CHAPTER 3
EVIL VAMPIRA

King Draagon entered his throne room feeling frustrated. All his life, he had considered himself to be a real vampire-Casanova, irresistible to any woman who crossed his path. Now, here were two women who threatened to shatter his delusions.
Andy still loved her husband, though deprived of him, and Vampira had rejected him! If not mistaken, Draagon could have sworn she called him ugly!

"How can I get through to her!?" He demanded of Glomus and Apocalypse. "I, King Draagon, the most desirable of all the vampires, rejected by the only vampiress worthy of being considered as my queen!"

"It's not you, sire," Glomus tried to appease his master. For once, however, Draagon was in no mood to be patronized.

"OF COURSE IT'S NOT ME!" He thundered.

"Perhaps, sire, the reason she finds you repulsive is because she is not a real vampire," Apocalypse suggested.

"What are you getting at?"

"Bite her. Turn her into one of your females."

Draagon thought for a minute. Apocalypse was on to something. In order for a vampire to create another, a human had to be bitten. But, that had not been the case with Vampira, she had received her powers in genetic transfer from a bat. Perhaps in biting her, Draagon could make the rebellious bat-girl more accepting of him and his proposal.

"She will not be taken so easily," Glomus predicted. "Shall I prepare the Holding Cell, my lord?"

"Yes, and be quick about it!" Draagon ordered. "Horsemen! Bring my bride, she will soon learn to love me!"

The Holding Cell was a specialized dungeon cell where Draagon brought prisoners he intended to bite. Woe to any man who refused to let his female kinfolk be taken as concubines for the vampire king! And, likewise, alas for any woman who refused Draagon's advances! The victims were brought here and chained. Then, when the mood moved him, Draagon would kill the prisoners by biting them, and drinking their blood; thus removing the threat to his ego.

That was the situation in which Vampira soon found herself. It had taken all four horsemen to drag the brave mutant to the Holding Cell, and chain her. She was trying to struggle free when Draagon and Apocalypse arrived.

"Where is the other one!?" Apocalypse demanded, thinking his horsemen would have brought Andy as well.

"Leave that one, Apocalypse," Draagon spoke up. "With her, I will test my bride's obedience."

"LET GO OF ME!" Vampira screamed.

"Tsk, my dear! That is no way to talk to your future husband!" Draagon scolded, as he moved into position to bite Vampira. He dodged when she kicked at him. He tried again, from a different angle, only to be met by the defensive foot. Apocalypse's power held those feet down, and Draagon moved in once more.

Vampira closed her eyes. In desperation, she sent a psychic s.o.s. to her bat allies.

Out in the camp, the bats were beginning to mill. That was the signal for the posse to mount up and ride. Several bats knocked into Thundarr and Tarl, several more tugged at Banner and Ookla, urging them to hurry. Ariel caught on to the hint, and mounted her mare.

"Thank you, Vampira," she quipped.

"RIDE!" Thundarr sounded his rallying cry.

Suddenly, two, female figures blocked their path. "Going somewhere?" Asked a familiar voice.

Thundarr seized the sun sword. "Who are you?" He demanded. "Show yourselves!"

"You mean you don't know us just by our voices?" Inquired the second. There were horrified gasps all around when the faces of their attackers were revealed. Andy and Vampira!

Vampira's eyes were now a shockingly, evil red, as opposed to the soft, gentle blue they had been. Andy's eyes were also blood-shot, and her skin was blue, just like her friend's. There were sharp fangs in her mouth, and black, bat wings on her back. Vampira, acting under Draagon's mind-control, had bitten Andy-something she had vowed never to do!

"Now what?" Banner muttered. "We can't hurt our friends."

"Suggestion, you could just hold still. I hate fast food," Vampira quipped.

Just then, the bats who had been serving as guide for the posse swooped down and began attacking Andy and Vampira! Even Vampira's stern squeaking couldn't call off the attack.

"What's wrong with you?!" She scolded.

"They know you're not evil," Tarl theorized. He started forward to hold his mutated wife. "Andy, my beloved."

She recoiled with a hiss. "Who are you? I serve my king, Draagon!"

"They don't remember us," Ariel stopped Tarl.

Thundarr released the sun sword's flame. The vampiresses shrank back with a painful shriek as the sword's glow touched them. They fled into the night.

"AFTER THEM!" Thundarr shouted.

The raiders thundered after the fleeing pair. Vampira was about to attack a village when Andy noticed their followers.
"Let's go, Vampira. They've followed us. Those fools followed us this far, but we won't lead them to Draagon."

The two vanished before anyone knew which way to go. Thundarr stopped his horse to catch his breath, and think. "How did Draagon get through to her?" He muttered through clenched teeth.

"It would appear that he bit them," Banner theorized. "According to legend, a vampire needed to bite a human before another vampire could be created."

"Vampira's only a mutant," Tarl continued. "He may have bit her, then used some kind of mind control to get her to bite Andy."
In his own language, Ookla asked if there was any way to reverse the spell, "or destroy a vampire," Thundarr added.

"None were very pretty," answered Ariel, who also knew the legend of the vampire. "One way was to drive a sharpened stake through their hearts; another way was to burn them with fire. Still another was beheading."

"Maybe the cleanest way was exposure to sunlight, which turned them to dust," Banner concluded.

"But, Vampira reverts back to her human form in direct sunlight," Thundarr pointed out. "The change is permanent now," Tarl corrected his friend. "But, maybe, it could reverse the spell."

Vampira and Andy returned to King Draagon after a less-than-successful night's raid. Draagon, however, seemed rather pleased.

"All is well, my lovely. You obeyed by voice, which is all I asked. Now, then, return to your crypt, and sleep. The sun will soon rise."
"Yes, my lord," the mind-numbed Vampira droned. She turned to her waiting, stone crypt. Vampira climbed
in, and pulled the lid shut behind her. Draagon then turned to Andy.

"That man seemed to know you. He wanted to hold you, but you ran away."

"Only the King of Vampires may hold me," the new vampiress explained. Draagon chuckled.

"Innocence, only. About the neck of the one called Tarl is a crystal and gold amulet. It is exquisite, and I desire it for my wedding present."

"Use his familiarity with you to seduce him," Apocalypse instructed. "Then, once he is close enough, you may bite him as well."
With the coming of day, the bats went to roost, so Thundarr's crew made camp for the day. Noontime found Tarl seated on the banks of the river, under a willow tree. He studied his Luck Stone, remembering his relationship with Andy, how they had met, and how they had come to be man and wife.

"What's on your mind?" Asked a friendly voice at his shoulder. Tarl looked up as Banner approached, placing a friendly hand on the young man's shoulder.

"I was just thinking," Tarl answered, as Banner sat next to him under the tree. "My life is a lot like this Luck Stone."

"How's that?"

The Luck Stone had been given to Tarl by his father, when he was a young warrior. When Tarl was captured and enslaved by the Reed People, he had managed to hide the stone in his ear. One of the unwritten rules of slavery was that a slave was forbidden to own anything that rivalled their owners' possessions. To do so was a crime punishable by death. When Andy came to the swamp, Tarl entrusted the gem to her care. Once she restored his freedom, Andy gave the Luck Stone back to Tarl.

The stone had been broken by Queen Sura. Tarl had once served as her bodyguard when she was a princess. She was jealous to learn that Tarl loved Andy, and not her. Despite Tarl's warnings to stay in Los Angeles, Andy came to ransom him from Sura. In the process Andy managed to find Queen Sura's own beloved, and enslaved prince named Alexi.

Andy owned a silken mantle that could render the wearer invisible. She offered it to Tarl, in place of the broken Luck Stone, so that he could have a reminder of his homeland. Her generosity, and love for Tarl combined to magically repair the Luck Stone.

"When I got this stone, it was merely a crystal on a golden wire," Tarl continued. "Now, it has been repaired with gold, and less easy to break. Like this stone, I was broken, when I was a slave, but Andy's love healed me. The stone's not the same as it was when I first got it, nor am I the same man I was before meeting my beloved. She has made me a better stronger man, I will not break as easily."

Thundarr approached from the forest as Tarl was telling his story. The barbarian smiled to himself. Thundarr had seen how in love Andy and Tarl were when he had first met them, and was pleased to see that their love hadn't changed. Thundarr admitted to himself that Tarl was lucky to have won Andy's hand. A love like hers was rare.

"I heard your story, my friend," Thundarr greeted as he approached. He joined the two men in the shade. "How is it the X-Men were not able to keep Vampira from being taken by this vampire king?"

"I may be a part of the problem," Banner answered. "The creature you saw the other night was me."

Thundarr looked surprised. "You are, then, a powerful wizard?"

"A powerful fool is more like it," Banner admitted. "Years ago, I was involved with an experiment on gamma radiation. A young boy happened on the test site. I ordered the testing halted until I went to save him. Little did I know, a jealous coward let the bomb be detonated. I was able to save the boy, but not myself.

As a result, I live with Hulk inside of me. I had been at the X-Mansion for help in controlling the brute. But, even that failed. Professor Xavier chose Vampira to serve as my guide while I'm on the road."

"My Andy's cousin is a friend of his," Tarl picked up the tale. "She said he saved her life, and is trying to convince the world that he's not evil. Through Andy and Trisha, I too am counted among his friends."

"I think Hulk knows who his friends are," Thundarr theorized. "He didn't attack us at the ancient plaza."

"Speaking of not evil," Banner changed the subject. "Tarl, you said that Andy's love fixed the Luck Stone."

"It did."

"Maybe, the Luck Stone's magic is strong enough to break Draagon's spell on Andy," Banner's scientific mind had come up with the idea after hearing Tarl's story.

"It's worth a shot," Tarl agreed with the former scientist's theory. "I love Andy as much as she loves me."

"But, how can you be certain she will attack here again," Thundarr pointed out the obvious.

"There are two ghosts only my Andy can see," Tarl answered. "Flemigus and Caprius. I never tried to contact them myself, but if they can appear to my beloved, then there's hope."

Back at the castle, the new vampiress lay in her stone cold crypt, awaiting nightfall. As Andy slept, her ghostly visitors appeared in her dreams.

Flemigus was Caprius' brother, and the first person with whom Andy had contact after crashing in Tarl's home dimension. She saved Flemigus from robbers, and he gave her the magic mantle as a reward.

Flemigus also brought about the chance encounter between Andy and Tarl by directing the girl to the Reed People's Swamp, where Tarl was enslaved, for help in getting her time machine off the bottom of the lake.
When Andy was a teenager, the pair would often appear to her, only she could see or hear them. But, since her marriage to Tarl, the visits weren't as frequent.

"I don't want to be evil!" Andy's dream-self called to the ghosts. Help me, please!

"Your beloved has the power to heal you, my child," Caprius assured her.

"You must get his Luck Stone," Flemigus added.

"I will," Andy promised them.