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Quote1 I hunger, little one -- for your blood! Quote2
Storm, while under Dracula's control

Appearing in "Blood Feud!"

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Synopsis for "Blood Feud!"

Following the end of her relationship with Frank Drake, Rachel van Helsing has relocated to the United States and begun teaching at Bard College. Returning to her home one day, she is shocked to find her old enemy Dracula waiting for her, and he is ready to make her pay final retribution for all the years that she has hunted and hounded him.

Meanwhile, at the X-Mansion, Kitty Pryde is extremely upset over the fact that her parents are getting a divorce. Having hoped that her parents would patch up their relationship, Kitty takes the news terribly and breaks down into tears asking Storm and her fellow X-Men how her parents can do this to her. She storms up into her room and takes out her frustrations on a photograph of her parents before calming down. As she remarks over her temper tantrum, she is unaware that she is being watched. The being in the shadows quickly takes possession of her, although Kitty doesn't know it.

When Storm comes into her room later to see how she is doing, Kitty is caught off guard when Storm suddenly reveals that she has fangs, bites her, and drinks some of her blood. A vampire once more, Storm goes from room to room feeding on her fellow X-Men: Colossus, Wolverine, Cyclops, and Nightcrawler. After her feast, Storm goes to her loft and transforms into a human/bat hybrid, flying off into the sky. She meets up with Dracula, and they embrace.

However, Storm then wakes up in her room. Realizing that it was all a dream, Storm goes and checks on Kitty. Feeling the call of Dracula, Storm changes into her costume and flies off to answer it. She is unaware that Kitty has been feigning sleep and watches her leave. Some force inside her decides that she needs to manipulate the X-Men into going after Dracula. Seeing Colossus in his room, Kitty uses strange hypnotic powers on him despite his protests.

Sometime later and 3,000 miles away, Storm arrives at an old manor house on top of the seaside cliffs of Cornwall, England. There, she is greeted by Rachel van Helsing, whom Dracula has turned into a vampire. When Dracula enters the room, he reveals that he still has control over Storm since tasting her blood in their previous encounter[1] and uses this link to control her. Needing to feed, Dracula leaves, telling her that he has plans for her.

When Dracula returns, he orders her to do a task for him. She agrees with it as long as nobody is harmed and the X-Men are not involved. Dracula agrees to these terms and tells her that he intends for her to collect a book that contains a spell capable of destroying him once and for all.

Dracula and Van Helsing lead Storm to a castle in the town of Pendarrow, where he orders her to enter a nearby castle on holy ground that the undead cannot approach without experiencing intense pain. This is the fortress where Rachel had chosen to hide the book that Dracula wants her to obtain. As Storm searches the castle for the book, she is shot with a crossbow by Kitty. Sweeping Kitty away with a gust of wind, Storm wonders if her young friend has gone mad and attempts to continue forward but is then attacked by Kitty's thrall, Colossus. He knocks her down while Kitty recovers the spellbook, which, she announces, has the Montesi Formula -- a powerful spell that can destroy Dracula, whom she calls her "beloved sire."

Storm realizes that "Kitty" is not herself and attempts to go after her but is forced to jump out a window when armed guards arrive and begin firing at her. Storm is saved and carried off by Dracula, and she passes out from her injuries.

Storm has a nightmare about being in Cairo, Egypt, with her parents when they are attacked in an air-raid. After reliving the tragedy that would render her claustrophobic for her entire life, Storm wakes up to find herself inside a coffin within Dracula's manor house. After checking to make sure she had not turned into a vampire and breaking free from her wooden prison, Storm attacks Dracula in anger for his manipulations. Fed up with Storm, Dracula intends to kill her if not for the timely arrival of Cyclops, Wolverine, and Nightcrawler. As the three X-Men battle Dracula and Van Helsing, Kitty arrives with Colossus, which sends Dracula fleeing to the catacombs far beneath the house.

Kitty and Colossus chase after him with the other X-Men not far behind. However, Wolverine and the others get to Dracula first, and the Vampire Lord manages to bite Wolverine, putting him under his control and sending him after his friends. Kitty and Colossus arrive, and Kitty begins reciting the Montesi Formula, which begins to kill Dracula. Recognizing that the words that Kitty is speaking as being from the Darkhold, Nightcrawler swats the book out of her hand. When she attacks him, Nightcrawler reveals that the words were from the Darkhold and that her soul would have been forfeit if she had completed the enchantment. When Storm reveals that Kitty is possessed, Dracula realizes that his daughter Lilith is the possessing entity and reveals this to the X-Men. With the truth exposed, Lilith changes Kitty's form to match her own and commands the X-Men to slay her father.

Before the X-Men can react, Rachel manages to impale Dracula through the heart with a spear, and using a crucifix, she causes Dracula's body to burn away to a skeleton. When Rachel explains that Dracula could still be resurrected until his head is severed from his body, Wolverine prepares to do this. However, before he can strike, the catacombs begin to cave in on them as the waves from the gale that had been created by Storm's mood strike the shore. As the entire cliff collapses, the X-Men and Rachel are forced to flee, leaving Dracula's skeleton behind with his head still attached, and they barely make it to safety before the manor house falls into the sea.

With the battle over and the sun about to rise, Rachel asks the X-Men to put her out of her misery. Storm volunteers but Wolverine takes the stake, stating that killing is his profession, and performs the mercy killing by impaling her through the heart with a stake while holding her in his arms.

Lilith reveals that she is still in possession of Kitty's body and explains that she had fulfilled her mission to destroy her father, before freeing Kitty from her control. As she departs, Lilith explains to Storm that Dracula's death has also released her from any hold he had over her and that after death she will not rise as a vampire. With Kitty okay, the X-Men try to make sense of their encounter. Later, after finishing things with Rachel's body, Wolverine asks Storm how Kitty is doing, and Storm tells him that she is confused and tired and remembers nothing since her tantrum the previous day.

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