Blade confides in
his girlfriend Safron Caulder that since killing Deacon Frost, the vampire who
had killed Blade’s mother (issue #53), he no longer has a sense of purpose.
Safron has some ideas….
At a nearby
hospital, Musenda is worried about his wife Lorraine: at dawn every day, she
becomes a vampire, returning to normal at sunset. The doctor has called in a
specialist on vampires, Rachel van Helsing who, learning that Musenda is a
friend of Blade and has faced Dracula, refers him to his old pal. Musenda goes
to Blade’s apartment and persuades him to come, annoying Safron; they return to
the hospital where they arrive just as vampire Lorraine has broken her bonds
and attacked the doctor. She battles Blade but returns to normal seconds later
with the sunset. Rachel realizes that Lorraine is psychically and symbiotically
linked with a real vampire, gaining his powers when the vampire sleeps by day
and losing them when the vampire awakens. So it’s time for a hunt….
They go to Quincy Harker
who demonstrates a device that is programmed to track vampires; after
some testing with a live bat, the Detectron is ready. At dawn the next day
after being dabbed with radioactive dye, Lorraine goes vampire and turns into a
bat to go out for her prey with Blade and Musenda following by motorcycle. In
the mountains by the shore, they are run off the road by a driver hypnotized by
Lorraine and they fall into the ocean. Back home, after changing into dry
clothing, Blade has an idea and heads out with Musenda, angering Safron once
again. They return to the mountain road and puzzle out that Lorraine must have
been heading for a lighthouse on an island when they lost her trail. The two
men swim out to the lighthouse; they confront the vampirized Lorraine and Blade
instinctively stabs her in the heart with a wooden knife. She is not dead as
long as she is in vampire form; removing the knife just seconds before sunset
restores her to undead life and then to normality. Her vampire possessor
arrives, seeking revenge on Blade for “killing” Lorraine and there is a fight
ending with Blade staking the evil vampire. With his death, Lorraine is
released from her trance….