The speech by Gdalicanu von Horn is taken from a text called the Tome of Strahd. yes I plagiarized. Do with me what you will! I regret nothing

There were snakes-lowercase s reptiles with no legs, scaly skin, and sometimes a poisonous bite-and then there were Snakes.

Snakes had scaly skin and a poisonous bite, but there the similarity ended.

Two enormous reptiles that were thirty feet long and ten high filled the hallway. Six enormous blue eyes glared at them. Black, acidic saliva dripped from their tongues and smoked as it hit the floor. Their bodies were covered in glossy black scales, and a stinger was on the end of their tails. A horrible hissy voice spread through the hallway, bouncing off the walls, worming through the children’s minds and pouring fear into their hearts.

I am Taklybara, hissed one. And I am Scorros, whispered the other. We are the Snakes, they hissed as one. Bane of men. Eater of elephants. Scourge of the skies. Prime of the marsh. Exarch of Nightmares. We have hungered for eons. And now we will have human flesh once more!

The Snakes lunged forward, and the children jumped out of the way just in time.

Except for one.

Peter had had a thing for snakes ever since he nearly stepped on an enormous python in their garden. He stood there, frozen in terror, and the Snakes smashed straight into him.

“PETER!!!” shrieked Brittany, horror flooding her chest. She remembered the whisper she had felt walking toward the tower through the forest.

You are all doomed and there is nothing you can do about that. You are only a child, and we in this tower are devils feared by men since the beginning of time. You cannot stop us. Run. It is your only chance.

Brandon grabbed her hand and pulled her away. “C’mon!” he yelled. “We need to move.”

“But…but Peter…”

“Nothing we can do. Now move it!”

She felt herself being pulled through countless hallways and down steep flights of stairs, looking over Brandon’s shoulder all the way.

Then there was a creaking of doors, and they burst out into the night air.

There was a howling sound, and blood covered her vision as she rolled downhill.

There was a loud crunch, and pain flared in her ankle.

Just as everything turned black, she saw the dim lights of the village through the trees.

***

Brandon barely saw the wolf as it tore Brittany from his grip and she went rolling down the hill. It tore after her. There was a crack, then it came back for him.

He woke in a dark cave to see two dark shapes over him.

“Then this is the one who stayed with those already acquainted with us?” asked the first voice. It was cold as steel in a winter storm.

“Yes, my lord.”

“But look, he stirs…well, let us meet him.”

There was the sound of a match striking, and a lantern flared. Two men stood over him. The first stood tall-well over seven feet-and would have looked handsome, except for his face. His skin was chalk-white, as if all the blood in him had disappeared. He had heavy eyebrows, a small, sharp nose, and a thin, lipless mouth that was drawn into a straight line. No smile had ever graced his features, and no smile ever would. His eyes were drawn into a slant, like a dragons’ and were a glossy black. No white, no iris, just solid black. His pupils were a stark crimson, like his pupils had been removed in some horrid experiment and replaced with drops of blood. He was dressed in a fine black suit with red lining. He had a cloak fastened around his neck with a golden clasp shaped like a dragon. The gold did not look beautiful. Instead it glinted coldly the way it does when you find a gold bar and then the next morning you find it stolen. His cloak was the same shade of black as his other clothes, and the inside was a velvet the same color as his pupils. Over a dozen bats and wolves hovered near him, like an obedient dog stays near a master.

The second was hunched over, dressed in a dark blue cloak. His long hair covered his face, and his mouth and eyes looked the same as his companion, except the pupils were grey.

“Who are you?” asked Brandon.

The tall man looked at him. “I am the Ancient. I am the Land. All goodness slipped from my life; I found my youth and strength gone and all I had left was death. I came to hate death, my death. My hate is very strong: I would not be called “death” so soon. I made a pact with Vol, a pact of Blood. On the day of his wedding, I killed Sergei, my brother. My pact was sealed with his blood, his…divinity.

It was a thousand feet through the mists. No trace of him was ever found. Not even I know his final fate.

Arrows from the castle guards pierced me to my soul, but I did not die. Nor did I live. I became undead, forever.

…

I have studied much since then. “Vampyr” is my new name. I still lust for life and youth, and I curse the living that took them from me. Even the sun is against me. it is the sun and light I fear the most. But little else can harm me now. Even a stake through my heart does not kill me, though it holds me from movement. I am Gdalicanu von Horn, Lord of the Black Spire, and Master of Hell’s Claws.”

The other spoke. “I am Melchior Lewis, Baron of Fangs. Sergei was my name in life.”

Gdalicanu reached his hands out and closed them around Brandon’s neck. Everything faded to black.

The last thing Brandon McGee ever heard was an almighty crunch.