01x05 - The Natural Order

[bunniefuu]

I hate that smell.

What is it?

It's willow bark.

To help with the pain.

I've smelled it so often now,

all I associate it with is p Ouch!

- Well, hold still.

- Are you this rough all the time?

I'm not a nurse.

It's deeper than I thought.

I've only tried this

a couple of times before.

- Ouch!

- And it's only worked once.

I can only do it on flesh wounds.

I've been trying

to teach myself bones, but

It's You're brilliant.

His wife is saying

she intends to keep the head.

I shudder to imagine

what she's planning to do with it.

I can't abide tears, Nikolai.

Give her my condolences, will you?

Tell her it's a shame,

he will be missed, he was a loyal servant

And he has exquisite taste

for soft furnishings.

I'll tell her I'll find the Belmont boy

and bring back his head.

She can put it on a platter

next to the Marquis'.

Mum?

Are you crying?

No, no. It's just

I always liked

that I could see it from here.

Why?

When I first came to Machecoul

17 years ago, I had nothing.

The townspeople

were suspicious of me, a foreigner.

But I've never forgotten how much

compassion they showed me at the Abbey.

It felt like a safe place. A holy place.

Richter!

What are you doing?

Tell me you're not going back

to the Abbey.

I don't need you to come with me.

Don't go. Please.

I told Edouard I'd come back for him.

Annette, now's not the time. You're upset.

I'm not upset. I'm furious.

I am too, but we have to wait.

For what?

To regroup. To devise a new plan.

For the sun to rise. For Richter.

I don't have time to wait for Richter.

Edouard doesn't have time, he's in chains.

How can I enjoy even one night of peace

while he's not free?

When he helped to free me?

Olrox and Drolta

are very powerful vampires.

I don't know

what they're planning in Machecoul,

but if you go now, it's su1c1de.

Richter's coming back, and when he does,

we'll find out what we can about Drolta

and the night creatures.

We need to understand our enemy

to defeat them and save Edouard.

Together.

Maria, you are in my way.

I'll only move if you tell me

you're not going back

to the Abbey tonight.

Fine.

Or the Château?

Or the Château.

- I won't go inside.

- Annette!

You're right.

We'll need to understand

our enemies to defeat them.

If you're going to spy on them,

be sure to keep out of sight.

If Richter was here

Do you two wait for Richter

before you do everything?

He ran away.

Try to forgive him.

Olrox is the vampire

who k*lled his mother.

The dragon that's haunted his nightmares

since he was a child.

We all have nightmares.

The first time a sl*ve runs away,

they're branded with this mark

on their shoulder.

Second time, they're hamstrung.

Third time, k*lled.

When I was a girl, I was taught to be

frightened of people on our plantation

with this mark on their body.

Troublemakers.

But after I escaped myself,

I saw them differently.

The people with this mark,

they're the people who know intimately

how much freedom can cost.

They wear it every day.

So I do too.

If I'd let my past terrify me,

I'd never be free of it.

Striking terror

in the hearts of children, I see.

I prefer my blood blue.

I'm talking about the Belmont boy.

Oh, him.

Son of an old foe.

The soon-to-be-dead son of an old foe.

We're taking care of him.

Maybe you do things differently

in the New World,

but over here,

we don't feed off the wealthy.

The locals will start to grumble.

My apologies.

I didn't realize how invested you are

in keeping the mortals happy.

I try

in between turning milk sour

and stalking the nightmares of villagers.

We're in an uneasy alliance

with the humans in this town.

For now.

It disgusts me too.

Making deals with them,

feeding on peasants only

in exchange for some influence

among the aristocracy,

enduring that man in the Abbey

in exchange for his night creatures.

The sun will rise soon.

Shouldn't you get back to the Château?

Where are you staying?

There's an inn on the other side.

It's good.

Quiet.

Private?

I like it here in town.

I like to keep my ear to the ground.

Not long now.

Before dawn.

I can tell without ever watching.

The instant the sun comes up,

some quality in the air changes.

We all feel it. It's dread.

For a few hours, we're free of it.

Imagine total freedom.

Never shrinking from light.

I don't waste my time

imagining things that will never be.

But it will be, Olrox.

Across Europe, vampires are pledging

their allegiance to Erzsebet Bathory.

Will you be next?

I've never been a believer. Of any kind.

Maybe I need to see to believe.

I've heard she is very formidable.

Formidable. Wonderful. A lioness.

Evil trembles before her.

In awe.

We've seen empires rise and fall, Olrox.

Mortals are fickle.

They riot over bread,

they flit from one god to another.

I was a priestess of Sekhmet,

the Egyptian goddess of w*r and vengeance.

I remember the smell of mortal bodies

on festival days.

The incense, the fervor of revelers,

the feeling of touching the immortal.

And now

And now those temples

are half-buried in dust.

Precisely.

Look at all this.

Human lives are as long as mayflies'.

Their loyalty is just as fleeting.

We endure.

When that Abbey and this town is in ruins,

will we still be lurking in the shadows?

Looking for feeble loyalties

amongst the mortals

where we hope we may find them?

Let's make a new world, Olrox.

You see, that's another one

I've heard before.

Then let's make it last.

Run!

Last time I saw you,

you were with that mulatto boy.

Last time I saw you,

you were a flying rat.

They presented you to me

hours after you were born.

Tiny squalling thing,

ugly as a newly-hatched chick.

With a neck like a wishbone.

I should have snapped it then.

I've had years to study you as well.

I haven't forgotten the way

you cower before the Christian God.

That smell?

Burning flesh.

You should know it well.

I know the sound

your mother made when she d*ed.

I know the songs

you and the other girls used to sing

when you thought everyone was asleep.

I know what your nightmares are made of.

I'm not the one in the cage.

I'm sure you wake up some mornings

with the smell of burnt sugar

in the back of your throat

and forget you ever left.

That's because you're not free

where it matters.

You're the one

with a brand on your forehead.

This is a symbol of loyalty

to my mistress.

Erzsebet Bathory.

You're not fit to say her name!

How long were you a sl*ve?

Fifteen years? More?

Born in chains, to a woman in chains.

Some people look backwards and forwards,

and all they see are slaves.

You, your people, my property.

What's that got to do with Erzsebet?

She'll restore the world

to its natural order.

Immortals, kings, humans,

peasants, slaves.

You.

How can she do that?

She's just a vampire.

Erzsebet is a goddess!

She drank the blood of Sekhmet.

The Egyptian goddess.

Yes.

Sekhmet is the daughter of Ra. A lioness.

Her breath is like the desert wind.

We were told there would be signs.

Disorder, sl*ve uprisings, w*r.

We were told to view these as heralds.

Erzsebet is coming,

with all of Sekhmet's power,

to restore all things.

What does that mean?

It means you can k*ll me,

but Erzsebet will never be defeated.

She will come with eternal night.

She will destroy

everyone and everything you love.

The sun is rising.

Devouring the darkness.

It always does.

This is the natural order.

NEITHER GOD NOR MASTER

It's not fair.

Ah, sweetheart,

everyone wants to be Liberty.

Or maybe she could be Equality.

Or Fraternity.

You have to be a man to be Fraternity.

It means "brotherhood."

"Sisternity," then.

Oh, suits you.

Want to join us?

- Your festival, or your revolution?

- Both.

You don't need me.

We'll need

someone to fight for us.

And you look

as if you have some fight in you.

Maybe I'm tired of fighting.

Emmanuel.

Tera, please.

I only came to talk.

Please.

We have nothing to say to you.

Are you hurt?

I've been turning it over in my mind.

What I saw, and what I know about you.

You told me once

that God had called your name.

That he called you to fight evil.

I used to believe that, yes.

And now?

Now, the cornerstones I built my life on

are being toppled.

Maybe it's time they were toppled.

Of course, that sounds romantic,

like everything you revolutionaries tout.

But once you've razed

this country to the ground,

I wonder who will be left to rebuild.

You talk of freedom.

Freedom for whom?

Everybody.

There's a woman in my parish, 82.

She's been hobbling to communion

every day of her life,

and now her grandson has forbidden it

in the name of reason.

Do you think when she wakes in the night,

she'll cry "reason," "liberty,"

into the dark to banish her terrors?

That's just one woman.

Over 200 priests were massacred in Verdun.

It won't be long before priests are exiled

or put under the guillotine.

There is talk of melting down church bells

to make cannonballs.

The barbarians are at the gate.

To them, no one will be

true enough or loyal enough.

They will drench us all in blood.

- Not if your night creatures do it first!

- I'm building an army.

And fighting on the wrong side.

With vampires.

I'm making the alliances

I have to for now.

And the sacrifices.

The man I used to know

would stare at himself now in disgust.

I've never been sinless, Tera.

There's a long way between sinless

and harboring f*cking night creatures.

How many times

does the entire course of history

come down to the choice of just one man?

Constantine. Charlemagne. Me.

Who knows what further abominations

this revolution will bring?

If your God is as powerful as you say,

he doesn't need you to fight for him.

You're not doing this

for the sake of the Church,

you're doing this

for the sake of your own vanity.

I've often thought about Judas.

Traitor. Turncoat.

But what would have happened

if he hadn't done what he did?

Was the whole world saved

because of one man's betrayal?

I was a fool to trust you.

I wish I never met you.

If you hadn't met me,

we wouldn't have Maria.

You said my father was dead.

To protect you.

I promise you, Tera,

I will keep her safe.

How much for

More than you've got,

it looks like.

I could pay you back

in vampire hunting.

If you can pay me in dishwashing,

you'd have a deal.

But the man over there says

put it on his tab.

Thanks for dinner.

Well, you know what they say

about a free dinner.

Do they say anything?

They say, "Go back to where you came from

and don't expect another one."

Or maybe that's just me.

Look, I didn't ask for any favors.

Where the f*ck is the old man?

Ah, f*ck. Another one.

You swore the next time you saw my face

in this village, you would k*ll me.

Here's my face. Give it your best.

Well, I guess this makes me

a man of my word.

It's a good thing I finished that.

If you can pay for your meals

in carpentry

Give me that.

You should've taken better care of it.

I forgot how heavy that thing is.

Too heavy.

Hey! Hey!

Who are you?

Aren't you supposed to be clever?

What?

That's what Julia always said.

Who are you?

I'm Juste.

Juste who?

Juste Belmont.

Your grandfather.