Blade paid attention to every minute detail of his surroundings. It really was a cave, and it were huge. He could hear the bats far above their heads fluttering and flitting back and forth and could even pick up the screeched they used to navigate with. In front of him, his new colleagues continued to look at him blankly through their masks, though he could tell they were very curious about him. Finally, Batman said, "I would like to know a bit more about you, Blade. Where did you come from? How did you get the way you are? Why are you here?" Blade took off his shades and placed them in a pocket inside his long, black trench coat. "My name is Eric Brooks. My mother lived in New York City when she was bitten by a vampire named Decon Frost. While she was dying, she was also in labor with me. Just before she passed away, the doctors did a emergency c-section to save me. Because of this, I was born a vampire/human hybrid with all of their strengths and none of there weaknesses. After over twenty years, I finally caught up with Decon Frost and killed him. Now, I vampires to protect humans and before long they began giving names like Blade and Daywalker and Dampier." He was silent for a few minutes and Batman said, "Yes. I can relate to finding the one who killed my mother. My parents were killed outside of the opera house and I wanted revenge for the longest time before it was taken from me by the mob." Blade nodded and continued where he left off. "I was hunting down a unique vampire named Draconis when I was found my self in the Axis of Worlds - a strange place with lots of fountains. This big guy told me to come here and help you before your vampire problem became worse than mine." Again, silence reined. Finally, Batman said, "So you are a half vampire from another world that has a massive vampire problem yet you came here, through an extra-dimensional portal to help us with ours?" Blade nodded put his shades back on and smiled, showing his fangs. "Yup, that's about the way of it." This caused the other two heroes to let out chuckles of disbelief. Blade pulled out what looked like a syringe system and a blue vial, speaking as he did. "If you want to take a blood sample, be my guest. But after tonight, you know that something is out there that can take you guys and your weapons and brush them off like they aren't jack. I'm offering my help. Take it or leave it." Robin motioned to the syringe. "What's that? You a drug addict?" Blade looked at him. "It's a serum that keeps the vampire thirst at bay so that I don't feed on humans." Nightwing shook his head. "This is a lot to swallow, man. Boss, Robin we should talk about this." The other two nodded and they all began to walk towards what looked like an elevator. Before he entered, Batman said, "Make yourself as comfortable as you can. We won't be to long. By the way, you trust me your real name so let me share mine with you. I'm Bruce Wayne. Thank you for assisting us, Eric." Blade inclined his head and injected himself with the serum.
Up inside the Wayne Mansion study, the three costumed heroes discussed their guest and Bruce's two wards were not very happy. Robin, whose real name was Jason Todd said, "I don't like this, Bruce. We don't know anything about this guy. He seems a little nuts to me and I think those were drugs he was using, not some weird serum." Nightwing, whose real name was Richard 'Dick' Grayson, agreed, "I agree with Jase on this one, Bossman. At the very least we should be more careful. I mean what the heck were you thinking, giving him your real name?" Bruce took off his cowl and scratched his head. "He trusted us with his name. Anyhow, I didn't give him yours. That is up to you. Now I am going to have Fox come over and get samples of both his blood and that serum to make sure what he said was true. But we need to think about this, gentlemen: We just got our butts handed to us by three normal looking guys when we can normally fight through a hundred. We all know that they were not normal humans and we also know that Blade found a way to stop them, even if it was to kill them." They were all silent and Dick said, "The enemy of our enemy is our friend and if what he says is true about vampires, we will need his help. But be careful, Bruce. He even said he suffers from the thirst too and he may turn on us if he really is part vampire." Suddenly, a knock was heard at the study door and Alfred, the aging butler walked in. "Master Bruce I was wondering if our guest will be needing anything. And do you need anything?" Bruce smiled at his oldest friend and caretaker. "Yes prepare supper for us, please. But our guest will be fine for now. Thank you Alfred." The old gentleman smiled and said, "Very good, sir."
Blade had began to look around inside the cave. They arrived in a very unusual vehicle, somewhere between a humvee and a tank, through a waterfall into this cave. As he looked around, he found many interesting things. There was what seemed to be an armory with extra suites, batterangs, gas powered guns and cartridges that fired grappling hooks, explosives of some kind and other interesting equipment were all evident. One thing he noticed though is that, aside from the batterangs and explosives, they weren't armed with any lethal weapons. He continued to look around and found a training area, a whole garage full of other vehicles and a laboratory that made his own at home look like a quickly thrown up field lab. After nearly an hour, Batman and his two companions came back with a black man. Batman said, "Blade, meet Lucius Fox. He is our scientific expert and would like to take samples of both your blood and your serum if that is okay." Blade nodded and took off his heavy coat and body armor and rolled up the sleeves of the red shirt underneath. Fox opened up a medical case and pulled out an empty syringe and needle. He drew the blood and took it and a vial of serum over to the lab center. They waited in silence for some time before Fox pushed away from the desk and said, "Well two things I can tell you for sure. One is that your blood is not normal. The second thing is that the serum is not drugs. It seems to be a retro virus of some sort. May I ask how long you have to go before you take another dose?" Blade shrugged his powerful shoulders and said, "About four or five days at latest though earlier is better." Fox scratched his chin and said, "If you will permit me to take a little more of your blood then perhaps I can make a serum that will last longer if not be permanent." Blade smiled, showing his gleaming white fangs and saying, "Take all you want though I doubt you will do any better. Nothing personal but I have had several brilliant minds tell me that that was as good as I would get." Fox just smiled and said, "I will take it a personal challenge to make a better one then, Blade." He walked over to the station and began to work as Blade put his body armor and coat back on and then turned to his three allies. "So we should start hunting tonight. How does sundown sound to you gentlemen?" The three looked at each other and Bruce said, "Aren't they strongest at night? Wouldn't daylight be best?" Blade shook his head and said, "You won't find them during the day. They will lying low enough that even you won't be able to find them. At night they may be strong andey will be out in force, adding to their numbers and feeding. Not only that…" and at this, Blade smiled real big, "…I need to bring you up to speed on vampire killing. Otherwise you won't last. I also need a certain amount of silver and garlic. I also saw that you have small UV irradiator over their. I'll need that too. When I'm done educating you, I suggest you get sleep while I make some weapons."
The next several hours were spent in acquiring the needed resources. Blade taught them about vampire strengths and weaknesses and how to use one and avoid the other. He told them that killing them was the only way to stop them. That there was no cure and death was the only way to give them their humanity back. When they were done, the three heroes went to get some rest while Blade made silver batterangs and more silver bullets, stakes and glaives. He also made up some bladed knuckles made of silver. After all that, he also went and got a little bit of rest. Even the Daywalker needs his sleep even if it is less than most humans.
The young vampire stole quickly through the dark streets, avoiding the street lights and taking as many back allies as possible in hopes of avoiding contact with the Dark Knight. He had to get to the safe house where the others were. They would be safer in numbers he thought. After what seemed like hours, he found the building and went inside. He expected to hear music and the screams of those who were being fed on. What he did not expect was the silver batterang that thudded into his chest, snuffing him out like dust on the wind. Batman stumped through the piles of ash the covered the floor and picked it back up. Blade held the last vampire by its throat, asking it for the third time, "Who leads you scum? Who is your elder or lord or whatever?" Though the vampire was obviously frightened, it still laughed in the Daywalkers face. "You have no idea who you are dealing with, human. You all think that you can stop HIM. He will tear you apart with his bare hands." He continued to laugh until Blade shoved a stake into his thigh, causing it great pain. Slowly, he asked again, "Who. Is. HE?" The creature spat through gritted fangs, "Who else would it be but Dracula." Silence reigned. Then Blade pulled out the stake and stabbed it through the vampires heart. He turned to his three companions, he face grim underneath the shades he always ware. Robin chuckled. "Did that walking ash heap really just say Dracula. Like 'I'm going to suck your blood' Dracula?" he asked in a passable imitation. Blade scratched his chin, saying "Yes he did, kid. And this is no joking matter. I thought Vlad Dracula was a monster who was contained to my world but apparently he got here before I did. This makes things even more difficult." Batman shot a look at Robin before walking up to Blade. "Well what is the problem? You sound like you've faced him before so beating him won't be that hard, right?" Blade shook his head, saying. "It isn't that simple, Batman. Every time I kill him, he manages to reanimate, either by a vampire who finds him or by some idiot human who thinks that raising the son of Satan is a good idea. The last time he woke up, neither happened, which means that there is some way that he can just reanimate on his own or some unknown evil can do it for him." After he said that, no one else had anything to say. Blade looked at the newest pile of ash and cursed. "Well, now I wish I hadn't killed him yet. I need to find another one. Common lets go." They left the building and continued their hunt for vampires. Blade was used to being able to find them quickly but it ended up taking hours because this universe did not have anywhere near as many. Finally, they found another safe house and busted right on in. It happened fast as Blade, Batman, Robin and Nightwing turned one vampire after another into smoking piles of ash and dust. Within minutes, Blade had another against the wall while Robin and Nightwing pinned another down. Blade placed the tip of his sword against its thigh. "Now you are gonna answer my questions, got it ash heap?" the tried to spit but its mouth was so dry it only made the noise. Blade drove the tip of his sword clean through the creatures leg. It screamed in agony. "Where is Dracula, suckhead?" before the vampire could answer, a laugh came from a balcony above them. Blade recognized the laugh instantly. Pulling out his blade, he decapitated the vampire and went around to where he could get a view of his enemy. "Ah. Daywalker. I never thought I would see you here. Perhaps God does have a sense of humor." Blade bared his fangs and said, "You know nothing of God, monster. Come down and lets get this over with." But Dracula just laughed and said, "Not now, old friend. I will see you again before long and we will settle then. I have work to do first." With that, he stepped away from the balcony railing. Swiftly, Blade leapt the full story and a half onto the balcony and gave chase. He could see the shadowy figure ahead of him, running towards a window. With a laugh, it leapt through the glass and transformed into a great bat-like creature and flew quickly away. Blade snarled in frustration and turned away from the window. Batman and the others were not far behind him. "He got away." said Robin. Nightwing scratched his head and said, "Well what do we do now? I mean we have to start from square one all over again." Blade shook his head, saying "No. His plans have always been and will always be the same: build an empire and subjugate mankind with it, ruling through terror and with an army of vampires like him yet not nearly as powerful. We need to get his attention, show him that while we are here, he is not going to get what he wants." Batman began to pace as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. All four began to brood on the issue. Finally, Robin said, "Well we can just keep hunting them? We wiped out two nightclubs full of them tonight. How many can they possibly be considering they just started appearing and gathering?" Blade replied, "No that won't work either. We would be killing maybe two hundred a night but they are growing faster than that. We need a weapon that they don't think we can get at night to catch them all." he paused for several minutes as he continued to ponder. Finally, he said "We need the sun." Silence. Then Nightwing pointed out what he thought everyone else was thinking, "How are we going to get the sun out here in the middle of the night? Is that even possible?" Before Blade could answer, Batman cut in. "We could use Wayne Enterprise orbital mirror satellites to get a powerful concentrated beam to shine on the city. The only thing is, they would all have to be outside for that."
As they continued to ponder, they left the club. There were still several hours before sunrise so they continued their hunt, killing anywhere from single vampires to large groups they found in safe houses or wondering around. When if became clear that they were not going to find anymore because sunrise was too soon, they returned to the bat cave. When they got in, the three humans exhausted, Blade said to them, "You three make some of the best vampire hunters I've ever met and I know a few. Let me think on this today while I make more bullets and stakes. I'll have an answer before too long." They went to sleep and Blade went back to the workshop to make more bullets. He was surprised to see Fox sitting and looking at the chemicals and writing stuff down in a notebook. "Hello Blade. How goes the hunt? Did you find anything of interest?" Blade walked over and looked over the man's shoulder and said, "Yeah we did. We found out that an old enemy of mine is behind the vampire outbreak. Vlad Dracula of Transylvania actually." Fox froze and said incredulously, "You must be joking. He really exists?" "Uhuh. He sure does and he is here in Gotham City. He has a grand plan and we need to stop him. What are you working on, Mr. Fox?" Fox pulled out a vial with a bit of a smile and said, "This is a new serum I would like you to try. I made a copy of your old serum fairly easily and saw several things that would make it much better. Unless I'm mistaken, this will hold off the thirst for two weeks at least." Blade looked at him with a new respect. "I'll try this out when I shoot up tonight. Thanks, Mr. Fox." The man smiled excitedly, "That's not all Blade. I also found something that you will never believe. I may have found a cure for those who were bitten by vampires. Now hear me out," he said as Blade began to shake his head and chuckle. "I know it's a long shot but I think it may work. To be sure on hundred percent, I need some vampire blood. Can you get some for me?" Blade chuckled, his white fangs gleaming, "Sure Mr. Fox. I'll do what I can." "Thank you." said Fox as Blade went back to his bench to make more bullets and stakes.