Late at night at St. Cecilia’s Girls School, a woman called Stephanie Sommer is writing a letter to the school headmistress Miss Broodie. In the letter, Sommer reprimands Broodie for her cowardice regarding the evil at work in their school and threatens to inform the police if nothing is done. As she finishes writing, Sommer receives a knock on her door. She answers and a hissing figure grabs Sommer by the neck…
At the mortuary, Quick and Litefoot are examining the body of Davey, the man Ellie murdered at the fairground. They discover two bite marks in his neck and all the blood had been drained from his body, which are all the calling signs of a vampire. Quick remembers the deputy curator at the Scarlet Gallery was killed in the same manner and fears that a pattern is beginning to form. He plans to get his map to pinpoint all the areas their vampire has attacked.
At the Red Tavern, Jago and Litefoot discuss the vampire roaming London. Jago notices that Ellie is not on duty and has been acting strange as of late. He fears that she may have turned back to her vampiric nature or is covering for another vampire. Litefoot is dismissive of his fear as he reminds Jago that Ellie has not shown any signs of vampirism for several years since their encounter with Gabriel Sanders. Litefoot does agree that Ellie has been unsociable lately, but he dislikes the idea of Ellie acquainting herself with other vampires and chooses not to believe so. Unless another murder or some unforeseen intervention occurs, they will be playing the waiting game.
The next day, Litefoot comes to visit Jago at the New Regency Theatre during rehearsals. Both men inform each other that they have each received a letter stating that they are aware of their vampiric murderer and that the killer can be found at St. Cecilia’s Girls School. Jago informs Litefoot that he arranged for an interview that afternoon. Litefoot is incredibly suspicious of the letter because the only people who know the killer is a vampire are himself, Jago and Inspector Quick. Question is, who else is aware? Litefoot agrees to accompany Jago to the school but warns him that they should both be cautious.
That afternoon, Jago and Litefoot arrive at St. Cecilia’s School. Where they both meet with Miss Broodie the headmistress. After a generalised interview, both men ask Broodie if the school has had any strange goings on lately, to which Broodie denies while laughing nervously. She informs Litefoot that she is pleased to offer him a job as Head of Sixth Form and Life Sciences. Litefoot is taken aback but agrees to the job.
As they leave the school, Jago is flabbergasted that Litefoot accepted the proposed teaching position, but Litefoot tells him that he plans to use the job as a cover to investigate the school. In the meantime, he instructs Jago to keep a close eye on Ellie in case she does have something to do with the vampiric case.
The next day, Miss Broodie introduces her students to Litefoot at a school assembly. She also mentions that the funeral of Professor Plumpter is to take place that afternoon. Once the assembly ends, Litefoot tries to ask Broodie about Plumpter but she is dismissive and quickly leaves. Two girls, Hannah Bennet and Lucilla Fredericks, approach Litefoot and tell him that he is Plumpter’s replacement after he died of mysterious circumstances only a week ago. Before Litefoot can enquire further, a teacher called Mr. Ravener dismisses the two girls to their classes and quietly asks Litefoot to come to his office.
Mr. Ravener leads Litefoot to his office, which is lit by gaslight and the curtains drawn. Here he informs Litefoot that he is the Head of Religious Studies. Despite this, Litefoot mentions how Ravener does not own a copy of the Bible, yet he owns a book on demonology. Ravener explains that he teaches comparative religions to show alternatives to theological orthodoxy. Ravener brings up Hannah and Lucilla and tells Litefoot not to take their words seriously, there was nothing suspicious about Plumpter’s death…or any of the others…
That evening, Jago meets with Ellie at the Red Tavern at closing hours. Jago is not so subtle about his suspicions of Ellie, such as asking her about whether she is going straight home or if she will be serving at the Tavern tomorrow. After he leaves, Ellie whispers to herself that Jago suspects her…
Underground, Ellie meets with The Old One. He reprimands Ellie for her repeated failures to kill Jago and Litefoot. He reminds her that despite her failures, he has wiped out all his enemies and he will do the same to them one way or another. He mentions that he has also wiped out all vampires who have defected to live amongst the humans, such as the Morris’, the Von Crupps. The only family that oppose him are the Fredericks. Ellie apologises for her weakness as she explains she was overcome with sentiment, but now she promises to renounce her humanity and end her former friends lives. The Old One informs her that the matter of the Infernal Investigators is being dealt with by another agent, but he does have another way for Ellie to test her fealty…
The next day, Litefoot begins his first lesson by teaching the girls biology. The mention of the word ‘blood’ makes the girls unusually quiet. He is even more surprised when the girls point out each vein and artery correctly. One girl raises her hand to answer a question and Litefoot notices that she has a rather large bitemark in her hand…much like a vampire’s bite. Not wanting to panic the girls, he openly dismisses it as an allergic reaction and tells the girl to get checked at the nurse’s office after class. Hannah and Lucilla ask Litefoot if they can skip this part of the syllabus as they are all rather well informed on blood, veins, and arteries. Litefoot asks them what they mean, and they decide to tell him what he has applied for…
After the school day has ended, Litefoot meets with Broodie. Broodie is impressed by Litefoot’s first day. Litefoot himself is pleased with the turnout. He mentions to Broodie that he has noticed some of the girls wear a peculiar bracelet around their wrists and asks to know what they mean. Broodie is dismissive and believes that they signify the girl is a member of a secret society or something childish. Litefoot presses Broodie on the death of Plumpter, who was crushed by a falling statue. Then he mentions the death of the school’s Reverend Greaves, whose body was discovered at the bottom of a disused well. Broodie suddenly breaks down into tears and fears that the school is cursed by a malevolent force. Litefoot decides to ask her if the school has been attacked by a vampire. Broodie begins to laugh nervously about how the situation could not be worse than it already is!
That evening, Jago meets with Ellie at the Red Tavern again. He asks her to sit down and asks if she has taken up any new hobbies as she is now currently working the late shift at the Tavern. Ellie dodges the question and tells Jago that she does not have time for a hobby. Jago tells Ellie that he and Litefoot are on the trail of a vampire who is hiding at a girl’s school, where Litefoot is currently employed as a teacher. With this knowledge, Ellie quickly gets up and returns to her barmaid duties…
The next morning, Broodie informs Litefoot and Ravener that the games mistress Madame Sommer had resigned via telegram after being absent for the past three days. But Broodie is pleased to announce that she has filled the vacancy for school caretaker. The new caretaker enters the staffroom and is revealed to be…Jago!
Litefoot is surprised to find Jago here, considering he tasked him with watching Ellie. Jago tells Litefoot that he has met with Ellie a few times and cannot seem to find anything incriminating about her. Broodie arrives and asks Litefoot to supervise the girl’s hockey practice, while asking Jago to set up the field.
As the girls prepare for the hockey game, Jago sets up the field (poorly) as most of the tools were in a locked storeroom shed which has no key. Litefoot tells Jago that he should be the referee as he would be more authoritative in a contact sport. When the girls organise themselves into two teams, Jago notes that Lucilla is missing. Hannah explains that Lucilla has a condition that excuses her from games. As the games get underway, Jago immediately flashes a yellow card to a player for injuring another girl. Litefoot examines the injured girl and notices the same curious bitemarks on her wrist as the other girl in his class yesterday. Before Jago can overreact, Litefoot assures him its an old wound and nothing more, conveying so in a voice to Jago that there is more than he is telling…
10 minutes into the game, the hockey ball is accidently launched through the window of the locked shed. With no other way to get it, Litefoot decides to abandon the game. But the girls decide to use brute force to open the shed. After a few shoulder tackles, the girls manage to force the door open…and find the dead body of Miss Sommers inside! Litefoot inspects the body and deduces that her neck was broken, more pressingly is that she has been dead for several days. It turns out that she did not resign as the telegram had stated. Someone has been murdering the staff!
Later in the middle of the night, Litefoot is visited by Ellie. She tells Litefoot that she is aware he and Jago are hunting a vampire and has decided to come along and help. Litefoot is reluctant to endanger her in a vampire case again, but Ellie reassures him. He decides to fetch Jago and they will tell her everything.
The trio decide to snoop around while everyone on campus is asleep. Litefoot informs Ellie about the murders and the number of staff resigning from their posts. While there have been numerous murders, nothing suggests that a vampire is behind the attack. The only thing that can be considered possibly vampiric are the strange bite wounds they have found on the girls wrists that are covered up by their bracelets. Litefoot mentions that he was briefly suspicious of the Religious Studies teacher, Mr. Ravener. The name gives Ellie a shock and she suggests they search his office.
The trio enter his office and begin searching around for anything suspicious. Jago immediately finds a notebook written in an unrecognisable foreign language. At the back of the notebook, they discover a class register with several names encircled. One name gives Ellie a start – Lucilla Fredericks, but quickly disguises her shock. Litefoot assumes that the names encircled are a part of a secret society, hence why they wear the bracelets. But why would Ravener need to know this? Jago shows them a bracelet he discovered in the shed by Sommer’s dead body. Litefoot deduces that the murderer must be someone wearing a bracelet and is attacking students but murdering staff, which would not make sense. He further believes that maybe there are two different people behind the attacks. With the sun slowly rising, Ellie hastily leaves to open the Red Tavern for the night workers.
Later that morning, Miss Broodies asks Jago if he can chaperone the girl’s school trip to the New Regency Theatre as the drama teacher is indisposed. Jago does not buy into the drama teacher’s excuse but agrees to the chaperone job.
That afternoon, Jago and the girls return to the school after a successful trip to the theatre, which the girls speak very highly of. Jago meets up with Litefoot and informs him that he spotted a pair of puncture marks on Hannah’s neck. Plus, Lucilla was absent from the trip. Which is odd as she was absent from the hockey game as well…
Jago and Litefoot meet with the school nurse and request Lucilla’s medical record. They are shocked to discover that her record states that she must be excused from all outdoor excursions as she has a rare skin condition that triggers when exposed to the sun…
Despite the evidence pointing to Lucilla being the vampire, Litefoot reminds Jago that the evidence is merely circumstantial at best. Nonetheless, he devises a plan to draw Lucilla to the chapel during the night when all the girls are asleep. He writes a note in the handwriting of the one person Lucilla would meet no matter what…
That night, Lucilla arrives at the chapel looking for Hannah. Jago emerges from the shadows holding a sharpened broom handle and a mirror. He holds the mirror up to Lucilla’s face and finds no reflection. Litefoot emerges and confirms the Infernal Investigator’s suspicions…there is no reflection…one of the many signs of a vampire! Jago accuses her of being the vampire murdering the citizens of London, but Lucilla states that she is innocent. While she confirms that she indeed a vampire, she is not their culprit, neither is she responsible for the killings in the school. But she does confess that she has been biting her fellow students…who allowed her to do so! She explains that Hannah and the girls are aware of her vampirism and allow her to draw small amounts of blood from them at certain intervals during the week out of the goodness of their hearts. Small amounts at a time do not have any adverse side effects on the victim. Litefoot decides to let Lucilla tell her side of the story.
Elsewhere, Hannah receives a visit from Ravener. He informs her that he is aware of Lucilla’s secret and she may be in danger and asks her to come with him immediately.
Lucilla explains to Jago and Litefoot that her family were vampires who turned their backs on their old ways and choose to peacefully co-exist amongst humanity. But her family and others like hers have been hunted down by the most powerful and most evil vampire of all – The Old One. To protect her from The Old One, Lucilla’s parents left her at the school, but soon afterwards her parents were killed, and she is the last of the Frederick vampire line. She reveals that there are still other vampires in London and across the world who resist The Old One, but Jago and Litefoot tell her not to give them up. Ravener arrives and expresses his disappointment in the Infernal Investigators, he had hoped they would not only find the vampire, but a lead to the other resisting vampires as well. He reveals that he was the one who sent them their letters pertaining to the vampire hiding at the school, and he was the one behind the murders of the staff! Ravener explains that he was assigned to hunt the vampire at the school, so he murdered the Reverend Greaves to open a position for him to apply for in the school and get rid of a potential threat to himself. Sommer was getting too close to uncovering his plans and Plumpter was killed to open the position for Litefoot to take his place. Jago and Litefoot plead with Ravener to let Lucilla go, but he is disgusted by vampires who choose to live among humans. He reveals that he has Hannah strapped to the bell in the school tower. If Lucilla refuses to tell him the locations of the other vampires, the bell will ring in 5 minutes and the clapper will crush Hannah. He turns and locks the chapel door to prevent their escape, but when he turns back…Litefoot has disappeared. Ravener demands to know where he is gone, and Jago tells Ravener he did not account for the priest hole connected to an underground network of tunnels. Ravener demands to know where the entrance is, but Jago refuses to tell him. Ravener however is not perturbed as Litefoot will not reach her in time, and he leaves the chapel with Jago and Lucilla giving chase.
Litefoot arrives at the foot of the belltower, but finds he has a long walk ahead of him as a long winding staircase presents itself. Outside, Jago and Lucilla chase Ravener to the belltower.
Litefoot calls out to Hannah and she calls back to him. He enters the bell chamber and finds Hannah strapped to the bell. He proceeds to untie her from the bell. At the base of the tower, Lucilla informs Jago they only have two minutes to rescue Hannah. They find the automated system which operates the bell. Lucilla runs up the tower to find Hannah while Jago proceeds to find a way to sabotage the system.
As Litefoot manages to untie Hannah, Ravener arrives and he threatens to throw the two of them from the tower, taunting that Broodie will most likely sweep their deaths under the rug as usual. Lucilla arrives and is glad to see Hannah safe. Ravener demands once more that Lucilla give up the names of her vampire compatriots, but she refuses. Ravener informs them that the bell will strike any moment now…but nothing happens, much to his confusion. Lucilla grabs the unscrewed bell clapper and throws it at Ravener, launching him out the window and to the ground below to his death. Litefoot looks out the broken window but he cannot see Ravener’s dead body, but a bat does fly past into the night sky… Jago arrives and asks to know where Ravener went, to which Litefoot cannot answer…
The next morning, Jago and Litefoot leave the school to return to their regular day jobs. Litefoot feels assured that Lucilla can look after herself, despite the challenges she will have to face ahead. They both remember that Robert W Paul’s cinematograph exhibit is due to be performed at the New Regency Theatre, so they both decide to take the night off to watch it.
That night, Lucilla is awakened by Ellie. Ellie assures her that they have mutual friends in Jago and Litefoot and is aware of what they did for her. Plus, Ellie is aware that Lucilla is a vampire thanks to their mutual friend The Old One. As Ravener failed to kill Lucilla, Ellie tells her she is here to finish the job. She angrily begs Lucilla to change into her vampire form to make the kill more interesting, but Lucilla cannot do so…Ellie is not that disappointed either way and bares her fangs as Lucilla screams one last time…
Underground, Ellie meets with The Old One asking if she did well. The Old One is impressed by her results, but he is less than impressed with Ravener who had several months to kill Lucilla and get the information he needed but failed. Ravener tries to explain that he had tried to get information on Jago and Litefoot as well as fulfil his mission, but The Old One will not hear it. He demands that he brings the Infernal Investigators to him immediately…
At the New Regency Theatre, Jago is having nerves about Robert W Paul showing his trick film to a paying public, but Paul assures him everything will be fine. He starts the film, and the Infernal Investigators prepare for their inevitable humiliation. Suddenly, Litefoot notices to his horror that something is missing from the film…when it was filmed, Ellie was with them in the tent, but in the film she is not there! If the logic of a vampire being invisible in a mirror is anything to go by, a cinematograph should not be any different. Both investigators realise in horror that Ellie is their murderous vampire!
