An old man of middle 40's woke up with a start at the sounds of screaming from outside his bedroom window. He quickly rushed to his window sill to see what the fuss was about, but when he opened the window, the barren wasteland that was his backyard was as creepingly quiet as ever; nothing seemed out of place. So the man of pale skin and greedy green eyes closed his window back up and went to return to the covers of his bed for the rest of the night.

This man was thought of as a brute and a villain throughout all of Slug Terra. What was wrong with him? Was trying to conquer all of Slug Terra and turn everyone of it's worthless and weak slugs into more ideal little monsters called ghouls really too much for anyone to understand? He was glad that there were some people that actually agreed with him, even if it was only because he was as rich and powerful as he was. They were loyal to him to a fault. He didn't really care. As long as they knew their place, he would show them mercy on his part. And to anyone who dared to get in the way of his goals were sure to perish for it, like a little hero named Eli Shane.

Goodness, was he such a pain! So sweet and innocent and good and kind! Ugh, it made him sick to his stomach. Eli was everything his father, Will Shane, ever was. A goody two-shoes who just loved to pester in the man's plans. Thankfully, the father had already been taken care of, so the man didn't have to worry about a Father-and-son tag team against him. Will Shane was enough a rival as he used to be, but with Eli at his side, the two would be an unstoppable force of good. Again, good thing the father was gone and far out of the man's troubles. If only his son could follow, but his annoying friends, the Shane gang, have protected him like guard hounds. It was sickening! To see a gang so devoted to each other; a gang so at-home with one another; so close that NOTHING could ever hope to come between them! Bleech!

Dr. Blakk was in the middle of his second attempt of sleep when another scream came from outside, this one more blood-curdling!

"CAN NO ONE TAKE CARE OF THAT?!" Dr. Blakk got impatient as he grabbed his blaster and a couple of his ghouls and headed to where the screams were coming from. Along the way, he ran into his apprentice, Twist, and the Hooligang.

The Hooligang had offered to make up for their past failure time-and-again, not ever leaving him alone about it. Dr. Blakk accepted their offer and gave them ghouls. Not because they wouldn't stop bugging him, but because he was running short on men for some reason. Shortly after one battle with the Shane gang, the number of his men began to dwindle, starting from the Western to the Eastern parts of Blakk Industries that were spanned across Slug Terra. It was a small number at first; two to three men each night. Then, the number grew to about 7 men missing per night and ever more. Dr. Blakk didn't know what was going on, but he knew that he didn't like it in the least.

"Dr. Blakk," Billy started his question, "What's going on?"

"We heard screaming from outside our windows," the girl punk named Shorty reported.

"Is there something outside?" the boy named Glasses asked in fear. What a wimp!

All while the Hooligang were so busy trying to find out what was going on, Twist couldn't help but look at his master in sheer worry. He, too, had been hearing of the disappearances in Blakk's army of ghoul-slingers and had tried to find out the cause. Everywhere there was a reported disappearance, Twist and Loki have investigated the scenes where the men had disappeared during the night. So far, whoever took the men made a clean getaway with them. Not a single trace was found in any of the investigations. It was as if whoever did the crime didn't want to be discovered just yet.

But now, the criminal was making his mark. Finally, they were going to find out just who would make all of Blakk's men disappear.

Everyone was just on their way out the door when Diablos Nacho and Maurice soon joined them with disturbing news.

"Almost all of our outside guards are gone, Dr. Blakk," Maurice said aloud, alarming the youngest of the group of seven.

"How many are left?" Blakk asked them, unfazed.

"A little more than 30," Diablos answered him until five more screams were heard off outside, "Make that a little less."

At the sign of the sudden number drop, Blakk couldn't take anymore of this. He simply barged the door wide open as everyone got their blasters out and ready.

The outside became quiet upon the 'BOOM' of the doors as they hit the walls outside. Blakk looked towards every corner as he armed his blaster with his first ghoul. Slowly walking down the steps towards the hard cavern floor, Dr. Blakk surveyed the scene with hawk-like eyes, searching for the intruder who dared attack him in his home. He just KNEW that the perpetrator was out there somewhere.

"WHO ARE YOU?!" Blakk demanded in a high voice, "SHOW YOURSELF!"

Twist looked all around in the shadows for the jerk when he noticed a dark figure coming closer but only enough to keep his body shrouded in darkness. They only thing that Twist and the others could see of the man was the pair of burning-red eyes that struck even the cold-hearted Dr. Blakk in fear.

The weird thing was that the figure didn't look like a man, more like a boy of Twist and the member's of the Hooligang's age. He was too tall to be a molenoid and too small and scrawny to be any cave troll. Another thing about the boy was that there was something sparkling in his mouth: A pair of extra-long canine teeth, almost fangs like a ghoul's.

As Twist shivered a bit from the signs of the fangs, Dr. Blakk continued to interrogate the boy with his blaster armed and ready to shoot with a Grimmstone ghoul.

"WHO ARE YOU?!" Dr. Blakk demanded again, "Why have you come here?"

"What do you think I'm here for, Blakk?" a familiar voice sounded, "To rid Slug Terra of you!"

As the figure revealed himself from the comfort of his shadows, all jaws dropped in shock.

"Eli?!" Twist asked, amazed.

"Shane?!" Billy continued for him, "What are YOU doing here?!"

"What other reason, Billy?" Eli answered him, "I didn't spend the last two weeks making Blakk's men vanish to just stop and NOT take care of the corruption of Slug Terra's good magic at it's source."

Everyone stared at Eli in full disbelief upon his confession. How could Eli Shane make those men disappear without a trace? And why would he EVER do such a thing to begin with.

"YOU?!" Billy shared his amazement, "YOU'VE been making Dr. Blakk's men disappear?!"

"Who did you expect, Billy?" Eli said tauntingly, "The Ice Ogres?!"

As Eli laughed menacingly, the normal villains began to notice more about the boy. He seemed different somehow...darker...scarier...and even colder than Dr. Blakk himself. But that's not the Eli Shane they remember; that's not the hero they grew to despise with all their greedy and hateful souls. No, THIS Eli Shane was beyond different from that noble hero. Almost his exact opposite. For one thing, he didn't have any slugs with him.

"Where's Burpy?" Twist dared to ask, "Where are your slugs?"

"At home, Twist," the boy answered him, "I didn't want them to slow me down."

The slugs? Slow him DOWN?! Who was this guy?! And what in slug's name did he do with the REAL Eli Shane?

"It's just that you take your slugs everywhere with you," Twist continued, "I've never seen you without them before."

"Yeah, well, I realized that Dr. Blakk was right about slugs after all," Eli actually said out loud, "They would only hinder me of my true abilities. It's best if I just leave them for someone else to use."

If the fact that Eli was the one who was making Blakk's men disappear wasn't shocking enough, this confession totally stumped the villains of Blakk Industries. Even Nacho couldn't contain his shock any longer as he let his jaw drop down to the floor underneath his feet. No Shane, especially NOT Eli Shane, would EVER say such a thing about their slugs, nor would they ever agree with their enemies unless it was something both could agree upon. He was saying that his slugs were just mere toys to him now, and meant to be thrown away like such. Twist didn't know if whether to be angry with him now or to remain shocked.

All of a sudden, a soldier in torn clothes and covered in blood came out from behind a corner east of Blakk and colleges. Everyone turned their heads to see the man holding a blaster at Eli shakingly, mumbling repeatedly, "M-M-Monster! MONSTER!"

Eli tsked and shook his head slightly, "Children! Always wanting to leave a mess for the parent to clean up."

The man heard the words and ran to attack the boy.

Blakk pulled out his hand to stop the soldier before he got close to Eli, feeling that something horrible was about to happen.

"Oh well," Eli said, licking his white fangs, "I guess I'll just have to take care of it. I mean what else can I do? Leave the mess just lying around?"

The man stopped at a distance and fired a Grimmstone ghoul at the new Eli. What happened next made everyone SEE what kind of a monster Eli Shane had become.

The Grimmstone aimed to punch the boy in the face, but it was blocked strongly by Eli as he held out his right arm upon embrace. He managed to stop a Grimmstone punch dead-on upon impact and retain the same position as before the ghoul was fired at 100 miles per hour. As soon as the ghoul transformed back it's tiny self, Eli dropped it and let the slug land on its foot. When it was on the ground, the Grimmstone hopped away in haste to get away from the new beast.

At the sign of Eli's new strength, the soldier quickly turned coward and tried to run away. Too bad for him, he wasn't fast enough.

As fast as anything, Eli managed to catch his victim in his hands and bite deep into the man's neck, taking in his juices like a spider with a fly.

From the sight of it, everyone reacted: Shorty screamed and held her hand over her mouth to not sound too loud and attract Eli's attention. Maurice and Glasses took the liberty to vomit over the side of the stairs from the sickening of the scene. The trio of Diabos Nacho, Dr. Blakk, and Twist were just all staring at Eli as he drank the life out of the poor soldier that got too close.

When Eli was done draining the blood from the man's body, he let the body drop to the floor and tried to wipe the blood from his lips, licking up any remaining on his fingers.

"MY GOD!" Dr. Blakk finally said after such a disturbing event.

From the scene of Eli drinking blood, Billy soon became lightheaded and fainted in Twist's arms.

"BILLY!" Twist called him to wake him up to no avail.

Eli just laughed at the pathetic boy as his friends surrounded him. Blakk looked from Billy to Eli as this happened, stooped as he looked upon a brand new Eli that he never thought he'd fear.

When Eli stopped laughing at the villains, he glared his red eyes in their directions, flashed his bloody fangs, and prepped himself to pounce. "Now," he said darkly, "IT'S TIME TO END THIS! FOR SLUG TERRA!"

"ELI!" Everyone froze as they looked towards the direction of the shout; towards the Shane gang, Eli's gang, as they were coming fast from the North.

Eli quickly hid the fangs and red eyes as his beautiful Trixie Sting came into his sights. He smiled innocently as his team approached him.

"Trixie!" Eli called her, "My flower! What are you doing here?"

As Trixie and the Shane gang went to stop and look upon the scene in front of them, their eyes stopped towards the body of a man drained of blood. Shocked of what they saw, they drew their blasters out, armed with their slugs of choice, and aimed roughly at their own leader.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Eli pretended to not know what was going on, "What are you doing?! I'm one of YOU, remember?! Stop being silly and put those blasters down!"

"SAVE IT, YOU!" Kord commanded, "We already know the story! You're NOT Eli!"

The band of villains looked from the Shane gang to Eli in confusional shock as to what was going on.

Trixie slowly approached the Shane with Burpy growling on her shoulder and her blaster at the ready, "Eli-the REAL Eli-told me WHAT you are and what you're going to do. And WE'RE here to stop you!"

Eli looked at them surprisingly, then turned to a little snicker, "So my WEAKLING side told you about little me, did he?! Well, then I guess I'll just have to take care of him when I see him next time."

As Eli bore his white fangs and red eyes at his old friends, the Shane gang backed away slightly to avoid his powerful glance.

As it pained them to look, the Shane gang kept aiming their blasters straight at their leader and best friend. They couldn't believe that this was happening, of all of them, no one would ever expect a Shane like Eli to betray his Shane gang by becoming a monster.

"So, tell me," Eli said to them, "What reason do you have that I shouldn't rid Slug Terra of these people?"

"Eli told me in my dream," Trixie tried to say aloud, but almost couldn't bare to say in front of the vampire for who's skin he wore, "That you were going to feed on more than just Blakk. He said that after you were done with him, you'd just feed on more people..."

The monster laughed at the girl who couldn't get two words out without shaking. "Obviously, he was just lying to you!" the boy monster said to the girl as she grew into a fury from his choice of words.

"ELI WOULD NEVER LIE TO ME!" Trixie shouted in full rage, "He told me to stop you himself!"

Before she could blink, the monster known as Eli wrapped his arms around her body affectionately, holding her like a serpent as he circled to behind her with arms holding her with passion.

"Don't you LIKE me more this way, Trixie?" the monster asked as he held her face in his hand to face him, "I can be MUCH more romantic and loving in ways my old self wasn't. I can hold you in these arms of his forever, not letting ANYONE dare take you away or harm you."

The monster turned the girl around to face him as he finished, "These lips of mine can be so much sweeter on yours...once I make you mine. Isn't that what you want Trixie? Your beloved Eli holding you close and kissing you like you deserve? I can give you all that...and more!"

Not wanting the vampire Eli to hurt his friend, Burpy lit himself in flames and leapt into the air, threatening Eli to stay away from the girl.

Eli backed away from the Infurnus as soon as it had the nerve to attack him. "I would have thought you'd be the least bit grateful for having me fed you and your brothers, you little-" he growled at his ex-buddy, who just growled back at him and then turned to see to Trixie.

Trixie was trying to come with a response to the shock of that experience when Burpy looked at her and her blushing cheeks. Trixie never felt so aroused in all her life. Seeing the charm in his eyes stopped Trixie's train of thought full-throttle, silencing her words in her mind and making her lose sight of everything around her. Feeling the grip of Eli's strong body made her heart flutter in her chest like no other could before. For once in her life, Trixie thought of herself as silent. The beast inside her friend was right; she DID want Eli's heart to be hers. For the longest time, she has been feeling strong emotions for him that she couldn't describe until that moment. She wanted to know the feeling of being in his warm arms, being accepted in his embrace and knowing the sweet taste of his lips. But at the same time of the arousement, Trixie felt disgusted with him. She may have wanted to be in Eli's arms in a loving manner, but this creature was NOT the Eli Shane she wanted to be with. She wanted THAT Eli; the boy in front of her was just a creep in his skin.

Coming back from the shock, she aimed her blaster right between Eli's eyes, leading the others to do the same.

The Shane Vampire to laugh at their fruitless efforts.

The slugs growled within their capsules as did the team that held them.

When the laughing stopped, Eli said to them all, "Fine! If you are willing to betray me and protect these people, then I guess I'll have no other choice but to make my weaker self's words true. I WILL feed upon the people of Slug Terra-upon you, my friends-if it means that I can rid Slug Terra of THAT monster!"

Eli said this as he pointed to Dr. Blakk, just in time for Billy to wake up from his fainting spell.

"Yeah, right!" Kord said to him, "You and what army, Eli?! There's three of us, with an army of slugs, and only one of you!"

Eli smiled grimily at the Cave Troll, "I'm SO glad you asked, Kord."

Eli, then, let out an ear-piercing whistle that sounded throughout the whole cavern, causing everyone to cover their ears-human, Cave Troll, Molenoid, Dark Bain, and slug.

When the whistle was sound and all was silent again, Eli pointed up to the ceiling and around the citadel, "I'd count the numbers again if I were you, Kord."

As they looked on with horror, the Shane gang and Blakk industries crew saw large numbers of former Blakk soldiers now vampires all snaring their fangs at them. The man Eli had bitten and drain of his blood prior to the Shane gang's arrival, even began to stand and show his sharp white teeth at his former boss.

Sooner than the servant of Eli could stand, he was knocked out by Trixie's Rammstone slug. Kord and Pronto fired Stinky and Bludgeon to help keep the vampires at bay on both sides of the Blakk crew.

"RUN!" Trixie ordered.

"Quickly!" Pronto added, "This way!"

Despite all reasons not to do as they were told, the Blakk crew ran towards the Shane gang in hopes of escaping from the Shane and his army of vampires. But before they could all get to safety, Eli seemed to move like mist, seeping speedily through the crew and snatching up one of their own: Glasses.

"GLASSES!" Shorty shouted after him.

Everyone turned to see Eli holding Glasses by the arm in an extra-tight grip to keep him in place as the newest vampire in the army stepped forward.

"I hope you don't mind, Billy, if I barrow one of your gang members," Eli said with a sliver in his voice, "But my newest recruit just woke up and I know he's just bound to be starving for a fresh meal."

"Why not take one of us then?" Maurice asked, pointing to the stronger, much more healthier-looking of the bunch, "Or Dr. Blakk? Didn't you say you wanted him?"

"I'll excuse you for that interesting choice of words for now, Maurice," Dr. Blakk scolded him and then turned back to Eli, "But why DID you not take me? You said so yourself, Shane, you wanted to rid Slug Terra of me."

"True, but I'm saving you for me," Eli said, then gave Glasses over to the new vampire, "I want to be the one who drains you dry of all your blood, Blakk."

As the vampire drank away Glasses's life force, Shorty was left to look away in the comfort of Twist's arms while Billy looked upon the new Shane in rage.

"You'll NEVER get away with this, Eli Shane," Billy shouted out at him.

"Don't call me Eli anymore, Billy," the monster instructed him, "I'm a higher form from that name now. Call me...Drac! And I'm going to be kind to you all and give you a 10 second head start in running away."

"10 seconds?!" Pronto screamed out loud in shock.

As both the Shane gang and the Blakk crew looked upon the monster calling himself "Drac", they noticed his army gathering behind him with a vampirized Glasses joining their ranks. Getting ready to run, the Shane gang quickly hopped onto their mecha beasts with the Blakk crew riding in the back of each: Twist and Maurice riding behind Kord on Wyatt, Shorty and Billy riding behind Pronto on Fernando, and Dr. Blakk riding behind Trixie on Boomer. As Drac began his slow countdown, deep inside of him Eli saw and heard what was going on, and prayed that his friends and enemies could only get away from him and Drac and into safety.

"10...9...8...7," Drac was counting down the seconds as the Shane gang sped away as fast as they could, all the while Drac keeping an eye on the panther mecha and her riders, "6...5...4...3...2...1! GO!"

And with the signal from their master, the vampire army advanced, beating the speed record of those mechas by a minute.

And so the hunt begins, Drac thought to himself as he saw the Shane gang and Blakk crew escape into the shadows with the army following close behind them.