There are legends of vampires who live on the blood or life essence in many cultures around the world. "Modern" vampire fiction was born in the early 19th century Romantic era. Count Dracula was the product of Bram Stoker's imagination, a Victorian-era British author who based his character in part on the character of a 15th-century Romanian prince, Vlad Tepes. Rather than being an object of horror in Romanian culture, he is a national hero who rescued Romania from the Turks (some of his methods of instilling fear in his enemies, like impaling them live, were .. shall I say ... rather brutal). Vlad Tepes was not a vampire. Tepes' father was a member of the Order of the Dragon, a religious and military society. I think their family crest had a dragon in it. The Romanian word for Dragon is Dracul ... well, you can guess the rest.
