Thundarr The Barbarian in Curse Of The Vampire

[Thundarr]

IN​

CURSE OF THE VAMPIRE​

Chapter One


In the year 1994, from out of space came a runaway planet, hurtling between the Earth and the moon, unleashing cosmic destruction. Man's civilization is cast in ruin. Two thousand years later, Earth is reborn. A strange new world rises from the old. A world of savagery, super science, and sorcery. Across the desert wasteland once called Nevada rides a mysterious band of unfriendly looking individuals. They are riding giant rats, with boar like tusks protruding from their mouths and bull like horns from their heads. In the middle of their backs are sharklike fins, although they don't appear to be aquatic beasts. They're being ridden by a band of groundlings, ratlike humanoids with foul dispositions and nasty tempers. There are roughly a dozen of them, wearing rough togas and carrying energy weapons which look very much like flashlights. Leading this group is a man dressed as a wizard. He wears long flowing robes of pink and white, and a dark blue mask with red glass lenses over the eyes, designed to look like the face of a demon. The groundlings call him 'Yando', though in truth that is not his real name. In fact, he's not even a real wizard. His real name is Womac.

Womac was the village scholar in the town of Beverly. He had used the ancient books he'd found at an old magic club to teach himself slight of hand and other simple optical illusions to fool the people of Beverly into thinking that he was a wizard. Then under the guise of 'Yando', he began extorting money and goods from the people of Beverly. He was getting away with it, and making a prettty good living at it too, until was found out by a barbarian named Thundarr and his companions, Ookla the mok and the sorceress, Princess Ariel. Once he had been captured, Ayrlo, the village leader, had him imprisoned for his crimes. After a few years, Womac begged for forgiveness. Ayrlo finally granted Womac amnesty, but only on the condition that he leave Beverly and never return. Womac agreed, and left Beverly immediately. Eventually he made his way to the ruins of Las Vegas. The villagers living there now simply call it 'Vegas'. Womac found one building that was still more or less in one piece and decided to fix it up. It was called Caesar's Palace. Being a scholar also made Womac somewhat of a historian, and he knew that Vegas used to be a city of pleasures. He decided to make it so again. Scrounging parts from the ruins of the city, he rebuilt the casino. He also repaired the adjoining sports arena. Once the work was done, he renamed himself Caesar and opened up the first gambling house the town had seen in centuries. It took time, but eventually the thrill of betting on games and sporting events began to catch on and Womac, or Caesar, began making an honest, if not completely ethical, profit. Then one night while calculating his winnings, he came across a map indicating that a treasure granting unlimited magical power was hidden somewhere out in the desert. Thus he once again donned his 'Yando' disguise and went about recruiting henchmen for the task. Groundlings dislike humans and would never have agreed had they known the truth, but they are fearful of magic. Once Yando had demonstrated his 'powers' to them, they were eager to aid him in his search.

Now they are riding out towards the ancient ruins marked on the map. Soon they come upon a metal fencepost. Hanging from it is a metal sign which reads "Area 51: Trespassers Will Be Shot". Yando dismounts and tethers his rat to the post, and the groundlings follow suit. Yando and his groundling henchmen slip silently through the shadows. As they round one corner they see a light moving up ahead. Quickly, the trespassers duck behind a rock outcropping and watch. The light is being produced by a metal hooded lantern, being carried by a human wearing a faded, olive green uniform which Yando recognizes as that which was worn by The United States military more than two thousand years ago. In the sentry's other hand he's carrying a wooden staff, though he's holding it more like a spear. Accompanying the sentry is another guard wearing a nearly identical uniform, and carrying what looks like a very heavy and powerful crossbow. Yando signals the groundlings, who take aim with their energy weapons and shoot the guards with stun blasts. As soon as the humans fall unconcious, Yando and the groundlings dash over to investigate. Yando finds the guards choice of weapons to be very curious, especially for humans. The crossbow has a crucifix set on the front as a sight. And rather than shooting proper steel tipped crossbow bolts, it appears as though the crossbow was designed to shoot wooden stakes, as thick as the handles of spades. And the staff was in fact a spear, but it has no steel tip either. It's end was simply wittled to a sharp point and then charred for strength. Yando shrugs off the peculiarities and douses the lantern. Then he and his groundlings continue on their search, confident that these men were guarding that which they sought.
Soon they come upon another pair of sentries. Once more the groundlings stun them with their energy weapons. On closer inspection, Yando and the groundlings discover that these men too are armed with sharpened sticks and a crossbow which shoots wooden stakes. They meet two more pairs of sentries, and they too are rendered unconcious with stun blasts from the groundlings' energy weapons.

Finally the raiding party finds the building that they are looking for. Its roof is built in a cylindrical design, with the main doors facing north and the rear of the building facing south. The roof appears to be made of a black reflective material, which Yando recognizes as solar energy panels. The would-be wizard nods in understanding as he realizes the logic of the design. During the day the solar panels are always facing the sun, powering the machines and recharging the batteries for use at night. What concerns Yando is the series of steel oil drums spaced evenly apart surrounding the building. Inside each of these drums burns a fire, and standing next to each of these fires is an armed guard. Still, they are spaced fairly far appart. However it will still take perfect timing on behalf of all of the groundlings to keep the guards from sounding the alarm. Yando and his cohorts creep down to the building, sticking to the shadows, and surround their prey. In a single devestating attack, they render all of the outside guards unconcious.

They then sneak up on the building and peak inside. There are at least a dozen armed guards milling about inside the building, all of them carrying heavy crossbows and with a weapons rack filled with wooden spears close at hand. Yando throws a handful of smoke bombs into the building successfully blinding the guards within. Before they can get their bearings and sound an alarm, the groundlings rush in blazing away with their energy weapons. When the smoke clears, all of the guards are lying unconcious on the floor.

At the back of the building, Yando and his groundling henchmen find an elevator that's large enough to fit all of them. They step inside and take the elevator down into the sub-basement. It takes them deep into the earth, making for a very long ride. When the elevator finally stops and the doors open, they find four more guards sitting around a small table playing a game of cards. Before any of them can react, the groundlings stun them with their energy weapons. They carefully make their way along the corridors, searching for the treasure that is important enough to warrant such security. They find the guards' barracks, with roughly half the cots filled with sleeping men and women. They gently close the door so as to not disturb the sleeping soldiers, then Yando takes his energy weapon and adjusts some knobs on the side. He then points the weapon at the edge of the steel door and fires it. The laser melts the metal door to the door frame, welding it shut. But by the time the laser gets to the door knob, the weapon sputters and dies. In any event, the guards have effectively been rendered useless.

They search some more rooms. They find a couple that look to be the private quarters of the officers in charge of this installation. They find the mess hall, where nearly a dozen soldiers are eating a late meal. The groundlings quickly run in with their weapons blazing and immobilize all the soldiers in midmeal. They even kick in the kitchen door and stun the chef. Yando notices that they seem to be dining on pasta in garlic sauce this evening. The kitchen is heavily decorated with wreaths of garlic. Even the bread has garlic baked into it.

Yando and his crew continue their search. They come upon the compounds recreation room. There are several guards in here as well, taking time off from their daily routine of protecting whatever it is that they're guarding. There's a dark haired woman playing a game with a blonde haired man, where they hit a small white ball back and forth across a table with wooden paddles. There are two men on the far side of the room using sticks to knock coloured balls around on another table. Over in the corner are two men throwing small metal darts at a round multicoloured target. And nearest the entrance is a pair of men playing a card game with three women, a blonde, a redhead, and a ravenette. All five players are in various stages of undress, the women down to nothing but their undergarments. Yando recognizes the game as 'Poker', and realizes that they're using it as an excuse to begin mating. He sends in his groundlings, who catch the soldiers unawares and stuns them.

Finally, they come upon that which they've been seeking. At the end of one long corridor is what appears to be the door of a gigantic vault. Stationed in front of it are six guards armed with heavy crossbows and wooden stakes. With them is a man who appears to be in charge. He's dressed in a blue dress uniform, which Yando recognizes from his historical research as the dress uniform of a United States Marine Corps officer. Judging from the stripes on his arm he is a captain, or at least the uniform once belonged to a captain. A saber hangs from the Marine Captain's sam brown belt. Just like with the main building above, Yando throws smoke bombs down the hall at the guards. This time the bombs fall short and the guards aren't nearly as disoriented as the others were earlier. The captain pulls the alarm to alert the rest of the guards, unaware that they're the only ones left. The other six guards fire their crossbows blindly down the corridor. Yando's groundlings fire their energy weapons wildly, more often than not missing terribly. When they do hit however, the guard is knocked down and out of the fight. Eventually only the captain is left. As the smoke from Yando's stage trick clears, the captain draws his sabre and bravely charges the intruders. Three groundlings hit him with stun blasts simultaneously before he even got half way. Yando walks up and inspects the vault door. There's no way their energy weapons will be able to cut through this contraption. He then inspects the locking mechanism. It requires an retinal scan to open. He turns and points at the Marine Captain.

"Bring him to me!" commands the phony wizard.

The groundlings are quick to obey. They drag the officer over the the scanner, force his eyelids open, and place his face next to the sensor. A laser reads his retina and a panel slides open just beneath it. The panel has the silhouette of a human hand on it. They peal off the officer's white glove and place his hand on the sensor. It scans his palm print and a microphone pops out. They search about for a guard not quite fully unconcious and pick him up. He's dead weight, but he's groaning. They hold his face next to the microphone and then one of the groundlings bites him. He screams out in pain, prompting one of the groundlings to crack him on the skull with the energy weapon to knock him unconcious. But it worked. The voice recognition program deactivated the locks on the door and the vault opens up with a hiss, as it was sealed air tight. The door opens up to a long hallway, which disappears into the darkness. Several groundlings pull out torches and soon have them lit. They are close to their goal now, they can sense it. To keep from being locked in, one of the groundlings uses his energy weapon to weld the hinges of the vault door in place. Like before, the weapon becomes burnt out and useless.

Now they walk single file into the long dark hallway, with Yando bringing up the rear. At the end of the hall are a set of stairs that head down deeper into the darkness. Carefully the groundlings descend the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs is a large, heavy iron gate which is chained and locked with an ancient padlock. A single laser blast destroys the lock and allows the lead groundling to push the gate open. It opens up to another long and dark hallway. They continue along, cautiously eyeing every shadow. The hallway opens up to another hall which intersects it. Just as the lead groundling steps into the adjoining hall he hears a 'click'. A split second later, flames burst from the wall directly ahead of him, completely engulphing him. He screams in agony and falls dead at his comrades' feet. Yando comes up to the front of the collumn and inspects the area. Right by the dead groundling's foot is a raised flagstone. He motions for the others to step back, then presses it and throws himself flat on the floor. Once more flames shoot forth from the wall across the way.

"Watch out for this stone," warns the 'wizard'.

One by one the groundlings follow their leader past the trap. They head down the hall, which turns up ahead. Shortly after making the turn, the groundling who's now in the lead sees an opening midway down the hall leading further into this compound. Moments after pointing it out he hears a 'click'. Before he can react, blades swing out from the walls at neck, hip, and knee level. The groundling falls the the floor in pieces before he even has a chance to scream. Again, Yando investigates. And again he discovers a slightly raised flagstone.

"Don't step there," he warns, pointing to the stone and then slides past it while keeping his back to the wall.

Again the groundlings slip past the death trap. When they get to the turn off the now deceased groundling had indicated, it opens up onto another hallway. It is now obvious that they are in some kind of maze, and Yando is certain that the death traps are only placed in the sections that will take them closer to their goal. The next trap they find is right in the archway leading to the next hall. The unfortunate groundling triggered it and was impailed through the groin as several six foot long wooden spikes shot straight up through the floor. The others are able to slip in between the spikes, but can do nothing for their companion.

Another groundling is crushed by a deadfall. Yet another is sandwiched between two beds of wooden spikes which swing down from hidden compartments in the ceiling. Another falls through a trap door onto a bed of wooden spikes.

Finally, with only six groundlings left, they make it to the centre of the maze. There they find a large pair of heavy steel doors with great bronze crucifixes bolted to them. The doors have been barred, chained, locked, and welded shut. It takes several laser blasts with the energy weapons, causing a few of them to burn out, but they finally get the doors open. Inside they see a long iron box, like a casket, in the middle of the room. All over the walls are crucifixes of various sizes and makes. Some are made of simple wood, others of precious metals encrusted with gem stones. On the far wall is the life sized statue of a half naked man wearing a crown of thorns and nailed to a cross.

"What is that?" asks one of the groundlings.

"A warning," answers Yando, being careful to keep the uncertainty from his voice, "They're telling us that that's the penalty for attempting to steal this treasure."

"Then let us take it and be gone from here," says another groundling, and the others all nod in agreement.

"Open the box!" commands Yando, "It shall be easier than carrying out the whole thing."

The groundlings blast the locks with their energy weapons, then pull crosses from the walls and use them to pry open the casket. They did not expect what they found inside. There's no treasure, no secret power source, only a mummified corpse with a wooden stake in its chest.

"What is this?!" cries one of the groundlings, and he pulls the stake from the corpse's chest. "You promised us power! You promised us riches without end! Now what do we have?"

"Bloooooood . . ." says a raspy voice from behind the groundlings.

They turn and gasp, as they see the mummified corpse sit up and turn to look at them. Its eyes are glowing red and its teeth have grown into long sharp fangs.

"Blooooooood!" it says again, this time more urgently.

Faster than any of them can react, faster than any of them had thought possible, the corpse leaps from the casket and takles one of the groundlings to the floor, sinking its teeth into the groundling's neck.

Yando and the remaining groundlings all scream and run for their lives. Yando leaps over the pit trap which took the last groundligs life. One be one each groundling leaps over the pit of spikes. When the fourth groundling its the floor on the other side, he trips and tumbles to the ground. He quickly looks behind them to see if the last of their group had made it, only to realize that he is the last of the group. He gets back to his feet and runs after his companions.

They get to the next trap and one by one they slip past as quickly as they can. The third groundling turns to help the fourth past the trap, just in time to see the last in the line up be suddenly dragged off into the darkness. Now with only three of them and Yando left, the groundling turns and bolts. Yando and each groundling slips past the impailing trap. When the second groundling turns back to see if the others are coming, he soon discovers that there are no others from their group behind them. He turns and runs, praying to any gods that might be listening to get him out of here alive.

Yando is running full speed down the corridor. He sees the dimembered remains of one of his groundling companions and stops dead in his tracks. The groundling right behind him isn't so lucky. He's so terrified of the monster they'd awakened that he blindly runs right into the trap, and in seconds is lying in pieces next to his friend. Yando dives through the death trap just as the deadly blades are retracting, tumbles onto the other side, and grabs the dropped energy weapon of his doomed companion. He looks behind him, and sees his final groundling companion running full out for his leader. Then the groundling screams as he is dragged off into the shadows.

Yando turns and flees, blindly firing his energy weapon behind him as he runs. He comes to the entrance to this labrynth and bolts right through, ignoring the flame trap he knows he's going to trigger. The hidden flame thrower spits out a stream of fire after Yando, just barely catching his flowing white cloak. Yando throws the burning garment to the floor, hoping that the flames will keep that monster at bay. He starts sprinting up the steps, two at a time, all the while firing stun blasts blindly behind him in the hopes of keeping the monster away from him. He gets to the top of the stairs and stops dead in his tracks. There, standing in the entrance of the vault, is the very monster he was running from.

 

[Thundarr]

Chapter Two

The vampire looks very different from the mummified corpse that Yando had seen earlier. His head, which was once bald, was now covered in wild flowing white hair. While his skin is still grey and wrinkled, his body no longer looked dehydrated. He looked like an old man, just recently dead of old age. But those fangs, and those glowing red eyes. Those are very much the same, leaving the would-be wizard no doubt that this is the same creature he had unwittingly awoken. Yando points his weapon at the vampire, but before he could even think to pull the trigger, before he could even blink, the vampire snatches it from his hand. Yando watches as the vampire examines the device, an expression of curiosity on his grey, wrinkled face. Then he looks Yando square in the eye, and crushes the weapon in his fist.

"Who are you?" asks the vampire in a strained and gravelly voice.

Hoping to bluff his way out of this predicament, Yando stands up straight, throws his shoulders back, puffs out his chest, and in his most commanding voice declares, "I am Yando! A Mighty wizard! Let me pass!"

The vampire gives him a knowing chuckle. "I think not," he says, "Let's try this again. Who are you?"

Yando swallows hard, then he says, "To the groundlings I was known as Yando, but to the humans I am known as Caesar, Lord of Vegas!"

The vampire's knowing grin is then replaced by an irritated scowl, and he slowly starts walking towards the human. "I grow tired of asking this," he says, " so this will be the last time. Who. Are. You."

Yando pulls off his wizard's mask. "Womac," he says, looking away in shame and fear, "My name is Womac."

The vampire stops right in front of Womac and lays a hand gently upon his shoulder. "You have rescued me from imprisonment of untold ages," says the vampire, "I shall be needing a thrawl. A man servant who will be my eyes and ears during the light of day. Who will keep me safe and protected while I am at my most vulnerable. As a reward, I will grant you power undreamed of and ever lasting life. I shall make you immortal."

"Who are you?" asks Womac.

"Forgive me," says the vampire, "I thought you already knew. I am . . . Dracula."

"My Lord," says Womac, "What is it you require from me?"

"The blood of the . . . groundlings, I believe you called them. It has revived me and given me new life. But it is unclean, and foul to the taste. I need human blood." Womac's face is stricken with terror and he clasps his hand to his throat. "I do not want your blood," says Dracula with a slight chuckle, "you are my thrawl and under my protection. Besides, you have already laid out my jailers for me most conveniently. No, your blood is quite safe from me and all those at my command. But my clothes have virtually rotted away to rags, hardly fitting attire for a Count. So while I am feeding, you shall search this prison for clothing more befitting someone of my station."

"Yes, Count Dracula!" says a relieved Womac, and he runs off to find clothing for his master.

Womac returns several minutes later. Dracula is no longer outside the entrance to the vault. The guards are all still there, none of them are breathing any longer. Each of them has a tiny pair of puncture wounds on the sides of their necks. Womac starts searching for his master. He finds him exiting the mess hall. The vampire now looks totally different from what he had looked like earlier. His skin is no longer grey and wrinkled, but is smooth and white, like someone who doesn't spend enough time in the sunlight. His hair is long and straight, and no longer white but as black as ink, His features are young and handsome, like those of a man in his very early thirties. His body is lean and well muscled, like that of a dancer or acrobat. As Dracula leaves the mess hall, he leans heavily against the wall with one hand and holds his other hand against his washboard abs. His face, while pale, has a slight tinge of green to it.

"Master?" says Womac with some concern.

"Garlic," says Dracula in heavily accented, though no longer strained, Common, "They had to be eating garlic."

"Here are the clothes you requested, My Lord."

Womac hands a folded stack of black clothing to the Count. As Dracula reaches for the clothing, he sees there's a white collar and a gold crucifix on a chain sitting on top of the pile. Hissing like an angry cat, Dracula knocks the stack of clothes out of Womac's hands.

"You fool!" cries the Count, "These are the clothes of a priest! A holy man!"

"I'm sorry Master," grovels Womac, "But these are the only clothes that aren't faded military fatigues handed down through the generations. There's nothing else that will fit you."

Dracula calms himself. "Of course, Man-Servant," he says, "you were only doing as I asked and didn't realize your folly. Discard the collar and the cross. I can wear the rest. And fetch me that guard captain's sword. It shall make a fine accessory."

Womac runs to obey his master. Meanwhile, Dracula rips off his torn and rotting cloths with a single pull of his powerful hands, and proceeds to dress in the clothing his human man-servant had acquired for him. Womac returns minutes later with the sabre, just as Dracula is buttoning up his shirt. The Count takes the weapon and bucles it onto his hip, then puts on the trenchcoat over top. Womac pulls a red ribbon out of his pocket and hands it to his master.

"I also found this," he says, "I thought you could use it to tie your hair back."

Dracula takes the ribbon and sniffs it. "A woman's," he says, "Young. Strong. Yet somehow . . . familiar."

With practiced ease, Dracula ties his hair back into a ponytail, fixing the ribbon into a perfect bow.

"Now I look like a gentleman," he says.

"Where to now, Master?" asks Womac.

"Now," says Dracula, "I build myself an army."

The two of them head quickly to the recreation room. There they find the guards just beginning to regain conciousness as the effects of the stun blasts begin to wear off. Dracula walks up to one of the female guards who was playing strip poker, an attractive young woman reduced to wearing her bra and panties. The Dark Lord picks her up and bites into her jugular vein. The girl's eyes widen in shock at the pain of the bite. She struggles in vain against her attacker, but she is too weak and his supernatural strength is too great. It occurs to Womac that from behind, it almost appears as though a lover's embrace. As the girl's struggles lessen to the point where she hardly struggles at all, Dracula stops feeding. He rolls up the sleeve of his trenchcoat, bites his wrist, then places the wound in the girl's mouth.

"Drink, my child," he tells her, "Grow strong. Be forever young. Forever beautiful. Join me in immortality."

The girl drinks Dracula's blood. As she does so, she becomes stronger. She grips his arm tightly and sucks harder. Finally her feeding appears to weaken Dracula and he pulls himself away.

"Enough!" he tells her.

The girl stands up straight. Her eyes are blazing red and her canines have grown into long sharp fangs. She lloks right at Womac, the way a cat looks at a mouse.

"More!" she says, "I want more!"

"Not him!" declares Dracula, "He is my thrawl and under my protection!"

"But I hunger!" begs the girl.

"What is your name, child?" asks Dracula.

"Stepha, My Lord," she replies, "My name is Stepha."

"Stepha," says Dracula, "Such a lovely name. Well Stepha, there's a room full of potensial meals in here. Pick one."

Stepha looks down at one of the soldiers she was playing strip poker with. "This one's name is Barry," she says, "He actually thought he was worthy of being my mate. I actually thought I was unworthy enough to be his."

"Then teach him otherwise," commands The Dark Lord.

Stepha straddles the soldier known as Barry, then gently slaps him awake. Barry looks around groggily.

"Wha . . . What happened?" he asks.

"Don't worry," Stepha tells him, "I'm here. I'll make everything better. You needn't worry ever again."

Then she leans in as though to kiss him, but instead bites into his corotted artery. Barry cries out in pain and fear as Stepha drains the life from him. As she's doing this, Dracula is siring another vampire. This time it's the black haired female soldier who was playing strip poker with Stepha and Barry. Like Stepha before her, she wakes up hungry for human blood. Stepha picks up the other male guard they were playing with.

"Hey Jen, how about Clay?" she asks, "He wanted to be with us. Let's make his wish come true."

The black haired Jen smiles an evil and cruel smile, and she and Stepha sink their teeth into Clay's neck and drink him dry. As they're doing this, Dracula sires the redhead they were playing with. By the time Clay is dead, their friend, Michelle, is now a vampire and very hungry. So they go over to the billiards table and feed on the two guards who were shooting pool. As his three brides are feeding, Dracula sires a fourth vampire, the brunette who was playing table tennis, Svetlana. Now his four brides feed on the remaining guards in the recreation room. When they're done the five vampires head out into the hall. They come to the door to the compound's barracks and hear the sound of the guards inside banging on the door, trying desperately to get out.

"What is in here?" asks Dracula.

"Barracks," replies Womac, "Sleeping quarters."

"Excellent," says Dracula. Then his body dissolves into a black mist which slips silently under the door.

Moments later there's the sound of people shouting. Then the sounds of a struggle, and furniture being smashed. Then there's silence. The silence lasts a long time. To Womac, it seems to last forever. Just as he's beginning to worry that he'll become a meal to Dracula's brides, a black mist seeps out from under the door and solidifies into the form of Count Dracula. Seconds later, the pounding on the door resumes. This time however, the pounding is strong enough to dent the steel door. The bolts holding the hinges in place begin to come lose. Then finally, the door is battered down and the room's occupant come pouring out, all of them vampires. Dracula turns to Womac.

"Man-Serv . . . Caesar. Take Stepha, Jen, Michelle, and Svetlana down into the labrynth. Show them how to avoid the death traps, and help them retrieve my coffin."

"Yes Master," says Womac with a bow, and he and the four brides head off to do as they're bid.

Then Dracula turns to the rest of his army of the undead. "As for the rest of you," he tells them, "I have no need for any more soldiers. Feast! Eat your fill! Leave none alive!"

The newly sired vampires let out a cheer then go running off towards the elevator. The four guards who were stationed there had just regained their feet when their former comrades attack. They're quickly overwhelmed and drained of their blood. Then the vampires force open the elevator doors. They rip off the emergency hatch in the top of the elevator and start climbing up the elevator like a horde of spider monkeys. As the last vampire climbs up the elevator shaft, Dracula hears a small voice whimpering. He turns towards the sound, and smiles evilly.

Meanwhile, up above, the guards are all regaining their feet. The stun blasts were not permanent, but they hurt like hell. Now the guards are awake, if a bit groggy. Just then they hear a sound coming from the elevator. They turn just in time to see the elevator doors being forced open and a horde of vampires pouring out of the elevator shaft. These soldiers had spent their entire lives training to fight vampires, but they are weak and disoriented from the stun rays and caught by surprise by the people who used to be their friends, their family, and their comrades in arms. The fighting is over practically before it had ever began. When the last guard has been drained of his blood, the elevator reaches the top and Dracula steps off accompanied by his thrawl and his four brides, who are carrying their lord's coffin. When Dracula steps out of the ancient building, he sees the devastation all around him and the broken moon in the sky and gasps in astonishment.

"Demons Of Darkness!" he exclaims, "What has become of the world? What gods have shown such wrath? Such destruction?"

"I will explain all to you soon My Master," says Womac, "But not now. The sun will be up soon, and we must get back to my gambling house before anyone learns of what happened here this night."

Womac leads Count Dracula and his vampire army to the giant rat mounts. Womac climbs aboard his mount. A moment later, he hears the other rats screaming. He turns and sees the vampires feeding on the other dozen rats. In seconds the twelve mounts have been drained of blood and are lying dead on the ground.

"Vampires have no need of mounts," explains Dracula.

Then the vampire lord turns into a flock of bats and flies off towards Vegas. Womac turns to the other vampires.

"Can you do that?" He asks.

"No," replies Stepha, "That power belongs only to The Count."

"Then we had better get a move on," he says, "The sun will be up soon."

And he rides off on his giant rat, with an army of vampires keeping pace with him.

 

[Thundarr]

​

Chapter Three

Late the next morning, two figures are driving a wagon across the desert. The wagon is in fact an ancient pickup truck, which has been modified to be hooked up to beasts of burden. The beasts in this case are equarts, large horse-like reptilian creatures known for extraordinary strength and stamina. The one in the passenger seat is dressed in a trenchcoat and a wide brimmed hat. His feet are resting on the dashboard and he has a heavy crossbow draped across his lap. The crossbow is loaded with a thick, sharp wooden stake, and there is a quiver of identical stakes in between the driver and the passenger. His head is bowed low and his hat is tipped down over his eyes as he takes his rest in the morning sun. His companion in the driver's seat is dressed all in black, except for the white collar around his neck and a golden cross on a chain hanging on his chest. His hair is a dark brown, and he has a goatee which he keeps neatly trimmed. In the back of the wagon is a load of supplies. Slabs of dried meats, barrels of pickeled fish, crates of fresh fruits and vegetables, sacks of rice and potatoes, and lots and lots of garlic. The two companions reach the checkpoint which signifies the border of their community. The guards who are usually stationed here are unexplicably absent. The driver pulls a silver flask from his belt, unscrews the top, and takes a sip. No one ever missed a guard shift, and this post being abandoned gave the driver a bad feeling. He snaps the reigns of the animals and drives the wagon farther up the road. Now the driver is on high alert, scanning everywhere for signs of trouble. The compound was eerily quiet. Finally they come upon a pair of guards lying in the middle of the road. The driver pulls the team of equarts to a halt. He grabs a heavy crossbow from a rack behind the seats of the wagon, loads it with a wooden stake, then moves to investigate. Cautiously, he walks up to the two prone bodies. Neither of them move. He carefully nudges each of them with his toe. Again, they appear quite dead. Finally he rolls them over onto their backs. They stare up at him, their eyes lifeless, their faces frozen in fear and agony. Their necks and arms are covered in multiple pairs of puncture wounds, like they had been stabbed multiple times with a carving fork. Their bodies were drained of blood, yet there was scarcely a drop of it on the ground. The driver casts a worried look around the desert. Suddenly every hill and rock seemed to hide a waiting monster. He turns to the wagon. His companion has yet to move from the passenger seat.

"Vanhelsing, you'd better take a look at this!" Calls the driver, but the passenger, Vanhelsing either doesn't hear him or is simply ignoring him. "VANESSA!" Shouts the driver.

This time Vanhelsing moves. The hat moves up revealing the face of a girl in her mid to late twenties. She has raven black hair and blue eyes. She jumps down out of the cab of the wagon and approaches the driver.

"Whatcha got, Padre?" She asks. When she sees the worried look on the driver's face, she begins to feel concerned. "Bram?" She says.

Reverend Bram Stoker XIII shows the emasicated bodies to Vanessa Vanhelsing. As the girl crouches down to investigate more closely, Reverend Bram starts scanning the surrounding area for enemies, his heavy crossbow ready to loose a wooden stake into an enemy heart. Finally Vanhelsing sees what her companion is doing.

"What're you about?" she asks.

"Whatever did this might still be about," replies the reverend.

"Doubtful," she says, "The sun's up. And you and I both know what made these bite marks. They're likely far from here by now."

"They?" Asks Bram.

"For the descendant of my ancestor's biographer, you don't know much vampire lore," she says.

"I know as much as you Vanessa," he says, "I've just never had to put it into practical use before."

"True," she conceeds, "but then again neither have I," then she points out the different bite marks, "These marks are all different widths, different depths. These men were attacked by a pack of vampires, both male and female. Likely drained'em dry in moments."

"Will they rise again?" Bram asks.

Vanhelsing shakes her head,"If the vampires who attacked them wanted to add to their numbers, they would've risen by now. These weren't recruits, they were dinner."

"But we've all trained our whole lives for the possibility of a vampire attack," says the reverend, "How could they have been caught so unawares?"

Vanhelsing rips open the shirt of one of the slain guards. "There's your answer," she says.

In the centre of the guard's chest is a circular red mark, as though he had a sunburn focused in that one area.

"Stun weapon," says Reverend Stoker in recognition. He kneels down next to the other guard and rips open his shirt too. The other guard bears an identical mark. "Both of them."

Vanessa Vanhelsing and Reverand Bram Stoker XIII quickly climb back into their wagon and make haste back to their village. Along the road they see several other dead bodies. They don't bother to investigate, they know exactly what they will find. They finally make it back to the main building. There they discover their worst fears come true. An entire crew of men and women, warriors who had trained their whole lives to battle the undead, lay slaughtered on the ground with hardly a drop of blood remaining. The two of them do a rudimentary examination of the bodies. Every one of them bears the mark of a stun blast. They take the elevator down below, and find the same with the entrance guards. They run to the vault and see the vault guards had met a similar fate. Knowing what they're going to find, but needing to see it for themselves anyway, Vanessa and Bram head down into the labrynth. There they find the remains of seven groundlings, slain by the death traps which had been set millenia ago, and another five which had been drained of all their blood. And at the centre of the labrynth, they discover what they feared the most. Dracula's coffin is gone.

"Why would anyone want to bring back Dracula?" Asks Vanhelsing.

"Power," replies Stoker, "they probably thought he'd grant them power if they revived him."

"And all he granted them was death," concludes Vanhelsing, "The fools."

They went back up to the main compound. They looked through the rooms, seeking any evidence of survivors. They found the barracks bloodied and empty. The rec room and mess hall were littered with dead bodies. As Reverend Stoker was praying over the bodies of their slain comrades, the sound of something clattering on the floor comes from the kitchen. Readying their crossbows, Vanhelsing and the reverend go to investigate. Carefully they open the kitchen door. Vanessa goes in while Bram covers her with his crossbow. The kitchen is dark, and Vanessa is having trouble seeing. Suddenly a flash of movement catches her attention out of the corner of her eye. At the last split second she manages to get her crossbow up as something metal digs deep into the wooden weapon. Someone large throws her against the counter. The reverend fires his crossbow at the figure but misses. The attacker swings again at Vanessa. She ducks the weapon and kicks him in the groin. He doubles over in pain, then Vanessa grabs him and throws him across the kitchen into the chopping block. She draws a wooden stake from her belt and stands over her attacker, poised to strike. Now that her eyes have adjusted to the darkness, she recognises her attacker as Chef, their cook. Furthermore she can see that he's still human.

"Monsters," he gasps, "you . . . Monsters."

"Chef," says Vanessa as she kneels down next to the survivor, "Chef it's us. Vanessa and Bram. We're not monsters. We're here to help you."

"Miss Vanhelsing?" He asks.

"Yes," she says, "it's me."

"What happened here?" Reverend Stoker asks.

"Attacked . . ." says Chef, "Groundlings . . . Never saw them coming."

"So why'd you attack me?" Vanessa asks.

"Thought you were one of them," he says, "The vampires couldn't get in with all the garlic, but the groundlings . . ."

"Here," says Bram, handing Chef his silver flask, "take a drink. It'll help calm you."

Chef accepts the flask gratefully and takes a healthy swallow, only to spit it out coughing.

"Water?" He says, "Are you trying to drown me?"

"Holy water," corrects Stoker, "Drink it on a regular basis and it'll make your blood poison to vampires."

"I'd rather some sacrimental wine," he replies.

The reverend chuckles and pats him on the shoulder, "I'll see what I can do."

"We'd best check the rest of the compound," says the always serious Vanhelsing.

Bram nods in agreement and helps Chef up to his feet. Then he hands him his crossbow.

"You know how to handle one of these?" Asks the reverend.

"Dunno," replies Chef, "I'm a cook, not a soldier."

"You've just been drafted," says Vanhelsing, "Just point and shoot it at anything with fangs."

The reverend picks up Vanessa's crossbow, and after a quick inspection to ensure that it was still functional holds it at the ready. They go out and check all the other rooms. Everyone in the mess hall is dead. Same with the rec room. The barracks are empty, but by the carnage left behind and the condition of the steel door Vanessa and Bram pretty much guess what had happened. Eventually they get to the family room, where the children sleep. As they aproach the door they hear crying. Vanessa opens the door and finds the children there all huddled together, apparently unharmed. The little ones are all crying, while the older children are trying to console them. Vanessa walks up to the nearest child and kneels down next to him. He's holding a little girl in his arms and whispering that everything's going to be okay.

"Are you alright?" She asks him.

"Yeah," says the boy, "just a little scared."

"That's okay," she says, "It's okay to be scared. It's natural. How did you kids survive the vampires?"

"He said he needed us to stay behind," says the little girl, "He wanted us to give you a message."

"Who said?" She asks, "What message?"

"Our father!" Says the boy, now with red glowing eyes and long vicious fangs.

Vanessa feels a rush of air as a wooden stake flies past her and drives into the chest of the boy, piercing his heart. Then all the other children hiss at her like angry felines, their eyes glowing red and baring their lethal fangs. Vanessa draws a pair of long wooden stakes from her boots. Bram and Chef quickly shoot down two more of the little vampires. Bram hands a stake to Chef and draws his own pair of long wooden stakes. The three of them are soon in a wild melee with the juvenile vampires. Vanessa and Bram fight using a technique once known as Filipino stick fighting, slightly modified to incorporate stabbing motions to impale hearts of vampires with the sharpened ends of the sticks. They fight amazingly well, having trained their whole lives for this. Chef handles himself well, dispite not having been trained for combat. Finally they've slain the last of the small vampires. Chef staggers out into the hall, his white chef's jacket stained with blood. He leans against the wall, doubles over, and vomits. Vanhelsing and Stoker come out to see if he's okay.

"Children," says Chef, "Why'd it have to be children?"

"To cause this very reaction," says Vanhelsing, "He hoped we'd not be willing to fight back because they were children."

"You did well," says Stoker, "You managed to end the suffering of many of those poor souls. They're at rest now."

"Perhaps you should go get that sacrimental wine," Vanhelsing tells the reverend.

Bram Stoker XIII nods and heads off. Then Vanessa turns to Chef. "I'll be needing your largest cleaver," she tells him.

"Why?" Chef asks.

"We need to cut the bodies heads off before we dispose of them. Just to make sure they never rise again. We'll also need all the fuel you can find. Wood, coal, lamp oil, whatever. We're going to cremate the bodies."

Chef nods, then solemnly walks off to do as he was asked. As soon as she's alone, Vanessa leans her back against the wall, slides down until she's sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest, buries her face in her arms, and begins to sob. By the time the other two get back, Vanhelsing had managed to regain her composure. She stood up to meet them, if either of her companions noticed the red puffiness of her eyes, they were careful not to mention it. The reverend and Chef both drink healthy mouthfuls of the sacrimental wine to calm their frayed nerves. Vanhelsing refuses when they offer her the bottle though. They then silently go about their work. Vanessa takes the heads of the slain, Reverend Stoker carries the bodies back up to the surface where he places them in an ancient wood shed. Then Chef buries the bodies under as much coal, wood, and kindling as he can find. When the last of the bodies is placed in the shed and covered with fuel, Chef douses the pile with buckets of lamp oil. Then Vanessa tosses a lit torch into the pile and steps back. The whole building goes up like a huge tinder box. They then head back into the underground bunker and go about vampire proofing the place. It's going to be dark soon and the vampires have an all access pass to the place, as they were all sired here. They move as many of the crosses from the holding cell where Dracula's coffin was kept to the entrance to the bunker. Above the elevator doors outside, in the elevator, all about the guard room just inside, even in the hallways. Strands of garlic were hung all over the place. By the time the broken moon had risen high into the night sky, the compound was as vampire proofed as it was going to get. The three of them then sit down to a cold meal and discuss their next move.

 

[Thundarr]

Chapter Four

Some time later, three companions are riding across the Nevada desert. In the lead on a magnificent white stallion rides a large blonde haired warrior. He's six feet tall at the very least, with thick sinewy arms and legs. His muscles ripple with every movement as he controls his spirited mount. His hair is long and the colour of straw, his eyes blue as the sky and always wary for signs of danger. His boots and his clothes are made of the skins of some fur bearing animal. That and the animal tooth on a leather thong which he wears around his neck for luck mark him as a barbarian. On his wrists he wears a pair of bracers made of thick and strong leather. On his left bracer sits what appears to be a goldeb sword hilt. He is Thundarr The Barbarian, once a slave to the evil wizard Sabien, now running free in the world and aiding any who wish to be free of the tyranny of the wizards who control this land.

Next is an olive skinned woman with almond shaped eyes and long raven black hair riding a chestnut mare with black mane and tail. She's wearing a blue leotard with yellow trim, reminiscent of one piece swimwear worn by recreational swimmers two thousand years ago. She has gold bracelets which run halfway up her forearms, and wears a gold circlet about her head. Her boots are also gold in colour and go up nearly to her knees. Her name is Princess Ariel, a sorceress of great power. She's also the stepdaughter of the wizard Sabien, and is the one that helped orchestrate Thundarr's daring escape. They've been inseperable ever since.

Bringing up the rear on a large yellow equart is a massive lionine humanoid, who combines the physical attributes of a man and a lion in much the same way minotaurs of ancient Greek myth combined the attributes of men and bulls. His body is covered in a sleek, catlike brown fur reminescent of a cougar or puma, while his head is covered with a golden mane of a male lion. His face is covered in grey and black fur which pattern resembles a skull of some sort and making the creature look that much more fearsome. Not that he needs it, standing nearly 8' tall with massive incisors like those of the prehistoric sabretooth tiger. He wears a simple fur loincloth made of black animal skins, and matching fur boots, though this seems more a matter of modesty than it is a case of needing protection from the elements. His name is Ookla, a mok. He was once a slave to the wizard Sabien just as Thundarr was. During their escape, Thundarr had risked his life to save Ookla from certain death. Under mok tradition, Ookla owes Thundarr his life in payment. The barbarian is now considered by the other moks of Ookla's tribe to be his blood kin, and they treat him accordingly.

The three adventurers ride their mounts down the ancient desert road. In the middle of their path is an ancient gambling slot machine. Thundarr jumps the obstical with his white stallion, clearing it easily. Princess Ariel jumps it next on her chestnut mare, and she too clears it with ease. Finally Ookla jumps it on his equart, and squashes the slot machine flat.

"Ariel! Ookla! Ride harder!" Thundarr calls to his friends, "We must reach Vegas by dawn!"

"You mean we're not even going to rest for the night?" Asks Ariel.

Ookla howls his own displeasure about riding through the night in his own beastial tongue. Moks are able to learn to understand human speach, but they are physically incapable of speaking it. Their vocal cords are only designed for growls, yelps, howls, roars, and other animalistic sounds. Luckily, Thundarr had long ago learned to understand the mok tongue.

"Something is wrong in Vegas!" Thundarr replies, "People are showing up in droves with all their worldly possessions! I smell wizards' work!"

"You don't think Sholo managed to escape his prison, do you?" Asks Ariel.

The last time they were in Vegas, years before, the wizard Sholo had forced Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla to take part in The Race Of The Wizards, in which the winning team would acquire The Helmet Of Power for whichever wizard they represented. However Sholo double crossed Thundarr, and in the resulting conflict The Helmet Of Power was damaged. When the wizard tried to use it anyway, he became trapped in a gambling slot machine.

"I don't know," admits Thundarr, "But this whole thing reeks of sorcery, and I intend to find out why!"

They continue to ride through the night. They eventually make it to the town of Vegas just as the sun was coming up. What was only a simple village of a handful of tents just a few years ago was now a sprawling city of tents, shanties, leantoos, and semi-repaired ancient ruins. They ride up to an ancient building called Caesar's Palace Hotel & Caseno. Next to it, there's an ancient arena which is crawling with people and mutants of all kinds. The three of them stable their horses. They then decide to go to the arena, as that's where all the action seems to be right now. They walk up to the entrance and are stopped by a pair of guards dressed as Roman Legionaires.

"Halt," says the first guard, "you must pay to get in."

"Pay?" Thundarr asks.

"One piece of silver each," says the second guard, "or a barter of equal value."

"That golden trinket on your wrist will get the three of you in just fine," says the first guard.

"The Sunsword is not for trade!" Thundarr says with authority.

"Well then," says the second guard as he lears as Ariel, "maybe you can join my friend and I for some recreation later in trade."

Ookla roars in rage and grabs the guard by the throat and lifts him up off the ground. The second guard draws his sword and holds it to Ookla's throat. Thundarr grabs the Sunsword from its place on his wrist and ignites the blade, holding it to the guard's neck.

"Drop it!" Thundarr orders him.

"Him first!" Replies the guard.

Princess Ariel puts a calming hand on Thundarr's shoulder. Then she takes hold of the guard's wrist. "Now boys," she says, "there's no need for violence. You need three pieces of silver? Here."

She holds out her hand, then makes a fist. Her fist glows yellow for a moment, then she opens her hand to reveal three silver coins. She drops them into the guard's hand one at a time. The one guard puts his sword away, while Ookla unceremoniously drops the other guard on the ground. Thundarr extinguishes his Sunsword and puts it away. Then the three of them walk into the arena. Ookla growls threateningly at the guards as he storms past. They make their way down to a group of seats and sit down to see what all the fuss is about. In the centre on the arena there is a carock and a mok fighting tooth and nail. The mok, a big grey haired brute with a black mane, is swinging wildly at the carock. The carock is quick and agile, and manages to keep out of the mok's reach. The carock throws multiple punches at the mok, each one connecting but with little effect. The mok finally gets his hands on the carock, grabbing him by the tail. He twirls the carock around like a lariet and throws him across the arena. The carock slams into the wall, with enough force to create a huge crack in the concrete. The audience cheers and Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla see several people exchanging coins and other items of value.

"Gambling," says Ariel, "They're all here to gamble."

"Betting on fights?" Thundarr asks.

"Things like this have been happening for over four thousand years," she explains, "At least the fights are nonlethal."

Ookla growls something in his native tongue. Thundarr shakes his head.

"I don't think so old friend," he says, "We don't need to risk our property on games of chance or athletic contests."

"So now what?" Asks Ariel.

"Let us check out this caaa-seee-noh," he replies, "see if there is anything to learn there."

The barbarian and his friends leave the arena and head over to the casino. Along the way they pass a building where there are many scantily clad women lounging about the entrance.

"Hey handsome!" Calls one of the ladies as the trio comes within earshot, "I've got a real warm and comfortable bed for you to lie in."

Ariel grabs Thundarr by the arm and keeps him moving towards Caesar's Palace.

"Ignore them," she whispers to her friend, "They're as treacherous as vipers and can be just as deadly."

"What type of place is that?" Thundarr asks her.

"A house of ill repute," she says. Thundarr looks at her with a blank stare of incomprehension. "A cathouse," she says to try and clarify. "A brothel, a pleasure palace, a ****ehouse, where men go for the pleasure of a lady's company."

"Ah," says the barbarian, as he clues in on exactly what the sorceress is talking about.

The three of them enter the casino. What they see is essentially decadence personified. Against the back wall there is a stage where scantily clad women are dancing provocatively to the music of a live band. There are gaming tables everywhere which are crowded with people placing wagers. And running all about are more scantily clad women, this time serving drinks to the gamblers. Off to the side there is a counter where men and women trade theit worldly possessions for silver coins to gamble with. On the other side of the casino there's another counter set up, where patrons receive silver coins to gamble with on lines of credit.

Upstairs in the security room Lord Caesar, a.k.a. Womac, watches them on the security monitor. Dracula comes up behind Caesar and looks at the screen.

"Bathory?" Dracula says.

"What?" Asks Caesar.

"That girl. The one in the blue. It's Countess Bathory Erzebet, my ex-wife."

"Actually Master," says Caesar, "that is Princess Ariel. She and the barbarian and the mok defeated me when I was known as Yando."

"The resemblance is uncanny," says Dracula, "she looks just like my Countess reborn."

"They are known heroes, Master," says Caesar, "They will not take kindly to your presence here."

"Heroes," says Dracula, "is just another word for corpses. Invite them to dinner. We will make them allies."

"Are you sure that's wise, M'Lord?"

Dracula turns and glares at his thrawl. Caesar quickly looks away.

"As you wish, Master," he says.

Caesar summons a serving girl to the security room. He sends her down to Princess Ariel with Dracula's invitation. She goes down to the casino. Thundarr, Ookla, and Ariel are still taking in the sights of the place when the girl approaches them.

"Lord Caesar would like the pleasure of your company at dinner tonight," she tells them.

"Why?" Asks Thundarr, "Who is Lord Caesar? Why does he wish to dine with us?"

"He did not say," she replies, "He only told me to give you each these," and she hands them each a room key and a half dozen silver coins.

"What are we to do with these?" Ariel asks her.

"The keys are to your complimentary rooms," she replies, "and the coins are to allow you to play the games, or bet on the contests."

"Well you did say you wanted to get to the bottom of what's going on here," Ariel says to Thundarr, "here's our chance."

"Tell Lord Caesar that we'd be honored to join him for dinner," says Thundarr to the serving girl.

"Very well," she replies, "Dinner is at sundown. I shall take you to your rooms so that you may freshen up."

She leads them all upstairs to the top floor of the hotel. She opens the door to the very first door on her left and motions to Thundarr.

"Your room, sir," she says.

Thundarr enters the room and the girl leads Ariel and Ookla down the hall. She opens the last door on her left and motions to Princess Ariel to enter.

"Your room, ma'am," she says.

She then takes Ookla to the room directly across the hall and opens the door for him.

"Your room, sir," she says, and the mok enters his room.

Shortly after, there's a knock on Thundarr's door. Thundarr opens the door and a host of guards dressed as Roman Legionaires came in, each carrying two buckets of water, one steaming hot the other not steaming at all. They then start dumping the hot water into Thundarr's bathtub.

"If you want to cool the water down," one of the guards says, "just add the cool water to the tub."

At about the same time a host of Roman Legionaires go to Princess Ariel's room with buckets of water, one hot and one cold each. They fill her bathtub with the hot water, and leave the cold water for her to cool down the bath.

"If the bath is too hot, cool it down with the other buckets of water," says one of the guards.

Ariel tests the water of her bath with her hand. She adds some cold water to the bath to make it more tolerable. Then she gets undressed and uses the bath to wash her leotard. Once she's hung her clothes up to dry, she sits in the tub and soaks, washing away the dirt from the road. When she's done she dries off and relaxes. Once her clothes are dry, she gets dressed. At dusk, a few guards come to her door. When they lead her out into the hall, she meets up with Thundarr and Ookla, then the three of them are led to Caesar's dining hall.

 

[Thundarr]

​

Chapter Five

Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla enter the dining hall. There's a long dining table in the centre of the room, with several chairs on either side and one on either end. Thundarr and Ariel sit side by side on one side of the table. Ookla sits right across from them on the other side.

"So who is this Caesar?" Asks Thundarr.

"And why does he want to meet us?" Adds Ariel.

"Why, to thank you of course," says a voice from the side.

They all turn and see Caesar, whom they know as Womac, enters the room. He's dressed in a satin toga, with a crown of ivy. On his arms are a pair of beautiful women, one with black hair, the other with brown. The brown haired girl is wearing a black evening gown which is totally sheer, except for two strips of cloth which twist about the body covering up her breasts, groin, and buttocks. The ravenette is dressed in a black long sleeved evening gown with a neckline which plunges down to her navel. Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla all leap to their feet when they see their host. Thundarr pulls his Sunsword free of its bracer and ignites the blade with a thought, and Ariel raises her hands in preparation to cast a spell.

"Demon dogs!" Cries Thundarr, "Womac!"

"What game are you playing?" Asks Ariel.

Ookla roars angrily at the false wizard who had once stolen Thundarr's Sunsword. Caesar holds up his hands to calm his guests.

"Please, my friends," he says, "calm yourselves and allow me to explain."

Thundarr and his companions stay standing, not willing to give their former enemy an advantage. Caesar sits down at the head of the table, laces his fingers together and sets his hands down on the table in front of him.

"Please," he says, "sit."

Thundarr and the others remain standing. Caesar sighs and shakes his head, apparently disappointed in their lack of trust.

"Very well," he says, "I suppose I don't blame you for not trusting me. As you know, I used to extort goods from the people of Beverly by pretending to be a wizard named Yando. After you stopped me, they put me in prison for a long time. After a while, I begged Ayrlo to let me go. Finally he agreed, on the condition that I be exiled from Beverly and never return. So I came here, I rebuilt this casino, I rebuilt this town, I rebuilt myself. I'm a new man. And I have you three to thank for it. Now please, sit and join me for dinner."

Caesar then turns and speaks to the two women who entered the dining hall with him, "Jen! Svetlana! Bring the food!"

Jen and Svetlana leave and return a few minutes later, loaded down with trays of food and jugs of wine. Thundarr slowly sits back down, glaring at Caesar the entire time. Ookla and Ariel follow suit, never taking their eyes off of the man they know as Womac. Once they have all been served, Count Dracula enters the dining hall with the blonde Stepha and the redhead Michelle on his arms. Stepha is wearing a daringly cut white silk evening gown, backless with spaghettini straps and a neckline which plunges down practically to her navel. Michelle is wearing a strapless red satin evening gown which laces up the back like a corsette. Caesar immediately leaps to his feet.

"Ah!" He says, "It is my pleasure to introduce to you, my business partner, Coun . . ."

Dracula holds up his hand, silencing his mortal emmisary. "There is no need for such formalities," he says, "We are all friends here. You may call me, Vlad."

"Of course," says Caesar, "Allow me to introduce to you our guests, Thundarr The Barbarian, his companion Ookla the Mok, and the ever lovely Princess Ariel."

"Charmed," says Dracula as he sits down at the far end of the table, right next to Ariel.

Thundarr, Ariel, Ookla, and Caesar all dig into the food, thuroughly enjoying the meal. All the while, Dracula just sits and stares at Princess Ariel. Soon Thundarr begins to notice that Dracula isn't eating.

"Not hungry?" Asks the barbarian.

"What?" Says Dracula. Then he looks down at his plate of untouched food. "Oh," he says, "forgive me. I had to deal with one of our guests who owed us much more than he could afford to pay. The unpleasant business has unfortunately . . . robbed me of my appetite."

Thundarr then picks up a pitcher of wine and holds it out to him, "Then at least join us in a cup of wine," he says.

"I'm sorry," replies Dracula, "I do not drink . . . wine."

Princess Ariel gives him a curious look, as though that last comment had struck a familiar cord with her. After a moments contemplation she shrugs it off. Then she turns to Dracula.

"Vlad, exactly how do you make money here if people don't even need any collateral to get credit for gambling?"

"Ah, you noticed the credit counters downstairs," replies the count, "It's very simple really. If they can't afford to pay us back, they work it off in the casino."

"Or in the arena," adds Caesar, "Those who look like they'd make good sport can work their debts off in the arena. In fact it's quicker than trying to work it off by dealing cards at the gaming tables."

"That way we don't have to pay our employees," explains Dracula, "and we can keep more of our winnings."

"Sounds like slavery to me," growls Thundarr.

Ookla nods his head affirmatively and growls his agreement.

"Slaves have no choice in the matter," objects Dracula, "Nobody forces these people to gamble. Nor does anyone force them to bet more than they can afford to lose, or bet with money that isn't even theirs. They're here because they choose to be. If they're not allowed to leave, it's because of choices that they make. It isn't slavery, it's consequences."

Thundarr stands up from the table. "I believe I've had my fill," he says.

Ookla growls and stands up as well. Ariel daintily wipes her mouth off with her napkin and stands up as well.

"And I need to watch my womanly figure," she says, "Thank you for a lovely meal. We should really be adjourning to our rooms now."

"I shall take them M'Lord," says Stepha.

Dracula gives Caesar the subtlest of nods, who then stands and says, "Thank you all for coming. I do hope that we can all leave the past where it belongs, allow bygones to be bygones, and can move forward as friends."

"We shall see," is all that Thundarr will say.

Stepha walks them back to their rooms. After Ariel and Ookla have said their goodnights and gone to bed, she walks Thundarr to his room. Rather than leaving him to get some sleep, however, she enters the room with him.

"Is there something I can help you with?" Asks Thundarr with a suspicious edge to his voice.

"I was going to ask you the same question," says Stepha in her silky smooth, sultry voice.

"I have all I need," says Thundarr as he walks over to the bed. He pulls back the covers, then stops and runs his hand over the sheets. "What manner of cloth is this?" He asks.

"It's called silk," says Stepha, "It's the same material that my dress is made of. Feel."

And with that she grabs Thundarr's hand and places it on the material covering her left breast. Thundarr has a look of nervous confusion on his face.

"Your hands," he says, "they're cold. Like ice."

"Then perhaps you can warm them up for me," she replies.

Then she grabs the barbarian and wraps her arms around him in a tight embrace and plants a deep wet kiss right on his lips. He stands there stunned for a moment, then returns the embrace and kisses her back. After a moment of tongue wrestling each other, Thundarr pushes her away.

"No," he says, "I can't."

"What?" Stepha asks.

"I'm a man of honor," he says, "I can't mistreat you this way."

"What way?" She asks.

"I can't give you what you want," he says, "I can't stay here with you after tonight. And I lead a dangerous life, I can't ask you to come with me. It isn't fair to you, so we can't."

"I never said I wanted you forever," she says as she runs her fingers through his long blonde hair, "Just for tonight."

"Any man would consider himself the luckiest man on Earth to wake up next to you after a night of passion," says Thundarr, "But I do not take such things lightly. For me to welcome you into my bed, it must mean something more. It must be a commitment."

"I see," says Stepha, "I'm sorry. I should go."

Then she turns and runs out of Thundarr's room. The blonde barbarian shrugs his shoulders and begins stripping off his furs. Once he's naked he climbs into bed, which is much softer than the hard ground he's used to, drapes the silk sheet over himself, and lies on his back staring at the ceiling, wondering why exactly there's a mirror over his bed.
Stepha returns to Count Dracula. The count is sitting at a security monitor watching security footage of Princess Ariel over and over again.

"Magnificent," he says, "Absolutlely magnificent."

"Master," says Stepha.

"Yes, my dear," says Dracula.

"I have a request," she says.

"You want the barbarian," he says to her, guessing her desires.

"Yes Master," she replies.

"You can go ahead and sire him," he tells her.

"But that will only make him a vampire," she says, "I want to make him mine only. Like what you want to do to the sorceress."

"You haven't the power to join him to you."

"But you do," she says, "You can give me the power to join with him."

"That's not an easy thing you ask of me," he tells her.

"But it can be done?"

"Yes," he says. Then he turns to one of his Roman Legionaires, "Find me a gambler who's deep in debt."

The guard salutes the count and runs off to do as he's told. Not long after, Stepha and Dracula are alone with a female gambler. Dracula bites her and drinks her dry. Then he lets Stepha drink from him until he's been completely drained. Dracula collapses, and looks up at Stepha.

"You have my powers now," he tells her, "It'll only be temporary though. It will last about a week. You should start the process. Tonight."

Stepha's form melts into a black mist which floats off towards Thundarr's room. As she leaves, Dracula calls for a guard to bring him another indebted gambler. The mist floats down the hall and slips under Thundarr's door. The mist reforms to become Stepha once more. She walks across the room and sits on Thundarr's bed. The barbarian begins to stir, and the vampire looks into his eyes.

"Look at me," she whispers, "Be in me. See with your heart. See what your heart desires."

Thundarr sits up in bed and blinks. "Ariel?" He says.

Stepha plays along, "Yes Thundarr, I'm here."

"What is it?" He asks, "What's wrong?"

"Only that I've never done this," and she says, and she leans in and kisses him passionately.

"Ariel? Are you sure?"

In Thundarr's mind's eye, he sees Princess Ariel standing up and slipping out of her white silk gown. Thundarr sits there, staring at her. Then he holds his hand out to her. She takes his hand and slips into his warm embrace. Thundarr lies back on the bed, and Stepha lies down on top of him kissing him. She nibbles on his ear and begins kissing his neck. Thundarr looks up at the ceiling expecting to see Princess Ariel lying on top of him naked. Instead he doesn't see her at all. Thundarr's eyes widen in shock and horror.

"Demon dogs!" Cries Thundarr.

He grabs the vampire and throws her to the floor. He snatches the Sunsword from the nightstand and ignites the blade. Leaping out of bed, he stands naked over Stepha and holds it to her throat. As the light of the blade touches the vampire, her skin blisters, burns, and smokes. She hisses at Thundarr and bares her fangs.

"Lords Of Light!" Thundarr cries, "A vampire!"

Stepha changes form into insubsatancial mist and floats away as though on a heavy wind. Thundarr chases her out into the hall, but by the time he gets out there all signs of her are gone. Thundarr runs down the hall and cuts through the door of Ariel's room. He barges in to find Dracula leaning over Princess Ariel. Dracula looks up at him with a hiss.

"Ariel!" Cries Thundarr.

He runs at Dracula with his Sunsword raised. Dracula turns into mist, and the Sunsword passes right through the cloud. Dracula floats away as if on a heavy wind. Thundarr starts shaking Ariel awake.

"Ariel!" Thundarr cries, "ARIEL!"

Ariel wakes up. The sorceress looks up at Thundarr. Much like the barbarian, she's sleeping in the nude. She sits up, holding the silk sheet over her breasts.

"Thundarr?" She says, all confused. "Why are you naked?"

"Get dressed!" He says, "We have to get out of here!"

"Why? What's going on?"

"Vampires!" He says, "Vlad and Stepha are vampires! There are probably more! We gotta get Ookla and we gotta get out of here!"

"Where's Ookla?"

"Across the hall! I'll go get him while you get dressed!"

Thundarr runs across the hall and cuts through Ookla's door. He looks around the room to find it empty, and Ookla's bed hasn't been slept in. Ariel, now fully dressed, runs up to Thundarr.

"What happened to Ookla? Where is he?"

"I don't know. His bed hasn't been slept in. I'll check downstairs."

"Naked?"

"What?"

Ariel points at the barbarian's groin. Thundarr looks down and blushes.

"Oh. Right."

Thundarr quickly runs into his room and pulls on his furs and laces up his bracers. Then he and Ariel go running down the stairs as fast as they can. On their way down they encounter a pair of Roman Legionaires running up the stairs with their swords drawn. Their eyes are glowing red and their canines are long sharp fangs.

"Yaaaaa-hee!" Thundarr cries out his infamous battle cry as he leaps the bannister with Sunsword in hand and lands on the landing right between the two vampire guards. Both guards raise their arms in a desperate attempt to protect themselves from the Sunsword's light. As before, their skins begin to smoke, blister, and burn. Thundarr slashes one of the vampires across the throat, decapitating him. The undead guard bursts into flames and crumbles into a pile of ash before his helmet even hits the stairs. Thundarr then stabs the other vampire guard through the chest, getting essentially the same result. Thundarr and Ariel run down the stairs as fast as they can. More vampire guards dressed as Roman Legionaires come up to stop them, and they fall just as quickly to the power of Thundarr's Sunsword. Finally they get to the ground floor. Thundarr cuts the door to the stairs off its hinges and kicks it open, then the two of them run out into the casino. Just as they exit the stairs a serving girl walks by with a tray of drinks. When the light of the Sunsword hits her skin, it begins to burn. She drops her tray of drinks and hisses in pain. Thundarr slashes her with his mystical blade and she combusts and falls into a pile of ashes. Two more vampire guards come at Thundarr and Ariel with their swords drawn in an attempt to stop them. Thundarr cuts them down too, with a single stroke. They look through the crowd to try and find their friend. There are a few moks gambling in the casino, but none of them are the one they're looking for. Finally they find Ookla, at a roulette table with a stack of silver coins in front of him. Apparently he decided to try his hand at some gambling with the complimentary coins he was given and ended up hitting a lucky streak. Next to the mok are two of Caesar and Vlad's lady companions, Jen and Michelle, who are chearing him on, and a waitress serving him pitchers of mead. The man running the table rolls the steel ball on the roulette wheel. When it stops rolling a chorus of cheers go up around the table and Ookla roars in victory as a stack of silver coins are slid across the table, adding to his already impressive pile.

"Ookla!" Thundarr calls to him, "We have to get out of here! This place is crawling with vampires!"

Then Ookla hears a hissing noise next to him. He looks over and sees that Jen and Michelle have grown fangs and their eyes are glowing red. He notices that the serving wench's teeth and eyes have changed as well. He looks across the table and sees the man running the roulette table has also changed. All throughout the casino the staff are all changing. The guards, the dealers, the serving wenches, the exotic dancers, the band, even some of the patrons turn into vampires. Then like a school of pirannah that smell blood, the feeding frenzy begins.

 

[Thundarr]

Chapter Six

The casino patrons begin to scream and panic. Vampires leap at them, tackling them down and feeding on them. A half dozen vampire guards block the main doors and kill anyone who tries to escape that way. There are also at least two guards stopping anyone from escaping through each of the other exits. Ookla strikes out against the vampires nearest him. He catches both Jen and Michelle with a backhanded slap each, sending them flying off to his sides and crashing into a couple of gambling tables. The roulette dealer leaps over the table at Ookla. The mok catches the vampire by the face with one mighty paw and throws him across the room. The vampire manages to twist about in mid-flight and land on his feet with cat-like grace. The serving wench tries to use her serving tray as a shield, but the enraged Ookla punches right through it and smashes her in the face.

Over by the stairs, several vampires try to stop Thundarr and Ariel from fighting through the crowd and joining up with the mok. They can't even get close though. Any vampire that gets within striking distance of the barbarian begins to smoke and sizzle, and a single strike from the mighty Sunsword reduces them to ash. Ariel kills the vampires at a distance with her spells. Beams of light leap leap from her hands, incinerating the nosferatu until there's nothing left but charred bones. She sees a pair of vampires dressed as Roman Legionaires killing any casino patrons trying to escape through a side door and burns them until there's nothing left but charred bones and smoking bronze armor. The entire casino is a madhouse. The only ones who seem to be holding their own against the vampires besides Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla are the few moks who were there gambling.

Now that there's an exit unguarded, people are rushing towards the door in desperation. Thundarr and Ariel are cutting a swath towards Ookla, who is just standing by his roulette table swatting away any vampire that gets near him. Jen leaps through the air at the mok in a daring aerial attack. Ookla swats her away as though she were an insect. She twists, tucks, and rolls in mid-air and lands gracefully on her feet on top of a blackjack table. She stands up straight, glaring at the mok. Then, without warning, a wooden stake bursts out her chest, right between her very impressive breasts. She looks down at the piece of wood sticking out between her breasts in shock and awe, then collapses and falls to the floor. Behind her, standing over the slain bodies of the vampire guards are Vanessa Van Helsing, Reverend Bram Stoker XIII, and Chef, with loaded heavy crossbows in hand.

Three vampires try charging the three newcomers. Vanessa, Bram, and Chef shoot them down with their crossbows. The serving wench who was giving Ookla mead leaps through the air at them. Bram pulls out a little glass vial and throws it at her. It smashes in her face and she crashes to the floor screaming as smoke rises from her body as she writhes in pain clutching her burning face in her hands. More vampires try to rush them and they too are staked through the heart by the crossbow wielding vampire hunters. Now a large group of vampires charge the three heroes at the door. This group is being led by four vampire guards in Roman Legionaire armor. Bram, Vanessa, and Chef shoot down three of the unarmored vampires. They drop their crossbows and draw their wooden stakes. Both Van Helsing and the Reverend wield paired stakes which they use as Filipino sticks. Chef has a stake in one hand and a cross in another. Both the descendants of the professor and his biographer fight brilliantly. They beat the vampires with their sharpened Filipino sticks quickly and viciously until they get an opportunity to stake them and move on. Chef's fighting style is less graceful. He holds them at bay with his cross then stakes them before they can recover from being so close to his cross. He has some trouble with one of the Roman Legionaires though. The vampire is repelled from the cross, but the stake bounces off his bronze chest plate. The vampire guard knocks the cook down to the floor, kicks the cross out of his hand, then pins him down and tries to bite him. Chef reaches into his pocket and pulls out a little glass vial and smashes it against the back of the vampire's head. His head sizzles and smokes, and the vampire screams in agony. Chef rolls out from under him and grabs his dropped stake and drives it through the guard's unprotected back and into his heart. Bram and Vanessa kill the other vampires that tried to rush them.

Thundarr and Princess Ariel finally fight their way to Ookla. Most of the casino patrons are lying dead or dying on the floor. Now there are mostly vampires left. Thundarr, Ariel, Ookla, and the moks guide the few remaining humans to the exit, protecting them from the vampires. They fight their way to the doors. Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla guard the rear as Bram, Vanessa, and Chef step aside to allow the moks and humans who survived the feeding frenzy to escape the casino. Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla join up with Vanessa, Bram, and Chef.

"Thanks for the assist," says Ariel.

"Happy to oblige," replies Bram.

Vampires start pouring in from multiple doors at the back of the casino. Their numbers grow to scary proportions.

"There are too many of them," says Vanessa, "We can't fight them all."

"Can we make it to the horses?" Chef asks.

"They're fast," says Thundarr, "We need to buy some time."

"A woman's work is never done," says Ariel with a chuckle.

She holds her hands out in front of her. They glow a bright green and a great wave of energy sweeps over the vampires, knocking them all back. Then she starts launching fireballs at the tables, setting them aflame in hopes that the fires will help keep the vampires back.

"Get the horses!" Says Chef, "I'll cover you!"

Bram, Vanessa, Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla run out into the street. Bram runs off to fetch their horses, and Thundarr puts his fingers in his mouth and blows a shrill whistle to call his team's own horses. They quickly mount their beasts.

"Chef!" Van Helsing shouts, "Come on!"

Chef shoots one last stake at the vampires and then turns to run to his horse. As he turns around, a cloud of smoke solidifies behind him. Before he can take two steps, Stepha grabs him and bites into his carotid artery and drinks.

"NO!" Cries Vanessa.

Another vampire leaps over them and lands in a crouch. She's one of the exotic dancers, wearing nothing but a gosammer loincloth. She looks back at Chef and pounces, bites into his jugular vein, and drinks. Chef reaches into his pocket, and pulls out a little glass vial. His fingers grow numb as his body loses blood and the vial falls to the ground and breaks. Other vampires come up and bite into his wrists and forearms. Van Helsing takes out her crossbow and shoots the dancer in the back. She staggers back, looks down at the stake sticking out from between her breasts, and collapses. Van Helsing draws another stake from her quiver, then realizes it's her last one. She reloads her crossbow and takes aim. After a moment of hesitation, she shoots Chef through the heart. Then she spurs her horse into a gallop, and Bram follows. Thundarr rears his horse up.

"Ariel! Ookla! RIIIIIDE!"

And the three heroes ride off after their new allies. The five of them ride off as fast as they could. They ride hard all through the night across the desert. By the breaking of the dawn they arrive at an oasis. They stop to rest and water their horses at the lake. Princess Ariel recognizes it as the same lake where they battled the wheel machine of the wizard Chom during The Race Of The Wizards years before. In fact they could still see the rusting hulk of the destroyed wheel machine partially submerged in the middle of the lake.

"We should be safe here for a while," says Van Helsing.

"Are you sure?" Thundarr asks.

"There are very few places to hide from the sun out in the desert," says Bram, "Vampires can run fast, almost as fast as our horses, but if they followed us all the way out here they're dust in the wind by now. Now if you don't mind, who are you?"

"I am Thundarr," declaires the barbarian, "and these are my friends, Ookla, and the Princess Ariel."

"Now maybe you can explain to us exactly who you two are," says Ariel.

"Of course," replies Bram, "I am Reverend Bram Stoker XIII. This is my associate, Vanessa Van Helsing."

"Where do I know those names from?" Ariel asks herself out loud.

"We are the direct descendants of the men who finally defeated the Dark Lord Of All Vampires, Count Dracula."

Princess Ariel slaps herself in the forehead. "Of course!" She cries, "How could I be so stupid? Womac was about to call him Count Dracula before he introduced himself as Vlad! VLAD! As in Prince Vlad Dracul of Wallachia! Vlad The Impaler! Damn! We were such fools!"

"Do not blame yourself," Bram tells her calmly, "He has had centuries of practice fooling people into believing he is mortal."

"Thank you," says Ariel, "You know, I've read your ancestor's book. In my stepfather's library when I was a girl. It was classified as fiction."

"That was out of necessity," replies the reverend, "My ancestor was the personal biographer of one Professor Abraham Van Helsing. He was recording the good professor's latest work on diseases of the blood when a distraught young man named Johnathan Harker came to him and asked him to aid his ailing wife, Lucy. They were too late and Lucy died. When the professor discovered that Lucy was the victim of the Prince Of The Undead, the three of them drove a stake through Lucy's heart and cut off her head, then they set out to do battle with the bloodsucking fiend who took her. They battled Dracula in his castle in Transylvania. Mr. Harker didn't survive the fight. Our ancestors managed to drive a stake through the fiend's heart. When the battle was won, my ancestor tried to sell his manuscript to his publishers. They laughed at him and said he'd gone mad. So he rewrote the book and sold it to another publisher as a work of fiction. The rest, as they say, is history."

"So the legend of Count Dracula is true," says Ariel, "but that doesn't explain what he's doing here, now, or what he's planning to do."

"And how is it that he's back after being staked through the heart?" Thundarr asks, "Even we barbarians know that that is how you kill a vampire!"

"Dracula isn't like other vampires," Van Helsing explains, "Your common vampire will stay dead once you stake it or cut off its head. But Dracula doesn't. He has powers that most vampires don't. They share the same super human speed, strength, and agility, but Dracula can do so much more." Vanessa sits down on a boulder before continuing, "He has the ability to read and control a person's thoughts, making them his willing slaves. He can change form, becoming a wolf, or mist. It's a common misconception that he can also turn into a rat or a bat. The truth is he can turn into a whole lot of rats or bats. I think it has to do with body mass. A one hundred sixty pound vampire has to turn into one hundred sixty pounds of rats or bats. And he's nearly impossible to kill. After his defeat, our ancestors looked deaper in the count's history, reading his personal journals, etc. They learned that if killed by a stake through the heart, he'll only stay dead as long as the stake remains in his heart. If killed by fire, he can be revived by pouring blood onto his charred remains. Decapitation never seems to work for he always seems to turn to mist before any blade can connect. The only thing that Dracula fears, the only thing that might truly stop him forever, is sunlight. But he never battles would-be vampire hunters in daylight. If they attack him during the day he'd be in his castle, an a room without windows, without sunlight, which makes a stake through the heart your only really viable option."

"Didn't the story take place in England?" Ariel asks, "How did Dracula wind up here?"

"When my ancestor's book became a commercial success, he became very wealthy," replies Bram, "So he and the professor took Dracula's body to the new world. They bought a plot of land in the Nevada Desert, hoping the abundance of sunlight and the lack of shelter would make it the ideal place to store the body, so that if Dracula ever got free he would not find shelter before the sun rises and he would be forever destroyed before he could do any more harm. For generations the Stoker and Van Helsing families lived in the Nevada Desert, guarding the body of Count Dracula. Eventually, the American government stepped in and told our ancestors they had to leave their land, that they'd taken ownership of it and were planning on using it to store their deapest darkest secrets. Our ancestors managed to convince the government that Dracula's coffin had to be protected, that it had to be kept safe and hidden. The military installation known as Area: 51 was built around Dracula's coffin. The government built an elaborate underground bunker to store the coffin in, with a labrynth riddled with death traps, a vault, everything. For decades the coffin was guarded by hundreds of trained United States soldiers. Our ancestors were kept on as advisors to the troops. The Stoker family all became adorned ministers of the Christian faith, for clergymen are probably the best weapon to have against vampires. After The Great Catastrophe, the men and women stationed at Area: 51 continued their duty of guarding the coffin. Then so did their children, and their children's children, and their children's children's children. All through the generations, until recently."

"What happened?" Asks Thundarr, "How did Dracula escape?"

"Some fool brought a group of groundling mercenaries and broke into the vault," says Van Helsing, "They incapacitated the soldiers guarding the vault then released him. They probably thought it was some sort of magical treasure or something."

"Womac," says Ariel, shaking her head.

"Who?" Asks Vanessa.

"An old enemy of ours," she explains, "He used to dress up as a wizard and call himself 'Yando'. Now you'd probably recognize him under his new name, 'Caesar'."

"Of course," says Bram, "makes perfect sense."

"Wait," says Thundarr, "I thought you said only Dracula had mind powers and could become mist. When Stepha came into my room, she made me think she was Ariel. Then when I realized she was a vampire I drew my Sunsword and she turned into mist and floated away."

"Ah yes," says Bram, "Dracula can temporarily transfer his powers to other vampires. Usually this is done for a specific purpose."

"She tried to turn me into a vampire," he says.

"She wouldn't need to seduce you to just make you into a vampire," Vanessa says, "Unless . . ."

"Unless?"

"She wanted to bond with you. Not just make you a vampire, but make you hers for an eternity."

"I think Dracula wanted to do the same with you," Bram tells Ariel, "He wanted to share his power with you permanently."

"Why?"

"Because of this," he says.

He pulls out a book and hands it to Ariel. She opens it up and finds a marked page with a portrait of a woman. The picture bears a striking resemblance to Princess Ariel, except for the eyes. Ariel's eyes are almond shaped, due to her Asian descent. Other than that, it was practically her own portrait. The caption under the portrait reads 'Countess Bathory Erzebet'.

"She looks just like me," says Ariel, "Who is she?"

"To our knowledge, she's the only person Dracula had ever shared his power with. She was a Countess back in the 1500's. She ruled side by side with The Dark Lord until sometime in the 1700's. Vampire hunters managed to drag her into the sunlight. She was permanently destroyed. Now he wants you to join with him, share in his power."

"And you," Vanessa says to Thundarr, "If this Stepha can join with you before her new power fades, she will have those powers permanently. And so will you."

"What of my Sunsword?" Asks Thundarr, "The mere light of the blade caused them to start to burn. And when I slashed or stabbed them with it they just burst into flames and crumbled into ashes."

"Of course!" Exclaims Ariel, "The Sunsword! Emphasis on the word 'sun'! The sorcerer who made it made the blade out of concentrated sunlight. Like focussing a ray of sunlight through a magnefying glass, only stronger. Slashing the vampires with the Sunsword is like throwing them directly into the sun!"

"Then we have a chance to stop Dracula once and for all," says Bram, "That is if you're willing to join us."

"After last night?" Says Ariel, "You're going to have a hard time getting rid of us!"

"Great!" Says the reverend, "There is still plenty of daylight left. I suggest we break for a meal before heading back to Area: 51."

Ookla roars in agreement. Ariel chuckles, "It looks like you have Ookla's vote," she says.

"It's settled then," says Thundarr, "After breakfast we will ride to this . . . Area: 51."

"Agreed," says Vanessa, "In the meantime, I'd like to wash all this vampire blood off of me."

Thundarr and Ookla walk about the lake, picking up dried pieces of driftwood for the morning fire, while Ariel helps Bram unload the provisions and Vanessa finds herself a secluded spot to bathe. The barbarian and the mok return quickly with armloads of firwood. Ariel gets a fire going in seconds, using her magic to ignite the pile of firewood. Ookla had even found himself a log which would make a decent warclub. He borrows a knife from Reverand Stoker and whittles the branches until they're all wooden stakes, then he chars them in the campfire to harden them. He gives his new warclub a few practice swings, then let's out a beastial chuckle.

"I think Ookla is imagining using his new club on some vampires," says Ariel.

Ookla nods his head in agreement.

"It'll be effective if one of those stakes pierces the fiends' hearts," replies Thundarr.

"The conies are near done," says Bram, "Someone should fetch Van Helsing."

"I'll get her," says Thundarr.

Thundarr heads off in the same direction he'd seen Miss Van Helsing going earlier. After several minutes of searching he finally finds her. Her clothes are lying on large rock, drying in the sun. Vanessa steps out of the lake without a stitch of clothing on. Thundarr quickly turns his back.

"I'm sorry," he says, "I didn't realize you would be naked."

"You don't have to be embarased," she replies, "I'm not."

She slips on her black leather pants and laces up the leather thongs up the sides, tying them in place. She then puts on her black leather corslette and laces up the theather thong up the front. Thundarr tries to be honorable and not peak, but he can't help but catch a glimpse or two. He notices that she has several tattoos all up and down her arms, as well as on her lower back.

"What are all those tattoos for?" Thundarr asks Vanessa as she is pulling on her knee high boots.

"They're religious symbols," she says, "I'm hoping they'll help to repel the vampires when I'm fighting them. I don't know if it'll work, but every little bit helps."

"Come," says Thundarr, "Breakfast is ready. As soon as we're finished eating we will head out to your Area: 51."

The barbarian and the vampire hunter head back to camp, where they join the others for a meal of roast hare.

 

[Thundarr]

Chapter Seven

After breakfast, they extinguish their campfire, mount up, and ride off to Area: 51. Vanessa and Bram ride in the lead, with Thundarr and Ariel following close behind, with Ookla taking up the rear. It takes them most of the day, but by dusk they finally arrive at Area: 51. Thundarr and the others stable their horses in an ancient warehouse which has been converted into a barn. There are crosses and strands of garlic hanging all over the barn. Once the horses are locked away in their stalls, the five heroes head over to the ancient hangar where the entrance to the underground bunker is located. They get into the elevator and take it down to the lower level. As they get off the elevator, they walk through a large puddle of water which takes up the entire floor of the guard room.

"Plumbing problem?" Ariel asks.

"Holy water," replies Bram, "We dumped a bunch of holy water on the floor before we left as a precaution. Now if any vampires make it down here, it'll be like they're walking through acid. It won't help much against dracula in mist or bat form, but his undead minions shouldn't be able to get past this point."

"Clever," congradulates Ariel.

"I hope it works," says Thundarr.

Ookla growls in agreement.

"With any luck, we'll never have to find out," says Bram, "Once we wipe out that nest there won't be any vampires left to test it."

"Come," says Vanessa, "we'll show you to your rooms."

The two vampire hunters lead their new allies to the private quarters of the ranking members of the community. They open the door to the guard captain's room and step aside. Vanessa turns to Thundarr and Ookla.

"You two can stay in here," she tells them.

The barbarian and the mok enter the room. It's relatively small with few furnishings. Only a bed, a desk, a couple of chairs, a small table, a wardrobe, and a bookcase filled with ancient volumes and texts. Of course to Thundarr and Ookla, who are used to sleeping under the stars on the cold hard ground, this seems quite luxurious.

"Thank you," says Thundarr, and Ookls growls in agreement.

Next they take Princess Ariel to Vanessa's room. Her room is slightly larger than the room given to Thundarr and Ookla, and a little better furnished, but for the most part it sticks to the essentials.

"You'll stay here with me," says Vanessa.

"Are you sure you don't mind?" Ariel asks.

"We could set you up in the guard barracks so you can all stay together," replies Van Helsin, "but I thought you'd be more comfortable in these rooms, especially since the previous occupants of the barracks were all killed and turned into vampires."

"I see your point," says Ariel.

Vanessa opens up her footlocker and takes out some clothing, an old and torn olive green tank top shirt and a pair of olive green denim shorts with the legs cut off just below the buttocks in a style known back in the Twentieth Century as 'Daisy Duke'. She also pulls out a beat up old pair of black boots which lace up the front and come up just past her ankles. Without a moments hesitation, Van Helsing strips off her leathers and puts on these clothes which have obviously been handed down through many generations.

"I'm going to the gym," she tells Ariel, "care to join me?"

"Don't mind if I do," replies the sorceress.

Several minutes later, there's a knock at Thundarr and Ookla's door. Ookla gets up off the bed where he was trying unsuccessfully to get some sleep and opens the door. There he finds the reverend waiting in a pair of black commando pants which have been cut off just below the knee and a threadbare old black t-shirt.

"I'm on my way to join Vanessa and Ariel in the gym," he tells them, "Would you two care to join me?"

Thundarr looks up from his book on vampire lore. He had been trying to learn as much about vampires as he possibly could. Unfortunately his reading skills are less than stellar. In fact, he was completely illiterate when he first met Princess Ariel. Over the years she has been teaching him to read and write. Unfortunately he can be kind of slow with learning certain skills, and thus far he can only spell 'Thundarr', 'Ariel', 'Ookla', and a few smaller words like 'it', 'can', and 'hurt'. Anything with more than one syllable, however, he tends to struggle with. But he is stubborn, and has been muddling through this book on vampires as best he could. Luckily it is a childrens book, with very few big words and lots of pictures. He puts the book down and rubs his eyes.

"Thank you," says the barbarian, "All this reading is giving me a headache."

Ookla growls something in his native tongue, and Thundarr nods his head in agreement.

"Very true," he says, "We haven't eaten since breakfast."

"The last thing Vanessa and I did before all of this happened was stock up on provisions and supplies," says Bram, "Our pantry is fully stocked with food enough to feed a small army. We can pass by the mess hall on our way to the gym."

Ookla growls something else in the mok language, and again Thundarr nods his head in agreement.

"Good idea, Old Friend," says Thundarr, "You cook dinner while we're training, then we'll all dine together."

"It's settled then," says Bram, "Come on, let's go."

He leads the two of them over to the mess hall where they leave Ookla to see to dinner. Then Bram leads Thundarr over to the gym. There they find Princess Ariel doing acrobatics on the paralel bars, while Van Helsing is practicing her blocking and counter-punching techniques on a wooden practice dummy made up of a thick wooden beam with pegs sticking out at various angles to represent an enemy's arms. Ariel swings off the paralel bars, doing a double reverse somersault and landing on her feet.

"Whew!" She says between heavy breaths, "I'm out of practice."

Bram Stoker XIII heads over to where the weights are kept, grabs a pair of heavy dumbells, and begins doing arm curls. Thundarr, meanwhile, removes his fur vest, walks over to a heavy bag, and begins punching it. Ariel, in the meantime, goes from the paralel bars to the twin rings. After several minutes of working out, Vanessa grabs two pairs of Filipino Sticks and walks over to Thundarr.

"Thundarr!" She calls. The barbarian quits hitting the heavybag and turns to regard the young woman. "Are you as good without that fancy blade of yours?" She asks.

Thundarr gives her a small smile and holds out his hand. Vanessa hands him a pair of Filipino Sticks and leads him over to the sparring circle. Both Bram and Ariel stop their respective workouts to watch as the two combatants begin circling each other. Vanessa twirls her sticks about in complex patterns, while Thundarr holds his fairly steady. The barbarian strikes first, swinging at Van Helsing with one stick then the other. The much smaller girl ducks the first swing and sidesteps the second, then tumbles out of reach with a one handed cartwheel which she comes out of in a ready fighting stance. Thundarr gives her an appreciative look, then comes at her again. Vanessa ducks one of Thundarr's sticks, blocks the other with one of her own, then ducks under a third swing coming up behind the barbarian and striking him on the back numerous times in rapid succession before diving into a forward roll to get out of striking distance just as Thundarr swung about in a wild blind swing.

"If you're taking it easy on me because I'm a woman . . . don't," she says.

"This should be interesting," says Ariel.

"My money's on Van Helsing," replies Bram.

"I'll take that bet," says Ariel, "What are the terms?"

"What do you want?"

"Some of your books on vampire lore, the ones that are most useful, to take with us when this is all over."

"Agreed," says the minister, "And if I win, I get to treat you to a romantic candlelit dinner."

Ariel looks at him in surprise. Then she notices just how athletically built he is under his minister's clothes, and after a moment's thought nods her head in agreement. They then turn back to the sparring match between their two friends. Thundarr and Van Helsing once again circle each other, both a little more wary than they were a moment ago. This time it's Thundarr who takes the offensive, charging Vanessa and swinging his Filipino Sticks at her. She ducks, dodges, and parries madly, but this time can't quite counterstrike. She ducks under one of Thundarr's arms again and goes for another strike at his back. This time instead of the satisfying sound of wood striking skin, she gets two loud cracks of wood on wood as Thundarr brings his own Filipino Sticks around to block at the last second. Thundarr comes at her fast and furious, swinging one stick then the other. Van Helsing's hands work in a blur as she parries attack after attack. Vanessa strikes Thundarr on the wrist, causing him to drop one of his sticks. Now that the barbarian is partially disarmed she goes on the offensive, attacking furiously from all angles. Amazingly, with only one stick in hand, Thundarr is able to block every attack. He then parries one attack with one hand and and catches one of Vanessa's wrists with his other. Before she can counter he strikes her hand on the thumb, causing her to drop one of her sticks. Thundarr then sweeps her legs out from under her, throwing her onto her back. He quickly kneels on her chest and holds the end of his Filipino Stick to her heart.

"Give up?" Thundarr asks with a grin.

"Never," she replies.

She brings her foot up under his chin and pushes him away. Both combatants go into backward rolls and pop up onto their feet, ready for action. Vanessa throws her remaining weapon aside and puts her hands up in a loose but ready position as she assumes a fighter's stance. Thundarr smiles as he understands that she means for the rest of this sparring match to be bare handed. He throws his remaining weapon aside and put his fists up, quite willing to accept her challenge.

The barbarian comes barreling in at his smaller opponent. She deftly ducks under a roundhouse punch, then quickly hits him with three kicks in rapid succession, to his gut, chest, then face. Thundarr staggers back, momentarily dazed. He quickly shakes it off and comes at Van Helsing in an attempt to grab her and wrestle her to the ground. She ducks under his grasp and strikes him in the forehead with a scorpion kick. Once more dazed, Thundarr staggers back. Before he can recover this time, Vanessa nails him with a jumping spinning reverse roundhouse heel kick. The barbarian appears to be out on his feet. Vanessa kicks him in the back of his right knee, taking him down to a kneeling position. She then tries to knee him in the face, but Thundarr blocks the attempt. He grabs her about the thighs and lifts her up onto his right shoulder like she were a sack of potatoes. Then he throws her down to the mat, coming down on top of her with all of his two hundred plus pounds of muscle behind him, in a move that in the days of Old Earth in the sport of pro wrestling was known as a 'spine buster slam'. Her breath is forced out of her lungs from the impact, and it takes her many moments to get her wind back.

Once Van Helsing has recovered from Thundarr's powerful takedown, she finds herself in a rather unflattering position. She's lying flat on her back, with Thundarr lying on top of her, pinning her down. Her legs are spread wide around the barbarian's hips, and his strong, caloused hands are gripping her wrists and holding them on either side of her head. Their faces are inches apart, and if anyone had walked into the gym at that particular point in time they might assume that something other than a sparring match was going on.

"Do you yield?" Asks the barbarian.

"Never," replies the girl, and she begins to struggle.

But no matter how she twists and squirms, she can't break Thundarr's grip. She tries to bite his hands, but he keeps them too far from her face. She tries to use her legs and squeeze him with a body scissors, but he just grins and bears it. Finally she stops struggling.

"Do you yield?" Thundarr asks again.

After a moments contemplation, Vanessa nods her head in agreement. Even with her conceding defeat, Thundarr doesn't immediately let her up. Their faces slowly inch closer and closer together, until their lips nearly touch.

"Would you two like to be alone?" Asks Princess Ariel, causing the two of them to jump.

With all the excitement, they had forgotten they had an audience. Bram and Ariel chuckle at their friends' discomfort as Thundarr gets up off of Van Helsing, then helps the girl up on her feet.

"Well," says Bram, "it seems as though you've won our little wager."

"You can bring those books by my room any time," she replies.

"Too bad," says Bram, "I was really looking forward to that romantic dinner."

"To be honest," says Ariel, "part of me was kind of hoping you'd win our little wager."

"Really?" Bram asks, "Which part?"

"That's for me to know," says Ariel, then she walks up close and whispers, "and for you to dream about," before walking over to the target range.

Vanessa pulls a red ribbon out of her pocket and uses it to tie her sweat soaked hair back into a ponytail. She grabs a towel from a pile of linens and wipes her brow as she walks over to the target range. She grabs a pair of heavy crossbows off of a rack and tosses one to Princess Ariel.

"You any good with one of these?" Van Helsing asks.

"I don't know," admits the sorceress, "I've never used one before."

"It's fairly simple," says Vanessa, "just load, aim, and shoot."

She then proceeds to load her crossbow, take aim, and fires the weapon at her target. The target she's shooting at is an effegy of a vampire, made out of an ancient vampire Halloween costume, stuffed with straw and set on a metal pole with a mannequin head set on top with fangs painted on the mouth. The stake flies straight into the vampire target's heart, or at least where the heart would be if it were a real vampire.

Princess Ariel loads her crossbow, takes aim, and shoots her vampire target. Her stake punctures the target's chest a couple inches left of where the heart would be.

"Congradulations," says Van Helsing, "You now have one pissed off blood sucker after you."

"Well I was close," says Ariel.

"Close only counts in horseshoe games and fireball spells," replies Vanessa.

"Like this?" Asks the sorceress, and she conjures a small ball of fire in the palm of her hand.

"No! Don't!" Says Vanessa, "You'll set off the sprinklers!"

Ariel extinguishes the fireball with a thought, then waves her hand over the quiver of wooden stakes. The stakes glow and rise from the quiver of their own accord. They hover in the air for a moment, then fly off towards the targets striking each one in the heart or bullseye. Princess Ariel turns to Van Helsing with a satisfied smirk and raises an eyebrow.

"Cute," says Vanessa, "but you might not always be able to use your magic. What would you do if your wrists were bound?"

Vanessa picks up another quiver of stakes and tosses it to the sorceress.

"Practice," she tells her.

The four heroes continue working out, practicing their weapon skills, their archery, and their marksmanship. Eventually Ookla comes down and growls at them in his own tongue. Thundarr grabs a towel and begins whiping away his sweat.

"Ookla says dinner is almost ready," he tells the others.

"We'll be right there," Bram tells the mok, "We just need to clean up first."

Bram and Vanessa lead the barbarian and the sorceress to the showers. Van Helsing leads Ariel to the women's showers, and Reverend Stoker takes Thundarr to the men's. In the women's room, Ariel and Vanessa get undressed and head into the showers. Van Helsing turns the water, and Ariel gasps in surprise.

"By the way," says Vanessa with a smirk, "the water's cold."

Van Helsing steps into the icy spray and begins washing. Ariel too washes herself in the icy water.

"So," says Vanessa as they're drying off, "you and Thundarr. Are you two an item?"

"An item?" Says Ariel, "I don't know. We care for each other, sure. But more than that? I mean I find him very attractive. And I think he feels the same. But he's never acted on it."

"So he's available then," says Vanessa.

"You like him," Ariel states more than asks.

"As you say, he is handsome," replies Van Helsing, "And a great warrior. Never before have I been so clearly bested. Not since I was a little girl anyway."

"He likes you too," says Ariel, "Or at least I think he does. He's never been that close to kissing me, and I've been with him for six years now."

"So what should we do?"

"After we've dealt with Dracula and his undead horde, that'll be up to you two," Ariel tells her, "But what ever you two decide, you have my support and my blessing."

Meanwhile over in the men's shower, Thundarr and Bram are toweling off after their own icy shower. Luckily for Thundarr, he was used to washing in mountain streams and waterfalls, so the cold temperature wasn't nearly as big of a shock to him as it was to Ariel.

"So you and Ariel," says Bram, "are you two an item?"

"An item?" Asks Thundarr.

"Romantically involved," clarifies the reverend.

"I've never really thought about it," says Thundarr, "I mean, I care very much for her. And I am very attracted to her. And I think she's very attracted to me. But I don't know if it's love."

"Then she's available," says Bram.

"You like her," says Thundarr, "don't you?"

"As you say, she's very attractive."

"Well," says Thundarr, "if she feels the same about you, you have my blessing to pursue her."

The barbarian and the preacher get dressed and head towards the mess hall. They meet up with the ladies along the way and the four of them walk to the mess hall together. As they enter the mess hall they smell the delicious aroma of Ookla's cooking. They sit down at a table which Ookla had already prepared for them. Moments later the mok walks out of the kitchen carrying a large, heavy, steaming cauldron. Princess Ariel stifles a laugh when she sees her friend and quickly hides it by covering her mouth with her hand. The others turn to see what she found so ammusing and almost burst out laughing as well. Ookla had decided to take his role of chef quite seriously, for he came out of the kitchen wearing a chef's hat and a white cooking apron. Needless to say, they looked rather rediculous on a mok. Ookla sets the massive cauldron down in the middle of the table and stands before them with his chest puffed out with pride, aparently completely oblivious as to how foolish he looks. Ariel sniffs the contents and does her best to make her smile appear to be a compliment towards the pleasing aroma.

"Jerky stew?" She asks, and Ookla nods his head affirmatively. "Delicious!"

"So much though?" Van Helsing asks.

"You've obviously never dined with a mok before," says Thundarr with a laugh.

"If he'd made any less," adds Ariel, "there wouldn't be enough for us humans."

Ookla chuckles his beastial chuckle, then begins ladling out the stew into the bowls of his companions. For his own serving he uses a large copper mixing bowl. He takes off his apron and hat and sits down. Before they begin eating, Bram and Vanessa clasp their hands before themselves and bow their heads. Thundarr picks up his spoon and is about to start stuffing his face when Ariel smacks him on the shoulder. She mimics their hosts in bowing her head, then raises her eyebrows meaningfully at her friends. Thundarr and Ookla follow suit, though by their expressions it's quite obvious that neither of them have any idea what their hosts are doing.

 

[Thundarr]

Chapter Eight

"Dear Lord," says Bram, "We give you thanks for the bounty we are about to receive, for the new friends we share our table with this evening, and ask you for strength, courage, guidance, and protection through these trying and challenging times which are ahead of us. Amen."

"Amen," echoes Vanessa.

"Amen," says Princess Ariel shortly after, followed quickly by Thundarr. Ookla lets out a beastial grunt, which they all take for the mok equivilant of saying 'Amen'. Then the five companions enjoy the jerky stew which Ookla had so generously prepared for them.

"So what's the plan?" Ariel asks after they've finished eating.

"We rest tonight," says Van Helsing, "Tomorrow we prepare for our assault on Caesar's Palace. We'll leave at night, and attack them at dawn when the vampires are their most vulnerable."

"Why didn't you wait for daylight last night?" Thundarr asks.

"We were going to," replies Van Helsing, "We were just there to do some recon. But then you guys jumped the gun and we decided to lend you a helping hand."

"Can you blame us?" Asks Ariel, "We just discovered we were staying in the middle of a nest of vampires!"

"An understandable reaction," agrees the reverend, "and not without its benefits. With your inside knowledge of the casino, we should be able to plan a near fool proof assault."

"When do we begin planning?" Asks Thundarr.

"Not until morning," replies Bram, "We all need a good nights rest to be at our best both mentally and physically."

"I agree," says Vanessa, "Dracula is not one to face halfcocked."

"Which reminds me," says Bram, "I have something for you." He pulls out three silver crosses on thin silver chains and hands one to Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla. "Wear these around your necks at all times. They will protect you from the vampires."

"It's beautiful," says Ariel.

"Who is this little man on the cross?" Asks Thundarr.

"Why, that's Jesus of course," says Bram.

"Jeeee-zuussss?" Says Thundarr.

"Yes," says Bram, "You know. The son of God?"

"I don't think Christianity is the religion of choice amongst barbarians," laughs Ariel.

"You know about Christ?" Asks Vanessa, obviously surprised.

"There was a copy of the Holy Bible in my stepfather's library," she replies, "I've read it. Very interesting. Very quaint. Though I think your God has been somewhat neglegant as of late."

"Never the less," says Van Helsing, "crusifixes and holy water are proven weapons against vampires."

"Thank you," says Ariel, "It is a very thoughtful and practical gesture."

"Doesn't seem to suit me," says the barbarian as he inspects the jewelry.

"The animal tooth is more you," agrees Van Helsing, "but it won't keep the vampires from ripping your throat out."

"And we thank you for the generous gift," says Ariel as she fastens the chain around her neck.

"Aye," agrees Thundarr, "a very generous gift," and he fastens the crusifix around his neck.

Ookla growls his thanks to their new friends, but has trouble working the clasp with his huge clawed hands. Princess Ariel quickly helps him with putting it on, as moks are prone to accidentally breaking human built contraptions while trying to work them.

"I'm glad you all aprove," says Reverend Stoker, "I blessed them myself, personally."

"And we shall take very good care of them," replies Ariel.

"Come," says Vanessa, "we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow and we all need our rest."

The five companions get up from the dining table and follow their hosts to their rooms. Meanwhile, back at Caesar's Palace, Count Dracula sits in his private chamber contimplating the previous night's disaster. Just then, his bride Stepha walks in.

"Master," she says with a respectful curtsey. She has made a fairly dramatic recovery from her encounter with Thundarr's Sunsword.

"Report," commands Dracula.

"All of the humans who weren't quite killed in last night's feeding frenzy have been turned," she says, "The bodies of those who were not so fortunate have been disposed of. And the ones who had escaped have been rounded up under the guise of their being deeply indebted to the casino."

"Good," says Dracula, "See to it that they're sired immediately. Last night was very costly to us by way of manpower."

"As you wish, Master,". Says Stepha, "But I'm afraid we were forced to slay the moks. They were putting up too much of a fight."

"Pity," says The Count, "I would have liked to see them turned. They would have made powerful allies."

"Can moks even be turned?" Dracula's bride asks him.

"To be honest, I don't really know," says The Count, "There were no moks the last time I walked freely among men. But I would have loved to have found out."

"Master?" Stepha asks, "Why didn't we send any troops out after the sorceress and her allies? We could have been at Area 51 by now."

"Because, my dear," he replies, "we never would have made it there before sunrise. And Van Helsing and her allies have had plenty of time to ward the place against vampires. They would have dug themselves in by the time we got there. We would have destroyed ourselves trying to get through their defences. It would have been the most costly seige since Troy. Besides, if this Vanessa and her pet priest are anything like their ancestors, they'll be back very shortly. And we shall be waiting for them."

"Are you certain?"

Dracula smiles at her. "Positive," he says.

The following morning, Van Helsing and Reverend Stoker rise at the crack of dawn and awaken their new friends. They eat a quick and hardy breakfast of eggs, toasted garlic bread, and jerkied meat, and wash it all down with steaming mugs of tea. They then begin preparing for their assault on Caesar's Palace. Thundarr, Ookla, and Bram raid the armory, loading up on wooden stakes, spears, and crossbows. Thundarr takes his Sunsword and cuts many of the spears down to size, until they're the right length to be shot from a mok composite longbow (which is significantly larger and more powerful than a human's composite longbow). Ookla takes these wooden stakes down to the gym to get in a little target practice, as he will need to get use to shooting wooden stakes without any fletchings from his bow. The others load up quivers with wooden stakes, prepare the crossbows, and fill little glass vials with holy water. They each also spend the day drinking several large mugs of holy water, to make their blood poisonous to the vampires. Then after packing some jerkied meat and fresh fruit to eat along the way, along with several flasks of holy water to drink, they ride out at dusk. The broken moon is large and bright in the night sky, illuminating their path for them. They ride through the night, stopping briefly by the same lake where they made camp on their way to Area 51 for a brief rest, as well as to water their mounts and take a quick meal. The five of them continue on their way to Vegas a short time later. They make it to the edge of the city just as the eastern sky is beginning to brighten. They leave their mounts just outside of town and sneak towards Caesar's Palace. One by one they slip from shadow to shadow until they're hiding right across the street from the casino.

"What now?" Asks Thundarr in a whisper.

"We wait," says Van Helsing, just as quietly, "The sun's not yet high enough for a safe assault."

And so they wait. Soon they see two men in Roman Legionaire uniforms relieve the two identically clad vampires who were standing guard. Ookla sniffs the air, then growls.

"What is it?" Ariel asks.

"Those guards," replies Thundarr, "They're the same ones who demanded payment from us at the arena."

"Well then," says the sorceress, "it would be rude not to say hello."

With that Princess Ariel confidently walks out of the shadows and crosses the street towards the two guards. They see her approaching and grip their spears, uncertain of her intentions.

"Hey boys," she says, "Remember me? Still want to try to bed me?"

"Might that we do, girly," replies one of the guards.

"In that case," says Ariel, "nighty night!"

And with that she points her hand at them. Two beams of energy leap from her fingertips and strike the guards, rendering them unconcious. She signals her companions, who move to join her in the growing morning light.

"Now what?" She asks.

"Vampires usually sleep underground," replies Bram, "We should head into the basement as soon as we get in."

"Enough talk!" Thundarr growls, "Time is short!"

They enter the casino with the morning sun at their backs. The gamblers and entertainers all turn to make note of their entrance, but all go back about their business. The five heroes walk through the casino unimpeded. They get to the stairs at the back of the building. They enter the stairwell and start heading down into the sub-basement. Several flights of stairs down the five companions come across a door with four men in Legionaire uniforms and carrying spears standing guard on the landing just outside the door. They see the intruders and two of the guards charge up the stairs, brandishing their spears menacingly, while the other two stay behind as back up. Thundarr leaps over the heads of the first two guards, taking out his Sunsword and igniting the blade in midair, cutting through the other two guards' spears as he lands. The barbarian notices that these guards do not burn in the light of his fiery blade.

"Lords of light!" Thundarr exclaims, "These guards are human!"

"In that case," says Ariel, "Nighty night, boys!" and she blasts them both with her magic, rendering them unconcious.

Once the two guards facing Thundarr have recovered from their shock, they reach for their swords. Thudarr kicks one of them in the wrist as his blade is only halfway out of its scabbard, shattering the bone and sending the guard flying into the wall. The second guard manages to free his weapon from its sheath. But when he tries to stab the barbarian with it, Thundarr cuts off the sword blade with one swipe of his fabulous Sunsword. As the guard looks dumbfounded at his useless sword hilt, Thundarr punches him in the face with enough force to drive him head first into the brick wall. If the punch didn't knock him out, the collision with the wall certainly did. As Thundarr turns around, he sees the other guard being hit by one of Ookla's stun arrows which the mok brought along for any of Dracula's human guards.

"Thanks, old friend!" Thundarr says.

The other four companions join Thundarr on the landing.

"Do you suppose this is the door to the vampires' crypt?" Asks Vanessa.

"What does the sign say?" Thundarr asks, referring to the ancient writing on the door that was being guarded.

"P2, Parkin Entrance," Ariel translates, "This was once a parking garage."

"Gaah-raah-j?" Says Thundarr, pronouncing the unfamiliar word slowly, as is his custom when learning new words.

"In ancient times, a garage was a building where vehicles were kept," explains Ariel, "often under ground for large buildings like this one."

"And being under ground means no sunlight," adds Van Helsing, "The perfect place to house a coven of vampires."

Reverend Stoker carefully opens the door. The metal of the ancient hinges creak so loudly that they all hold their breath for fear of awakening the garage inhabitants. After a moment, which seems to last forever, they notice no sounds from within. Cautiously, they enter. Inside they find several men and women lying in numerous beds, ranging from metal bed frames with soft matresses, to hammocks strung up between concrete pillars, to simple blankets and pillows laid out on the cold concrete floor.

"I thought vampires slept in coffins," says Ariel in a whisper.

"That's what this place is," Bram whispers back, "One great big coffin."

"Then let us make sure they stay burried here, permanently," growls Thundarr and he runs up to the nearest vampire with his Sunsword raised high.

"Thundarr! Wait!" Ariel whispers as loudly as she dares.

"Fool!" Van Helsing hisses.

"That's our Thundarr," says Ariel.

Ookla growls in agreement.

Thundarr stands over a female vampire lying on a sturdy, soft bed with his Sunsword poised to strike. She's an exotic dancer from the casino, lying naked on her bed. When the light of his Sunsword touches her skin, it begins to blister and burn, waking her from her slumber. She let's out an ear piercing scream a split second before Thundarr's strike falls. The barbarian's fiery blade cuts right through her body, turning her to ash, and continues on through the bed itself cutting it in two.

Now all of the vampires are awake and advancing on Thundarr and his friends. A male vampire charges at Thundarr with his fangs bared, only to crumble to ashes after Thundarr lops off the vampire's with his Sunsword. A female vampire in a waitressing uniform leaps at the barbarian and is left in ashes as Thundarr cuts her in half. He hears a cry from behind him and looks over his shoulder. A vampire had tried to sneak up behind him, but was shot in the back by a wooden stake. Thundarr nods his head in thanks to Ookla, who had shot the stake with his bow. Princess Ariel blasts two of the vampires aproaching Thundarr from the front during his momentary distraction, incinerating them.

"Cover him!" Says Ariel, "Don't let the vampires surround Thundarr! Even with his Sunsword he wouldn't stand a chance!"

Ariel, Ookla, Van Helsing, and Bram Stoker XIII begin shooting down any vampire that gets too close to Thundarr. Ariel's spells burn the fiends until all that's left are charred bones. Ookla shoots wooden stakes from his mighty bow, never missing the heart. Vanessa and Bram work together like a well oiled machine, one firing their crossbow while the other reloads theirs and vice versa. Any vampires who aren't hit by the stakes and spells are cut down by Thundarr's Sunsword. Not long after the battle starts, Vanessa, Bram, and Ookla have run out of stakes to shoot, and there are still many Vampires to slay.

"I guess the rest will have to be done the old fashioned way," says Vanessa as she takes out her Filipino Stakes.

"Go back up Thundarr," says Ariel, "I'll cover you with my magic."

Ookla howls in agreement, takes up his war club, and runs to assist his friend with Van Helsing hot on his heels. Ookla sweeps vampires aside with mighty strikes of his war club, often piercing their hearts with the charred wooden spikes set all up and down the shaft. Vanessa strikes down one vampire after another with a brilliant display of her Filipino Stake Fighting technique. Ariel blasts a couple more vampires before she realizes that Bram is still by her side.

"What are you doing?" She asks him, "The others need your help!"

"Something is wrong here," replies the reverend, "We got in here way too easily. And these vampires are only waiters, dancers, and musicians. Where are the guards? The soldiers? The gladiators? All the most dangerous of their coven?"

"You think this is a trap?" Asks Ariel.

"It is a trap, woman!" Says a very familiar voice from behind them, "Now surrender or be destroyed!"

Ariel and Bram turn to see Caesar standing in the doorway, accompanied by Dracula's red haired bride, Michelle, and a host of armoured vampires bearing swords and spears.

"Surrender!" He says again, "Now!"

"Here's our answer, Womac!" Says Ariel, and she blasts Dracula's thrawl with a bolt of magical energy.

Michelle hisses like an angry cat and leaps at them while the vampire horde charges. Ariel erects an energy shield around herself and Bram. Michelle lands on the shield and screams in agony. One of the Legionaires tries to stab Bram with his sword and also screams in pain as his body is wracked with magical energy. The two vampires collapse to the floor, nothing more than charred skeletons. The rest of them run past the sorceress and the minister and head straight for Thundarr, Ookla, and Van Helsing.

"Demon dogs!" Cries Thundarr, "Ookla! Van Helsing! INTO BATTLE!"

The three of them charge the overwhelming number of armoured vampires. Vanessa throws a little glass vial into the face of one vampire. It shatters, showering him with holy water. The vampire screams as his face blisters and his eyes burn from the offending liquid. As she runs past him she stabs him in the back with her stake, piercing his heart. The next vampire tries to impale her on his spear. She knocks the weapon aside with her Filipino stakes and sweeps his legs out from under him. As he rolls over onto his stomach to get back to his feet, she stakes him through the heart from the back.

Ookla and Thundarr are far less graceful in their attacks. Ookla's mok strength punches holes through the heavy sculpted bronze chestplates worn by the Legionaires, piercing their hearts with the wooden spikes of his war club. Thundarr simply cuts through them with his Sunsword. Few can even bring themselves to strike at the barbarian as merely the light of his fiery blade burns their skin like the sun. And even if they can get their weapons or shields up to block his attacks, the Sunsword cuts right through any such meager defences, and the mere tough of his mystic blade turns them to dust.

"We have to help them!" Says Ariel.

"Blast them with your magic!" Replies Bram.

"I can't cast an offensive spell and keep this shield up at the same time!" She says.

"And I can't very well stake any vampires while I'm in here with you!" Says Bram.

"So now what?" She asks.

"Drop the shield," he replies, "If I'm going to die, I'm going to go out fighting!"

"I have no intention of dying," says Ariel, "but I'll gladly fight by your side!"

"Wait a second," says Bram, and he pulls out an extra stake and puts it in Ariel's hand, then kisses her on the lips. "For luck," he says.

Princess Ariel smiles and nods. Then she turns to the vampires with a look of grim determination on her face.

"On the count of three," she says, "One . . ."

"Two . . ." Says Bram.

"Three!"They say in unison, and they charge into the fray the second the sheild comes down. Ariel blasts any vampires she sees with her magic, staking any that come too close, and Bram beats and stakes any vampires that attempt to flank them from behind. The two of them manage to reunite with Thundarr, Ookla, and Vanessa, and then the vampires fall in even greater numbers. Eventually, by the grace of The Lords Of Light, or any gods that may have been watching the battle, Thundarr, Ariel, Ookla, Van Helsing, and the minister are the only ones left standing. All around them are empty Legionaire armour and staked vampires. The five of them are all nearly collapsing from exhaustion. The four humans are all slick with sweat, their faces sprayed with vampire blood. The only one not sweating is Ookla, as moks have no sweat glands. But he's in as bad a shape as his companions.

"Now," says Thundarr, as he coughs up a bunch of vampire dust, "how do we . . . go about finding . . . Dracula?"

Princess Ariel points to Womac's unconcious form, "He'll . . . show us," she says.

"But how . . .do we . . . avoid any more . . . guards?" Bram asks.

"I've got an idea," replies Ariel as she picks up a Legionaire breast plate from a guard Thundarr had decapitated, "What size do you wear?"

 

[Thundarr]

Chapter Nine

Later the five companions are marching up the stairs with Womac leading them as their unwilling guide. Thundarr is right behind Dracula's emmisary, dressed as a Roman Legionaire, and ready to drive his spear into the self professed Caesar's back at the first sign of trouble. He still wears his leather bracers, the Sunsword is currently concealed under Thundarr's borrowed bronze shield. Following Thundarr are Ariel, Ookla, and Van Helsing, and by all appearances they have their wrists heavily bound behind their backs. In truth, while there are ropes wrapped heavily around their wrists, their wrists are each tied seperately. Thus when they walk with their hands behind their backs, crossed at the wrist, at a glance it appears that their wrists are tied together. Bringing up the rear is Reverend Bram Stoker XIII, also dressed as a Roman Legionaire.

"This will never work," Womac says to them, for perhaps the tenth time, "Count Dracula has survived centuries untold. Do you really think he will fall for such a cheap trick?"

"Shut up and keep walking," growls Thundarr, as he prods the vampire's thrawl with his spear.

Behind him, Ookla growls something in the mok tongue.

"Aye, old friend. I know," says Thundarr.

"What did he say?" Asks Ariel.

"He said that Womac has a point," replies Thundarr.

"See?" Says Womac triumphantly, "Even an ignorant mok can see it's useless to fight the great Count Dracula!"

Ookla roars angrily at Womac, prompting a laugh from Thundarr.

"Ware your words, Womac," says the barbarian, "Remember that Ookla is not truly bound. And he doesn't take kindly to being called 'ignorant'."

Ookla gives another threatening growl, causing Womac to blanche. Princess Ariel chuckles at Womac's discomfort, which in turn makes Thundarr smile. Bram Stoker doesn't share their mirth however.

"This isn't going to work," he whispers to Vanessa.

"Why didn't you say so before?" She asks.

"I did say so before," he replies.

"If either of you had any better ideas, you should have said so at the time," says Ariel.

"No," says Vanessa, "This plan's no worse than any other idea we could have come up with. I just have a bad feeling about this."

"Well there's no turning back now," says the sorceress, "And if we don't stop Dracula now, we may never get another chance."

"We know," says the reverend, "we just don't like our chances."

"Our chances weren't that good when we battled the vampire army downstairs," Thundarr points out, "and we were victorious."

"Ah, but you're not facing a vampire army," interjects Womac, "You face Count Dracula, the mightiest of all vampires. And his bride, Stepha, who shares his powers. You will not survive!"

"Keep talking, Womac," says Thundarr, "and it will be you who does not survive!"

Finally Womac leads the five companions to the door to Dracula's chamber. Womac turns to them and folds his arms across his chest with a defiant look upon his face.

"I've brought you here because my lord, Count Dracula, desires it," he says, "But I will not betray my master."

"We never thought you would," says Thundarr.

"However," adds Ariel, "since we can't have you giving us away prematurely . . ." And she casts a spell which puts the emmisary to sleep.

The two women and the mok then put their hands behind their backs, crossing their wrists to make it appear as though they've been tied. Thundarr agrees to let Bram do the talking, as they fear that Thundarr's voice would be too recognizable. They open the chamber doors and walk in. There they find Count Dracula sitting regally on an impressive looking throne, looking as though he ruled the entire world, his brides Stepha and Svetlana casually by his side looking as beautiful as ever, and a small company of his vampire Legionaires. Thundarr and Bram bow to the vampire lord.

"M'Lord," says Bram, ever so humbly and doing an admirable job of keeping the hatred from his voice, "we bring you the women and the mok from the party of your would be slayers."

"What of the barbarian and the priest?" Asks Dracula.

"Killed, M'lord," says Bram, "They left us no choice."

"I see," says Dracula, "and what of my thrawl?"

"Injured in the battle," says the fake Legionaire, "rendered unconcious."

"And the rest of the troops that I had sent with you?"

"Slain," says Bram, "We are all that's left of that group."

"And how big of a fool do you take me for?" Count Dracula shouts as he leaps to his feet, "Do you think I wouldn't be able to hear your hearts beating? Or smell your sweat? You shall all become members of my army! And you, Van Helsing, will become my bride! You and that witch!"

"I resent that!" Ariel shouts as she brings her hands around in front of her, "I'm a sorceress, not a witch!"

Thundarr tosses aside his shield and spear, grabs the Sunsword from its bracer and ignites the blade. He removes his bronze, red plumed helmet as he charges Dracula and his brides. Dracula and Stepha both turn into black mist and float away, while Svetlana leaps away from that frightening Sunsword. Two Legionaires step between her and the barbarian, their swords drawn, their fangs bared, and their eyes glowing red. Thundarr cuts them both down with a single swipe of his Sunsword. The Sunsword cuts right through their bronze armour and turns the vampires wearing them to ash.

"I knew this wasn't going to work," says Bram as he pulls two sets of Filipino stakes from the back of his belt and tosses a pair to Vanessa.

She catches them and quickly dispatches a vampire Legionaire that tries to aprehend her. Another Legionaire attacks Bram, and is quickly slain. Two Legionaires charge at Ookla, their swords drawn. Ookla grabs them both by the wrist and throws them across the room with enough force to put them through the wall. A Legionaire comes at Princess Ariel, and she reduces him to a charred skeleton.

A cloud of black smoke swirls behind Thundarr, solidifying into the form of Count Dracula. He strikes the barbarian from behind, sending him flying into the plush throne that the count had been sitting on earlier. Thundarr tumbles to his feet, Sunsword at the ready, prepared to counter the next attack, but Dracula has once again become insubstancial mist.

A Legionaire charges Ookla with his spear leveled at the mok's heart. Ookla casually grabs the spear by the shaft with one hand, stopping the vampire cold. With his other massive hand, he grabs the vampire by the throat and squeazes with all his mok might. The vampire winces at the pain, but is relatively unworried. He is undead, and a choke hold is little more than an inconvenience to him. With a flick of his wrist, Ookla snaps the shaft of the spear in half and, using his incredible mok strength, drives the jagged end of the broken handle through the vampire's bronze breast plate and into his heart. The vampire's expression quickly goes from one of nonchalance to shock, and from shock to the cold, blank stare of the dead. Another Lergionaire tries to attack Ookla with his sword, but the mok uses the slain vampire as a shield and the gladius blade is driven deep into the dead vampire's back. Ookla quickly tosses the makeshift shield aside, tearing the sword from the vampire's hand. Before the Legionaire can react, Ookla grabs him by the chin with one hand and by the throat with the other. Then with one mighty pull, he seperates the vampire's head from his shoulders. Another vampire Legionaire stops dead in his tracks when he sees this. Ookla stands there holding the previous vampire's head in his hand, looks at the other vampire, then casually tosses the head at his feet. The vampire looks at Ookla, looks down at his gladius, looks back up at Ookla, then charges the less dangerous looking Van Helsing.

Vanessa Van Helsing and Bram Stoker XIII are hard pressed fighting off the vampire Legionaires. They work their Filipino stakes brilliantly, deflecting attacks from swords and spears and countering with well placed blows. The vampire who ran from Ookla thrusts his gladius at Van Helsing's unarmoured breast, hoping to drive his blade through her heart. She quickly bats the sword aside with one Filipino stake, uses the other to pin his jaw shut by stabbing him under the chin, then quickly uses the first stake to hit him in the groin. As the vampire doubles over in pain, Vanessa stabs him in his unarmoured back, piercing his heart and slaying him.

Dracula's vampire bride, Svetlana, tears away her evening gown. Now naked, she is no longer encumbered by the impractical garment. She charges at Vanessa, ready to tear her to pieces. Vanessa, not at all distracted by her opponent's nudity, thrusts one of her Filipino stakes at the vampire's heart. Svetlana blocks the thrust and retaliates with a roundhouse kick, which Vanessa dodges. Vanessa strikes with her stakes, but Svetlana's heightened vampire reflexes and superhuman strength allow her to duck, dodge, and parry Van Helsing's attacks. She counters with punches and kicks, slashing with her fingernails as though they were claws. When she was human, Svetlana often sparred with Vanessa. Vanessa always took her role as the heir to Abraham Van Helsing's legasy very seriously, and as such often won their sparring matches. Even so, no other woman at Area 51 could give Vanessa the challenge that Svetlana did. Now that she's a vampire, Svetlana is determined to change the outcome of this fight to her favour.

Princess Ariel is blasting vampire Legionaires left and right. Her spells leave the vampires as little more than charred skeletons. The vampire, Stepha, materializes right in front of the sorceress. Ariel casts her spell at Dracula's blonde bride, only to have her turn to mist a second before the spell hits and passes harmlessly through, heading straight for Thundarr. The barbarian sees the misfired spell and deflects it with his Sunsword. The spell is so strong it throws Thundarr back into the wall, despite being parried by the Sunsword.

"Thundarr!" Ariel cries out, worried that she had hurt her dearest friend.

She breaths a sigh of relief as the barbarian begins climbing back to his feet. Ookla howls and roars at the vampires, challenging them to attack. The vampires are reluctant to do so, having seen what the mok can do without even having any weapons. Bram and Vanessa are the hardest pressed, as the vampires see them as the least of a threat, especially considering that they cannot make those wooden stakes pierce their bronze chestplates. Only the humans' life long training and conditioning in combating nosferatu is keeping them alive. Princess Ariel is probably the most damaging, incinerating any vampires in sight.

As Ookla is distracted by vampire Legionaires, a black cloud of mist forms behind him, solidifying into the forms of Dracula and Stepha. At the last second, Ariel sees the two master vampires behind her friend.

"Ookla!" She cries in warning.

Too late. The vampires strike the mok from behind simultaniously, sending him flying face first into the wall. Ariel tries to blast them with her magic, but again they have reverted to insubstantial black mist and the magical energy passes right through them.

Van Helsing and Svetlana are still trading blows, neither one getting an advantage over the other. They both take a step back and begin circling each other. Vanessa is breathing heavily, her hair soaked in perspiration and her face dripping with sweat. Svetlana is cool and dry, with only a few minor scratches to even prove she was in a fight. The female vampire smiles at her foe.

"You grow tired," says Svetlana, "and weak. This fight won't last much longer."

"You're right," says Van Helsing, "You're an even sloppier fighter now than you were when you were human. I'm surprised it's taking me this long to stake you."

Svetlana hisses in anger and lunges for Vanessa's throat. She tackles Van Helsing to the floor and moves to bite her jugular vein. But being that close to Vanessa's crusifix hurts the vampire, forcing her to lean back. When she does, Van Helsing takes one of her Filipino stakes in both hands and drives it into Svetlana's heart. She pushes the naked corpse off of her and climbs back to her feet, prepared to take on more challengers.

As Van Helsing was staking Svetlana through the heart, a black mist formed at Reverend Stoker's back, solidifying into the form of Count Dracula. As Vanessa is regaining her feet, Dracula hits Bram from behind, knocking him to the ground. Before she could do anything to prevent it, the Vampire King kicks the reverend in the head, knocking him unconcious. She charges him with her Filipino stakes. Dracula casually grabs both weapons in midstrike, then drives his knee into her gut, doubling her over. He grabs the crusifix from around her neck, and Vanessa's nostrils fill with the smell of burning flesh as the cold silver burns the Count's skin. He snaps the chain and throws the offensive icon away. Then he grabs Van Helsing by the throat and lifts her from the ground. She grabs desperately at his hand, trying to loosen his hold, but his grip is like iron and will not be broken.

At the same instant Dracula grabs Van Helsing, another black mist forms behind Princess Ariel and solidifies into Stepha. Sensing a presense behind her, Ariel whirls around ready to cast a spell. Stepha grabs the sorceress by the throat with one hand, then with the other rips her crusifix from her neck. The much like her lord, she lifts Ariel up into the air by the throat.

"The only reason I don't rip your throat out right now," says the blonde vampire, "is that Count Dracula wishes to make you his bride. But before he does, I want you to witness me sire your beloved Thundarr. He wouldn't even try to make love to me until he thought I was you. And now he's going to be mine. For. Ever!"

Despite being barely able to breathe and quickly losing conciousness, Ariel hears and comprehends every word the vampire spoke. With her last ounce of energy, the sorceress reaches out with her hand towards one of Van Helsing's discarded Filipino stakes. The stake glows a mystical yellow, then rises up, points towards Stepha's back, then flies at her like an arrow. It drives deeply into her back and bursts out her solarplexes. Stepha drops Ariel out of shock and pain, clutches the stake, and then staggers towards the door before collapsing to the floor. Ariel tries to get back to her feet, but she's too weak from the choke hold. All she can do is look on in horror as Dracula holds Vanessa at least a foot up off the floor.

"Do you have any idea how long I've dreamed of gaining my revenge?" asks Dracula. "For over two thousand years I laid in that coffin! Paralyzed! Having to feel my body decaying, yet unable to do anything about it! Couldn't scream! Couldn't move! Couldn't pull that damned stake out of my chest! Now, I will have my ultimate revenge! You, and all those you hold dear, will become my servants of darkness! YOU WILL ALL BECOME THAT WHICH YOU HATE THE MOST! YOU WILL BECOME VAMPIRES!"

Just as Count Dracula opens his mouth wide to bite Van Helsing, the fiery blade of Thundarr's Sunsword bursts out of his chest. He drops Vanessa to the floor and looks down at his chest in absolute horror.

"No!" cries Dracula as his skin bursts into flame. His skin peals away, leaving behind his burning muscles. Then his flesh burns away leaving behind his burning skeleton. Then his skeleton burns away to ashes. All the while, Count Dracula, Dark Lord Of All Vampires, is screaming, "No! No! No! Noooooo!"

His final cries seem to linger, even as his skeleton reduces to ash. Ookla and Ariel are finally getting back to their feet. Van Helsing regains her composure, though she's still suffering from the effects of Dracula's choke hold. The few remaining vampires look at what had just happened to their mighty leaders, then they decide to flee. Ookla picks up the unconcious reverend and slings him over his shoulder.

"Now what?" Thundarr asks.

"Now we make sure he can never rise again," replies Van Helsing, her voice hoarse from the after effects of being choked. She takes out her canteen of holy water. "Gather up his ashes," she says.

"I'll take care of that," says Ariel, her voice just as hoarse. She conjures up a small whirlwind, which goes about the room collecting all of the vampire ashes. It then hovers above the opened canteen and funnels the ashes into the blessed water. Van Helsing screws the cap back on and shakes the canteen vigorously. She then replaces it on her hip.

"Now let's make sure no one falls prey to this place ever again," she says.

"I'll take care of that too," says Ariel. She conjures up a fireball and throws it against the far wall, setting it ablaze. The four of them run out of Dracula's chamber, not noticing that Stepha's hand has begun to move. Once they're out in the hall, Ookla scoops up Womac and tucks him under his arm and starts carrying him as they all run down the stairs. Every floor they come to, Princess Ariel throws a fireball down the hall, then she, Thundarr, and Vanessa start banging on doors, shouting, "Fire! Fire! Everybody out! Run for your lives!"

Finally they get to the main floor, where the casino is located. "Fire!" They shout, "Fire! Everybody out!"

Seconds after they say this, a host of hotel guests and staff come running out the stairwell doors shouting, "Fire! Fire! Run for your lives!"

Now all of the staff and patrons flee the casino. In minutes, the building is empty and the street is filled with people standing by, watching it go up in flames. Thick black smoke billows up into the bright afternoon sky. In a short while, Womac awakens to the smell of burning wood, metal, and concrete. As his eyes clear, he realizes that what he's smelling is his precious Caesar's Palace burning to the ground.

"Nooooo!" He cries, "My casino! My beautiful casino!"

"A place of vice that the people of Vegas are better off without," says Thundarr.

"Are you well enough to ride?" Ariel asks Bram.

"I think so," says the reverend, though he still seems kind of shaky.

"Then let us return to Area: 51," says Thundarr, "and leave Caesar here to his misery."

The five of them mount their horses and ride back to the ancient military compound. When they get there, they take the canteen of consecrated ashes down into the centre of the labrynth. Princess Ariel uses her magic to weld the door shut. Then Thundarr and Ookla help Bram Stoker XIII to reset all of the death traps and discard the groundling remains. The gate to the labrynth is also welded shut by Ariel's magic. Then she uses her powers to undo the damage to the vault door so it could be closed and sealed again.

 

[Thundarr]

​

Epilogue

After spending several days recovering from their battle with Count Dracula and his minions, it was time for Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla to leave. Reverend Stoker and Vanessa Van Helsing helped their friends restock their provisions for the long journey.

"Are you sure you can't stay?" Van Helsing asks Thundarr, "You would be a great help in protecting Dracula's ashes."

"I cannot," replies Thundarr, "Not until all men are free from the wizards' tyranny."

"I shall miss you," she says.

"And I you," the barbarian replies.

"Here," she says, "take these."

She hands Thundarr a pair of books. He looks at them. They are a children's picture book on the monsters of myth and legend, and a graphic novel adaptation of Bram Stoker's famous novel about Count Dracula. He tries to hand them back.

"I can't take these," he protests.

"Please," says Vanessa, "take them. The information in them can help save your life one day. And the writing is simple enough for you to practice your reading with."

"Thank you," says Thundarr, "I shall treasure them always."

Reverend Stoker walks up to Princess Ariel with a couple of thick volumes on vampire lore and hands them to her. "Here are the books I owe you," he says.

"Are you sure you can spare them?" Ariel asks.

"We have plenty of copies," he replies.
"Are you sure you have to go? You could stay here with us. With me."

"It's a tempting offer," she replies, "but Thundarr needs me. Where he goes, I follow. Into the pits of Hell itself if need be."

"He is lucky to have a friend such as you by his side," says Bram.

Ariel looks over at Thundarr, and remembers what Stepha had told her about what she had to do to seduce him. "Yes," she says, "Good friends."

"If you need to find new recruits to help you defend this stronghold," says Thundarr, "I suggest you look in the town of Vegas. There are some good men and women there."

Ookla roars something in his native tongue.

"Yes Ookla," says Thundarr with a laugh, "and moks too."

"And they will need a new purpose in their lives now that their casino has burned down," adds Ariel.

"After seeing Ookla in action, I could think of worse things to be guarding Dracula's ashes than a pride of moks," says Van Helsing.

"To the horses!" Thundarr says to his companions. The three of them climb aboard their mounts. He waves to Vanessa and Bram. "Until next time then," he says. Then Thundarr's white stallion rears up as Thundarr shouts, "Ariel! Ookla! RIIIDE!"

The three of them gallop off into the night. Vanessa and Bram stand there waving at their friends as they disappear into the darkness. Then they turn and go back inside the warehouse where the entrance to the secret bunker was hidden. On top of the ancient ruin of an old warehouse, a white haired wolf watches this all with more than a casual interest. As the three companions ride off, the wolf walks along the rooftop. Its fur begins to retract back into its skin, its form begins to shift, and in a moment Stepha, the blonde haired vampire, is standing in its place wearing another impractical and immodest white silk gown.

"Yes, My Love," she says as she watches the barbarian, the mok, and the sorceress ride off into the distance. "Until next time."

THE END

 

[Thundarr]

Bumped so I don't have to hunt for it.

 

[Thundarr]

Bumped

 

[Thundarr]

Bump!

 

[Thundarr]

Since Halloween is just around the corner, and this story is about vampires, I figured I'd give this story a bump.