A frightened man is running away from something inside a dark castle. We sees several mutilated and impaled bodies decorating the place and the outside, as he sees from the platform trying to find a way to escape. Suddenly, a woman with very sharp fangs pounces on him and we hear a scream.
Cut back to Greece and Hercules is teaching a couple of kids a new game he invented which might as well be basketball. He demonstrates its usefulness by stopping a thief from mugging some random passerby by throwing the ball on his head with such force he gets knocked out. Herc and Iolaus are then approached by a man delivering a message from Prince Vlad of Dacia, an old war buddy to Hercules and Iolaus and veteran from the Battle of Antioch. Apparently, Dacia has been plagued by undead monsters known as strigoya aka vampires. They take a ship north to Dacia, a very cold and desolate land and are greeted by a crossbow shot in their direction. The attacker is Galen, a vampire hunter who is suspicious of the duo until finding out their true identity and he warms up considerably to them. He reveals that he is searching for his sister Nadia, who hasn't been heard from since the strigoi started propping up and she was probably among the townsfolk that sought refuge in Vlad's castle. Hercules, Iolaus, Galen and his companion decide to go to Vlad's castle in search of answers, much to the displeasure of Vlad's emissary Mateus. The group walk their way to the palace and find a grisly scene: the entrance to Vlad's castle is littered with the impaled corpses of several people much to the heroes' disgust. They decide to make camp at night in this place precisely because no one would search for them there. Galen's companion is left as watcher while the others sleep and as he patrols the area, he finds an corpse with a very glowing and valuable medallion which he proceeds to steal. The corpse wakes up revealing itself to be a vampire and attacks him. The others are awakened by his scream and find him being fed on by the vampire. Galen quickly kills him with a crossbow bolt, but his companion immediately reanimates as a vampire and attacks him. Hercules is able to dispatch him by stabbing him with a bolt.
The survivors knock at Vlad's doorstep and are greeted by the man himself. Despite a long pause, the silence is broken when Vlad warmly welcomes Hercules and Iolaus to their home like they were old friends. As they are invited for dinner, Galen demands to know where is his sister, but Vlad assures him that they will find her soon enough. In a private conversation between the two, Hercules asks what happened to the corpses outside his castle and he explains that shortly after they returned from Antioch, Vlad's father changed somehow and tried to murder him forcing him to kill him in self-defense. Upon hearing this, their Turkish rivals attempted to invade the land seeing it was in complete disarray, but he was able to fend them off and scare them away by raising a forest of impaled corpses to keep them away. Vlad explains his actions were necessary to preserve his kingdom. He tells Hercules that after all that had happened, he still misses his father and still sees him in the mirror whenever he looks at himself... Only for the camera to pan out and reveal Vlad has no reflection and he is a vampire.
Hercules checks on Iolaus and tells him that something is really off about Vlad, and that they should find where the refugees are and get the hell out of there. They slip out of their quarters alongside Galen and find a secret passage that leads to a chamber keeping all the townsfolk trapped under the castle. Turns out they have been farmed of their blood and figure out Vlad is a vampire too. Hercules goes to confront him, but Galen hands him over a hemlock vial to kill himself in case he gets bitten, much to Hercules' bafflement. In the next scene we are introduced to Galen's sister Nadia, who is a vampire bride to Vlad. She asks if its possible to spare Galen from being turned, but he convinces her to welcome him into their family and that she should be the one to do it. Their private moment is interrupted by a very angry Hercules demanding answers. Vlad reveals that his father became a vampire during his absence and he turned Vlad into one too. He became horrified with his new condition and sent an emissary asking to kill him and put him out of his misery. However, after sending the message, he changed his mind while waiting for Hercules' arrival he realize he has finally the power to defend his people by turning them into vampires, and that they would use a few select to serve as blood farms. Hercules tries to attack him, but Vlad teleports away.
Meanwhile, as they check on the survivors, Nadia appears before Galen and reveals her new condition to him. He tries to find the necessary strength to kill her, but he is unable to do it and tries to flee, only for her to pounce at him. Iolaus follows his screams and finds him laying on a stone bed with his arm ripped off and slowly regenerating just before Nadia jumps on Iolaus biting him. Hercules finds Galen's severed arm and follows the screams and chases off Nadia. Iolaus is in shock due to the vampire bite and slowly begins to turn, while Galen awakes and tries to attack him. He still has some control of himself and begs Hercules to put him out of his misery with bolt, but he refuses believing that it had to be some other way, with Galen running away instead. The hero tries to take Iolaus to safety, but its too late, the process has already began. Vlad appears before them and makes him an offer: he will release Iolaus if Hercules gives him his demigod blood, which will make him even more powerful than before. Without any options, Hercules agrees for the sake of Iolaus.
He is forced inside an iron maiden that begins extracting his divine blood, which Vlad fills it in a cup and shares it with his strigoi minions. However, they suddenly grow very sick and its revealed that Hercules drunk the hemlock vial that Galen handed to him earlier. Thanks to the iron maiden extracting the poison in his system and transferring it all to the vampires, he is able to survive and fight on equal grounds with the weakened Vlad. A fight ensues between the two and while they appear to be even, Vlad is able to overpower Hercules and lifts him by the neck, though he is able to pull out one of Galen's bolts and tries to stab him. Vlad turns himself into mist to evade Hercules' attack, but when he briefly turns physical again, Hercules is able to quickly throw the bolt into his chest killing Vlad. With his death, all of his victims including Galen, Nadia and Iolaus are turned to normal.
This episode contains examples of:
- Anachronism Stew: Count Dracula is made a contemporary to Hercules in Ancient Greece. The Ottoman Turks are also said to coexist with them during this timeline which is supposed to be Antiquity when Romania was still known as Dacia, and were previously in conflict with Vlad. The Ottomans wouldn't exist until the 11th Century.
- An Arm and a Leg: Galen after resisting his sister. As a vampire, though, it grows back.
- Batman Gambit:
- Along the way up to the castle, a vampire hid among the dead bodies, keeping himself shielded from the sun and displaying a gold medallion. That night, when the group's Red Shirt gets greedy and tries to swipe it, the vampire attacks him and says there's only one who can't resist the glitter.
- When Vlad finally gets to drink the blood of Hercules, he suddenly begins convulsing in pain. Herc reveals he downed the vial of hemlock before letting Vlad have his blood. Hercules knows that won't kill Vlad, but it will weaken him enough for a fair fight.
- Bittersweet Ending: Iolaus and the other vampires are restored to normal, and the people used for food are freed, but Hercules is a bit saddened by what became of his former friend.
- Black Comedy: Vampire Iolaus indulges in this."Look on the bright side. Now, I've got armor piercing teeth."
- Call-Back: Iolaus asking if he is dead is a reference to all the previous times he died on the show.
- Chekhov's Gun: The hemlock vial.
- Due to the Dead: Subverted. On the way to the castle is a collection of bodies on pikes. Vlad insists that they were enemy soldiers killed in battle and not left to die in that condition, but that he desecrated their bodies as a warning to the enemy to leave his kingdom alone.
- Evil Former Friend: Vlad is Hercules' friend from the time they fought in Antioch together. But after discovering that he is the master vampire in Dacia, Hercules severs all ties with him and considers him an enemy.
- Fate Worse than Death: The people kept in the dungeon are covered in bite marks, but they haven't turned. Hercules realizes they're being used as a constant supply of blood to sustain the vampires.
- Fight Dracula: Even though he is never once called Dracula, Vlad is pretty much intended to be him.
- Go Out with a Smile: Vlad has a huge grin on his face, indicating that he knows he is freed from his curse.
- Halloween Episode: It's Hercules vs. vampires, and the episode even premiered right before Halloween.
- Knight Templar: Vlad believes that the ends justifies the means. Back in Antioch, he mutilated his prisoners to send a message to his enemies, raised a forest of impaled people to scare off the Turks and ends up embracing his vampirism when he realizes he can use it to defend his homeland.
- Let's Split Up, Gang!: Hercules tells Iolaus and Galen to stick together, while he goes to confront Vlad. Galen is quickly picked off by his sister, and Iolaus soon follows.
- Mercy Kill: Subverted both times.
- Originally, Vlad invited Hercules to Dacia in hopes of put him out of his misery after he got turned into a vampire. He changes his mind while waiting for his friend's arrival.
- Galen attempts to convince Hercules to do the same, but he refuses believing there has to be some other way. He is proven right when killing Vlad restores Galen and the other back.
- The Mirror Shows Your True Self: How viewers learn Vlad is a vampire.
- Mood Whiplash: Once bitten, Iolaus alternates between seriously urging Hercules not to let Vlad have his blood and cracking jokes about becoming a vampire.
- Neck Lift: A rare occasion where Hercules is the one on the receiving end of this. Vlad does it during the climax.
- The Needs of the Many:
- Vlad says he initially summoned Hercules to kill him because he knew our hero would have the fortitude to put the greater good ahead of a friend.
- How Vlad justifies selecting people in his kingdom to be a source of food for the vampires. Unsurprisingly, Hercules doesn't see it that way.
- No Ontological Inertia: Killing the head vampire turns the victims back to human. Its not explained how Vlad remained a vampire after killing his father, who was responsible for turning him in the first place.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Vlad says he's willing to do anything to win out.Hercules: Well, then it looks like we still have a few things in common.
- Our Vampires Are Different: Strigoi are pretty much classic vampires. The differ a lot from the Bacchae in Xena: Warrior Princess since they can be killed with wooden stakes instead of dryad bones. They can also levitate and Vlad appears to teleport by turning himself into mist.
- The Power of Blood: Vlad believes that drinking the blood of Hercules will make him unstoppable.
- Properly Paranoid: Hercules quickly suspects that Vlad is a vampire.
- Screw Your Ultimatum!:Vlad: My old friend, decision time. Join me in eternal life or die now.
Hercules My friend died a long time ago. [tries to stake him] - Vampire Bites Suck: Especially when they're just using you for food instead of trying to turn you.
- Vampire Refugee: Iolaus is bitten by one of Vlad's minions and begins to turn with Hercules trying to find a way to save him somehow.
- Wham Shot: Vlad looking in the mirror and there not being any reflection.
