As the sun was going down, Blade and Batman explained their plan and how it would work. Through the grapevine, Blade had put out that there was a party in the massive Gotham cemetery near the largest tombs. He said that it was Dracula's resurrection celebration and that the lord of Vampires himself would be there. As soon as they had confirmation that all the vampires in Gotham were there, or at least most of them, Lucius Fox and Alfred would position the satellites and burn them all up. The two younger heroes were silent and Nightwing said, "I think it's a pretty good plan. How much time do we have, Batman?" The Dark Knight looked at a digital clock on his desk and said, "Two hours. With any luck, it will be a quick night and there won't be many unnecessary delays by vampire escapes." Blade nodded and pointed our a few more things. "You have the weapons and training to do this but if we are to defeat Dracula swiftly, I will need all your helps. Any questions or concerns about tonight's mission?" Robin and Nightwing looked at each other before turning to the other two heroes and saying, "No we should be good." Blade grinned nice and big, showing his two perfect white fangs and saying, "Then lets get to it."
It was only a few minutes before midnight as the four heroes watched the proceedings from the roof of the mortuary building. Hundreds of vampires had already arrived and dozens more were trickling in every hour. Batman looked at Blade, "When she we fire her up, Blade? It's getting pretty late and they are beginning to slow down." The Daywalker peered at the mass below and said, "We could do it now. You said that all of Gotham would be covered so even if they are not all here, they will probably all be nearby." Batman switched on a com unit in his cowl and said, "Alfred, you and Lucius are a go." The other three heroes didn't hear the reply but it was obviously an affirmative. It didn't take long before the sky literally lit up as one beam after deafening screams that lasted but a moment. When they stopped, Blade leapt from the building, saying "Lets mop up any survivors before they get the chance to leave." From one to another they went, clearing sheds, tombs and maintenance buildings, killing the few vampires that they found. It took less than an hour and all four met back up at the main building as the satellite mirrors faced away from the city and back to there normal positions. "I think this may have worked, Blade. What do you think?" The tall man scratched his chin and was silent for a few minutes, his eyes hidden by his glasses and his mind wandering. "Blade. You okay?" asked the Dark Knight, tapping him on the shoulder. After a moment, Blade shook his head. "There are more out there. Not nearly as many but at least a few and Dracula is still alive."
Suddenly, a laugh rang out from one of the largest tombs and they whipped around to see what it was. On top of the tomb stood Dracula himself wearing a black suit and out of the tomb came several dozen vampires, all of which were leering at the four heroes. "It would seem that you have slowed my plans down considerably, Dampyre. Tell me, how is it that you came to this world to face me?" Blade and Batman leapt down and approached the lord of vampires upon his perch. "Why don't you tell me how you got here first." A look of wicked amusement crossed Dracula's pale face. "Got here? My dear Eric I did not GET here. I have been here all along." Blade shook his head, snarling "Impossible. How can you be in two places at once?" "Because technically, I am not in two places at once. You see I am not allowed in the Axis of Worlds. If I were to go in there, the unseen watchers would take me straight to Hell and pick my soul up on the way. The problem is, though I am in this world, your world and several others actually, I only have one soul." Blade stared levelly at the evil creature for several minutes before asking "How do you do it?" The vampire Lord leapt down and approached, his hands clasped together behind his back as he explained, "You see, God made every world and maintains them all by His will and His plan for everyone in them. He created the Axis of Worlds so that His angels would be able to get from one to the other on the errands. He also made it accessible for Satan to use and for his demons. Now in each of these worlds, there are a number people who exist in every world but only a very few have the knowledge that they do. I am one of those who do." Dracula began to pace in circles around Blade who was as stiff as a ramrod as he listened. "I made it into that special selection of individuals because of my heritage. You see, it is said the Judas who betrayed Jesus was the first Vampire. Whether this is true or not, I am not sure but I do know that the way he supposedly became one is the same way I did: I let the Devil take control of me as I fought the great wars that I did. The Evil One left me with a thirst for blood and took my soul with him but because he took my soul, he made me immortal and powerful beyond any human. Now this happened in not only your world, but many others. And because of my… kinship with Satan, he tells me what goes on in the other worlds. What do you think of that, my friends?"
The four heroes stood stock still, now surrounded by the vampires and with Dracula right in front of them. Blade was tense as a snake that was coiled to strike. After a moment, he answered "What I think is that it's time to send you back to your box, Vlad Dracula. No matter where you come from or how many worlds you are undead in, I'm going to make you all dead in this one and in mine."
Blade whipped out his sword faster than the eye could see and made a perfect crosscut towards Dracula's neck but the Lord of Vampires was fast as well and ducked, dodging back and taking off as he did. The other vampires moved in, their eyes yellow with wrath and fangs gleaming. Cutting his way through, Blade took off after the fleeing Dracula. Batman said, "Robin, Nightwing, take care of these vampires. Watch each others' backs. I'm going to help Blade." The Dark Knight leapt into a nearby tree and glided after the two figures who ran faster than humanly possible. Trying to foresee where they would be headed, he fell to the ground and sprinted after them, trying his best to keep them in his sight. The Daywalker was on Dracula's heels every step of the way. Long years of training had conditioned him to be faster even than most vampires. As he ran, he drew his pistol with silver hollow points and began to fire at Dracula's back in an attempt to slow him down by making him dodge. It barely effected the evil being though as he laughed and continued running. He began to yell over his shoulder at Blade, "To think - all the times you put me in the ground, all the other vampires you have killed - Decon Frost, Draconis, Soloman Negas, Jarid Nomac - all in your world where vampires are far more prevalent yet you cannot stop a vampire apocalypse here where is in only in its infancy. You are weak and out of your reckoning here, Dampyre." Suddenly, he leapt over the cemetery fence and ran towards an old building that was once one of Gotham's court houses. Blade was right behind him and Batman, who made a wild guess that that may have been where Dracula was heading. Seeing he was right, he used his grappling hook to make a speedy ascent one of the middle floors and waited in the shadows.
Dracula sped up the stairs of the old court house with Blade on his heels. After a long chase, they entered a large room, inside of which was a crypt and on its shut lid lay a sword. Dracula grabbed the weapon and turned just in time to block his opponent's blow. A dozen more followed which the Vampire Lord blocked with relative ease. They broke off, neither breathing very hard. "A Damascus blade. Very nice, Drac. Is that weapon as old as you are?" asked Blade as they began to circle each other. The count smiled. "Yes it is. It was made for me by a master smith out of meteor iron which he had gone through a very long process to make into fine steel. Do you like it, Day Walker?" Blade himself smiled back and said, "Why yes I do. I think ill take it with me when I leave you lying dead in this courthouse." They engaged again, slashing, chopping, blocking and parrying blows strong enough to break any normal steel. But like the count's weapon, Blade's Katana was made of Meteor steel as well and edged with silver. As they dueled, neither noticed a silent, dark shape enter the room. Batman watched as he gauged the two combatants. He knew that one wrong move could wind up killing Blade and leaving him alone with Dracula. Looking around, he noticed that the room had many weapons in it: swords and axes, daggers and crossbows. It was as if this place was set up as a personal armory dedicated to Dracula. Moving swiftly and silently as death, Batman picked up a long fencing saber. It was well made by a master sword smith. Batman unsheathed the blade with barely a whisper of steel on leather and immediately, all the old lessons of sword play that he had undergone before taking up his cowl came back to him. With an elegant and direct thrust, he moved in to impale the Lord of Vampires through his cold, dead heart. Some sixth sense warned the Vampire count just in time for him to dodge to the side. For less than an instant, surprise showed in Dracula's maroon eyes but soon it was replaced with a mixture of dark delight and harsh scorn for his two opponents. The two hunters circled their evil pray in order to try and engage him on both sides. As they did, the Dark Knight contacted his two young wards. "Robin, Nightwing how're you doing?" The breathless voice of Nightwing came back over the comms, "We killed most of them, Batman. We are using temperature gauges in our masks to track the rest down. How are you two?" Batman replied as he and Blade moved in. "I'll tell you in a minute." The clashes of steel upon steel rang throughout the entire building. Batman could not compete with the vampire's strength so he had to parry and redirect as oppose to block his enemy. The three combatants circled one another as they fought. Blade and Dracula moved so fast they Batman barely kept up, narrowly missing losing his head to the long curved blade of the count. With a sudden kick, the Lord of Vampires sent the caped crusader rolling across the floor. He leapt up and hesitated to reengage. His breath came in ragged gasps and his cape and suit had several shallow cuts where he narrowly missed being killed. He had to thing fast for a way to help in a way that would actually be effective for Blade. Looking around, all he saw were more and more weapons. And then he saw the crypt. He ran to it and opened the lid and looked inside. Linen lined the inside and a velvet cushion lay at the top for Dracula's head. His mind began to race as he formed a desperate plan. Drawing his grappling gun, he propelled himself to the shadows, dropping several smoke pellets as he did. Swing up above the haze, he heard the ringing stop and several curses floated up to him. Switching his cowl to inferred mode, Batman could see them. Blade was a stark white against the grays and blacks but Dracula was only just visible enough. Quickly but with no more sound than a bat leaving it's roost, the Dark Knight swung towards the count, whose back was turned. Expecting the same sixth sense to warn Dracula a second time, he was able to use his blade to parry the powerful swing as both his boots connected solidly with the Lord of Vampires, knocking him into his crypt. Suddenly, three stakes came out of the smoke. Two missed by fractions of an inch but the third pinned the count to the crypt by his right shoulder; his sword arm shoulder. The long fencing saber followed as Batman tried to pierce his heart with it but the count moved just enough to take it through the other shoulder and he kicked him away. Blade came in with a thrust, but was deflected as Dracula was able to flip the Damascus sword up and Blade too was kicked away. Just as Dracula was nearly free, three silver batterangs thudded into his body. Stunned he looked up as the smoke cleared. In front of him stood his four enemies now, all together against him. Silently, he accepted his fate and stood still as Batman threw one final silver edged batterang. With a thud, it struck the count's already dead heart. Blade moved in and cut his head from his shoulders. Silence reined as the it toppled to the floor. Pulling free both the stake and the sword, Blade cleaned them and handed the sword to Batman, saying "Keep it. You may need it in the future."
He himself took the Damascus blade and sheathed it. He then took the head of his mortal enemy and wrapped in in a rag before setting it upside down where it had been attached a moment before. That done, he shut and locked the crypt with chains and the four of them took it out of the courthouse and carried it to the peer. With yet more chains, they connected heavy weights to the casket and dropped it in the river where it sank to the bottom in the blink of an eye.
Back at the Batcave, Blade shook hands with his three friends, feeling an affection he felt for few other people. "Thank you for your help, Eric Brooks. It was a pleasure to meet you." said Batman. Blade smiled warmly and said, "The pleasures all mine, Bruce, Robin and Nightwing." The two younger heroes removed their masks and shook hands with the tall dark man. "Call me Dick. Richard Grayson is my name." said Nightwing. "Jason is mine. Jason Todd. It was a real pleasure, Eric."
Suddenly, a bright light blinded them all and Blade was gone, leaving the three of them looking at the spot where he had been standing just a moment before. Blade stood at the edge of the sparkling fountain, looking at the keeper of the Axis of Worlds. "You did well, Blade. Because of you, it will be years before they ever have to face a vampire uprising like the one your world is facing now. Now you can return to your world and continue your work." Blade nodded and looked at the fountain that lead to Gotham city and its world. With a sigh, he squared his shoulders and turned back towards his own world. Just before entering the fountain, he stopped and turned, saying "What was I doing back there again?" The Keeper smiled and said, "I believe you were hunting Draconis the Vampire Priest." Blade nodded. "Right. Now I remember." and he stepped through the fountain. Instantly, he found himself back in the nightclub, surrounded by snarling, glaring vampires. Though he knew he had already asked the question, he called out to the masses, "Where is Draconis the priest?"