Dracula (Van Helsing)
Count Vladisluas Dracula is a villanous vampire lord from Van Helsing.
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Biography
Count Vladisluas Dracula was born in 1422 and was the son of Valerious the Elder. He was murdered in 1462 at the hands of Van Helsing. Upon his death, he made a deal with the Devil to give him new life and thus he was transformed into a vampire. However, the only way for him to sustain his life was by drinking the blood of others. Despite his evil reign, his father Valerious the Elder could not bear to kill his own son and thus banished him to an icy fortress in a far off hidden location. However, the Devil had granted the Count with wings through which he escaped his castle prison in order to terrorise the mortal world. As such, Valerious the Elder promised that his family would not rest or enter Heaven until Dracula was vanquished from the lands.
At some point, the Count took upon three women as his brides who were Verona, Aleera and Marishka. He sought to rule the world with his kind but due to the fact that they were undead, the children that were born were not alive. But in 1887, 400 years later, he acquired the services of a Human doctor known as Dr. Victor Frankenstein and financed his work. The doctor performed unethical experiments in order to give life to the dead and began stealing bodies from graves to craft a being which became known as Frankenstein Monster. The castle where he performed his experiments was discovered by the Human villagers who sought to storm it at the time when Viktor Frankenstein was successful in giving life to the monster. Dracula sought to use the beast as a living power battery which would be used to give his own children life.
With the experiment a success, Dracula revealed his intentions and was forced to kill Dr Frankenstein but this act simply enrages the monster who throws a object into Dracula that knocks him into a fireplace. Afterwards, the monster takes his father to a nearby windmill which is burnt down the villagers. By the time Dracula and his Brides arrive to retake the monster, the windmill had been destroyed and it seemed that the Counts plans were lost forever. Years later, Dracula used Frankensteins assistant Igor to continue the late doctors work. At the same time, he was being challenged by a resistance from the Human villagers who were led by the descenants of the Valerious family. In desperation, Dracula attempted to use his first descendant Boris Valerious as the human conductor to give life to his vampiric children but this failed. The disappearance of Boris Valerious would spark the continued hunting from his children, Velkan Valerious and Anna Valerious.
In order to deal with the Valerious family, Dracula dispatched his Werewolf servant to kill them. The encounter resulted in the death of the werewolf and the apparent death of Velkan Valerious. However, what was not known to Velkan's sister and the villagers was that the son of Boris Valerious had survived but had been bitten by the werewolf. Capturing the beast, Count Dracula was successful in making him his servant. He later dispatched his brides to feast on the nearby village and kill the last of the Valerious family, Anna Valerious. But during the battle, Gabriel Van Helsing had arrived after being sent by the Vatican to help their allies the Valerious family. In the struggle, Marishka was killed and her two sister brides despaired and returned to Dracula. Immediately after her death, Dracula was enraged and asked why the Humans hunted him as they only took a few lives. When his brides were saddened by Marishka's death, Dracula stated that he would find a new bride which disgusted his Verona and Aleera who asked if they meant so little to him. He then also made plans to continue his experiments which were close to fruitrition despite the reluctance of his brides who were devastated by the last experiment which resulted in the deaths of their children.
He then dispatched the werewolf Velkan to spy on the warrior that had arrived at the village but due to Valerious's recent transformation, he was not entirely under Dracula's control and attempted to warn his sister but failed when the full moon brought about his change into his were form. Dracula then revealed to Velkan the fate of his father who was now a decomposed roasted skeleton and hoped to use Boris Valerious's son to empower his vampiric children with life. He had hoped that the werewolf venom that surged through his body would be suitable for the task. It was then he came face to face with Gabriel Van Helsing for the first time in centuries. He immediately displayed familiarity with Van Helsing but learnt that Gabriel had lost his memory. He attempted to tempt him with knowledge of his past and when Van Helsings attempt at using techniques that normally killed vampires failed, he revealed his full name before turning into his hellbeast form whereupon he tried to kill Van Helsing. However, Gabriel along with Anna Valerious escaped and Velkan was insufficient in giving life to his vampiric brood who only lasted for a short time before exploding. With his recent experiment once again a failure, he told a werewolf Velkan to hunt down Van Helsing along with Anna and kill them both.
Events took a fortunitous turn when it was discovered by the werewolf that Frankensteins Monster had survived and now travelled with Gabriel Van Helsing. He dispatched his two remaining Brides to retrieve the Monster but was Verona was slain by trickery but Aleera was successful in capturing Anna Valerious. She informed Van Helsing to meet at a neutral site with the Monster and that the Count was willing to make an exchange; the Monster for Anna. With Anna now in his hands, he used his mental powers to control her and stated that he wanted to turn her into his latest bride. Whilst dancing in the large palace with hundreds of bystanders, Gabriel made his move and rescued Anna, hoping that Dracula would not attack in such a public place. But the Count revealed the palace to be his summer retreat and its occupants vampires like himself. With Gabriel and his allies distracted, Igor was successful in capturing the Monster and taking it to Dracula's castle.
With Gabriel trapped before him, Dracula was confident that he would destroy the servant of the Vatican. However, the situation quickly reversed when Van Helsing transformed into a werewolf as the curse had been transfered to him when Velkan bit him. The two did battle and Dracula attempted to reason with Gabriel and turn him to his side. But the vicious werewolf was singleminded in attacking the vampire lord and tore his throat out. Thus, the Count who had lived for centuries was finally killed and his reign had ended.
Overview
Personality and attributes
He stated that he felt no love, joy or sorrow and that he was empty. Despite this, he felt that his fate was not bad as he would live forever. He showed no true love for his brides and was perfectly willing to replace any that had been killed.
Dracula was capable of turning not into a bat but a large, winged monster that resembled a demon or gargoyle.
Powers and abilities
Unlike ordinary vampires, Dracula was immune to the items that would kill his kin. This meant that crosses did not harm and stakes to his heart did not kill him; they only caused him pain but otherwise he was invulnerable. Crosses placed in his hands would melt into their constituent parts whilst causing him pain while stakes remained fixed to his chest until he removed them. Fire could burn parts of his body but these immediately regenerated back to hisnormal Human features.
His vampiric nature meant that he had no reflection and had the need to drink the blood of mortals to sustain himself. Furthermore, he was capable of passing on his vampiric curse onto others thus making them vampires like himself. It was said by the Count that a single moment of pain which was followed by immortality.
The Count only had one weakness which were the supernatural powers of Werewolves who's strengths were capable of killing him. This was the reason why he always tamed werewolves to his will to prevent them from turning against him.
References
- Van Helsing (2004)