The Sultan, the Vampyr and the Soothsayer
by Lucille Turner
1442: The Ottoman Turks are advancing through the Balkans with Vienna in their sights and Constantinople, the Orthodox Greek city, just within their grasp. Dracul, leader of the Vlachs and ruler of Romania’s old Wallachia, will pay almost any price to save his country, but he will not surrender to the blackmail of the Cardinals of Rome; he will not betray the Greeks.
When Vlad, his middle son, begins to show signs of the Draculesti ancestral sickness, Dracul vows to deliver him into safety. But time is running short. To some, Vlad Dracula is a strigoi, the worst of all evils; to others, he is the son of a righteous man. Confrontational, charismatic and manipulative, he tests family and enemy alike. Surely he is destined for power, but of what kind?
As the Ottomans plot to take Constantinople, the future of Vlad Dracula becomes a weapon for those who would preserve the Golden City of the Eastern Church. The Catholics are afraid of him; the Greeks hold the scrolls that tell of his past. And when the Sultan calls for the services of a soothsayer, even the shrewd teller of fortunes is not prepared for what he learns.