At the Palace, Mon called Bro-Lee into his office for an assignment. As per usual, Mon didn't consult Kara before acting in the Galactic Federation's "best interests." She was also occupied with the baby which empowered Mon to act on her behalf more and more.
"I have a mission for you, Bro. Count Vlad of the planet, Sagit, wants to establish an embassy in Metropolis. I don't really give a fuck about Sagit. It's a mountainous wasteland with poor Gypsies. The reason I'm sending you is to test your competence," Mon said bluntly.
"I'll attend to the count. Thank you for your confidence," Bro said politely.
"This could be a good opportunity for you, Bro. You will leave immediately. Opportunities to gain my favor come only once in a lifetime. Don't fuck it up," Mon ordered.
"Of course, Your Grace," Bro bowed his head.
"Take care of this matter and your future with this firm is assured," Mon said.
"I will give it my full attention," Bro promised.
As Bro left, Mon considered Bro a prospect for his daughter, Mara. He was full-blooded Insane, incredibly powerful when enraged, and a beast of a man. However, he still came off as ignorant, gullible, easily manipulated, and potentially retarded. These were all excellent qualities as a mere bodyguard, not marriage material for Mara. To test her interest, Mon informed Mara of Bro's mission. She made no reply.
As it happened, Bro's mission took a lot longer than expected. During this time, Mara resided in Rome where she increased her royal power over the former Roman Empire states and Latin American nations. Mara had greater competence and passion in governing than her parents and often sought Brainiac 5's advice. On the other hand, her subjects were often disgruntled by the ever-increasing morality rules as Mara continued to tighten her grip.
Kon and Soara also resided in Mara's Palace to pester her. "Why are you always working on your computer when you could be performing unspeakable acts of desperate passion on the floor with the two of us?" Soara asked.
"Really?" Mara frowned annoyed. "You shouldn't talk of incestuous adulterous fornication in my presence."
"I was merely joking. Surely, you've thought about a male at some point. You want to watch some excellent pornography with me?" Soara asked.
"No," Mara refused.
"Lighten up, Mara. Does Bro-Lee measure up? You can tell me," Soara said teasingly.
"He thinks himself too stupid to please me, and he's not wrong," Mara replied.
"Then, there is hope for him yet. Only the wise know what they don't know," Soara smirked.
That night, there was an unauthorized party at Mara's palace. Kon arrived like a boss gaining the attention of everyone. "He's so young and fresh, like a wild Stallion between my legs," Soara remarked to Mara.
"That's positively indecent to describe my brother to me that way," Mara scolded.
"I know what he wants," Soara said knowingly and then walked over to him. "Darling, can I please touch it? It's so big."
"I know, right?" Kon grinned as he handed her a lethal-as-fuck sword blade.
Mara continued to hold a deadpan expression, secretly shocked and appalled at Soara's behavior. Was she always this way or had Kon corrupted her already? It was obvious that the two were conspiring to overthrow her but lacked the political skill to do so. This had put pressure on Mara to marry to balance the scales. Mara saw Soara's corruption as a defect of the aristocracy under her parents' rule. As part of her "visiting the sick" routine, Mara would frequently go to the mental institute in Rome and hang out with the patients. Their minds were so diseased that it would require cybernetics to "fix" them but then they would arguably no longer be themselves or even human. Mara found these patients interesting in her moral philosophy studies. What happens to the soul when the brain is completely diseased? Is the soul merely a prisoner of the diseased mind unable to express itself or is the soul as corrupted as the diseased mind?
Mara went to the coastline where the Coast Guard managed to drag a Hercules-class cargo ship out of the water onto the shore. "Your Grace, the ship has the designation of the USS Demeter. According to the ship's log, it was returning from a supply run to the planet, Sagite. The crew is dead, brutally torn apart. The log indicates it was on autopilot until atmospheric reentry."
"Good work, Commander. Safeguard the scene and bring a forensics team. When they have completed their work, prepare the bodies for autopsies and then burials with full honors," Mara ordered.
"Yes, Your Grace," the Coast Guard commander nodded.
Mara looked back at Rome realizing the Sagite murderer was nearby.
Upon returning late at night, Mara found that Soara was not in her chambers and Kon was not around. Her window was wide open and there was a storm outside. Mara went out to the garden to investigate. Using her X-ray vision, she saw Soara walking about the garden as if she were in a trance. Mara closed the gap between them quickly only to find Soara being attacked by some wolf-like creature. The creature bit into Soara's neck and roared.
Mara quickly raised her hand to blast the creature. The creature turned its attention to Mara sensing the Insane blood in her veins. "No, do not see me," the creature said and then vanished.
Mara's memory of the creature faded. Instead, all she knew was that Soara was injured on a bench in the middle of the garden. "What the fuck?" Soara wondered as she felt her own blood on her neck. "I must have been dreaming."
Mara helped Soara to her feet. "You're shaking," she noted.
"Red eyes, red eyes," Soara said as Mara led her back into the Palace.
Mara didn't take the incident too seriously and went about her daily walks in Rome. Mara mostly ignored the people as she preferred to analyze the architecture and infrastructure of the city for defects. She suddenly felt drawn to a newcomer. He appeared human but out of place with long brown hair, piercing eyes, and a mustache. Mara glanced at him but then went inside a pharmacy to pick up a prescription for Soara. As she exited, she ran right into the stranger dropping her vial.
The stranger caught the vial and gave it back to her. "Humblest apologies, forgive my ignorance. I have recently arrived from abroad and I do not know your world or this city. Is a beautiful lady...," the stranger said awkwardly in a foreign accent.
"Get a street atlas app, good day," Mara said curtly and walked off.
"I have offended you. I am merely looking for the cinema," the stranger said. "I understand it is the wonder of this world's civilization."
Mara turned back to face him. "If you seek culture, you ought to go to a museum," she lectured. "Rome is filled with them. Excuse me." Mara continued her walk of the city toward the Palace when she ran into the stranger again.
"A woman so lovely and intelligent should not be walking the streets of Rome without her gentleman," he said.
"You obviously don't know who I am. I am an Imperial Princess, the firstborn Insane Kryptonian daughter of the Supreme Leader of the Galactic Federation and the Defender of the Faith. I am not to be trifled with, Sir. I am not to be spoken to unless I permit it. Shall I call the police to arrest you for even daring to approach me?" Mara said angrily.
"Princess...I shall bother you no more," the stranger said, bowed his head to her, and walked off.
Mara felt instant guilt. She had half-expected the stranger to be defiant to her so she could subdue him and send him off to the Inquisition. Instead, he politely and respectfully honored her position and wishes. She felt convicted in her heart that she had violated the spirit of charity and royal diplomacy. She was being a bitch for no reason.
"It is...I who have been rude. If you're looking for...," Mara admitted.
"Please, permit me to introduce myself. I am Prince Vlad of Sagite," Vlad said.
"A prince...no-less," Mara said intrigued and also realizing the PR disaster she had almost committed.
"I am...your servant," Vlad said, both confirming his rank and flattering her.
"Mara," Mara said simply.
"I am honored, Mara," Vlad said respectfully and kissed her hand.
"This way," Mara said as she escorted him to the cinema.
Meanwhile, Kon checked up on Soara who seemed recovered from the events of last night. "Do you like it?" she asked referring to a large white dress that resembled a marshmallow man.
"I'm horrified," Kon said honestly. "Did Mara put you up to this?"
"If you hate it so much, take it off me," Soara teased.
"Don't tease," Kon rebuked. "I heard you went all weird last night. What's your deal?"
"I don't know what happened. I'm changing. I can feel it. I can hear everything. I hear the servants at the other end of the house talking shit. I hear mice in the attic stomping around," Soara admitted.
"Yeah, it's super-hearing. We all have that," Kon said dismissively.
"I'm having horrible nightmares, Kon. Red eyes," Soara said worriedly.
"We also all have red eyes," Kon said unconcernedly. Kon then scanned her up and down and saw the puncture marks on her neck. "Well, that's queer." Within a short time, Soara got worse. She was having difficulty breathing, looking paler, and barely able to move or speak. Kon called Brainiac 5 to come by to examine her. For the first time since meeting Soara, Kon felt genuine fear he might lose her.
Mara played the role of a good diplomatic host by watching a movie with Vlad. After the movie was over, Vlad seemed enthralled. "Astounding. There are no limits to science."
"Your expectations are low. It wasn't even 3D," Mara scoffed. "I shouldn't have come here. I have work to do. I must go."
"Do not fear me," Vlad said as he grabbed her close and then walked about with her. Vlad then brought Mara away from the others in a corner and forced her against the wall. Mara felt like she was in a trance and her strength was gone, as if Vlad had put a spell on her.
"Who are you?" Mara demanded.
"I have crossed an ocean of stars to find you," Vlad said, and then his eyes went red, and his incisors lengthened. He was about to bite down on her neck when he stopped himself. At the same time, a wolf got loose and was threatening moviegoers. In the panic, Mara escaped Vlad's grasp but then lost all memory of the attack.
Vlad calmed down the wolf in front of Mara and invited her to pet him. Enticed by the thick white fur of the animal, something within Mara stirred a bit. A sudden sexual excitement she had buried deep down. "There is much we can learn from beasts," Vlad said to her.
That night, Vlad brought Mara back to the palace and kissed her hand. Without saying a word, Mara entered the Palace gates but gave him an odd look as he departed down the street.
At the Vatican, Pope Barney lectured to the cardinals on theological matters. "Blood and diseases of the blood concern us, such as Space-AIDS. The very name, venereal disease comes from Venus and imputes to them a divine origin. Instead of attempting to eradicate pagan references from the English language, we should simply further discredit them by associating them with all that is problematic in human civilization," Pope Barney said and then got a text message from Kon asking for assistance.
"Thank you, cardinals, that will be all," Pope Barney said as he realized it was serious.
Pope Barney arrived at the palace and met with Kon. "Thanks for coming," Kon said appreciatively.
"I always come when the children of my friends in need call me," Pope Barney replied. "So, Kon, tell me everything about your case."
"She's turning into a vampire," Kon said bluntly.
"Yeah, how?" Pope Barney asked.
Soara screamed in her room upstairs. The two entered the room and found Soara squirming in her bed half-naked. "You might want to close the doors," Pope Barney said obviously.
"Right," Kon agreed and closed the glass doors.
Pope Barney accessed the surveillance cameras in the house and the room and found nothing. The glass doors opened on their own and that was it. Pope Barney then analyzed the puncture marks on Soara's neck. "There's no time to lose. We must do a blood transfusion and only you can be a donor to her."
"I'm an Insane Kryptonian. Are you sure the transfusion procedure is perfected?" Kon asked skeptically.
"Perfected? No. If I'm wrong, her red blood cells will explode, and she will die. Lower your power level so I can puncture your veins," Pope Barney ordered.
Kon winced as Pope Barney hooked him up to a portable blood transfusion and started pouring some of his blood into Soara. "I'll give my last drop of blood to her if need be," Kon said seriously.
"I won't need that much," Pope Barney said. In truth, Kon was a higher priority than Soara and if he had to choose between which one to save, the choice would be obvious.
After the procedure, Kon was a bit fucked up. He had a chat with Pope Barney outside. "How could she hold that much blood?" he asked dismayed. "What took it out?"
"A vampire, as you said," Pope Barney said obviously.
"I wasn't serious," Kon scoffed.
"I am," Pope Barney said seriously. "There's nothing else that accounts for it."
"Brilliant, absolutely fucking brilliant, I call bullshit," Kon doubted.
"Kon, you are a Kryptonian. Do not think there are things in the universe you cannot understand, and which are true. This is not a disease we're fighting. Those marks were made by a creature. It stalks us for reasons I have yet to comprehend. To live, it feeds on Soara's precious blood. It is a beast, a monster, a vampire," Pope Barney said definitively.
The next day, an oblivious Mara had another date with Vlad at a restaurant where they had drinks. "Tell me, prince, what of your home?" Mara asked curiously.
"The most beautiful place in all creation," Vlad said vaguely.
"A land beyond a great, vast forest, surrounded by majestic mountains, lush vineyards, and flowers of such frailty and beauty as to be found nowhere else," Mara said as she saw a vision of it.
"You describe my home as if you have seen it firsthand," Vlad noted.
"Your voice, so familiar. It's like a voice in a dream I cannot place, and it comforts me. And what of your princess?" Mara asked.
"Princess?" Vlad questioned.
"There is always a princess," Mara said recalling her Disney films. "With gowns flowing white and her face and the river, a princess with tears of sadness and heartbreak."
"There was a princess. She was the most radiant woman in all the empires of the galaxy. Man's deceit took her from her prince. She leaped to her death in the river you spoke of," Vlad explained.
"That's so sad. Shall we go dancing?" Mara asked. The two danced expertly in the restaurant as if they had known each other for years.
The next day, Mara got a transmission from Sagite. "Your Grace, I am Sister Agatha of the Blessed Sacrament mission on Sagite. Your servant, Bro-Lee, is safe and in our care. He believes your life is in danger but gives no specifics. He will remain with us until he is well enough to travel."
"Very good, Sister. Inform me of his progress," Mara said and then signed off. Mara then met up with Pope Barney on the grounds. "Your Holiness, how is Soara?"
"She's still very weak, but I worry more for you and who you dance with," Pope Barney said knowingly. "There are darknesses in life, my child, and there are lights. You are one of the lights, dear Mara, the light of all light."
Mara simply stared at him realizing that he had been spying on her with the count. She went inside and visited Soara at her bedside. She turned on some classical music on the stereo. "You look different, Mara, positively radiant. You heard from Bro-Lee," Soara sensed.
"Yes...he's fine," Mara said vaguely.
"You should go to him and love him and marry him right then and there and then make love to him and let him impregnate you, and...," Soara said deliriously.
"Excuse you?" Mara frowned.
"Don't worry about me, Mara, I'll be alright," Soara assured her.
"I'm not worried," Mara corrected.
Soara suddenly had a fit as she noticed the garlic in the room. Kon and Pope Barney went over to her to restrain her. "Fucking...garlic!" she shrieked.
"Soara, it's for your own good. If you don't get better, I'm going to have to put you out of your misery like a lame horse," Kon told her.
"You're such a savage," Soara complimented Kon. "Will you kiss me?"
"Sure," Kon shrugged and embraced her. Soara then tried to bite him with her growing teeth. Brainiac 5 got between them and then slowly pulled Soara off of Kon and back into her bed. He then blasted her with sleeping gas from his sleeves.
"The fuck was that?" Kon asked dumbfounded.
"You see, there they are," Brainiac 5 said as he yanked Soara's head back and showed him the new vampiric teeth.
"Holy shit," Kon said amazed.
Mara rudely ghosted Vlad and took a shuttle to Sagite to deal with Bro-Lee. While en route, Mara considered her moral situation. "It's queer, but I feel like that count is still with me. He speaks to me in my thoughts. With him, I felt amused more than I ever had and now without him, I feel...nothing. Perhaps, though I try to be good, I am bad. Perhaps I am a bad inconsistent woman. But even after admitting this, there is no catharsis. My punishment continues to elude me. This confession...has meant nothing," Mara admitted to herself.
Count Vlad became pissed off at being ghosted and created a windstorm of rage in Rome. Pope Barney and Kon met up at the Palace to discuss what they were dealing with. "Guard her well, Kon. Do not fail, tonight. We are dealing with forces beyond comprehension and enormous power," he warned him.
"Please," Kon rolled his eyes.
"If you fail, your precious Soara will become Count Vlad's bitch, a whore of darkness," Pope Barney told him.
"You, sick fuck. Tell me more," Kon asked enthralled.
"Soara is not a random victim attacked by mere accident," Pope Barney reasoned.
"She's the only full-blooded Kryptonian in the city so...no shit," Kon agreed.
"She is a willing recruit, a breathless, wanton follower. I dare say, a devoted disciple. She is Count Vlad's concubine. Do you understand me, Kon?" Pope Barney asked.
"Are you trying to say she's cheating on me?" Kon narrowed his eyes.
"We may still be able to save her precious soul," Pope Barney allowed.
"Well...not on an empty stomach," Kon said as his stomach growled. "I'm starving. I'm going to get a sandwich."
Kon watched over Soara in the bedroom while eating his sandwich. His clones patrolled around the Palace looking around for anything queer. As it happened, Vlad was on the prowl. He killed the gardener instantly and then confronted one of Kon's clones. Kon fired on Vlad with no effect. Vlad in turn swiped at Kon causing the clone to turn to smoke. The original Kon in the bedroom suddenly knew what was happening.
Vlad telekinetically threw Kon across the room knocking him out and entered the bedroom. "Impotent men with foolish superpowers cannot protect you from my spells," he said to Kon. "I condemn you to living death, to eternal hunger for living blood," he said to Soara.
Vlad then turned into a wolf as he shattered the glass window. He got on top of Soara and bit her neck drawing out more blood and then splashed the walls with her blood.
The next morning, Kon was beside himself. Soara was dead, he had failed miserably. Somehow, Vlad had drained him of all his power and knocked him out cold like a bitch. Worst of all was the clean-up job on the walls. Soara's body was now in a glass coffin where she looked positively ghastly with extremely pale skin. It was as if every single drop of blood was gone. The human servants gathered around the coffin in grief as well. Kon eventually went over to Pope Barney.
"Barney, what the fuck am I dealing with?" Kon whispered.
"I know how deeply you loved her. That is why you must trust and believe me. You must join me with postmortem knives," Pope Barney instructed.
"For an autopsy?" Kon questioned.
"No, not exactly. I want to cut off her head and take out her heart," Pope Barney said bluntly.
"God damn," Kon said stunned.
Mara returned a traumatized Bro-Lee back to Rome. He had been imprisoned, seduced, and tortured by the vampiric wives of Count Vlad. He was a bit shaken up by the experience. Like Kon, his awesome powers had been reduced to nothing before Vlad and his wives. Due to modesty or embarrassment, Bro-Lee didn't tell Mara the full story. Instead, he allowed Mara to prattle on about her love interest, a strange alien prince.
"Soara being dead is a sad homecoming, I suppose. But there is a tiny hope that lives within me that I will again see my prince. Is he here? I wonder. I'm beginning to understand the nature of my feelings for my queer prince who is always in my thoughts," Mara said to Bro-Lee who merely stood by her side at all times. "You're a great listener, you know that?" she complimented.
Bro's eyes widened slightly as he saw Vlad again, a younger version of him, in the streets of Rome for a brief moment.
Pope Barney and Kon went by the tomb where Soara's body was placed. In truth, this was only a temporary burial place as bait for the real attacker to reveal himself. Kara and Mon were still unaware of the situation. "Is this really necessary to desecrate her corpse?" Kon complained.
"Yes," Pope Barney insisted. "If she's dead, it won't matter. No harm, no foul."
"If she's dead? What the fuck are you saying?" Kon asked slightly alarmed. "Did we bury her alive?"
"She might be undead," Pope Barney clarified.
"Wicked," Kon said enthralled.
"If you would," Pope Barney said of Kon.
"Right," Kon said and then moved the sarcophagus lid to reveal that it was empty. "Nice," he said pleased. "Where did she go?"
"She lives outside the grace of God a wanderer in the darkness. She is a vampire. These creatures do not die," Pope Barney said.
"Kind of describes me," Kon said impressed with himself.
"My son, we do not fight one beast but legions of them that go on age after age feeding on the blood of the living," Pope Barney warned.
"That's pretty badass. Can I be a vampire?" Kon asked excitedly.
Soara then arrived, still in her marshmallow funeral dress. She had a random human child with her. The child was crying and not having a good time. Pope Barney and Kon went out of sight as Soara brought the child to her sarcophagus. "Soara...the fuck you doing?" Kon asked.
Startled, Soara dropped the child on the ground. "Damn," Kon winced as the child started to cry.
Pope Barney fired off tentacles from his sleeves that wrapped around the child and brought her to him. Soara ignored the child and turned her attention to Kon. "Come to me, Kon. My arms are hungry for you, my darling. Kiss me, caress me, have your way with me, make love to me all night long," she tempted.
"We have Holy Christ and his blood; we are strong in the Lord and the power of his might! The power of God is upon us!" Pope Barney interrupted with his cross in front of her.
Soara screeched and walked back to her sarcophagus where she went back to sleep. "Dude, you're such a cock-blocker," Kon said annoyed.
Pope Barney ignored him and repeated his holy words. Soara then threw up blood all over his vestments. Pope Barney kept his cross on Soara and forced her into a deep sleep in the sarcophagus. "Holy shit, that actually works? God is real and shit?" Kon asked amazed.
"Or it's the Kryptonite I placed in this cross," Pope Barney said dryly.
"God damn," Kon realized and took a few steps back from him. "So, are we really going to cut off her head and take out her heart?" he asked mournfully.
"I suppose this will do until we find a cure," Pope Barney said and then placed a Kryptonite cross necklace on her. The sarcophagus was sealed up and then went underneath the floor.
Pope Barney met with Mara and Bro-Lee at an expensive Italian restaurant. "What is Soara's status?" Mara asked.
"She's sedated, under Kryptonite exposure, and in a secure location," Pope Barney said vaguely. "Now, Bro-Lee, as a Doctor of the Church and your Holy Father, I must ask you a sensitive question. During your time with those demonic women, did you taste of their blood?"
Mara eyed Bro-Lee for his response. "No," he said simply.
"I'm going to test you anyway, just to be sure," Pope Barney told him.
"Yes," Bro-Lee nodded.
"Vampires exist and this one we fight, this one we face, has the strength of twenty or more Insane, and Bro-Lee can testify to that. But he can also control certain animals, rodents, bats, and wolves. He can appear as mist, vapor, and fog, and vanish at will. All of these things, Vlad can do but he is not free. He must rest in the sacred dirt of his homeland to gain his evil power. It is here we must find him and destroy him utterly. As it happens, I can detect Sagite dirt deposits. There is a significant amount of it in this location here," Pope Barney said as he showed them a hologram map of its location.
Pope Barney, Kon, Mara, and Bro-Lee assembled at the spot. "Is it okay if I feel pity for this count?" Mara asked the others.
"No," Bro-Lee shook his head.
"You all can handle this task. I have better things to do," Mara said and walked off.
"As soon as you encounter him, he will drain you of your power. Best to use blades," Pope Barney advised Kon and Bro-Lee.
Kon put his sword and sheath over his shoulder while Bro-Lee took a long knife. Inside a warehouse were boxes of dirt. "Destroy the boxes and sterilize the dirt. Leave him no refuge. Let the exorcism begin," Pope Barney instructed as they went inside.
As it happened, Vlad was not there. Bro and Kon fired on the boxes blasting them open and spraying dirt all over the floor. By the end of it, the dirt was burnt into black melted goo.
At the Palace, in her personal chambers, Mara had gone full-blown traitor. A green mist entered her room and materialized as Vlad. "Oh, yes, you've found me. I have wanted this to happen. I know that now. I want to be like you, always," Mara requested.
"You cannot know what you're saying," Vlad replied softly.
"I do. I want eternal life to convert the nations, to rule the galaxy, to bring every living thing under the Church, my Church," Mara said ambitiously as she embraced Vlad.
"There will be no life in your body," Vlad warned.
"But you live. There is life of a kind within you. I must know your secret. You must tell me," Mara demanded.
"I am nothing, lifeless, soulless," Vlad insisted. "I am dead in every sense. Hear me. I am the monster that all breathing men would kill. They call me the dragon," Vlad said to her.
Mara rose up and punched him as hard as she could to his torso and then gripped his neck. "I will have your knowledge. I want to be what you are, make everyone see as I see, make everyone love what I love."
Vlad reduced her power to nothing and restrained her. "To walk with me, you must die to your breathing life and be reborn to mine."
"Give me this power and together we can rule the galaxy," Mara said to him.
"Then, I give you eternal life," Vlad said as he kissed her and then bit hard into her neck. He then sliced his chest open to allow himself to bleed. "Drink and join me in eternal life," he told her.
Mara sucked on his chest wound and kept going drawing out the life force of Vlad. After a few moments of this Vlad was surprised by Mara's ferocity. She wanted to drink all of him.
Suddenly, Pope Barney, Kon, and Bro-Lee entered the room ready to fight. Vlad turned into a bat-like monster. "You think you can rule over me? I ruled over my world for hundreds of years," he taunted.
"Your people were defeated by my drones. Sagite has fallen," Pope Barney told him. "Your war against us is over. You must pay for your crimes."
"She is now mine," Vlad said of Mara.
Pope Barney pointed his hand at Vlad and fired bullets from his fingertips. Vlad was hit several times and then retreated into the mist. The three then turned to Mara who had blood on her lips. "Unclean...unclean," she said repeatedly, traumatized by what she had done.
Afterward, Pope Barney had a chat with Kon and Bro-Lee. "We have learned much. He fears us. He fears time. For, if not, why is he gone?" Pope Barney considered.
"Sounds like a bitch," Kon agreed.
Pope Barney then chatted with Mara who was recovering. "He speaks to me. I can hear his thoughts," Mara admitted.
"He is strong. He has the power to cheat death among other things," Pope Barney said.
"You seek to know his secret, too," Mara sensed.
"Yeah," Pope Barney confirmed. "But we must stamp him out and destroy him with samples, of course."
"I am becoming like him," Mara sensed.
"Your salvation is his destruction," Pope Barney assured her. "Help me find him. Then, you will be the last of his kind, and we will rule the galaxy forever."
Mara nodded. Vlad was an untrustworthy asset. As a vampire queen and a drone army at her back, she could rule and convert the universe with an endless crusade. The choice between Vlad and Pope Barney was obvious. "He's going home back to Sagite."
Sagite
The Imperial fleet blockaded Sagite and waited for Vlad's arrival to blast him to nothing before he arrived at his castle. On the Imperial flagship, USS Lena, Pope Barney looked after Mara as she continued to change. On the ship, Pope Barney utilized the ship's hospital. He gave Mara constant transfusions of blood from Kon and Bro-Lee and even synthetic blood.
"It's no use," he said to Kon and Bro-Lee.
Kon went up to his sickly sister. "I will not let you go into the unknown alone," he said softly.
"I can hear him. He's coming closer," Mara sensed. "He's calling me to him. I am so cold."
Pope Barney turned to the others. "He has read Mara's mind and used her access codes. He has made it past the blockade to the surface."
"Shit," Kon frowned. "I say we nuke the whole planet. Only way to be sure."
"There are millions of innocent civilians on this world," Pope Barney informed him.
Kon eyed Mara's condition and then the planet. "If we fail to find him, I will not hesitate to save Mara."
"I understand your feelings, son, but killing Vlad may not save her. We may need his corpse for me to examine," Pope Barney told him. "He's likely underground by now hoping to outlast us. He lives in centuries while you live in years. We must draw him out and attack."
The four of them landed on the planet, a cold, desolate, mountainous world. The planet's people were simple, barely industrial, serfs to Vlad's will. Pope Barney formed a hologram map before them. "I will take Mara here where she will act as our decoy. The two of you will clear Vlad's castle and hunt for him there. With a little luck, he will reveal himself."
Kon and Bro-Lee flew off toward the castle while Pope Barney and Mara stayed on the ground. Pope Barney flew Mara over to a remote location and waited. That night, Mara got a little freaky. She screamed, danced erratically, did some head-banging, and basically went metal. Her nails extended, her teeth sharpened, and she got a little hairy underneath her clothes.
"You've been so good to me, Holy Father," Mara said wide-eyed after she was done with her fit. "I know what men desire."
"Oh, really?" Pope Barney said not taking her seriously.
"We should be lovers, you and me. We should rule together for an eternity. Do you think all of your drones could satisfy me?" Mara asked completely delusional.
"I am fully functional," Pope Barney played along.
"Would you put me in a box like poor Soara? You want to put me in a box, you cold-hearted bastard!" Mara said accusingly.
"Me? I wouldn't do that. As you exist, I am sworn to protect you," Pope Barney said with false sincerity.
Mara tensed up and went Super Saiyan surrounding them both in golden flames. She glared at Pope Barney ready to attack. Pope Barney took a communion wafer and placed it on her forehead which burned her skin. Immediately, Mara fell to the ground stunned and depowered. "So, it is true," Mara realized.
"Or the fact that I soaked it with liquid Kryptonite," Pope Barney said dryly.
The three vampiric wives advanced on them. Pope Barney activated a forcefield around them to keep them at bay. That night as Mara slept, Pope Barney kept watch unmoving watching the vampiric wives the entire time as they tested the forcefield relentlessly.
In the day, Pope Barney allowed his liquid metal skin to come off him. The liquid metal became another Brainiac 5 and walked off. He quickly found the nearby lair of the vampiric wives at a decrepit outpost castle. With his bladed arm, he cut off their heads and threw them over the cliff like a boss.
Mara awoke and felt Vlad in her mind. "Mara, you are near," he said to her.
Kon and Bro-Lee were already at the castle clearing all the rooms. As they did, they were ambushed by Sagite defenders, fanatical devotees of their count. Kon and Bro-Lee blasted them all with ease, but the killing spree distracted them from their primary mission of finding Vlad before sunset.
A distance away, Mara was now in full control of her senses. She spoke Vlad's native language to draw him out. Going Super Insane, she chanted in his language repeatedly sending shockwaves of energy around her.
As it became sunset, Kon and Bro-Lee dispatched the last Sagite defenders. As it finally became sunset, Vlad erupted from the ground in an explosion of dirt. He grabbed Bro-Lee by the throat for the kill. Bro-Lee slit his throat with his long knife. Mortally wounded, Vlad threw Bro to the ground. Kon rushed Vlad and sliced through his heart with his sword and out the other side. Vlad then instantly turned to dust.
"Well...shit, that was anti-climactic," Kon said befuddled.
Mara felt Vlad's death in her mind and began to cry. "He's dead. I've lost eternal life. I'm going to die one day. I'll turn to dust," she said sorrowfully. "You denied me eternal life, you bastard," she said angrily to Pope Barney.
"Now, now," Pope Barney said condescendingly. "Remember your faith. If you had eternal life on this plane, do you really believe your mothers, your brother, and everyone you have ever known would perish forever in the dirt? What would be the point of converting the entire galaxy to Christ if you, yourself, didn't have faith."
"I would have power! I would have had control! I would have been the God Empress and they all would have worshiped me forever!" Mara shouted at him.
"This is the reason why I agreed to be your pope. To prevent madmen from becoming God-Emperors and Holy Fathers. So long as I am around, no man can be either," Pope Barney said gently.
"Bless me, Father, for I have sinned," Mara said taking a knee before him.
"I give you my blessing such as it is," Pope Barney said as he placed his hand on her head.
Author's Notes: With Mara, I wanted to have fun with a cold calculating but hot-blooded character that was deeply religious in the Catholic institutional sense in contrast to Kara's more evangelical spirit. This episode might have revealed Mara's true character of using Christianity for the sake of power...or she was just delusionally ill from vampire blood. Either way, just as you think Kon is the bigger threat, I give Mara her shot. Bram Stroker's Dracula (1992) is my favorite vampire movie and one of my favorite movies with awesome performances by everyone except Keanu Reeves who was a doofus.