Dracula stands with
his wife Domini and their child but the new father is disturbed: why does his
child have the golden skin coloring of an angel? Domini’s answer that the baby
is a cross between them isn’t likely and he fears to consider anything else.
Dracula summons Anton Lupeski, outlining his big plans: the Satan cult will
grow as a platform for world domination. Lupeski secretly wants Dracula to die
so that he (Lupeski) can regain control of the cult….
Rachel van Helsing
and Frank Drake meet with Quincy Harker, who is being nursed back to health by
Aurora Rabinowitz, and tell him of their inability to destroy Dracula in the
presence of their newborn. Quincy has an idea to defeat their foe….
At an elaborate
ceremony in the Satanist church, Lupeski presents the baby to the congregation,
naming him Janus Tepes, born of a mortal and an immortal, proclaiming him the new
messiah. Dracula realizes Lupeski is trying to sideline Dracula in favor of his
son. Angered, Dracula rebukes him in front of the assembled Satanists,
proclaiming himself the Dark Lord Supreme. Lupeski quietly vows revenge. One of
the congregation departs quickly: it is Harold H. Harold, disguised in a robe
to spy on Dracula. He reports back to Frank and Rachel on the rift between
Dracula and Lupeski….
With his wife,
Dracula mentions all of his previous troubles with his offspring souring his
affection for his newborn son. Domini explains her own unhappy past: sent to a
convent by her strict unloving father, finding Anton Lupeski who promised to
take her away from that but trapping her in a cult where she was so abused and
degraded that she considered herself garbage, seizing on becoming the Bride of
Satan as a possibility at some small shred of dignity. But when she married
Dracula she came to love him, believing that her love has sparked some esteem
in him for her….
Elsewhere, Lupeski
is forging silver bullets marked with the cross in his plan to assassinate
Dracula. A vampire hides in the rafters, witnessing this. He is the man
vampirized by Dracula in issue #53, in his service. This vampire hurries to the
church but finds Dracula gone. He gives the warning to Domini and departs. She
hurries in the night with her baby to Lupeski’s home with matters to discuss….
Dracula flies though
the wintry night, brooding on matters he can’t understand but he thinks having
a loving wife and child may finally bring him peace….