01x01 - The Blood is the Life

[bunniefuu]

[Banging, earth crumbling]

[Grunting]

[Grunts]

After all these long years... how famished you must be.

Oh, sweet Jezebel.

Look!

We're rich!

[Laughs]

[Sighs]

Aah!

[Grunting]

[Grunting, sputtering]

The blood is the life.

[Gasps]

[Grunting]

[Growling]

[Grunting]

[Coughs]

[Groaning]

[Gasps]

All the guests have arrived.

Photographed upon entry?

As arranged.

And the prototype? Ready for the demonstration [with English pronunciation] as scheduled?

It is, sir.

[With American pronunciation]

As scheduled.

From this day forward, you are an American industrialist.

As American as God, g*ns, and bourbon...

As scheduled.

Very good, sir.

Good evening.

I'm Alexander Grayson.

[Orchestra plays]

It's breathtaking.

[Chuckles]

Well, isn't this exciting?

I'm liking this Grayson already.

Thank you.

This glass is worth more than I earn in a week.

Don't be gauche, Jonathan.

[Chuckling]

Besides...it's worth more than you make in a month.

Lucy!

I'm only having a bit of fun.

You're not cross with me, are you? I'd be simply devastated.

Of course not. You're far too charming.

[Laughs]

I am, aren't I?

I'm off.

Now, you'll remember your promise, won't you?

I'm your guest tonight, not a journalist.

He's such a darling, isn't he?

Alastair! You beast.

Where have you been hiding?

Lucy, darling.

It's quite an eclectic group.

New money, old money, no money left.

Which do you suppose is Alexander Grayson?

I'm sure he'll announce himself to great fanfare.

They always do at these things.

Hmm.

How I ever let you talk me into this...

Seriously, somebody had to pry you out of that laboratory.

[Laughs]

The truth.

Who would you rather spend your evening with me, or a pickled toad?

Um, the toad...

Because at least there's a chance my kiss might turn him into a prince.

Well, hasn't he tried hard?

Might as well have papered the walls with pound notes.

How distressingly American.

[Laughs]

Frankly, I'm amazed so many of us turned up at all.

[Laughs]

How can we properly mock him if we haven't set eyes on the man?

[Orchestra plays]

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce the master of Carfax Manor, your host, Mister Alexander Grayson!

[Applause]

It's him.

It's him!

[Applause]

Welcome to my house.

May you come freely, go safely, and please, leave some of the happiness you bring.

Is everything all right?

Yes.

Are you sure?

Yes.

Someone walked over my grave, I suppose.

Hmm.

That woman. Blue satin, creme chiffon.

I want to know everything about her, and the man she's with.

Of course, sir.

Ah, the mysterious Mister Grayson. Finally we meet.

And you would be?

Well, I would be in a nice warm bath, but I simply had to come and find out what all the fuss was about.

Jayne Wetherby.

Hmm.

Lord Wetherby?

Oh, good God, no!

This is my, um, companion for the night, my very dear friend, Herr Kruger.

Gesundheit.

Huh.

[Orchestra plays]

Ah. Sir Clive Dawes.

Alexander Grayson.

Permit me to introduce my wife, Lady Hope.

What an impressive ballroom, Mister Grayson.

May I present Lord Davenport...

And Lady Laurent...

And Lord Laurent.

Lord Laurent.

Splendid. Now, if I'm not mistaken, you and Sir Clive co-chair the board of British Imperial Coolant Company.

We sit on a number of boards, Mister Grayson.

Indeed you do.

British Imperial holds patents, patents to high-efficiency coolants which would be most useful in advancing one of my technological projects.

I would very much like to acquire those patents.

Mister Grayson, the British Imperial Company is in the business of selling our products to British industry, not our underlying patents to interloping colonials.

Darling.

Perhaps next time you'll sway Sir Clive through his bookmakers.

He's an inveterate gambler, not a terribly good one from what I gather.

Jonathan! Where did you run...

[Gasps]

Alexander Grayson.

Jonathan Harker.

And this is my most lovely friend, Miss Mina Murray.

Of course. Mina.

I'm sorry, it's just...

I'd swear...

We've met?

Yes.

I was thinking the same thing.

Pardon me, sir.

It's time.

Ah, yes.

Excuse me.

Tell me, Renfield. Who is this Jonathan Harker?

He's a reporter for the Inquisitor.

Resourceful, tenacious, and very, very ambitious.

Hmm. And the woman?

Mina Murray, medical student.

Father, Doctor William Murray, director of Bethlem Royal Hospital.

Ladies and gentlemen, please, gather in the center of the ballroom.

[Indistinct muttering]

Mister Harker. Arem Renfield.

You're aware that the invitation explicitly forbade the press?

I can assure you, I'm purely here on a social basis.

[Chuckles]

What a shame.

Mister Grayson will be disappointed that you won't be writing at least a word or two.

If you're interested, he would like you to come by tomorrow for an interview.

An... An interview?

Of course, I'd be interested.

4:30, then.

[Echoing crowd chattering]

[Drum roll, cymbal ding]

And now, Mister Grayson would like to share a demonstration of his latest technical marvel!

Honored guests...

When I was a boy, my father told me stories of the dark ages, a time when culture and learning were eclipsed by barbaric ritual and w*r.

Over the years, I have come to believe that the dark ages never actually ended, that the fear... hatred, and brutality that once plagued our ancestors plagues us still.

Tonight, it is my sublime pleasure to demonstrate a way out.

Out of the darkness.

What Thomas Edison dismissed as mere fantasy, what Nikola Tesla failed to bring to fruition, I give to you tonight.

Power drawn from the magnetosphere, the same invisible source that compels the needle on this compass to point North.

Harnessed and amplified by my scientists and technicians, I give to you free... safe, wireless power.

Now. Stage one.

Stand by!

[Indistinct chatter]

Stage one!

Mark!

Is such a thing possible?

In theory, I suppose.

But if it were brought to the market, what effect would it have on our petroleum interests?

Shattering, of course.

Nothing we need worry about.

More power.

More power.

Stage two!

Mark!

[Gasps]

[Crowd reacts]

Lucy.

Lucy, look.

[Laughs]

Some sort of trick. There must be a wire.

[Sighs]

[Gasps, laughs]

[Gasps]

[Laughs]

[Gasps]

[Laughs]

[All gasping, muttering]

[All muttering]

Ah, shut that down, now!

Aah!

Experiencing some technical difficulties, sir.

Just a few more seconds.

[All shouting]

Somebody help us!

I'm burning! I'm burning!

[All shouting]

The coolant has evaporated!

I'm shutting down!

[Grunts]

[Machinery powers down]

[Shouting]

[All muttering]

It's a trick.

It's a trick.

Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for your patience.

I trust our little demonstration was... illuminating.

[Laughter and applause]

[Applause]

[Gasps]

Lucy Westenra.

Miss Westenra.

Ravishing.

Miss Murray, you look a little shaken.

I'm not sure what I've just witnessed.

The future, Miss Murray.

The beginning of a new era.

Mister Harker.

Tomorrow, then.

Yes.

Yes, of course.

He seems quite taken with you.

Ooh.

The green-eyed monster rears his ugly head.

Mister Grayson is just being polite.

More than polite, I'd say.

Ooh! Cordials.

That was extraordinary.

Lady Jayne.

I didn't hear you approaching.

You say that as if it's an accomplishment, Mr. Grayson.

Alexander, please.

You know, there's a touch of the impresario about you, Alexander.

Your performance this evening was no less than operatic.

As I'm an ardent patron of the opera, I'll take that as a compliment, although I'm certain it was meant as quite the opposite.

[Laughs]

Oh, you are?

So you love the opera? Well, may I be the first to invite you to the opening of the season?

Tell me, Alexander, will you join me?

I've reserved my own box.

Pity.

I feel you'd enjoy the performance so much more in mine.

No doubt.

Hmm.

Thank you for coming.

May I?

Mister Grayson.

Ah.

If you think you fooled anyone with that absurd stunt tonight, you are sadly mistaken.

Am I?

You are a fraud, sir.

And I will see to it that you never do business here.

[Typewriter clicking]

She's not going to wait forever.

If you don't ask her to marry you soon, someone else is bound to.

Who?

Grayson?

Don't be absurd.

You must've noticed the way he leered at you.

He did not.

At least he's not boring.

As much as I enjoy having you spend the night at my house, could we please, for once, talk about something other than how tedious you find Jonathan?

And besides, he's not boring.

What I'm saying is that she could do better.

[Ambient whooshing]

[Dogs barking]

[Ambient whooshing]

[Dogs barking]

Do you see anything?

[Dogs barking]

No.

What do you suppose it is?

[Horses whinny]

Good night, Mr. Clive.

Good night.

Horse, move on.

Aah!

[Growling, tearing]

The man was a pig.

He insulted me under my own roof.

So you tear the man to pieces?

Perhaps we should mount a warning sign over the front door.

I told you, their corruption and their hubris is unbridled.

That's always been the way with the Order of the Dragon.

Still, it's one thing to hear it, quite another to see it with one's own eyes.

Readily identified by their overtly grotesque sense of entitlement.

Like this one, Lord Laurent.

Preening little peacock.

And the other one, Lord what's-his-name?

Davenport.

Davenport.

These two stink of high council.

Put them on the short list.

Who do you suppose is the leader?

Could be any one of these. Or none.

How very innocuous.

But you cross them, Renfield, and they will strike you down like vipers in a pit.

m*rder, t*rture, r*pe, wholesale slaughter.

That is the stock-in-trade of the Order of the Dragon, and has been for over 500 years.

In my past, they asserted their will more directly via the cross and the sword, slaughtering entire villages, branding men and women heretics.

Aah!

Burning them alive, and watching them burn, screaming...

[Screaming]

For a God who never came.

[Screams]

[Thunder rumbles]

Now they do their dirty work via private clubs and boardrooms.

They employ business, politics, and oil.

And that last thing, Renfield, will be their undoing.

They believe it will fuel the next century.

And if they control it, they control the future.

But from the moment we demonstrate the viability of geomagnetic technology...

Poof!

No more money.

No more power.

No more Order of the Dragon.

He performed a full examination?

As instructed.

Any signs of vampiric feeding?

Too much damage to the neck to make a positive determination.

So he severs the man's head and dresses him up like a roasted French hen.

Well, it had to be done. You know why.

How long has it been since a vampire stalked the streets of this city? Seven years?

Eight years.

Yes, the Whitechapel killings.

God, when I think of the trouble we went to, mutilating the victims to hide the signs, those absurd letters we wrote to the press.

Huh. Jack the Ripper, indeed.

What do you suggest?

Well, unless proven otherwise, I think we must assume that Clive was targeted by our enemies, whether natural or not.

I will put Kruger on patrol.

Have him keep an eye on the high council members' houses.

Indefinitely?

No.

Just until time or events proves us overcautious.

You won't even know he's there.

See to it that we don't.

This is strictly between you and me for now.

We don't want to make the others any more nervous than they already are.

Hmm.

And if anyone asks...

He was k*lled by a dog.

Good girl.

And take that bloody thing with you.

[Bell chiming]

The structure of the neuron is absolutely distinct from all other cells in the human body.

Mister Campbell?

Um...

Sorry, sir. We weren't, um...

Professor Van Helsing?

Yes, Miss Murray?

Mister Campbell was only pointing out to his colleagues how analogous certain aspects of the front-page article regarding the generation of electrical impulses are to the subject of your lecture today.

Mister Campbell?

[Sighs]

Quite right, Mister Campbell.

Mister Grayson's new technology is germane to the subject at hand.

However, I would suggest that you discuss such observations outside of class.

Mister Grayson will be right with you.

[Door closes]

Mister Harker.

How good of you to come.

[Faint sizzling]

Please, have a seat.

Would you like some wine?

It's a, um, bit early for me, thank you.

[Winces]

I prefer whiskey.

You should know my editor believes you're after some sort of puffery.

Puffery?

Yes.

And why would he think that?

I don't field many interview requests from those in your position.

You mean the wealthy?

No, I mean the privileged.

Usually, they run the other way.

That's because you stand against the same vested interests that would prefer I return to America.

I didn't think anyone had noticed.

I did.

That's precisely why I invited you for this interview.

Shall we begin?

Very well.

Why England?

This is the country of my great-grandparents' birth.

In that regard, it's a homecoming.

And it has nothing to do with Edison running you out of the States?

Hmm.

[Chuckles] Europe speaks to me in a way no other place does.

You know, we call it "The Old World" for a reason.

And yet, her people seek the new wherever they can.

I understand this struggle.

I, myself, am descended from a very old family.

But my mind, always fixed on the future.

I surround myself with things that speak to both.

You're full of contradictions, aren't you?

So is the world.

Hmm.

That is precisely why I wanted to talk to you.

You see, we're on the precipice of a great change.

We have it within ourselves to redefine our species.

Wait, you... You say "species" as though people are animals.

What do you mean by that?

Is that not what Mister Darwin taught us?

That man evolves?

That is what I've come here to accomplish.

To facilitate in that evolution.

Give nature a helping hand, so to speak.

Miss Murray.

Professor.

Come in. Have a seat.

What is it?

Well, um, we will soon be undergoing our final examination.

Yes.

And as you know, the student who scores the highest will be given the opportunity to serve as your research assistant.

I see.

You have consistently scored the highest marks in class for every written and oral exam.

However...

My surgical technique...

...leaves much to be desired, yes.

Professor, I can't tell you how often I practice, but the moment the scalpel pierces the epidermis, well... my hands begin to tremble and no matter what I do, they...

Mina...

I have always found that the secret to a steady hand is a steady heart.

I-I don't understand.

You must believe in yourself, in your abilities to heal others.

It is that simple.

But I do.

If so, then you will succeed.

Until then, know this...

The heart never lies.

Thank you.

Yes, well, I-I agree.

Well, good night.

ALL: Good night.

Good night.

[Indistinct conversation]

Hello.

Sorry to have kept you waiting here.

[Laughs]

[Indistinct conversation]

[Moaning]

Aah!

[Panting]

[Crowd chatters]

[Orchestra tunes instruments]

It was very generous of Mister Grayson to give you his box tonight.

Well, he obviously wants me to write nice things about him, doesn't he?

[Laughs] Really?

Mm-hmm.

A man such as Grayson is so desperate to court favor with you?

[Laughs]

You'd think he'd be satisfied with his beautiful home and all those brilliant paintings and the thrilling technology, not to mention his good looks and charisma.

Hmm.

Yes, it's very impressive.

But then you have something that he will never have.

What's that?

Me.

[Sweeping orchestral music]

[Singing in foreign language]

The view is much better from back here.

Is it? I can't imagine that's possible.

Why don't you join me and see?

[Sighs]

Why, yes, it is. It is astonishing.

I trust you were unobserved?

Your invitation did request my "discreet company."

Yes, it did. Though I was concerned, as an American, that you might not understand the meaning of the word "discreet."

I had to look it up.

Tell me, what other words did you have to look up?

[Gasps]

Insatiable.

[Moaning]

Incorrigible.

[Moaning]

Unquenchable.

Sir Clive not a day in the ground, and Grayson descends on his widow like a bird of prey.

Locked up Clive's entire block of imperial coolant.

Why on earth would she sell out to him?

He purchased the paper on Clive's gambling debts, and threatened to sue his estate.

Good God!

So you see, she had no choice but to trade the stock in order to avert a scandal.

Absolutely loathsome, the whole damned business.

Hmm.

But you must admit, well played.

That's easy for you to say.

He's not your business partner.

Oh, he's hardly that, old man.

It's just a seat on the board.

Not as if he has a controlling interest.

[Indistinct chatter]

[Arrow whistling]

[Grunts]

Kruger.

[Grunts]

Ah.

[Both grunting]

[Grunts]

Ah!

Oh!

Burn in hell!

Aah!

[Sputtering, gurgling]

"Thou d*ed fair and well, brother huntsman k*lled."

[Chokes]

"Impaled the hearts of many beasts, before thine own was stilled."

[Chokes]

[Gurgles]

Before you die, take heart.

You will soon be joined in hell... by scores of your brethren.

I will destroy your Order... and everything it stands for.

You are...

Dracula.

[Thud]

[Grunting]

Ah!

[Grunts]

[Hisses]

Practice all you want. It won't save you.

It speaks.

[Panting]

Save me from what?

The one that drew you to London?

No one drew me.

[Scoffs]

[Hisses]

You're nothing.

An errant fly attracted by the stench of rot.

Tell me your sire's name!

[Hisses]

You know, there's fates for your kind a lot worse than death, and I know them all.

How long do you think it's going to take for this to rust at the bottom of a lake? Years? Decades?

Do what you will to me.

There will be another who follows, and another, and another, and soon...

Soon?

We will be legion.

[Sighs]

I was wondering when you'd make your entrance.

The plan was to leverage Sir Clive's gambling debts against his interests, not his widow's.

I saw an opportunity... and I seized it.

It was impetuous and careless.

It got the job done.

How many times must I explain the difference between a vendetta and vengeance?

This cannot become a w*r of attrition.

The Order Draco is like the Hydra.

Cut off a head, they grow two to replace it.

Funny.

That's not what happened to Sir Clive's head.

Don't be a fool.

You know the only way to crush them is to wipe out the very source of their power, their vast wealth.

For over a decade we've schemed and built this empire of lies.

I will not have our work undone by your lack of discipline!

Ah!

[Grunts]

[Growls]

Give me one good reason I should not peel you like a grape.

[Grunts]

Because without me, you'd still be rotting in that iron box.

[Grunts]

[Gasping]

Do you think I am not immune to rage?

[Panting]

[Grunts]

The Order of the Dragon slaughtered my entire family!

We must not give in to our base instincts.

We must practice control.

We must follow the plan!

True.

Our hatred was born in the same crucible.

You give it form.

But I give it strength!

We are not bound by what we have lost, but by who took it!

No!

[Screams]

They k*lled my wife!

[Screaming]

My love.

[Screaming]

For these crimes, I will have my vengeance.

[Screams]

[Gasps]