Gothic Bite Magazine loves to interview everyone, including those walking straight out of an Epic Gothic novel such as, The Gravedigger. Come meet with Vlad Tepes.

The Impaler Himself

An interview with Vlad the Impaler, here it goes! Vlad Tepes III is a vampire leader and the historical warlord of anciently known Wallachia, now Romania. He was a king back in the 15th century, off and on with three reigns and a life filled with turbulence and turmoil. 

Vlad is here to talk about his role in the monster world and his experience as a vampire leader. This is how it goes at Gothic Bite Magazine when we interview a fictional vampire and historical hero.

When A Vampire Says Hi!

Hello, everyone. I am Vladislav Basarab Tepes III, once the ruler of Romania. When I woke up a vampire, I learned that I would become an essential piece on the monster chessboard. People looked up to me for leadership to maintain peace between monsters and relations with humans.

The vampire people alone has two divisions, the conservatives: they wish to keep the Dark Ages Ruling in motion, meaning no interaction with humans other than a gain of power. They qualify as fascists and vampire supremacists. The others, like me, are idealists. We want to be part of people’s everyday lives, in time, and consider everyone equals. We want peace.

I represent a significant threat to the Viper Council. The Dark Ages members want to control me. That would be by suppressing my symbiote to a comatose stasis. It would wake up the psychopath in me. I am a leader to monsters and humans alike that are aware of our existence. Like in my human life, I am again, on and off, my ruling rights and just want to protect my people.

The Questioning of an Impaler

A.W. (ALEXA WAYNE): Reading your introduction shows that being a vampire means having a symbiote? What is that about?

VLADISLAV TEPES: Yes, we do have a symbiote. A symbiote is a living organism that co-exists with a host. Every vampire has one and has the potential of reproducing one. It is the symbiote that allows us to become what we are. It changes our body by adapting it to its needs but let us be once we are vampires. 

The symbiote attaches itself to our hearts once in the dead human body. After roughly ten to fifteen minutes, depending on the amount of blood remaining, the symbiote gives the host his or her life back. 

It nourishes itself by feeding on blood and keeping its host healthy. Because it only digests blood, it is the only thing we want to consume. It must be from a mammal and preferably fresh. The symbiote keeps it clean and running. By attaching itself to the heart and because it is immortal, it shares its abilities with us. 

Symbiotes are allergic to ultra-violet rays and lights since it comes from an undisclosed ancient cave. They are the reasons for our health, maintenance of our appearance, keen senses, as well as strength and speed.

A.W.: You say the symbiote shares its abilities since it’s one with your heart. But where do your fangs come from, and how do you make one of those?

VLADISLAV TEPES: Symbiotes adapt the body of their host to their needs. The fangs are their adaptation for direct blood feeding. As far as we know, symbiotes do not have a neurological thought process, more like a microbe, functioning by instincts.

As for reproduction, the vampire feels when the symbiote is ready to release its progeny. It is parthenogenesis, like an insect. But when it’s time to “give birth,” the vampire is aware of an urge to drink blood and so starts looking for a potential scion.

In vampire terms, the vampire is a donor to the human receiver, called a scion. The symbiote is given through the blood provided by the vampire. It’s microscopic at first and grows to its mature size in about twenty-four hours or so. All scions are vampires by choice and not by force. At least when the donor is an idealist.

The Vampire Community

A.W.: You mentioned conservative vampires and their desire to keep an old set of rules to govern vampires. What is those vampires’ agenda?

VLADISLAV TEPES: Conservative vampires make a good portion of our people. Ever since the early Dark Ages, the conservative ranged themselves apart from the rest of us and swore to keep the line of vampires pure. 

It is impossible to keep vampires pure because we were all humans. To justify the term, they pledge to only choose blue blood or noble people. To ensure their power, they allied themselves with the Church, as an example in western Europe and soon after the Americas. 

In other parts of the world, it was whoever cult or government was in power. That was to keep us a secret and keep a tight grip on humans and vampires.

Their plan is easy to see. Conservatives want to regress to the times where vampires could do whatever the f*ck they want. They firmly believe that vampires are kings and the supreme species. They are xenophobes. They hate all other species but their own.

Right now, conservatives are trying to regain all seats in the Viper Council. That is by eliminating as many idealist leaders and representatives as possible.

A.W.: You are an essential piece on the monster chessboard. What does that mean?

VLADISLAV TEPES: It means that my name alone possesses the power. When alive, I made sure that my name inspired fear. I had no choice if I had to protect my people. I resulted in horrible warfare torture to implement fear and feed the imagination of my enemies.

As a vampire, I had to keep working that path for a long time to maintain the fire going, if you will. At first, I wasn’t sure since my symbiote cured me of many illnesses I had. But, I received advice convincing me otherwise. So, to this day, conservative vampires and many other monsters fear me. 

I am happy to be a hero to those who needed me. When I see what people think of me, I’m content with the decision I made. Romania is alive, and to many, I am a hero, and to others, well, not so much.

Interviewing A Not So Monster

A.W.: You are a vampire. So, let me ask you, are they what we think they could be? 30 Days of Night or True Blood like?

VLADISLAV TEPES: I guess that comes with interviewing a real vampire. Okay, vampires, just like humans, we are who we are and different from one another.

I guess, by nature, due to our symbiote, we are born territorial. But, humans are too when being patriotic. I mean, some of us are proud to be vampires but are still friendly, and others, quite extremist about it.

We are not that much different than humans. Some of us are friendly and kind, and others are better left alone. We are the same. 

If you mean in appearance if I didn’t tell you I was a vampire, would you know? I’m not that ghost-white because my symbiote keeps my blood running. I am a bit pale because it does keep me at a preferable temperature to keep me “fresh.” 

However, when my fangs are out or I’m hungry certain apparent traits change. I might look more like a predator. 

A.W.: Vampires subsist on blood, but throughout the television era, we’ve seen some capable of eating food or survive on animals, which is real?

VLADISLAV TEPES: I guess I can confirm all the above. Some of us decide to stay clean of humans and will feed on animals alone. However, those do not kill animals. They only take a bit at a time, often from wounded animals to heal them afterward. Those vampires are isolationists most of the time. They live outside of civilizations.

Vampires can sustain on any mammal blood. That includes all animals fitting that description, so whales even. However, many turned to cloned blood. It’s not artificial but goes through a quite refine cloning process. It’s almost like a 3D printer but for blood. 

The company is VitaL. It came alive with Bernabé DeVilliers, a biotechnologist who was able to create cloned blood. He added many more nutrients to the recipe for vampires to have more complete nourishment. 

All this nourishment is in one bottle of VitaL without having to rely on killing humans or animals.

However, there are still vampires, mostly conservatives, that prefer the hunt. They arrange men-hunting, and now, with the Internet, they even bid on humans. It’s a circus out there. They do not care about humans’ lives. Those vampires just brutally and slowly kill them by draining them.

Some vampires are capable of eating food. Those are hybrids. It’s fun for a while until it isn’t. That’s because eventually, you exist, or you don’t. It’s the law of physics. Either the symbiote adapts to the body or rejects it entirely. 

It’s a temporary state for all hybrids. They lose the symbiote or keep it. There is no half in the vampire world. Even the symbiote is snobbish.

Vlad The Impaler On Vampire Sexuality

A.W.: As a vampire, you know what we see on television, on the big screen, or in books. What’s with vampires and sexual interactions?

VLADISLAV TEPES: All right! Ahem…well, the symbiote lives on blood, and any rush of it by flowing it faster is a way for it to regenerate. Consequently, our libido is higher than most humans. We are exceptionally sexual people, but we can also turn to adrenaline. 

Some of us prefer to go into extreme situations instead. Anything to get the blood flowing. That is something I find not represented enough in humans’ common knowledge of vampires. There are asexual vampires too. 

It’s not a question of sexual interaction as much as it is to get the blood rushing faster.

A.W.: How do vampires react when seeing goths, lifestylers, role play, and vampire communities, or even those who claim to be vampires?

VLADISLAV TEPES: I can only speak for myself and most idealists here. We do not judge humans who admire or wish to be vampires. In fact, most of the time, it makes our decision for the next scion easier.

However, it becomes clear that the knowledge of how we are can sometimes come out as dated. Stories like True Blood or 30 Days of Night, among others, are more accurate to what we are, I guess. It’s a better reference.

We like all kinds of styles, just like humans. We don’t choose to live at night, but we grow to enjoy it. I don’t know many vampires who whine about their situation. 

We don’t like it when groups misrepresent us and give us a bad name. We wish to intervene, but we don’t.

We are as humans. Some of us are goths, others are business, other gym rats, and so on. We are people like you, just different mechanisms. We respect others who want to be like us since, to the masses, we do not exist.

Vlad The Impaler Historian

A.W.: I know you do not like the name, but why is it that Dracula by Bram Stoker makes you so angry?

VLADISLAV TEPES: For all the f*cking f*cks! That can of worms. Okay. This will appear as pretentious, but I mean it that way: I am Vlad the Impaler. I am Vladislav Dracul from the House of Dragons. 

I am a third of the name Vladislav and the warlord of Wallachia. I had two wives, why? Because one died and I remarried. I neither had a harem nor did I wish to have one. Ever. 

My castle? I didn’t really have a castle. I had a fortress but didn’t live in it. It was mostly for tactical war advantage. Also, if you ask me, this Dracula was more like Elizabeth Báthory than me.

I do not mind people loving the story. Just do not mistake this Dracula for me.

A.W.: A question I guess many people would like to know: how do you not get recognized by anyone ever since your assassination in the 15th century?

VLADISLAV TEPES: Nobody truly knows what I look like due to my constant war schedule. There are medieval paintings of my ancestors and my brother. 

However, I was not a true king. I was a warlord. I did not waste time to have a portrait of me. I had people to defend. My people depended on me for their protection.

Having dollars spent to have an artist paint me was not even on my top hundred things to do. Back then, life was different, and while many rulers of various kinds had their portrait done, I never spent one cent on one. I had better things to do.

For that reason, to this day, no portrait of me is accurate in the least. I have green eyes for once and black hair.

A.W.: As the last question, for interviewing a historical Romanian hero such as you, what are your thoughts on the paranormal and monsters?

VLADISLAV TEPES: The paranormal is just science waiting to have confirmation. As for the “monsters,” by which, I guess you mean vampires, werewolves, shifters, ghosts, and the others, we’re here. 

We are territorial and do have our communities, but we are here. Many showed the proof, but we live in an era where it is easy to fool people. The population of liars is rising for a reason. 

Like in the Middle Ages, where those in command kept the people in the dark to rule others with fear, today is the same tactic, just different delivery methods.

In all honesty, I share this as my last thought: we used to see paranormal shows focusing on ghosts and Bigfoot. Why is it that now people who saw werewolves are coming out with videos and pictures, and two quite convincing videos of vampires are circulating?

THANK YOU!

This is our first “interviewing a historical hero” article! Vladislav Tepes III is the main male character of the Lord Impaler series and now returns to the pages of the novel you can find on Amazon as a digital copy or paperback.

Gothic Bite Magazine is interviewing fictional characters now and bringing them to life for your entertainment. Maybe next time, a werewolf can show up! In the meantime, we hope you enjoyed Interviewing Vlad The Impaler!

 The OCD Vampire,
Arielle Lyon