|
Writer: Marv Wolfman
Penciller: Gene Colan - Adam Austin
Inker and colorist: Thomas Palmer Sr.
Letterer: John Costanza
Editor: Marv Wolfman
Cover Artist: Gene Colan - Adam Austin - Thomas Palmer Sr.
Following a lead on Deacon Frost, the vampire who killed his mother, Blade has come across vampire detective Hannibal King. Recognizing Hannibal as a vampire, Blade attacks him right away, initially ignoring King's mention that they are both looking for Deacon Frost. However, Hannibal's superior strength and skill allows him to easily defeat Blade and pin him down. Letting Blade up, Hannibal explains that they are looking for the same man, King seeking to destroy Deacon Frost because Frost is responsible for turning him into a vampire. Hannibal then suggests that the two work together to destroy Deacon Frost so that they both can get their desired revenge. Blade attempts to attack Hannibal again, but Hannibal stops him cold once more. Turning on the light, he shows Blade a fresh victim of Deacon Frost. While deciding to work together, King explains to Blade that although he is a vampire, he's never fed upon a living victim or spread the curse of vampirism to someone else. With this imparted, Blade begrudgingly agrees to work with Hannibal. While at the hideout of Doctor Sun, Dr. Strange has just finished his battle against Dracula and cured himself and Wong of vampireism. Believing Dracula to be dead, the two would leave, however Dracula would return to life, having tricked Strange with another bit of hypnosis. Returning his attention to a deconsencrated church that he saw earlier, Dracula flies there intending to use it as a staging ground to start a new religion to gain followers that will do his bidding. Dracula finds that the church has been stripped of all it's religious artifacts except for an oil painting of Jesus. Furious that it is still there, Dracula attempts to take it down, but finds that some force prevents himf from doing so. Dracula next goes to visit Harold H. Harold, who is busy typing away a new vampire story. Dracula has come to ask Harold to provide him with the name of whomever is the leader of the local group of Satanists. Harold looks up the information in his files and tells Dracula that the Bostinian sect of Satanists is led by Anton Lupeski and provides Dracula with the man's address. Off once more to find Lupeski, Dracula stops and drops down to feed on an old woman. The woman recognizes Dracula as she encountered him in 1903 when she was a little girl. Unafraid of death, the woman turns her back on Dracula and walks away, leaving the vampire lord howling with indignation and fury, although he does not feed upon her. Witnessing Dracula flying in the night sky from their hotel room Quincy Harker, Frank Drake and Rachel van Helsing discuss their old foe. Quincy is feeling less than optimistic that they will kill Dracula once and for all, however Frank refuses to give up. The conversation is ended when Rachel has Frank take her out for supper. Along the way, Rachel expresses her concern that Frank's sudden desire to be a hero might lead him to making stupid mistakes and the two have a romantic moment. While in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in a Satanic church, Anton Lupeski prepares a ceremony offering his loyal follower, a woman named Domini, to Satan to be his bride. Putting her on an inverted cross and setting it ablaze, Lupeski calls to Satan to appear for him. Dracula appears and poses as Satan, and orders Lupeski to free the woman as he intends to feed upon her. However, when Lupeski reveals that she is intended to be "Satan's" bride, Dracula decides that instead he will accept her as such. With Domini's acceptance of Dracula as her husband-to-be, Dracula boasts that in three days time they will be married and those gathered will worship Dracula as their new dark lord before vanishing in a swirl of mist. While back at the apartment where Blade and Hannibal King had met, the two wait for Deacon Frost's most recent victim to rise as a vampire. When he does, Blade and Hannibal subdue him and have this new vampire explain what happened to Deacon Frost. The man explains that he was a grave digger hired by Frost to help exhume a coffin from a nearby graveyard. Upon unearthing the coffin and bringing it back to the apartment, the young man would demand to be paid for his services. Deacon Frost gives him payment all right: turning him into a vampire. With the story done, Blade demands to know what was in the coffin that was dug up. The vampire tells both men, to their astonishment, that the coffin had an exact copy of Blade inside and that Deacon Frost mentioned that that duplicate would allow him to take over the world.
|
