- I'm not some weepy little flower. I'm Mary Seward. Queen of Blood. The baddest bitch who ever lived. Being a vampire gave me my powers. But being me made me awesome.
I, Vampire #13 is an issue of the series I, Vampire (Volume 1) with a cover date of December, 2012. It was published on October 24, 2012.
Synopsis for "Debaser"
Two months ago, Andrew Bennett used his significant power to absorb all of the dark energy within vampires into himself, essentially wiping out the race entirely, but for himself. Unfortunately, that act forced him to succumb to the beastliness of that energy, and he became an unstoppable force of evil. He took as his queen Tig Rafelson, who hated him, only to corrupt and destroy her as he had with Mary Seward, long ago. StormWatch tried its best to stop him, but by then, Andrew had too much power. There would be no hope for him.
Since Andrew essentially cured all other vampires of their curse, Mary has become human for the first time in nearly half a millennia. Now, the drive to do evil in her has faded, and all she wants is to be held by the man she loves - Andrew. Obviously, that is not possible at the moment. She and Andrew's friend John Troughton are trying, perhaps futilely, to find any lead on saving Andrew; to get him back.
Mary goes for a walk in Boston, noting the irony of how just six months ago, she had filled the city with vampire warriors ready to die and kill for their cause. Now, those streets are empty, and she is powerless. This fact is made all the clearer when a man attacks her in the street, and she cannot defend herself. Despite her threats against him, she falls unconscious to his fist.
He is angry to discover that Mary doesn't even have a purse of wallet. As he shouts at her, she calmly leans forward and, with her teeth, tears through his lip. She reminds herself that she is not merely human. Though she may not have any supernatural abilities, she is still the same woman. Coldly, she grabs the stunned man by the head, and shoves it against a spike of splintered wood, impaling him. Happy to have regained her confidence, she walks away, ignoring his cries for help.
Mary returns to John, intent on taking action, finally, instead of gingerly making inquiries. John, reluctant to go on yet another road trip, wonders where she expects to go - not to mention where all the blood staining her clothing came from. She explains that they are going to seek out the man who sired Andrew, the Demon's lock is the key to saving him, she thinks. Andrew, John reminds, has no idea who sired him, so Mary suggests that they seek out any five-hundred-year-old man living in England. There is one person, who might know better: Deborah Dancer
In the deep woods of Maine, Deborah Dancer lives in a cabin, away from civilization with her dog Mishkin. The dog becomes agitated, suddenly, and she realizes that someone is at the door. Using a mirror, she peers into the reflection angled through the window to see who might be standing at the door, but sees nobody. However, she is savvy enough to know that if there is a vampire there, they would not have a reflection. A knocking comes at the door, and a voice calls out, claiming to be lost. Deborah responds that she doesn't accept visitors, but, after reaching for her axe, she opens the door.
Andrew Bennett enters her cabin, chastising her for going for the axe first, instead of the stake. She is surprised and happy to see him, but when he asks her if she would mind inviting his friend in, she becomes suspicious.
She swings her axe into Andrew's chest, as he transforms into his beastly form. Contemptuously, Andrew remarks that no matter how she might chop him up, she will not kill him. The rules of vampirism have changed. He had only asked her to invite his companion in as a formality, not a necessity.
Suddenly, Tig bursts through the door, and grabs Deborah up by the neck, begging Andrew to let her kill the woman. Andrew responds that he will not allow it. He had loved her for a long time. He had saved her life when she was a child, and she had joined him as a companion before John came along, and they had fought Mary together and saved the world. When Mary had tried to turn Deborah, the purity within her had caused her to become only a half-vampire. That kind of weirdness is exactly what Andrew has come to remedy, by turning her himself, as part of the new breed of vampires.
Before Andrew can feed on Deborah, Mary and John burst in, armed with swords, axes, and water-guns full of holy water. Naturally, Deborah is confused, but Mary insists that she is the good guy now.
Appearing in "Debaser"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Deborah Dancer (First appearance)
- Prof. John Troughton
- StormWatch (Flashback only)
Antagonists:
- Andrew Bennett (Corrupted)
- Unnamed robber (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
- Mishkin the Dog (First appearance)
- Cain (Mentioned only)
- Dmitri Mishkin (Mentioned only)
- Justice League Dark (Mentioned only)
- John Constantine (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Prime Earth
- United States of America
- Maine
- Deborah Dancer's Cabin (First appearance)
- Massachusetts
- Utah
- High Desert (Flashback only)
- Maine
- United States of America
Items:
Concepts:
- Magic
- Mark of Cain (Unnamed) (Behind the scenes)
Notes
- This story takes place six months after the epilogue of the previous issue.
Trivia
- The title of the issue is a reference to the The Pixies song of the same name.
- Andrew's sire, Cain, is revealed in issue #0.
See Also