Though historical records indicate that Vlad Tepes died in 1476, he had been drinking the blood of a vampire that he captured and locked away in Castle Dracula. Originally of the Basarab family, he knew of the hidden masters of the Carpathian lands (thanks in part to the tutelage of the Ravnos oracle Durga Syn) and sought to gain their power. When the elder Lambach sent a neonate Tzimisce spy to watch over Vlad, Dracula enacted a scheme to exploit them both and finally gain the Embrace that he had long sought.