In January 1477, Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia of the House of Drăculești was beheaded by the Turks. During his lifetime, he had committed numerous vicious and bloody acts against the Ottoman Empire, and against his own people. This earned him the name 'Vlad The Impaler'. It was these stories passed down over the centuries that gave birth to the legend of Count Dracula.
Those are the stories that the descendants of Vlad Tepes are happy to have the world believe. The truth is something else.
In truth, Vlad III wielded formidable magic power and wildly abused it. Members of the Tepes family watched Vlad slowly lose himself to the darkness, and rather than watch him destroy the House of Drăculești with his rage, they conspired to poison him. Vlad Tepes died and the power died with him.
But the power resurfaced in 1614 in Radu Mihnea, a direct descendant of Vlad Tepes, and again in 1725 in Basarab II of Wallachia. In 1897, the power was partially chronicled and published by Bram Stoker under the guise of fiction. The power resurfaced again in 1942 when twins with ice-blue eyes were born in what is now Targu Mures, Romania, Ottomar and Illinca Vlad Dracul Kretzulesco.
Each time the power has manifested, it takes a slightly different form. In the case of Vlad Tepes, it was what can be labeled in the 21st Century as Hysterical Strength. This is what gave him the raw power to impale men on pikes, lifting them into the air, or tearing their heads off with his bare hands. In 1942, the power split between the two children. Each of them just as powerful as their ancestors, and they both possessed the signature “fangs” that each past wielder of this power possessed.
None of the House of Drăculești have ever had the need or desire to drink blood, though Vlad did bite his fair share of limbs off in a vulgar display of power to demoralize the Turks.
In 1956, Ottomar and Illinca were visiting Budapest with their family when a student demonstration against the Communist Government turned violent, and escalated into what became the Hungarian Revolution. When Soviet troops came in to quell the uprising, a shell from a tank brought down the front of a bank, crushing the twins and their family. When the rubble was cleared days later, Ottomar was dead. He had thrown himself over his sister to protect her and given his life to do so. Illinca woke up in a hospital back in Bucharest, Romania. She recovered quickly enough and ultimately without issue, save for her eyes which had turned blood red. In the years that followed, it also became evident that Illinca was aging incredibly slowly.
The power once possessed by Ottomar was
released on his death, entering Illinca. From that point forward, Illinca wielded her power differently, manifesting two white spirit
dragons when her temper flared. She affectionately named the dragons Boris and Karloff.
In recent decades, Illinca has travelled the world on a journey to find purpose. In 2005, she made herself known to the Otherkin and has stayed in and around New York City while working with the Valor Agency.
