[music playing]
[chatter]
[people screaming]
[snarling]
Wait.
In peace.
[sniffs]
I smell you, Forgemaster.
Interesting.
Not many people can smell an education.
It's not an education.
It's a curse.
It's easy to detect.
You just have to know what Hell smells like.
And you know the smell of Hell?
Smelled it, tasted it, seen it.
You are also a man of faith, aren't you?
Perhaps a Sufi, I think?
Of a sort.
My devotion has been a matter of interrogation for some years,
and the reparation of my heart is far away.
If you have a God,
then you probably also have a Devil.
And if God created everything,
then he also made Hell.
The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, once said,
"One day there will be no human beings left in Hell."
Perhaps I'm doing his work
and there will come a time when my devotion is perfected.
How can this humble collector
be of service to you tonight, Forgemaster?
In my travels, I have heard tell
that you possess a large Carpathian transmission mirror.
Ohh.
I am so sad to say that that was some years ago.
Purchased from me by a lovely couple from Kolkata
who did not go out during the day,
if you take my meaning.
I do.
Damn.
But I have something else that may be of interest.
[clatter]
A distance mirror.
It's clever, if somewhat prideful. [chuckles]
It will read a thought arranged in your mind's eye.
When I indicate,
say your name and clap your hands.
[claps]
And it likes to be called "sir."
The mirror wants to be called sir?
I don't make the rules. [chuckles]
I just run the shop.
Sir! You will obey the wishes
of the one who speaks his name next.
Isaac.
Sir Mirror, see my wish.
Ha!
There you are! Are you breathing, betrayer?
Good.
Sir Mirror, where are we?
Hmm.
I do not recognize this place.
Sir Mirror, who owns this castle you show me?
[inaudible]
Carmilla.
So this is Styria.
- [claps] - [whoosh]
Was this a useful thing?
Extremely. You have my thanks.
Hmm. Take the mirror. It's yours.
You would give me such a valuable thing as a gift?
I would.
I have a feeling you haven't received many gifts in your life,
and it pleases me to improve that balance.
Also, I fully expect to go to hell one day,
and that would be a situation where I would be glad
to be owed a favor by a forgemaster.
[laughs]
[creatures growling]
We shall find a ship.
[growls]
[snarls]
[growling continues]
We will have no truck with mystics or demons.
You will get out of this city right now,
or face the consequences.
I intend to.
I am walking to the port to find a ship right now.
[overseer] No. You will leave the city.
[Isaac] Yes, by boat.
One more word and you will die, and then your monsters. Move!
[sighs]
I was spoiled by a single act of kindness in this city.
And so I attempted to be reasonable, honest and peaceful.
This was against my better nature.
It was stupid to expect anything other than hate from you.
I keep making the same mistake.
I should know better.
I don't need any of these bodies for forging.
You may eat.
[creatures snarling]
[overseers screaming]
[screaming continues]
[snarling, screaming continues]
[gulping]
Ahh.
Bored.
Hurry your arses up!
I'm bored and I want to be goin' somewhere.
Even though we're sailing somewhere old and visited often and boring...
at least we'll be sailing somewhere.
- [creatures snarling] - [people screaming]
[footsteps approach]
My friends and I need a ship to take us to Genoa.
Well, this is my ship right here.
Then perhaps we'll take this one.
[Captain] You could. You surely could.
I see all your sharp-toothed little friends,
and I've been afloat long enough to know what they are.
Then why are you still talking to me?
Because I'm interested.
And I like to do business.
And you tell me you need a ship.
[Isaac] I do. It seems suitable.
I believe I will kill you and all your men and take it.
You could. You surely could.
But if you did all that murderin' and takin',
who would be left to sail it?
Sailing a boat cannot be hard.
[laughing]
If it wasn't hard, then why would sailors exist?
Why would ships need crews?
You make a good point.
But I've already made the mistake tonight
of expecting humans to make decent decisions.
Perhaps you weren't offering them coins.
I'm not offering you coins.
Yes, you are.
You are offering coins for my ship and our skills,
and your word that your beasties won't eat any of my crew.
My word?
You've just said you've been disappointed
by men making improper decisions.
That leads me to believe that you're a man of your word.
[laughs]
You are a strange man.
I'm bored.
Sailing with you, Sir Forgemaster,
will be many things,
but I doubt it will be boring.
Will ye be coming aboard, this night?
I am Isaac.
What is your name, Captain?
Name? [laughs]
God knows. Forgot it long ago.
Doesn't matter. I'm the Captain.
That's all you need to know, and all you need to call me.
Do I have your word, Isaac?
You do.
And your coins, I trust?
Oh, yes.
Then we shake hands,
as travelers who have made an agreement to sail together
without threat or fear.
Agreed.
Or bein' eaten by beasties.
You will not be eaten by my beasties.
[Captain laughing] Excellent.
Lads! We have guests!
We sail for Genoa!
[wind whistling]
[Morana slurping]
[Carmilla] I have it!
[papers rustling]
What do you have?
The future.
Oh, I can't wait for this.
She's been home five minutes
and she's already carrying the future rolled up under her arm.
The future does seem very portable.
[Morana laughs] Well, it's the future, isn't it?
You can't see it yet, so I suppose it can't weigh very much.
Your comedy act hasn't improved while I've been away.
I had the cartographer in.
Come and look at this.
[Carmilla] This is us.
We have never been able to project our power west.
Too many strong nations.
But if we look east...
we see an entire region fractured and devastated
by Dracula's actions.
From here to Braila.
Our march from there to here defines a destabilized zone
with no real power structures or organization.
That must be eight hundred miles of territory
as the crow flies.
I want you to think of it as Greater Styria.
A corridor nation.
You've gone mad.
[chuckles] The vampire groups in this corridor
are hopelessly splintered
and very likely decimated by the battle at Braila.
The humans are in complete chaos,
hiding in villages and being picked up
by abandoned night creatures loose in the field.
Oh. Oh, wait. I think I see.
It's a pen, isn't it? A pen for livestock?
That's right.
We enclose this corridor with all the humans in it.
Morana is right. You're insane.
How could we even police such long borders?
We lost so many soldiers at Braila
that I'm not even sure how we hold off an attack
from our neighbors right now.
We have Hector the Forgemaster in our cells.
Hector can make night creatures.
The otherwise useless little bastard
can in fact create us a new army from the regiments of hell itself.
And that is how we take control of the corridor
and trap ourselves a flock of livestock...
that will keep us fed forever.
That's the wonderful thing about humans.
Leave a handful of them alone for five minutes
and they'll make more little humans. [laughs]
Self-replicating food.
So, that's my plan.
Take over a long enclosure of land, surround it,
rule over it like the empresses of old,
and drink all the humans forever.
Brilliant, isn't it?
It's lunatic.
Do you know what annoys me about it most?
What?
It's a really good idea.
[laughs]
The moment is perfect.
Your experience and all our intelligence
tells us it's chaos from here to the Danube.
We simply don't have the strength of numbers to make it work.
[sighs]
But we do have Hector.
We have a half dead thing in the cell
that will have no interest at all in helping you do anything.
He is quite pliable.
He was quite pliable once.
And then you got him to betray his master,
made him see all his goals destroyed,
beat the shit out of him,
and dragged him eight hundred miles
on the end of a rope.
I don't see him being happy
to do you any other favors, Carmilla.
She makes a fair point.
[Carmilla scoffs]
Maybe we could just torture him until he does what he's told.
Also, night creatures are loyal to their forgemasters.
We might just be giving him the opportunity to create his own army.
Let me handle it.
Really?
[Lenore] Striga's the fighter, Morana's the organizer...
they both have a plan to deal with.
Let me solve Hector.
Is this going to be like the time
you found a spider with one broken leg
and you tore the castle apart
looking for something small enough to make a splint out of?
[scoffs] No.
[twittering]
- [brush rustles] - [wings flapping]
[man grunting softly]
[sniffs, groans]
[sighs]
[exhales]
[woman grunts]
[man grunts] I suppose I'm awake now.
[woman] Mm. Sh'up.
[man] Sorry?
[woman] Good boy.
[chatter]
[sniffs]
Mmm.
Those smell so good. Can I take two?
Those are on me.
Mister Belmont!
[laughing] My, my,
what a formidable beast you are.
- Excuse me? - You're excused.
I recognize, of course,
the crest of the noble house of Belmont
upon your fine tunic. Oh.
Well, this fine tunic
that has, in fact, seen better days, hasn't it?
Perhaps one of these local artisans
might conduct some discreet repairs upon it,
and perhaps even introduce it
to the apparent mysteries of soap and water.
Uh, who the hell are you?
Indeed! Hell!
These are the conversations we must have.
But first...
allow me to formally introduce myself.
I am the Count Saint Germain.
Doubtless your family told you stories about me.
Uh, my family were a little too dead
to tell me many stories.
Oh. Of course. The purge.
Great sympathies. Terrible crime.
Well, I knew your family,
and your family's sacred role in this country.
I was curious as to what brought you to remote Lindenfeld.
And such an entrance!
Dragging a dead night creature behind your simple wagon.
A flourish worthy of the royal courts of Europe.
You are practically the Jesus of murder.
I have no idea what's happening right now.
Why are you here, Belmont?
What business is that of yours?
That remains to be seen.
I'm taking breakfast back to my partner.
Thanks for paying.
- Uh... - No.
[Saint Germain] Prior Sala! What a beautiful morning.
Saint Germain.
I was wondering if you'd given more thought to my request?
You wish to enter the priory. For reasons that escape me.
I had been told that some of your books had been damaged
when night creatures struck the priory.
Further, that some of the books were in languages unfamiliar to you.
And that you had no scribes.
That much is true.
Our one scribe was blessed with a quick death,
and we didn't even have to bury all of him.
Uh, because...?
Partially devoured.
Terribly considerate chap, really.
Ahh.
I have scribal skills and speak a great many languages.
I can also survey your artworks.
And...
I have knowledge of Dracula.
You do?
Further,
I know that the church had certain knowledge
of Dracula for generations,
and some of it likely resides
in the books you cannot read or repair.
And what do you want in return?
Access to the priory.
To see its beauty and to add to my knowledge.
I am but a humble scholar,
and such things are the only riches I desire.
Let me be clear.
I no longer have interest in the books of the Church.
The Church killed Dracula's wife.
We have what you might call
a new understanding of our relationship to God.
But new knowledge of Dracula and Hell
would be useful to us in our work.
You may have limited access to the priory so that you can search for it.
Limited how?
Limited.
Do you agree?
I do so agree, Prior Sala.
- Thank you. - It's done.
Um, one... one question, i-if I may?
What interests you so much about Hell?
Dracula's wife is alive in Hell.
Dracula went from Braila, to join her there.
Phew.
Well, that was unusual.
Still. Finally, forward motion.
I may yet triumph.
Of course, I will triumph. How could it be otherwise?
I am immortal and glorious, and all these other people smell of piss.
[birds chirping]
[water sloshing]
[distant crunch]
[footsteps]
[bow stretching]
[footsteps]
[whooshing]
[grunts]
[gasps] Please!
- I will not be hunted. - We are not hunting you.
- You are the Alucard. - The what?
[Sumi] We need your help.
With an arrow in my back.
He was going to cover me. I was going to come out to talk to you.
Really?
We have come a long way. Please, I need to know if he's all right.
If I wanted him dead, I would have aimed higher.
[louder] If he wants to continue living,
he should stop right there.
[gasping] Please leave her alone!
You are the Alucard, and we do need your help.
I am not "the" anything.
Adrian Tepes. The Alucard.
- The anti-Dracula. - Just Alucard.
[Taka gasping, grunting]
[coughing]
[Alucard] Who are you?
I am Sumi. This is Taka.
We hunt vampires.
Not you. Real vampires.
The pursuit of our target became the pursuit of the castle,
and we only discovered yesterday that you live in it.
I didn't notice you yesterday. You're better than I thought.
Who was your quarry?
Her name is Cho.
We were slaves to her court in Japan.
She left to become a general in Dracula's war.
We were able to escape her court in that time.
We followed her here. We learned to track the castle.
If she was in the castle with Dracula, then she died at Braila.
Yes. But she's not the only vampire in Japan.
We need more knowledge than we have to fight them.
We were looking for the castle. We had no idea how to find you.
Ignoring for the moment the fact that I think you smashed all my ribs,
this is a good day for us.
Alucard...
will you teach us?
- Teach you? - We are alone in this world,
and we do not have enough power or knowledge
to free our people of the vampire.
You know things,
and you have a knowledge famously contained within Dracula's castle.
Will you teach us how to fight for the freedom of others?
- Alone. - That's right.
[Alucard] Follow me.
Do you know where you are?
[Taka] Not really.
That is Dracula's castle.
That's my castle.
My father is dead.
Dracula is dead?
Yes.
By my hand. And the hand of a Speaker.
And the hand of the last of the Belmonts.
Under our feet is the Belmont Hold,
repository of all their knowledge.
And there is my castle, containing all my father's knowledge.
And up here is all of mine.
You want to learn how to fight vampires and save your people?
More than anything.
It will be hard.
You will have to unlearn much of what you know about the world
and take on more than you ever imagined.
I'm not going to start this,
if you're going to stop when it gets difficult.
We are committed. We will take all that you can give.
Well, then. I think...
to pass on the secrets of the world, and the true science...
I think my mother would approve.
Now we are not alone.
Come on, then. We begin.
- OK. - [Sumi laughs]
Frederator!