Werewolf by Night #13

Jack gets unexpected help while kidnapped by Taboo!

Topaz, a young woman with powerful magical abilities, lures the Werewolf into the mosque inhabited by her master, a Punjabi sorceror named Taboo. Soothed by the calming effect of her magic, the man-beast is led into Taboo's Scarlet Tabernacle, a chamber devoted to the occult. There, Taboo fires a mystic bolt at him, and orders Topaz to render him unconscious.

As the Werewolf lies there, images of the days events play across his mind: Jack Russell's breakfast with neighbors Clary Winter and Sam was interrupted by another neighbor, Raymond Coker, who accused Jack of stealing his books on the supernatural. Denying the accusation, Jack sent Coker on his way, then he and Clary left for her acting job. At the studio, Jack sprang into action when he saw a spooked horse trying to throw its rider. After calming the animal, the horse trainer, Brad Wrangle, offered Jack a position as stuntman, which Jack accepted.

That afternoon, in preparation for the coming full moon, Jack drove to an abandoned house on a secluded stretch of the California coast, unaware that within a helicopter above him, Topaz was following. As the transformation took place, Topaz overwhelmed him with a mystic force, allowing Taboo's henchmen to collect and transport the Werewolf to the mosque.

Awakening in a locked cell, the Werewolf sees Jack's step-father Philip, out cold, and tries to attack but is held back by a mystic screen. Taboo had retrieved Philip from the Committee, whom he has been magically manipulating from behind the scenes. After Topaz again calms the beast, Taboo probes his primal mind to learn the whereabouts of the mystic book, Darkhold, only to discover it may have been destroyed. Enraged, the wizard orders Topaz to kill the Werewolf, but she refuses, angering him further.

Thrown back into his cell, the Werewolf approaches Philip, but the man controls his fear, and the hesitant beast recalls Jack's promise to his dying mother to never harm his step-father. Instead, the lycanthrope vents his rage on the cell door, freeing them.

Furious with Topaz's disobedience, Taboo relates the tale of their past to remind her she owes him her life: in the disputed region of Punjab, war between India and Pakistan raged. Shortly after one side gained a temporary upper hand, the suspected sorceror Taboo was arrested and placed in a detention camp. There, a girl named Topaz came to his attention when she demonstrated magical powers. By having her crumble the walls of the camp, and cowing the guards, they walked to freedom. Hearing this story, Topaz weeps, torn between honoring her master, and her refusal to murder an innocent.

Taboo continues: before returning to Punjab, he had lived in eastern Europe where he tried to make his son, Algon, superhuman, using spells from the book of Darkhold. He was interrupted midway by the Baron, Jack's father, and a group of villagers. Taking the wrapped body of his mutated son, he escaped, ending up in Punjab, but had to leave the Darkhold behind where it fell into the Baron's hands.

Now, for the first time, Taboo shows Topaz Algon's mutated form, as the Werewolf and Philip enter. A struggle ensues, and Topaz, overwhelmed by the effort of calming the beast, passes out, but not before a stray mental bolt causes a mind-transferrence between Philip and Algon. Philip goes comatose, and Algon rises as Taboo orders his son to slay the Werewolf.