Albu isn’t evil for evil’s sake. He genuinely believes Vlad failed — that restraint is weakness. He wants to finish Vlad’s original bargain: an army of night creatures, but this time, disciplined . An empire without death. Vlad senses the Creed’s movements when they murder an old Romani family who once sheltered him. He retaliates — brutally — tearing through a Creed stronghold in Prague. But Albu anticipated this. He releases a recording of Vlad’s slaughter, framing him as an unprovoked terrorist. For the first time in 500 years, Vlad is hunted by everyone — governments, the Church, social media mobs calling him “the Balkan Butcher 2.0.”

“They say the devil’s greatest trick was convincing the world he doesn’t exist. I didn’t need tricks. I just waited.” PRESENT DAY – LONDON / BUCHAREST A young historian, Mina Harker (a reimagining — no relation to the novel’s Mina, but a deliberate echo), discovers a hidden chamber beneath the ruins of Poenari Castle. Inside: a fresco showing Vlad not as a tyrant, but as a protector — and beside him, a woman holding a child. The caption in Old Church Slavonic reads: “He gave his soul for hers. She gave her blood for the world.”

Cut to: A billionaire philanthropist, (50s, magnetic, cold), funds Mina’s research. He’s charming. He’s also a direct descendant of Ilona — and the leader of a secret order called The Crimson Creed . Their goal: capture Vlad and extract the primordial vampire curse to “evolve” humanity into immortals (their real aim: global control).

Their dynamic is tense, philosophical — less romance, more Hellboy meets John Wick . Mina isn’t a love interest; she’s his moral compass, pushing him to remember that the curse can be redirected , not removed. Albu captures Vlad and uses a modified version of the original Monk’s ritual (from Untold ) to siphon Vlad’s power into a serum. He injects himself — but instead of becoming a vampire, he becomes a day-walker with Vlad’s strength but none of the thirst. His Creed followers undergo the same process. They’re not vampires. They’re predators — fast, strong, immune to sunlight, and utterly devoid of mercy.

Mina realizes Vlad had a daughter , not just a son (the boy who died in Untold ). That daughter — — survived. And her bloodline never ended.