Many, many centuries ago, in a vast and ancient kingdom, there was an immortal king who drank the blood of mortals. This king was both feared in his kingdom for his vampirism, but also respected for his power. He had single handedly defeated multiple invading armies in his time, protecting his people. And whenever an invasion was too great for him to defeat alone, he would summon an army of shadow creatures to fight alongside him. Thus the vampire king was accepted as the rightful king. His name was Zarc.
Zarc didn't really care much for his people. They were mortal, he was not. Their lives were over in the blink of an eye for him. While he did protect them from the horrors of war, he did so only to keep alive the stock of blood he needed to feed upon.
But every now and then, Zarc found a mortal that he got attached to. These rare few mortals shared his face and parts of his personality, his vindictiveness, his sadism, his competitive spirit, his love of entertaining people. Zarc couldn't allow these special mortals to be taken from him by the cold cruel hands of death. And so, he chose instead to turn them into vampires and adopt them as his precious baby brothers. His little vampire princes.