01x03 - Freedom Was Sweeter

[bunniefuu]

- [eerie music playing]

- [sizzling]

[blows]

To the one before whom evil trembles.

[Vaublanc] I give my devotion.

To the Devourer of Light, the Messiah.

I pledge my service, forever.

[sizzling]

[eerie music building]

[music fades]

[dramatic opening theme music plays]

[music fades]

[insects trilling]

[birds chirping]

[creek bubbling]

The vampires and night creatures

were coming from all directions, Annette.

All we could do was retreat.

None of this is your fault.

Edouard would never have abandoned me.

[exhales, sniffles]

And now he's dead.

He knew the risks

when he chose to come here.

[sighs]

He was my family.

[gentle music playing]

I had no one after my mother d*ed.

After she was k*lled.

[woman] Sunrise, sunset ♪

In the night ♪

Your mother's Iwa ♪

Is unchained ♪

- [woman humming]

- [grunts]

[sighing]

[humming continues]

[giggles]

[ominous music playing]

[mouse squeaking]

[gasps]

[woman gasps]

[high-pitched ringing]

- [neighs]

- Sorry! She's sorry!

- [gasps]

- See? Her bag is almost full.

She's been doing good. Real good.

The crop will be good and cleared.

[cicadas rattling]

[woman humming]

Watch over ♪

And protect ♪

You ♪

[chuckles]

[footsteps approaching]

[Vaublanc] And so many things

which could hurt you, child.

[ominous music playing]

Snakes, witches, secrets.

Do you have secrets, Esther?

- [Esther gasps]

- [flames whoosh]

[tense music playing]

[sniffs]

- [Vaublanc snarls]

- [Esther whimpers]

- [objects clattering]

- [Esther whimpering]

[Vaublanc] Ah.

- [Esther whimpering]

- [eerie music playing]

[Esther gasping]

[grunts]

[Esther grunting in pain]

There will be no spells cast

on my plantation.

No charms, no dances, no songs.

- [eerie music building]

- [gasps]

- [bones snap]

- [music fades]

[Annette softly] Sunrise, sunset ♪

In the night ♪

Your mother's ♪

Iwa ♪

Is unchained ♪

I know what it's like

to watch your mother die.

I fled but I guess you couldn't do that.

[mysterious music playing]

I held my mother's lullabies in my heart.

The songs were ancestral calls,

connecting me to African deities

beyond the plantation,

beyond ocean crossings and mortal flesh.

I could not be caged.

No matter how many times

they tried to take me.

[ominous music playing]

I was always plotting an escape.

[grunting]

But the sl*ve drivers' eyes

were always on me.

[Annette struggling]

[groans]

I was 16 when they tried to brand me

but I was not going to be branded.

- [suspenseful music plays]

- [sizzling]

- [grunts]

- [clangs]

[mysterious music playing]

[Annette] I'd inherited

from my father's bloodline

the power of the god

of w*r and iron, Ogun.

I didn't know what was happening,

but my guiding spirit heard my calls

when I needed him the most.

You better run, little girl.

[ominous music playing]

[Vaublanc whistles]

[chuckles] Run. Run as fast as you can.

[barking]

[panting]

[gasps] No.

[ethereal music playing]

[music fades]

[panting]

- [indistinct conversations]

- [man singing in distance]

[gasping]

[grunts]

[gasps]

[horse neighs]

[sniffs, snorts]

[sniffing]

- [barking]

- [gasps]

[whimpering]

- [singing grows louder]

- [opera music playing]

[gasps]

- [panting]

- [music grows louder]

[gasps softly]

Edouard believed singing

was the soul's way of speaking.

That's why, from pauper to statesman,

everyone is drawn to music.

[chuckles]

He'd say that when he was on stage

looking out to the audience,

he could see the colors

of everyone's soul.

Mine was pink.

He was wrong, though.

Green is my favorite color.

[opera music and singing continue]

[sniffing]

[dogs barking]

- [dogs barking]

- Stop. Stop. Stop!

- [music stops]

- [patrons gasping, murmuring]

Who the hell are you,

and what do you think you're doing?

[Vaublanc] My sl*ve came through here.

My dogs can smell her.

There are 500 people in this theater,

and all any of us can smell is your dogs.

I want my property back.

[audience murmuring]

But I can wait.

[door closes]

[music continues]

[music fades]

- [door opens]

- [footsteps approaching]

[shudders] No, no, no, no, no.

Not now. No, no, no, no.

[gasps softly]

You're stepping on my French silks.

- [magic hums]

- [wood rattling]

[magical humming fades]

You need to get out of those wet clothes.

Help yourself to something.

Oh! Lovely.

That's from The Beggar's Opera.

He's a vampire, isn't he?

Your master.

- [Annette] Has he gone?

- [Edouard] I doubt it.

[Annette inhales] I'm fast. I can run.

This is an island, baby. Can you swim?

Mm.

I'm Edouard.

Annette.

There's not that many places to hide

for people that look like us.

You're thinking,

"Oh, but he was born free.

He's not like me."

It's what's in our hearts

that matters, Annette.

So why do you sing for these people?

I make them happy,

and they lower their guard

and loosen their tongues.

You learn useful information that way.

It helps when I have to hide runaways.

- [mysterious music playing]

- [horse and carriage approaching]

[horse neighs]

[Annette] Edouard took me up

to the mountains to join the Maroons,

escaped slaves mobilizing a resistance,

which I had just joined.

[magic hums]

[reciting incantation in Creole]

[reciting incantation in Creole]

[Annette panting]

Cecile was the high priestess.

She taught me spells.

How to open spiritual crossroads

for ceremonies.

[sizzling]

[Annette] How to quieten my fear

so that I could hear Ogun clearly.

Close your eyes.

- Breathe in.

- [inhales]

- Breathe out.

- [exhales]

- Breathe in.

- [inhales]

- Breathe out.

- [exhales]

[intriguing music playing]

[music continues]

- [reciting incantation in Creole]

- [rattles]

[rattling]

[reciting incantation in Creole]

[Annette] Warriors in arms.

Family in hearts.

[Cecile] Revolution is sweeping France,

humbling the lords and ladies and dukes

and, who knows, maybe even kings.

Liberty, equality, fraternity, they say,

but their revolution will not break

our chains of bondage.

Slaves will still be beaten,

tortured, and oppressed.

We must discard the god of the whites

and listen to the voice of emancipation.

[all cheering]

[Cecile] It is time for Saint-Domingue

to burn!

[Richter] It sounds like an epic battle.

[Annette] Freedom was sweeter

than the sugar we harvested.

[people shouting]

[ominous music playing]

[Annette] I hunted down Vaublanc.

- [crickets chirping]

- [tense music playing]

What do you think

this rebellion will change?

There will always be masters and servants.

sl*very is the natural order.

You can't k*ll us all.

I can k*ll you.

You're still that scared little girl

singing her little songs at bath time.

- [magic humming]

- [grunts]

[grunts]

[groans]

[grunts]

[groans]

[groans weakly]

[Annette straining]

[grunts]

[chirping]

[music fades]

[Edouard singing

"Il Mio Tesoro" by Mozart in Italian]

Vaublanc changed into a bat.

What other magic can they do?

Cecile, what's wrong?

- [loud whooshing]

- [monster snarling]

[bats screeching]

[whimpering, groaning]

- I'm here. Cecile, I I'm here.

- [groaning]

- [shudders]

- [eerie music playing]

[gasping] Suffering, death,

hundreds of thousands of dead.

She's worse than Vaublanc could ever be.

The Vampire Messiah, she calls herself.

Here in Saint-Domingue?

No. Not yet.

Across the ocean.

She will conquer Europe first,

unless we stop her.

[music fades]

I have to go to France.

Then I'm coming with you.

He'll be waiting when I get back.

Warriors in arms, Annette.

Family in hearts.

[Annette] He was so brave,

so committed to our freedom.

We'll avenge him.

I swear.

[mysterious music playing]

- [music continues]

- [blade whirling]

[music fades]

[Mizrak grunts]

Who the f*ck are you,

and what do you want?

[grunts, gasps]

Why is your Abbot forging night creatures

for the Vampire Messiah?

It doesn't sit well with your faith.

What do you know about faith?

[grunts]

Faith is a foundation.

Faith is order.

"When you walk through fire, you shall not

be b*rned, nor will flames consume you."

Isaiah, 43:2.

Faith is a companion

in the hardest of times.

When the world abandons you.

Oh. Has the world abandoned you, Mizrak?

You know my name, tell me yours.

The revolution's forcing everyone

to choose sides.

Clergyman who don't profess loyalty

to the state are being guillotined.

And you'd rather be loyal

to Erzsebet Bathory?

- [ominous music playing]

- Do you have any idea who she is?

What she's capable of?

[Mizrak groans, grunts]

[grunts, pants]

The moment she doesn't need you,

she'll turn on you and m*rder you, slowly,

one by one.

[scoffs, chuckles]

You expect me

to believe you care, vampire?

Let's do this again,

somewhere more comfortable.

My name is Olrox, by the way.

[music fades]

[intriguing music playing]

[Erzsebet] Is everything ready

in Machecoul?

Devotees are filling the château.

The Marquis is excited to meet you,

and I'm meeting the Forgemaster tomorrow.

[Erzsebet] Mm.

I dreamt last night

about the world we are making.

The Empress of Russia,

the Holy Roman Emperor,

the Ottoman Sultan, the Pope,

all kneeling before me,

kissing my feet.

[moans] It was such a beautiful dream.

They're all going to kneel, Countess.

Every single one.

We've all heard about the sl*ve uprising

in Saint-Domingue.

Tonight, we've got someone

who took part in it.

A great revolutionary leader.

I give you Annette.

They're going to love you.

Egun mojuba. Ancestors, I give respect.

I am not a revolutionary leader.

I am a girl who used to be a sl*ve

until sl*very could be endured no longer.

This revolution,

it speaks of something it calls reason,

but only God can save your souls.

We lit a spark, a few of us at first

hiding in the mountains,

but the sugar and tobacco fields

had dried out in the sun,

and the spark lit a flame,

and then the flame was an inferno,

and all their power and cruelty

crumbled before us.

- [people cheering]

- Liberty, equality, fraternity!

They burn Catholic churches

and destroy statues

of Mary and the saints,

and call it reason.

I call it the work of the devil.

- [roars]

- [dramatic music playing]

It's all right, stay in your seats.

We're safe.

God will protect us.

- [exciting music playing]

- [snarling]

Split up. Clear pathways.

- [metal rasping]

- [gasps]

[grunts]

[snarling]

[Richter grunts]

[whip cracks]

[screeching]

Go!

[roars]

[snarling]

[roars]

[Annette grunting]

[shrieks in pain]

[Annette panting]

[roars]

- [grunts]

- [shrieks]

[music fades]

[eerie music building]

[gasps]

[sizzling]

[ominous music playing]

[growls]

[music fades]

What the f*ck just happened?

It was Edouard.

I saw his eyes.

What? What do you mean?

- He's dead.

- [sobbing softly]

- They're going to the abbey.

- [Annette sobbing]

[sad, ethereal music playing]

He's a night creature.

My sweet, beautiful Edouard

has been turned into a monster

conjured from hell.

[music fades]

[gentle, ethereal music playing]