Chapter One of Sons of Devils, a historical fantasy novel by Alex R Oliver, set in 18th Century Wallachia and in Istanbul. Written by someone who loved Dracula but wished it had leaned further into the Ottoman Empire connection, and also added some wizards.

In chapter one, we meet Frank, our unlikely hero. A British linguist with a murky past, he is on an expedition with his university friends to study the vril accumulator - a kind of Atlantean magic generator - in Valcea in Wallachia. 

Why is his father's valet trying to kill him? And who is the mysterious Vacarescu of whom the country folk seem so afraid?

Sons of Devils1

In this episode, we leave Frank to the tender mercies of his monster and go to Istanbul, where Zeyd, a harmless young peddlar of magic charms - and jellyfish enthusiast - is about to land in trouble far too big for him.

Sons of Devils, Chapter 2

In which the young daughter of the Vacarescu house defends Frank from her overly interested vampire father, the prospect of marriage to one another is repellent to both Radu and Mirella for very different reasons, and Frank utterly fails to get to the bottom of several important mysteries.

Sons of Devils, Chapter 3

In this episode, Mirela flees for her life from hunting vampires, with only her own cleverness to save her.

Meanwhile Frank visits the Atlantean device that powers all the magic in Romania, and finally figures out that there is, possibly, one member of the Vacarescu family who can be trusted.

galadhir