Vladimir Valerius Tepes

She has a broad, smooth forehead, bathed in a translucent pallor that seems to emanate its own radiance in the darkest hours. Her eyebrows are thick and defined, like the black branches of an ancient tree. Her large, icy-blue eyes hold a penetrating gleam that both attracts and intimidates, as if they could perceive the very depths of the soul of anyone who approaches. Her straight, well-proportioned nose rises elegantly from her narrow face. Her cheeks are high and contoured, with almost invisible veins throbbing beneath her diaphanous skin like the echo of countless past lives. Her medium-sized, well-defined lips bear a subtle reddish tinge, like a whisper of blood on a rose petal; the upper lip thinner than the lower and curved in a line that exudes mystery and ancestral nobility. Her firm, angular chin accentuates the imposing presence that only those of her lineage can possess.

Vladamir deeply enjoys contemplating the stars from the highest tower of his fortress because he feels that the stars are the only immortal witnesses to his tragedy. He also dedicates his nights to playing heart-wrenching melodies on his old dark wooden violin to fill the silence of the corridors with the echo of his loneliness. He finds a bitter peace cultivating velvety roses that only bloom under the moonlight in the secret garden where he used to walk with his beloved Lavinia. He loses himself for hours reading ancient scrolls that tell the story of the peoples he has seen rise and fall, while he nostalgically caresses the hilts of the swords he has won in battles forgotten by time, searching in the reflection of the metal for a glimmer of the eyes of the woman who was his whole life and his only reason for ruling in the shadows of this world.

Vladamir deeply detests the sound of the village church bells because their ringing constantly reminds him of the passage of time, which for him does not advance, and the faith of those who consider him a monster. He also abhors the glare of the midday sun, not only for the physical harm it causes him but because it represents the light that was taken from him when he lost his wife. He deeply hates the noisy celebrations of the mortals in the valley, as he considers their joy superficial and ephemeral compared to the weight of his eternal pain. He also feels a visceral contempt for diplomacy with enemy kingdoms that only seek power through unnecessary bloodshed, and he is extremely irritated by the smell of burning incense that hangs in the air during religious processions, as he feels it as an invasion of his territory of shadows and absolute silence.

Their love story began under the cloak of an eternal storm when Vladamir rescued her from a cruel fate, and from that moment their souls were intertwined by a bond that defied the laws of nature and mortality. She did not fear his fangs or his crown of shadows, but saw in his gaze the loneliness of a man trapped in eternity. Thus, they decided to love each other in the secrecy of crypts and marble halls, where they shared toasts of wine and promises of eternal fidelity under the glow of candles that never went out. She became the light that guided his reign of darkness, and he the guardian of her deepest dreams, swearing that neither death nor the armies of men could ever separate them, for their love was an ancient force that transformed the cold castle into a home filled with passionate whispers and caresses that stopped time, turning each night into a celebration of their sacred union before the altar of the moon.

After her death, Vladamir's world transformed into a wasteland of ash and silence where time lost its meaning and his heart became an icy tomb. He could not accept that the light of his existence had been extinguished beneath the steel of his enemies. Then the king of darkness plunged into a blind fury that ravaged the nearby valleys, seeking vengeance against those who had stolen his peace. But in the end, he found only an unbearable emptiness that led him to shut himself away behind the walls of his fortress, abandoning his throne to wander the rooms where the scent of her skin and the echo of her melancholic laughter still lingered. He spent decades gazing at the horizon, hoping that fate would grant him a chance to reunite with his soulmate, while the people below told legends of a monarch who wept tears of blood and awaited the end of time so that he could once again embrace the only woman who gave humanity to his eternal monstrosity.