Tomb of Dracula#51(1976)

Continued from last issue... Rachel van Helsing has come to the home of Anton Lupeski to save Frank Drake and Harold H. Harold from the clutches of Lupeski's Satanic cult. As she attempts to do so, Dracula arrives to see what all the commotion is and Rachel manages to strike him with an arrow. Although it strikes true, it does not pierce into Dracula hard enough to kill him. In extreme pain, Dracula allows the vampire hunters to leave. Dracula asks Lupeski to pull the arrow out and Lupeski, realizing that he has no choice but to do so because it would reveal to his followers that Dracula is really a vampire and not Satan (which would work contrary to his plans), pulls the arrow out, saving Dracula's life. When the vampire hunters return home, they find Quincy Harker has collapsed due to his heart condition and call an ambulance. While the vampire hunters are tending to their leader, Dracula and his wife Domini throw a party in an attempt to gain followers among the wealthy and elite. Dracula puts on a display of his powers, and when one woman calls out their Satanic cult's evil intent, he uses his hypnotic powers on the crowd to convince them to join his cause. While mingling with the crowd, Dracula swears that he sees someone that he encountered long ago, but when he chases the shadowy figure he finds nothing there. Dracula simply dismisses the notion that it was the person he thought it was, while Lupeski takes note of the fact that there is someone that exists that can put the fear into Dracula. Not far away, Hannibal King is still fleeing from the vampire doppelganger of Blade and their fight crashes into Dracula's party. Deacon Frost is among the crowd and he watches eagerly, as this is all part of his ongoing plan. Furious of Blade's interruption of his party, Dracula attacks and is shocked to find his longtime vampire slayer foe is now a vampire himself. As the battle rages, Lupeski takes Domini, already visibly pregnant, somewhere safe. Meanwhile, at the hospital, Frank and Rachel get into an argument over Rachel's outward emotions toward Quincy's condition. However, as the two argue it becomes apparent that they are really talking about their feelings toward one another and their changes in personality of late (Frank's brazen attitude and Rachel's emotionlessness) and the two decide to bury their differences and make up with a kiss. Back at the party, as Dracula and the Blade doppelganger battle on, Hannibal King spots Deacon Frost and chases him around the banquet hall of the party; however, before Hannibal can capture his foe, Frost turns into bat form and escapes into the night sky, leaving Hannibal to wonder what to do next. Dracula and the phony Blade's fight procures them with wooden stakes from smashed furniture and the two duel with them, then Blade manages to impale Dracula in the chest with one of them but not hard enough to kill him. Upstairs in one of the bedrooms, Anton Lupeski reveals to Domini that he knows that Dracula is not really Satan but is actually a vampire instead and asks for her help in destroying him, as he views Dracula as a hindrance to regaining control of his cult. Domini, in turn, reveals that she knows all about the truth and, regardless of the facts, she warns Lupeski that she is loyal to her husband and will see to it that no harm is done to him. Meanwhile, downstairs Blade appears to have the upper hand when he stabs Dracula in the back with one of his wooden daggers; however, Dracula turns around and, mocking the phony Blade's inferior skills when compared to those of the original, impales the vampire doppelganger in the chest with a stake, killing him. This story is continued next issue...