Reader Mail: Where Do Vampires Come From and the Power of Dracula

Ronnie Van Helsing

Silver Falcon Writes:
I have a couple of questions about your world of vampires in Sword of Dracula and the Alex Van Helsing books.

1. How were vampires created in your world? Was Dracula the first or was he created by another? Did he made a deal with the Devil? Was it forced on him? Have you ever thought about how he was when he was human?

2. 1. Does the Polidorum have the technology to create an injection of some form that could suppress the vampiric virus or nature of a vampire?

3. 1. When Dracula creates his blood masses of creatures, zombies and whatnot, does he have a hivemind or connection with them that allows him to see through their eyes, speak through them, and control them like puppets?

Silver! What awesome questions.

First thing: you totally don't have to have read the Sword of Dracula comic to enjoy the Alex Van Helsing novels, or vice versa. They are in the same universe, but it's more like a bonus. If you know, you know. But I can answer these questions and they apply to both stories.

Some of this actually gets discussed a little in Alex Van Helsing: Vampire Rising and the Sword of Dracula trade paperback, but I'm not sure I've ever put it all in one place. And some things are definitely only in unpublished documents.

In the Alex Van Helsing/ Sword of Dracula universe, the first vampires were descended from the Nephilim, Angels who were put on earth to care for humanity but who turned against God. The vampire curse has passed down since, not genetically but through blood and biting. When you get bitten, besides the other changers, the curse burns out most or all of the empathic centers of the brain, making you a more dangerous, more-ready-to-kill person.
Dracula was not the first vampire-- he became a vampire in the 15th century, but has since become one of the most powerful vampires in the planet. If you want to know how he was when he was human, see Ronnie's slideshow in the first chapter of Sword of Dracula, and in my essay "What I Forgot About Dracula" in the back of Sword of Dracula.
Does the Polidorum have the technology to create an injection of some form that could suppress the vampiric virus or nature of a vampire?
They might. It might be possible to capture a vampire and hit them with something to repair the empathic centers or chemically enhance them to render a vampire "nicer."
When Dracula creates his blood masses of creatures, zombies and whatnot, does he have a hivemind or connection with them that allows him to see through their eyes, speak through them, and control them like puppets?
You're referring to Dracula's "blood powers," where he can use blood to create creatures like horses, bats and even augment dogs with extra parts. This all stems from his basic powers of necromancy and remote control, both of which were referenced in Chapter 18 of Dracula.
I haven't gotten  really specific about this, but generally the various creatures follow rules. Blood dogs blood sharks are dogs whose bodies have been augmented with bloodwood (the manipulated blood Dracula controls) to create new creatures that, while not exactly sentient, can function as trained creatures. Zombies are raised human dead and function according to a set of simple rules. My feeling of all of these is that Dracula can mentally wind them up and let them go, but in a pinch could mentally control any one of them.

Note that so far Dracula is the only vampire we've seen who has this blood power, but there may be others like him. Also note that during the events of Alex Van Helsing: Vampire Rising, Alex is so far not even aware that Dracula or the other vampires alive-- whereas by Sword of Dracula, he is sending Ronnie secret notes with plans on how to deal with the "Lord of all Vampires."

Thanks for the questions!