Dracula Lives (UK) Vol 1 75

Continued from last issue...

After getting the weakened Dracula to feed upon Jackson Hardy, Daphne von Wilkinson offers a deal to Dracula: If he eliminates four men she blames for the failure of her fashion business, she will try to find information on Dr. Sun for him. Dracula decides to go along with this plan, and Daphne makes a few phone calls to get information out of a member of Scotland Yard she apparently has incriminating photos of. When she is finished Dracula asks why this woman wants these four men killed. She explains that when she took over her fathers fashion business, a number of her designs were stolen by the four men in question and that nobody believed her because she was a mere woman. Amused by this woman's need for vengeance, Dracula agrees to carry out her request. She first asks him to target Martin Beatering, however Dracula informs her that he needs more than one person to sustain himself this night, she then agrees to provide for him..

As Dracula goes to his first victim, in Brazil, Brother Voodoo and Frank Drake fight off the zombies that have been unleashed upon them. The two men manage to over power the zombies sending most of them off a cliff. The last zombie, armed with a torch attempts to light Brother Voodoo on fire, however Voodoo's mystical immunity to fire allows him to set the zombie on fire, incinerating it. With the threat passed, Brother Voodoo asks Frank to help him find Danny Summers, Franks "friend" and the one responsible for leading the two men into this trap.

While back in London, Dracula descends on the home of Martin Beatering, who is bickering with his wife Tilly. Since he last worked with von Wilkinson he had run out of fashion ideas and since has been reduced to working on an assembly line, putting the two in dire financial straits. When Dracula knocks at the door, he tells them that Daphne von Wilkinson had sent him calling. When Martin asks what Daphne wants, Dracula pounces on him and feeds, when he finishes draining Martin, Dracula then turns and does the same to his wife.

Returning back to Daphne's studio, Dracula is given one of her fashion models named Angie as another meal. Dracula tells her he will kill the next three victims over the following nights until the information he needs is obtained. The following night Dracula sets up a dinner date with his next intended victim Ken Mitchell. Mitchell admits to stealing Daphne's work but justifies himself by stating it happens all the time in the industry. Dracula explains that Daphne has "forgiven" him and wishes to hire him so that he might steal designs for her failing business. Mitchell is interested, and Dracula manages to convince him to discuss matters further in the men's room as it is less noisy in there. There, Dracula feasts upon Mitchell. Upon departing, Dracula begins to wonder why he's doing a woman's bidding when he could do better hunting Doctor Sun himself, and this exercise is only wasting his time, and causing his vampiric powers to drain even more.

Next Dracula pays a visit to Jack Bolt, when Bolt asks what Daphne wants, Dracula explains that she has sent him to kill him because he never took her suggestions seriously. Even though Jack Bolt is in the top of his shape, he proves to be no match for Dracula and shares the same fate as those that Daphne has requested killed before him. His final kill is of shrewd business man Winston Twindel. Dracula finds him being driven through Scotland at 3:00 am, making stock trades and firing employees. Dracula appears in Twindel's car and feeds upon Twidel and sends his car driving off a cliff.

Returning to Daphne's home three days later, Daphne informs Dracula that she was able to get information from her man in Scotland Yard. She explains their own investigations of Dr. Sun point to the United States, specifically the city of Boston. As Dracula departs, Daphne asks for reassurance that all her targets are dead. Dracula proves it to her in the worst way possible: by having all her victims -- all vampires -- enter in to feed upon her.

Second Night

In the middle of a seedy alley, the Werewolf battles a mysterious costumed figure known as Moon Knight. Armed with silver weapons, the Moon Knight attacks the werewolf as a crowd begins to draw. He slings three crescent-shaped throwing darts into the werewolf's chest, and punches him with a solid silver cestus. The werewolf howls in pain, and a portion of his mind reflects upon recent events.

First Night
On the evening prior, Jack transformed into the werewolf during a skiing trip in Northern California where he brutally mauled his friend Buck Cowan. He retreated into the snowy forests and found shelter beneath some fallen timbers. Buck's body was recovered and taken to Westwood Hospital where surgeons labored to save his life.

When Jack awakened, he had no idea where he was, nor what he had done to Buck. He hitchhiked back home where his stepfather told him of Buck's condition. Jack sped to the hospital where he met with Lissa and Topaz. They told him that Buck was in critical condition and had slipped into a coma.

When Jack returned home, he found the Moon Knight standing in his living room. The Moon Knight knew that Jack was a werewolf and revealed that the Committee paid him $10,000 to bring him in alive. Phillip Russell grabbed Moon Knight and restrained him long enough for Jack to get out of the house.

Third Night
Back in the present, Moon Knight continues to batter the werewolf with several well-placed Savate kicks from his silver-lined boots. While the Moon Knight continues fighting the werewolf, his partner, Frenchie, goes to Westwood Hospital and abducts Lissa and Topaz. Moon Knight finally renders the werewolf unconscious and begins dragging him towards his helicopter.

Meanwhile, Victor Northrup takes an airplane to Haiti on the trail of former werewolf Raymond Coker. Coker is in the midst of conversation with an aging Voodooine named Jeesala of the Thousand Years. Jeesala tells Coker that he is still cursed by the mark of the Man-Beast.

The Man-Thing stumbles across an alien ship that has crashed in the swamp. Inside is Wundarr, an alien from another Dakkam which was doomed to explode. Wundarr's parents, wanting their son to survive sent him into space in a rocket, hoping their boy would find a new home. That home turned out to be Earth, but when Wundarr crash landed, he was not found for many years and grew to adulthood without any sort of education. Freed by the Man-Thing, the now infantile adult Wundarr begins to explore this strange new world, and his super-human abilities. Wundarr's curiosity and inability to understand his own actions prompts the Man-Thing to believe he is being attacked, and the two end up in a battle which takes them into the town of Citrusville, where the two combat each other. Eventually the Man-Thing grows weary of the fight and just walks away. A panicked Wundarr tries to seek comfort from the Man-Thing, however the muck-monster rejects Wundarr and slaps him in the face before turning away to return to the swamp. Upset at being abandoned, Wundarr bounds away from Citrusville to points unknown.