Story continued from
TOMB OF DRACULA #44.
Doctor Strange has
been bitten and apparently killed by Count Dracula who drops him into a pit in
Dr. Sun’s mansion cellar and leaves him to rise in three days as a vampire.
Strange’s astral form returns, the wizard having sent it out of his body when
Dracula hypnotized him—but he finds he cannot reenter his body because the
vampire’s control over his victims is so strong. He battles anger and despair
as he tries to figure out what to do….
The next day,
Dracula discovers a deconsecrated church and decides it is ideal for his lair;
first he kills a homeless lady who had been squatting there. He then sees the
ghost of Doctor Sun before him, pronouncing Dracula’s doom before vanishing. The
vampire goes back to Sun’s mansion to see that Dr. Strange’s body is still
there and is relieved….
Two nights later,
Dracula goes to the alley where he left Wong’s body but it isn’t there.
Instead, he sees a glowing image of his long-dead wife Maria, claiming to be a
demon who will punish him for his sins. Dracula fights against her and
passerby, who cannot see Maria, offer help to this troubled man but he chases
them off and turns into a bat to pursue Maria who has become a mist and drifted
away. Dracula follows her out over the ocean and “Maria” reveals herself to be
Doctor Strange, drawing the vampire lord out to face the sunrise. Dracula turns
tail and flies back to shore, crashing into an abandoned shack to find refuge
from the sun….
The next night,
Dracula returns to Sun’s mansion, armed with a stake to kill Dr. Strange as
soon as he rises as a vampire. But Strange, a vampire no longer controlled by
Strange’s mind (in astral form), battles Dracula and he calls on the power of
Jehovah which empowers him to burn Dracula to ash. As soon as the vampire is
dead, Strange recalls Wong and casts the darkness out of him and then does the
same for himself. They head home, leaving Dracula dead on the ground….