For follow-up discussion and general commentary on the topic. Comments are sorted chronologically.
 Doug Wondra
          Doug Wondra
        This is a good response to the question.   I believe the actual root of Vampires  goes back to Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia or — as he is better known — Vlad the Impaler. The morbid nickname is a testament to the Wallachian prince's favorite way of dispensing with his enemies.   By having them impailed Through the abdomen and  hung outside at the entrance of his castle .   He was so feared that even and after his death legend said he came back to life  to continue his reign of terror .
In 1431, King Sigismund of Hungary, who would later become the Holy Roman Emperor, inducted the elder Vlad into a knightly order, the Order of the Dragon. This designation earned Vlad II a new surname: Dracul. The name came from the old Romanian word for dragon, "drac." His son, Vlad III, would later be known as the "son of Dracul" or, in old Romanian, Drăculea, hence Dracula. In modern Romanian, the word "drac" refers to another feared creature — the devil, (livescience.com)