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?