Appearing in "The Spider & The Sword"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Avengers (Mentioned)
- Mr. Chin
- Dr. Silas
- Iron Man (Tony Stark) (Mentioned)
Locations:
- New York City
- Martinique hotel
- Empire State University
- Sudan (Mentioned)
Items:
- Spider-Man's Web-Shooters
- Drug "Fang"
- UV pellets
Synopsis for "The Spider & The Sword"
Spider-Man swings across town and hears a man crying for help. As he goes to help the man, Spider-Man discovers that the man is being attacked by vampires. Spider-Man defeats them, allowing the man to escapes. Suddenly, Spider-Man discovers a note with an address. The note is an invitation to the Martinique Hotel, where an event called the Darkside Dance will happen. Spider-Man goes to the hotel and discovers that the Darkside Dance is a vampire fighting ring. Investigating further, Spider-Man finds Blade trapped in the hotel. Spider-Man tries to free him, but he is attacked by vampires and knocked out.
As he awakens, Spider-Man finds that he has been bitten by a vampire and transforms into an a creature called "artificial vampire". Spider-Man is placed on the ring to fight Blade, who has also been transformed into an artificial vampire. The two fight, but Spider-Man manages to free himself from the vampire control and return to normal. He then knocks out Blade and escapes with him.
Spider-Man takes Blade to the Empire State University, where they both enter tanning beds in the ESU gym. The UV light on the beds burn the vampire chemical from their systems, returning them to normal. Spider-Man explains what happened to Blade, and Blade replies that the vampire in charge of the operation is called Negus, a vampire that once defeated Dracula. Negus is using a chemically enhanced version of the vampire hemoglobin to create artificial vampires. Since UV light can cure artificial vampires, Blade creates several UV pellets and puts them on his gun to use them against the vampires.
Spider-Man and Blade attack Negus and his artificial vampires. The pellets work and the artificial vampires are cured. Then, Blade fights Negus, but Negus mantains the upper hand. However, Spider-Man takes the last UV pellet and places it on Negus's mouth, weakening him. Though heavily weakened, Negus manages to escape. Spider-Man and Blade go separate ways, but not before Blade promises to take care of the victims.