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When Black Superman returned to the warehouse district the next day, he immediately noticed that Blade had actually brought back a vampire.
The guy was strapped to the same workbench where Jasper Barden had once lain unconscious, thrashing nonstop.
Covered in tattoos and unusually lively, the vampire clearly had a foul mouth—so someone had stuffed a filthy sock into it. No idea whose.
"Is he a vampire?" Black Superman asked, just to confirm.
Whistler didn't answer. Instead, he tossed over a metal tray.
On it lay two grotesquely long, sharp fangs—far beyond anything a human could have.
Black Superman pried open the vampire's mouth to check. Sure enough, those teeth had come from this unlucky bastard. The sock inside was soaked with dark, foul-smelling blood, acting like makeshift gauze.
His interference only agitated the vampire further. Fortunately, iron chains and a tensioner held him firmly in place—otherwise he might've already broken free.
Given the strength he displayed despite his not particularly muscular frame, there was no doubt something abnormal about him.
Satisfied, Black Superman kicked the chain tensioner loose.
Both vampire hunters tensed instinctively, ready to react—but held back, curious to see what he would do.
The vampire surged up, thinking he was finally free—
Only to be flipped over effortlessly by the man in black before he could attack anyone.
Black Superman pinned him down with one hand, clenched the other into a fist, and drove a knuckle strike into the back of his neck—right at the cervical spine.
The result was immediate.
The vampire's limbs went limp—completely paralyzed.
Only then did Black Superman calmly re-secure him with chains, tightening them even more than before.
Whistler watched the whole thing, stunned.
"What did you do? Why'd he suddenly behave?"
"Fractured the fourth cervical vertebra. High-level paralysis," Black Superman replied. "Seems vampire anatomy isn't that different from humans. I'm just not sure how fast he can heal—so better keep him restrained."
"You just tapped him once and paralyzed him?!" Whistler exclaimed.
"If Blade hits the right spot, he could do the same," Black Superman said modestly. "I'm just a bit more precise."
"What if he can't recover?" Whistler pressed, almost picking a fight.
"Then I revise my understanding of vampire regeneration downward," Black Superman said casually. "I was actually thinking of testing whether turning him into minced meat would still allow recovery. I've heard some mutants can regenerate from a single cell."
He forgot one thing—
The vampire wasn't unconscious.
He could hear everything.
Unable to move or speak, the poor guy wet himself on the spot.
Black Superman raised an eyebrow.
Interesting.
That suggested some autonomic function was already recovering—meaning partial spinal repair had begun.
"Fascinating," he remarked.
Then he grabbed a syringe and performed a bone marrow extraction from the iliac crest, drawing out thick, dark red marrow.
Another syringe filled with blood followed.
With samples in hand, he moved to the microscope for deeper observation.
"Keep an eye on him," he said. "If he starts regaining movement, let me know. Don't let him escape."
For some reason, both Blade and Whistler felt a flicker of guilt.
Like maybe… dragging this guy here was a bit much.
But the feeling passed quickly.
Vampires weren't human anymore—and in Los Angeles, none of them were clean. Every one of them had blood on their hands.
The reason for extracting bone marrow was to study vampire hematopoiesis.
The result was unexpected.
Vampires hadn't completely lost their ability to produce blood. Their red marrow still functioned—but at an extremely slow rate.
Too slow to replace the dysfunctional red blood cells.
Which explained why they needed to consume blood externally.
This also aligned with what Whistler had said—vampires could reproduce.
Unlike traditional lore where vampires are undead and biologically stagnant, Marvel's vampires still qualified—barely—as living organisms.
Hence, they retained reproductive capability.
They could also see their reflections in mirrors—another deviation from classic myths.
Which implied they still possessed "souls," in a sense.
After basic testing, Black Superman focused on comparing a normal vampire to Blade—the Daywalker.
If vampire bone marrow still produced red blood cells, then Blade's treatment could go beyond restoring existing cells—
It could stimulate the production of new ones.
One possible approach: erythropoietin.
A glycoprotein hormone that stimulates red blood cell production.
If it worked, things would become much simpler.
After all, in the real world, erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESA) were already used—albeit banned in sports for performance enhancement.
Companies like Amgen had been developing this technology since the 1980s.
And for someone who had "visited" their facilities—
The process was already crystal clear.
Since this wasn't for commercial use, Black Superman proceeded without hesitation.
As for the restoration agent, he began refining garlic extract—
Trying to isolate the specific component responsible for reverting Blade's cells.
At first, he even bothered explaining his methods to the two observers.
But as he got into the flow, his movements became faster, more efficient.
He stopped pretending with the microscope entirely.
Whether something worked or not—
He could tell instantly with his own senses.
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