Wallachia, 1455: a young woman named Lisa arrives at a massive castle, led to this strange locale by the rumors of the scientific knowledge contained therein. Upon entering the castle, she is greeted by its master: Vlad Dracula Tepes. Lisa explains that she is studying to be a doctor, often thought of among her own people as a witch, who wishes to use the knowledge contained in the castle to help her people. Vlad asks what Lisa had to offer in exchange for his knowledge, to which Lisa explains that she does not believe Vlad to have traveled much, even though his scientific wonder of a castle could move across the land. She offers to travel the world with him, so he can live like humans do.
Vlad comes to respect Lisa for her wit and cunning, and Lisa respects Vlad for his intelligence. The two fall in love and marry... but alas, theirs is a star-crossed love: twenty years later, the church finds Lisa's studies and scientific instruments, accuses her of witchcraft, and sentences her to burn at the stake. With her dying breath, Lisa beseeches her love to not give in to the same hatred born of ignorance as other humans...
Dracula returns to Wallachia on the night that she dies, learning about her fate from a neighbor who detested the injustice brought against her and is instead visiting her burnt house to pay her respects. Dracula had walked the earth as Lisa suggested to better understand humans... but there was no understanding the selfsame creatures whose ignorance claimed her life. He warns Lisa's neighbor to take her family and flee from Wallachia before vanishing in flames before her.
As Lisa's body crumbles to ash, Dracula's visage appears in the flames that took her life. With his one reason for tolerating humanity gone, he tells the people of Wallachia to make peace with their Lord, for in one year, he will return to purge all human life from the land. He then warns the church and those who watched the burning that they will be given one year to "make peace with their God".
As Dracula prepares to spend the next year gathering a legion of demons from the depths of hell, his son, Adrian, approaches him, begging him to reconsider his course of action and not condemn innocents to die. Dracula refuses: as far as he is concerned, the people's inaction contributed to Lisa's death. Alucard is determined to stop his father, and the two fight viciously...
One year passes, and the archbishop of the church speaks to his congregation at Târgoviște, celebrating the death of a witch. As he claims the warnings of the "devil" were empty threats, the skies darken, and blood rains from the sky, along with unborn hellspawns. Dracula's visage appears in the sky, condemning the people for their callousness before beginning his genocidal campaign: those who aren't killed by the flames beckoning his castle are viciously slaughtered by his demonic army. Not a single man, woman, or child is spared.
Dracula orders his legion to spread out through Wallachia and continue their genocide of humanity...Meanwhile, in a tavern, a man drinks as the other patrons rant about the state of the world, which they claim was brought upon by the likes of a clan known as the Belmonts...
Tropes for this episode include:
- Accomplice by Inaction: Vlad not only declares the Church guilty of killing Lisa, but invokes this on the onlookers in Targoviste for doing nothing to stop them. A year after, he sends demons to kill them all.
- Actually Pretty Funny: Dracula questions Lisa if she brought anything that could used against a vampire, namely garlic. She brings up she had some roast garlic, as it was all she had left, and asks if that was rude of her. While she carries on talking, Dracula lets out a small laugh.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: A second-hand example: when Dracula learns of Lisa's fate from one of her patients who came to pay her respects, he warns her to gather her family and flee Wallachia immediately as a final gesture of goodwill before fully dedicating himself to exterminating humanity.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Her interests in practical medicine and science gets Lisa burned at the stake under suspicions of witchcraft. Such was the norm at that time because, as far as the Church is concerned, virtually anything not associated with God is automatically labeled blasphemous.
- Also Dramatic Irony that Lisa learns perfectly useful science for the purposes of helping others from a supernatural Dark Lord. The Church also doesn't even believe Dracula exists so that doesn't enter into their reasoning.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Dracula takes his rage out on humanity itself. He could have stopped at the church for instigating the execution against Lisa. Then again, he literally stated she was the reason he didn't kill any of them sooner. Since no one near the Targoviste burning decided to step in to save her, it was enough justification to carry on with his plan.
- Humans Are Bastards: Vlad didn't have much tolerance for humans before he met Lisa, then he moves back to this again when he learns the Church executed her for accusations of witchcraft. He tells them to make peace for the next year before he kills them, but saw they instead celebrated in the death of the "witch". Needless to say, he's pretty much done with their ignorance.
- Gorn: Every last man, woman, and even child, in Targoviste is stabbed, dismembered, and/or slaughtered by demons. The show does not hold back at their detailed deaths, and just teases what's to come going forward.
- Interspecies Romance: Between Vlad, who is a vampire, and Lisa, who is a human. It doesn't end well.
- Love at First Sight: A downplayed and implied example, given Dracula's smile during his exchange with Lisa near the end of their meeting onscreen.Lisa: They won't live such short, scared lives if they have real medicine. They won't be superstitious of how the real world works.
Dracula: [Chuckling] Why should I do that?
Lisa: To make the world better. Start with me, and I'll start with you.
Dracula: [Now bowing] I think I might like you. - Mood Whiplash:
- The episode starts with Dracula and Lisa falling in love, then promptly cuts to Lisa being burned at the stake.
- At the end of the episode it suddenly goes from Dracula's horde slaughtering a city and his big dramatic speech to a comedic scene where a peasant in a bar is complaining about catching a neighbor having sex with his goat.
- Morality Chain: Lisa inspires Dracula's desire to travel, so he travels like a man. When he comes back, he finds out that Lisa was killed, so he unleashes Hell on Earth for revenge. He claims to never had an positive opinion for humanity, so learning she was killed unjustly certainly didn't help.Dracula: That woman was the only reason on earth for me to TOLERATE! HUMAN! LIFE!!
- New Era Speech: Dracula gives one of these to the demons ravaging Târgoviște, signaling the beginning of his war against mankind.Dracula: Kill everything you see. Kill them all! And once Targoviste has been turned into a graveyard for my love, go forth into the country. Go now! Go to all the cities of Wallachia: Arges! Severin! Gresit! Chilia! Enisara! Go now, and kill! Kill for my love! Kill, for the only true love I ever knew. Kill, for the endless lifetime of hate before me.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Lisa wants to make use of the sciences Vlad presents to her, but it results in her being burned at the stake. Their son, Alucard, attempts to stop Vlad from exacting revenge on humanity but only get revenge on the Bishop and his group, but is attacked and his fate unknown.
- Pet the Dog: In what he describes as his last act of kindness, Dracula warns Lisa's neighbor (the one who came to pay respect to her memory) to take her family and flee Wallachia before he destroys it.
- Playing with Fire: When he discovers that his wife was killed, he disappears in a pillar of fire. He then manifests his face in the same pyre used to murder his wife, warning the townsfolk that he will take revenge on them all within a year.
- Rain of Blood: Just as the Archbishop mocks Dracula's threats as lies from the Devil, storm clouds come and it is suddenly raining drops of blood.
- Tempting Fate: Just as the Archbishop made a speech insisting Dracula's warnings were empty threats, the sky starts raining blood and demons emerge to kill everyone in Târgoviște.
- This Is Going to Suck: When one of the tavern customers starts going on about how the Belmonts should've been exterminated, Trevor, who happens to be sitting nearby, says "...shit." under his breath.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Even while burning at the stake, Lisa pleads to Dracula (who is not present) not to blame her killers, as they don't understand medicine.
- Vampires Hate Garlic: Apparently not the case in this universe, as Lisa mentioned having roasted garlic for lunch when speaking with Vlad (not out of superstition, but because it was what was available to eat), and he certainly had no trouble being around her.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Dracula's tone is dripping with this and restrained rage when he lampshades the audacity of the people of Targoviste not only ignoring his warning delivered a year prior — a massive public spectacle delivered from a 20-foot high flaming skull — but then go on to hold a celebration marking Lisa's execution. It's the final nail in the coffin for any hesitation or doubt he might have possessed about following through on his path, and he basically says "to hell with it"....and then brings Hell on Earth.
- Your Days Are Numbered: Dracula gives everyone in Targoviste a full year to "make peace with their God". This isn't a opportunity to have them beg to be spared. With the exception of one woman and her family he tells them to leave earlier, he basically telling them to pray for forgiveness before he kills them all. One year later, he goes through with his plan. He spares no one, and he's just getting started.
