- My name is Andrew Bennett. I'm here to kill the woman I love. Again.
I, Vampire #6 is an issue of the series I, Vampire (Volume 1) with a cover date of April, 2012. It was published on February 22, 2012.
Synopsis for "Rise of the Vampires, Prelude: This Charming Man"
In the basement of Gotham City Courthouse, Andrew Bennett marvels at his companions' apparent clear mindedness in being able to judge what is right and what is wrong. He on the other hand is not so sure, as he is there to kill the woman he loves, once again.
The young girl Tig Rafelson is excitedly hacking the horde of vampires approaching them to pieces with an axe, but Batman and Andrew are attempting with some difficulty to preserve the lives of their attackers. Andrew takes Tig aside and explains that this horde is not dead yet; they will all be cured and returned to normal if they kill the vampire who sired them all.
Futilely, Andrew tries to talk Mary, the Queen of Blood into calling off the horde, but the vampires persist, and Batman urges that they must fall back or be overtaken. Instead, Andrew turns his attention to seeking out the sire. He searches through the attacking horde until he finds a young boy. Andrew prepares to kill him, but Batman, whose moral code precludes killing, knocks him aside with a Batarang. This allows the boy to transform into a wolf, and escape.
Andrew gives chase, having sprouted leathery wings in order to fly above the horde. Gripping the wolf, he apologizes to the horde for what it did to them, and slices off its head. The boy's death returns most of the attacking horde to their human selves, and so Batman orders Tig and Prof. Troughton to get them out while he and Andrew take care of the remaining full-bloods.
Andrew transforms into a powerful monster and begins mercilessly killing those who remain. However, Batman demands that there be no more death, wrapping a grapple around Andrew's monstrous arm, and promising that he will put him down if there is any more death, a threat that shocks a vampire unknowingly behind him into deciding not to bite.
Leading the humans away, Prof. Troughton explains to Tig that when the vampire's sire is killed, the curse is lifted, and the vampire becomes human again. Hearing this, Tig gets an idea, and runs back into the Courthouse. Troughton calls after her that killing the sire only works within the first 72 Hours, otherwise they're full-bloods. Unfortunately, Tig does not hear him.
Batman explains that these vampires are merely criminals who deserve justice. This idea makes Mary laugh, and she challenges him to arrest her. Naturally, Batman knows that she can become intangible, and so he wraps her in a magically charged piece of rope, hoping it will subdue her long enough for him to have Zatanna deal with her. Unfortunately, the rope's power has little effect.
Mary tosses Batman aside and turns her attention to Andrew, who himself prepares for a fight to the death. However, before either can attack, Andrew finds the tip of a sword piercing through his heart at the hands of Tig. Mary laughs as Tig explains that having sired Mary, his death will resolve all of this. Unfortunately, she has not understood the nature of vampiric transformation. She kicks his body free of the sword, and then slices his head off.
As he dies, Andrew's last thought is that he was never there to stop Mary. He was there to wipe all vampires off the face of the planet, eradicating the plague that he is at least in part responsible for spreading. All this, and he was too late.
With Andrew dead, some new horror has risen. Cain, the sire of all vampires has been awakened. This has not gone unnoticed by Madame Xanadu and her fledgling team of defenders against the supernatural.
Appearing in "Rise of the Vampires, Prelude: This Charming Man"
Featured Characters:
- Andrew Bennett (Dies)
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Vampires
- Cain (First appearance)
- Mary, Queen of Blood
Other Characters:
- Justice League Dark (Unnamed) (Cameo)
- John Constantine (Cameo)
- Deadman (Cameo)
- Madame Xanadu (Cameo)
- Zatanna (Cameo)
- God (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Prime Earth
- United States of America
- Gotham City
- Gotham City Courthouse
- New York City
- Greenwich Village
- Madame Xanadu Fortunes Tarots (In ruins)
- Greenwich Village
- Gotham City
- United States of America
- Sphere of the Gods (Unnamed)
- Hell (Mentioned only)
Items:
Concepts:
Notes
- This story is the prelude to the Rise of the Vampires storyline.
- It also takes place during the events of Justice League Dark #6.
- The storyline is continued in Justice League Dark #7.