- There's something strange happening
with me and Rose.
- Remember! - [gasps]
- Don't freak out. - Okay.
[dramatic music]
That's, um, new.
- I'm actually a Spirit User just like St. Vladimir.
- When I become queen,
we'll know if someone is an incompetent fighter.
- That's a lie.
He was one of the best.
- Mikhail Tanner betrayed us
by allowing himself to be turned Strigoi.
- [growling]
- Guardians follow orders, Rose,
or the system crumbles.
- The system is broken.
- I have to follow orders.
- I don't.
- Lady Vasilissa,
the last Dragomir.
I'm Adrian, by the way.
- So what do you know about Saint Vladimir?
- I can help you, but only if you come back.
Wake up.
- You Dream Walked.
You're a Spirit User.
- You up for an adventure?
Get some of those answers that you want.
- I know you're hurting.
And I'd do anything to make it stop.
* *
- Once there were 13 saints.
Today, their children's children's children
are called Royals.
But they were saints back then,
the best of the Moroi.
[foreboding music]
And the best of the saints was Vladimir,
the Messenger, the Founder.
It was Vladimir who had the vision:
a world for the Moroi,
secret and isolated from the barbarous humans
with their wars of religion, wars of conquest,
wars of intolerance.
And that vision was embodied in the human treaty,
which gave all Moroi a home and gave all Dhampirs
a purpose in the great, holy Elemental Order.
You know this story.
It's the one they tell children in the academies
and in Feast Day homilies.
It's the first great lie.
The happy lie of St. Vladimir.
- [speaking Portuguese]
- [hissing]
- But the truth will come out because the truth always does.
- Shh.
[speaking Portuguese]
- And woe unto us if we let the lies make us forget
the real dangers out there because they are out there,
and they are very, very real.
[dramatic music]
* *
- It is time, Your Majesty.
The hope we had for unanimity from the Council
has gone by the wayside.
Yes, because of my daughter's outburst.
But we need to act.
The only way we'll get a clear and decisive mandate
is if you lead us there.
You need to declare for me.
- They are so beautiful after a feed.
I know they say it is the outrush of chemicals
in their brain that our bite releases,
but there is a part of me that always believed
we take their cares along with their blood.
I hate the idea of an Elementalist on the throne,
especially Tatiana Vogel.
Happily, by my count, even after last night's fiasco,
if you bring the three more persuadable
heads of family home--
Abby Batista, Peter Tarus, and Evette Ozera,
you should have a majority.
Six to five-- that is enough for a win.
- Yes, but-- - No, Victor.
I cannot mandate this.
There was a moment in the wake of Andre's death, yes,
but now, all our hatreds and troubles are out in the open.
The only way to hold the throne is to win the crown,
legitimately and without my help.
You have until tonight's closing caucus
to get your votes.
- * No escape *
[upbeat music]
* Get away *
* My game to play *
* *
* I got you where I want you *
* No escape *
- [panting]
* *
- * I got you where I want you *
- Gotcha.
- Cheater.
There's no way that you beat me here
and set up an ambush unless you scouted ahead of time.
- Recon is just basic perimeter control.
- You said we were going blind.
- Suddenly, Rose Hathaway is a believer in rules.
- Or maybe you've been scouting out
secret places to get me into.
[soft music]
* *
- Rose?
- Uh-huh.
- I need a favor.
- The risk of even one more person knowing, Lissa.
- Yeah, after he just walks into my dream
and makes himself at home?
Rose, Adrian Ivashkov and I are in the same boat.
I know of three confirmed Spirit Users.
Vlad went Dark.
I might be losing my mind, and the last one--
- Is a stone drunk, from what I hear.
- A self-medicating drunk
who drinks to keep the Darkness at bay.
But he might have answers, and right now,
I need answers more than I need lectures
about how scary it is.
Because I might end up the same as Adrian
if I don't find another way of keeping the Darkness in check.
And this might be our only shot
to figure out this link you and I have.
- You're going to need Dimitri as well, you know.
And what am I signing up for here?
- That's the part that doesn't suck.
- A trip into the human world.
Do you realize the kind of pre-planning
that normally takes?
It's a playground for Strigoi out there.
Route planning, recon, coordination of guards.
We don't have the necessary clearances.
They won't so much as open the provincial gates for us.
- They will for me.
- This is foolhardy.
Go another day, when I know I can keep you safe.
- Wow, you got a real earnest one here.
Are you sure he's cool for what we got to do?
- I trust him implicitly.
This is what I'm doing.
And your job is to make sure I don't die doing it,
so are you in, or are you leaving me
to the human world with only Adrian to protect me?
- I am useless in a fight.
Speaking of which, listen.
You told me that I would have my own Guardian.
- I know, I'm late.
- Well, hello, little Dhampir.
[suggestive music]
* *
- This is the guy?
[laughs] I'm driving.
- I am in your hands.
* *
- Have you ever even driven a car before?
- Guess I'm in your hands.
- * Make a night to regret *
* Makes 'em go and sweat to the moon, yeah *
* Come alive for the sunset *
* Hearts racing in the darkness *
* We go, we go *
- And they just comply?
Whatever you tell them?
- Most of the time.
- When you tried that with me, I could feel you
knocking at the door of my consciousness.
I'm envious.
- Says the man who can just stroll into my dreams.
- About that. [clears throat]
Now, Rose, just so you know, when I start making
inappropriate cameos in your dreams,
just know that's not Spirit Magic, all right?
That's just your intense attraction to me.
Are you a whiskey kind of lady?
- Where did you find this guy?
- So have you ever healed anyone?
- He--heal? You can heal? How?
- Well, it's just like the other power.
It's like this part of me drops inward and pools,
and I get this warm rush, and I can do stuff.
- So maybe I should explain.
- Have you seen the auras yet?
- Auras? No. Not yet. - What the hell is all this?
And where are we going?
- Time to clue us in.
[inquisitive music]
- [clears throat]
There is a scholar that we think
has some answers that Lissa and I very much need.
- A Moroi scholar in the human world?
- She's written some things about St. Vladimir
that haven't made her very popular with the church.
Or the Queen.
Or anyone, really.
- A heretic?
- An iconoclast
who's been accused of heresy.
* *
- Lissa.
[dramatic percussive music]
* *
- * Let's make a night to regret *
- We need different clothes.
[dramatic classical music]
* *
- I understand the fear that St. Jude touched off,
I feel it, but how much of our souls are we willing
to trade away just to feel a little less afraid?
Lady Ozera, these Dhampirs that the others
are talking about elevating aren't just bodies.
They're children,
just like your nephew Christian.
* *
Abby, it's down to you.
Your family has the honor
of hosting the Royal Caucus tonight.
Do me the honor of giving me your vote.
- Victor, spare me the pitch.
I'll do anything to stop that xenophobic monster Tatiana
from taking the throne.
* *
- [breathing heavily]
- Sir, are you all right?
- This scholar of yours, she lives around here?
- Approximately.
- You do know where we're going?
- I know where we're going next.
[laughs] What?
I don't know where she lives,
but I know someone who might. - Might?
- She's not exactly living out here on an official permit.
You know, a heretic and all.
She keeps a low profile.
- For fuck's sake.
- Do we look human now?
[both chuckle]
[soft tense music]
* *
- Okay.
- All right.
So where's this friend we're meeting?
- Who wants to go clubbing?
- * Everywhere we go *
[Sofi Tukker's "Greed"]
* People wanna know *
[upbeat music]
* Who you are *
* *
* Everywhere we go *
* *
* People wanna know *
* Who you are *
- [laughs] What is this music?
- It's fucking perfect.
- And all these people.
I mean, have you ever seen this many anybody?
- I've never been in a room where I literally know no one.
- I don't think anybody knows anybody here.
- No?
- * So we tell them *
* Your ill will, your sad song, your haircut *
- * Keeping you up all night *
* *
- * Your ego, your crashing, your greed *
- * Keeping you up all night *
* *
- Focus, Rose. This is a protective nightmare.
- I got it, Mr. Perimeter Control.
- Really?
How many entry and exit points?
Yeah, I don't know either.
You've got 360 degree exposure on our two charges
with only two of us to cover.
- I'm aware, but we're good.
- We could be walking through a Strigoi buffet line.
- I'll know if there are Strigoi.
* *
[upbeat music]
- Hi.
* *
- Muscle stays out here, Ivashkov.
You know that.
- Go. Be quick.
- Got it. One drink.
Maybe two.
- No uncovered entry points.
They'd better be quick.
- We're only here for information.
And maybe one drink.
- Hey, uh, Rose, try not to get too bored
without me, all right?
* *
- Want to do a shot?
Joking.
Ish.
[indistinct chatter]
- Is it okay with you if I let them in?
- Let me--let me just get this straight.
You'd marry Jesse Zeklos?
Listen, that guy makes me look eligible.
- Look, it's Jesse or Ralf Dawoud,
Anthony Carter, or Wade Vogel, okay?
[chuckles] And...
it's not that I would marry him.
- But they say you have to.
- If I want to get my quorum back, yeah.
- Hoo.
You know, back home,
they'd look at a room full of humans like this
and see only a feedlot.
You know, like cattle.
But you spend some time out here,
among the humans with all their mess and chaos and fun...
Suddenly, when you turn around and look back
into our little world with all its--
all its pious rules and sacred bloodlines--
it's those Zekloses and those Dawouds
and those Carters who start to look pretty fucking bovine.
But Lissa, seriously, you got to know.
When a wise old Moroi gives you a list like that,
it's just a fact.
The names they left off are sure to be a lot more fun.
Time to play.
[upbeat dance music]
* *
- This isn't our world.
- No.
This is fun.
You're so awkward. [laughs]
- I'm doing my job.
- Or maybe you don't know what to do with yourself
when you're actually kind of free.
No Moroi.
No Dhampirs.
None of your rules.
Just the music
and us.
Come on.
Just dance with me.
* *
- Fuck. [groans]
- Which is it?
Is it Strigoi or Lissa?
I've seen this enough times, Rose, at home, in Caroni.
You feel things coming. Which is it?
- Strigoi. We have to get out of here.
- Lissa. Go.
Go, go, go! - Go!
- * If you let go *
* If you're down for more *
* Till we six feet below *
* If you gotta know *
* *
* Till we six feet below *
* *
[tires squealing]
- I don't see anyone following.
- What the hell was that back there?
- There were Strigoi. - I didn't see any Strigoi.
- They were there, trust me.
- What the hell was that back there?
Not the Strigoi.
Took you long enough.
[soft music]
I like it.
- Just tell us where we're going.
- A little moonlight boat ride, anyone?
* *
- They're down there,
brainstorming questions for their heretic.
It's the nerdiest I've ever seen her.
- Keep warm.
- Do you ever think about another life?
Being more than just a pawn they can rip from your home
or throw Strigoi at for fun?
A life outside the Dominion.
While we were dancing,
you wanted that freedom too.
- When I was 13, two years into my academy training,
they gave us a Feast Day furlough.
I went to see my mother, my little sisters
back on the Commune.
This time, my father--
or the Royal who fathered me--
was visiting too.
I'd met him a few times,
heard him a few times
on the far side of the wall,
taking it out on her.
Whatever a posh Moroi fucker has to take out on anybody.
I had no idea how angry I was
till I found myself on him.
Years of anger just...
poured out of me.
And when it was done, I remember the fear,
not just his.
But also the fear in the eyes of my mother,
my sisters.
And the fear I felt
of that thing in me.
It's why I need the code of the Guardian life,
to keep that thing in check.
Freedom.
Freedom scares me to death, Rose.
Or it did until--
- Until now?
* *
[suspenseful music]
* *
- Where the hell are we?
- You've had a line on this woman for a while now.
How have you never come to ask these questions before?
- Sometimes you need the right answers to be able
to ask the right questions.
* *
- Clarice Sewani. I'm Adrian--
- I know who you are, and the answer
is the same as it's been for everyone
you've sent to hassle me: fuck off.
- Adrian, what are you doing?
- What do you think, Lord Ivashkov?
Just gonna force your way in?
- Adrian...
- Gonna set your Guardians on me?
You think you can make me talk?
- No.
She can.
She's not gonna give us what we need if you don't.
- I will.
- You have Compulsion.
You're a Messenger.
- Which means I can make you talk,
if I choose to.
* *
- Are you okay?
- I should be asking you.
I'm fine.
- Here.
[sighs] You're pushing yourself.
- I'm just--I'm just tired.
But I did it.
I will be king.
I-- [coughs]
[groans]
I just--I just need to make it through this last night.
The Queen will submit me to caucus,
the votes will formalize it,
and then you and I can both rest.
- But you have to make it through tonight
looking like a king, and you can barely stand.
Do you really think they'll allow it if they see this?
Dad, would the Unionists even support you?
I believe in you.
And I'm better. Look at me.
I slept. I had a feed.
I'm gonna heal you again.
I am. I can handle it.
And after last night,
there isn't much in my life that's come to anything.
But this, I can do.
[soft dramatic music]
I can make you king.
Ready?
- A man who raises such daughters
seeks to be the father to our people.
It cannot be.
Your Holiness, it's time you stopped Victor
once and for all.
- Me?
I represent the Elemental Way, my dear.
Not the mortal one.
- That distinction is exactly the problem.
The Strigoi are at the gates.
Our numbers are dwindling, and we are dithering.
We need to think bigger.
You, my dear aunt,
need to think bigger.
You will speak for the Church
and end this humiliation.
* *
- Okay.
I think I need to know what's happening here.
- What do you want to know?
- All of it.
- And then this corner looked like
it was Vladimir healing someone,
which is also something I can do.
- That leaves the center, where Vladimir's eyes are.
- Where he's consumed by Darkness.
His eyes are black in a way I think I've seen in myself.
He was a Spirit User, and it did something to him.
And a long time ago, someone decided
that no one should ever know.
And they gave us some bullshit story about happy Vladimir.
- We want the truth about Vlad.
All of it.
- We want to know how he fought it off,
the Darkness.
He must have, somehow.
* *
- Compulsion,. Dream Walking. Healing.
That's Anna there.
Faithful Anna, the model Dhampir Guardian.
Shadow-Kissed Anna.
But what about the fourth corner?
- It's been worn away.
I've never been able to find that out.
- If early accounts of this altarpiece are to be believed,
the image here originally looked something like this.
It's called a Spirit Bond.
Anna knew his heart like it was her own.
Sometimes his thoughts.
Maybe even saw through his eyes.
This is your answer.
Vladimir's solution to the Darkness, as you call it.
He passed it to her.
* *
- They actually believe all of this.
A Fifth Element?
Secret Magic that Vladimir had and the entire Dominion
has kept a secret for centuries?
- Or they just edited it out of the whole story
after they burned a bunch of people alive.
That's what they do-- lie and kill.
So why not?
- Because...it goes against
the whole holy Elemental Order.
The four-part harmony of the world.
I shouldn't have let this happen.
- Fuck.
They're coming.
- Go.
- Vladimir didn't beat the Darkness.
He just gave it to someone else.
Have I been doing this to Rose?
- She does sort of walk on the Dark side of things.
- No, no.
He was supposed to show me I could be someone good.
When everything's telling me that what I have in me is bad,
he was supposed to be good.
But he's just another parasitic Moroi like all of us,
just using his Guardian like that.
- Strigoi coming. We're going now.
- What?
You children.
You led them right to me.
- Yeah, lady, we did, but we've got the jump on them,
and we're going with or without you.
- Rose, no, she has-- - Lissa, we've got to go.
[tense music]
- They're here.
* *
[Strigoi snarling]
Inside.
- You'll be safe in here.
- You knew they were coming.
You can sense them in your gut.
* *
[pounding on door]
[Strigoi snarling]
* *
- Hey.
Hey, listen, you're assuming that Vladimir
forced his Darkness onto Anna,
but what if she took it?
Isn't that what we learned in Sunday school,
the holy devotion of Shadow-Kissed Anna?
- What is Shadow-Kissed?
I mean, how does any of this even makes sense?
* *
- This is one of the parts of Vladimir's story
the authorities wanted to expunge
because the Spirit Bond
was the fruit of Vladimir's ultimate sin.
- [screaming]
Rose! Rose!
* *
Rose! [screams]
- Lissa!
- She's just a kid.
[groans] What the actual fuck?
[Strigoi snarling, screeching]
- [panting]
- Never hesitate.
* *
- [murmuring in Old Moroi]
[soft tense music]
* *
May the succession bring prosperity to the Dominion.
- Very good.
Thank you all.
Is there something else, Irene?
- There is.
Your Majesty...
For decades now, you and I
have maintained a balance between the vagaries
of the political realm and the durable interest of the faith.
- As have all eight of my High Priests
and Priestesses before you.
- Yours? Hmm.
That, Marina, is precisely the problem.
The balance has collapsed.
This ugly chapter with Victor is only
the latest indignity to be forced on the faith
by political interests.
The time has come for the faith to assert itself.
- To muck about where it doesn't belong, you mean?
- To call in the many chits we have
piled up against the crown.
Do not mistake forbearance for weakness.
I am telling you that nominating Victor
would be a very grave error.
- Better your niece.
How much balance would there be
if one family controlled both Church and state?
Unless you're retiring.
- Tatiana is the only candidate for the throne
that the Church will tolerate.
And without the support of the Church,
the new monarch will fail.
The Elementalists will make sure of it.
Iwill make sure of it.
Victor will not rule.
* *
- I saw him.
They followed us here from the club.
- They had a human smorgasbord there.
What would we matter to them?
- My life here is dead.
- No, the Strigoi are dead.
You could clean up, and--
- You're so far out of your depth.
You have no idea how this world works.
It's not the Strigoi I'm worried about.
It's the ones who come after them.
You've burned my world down.
But to make us even, I'm going to give you
what you came here for.
[inaudible speech]
* *
- What the hell is going on?
How can you have possibly lost the Queen?
- What are you talking about, Abby?
The Queen has assured me--
- I have it from Tatiana's own lips.
The Queen won't submit your name to the Council.
Word's already getting out.
You've lost her confidence.
Tarus, the Ozeras, they're all wavering.
You may not have your votes much longer.
* *
- No. [panting]
Not now. [groans]
No. [groans]
No.
[knock at door]
* *
- Your father sent me.
Are you all right?
- I just need to feed.
- Of course.
[groaning]
Sonya.
Hey, easy.
Sonya.
[gasps]
Slow down, please!
[gasps]
Please! No! [groans]
- This is the moment. I have the votes.
You only need to name me, and it's done.
They will do your will.
Marina, please, after all we've given,
I have to have this.
- I'm sorry, Victor.
The Church has forced my hand.
But I have one final card to play.
* *
I want to thank my dear friend Abby Batista
for hosting us on this weighty day.
As we choose our next leader,
I remind you that a good monarch must know when to rule
and when not to.
As there is no clear majority for either the Elementalist
or Unionist candidate tonight,
I am suspending this caucus...
[crowd murmuring]
And invoking the ancient rite of Royal Trial,
a ritual steeped in and sanctified
by our religious forebears.
The candidates must face a series of sacred tests.
Whoever wins will rule.
Thus, the Elements will decide our fate,
not your aging Queen.
As of now, the future of our Dominion
is in the hands of the Elements.
[dramatic music]
* *
- It was just a moment.
We hesitated for one tiny moment.
- There's no room for divided loyalties in this world, Rose.
There can never be a question
of you or them,
me or your charge.
There can be no hesitation.
- Of course not.
It's a fucking dream.
But you felt it.
Right?
[soft music]
What we could be?
- Every second of it.
But never again.
[somber music]
* *
[tense music]
- For 500 years, we've burrowed down in our provinces
and let ourselves forget that the Strigoi
aren't the only ones with the power to do us harm.
Beyond the wards, they watch and wait,
ready to come down on us with all their fury if we err.
But if history is our guide,
the first wound we suffer will be self-inflicted.
We turn on our own first.
[dramatic music]
* *
[knock at door]
- Thank God you're here. I needed to see you.
- I don't want you to be my Guardian.
Not now, not ever.
It's just--it's too wrong, all of it.
The way we exploit you.
I just can't do it anymore, not to you.
They'll give me someone, and I can't avoid that.
But I just can't have it be you.
You deserve better.
- I deserve?
- I'm trying to do what's best.
- You have no idea what it's like to be us.
None.
And now you're gonna tell me what I deserve?
You're going to make that choice for me,
but I don't get a say?
I have no option but to be a Guardian,
and the only thing that makes all that shit worthwhile
is you.
And now you're gonna take that away
as some kind of a favor to me?
You have no idea what I would give up for you.
I would die for you.
- Yeah, I know you would, because you did.
- The ultimate sin Vladimir committed
was resurrection.
In a faith built on the cycling of Elements,
there is no greater violation...
Than bringing life back to the dead.
That was the source of the bond to Anna,
the Shadow Kiss.
Death left its mark on her...
- [gasps]
- Just as it has on your friend.
- You died
saving me in the accident.
I brought you back.
You're Shadow-Kissed.
That's why we have this bond between our spirits.
But now--
now I know how toxic that's been for you.
I've been passing my Darkness off to you.
I'm not gonna do it anymore,
not if I can help it.
- So firing me is going to solve that?
- It's a start.
- Lissa-- - I'm sorry.
I'm so sorry.
[somber music]
* *
- Lissa.
Lissa!
[pounding on door]
Lissa!
[pounding continues]
[groans]
Lissa!
* *
- Sonya?
Sonya.
* *
Sonya?
[eerie hip-hop music]
* *
[dog barks]