taken prisoner by two guards.
Patriarch
Hours later, an army of servant and guards received their prince and his companions when Marilla, the head of the service announced him that his wife was giving birth prematurely following an accidental fall.
For a moment time stopped, and nothing else mattered. Mircea stopped breathing and rushed to his chambers were he found his wife giving birth with the help of five midwifes. There was so much blood.
Mircea arrived just on time to hold her hand and kiss her forehead. He saw his child come out of his wife, and heard the princess whisper: “Please love our son, no matter w…”
Hello and Goodbye
Mircea snapped out of what it felt like a horrible nightmare when he heard the cry of his son. He realized that he hesitated when he was offered to hold the perfect baby boy that just came out of his dead wife. He realized that he was only holding her body and she was no more.
Mircea let go of the princess and he held in his arm his first born, prince Vlad II, son of the house of Basarab, heir to Wallachia.
Friend or Enemy?
By sunrise Mircea had morn the death of the princes without dropping a tear, as it was expected from him. By sunrise he had had enough of his baby cry. His son, who he named Vlad II, was restless and unhappy; he wouldn’t eat from the breast of any of the white nurses and he was growing weak for lac of sleep and nourishment.
By the time the situation got critical, Mircea decided to seek help on his prisoner, Dacianne the foreigner. Mircea fund his way through the castle and he was let in into the tower where he locked her.
—Did you get to see her alive? — She asked
—Yes, just on time.
—And your son, how is he?
—How did you know she was going to die? How do you know I had a son who survived her.
—I can’t explain, I see things in my dreams and I see while awake. I can see what has passed and I can see what is yet to come.
—Are you a witch?
—I’ve been called many names, but what I can only assure you that I mean no harm to you, your family or anyone in your realm.
—What is wrong with my son?
—He is not eating, and he can’t fall a sleep, he needs his mother.
—His mother is dead.
—Bring him to me, I will feed him and keep him warm. I will love him and protect him as if he was mine
.
Motherhood
And so, Vlad, the newborn prince, was brought to the tower by one of the wet-nurses where he was placed on the arms of Dacianne. Dacianne was joyful to receive the baby, like a mother who lost her own newborn. Mircea took his dagger and put it against Dacianne’s neck, giving him a warning and a threat:
—See that my son gets all what he needs and suffers no harm, otherwise I will be merciless
—Fear not, your grace, your son is in good hands.
Dacianne untied her corset and pulled one of her perfect and swollen breasts and put the nipple in the child’s mouth. Mircea looked for a moment, surprised, and when he saw his baby feed from that mysterious and gorgeous woman, he was moved to almost tears.
Dacianne was relocated to a chamber besides prince Vlad’s, and the following days, weeks, months and years that came, she became the mother he lost.
6 year old prince
Six springs passes fairly quickly and Mircea saw his boy grow healthy and strong physically, but his temper was weak and dreamy. Mircea feared that Dacianne’s care was spoiling his son and making him soft and undisciplined. Regardless the age, a Basarab heir was to be fearless, decisive and strong,
Vlad would have a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep and he was tormented by horrific nightmares that in his six year old mind were as real as you and I.
Sunsets over Wallachia
As a little boy, the end of a day meant such anguish that would bring him to tears. Seeing the sun hid behind the hills of Wallachia would get him in a terrible state of mourning, in anticipation of what was soon to come. At each dawn, the shadow would defeat the light, and from within the darkness, my terrors would take shape and a life of their own.
His name was Vlad, Vlad II, son of the great prince of Wallachia, Mircea cel Batran, I was the heir of the obscure legacy of the Basarab lineage. My home was a castle, in the year 1400, when he was six, and his life was about to change forever.
Nights in Wallachia
Call it superstition if you may, or the fantasies of a troubled boy; but he coulld can tell you for a fact that more than six hundred years before your time, monsters of all kind haunted the life of the people of this land. He remembers shadows becoming alive to torment him; the voices in the wind and the ghosts of the past, but little that he knew, he was destined to, one day, in this castle he called home, a son of his own would become the prince of darkness, Vlad Tepes, the impeller, Dracula.
