Mommy, where do vampires come from?

Let's talk about vampires. First things first, forget everything you think you know about vampires because it doesn't match the original folklore. Stoker took a lot of liberties with his creation, by combining monsters, in order to write a romantically flawed, diversely enabled, angst riddled, romantic leading vampire.  The domesticated result, a century later, is all bloodsuckers feel bad about being vampire and we are left with glittering vampires teaching lessons on, of all things, abstinence.  My goal is to make vampires into vampires again.  I will be throwing in my own set of extras into the folklore, but rest assured even the good guys will still have fangs! 

The foundation of my vampire nation stems from my exploration of the word "dracula" and the leading theories on Atlantis. Dracula translates into "Son of the Dragon" and was the term given to those in an elite order of leaders who fought a Turkish invasion.  Each member added Dracul, dragon, to their name and began using various dragon symbols in crests, currency, and other items of state. Although use of the dragon guard was one of Stoker's liberties, I found it a really good bridge between what people "know" and my particular spin using Atlantis. 

Atlantis, according to current theory, was a highly advanced civilization during the Bronze age. Using that as my starting point I researched the known civilizations of the period, A LOT, and re-discovered the Babylonian creation myth of Tiamat. She was rendered as a powerful dragon/sea serpent and represented the ocean and seas. In the myth her grandchildren turned on the pantheon and Tiamat was forced to create eleven races of monsters with fang, wing, claw, or scale to battle them. Specifically named in the list of Tiamat's creations were sea serpents, mermen, scorpion men, and demons...making them all "Sons of the Dragon."

Are you beginning to see where I am going yet? I will be taking a ride through myth and history by connecting dragon inspired dots and using them to round out the timeline and culture of a civilization. Of course, I won't be beating readers in the face with all this at once and no one will have to know it in order to enjoy what they are reading. I will include the created history where it is needed to flesh things out and in a perfect world it will inspire readers to explore the real history on their own.