Adventures into the Unknown #55

Treasure hunters Steve and Murph discover a sunken galleon laden with gold—but Murph's greed leads him to cut his partner's air hose and claim the fortune for himself. Days later, haunted by visions of the man he killed, Murph flees to Key West, only to find that the ocean itself seems determined to drag him back to the depths. As guilt and terror consume him, Murph makes one final desperate dive to reclaim the gold, unaware that some debts can only be paid in the darkness below.

Carter survives an avalanche on an unexplored Himalayan peak only to be rescued by the mysterious Marza, who guides him through a protective blue flame into a hidden valley populated by an ancient, immortal race. Promised eternal life and shown riches beyond measure, Carter's greed quickly overtakes wonder—but the valley guards its treasures jealously, and the blue flame recognizes a thief's true intentions. A cautionary tale of what happens when mortal ambition collides with forces older and far more powerful than mankind.

A vampire named Kliest turns himself in to a New York police precinct, confessing his supernatural curse but revealing that modern plasma has freed him from the need to kill. When corrupt cops see an opportunity to exploit his nocturnal powers for crime, they strike a dangerous bargain—but Kliest's growing attachment to Annie, the maid at their country hideaway, sets him on a collision course between his newfound humanity and his inescapable nature. As night falls and secrets threaten to unravel, Kliest must confront what he's willing to sacrifice for love.

Jim Phelps picks up an elderly hitchhiker on a lonely road, only to discover the old man's bag contains something far more disturbing than souvenirs—it holds the secret behind his collection of unnervingly lifelike dolls. As Jim's curiosity turns to greed at the prospect of exploiting this mysterious phenomenon, he finds himself drawn deeper into the stranger's world, where the true horror of the collection's origin begins to surface.

In ancient Lombardy, the ruthless Lupo Volpe exploits superstition and fear as the region's official witch hunter, drowning the innocent and seizing their property while the terrified populace trembles at his name. When Pietro Mori refuses to let Lupo marry his daughter Angela, the old hunter's thirst for vengeance sets in motion a chain of dark events—but fate has other plans for the obsessed tyrant. What emerges from the shadows to answer Lupo's desperate summons carries a price far more terrible than he could have imagined.