More Than Human

 

At first glance, this doesn't appear to be an individual to trifle with:

After all, anyone who raises a fist and tells Satan off is generally someone to steer clear of--especially when that person embodies the power of Dracula, the lord of vampires. But what if you were to learn that the haughty person standing on the precipice of this skyscraper, seeking to get some of his own back--is, instead, human?

Well, you'd probably call 911 and report a guy who looks like he's off his rocker and may be a jumper--but in our case, we know that Dracula is in a pitiable, all-too-human state, having been subjected to no small amount of humiliation and frustration due to Satan's transformation of him, not to mention escaping near-death from an aggrieved father as well as his own daughter.

To understand how he incurred Satan's notice and his wrath, we look back to when the still-vampire lord found himself standing before a very angry prince of darkness, who looked upon Dracula as a means to an end in terms of his own survival.

But there is more at work concerning Dracula's son, Janus, than even Satan is aware of--and the dark prince has miscalculated in his assumption that the removal of Dracula's threat would in turn trigger Janus's departure from Earth.

This story occurs at a point when the Tomb Of Dracula title is approaching its final issue--preceded by Dracula's state of vulnerability in human form where we discover that Satan was at least correct in his description of Dracula's existence from this point forward, a cursed state that represents his own personal hell. But as if on cue, Janus now appears alongside Dracula at the building, denying Dracula's wish to become a vampire again and instead transporting him to his castle in Transylvania where he is immediately beset by Quincy Harker and his cadre of vampire hunters--who are as surprised as Dracula is to suddenly find themselves at this location.

In human form, outnumbered and taken by surprise, you would think that Dracula may for the first time be in mortal danger--but as is usually the case when his ancestor, Frank Drake, is present, this group's success rate in confronting Dracula is spotty at best.

Despite appearances, the battle--the situation--has taken its toll on Dracula, who flees his own castle to he knows not where, his outlook bleak and pushed to the limit of his endurance physically and otherwise.  Perhaps worse, he has also found himself beseeching a god he hates, as Satan predicted.  But more woes await him at a graveyard of his own victims--vampires who now obey the commands of Torgo, who has ascended to the position of vampire lord in Dracula's absence.

This time, Dracula falls, severely injured--but bemoaning his state, he's taken aback by the reappearance of Harker, who, despite his status as an invalid, is able to assert an air of authority over this man who now faces him in abject defeat.

"Harker" speaks not of his group--nor would he, given the facade in play here. Rather, the confrontation's true purpose is to complete a tapestry of deceit woven by the one who set in motion Dracula's fall and has seen that plan successfully run its course--at least, to his own satisfaction...

...but where does Dracula go from here? He's now like any other vampire in the eyes of his own kind--and a horde of the undead will resume their hunt for him in Tomb Of Dracula's penultimate issue, paving the way for Dracula's confrontation of Torgo, the vampire who has supplanted him and thus now holds a measure of control over him. But could what awaits him be any worse than what Satan had subjected him to?

Count on it.