Ivan was born in 1484 and was the only child between his parents Vlad and Celeste for the duration of his upbringing. His father wasn’t very involved with him, as was typical at the time, but his mother was adamant on her involvement in his upbringing. While her family came from some wealth, since her father worked as a goldsmith, she was not of nobility, so her family was more involved with her upbringing. She wished to provide the same for her son, and although she wasn’t necessarily a formal teacher or a governess, she oversaw her son’s education and care far more than Vlad did. Just like any noble, he was given a formal education and especially became proficient with reading, learning a number of languages, yet he particularly enjoyed riding horses. He spent a fair bit of time at the stables, when he wasn’t busy with his other studies, and at one point in time he sometimes enjoyed the ‘company’ of a servant girl in those stables. That came to a horrible end when on one occasion, Ivan was particularly hungry, and he drained the girl of blood. Yet he and the family were hardly phased - by now, the Dracula name had been whispered about by the locals, and it had become associated with their blood-sucking nature and brutality.

 

    Not long after he reached adulthood, Ivan became discontent with life, couped up in the castle with his parents. He had been raised as the heir to a Count, but it was an inheritance Ivan would never receive, since his father could not die. Ivan desired land of his own, and after convincing his father, the Count assisted his son with the purchase of land across the Adriatic Sea, in Naples (part of modern day Italy). By the summer of 1576, he had fully settled in the region of Terra di Bari, where he became Lord of an estate which he managed for 122 years. 

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    During that time, Ivan met and fell in love with a woman named Francesca. She was the daughter of a nobleman, so she understood the burden he carried since claiming land in the country. The region provided the Spanish with military and economic support, first for The Eighty Years War, and then for the Franco-Spanish War. Not only did she understand the strains of his title, but unlike many other mortals, she seemed more fascinated than terrified by his blood red eyes. She showed him kindness that was unusual to one as accustomed to cruelty as Ivan was, and he was drawn in by her. As they got to know one another, the no-life prince fell for the mortal girl. It was his desire to marry her, but Francesca’s father had suspicions about Ivan’s nature and refused to give his blessing. He had told Francesca the truth about his vampirism, and although she accepted him for what he was, she didn’t want to become one herself. She wished to remain human. This left Ivan to grapple with the inevitability of her death, and whether or not he could withstand such grief.

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    After refusing to give his blessing, Francesca’s father tried to keep them apart, but Ivan found ways to steal time away with her and continue their courtship in secret. Their growing love gave way to other passions, and within months of their relationship beginning, Francesca was with child. Her father was outraged, but now he was forced to give the couple his blessing, and the two married before the truth became apparent. For a time, the two found happiness. But as her pregnancy went on, Francesca began to weaken. Ivan started neglecting his duties as Lord due to his efforts to help his wife, but it appeared as though his efforts weren’t helping. He began to fear the worst, and his fears were confirmed when Francesca suddenly collapsed while dressing one day. She went into labor too early and hemorrhaged, and neither she nor the baby survived.

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    After the loss of his wife and child, Ivan felt that he had nothing left. He and his tenants were drained of money after the country funded two of Spain’s wars, and his people were becoming privy to his vampiric nature. With the woman he loved dead, there was nothing keeping him in Naples any longer. In 1698, Ivan sold his lands and titles and returned home to Wallachia.

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    Life in Wallachia was much different then than it was when he was a boy, and even though he has paid his family visits over the years, actually residing there again felt unfamiliar. It was no longer just his parents living there, but now his father’s other two brides and some of their own children, although most had also set out on their own by then. However, most important of all, Ivan now had a full-blooded sibling; a little sister named Zaleska, who was only 6 years of age. The two became close as she grew up, and Ivan became one of her best playmates, mentors, and confidantes. In return, as she got older, Ivan confided in her things that he wouldn’t tell anyone else. It was likely his relationship with his little sister that mended him enough to endure.

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    Ivan stayed in Wallachia for 20 years - a short time for those who are so long-lived - but he soon grew restless again. The prince no longer wished to settle, since his last attempt in doing so resulted in disaster and heartbreak. This time, he wanted to travel, so he took his leftover funds and began to traverse the continent. Being a noble who was fluent in a number of languages, Ivan found it easy to blend in among the aristocracy wherever he traveled, often attending (or rather crashing) parties where he met a variety of beautiful women. He flirted with and bedded many of them, but he could never give himself over to a woman again. He merely sought to satisfy his need for intimacy before moving onto the next place. 

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    Unfortunately, Ivan also needed to satisfy his bloodlust. He was normally very careful and never chose victims of rank, but on one reckless occasion in 1750 during a stay in Spain, thirst overcame him and he drank from one of his would-be partners. She was pure, so from this she was turned into a vampire. It’s likely that he’s turned others in this way before, but no one with any social status. His new fledgling’s name was Marina, a dark-haired woman with cunning wit and a sensuality that intrigued Ivan, and she was the daughter of a lord. Someone would notice her changed condition  so he took her under his wing and mentored her as his first proper fledgling and travel partner. 

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    Their relationship was rocky from the start. Marina didn’t take to this sudden change in lifestyle and she longed for the family she could no longer see. Yet although she hated him at first, there was lust between them. This lust gave way to deeper feelings on her part, but Ivan couldn’t properly reciprocate them. He still felt the sting of his late wife’s demise. Old habits persisted, and it was not that rare for Ivan to indulge in more than just conversation with some women that he met on their travels. Their relationship lasted roughly four decades before Marina could no longer tolerate Ivan’s thoughtless, repeated infidelity. After one last heated argument, she left him, and the two haven’t seen one another since.

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    From around 1790 until roughly 1860, Ivan spent much of his time exploring the Americas, including Canada, Mexico, and a bit of South America. In some way or another, he witnessed the founding of many countries as well as the shifts in borders and leadership. So much change made for fairly easy meals, since so many wars were being fought all across the continents. Yet what amazed him most was the beauty of a world that had gone so untouched. Even when he sailed back across the ocean in the late 19th century, there was still much more land that was untouched than there is today.

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    During the late 1800s, Ivan once again settled in one place for a brief time, and took up residence in New York. There was so much to see and do in the big city, which not only kept him entertained, but the city’s large population made feeding easier than it once had been. Now, vampire hunters were really beginning to enter the picture, which could jeopardize their safety. At this point in time, he kept in contact with family back in Romania by mail, until Ivan suddenly received word from his mother and sister that their castle had come under attack, and their family scattered.

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    After a long journey across the Atlantic, Ivan made it as far as France before a poorly-timed incident cut his search short. He had caught the attention of a vampire hunter on the boat ride to Europe. He'd noticed the prince’s strange mannerisms on the ship, but since none mysteriously died during the journey, the hunter decided to track him for a while in case he decided to hunt. When he did, the hunter leapt into action and pursued Ivan through Paris. Not long before sunrise, the vampire thought he outran his pursuer and decided to take refuge in the crypt of a nearby cemetery to rest until dusk. That proved to be his most fatal mistake, because eventually that hunter caught up to him. He killed the vampire while he slept and left the body with a stake through the heart and a brick wedged in his teeth, apparently too tired from the chase to burn him. As an added bit of protection, the hunter inscribed an alchemical symbol into the stone above the door, in an attempt to make sure that the monster couldn’t escape.

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    Zaleska and Celeste never did hear from Ivan again. Within a few months of their lonely residence, Zaleska chose to leave the castle to resume her life elsewhere. Celeste stayed for years longer, waiting to hear from either Ivan or Vlad again until at last, she abandoned the castle and traveled to her son's home in New York. There she found it empty, and her search for him was no more successful than the search for her husband. The prince was well and truly lost.

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    Well over a century later, on one of his sister’s chance visits to Paris, Zaleska came upon one of the city’s cemeteries and decided to take a stroll through it. She didn’t really expect to find anything during her stroll, but then she noticed the odd symbol etched into the stone of a crypt. The vampire hunter’s attempt to create a barrier failed, because the vampiress easily pushed open the heavy stone door. There, she found Ivan’s body and recognized him not just by his clothing or manner of death, but by the cufflinks on his dated coat. At last, Ivan was found, and his sister promptly revived him.

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    After going so long in such a state, Ivan was weak, so he was taken to none other than Hellsing manor. Their family had reunited in one way or another in his absence, and now he had reunited with them. The first surprise came when he learned that his father was now in servitude to the Hellsing family, but his second surprise came when his mother arrived; she brought along his little brother Lucius, born in 1968. During this visit, it was decided that Ivan would be allowed to stay at the manor while he regained his strength and got his bearings on a world that has changed much in the last century. Celeste remains in London to help oversee his modern education at the manor, but his other siblings resumed their lives traveling and in the ironic case of his little brother, monster hunting. Ivan hasn’t quite learned the culture of the day, and while he begins to understand it more and more all the time, that ordeal will always keep a part of him stuck in the past.