Pre-Show Announcement

ANNOUNCER:  The following episode contains discussions and depictions of violence, body horror, suicide, physical and psychological abuse, starvation, and death, including graphic depictions of harm caused by insects and burning. It also contains menacing situations, disturbing content, and jump scares. Listener discretion is advised.

Episode Begins

[Gradually, the creaking sounds of a ship fade in. Over that, we hear:]

COUNT DRACULA: I ran. Of course I ran. I managed to save one of the boxes of dirt from the fire. One. Out of fifty. But I was badly injured. Burnt. I’d heal, in time. But I needed rest and blood, and I could no longer do that safely. Not in New York.

[The sounds of the ship become more pronounced.]

COUNT DRACULA: I threw money at a ship’s captain. Bought passage back to the old world. Kept to myself. Killed a single, careless crew member for sustenance. Spent the rest of the time healing. In the dark. We crossed the Atlantic in a fortnight. Docked at Lisbon. It wasn’t difficult to book passage to Galatz, near Varna. From there, it would be merely days’ travel back to Transylvania. To my castle.

[A door opens. Footsteps climb wooden stairs. The sound of a harbor fade in.]

COUNT DRACULA: But then... when we arrived at Galatz, I walked up onto the deck. The first time in weeks I’d been in open air. As I looked out across the harbor, I felt how hungry I was. And then... I saw you.

[Dramatic music begins playing.]

COUNT DRACULA: You’d gotten there before me. Anticipated my every move. Somehow… you were there. You were there waiting for me. Hmm.

[There’s the blast of a ship’s horn, followed by the sounds of horses pulling a carriage.]

COUNT DRACULA: It was a narrow escape. A river boat to Seretz. From there, a coach, to Bistritz, and the Burgo Pass. Every night I awoke in a new place, transported by hired hands. Whoever I couldn’t terrify, I had to bribe. Whoever I couldn’t bribe, I had to terrify. With every dawn, I had to retreat into the box to avoid the sun. To rest. To replenish myself. Every dusk, I awoke to news of pursuit.

[A whip crack, followed by the whiny of horses.]

COUNT DRACULA: You were always right behind me. But still... I made it. Made it as far as Strâmba. Just miles from the Burgo Pass. One more day - one more day - and I would have made it to the castle.

[The music resolves and fades away. Over silence we hear:]

MINA HARKER: And then I caught up to you.

COUNT DRACULA: And then... you caught me.

[The main Dracula: The Danse Macabre theme music begins to play.]

ANNOUNCER: Dracula: The Danse Macabre. Starring Evangeline Young as Mina Harker and Peter Coleman as Count Dracula. Episode 4: The Bride of Dracula.

[The theme music fades out. It is replaced by the ambiance sounds of a small, cramped basement.]

[There’s a creak of wood.]

COUNT DRACULA: I should have arrived at Castle Dracula. Delivered by the carriage I hired.

[A more pronounced creak as a wooden box opens.]

COUNT DRACULA: Ah... ehhhh…

COUNT DRACULA: Instead... I had been left in a basement of some sort. A farmhouse, by the looks of it.

[A few footsteps. Dracula hmm’s, examining the surroundings. Suddenly, there’s a scalding sound. Dracula snarls in pain.]

COUNT DRACULA: Well... that could be a problem.

COUNT DRACULA: There were pages, torn from a bible. Arranged in a perfect circle around me. Affixed to the ground. A circle of holy objects. Ones I couldn’t touch. A circle I couldn’t cross.

[A wooden door opens. Footsteps descend a set of stairs.]

MINA HARKER: Oh, good. You’re up.

COUNT DRACULA: You...

[A chair creaks slightly as Mina sits down.]

MINA HARKER: Me. Good morning. I thought it was time for the two of us to have a little talk.

COUNT DRACULA: Where are we?

MINA HARKER: You don’t need to know that. But it’s quite remote. There’s no one around for miles.

COUNT DRACULA: We were hours away from my castle. We couldn’t have traveled more -

MINA HARKER: Like I said: remote. I’m not kidding. Scream for help all you want, no one is coming.

[A pause. Dark, foreboding music begins playing.]

COUNT DRACULA: Whose... whose farm is this? Where did you take me?

MINA HARKER: It’s someone’s. You don’t need to know more than that. So you won’t.

COUNT DRACULA: If you think that I am going -

MINA HARKER: I think that I could have killed you. When you were sleeping in your little box. I could have driven a stake through your heart, or cut your head off, or left you to burn in the sun. Do I have your attention? [Pause.] Good. You are going to answer some questions for me.

[Dracula scoffs.]

COUNT DRACULA: Questions? You want, what? An interview?

MINA HARKER: Count Dracula, let me make something clear. The span of that circle is what is left of the world to you. You will never emerge from it. So you have two choices. You can answer my questions, or you can rot down here.

COUNT DRACULA: Who do you think you are? I am Dracula, ruler of these lands, master of the seventh -

[Mina’s chair is pushed back as she stands up. Footsteps head towards the stairs.]

MINA HARKER: Fine. Have a week, then. Think it over.

[Dracula laughs.]

COUNT DRACULA: Oh, very funny. Mina, come on. We both know you’re not going to just leave me here for a week.

[The door opens, then shuts. The music cuts off, leaving us in silence.]

COUNT DRACULA: You just left me there for a week.

[The door opens again. Footsteps approach.]

MINA HARKER: Are you ready to answer my questions now?

COUNT DRACULA: What I am ready to do... is kill you. I am going to tear the very heart from your -

MINA HARKER: Fine. I’ll give you three weeks.

[The door slams shut again.]

COUNT DRACULA: And so you left me there for three weeks.

[The door opens again.]

MINA HARKER: Hello again, Count Dracula.

COUNT DRACULA: Do you have any idea... how hungry you can get? When you... you’re already dead but you still hunger?

[His voice is thin and weak. An unsettling piano melody begins playing around them.]

MINA HARKER: Oh, I’m so sorry. Would you like something to eat?

[A metallic ring as Mina holds up a knife.]

MINA HARKER: I think... we might be able to arrange that. A bit of blood. Just a small cut. Not too much. But something. If - if - you answer some of my questions.

COUNT DRACULA: Why... why are you doing this? You’re just going to kill me...

MINA HARKER: You being dead is good. Nothing like you ever happening again is much better. So I want to know everything there is to know about you. To make sure that when I end things... they are over. Are my terms acceptable?

COUNT DRACULA: Yes...

MINA HARKER: Say please.

COUNT DRACULA: Please.

MINA HARKER: Get down. On your knees.

[A pause. Then a rustle as he gets on his knees.]

COUNT DRACULA: There. Please.

[A long pause.]

MINA HARKER: Hmm. I don’t believe you. Maybe I’ll believe you in… a month.

COUNT DRACULA: No, wait, wait, I’ll - tell me what you want to know! I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you anything you - !

[The door slams shut.]

COUNT DRACULA: And so you left me there. For a month!

[The door opens again.]

COUNT DRACULA: When you returned... I was so weak I could barely move. You didn’t even ask. You took your knife across your palm. Poured blood onto a wooden bowl. Placed it across the circle.

[As he speaks, we hear Mina do what he describes. A knife cuts across flesh. She winces in pain. Drops fall into a bowl. It’s placed on the ground with a clack.]

[Gasping Dracula scuttles to the bowl. We hear a series of deep, gulping drinks, followed by a deeply relieved sigh. The bowl clatters to the ground as he drops it.]

MINA HARKER: Say “thank you.”

[A long pause.]

COUNT DRACULA: Thank you.

MINA HARKER: Are you ready to talk?

[Another pause.]

COUNT DRACULA: What do you do, Mina? These weeks, months, that you leave me down here. What are you doing up there?

MINA HARKER: Oh, I’m not up there. I travel. Do research. Try to piece together some things.

COUNT DRACULA: You just leave? You’re not worried someone will stumble upon me?

MINA HARKER: No. I’m not worried. I’ve learned a lot about you. I was just at the University of Budapest. Their history section was excellent. Vlad Tepes. “Vlad the Impaler.” You were born in the late fourteen-twenties, the son of Vlad the Second. Vlad Dracul. You were held as a hostage by the Ottoman court until you -

[Dracula laughs.]

COUNT DRACULA: Oh Madame Harker... I’ve told you once and I’ll tell you again: you shouldn’t believe everything you read in books.

MINA HARKER: You... you’re not Dracula?

[Dracula laughs again.]

COUNT DRACULA: Dracula... has been a very convenient mask. Which I have worn... for a very long time. I have worn it so well that... [He scoffs.] But was I born in 1429? Did I grow up as a hostage in the courts of the Ottomans? Did I kill my cousin Vladislav and steal his throne, was I imprisoned by Mattias Corvinus? Did I kill hundreds of men with such cruelty that they called me “The Impaler”? Am I that Dracula?

[He laughs once again.]

COUNT DRACULA: You don’t understand. You don’t. You think you have it so hard - being passed over, being ignored, being underestimated for being a woman. Oh, yes, how difficult. You know nothing! [A pause.] You know nothing of growing up in the peasantry of the old old world. Where your work and your possessions and your very life were at the whims of your rulers. Where any resistance could lead to death and torture and - [He snarls, then stops to collect himself.] Where you were nothing. Not human. Not in the same way that the nobles and the knights and the priests were human. You were no one. So... to be someone. To matter? To be a noble, someone with power, someone who’s named commanded respect and authority and fear? To be Dracula? It’s been a very useful mask to grow into.

[A pause.]

MINA HARKER: And who were you? Before the mask? Who are you, Count Dracula? [A pause. She chuckles in disbelief.] Not yet? Fine. No rush. I’ve got all the time in the world.

[The door closes.]

COUNT DRACULA: Three months later.

MINA HARKER: This is it, I promise you. You are never leaving this basement. This is where it ends. One way or another. But if you wish to be understood... now’s the moment. How did you die, Count Dracula? How did you become a vampire?

[Dracula takes a deep breath. Creepy, unsettling music starts playing.]

COUNT DRACULA: There is a school. Hidden away, in a dark place in the shadow of the Carpathian Mountains. It is called the Scholomance. Every hundred years, it opens its doors, and takes ten young men as students. Men of ambition, men of potential, men who have nothing to lose. For seven years, they study there, and the devil himself teaches them the hidden letters of all things, and the dark, secret music that moves the world. Nine of those students go back the world as powerful sorcerers. But the tenth? The tenth student the devil claims as his due, and turns him into a creature of such complete and utter darkness, of such evil, that -

[Mina’s chair is pushed back as she gets on her feet. The music abruptly cuts off. She exhales and starts walking.]

COUNT DRACULA: - where - where are you going?

MINA HARKER: If that’s how you want to play this? Fine. I’ll see you in six months.

COUNT DRACULA: All right, wait. Just give me a moment - just give me a moment to -

[The door slams shut.]

COUNT DRACULA: And so you just left me there. For six months.

[The door opens again. Footsteps approach.]

MINA HARKER: Good morning, Count Dracula. Are you ready to answer my questions today? With the truth, perhaps?

[A flumph as Mina drops an object to the ground.]

COUNT DRACULA: What’s that? What’s in that bag? Did you bring me a present?

[Once again, his voice is thin and weak.]

MINA HARKER: In a manner of speaking. Here. I need you at least somewhat cogent.

[A knife slices on flesh. Blood drips. Dracula drinks. It happens in quick succession, faster than it did before. Dracula gasps in relief. As he settles:]

COUNT DRACULA: You seem... particularly upbeat today.

MINA HARKER: I am. Today is a very special day. You see, today is the day you die.

[Somewhere far away, there’s a deep, low rumble.]

COUNT DRACULA: Sounds like there’s a storm coming.

MINA HARKER: It’s just passing, actually.

[Mina pulls up a chair and sits.]

MINA HARKER: I have a theory for you. In your castle. There was a woman. A vampire. Trapped in the deepest level of your dungeons. In a catacomb. Yes? At first, I thought... well, she must be another one of your victims. You fed on her, she came back as a vampire, you moved her out of the way, nothing more to it, right? [Pause.] But no. You must have killed hundreds. Your spawn has terrorized the countryside for centuries. But there were no others vampires in the castle. No other bodies. You clean up after yourself. Which means she wasn’t food, was she? She was something else. Something special. Was she Maria?

COUNT DRACULA: [snarling, furious:] No. Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare to insinuate that - ! [He takes a deep breath, calming down.] That thing in my basement? Is a monster. And she’s exactly where she needs to be. That’s all there is to it.

MINA HARKER: Do you still want to know? What makes you special? Why you kept your humanity when no other vampire does? I can tell you. Or at least I think I can. I figured it out back at Carfax. But I need to know that I’m right. So you need to tell me the truth. How did you die?

[A long pause. Finally…]

COUNT DRACULA: I’ll tell you... if you tell me one thing. If you tell me... the truth. Why are you keeping me alive? Why haven’t you destroyed me? The truth. Not what sounds good. Not what you tell yourself. The real reason.

[Mina lets out a low exhale.]

MINA HARKER: You’re still alive... because I need to win.

COUNT DRACULA: You’ve already won.

MINA HARKER: No. Not against you. I need to win against... everyone. You’re alive because I’ve known that I am the smartest, most capable vampire hunter in New York - quite likely in all of America - for a very long time. And because old men can’t see that, I’ve spent all of my adult life looking after children. [Pause.] And after years of that, I just... I need to know. I need to know... that I am as good as I think I am. I need to know for certain that I am the strong, clever one. That’s... that’s the truth.

[For a long beat, he’s silent.]

COUNT DRACULA: Once upon a... long, long time ago... there was a woman.

[There’s a rumble of thunder. We hear elements of Dracula’s story as he describes them.]

A countess. And she was cruel. Some rulers are cruel out of cowardice. Others are cruel out of necessity. She was cruel because something in her was broken. Because the sight of blood made her feel... warm and alive.

[We hear the tensing of piano wires, similar to the ones we heard in Episode 3. Someone screams in pain and terror.]

COUNT DRACULA: And she was both inventive and bestial in the miseries she inflected upon others.

[A bone breaks. Someone screams underwater.]

COUNT DRACULA: She would have young women brought up to her bedchambers, bound and gagged, so she could tear their throats open with her teeth and drink their blood. Or she’d have them hung upside down and slit their throats, so she could bathe in it.

[Blood drips down and splatters.]

COUNT DRACULA: Did anybody try to stop her? Of course not. She was of the nobility. And she was wealthy. Wealthy enough that the king of the land was indebted to her. And best of all... the people she preyed on were foreigners. Travelers from other lands, taken in the middle of the night. Refugees, fleeing from wars. Farmers and peasants, kidnapped at the border. The view of the day was... “Well, they are only foreigners. If we had to pick between them and our cattle, we’d go with the cattle.”

[Another agonized scream, followed by a stabbing sound.]

COUNT DRACULA: And so she reigned, and it was a reign of terror. And the bodies of her victims were thrown out in the fields, drained of their blood. And when the peasants who worked the fields found those bodies, stories began to spread all throughout the countryside. Stories of evil monsters in the night, who kidnapped your loved ones and drank their blood.

[Flies buzz. The piano wires continue sounding as a heavy wooden door opens.]

COUNT DRACULA: One day, a pair of commoners came into the countess’s employ. They were a married couple, and foreigners - refugees from the lands beyond the forest. But they spoke well, and could hide their roots, and so passed for natives of the land. He worked as a stablehand, she was a maid. And they were abused. And tormented. And humiliated. For months. For years. For no reason other than... the woman who had the power to cause it all was amused by it.

[A woman cries and gasps in pain.]

COUNT DRACULA: And so it went. For more than a half a decade. But a human’s will is an unpredictable thing. Sometimes it just - [He snaps his fingers.] A young girl had been brought before the countess. She had committed some trivial mistake. And the maid’s will snapped. She defended the girl, stopped the countess from killing her on the spot. Nobody had talked back to the countess, nobody had so much as delayed her, for years. You know what the punishment for this insolence was?

[The buzz of insects, which grow louder and louder over the following:]

COUNT DRACULA: The countess had the maid taken to the yard. And tied up so she couldn’t move. And every inch of her was covered with honey. And she was held there... until the insects were done. Until they had eaten her while she was still alive. It was... slow. It took hours. And the countess made Maria’s husband watch. Every minute of it.

[The buzzing fades away. We now hear running footsteps through snow.]

COUNT DRACULA: Something broke inside the man. He fled the countess’s castle, ran through the dark forest at the edge of her lands. He was pursued. The guardsmen were not the best shots in the kingdom. But the man was unlucky. There were three arrows in him before he managed to lose them.

[Arrows impact. The man winces in pain.]

COUNT DRACULA: And then he was alone. In the forest. In a night as black as they come. He knew the way. But he was hurt, and bleeding. And tired.

[A wolf howls in the distance.]

COUNT DRACULA: And he wasn’t alone. Something had found the man. Something dark and terrible and hungry. Something drawn to the smell of blood. So again, he ran.

[The sounds of bloody viscera. The man runs, but we now hear the growl of a dark creature.]

COUNT DRACULA: The woods thinned. Suddenly, he was in the outskirts of a village. Running through a churchyard, through the graves. Up to the doors.

[The man pounds on the door.]

COUNT DRACULA: Let me in, he said. Please, please before it’s too late, before -

[A growl, followed by a biting sound.]

COUNT DRACULA: And then there was a pain his neck. Piercing, and cold as ice. And he knew nothing more.

[A church bell, followed by a man waking up with a gasping start.]

COUNT DRACULA: He woke up the following night. When he came to, he was standing over a body. The local priest - with his throat torn apart, and his blood on the man’s lips. He had changed. He was something else now. And he was strong. For the first time in his life... he was strong. After that... it was easy. In time, he figured out the shape of it. Stay out of the sun. Command the creatures of the night. Kill men and women, and drink their blood, and watch them rise as mindless monsters. A little bit of strength became a little bit of power. A bit power became a lot of power. And in due time, a new figure of the nobility appeared. And when he went back across the forest, he was a thunderbolt.

[Stately music begins to play.]

COUNT DRACULA: Years of being untouchable and all it took to bring countess down was a simple scandal — brought to light by another member of the nobility, of course. It all came out, every ghoulish deed she had committed over the years. There was a trial, and a conviction, and the matter of carrying out her execution was left in the hands of the young, handsome count who had brought the charges against her.

[Mortar is placed and stones are set down.]

COUNT DRACULA: Take her away, the judge said. Take her somewhere dark and miserable, and make sure she never sees the light of day again. Hmm. The count was very happy to oblige. He took her back to the castle he had made his... and had walled her up in his dungeon. And after that... it was even easier. To keep her in the dark. To feed on her. Keeping her alive. Making her last for months. For years. Until finally... she died. And rose again. As an undead. So her torment could continue. So she could stay in that dark place, hungering for blood. For centuries. For ever.

[The last stone is set. The music ends. Once again, we hear the tensing sounds of piano wires as he describes the following:]

COUNT DRACULA: Except... he didn’t know what would happen. Didn’t realize. When he fed on her, everything she was flowed into him. All the cruelty. The violence. The sadism. Every last bit of her twisted, broken humanity. Everything that he hated, every bit of that monster... became him. He became... Count Dracula. The next four centuries came and went without much major incident. And no matter what he tried... the man was very, very alone.

[A moment of silence.]

MINA HARKER: And... what was his name? Maria’s husband? Before he was Count Dracula?

COUNT DRACULA: I don’t remember. Does that answer your question to your satisfaction, Madame Harker? Good. Now tell me.

MINA HARKER: Dracula, I -

COUNT DRACULA: No. No sympathy. Not between us. The truth. Tell me.

[Mina takes a deep breath. We, once again, hear the man running through the woods.]

MINA HARKER: Consider... the vampire. A mindless, bloodthirsty creature, who hungers for what was taken from them. Their life. So they attack others... and drink their blood. When you drink from someone, you take on their qualities. Their essence, if you will. Demeanors, abilities, senses, even memories. Yes?

COUNT DRACULA: Yes...

[A church bell rings.]

MINA HARKER: Yes. You take on their... humanity. The very thing that is lost to the vampire at the moment of their death. So... let’s consider your death.

[Once again, we hear the gasp as Dracula awakens. The church bell keeps ringing.]

MINA HARKER: Or, more specifically, your awakening. Not at the onset of your vampirism... but after you fed on your first victim. The priest. Why?

COUNT DRACULA: I... don’t know. I was hungry. I must have been... besides myself. The craving of a vampire -

MINA HARKER: No. It is because when you first woke up... you were just a regular vampire. Nothing special. But then something changed. Do you see?

COUNT DRACULA: I... do not.

[We hear the man pursued by the vampire through the woods.]

MINA HARKER: You were stalked through the woods. By a vicious, mindless vampire. Then, when you woke up, in a fit of undead hunger, you ate the kindly village priest. The man who brought your body in from the cold in an act of charity. Correct?

COUNT DRACULA: Yes.

MINA HARKER: Wrong. Because when you were bitten, you were attacked from behind... weren’t you?

[Again, we hear the man being attacked from behind at the church’s door.]

MINA HARKER: You never saw the vampire who killed you. What if... they were one and the same?

COUNT DRACULA: What?

MINA HARKER: What if the vampire who killed you and the priest you killed... were the same person? What if you weren’t murdered by some hungry, undead beast living off of carrion in the depths of the forest. What if... the thing you killed was the thing that killed you? What if it stole your life, your humanity...

COUNT DRACULA: ... and I stole it right back?

[The church bell rings one final time.]

MINA HARKER: Exactly. It’s... likely the only way. After your mind is taken away from you, you have to… take it back. Which means… [She chuckles a bit.] if you’d like to make another thing like yourself, the process is simple enough. Just let one of your lesser creations feed on you. Let them kill you. Although I understand if that feels like it defeats the purpose of the exercise. But... [She claps her hands together.] There you have it. The thing that makes you special, Count Dracula. The same thing that makes anyone born into a life of privilege and power more special and valuable than anyone else.

COUNT DRACULA: And that is?

MINA HARKER: Absolutely nothing but sheer, dumb luck.

[A pause. Then - Dracula breaks out into thunderstruck laughter. After a moment, Mina joins him.]

[There’s a moment as their laughter fades away. A whoosh as the scene fades to later that day.]

COUNT DRACULA: So... does that answer things? To your satisfaction?

MINA HARKER: I believe I have all the pieces I require, yes. The vampire that was sealed in the crypt? That was -

COUNT DRACULA: Oh yes. That’s her. And whatever happens to me, I’ll take comfort in knowing she’s still rotting there.

MINA HARKER: Ahhh, apologies. Here.

[She tosses him the bag. He makes a little questioning noise.]

MINA HARKER: Open the bag.

[He opens the bag. An object falls to the floor with a flumph!]

COUNT DRACULA: It’s her. Her head. You killed her.

MINA HARKER: I have this policy, you see, about not leaving loose ends. Especially when those ends are vampires.

COUNT DRACULA: You’ve been to my castle?

MINA HARKER: Quite a few times. There’s... not much left of it, actually. What you heard a little bit ago? That was the explosive charges we set at the foundation.

COUNT DRACULA: We?

MINA HARKER: Oh, the locals here were, uh, quite eager to help. I expect by now, it’s nothing but a pile of rubble.

COUNT DRACULA: You have been busy...

MINA HARKER: Your influence has been removed from these lands. The people will recover. You will be forgotten. The way she was. The way we all will. The way we’re supposed to be. Which just leaves us with one question. How would you like to do what happens next?

[Once again, the scene fades to later. Mina moves an object into place, groaning with a bit of effort.]

MINA HARKER: You’re sure?

COUNT DRACULA: It seems... appropriate enough. Two of my great adversaries, together at last. Let them say that Dracula had to be brought down by a horde of his enemies. [Mina chuckles at that.] That’s it, then?

MINA HARKER: That’s it. There’s three more mirrors set upstairs. Once I turn this one toward you... well, it’s quite a sunny day today.

COUNT DRACULA: Good. You know, they say that the closest thing a being without a reflection has to one... is another being without a reflection. It’s the only place where we see something that looks like us.

MINA HARKER: I think that may be overstating the similarities between us.

COUNT DRACULA: Perhaps. But... I’m glad it was someone with at least a bit of a monster inside of them.

MINA HARKER: I have a monster in me?

COUNT DRACULA: My dear Mina. You have at least enough monster in you to do what you’re about to do...

[A pause. Then, Mina turns the mirror.]

[There’s burning sound, and Dracula snarls in pain. Fire bursts out, and his sounds of pain slowly falter and stop. As the burning finally comes to an end…]

MINA HARKER: So did you know what would happen? When you burnt?

COUNT DRACULA: Oh, I wondered. Thought it might be a possibility. When did you know?

MINA HARKER: Not for days. Long after I had walked away from the pile of ashes that was left behind when the sun was done with you.

[We fade away from the scene. We are now on a boat, hearing waves around us.]

MINA HARKER: It was nearly a week later. I was on the ship back to America...

COUNT DRACULA: [ghostly and distorted:] Miiiina…

MINA HARKER: When I thought I heard your voice.

[The scene fades away again. We are now in the streets of Manhattan.]

MINA HARKER: Then... after I made it home... it kept happening.

COUNT DRACULA: [ghostly and distorted:] Miiiina…

MINA HARKER: At odd moments, I’d hear you. Like you were calling out to me.

[Again, the scene fades away. We are now in the privacy of Mina’s home.]

MINA HARKER: And then... three months after I left Transylvania... it happened.

[She turns a mirror towards her - and gasps!]

MINA HARKER: I looked in the mirror. And there you were. Staring back at me. At first I thought I was imagining things. But then -

COUNT DRACULA: No, Mina. It’s not all in your head.

[The scene fades away. We - finally - return to the familiar sound of the fire place in the frame story.

COUNT DRACULA: It’s simple enough, I suppose. Back in the asylum, you did that... unspeakably foolish thing.

MINA HARKER: I bit you. I drank your blood.

COUNT DRACULA: Took a bit of me into you. And through that... I live on. In you.

MINA HARKER: Yes, aren’t I a lucky girl?

COUNT DRACULA: Oh, it’s not that bad. Without a body, I’m no harm to anyone. It’s not like I can bend your actions to my will, can I? I’m just... a passenger. Along for the ride.

MINA HARKER: So you say. But is it going to stay that way? And is there some way to be rid of you?

COUNT DRACULA: I don’t know the answers to either of those questions. But until then... I do enjoy our little chats. [A small pause, then:] You’re not thinking of including this little detail in the account, are you?

MINA HARKER: What? Tell Mr. Hawkins that I still have Count Dracula whispering in my ear? Even as I ask them to give me my late husband’s position? Let’s not and I say I did, hmm?

[Mina laughs.]

COUNT DRACULA: What?

MINA HARKER: Oh, nothing, it’s just... a vampire hunter, with Count Dracula stuck in her head. I do lead an interesting life, don’t I?

COUNT DRACULA: Interesting is better than boring. Go on, then. Let’s wrap it up.

[Mina types some words into a typewriter. As she does so:]

MINA HARKER: “Thus concludes my report on the subject from Transylvania. Though many lives were lost preventably, we can now consider the case well and truly closed. Along with this report, you will find an index of all corroborating evidence and written reports. I expect your reply shortly... and await your decision pertaining to similar cases in the future. Yours... Wilhelmina Harker.”

[She stops typing. After a pause:]

MINA HARKER: There’s something wrong, isn’t there? What’s bothering me here?

COUNT DRACULA: The name’s wrong. You don’t need it anymore. And it doesn’t suit you. Go back to the other one. The one you got from your grandfather. Use your real name.

[A pause. Then, Mina crosses out a line on the paper and types again.]

MINA HARKER: “Yours... Wilhelmina Van Helsing.”

[As she hits the final key, there’s a soft whoosh as she scene fades out.]

[After that… all is silence.]

[The main theme for Dracula: The Danse Macabre begins to play. Over it, we hear:]

ANNOUNCER: This has been Dracula: The Danse Macabre, created by Gabriel Urbina. Tonight’s episode was written and directed by Gabriel Urbina. Based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. Starring Evangeline Young and Peter Coleman. Featuring original music by Alan Rodi and sound design by Jeffrey Nils Gardner. Script editing by Sarah Shachat. Recorded by Robby Schwartz at Soho Recording. This has been a Long Story Short Production. Thank you for listening.

[The music fades away. There is silence.]

[Until…]

ANNOUNCER: Mina Van Helsing and Count Dracula will return.

[There’s a final crash of thunder.]

The End of the Show

GABRIEL URBINA: Hello dear listeners, and welcome - one last time - to the End of the Show. This is Gabriel Urbina, the creator of Dracula: The Danse Macabre and the writer and the director for the episode you just heard. And well, folks... we made. We made it all the way to the end of the season. 

But - as you just heard - maybe not to the end of the series as a whole. The dream here has always been that The Danse Macabre would continue past the story of Dracula. Mina is too good of a protagonist, too good of a detective, and her dynamic with Count Dracula is too much fun for us to want to just want to leave it at one adventure. If we had our way, this would just be Book One of the Danse, and we would get to hear Mina tackle a few more of the great supernatural mysteries and adventures of 19th Century Literature. 

Can we actually do that? Well, the spirit is willing but the budget is weak. We threw everything that we had, including a kitchen sink or two, into this season. Refilling the coffers is going to take a little bit of time and we’re just not sure when we might have the resources to make more of the show. But if you want to help, if you want to help us speed that process along? The best way to do it is to sign up for a recurring donation over at my Patreon at patreon.com/gabrielurbina. And yes, as always, there is a link to that in the episode description for this.

Alternatively, if you want to help and are interested in writing your own audio fiction, I am teaching both single day workshops and a brand new six week masterclass this coming February. I teach these online classes in no small part to fund my habit of making new audio fiction, so if you're interested, check those out at gabrielurbina.com/classes. 

But all of that can wait. For now... thank you. Thank you for coming on this journey with us. Whether this was your first exposure to the story of Mina and Count Dracula or you are a seasoned veteran with many reads of the novel under your belt, thank you for taking a chance on our version of the story, and these two immortal characters. 

Okay, that’s what I had for us today. I'll be back in the feed one more time next week to tell you about another show that you should be listening to. Until then, this Gabriel Urbina, signing off for the year and wishing you all a very, very happy, very peaceful 2025.