After some discussion (and bickering), Trevor, Sypha and Alucard decide their next move should be to try and return to what's left of the Belmont estate. Trevor explains that although his family home was burnt to the ground, the "Belmont Hold", a vault full of all the information and artefacts his ancestors collected over the years, was probably untouched.
Meanwhile, Dracula's war council's grousing at having to follow orders from humans is interrupted by the arrival of Carmilla. She proceeds to demand to know Dracula's plans, and clearly isn't too loyal to his cause...
Back on the road, Alucard tells his new travelling companions his life story (and how it's taken an unpleasant turn for humanity as a whole) as they sit around the camp fire. He's interrupted by the arrival of a gang of demonspawn, which the trio quickly dispatch. They allow the sole survivor to fly off, mortally (in the manner of speaking) wounded.
Isaac self flagellates with a spiked chain, flashing back to how he killed his abusive master. His own motive for serving Dracula coming from a sincere belief that love (which his old master claimed to be motivated to punish him out of) cannot exist until humanity is extinct. He's presented with the sole survivor of the skirmish, which apparently made it within feet of the castle before dying of its wounds, and commends its loyalty. He then proceeds to address the council with the news of an active Belmont and Alucard's return he extracted after reviving the unfortunate minion.
Tropes for this episode include:
- Big Entrance: Carmilla makes a big dramatic entrance to Dracula's throne, walking up to him confidently, insulting his Council of Vampires, openly questioning his motives for the war, and even explicitly bringing up his Berserk Button by asking why he never turned Lisa into a vampire. Dracula is very angry at first, but later calms down when he sees that she did everything on purpose as a power play.
- Cannot Cross Running Water: Dracula cites this as a reason against attacking Braila, as its built on the Danube River. While deciding whether or not to attack it, Godbrand, Carmilla, Hector, and Isaac get into a debate about what qualifies as "running water", and whether it has any effect on them, until Dracula silences them. The entire conversation is very Seinfeldian.Hector: I've been told vampires couldn't cross running water.
Godbrand: I've been on boats. I've had baths.
Isaac: When?
Hector: Baths aren't running water though, are they?
Godbrand: Course they are.
Isaac: How can baths be running water? The water stopped being poured when you get in. - Enlightened Self-Interest: When Dracula questions Carmilla in private, she admits that everything she did, from being fashionably late to pointing out how Dracula made the entire war over his human wife, was all calculated politics. While Dracula was annoyed when she brought up Lisa, he commends her for her moxie and social-savvy.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Carmilla seems to struggle with the idea that Lisa and Dracula's relationship was based on love and mutual respect. In particular, she angers Dracula by asking why he didn't turn her, and describes her as a "pet".
- Eye Scream: Isaac's younger flashback reveals that he digs his fingers into the eyes of his master back in the Holy Land.
- Human Resources: Alucard claims Dracula made the leather of books he wrote out of the skin of people he especially hated.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!":
- When Carmilla asks why Dracula never turned Lisa, incurring his ire in the process, every other vampire in the room does a double take, looking shocked at her audacity.
- The Council of Vampires gives a similar reaction when they discover that not only is there still a Belmont running around, but that he was partially responsible for the failed annihilation of Gresit.
- Never Learned to Read: Due to the destruction of the Belmont family when Trevor was young, he never properly learned to read. Thus the Belmont family library holds no use for him - however now that he has educated friends, they can use the library.
- The Night That Never Ends: Alucard claims to have seen blueprints devised by Dracula for machines that can "pull shrouds across the sky to block out the sun," implying that Dracula's plan could be to create "endless invented night" as the final stage of his grand revenge.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Dracula's eyes turn blood red when Carmilla refers to his wife as a "pet".
- Supermodel Strut: Carmilla's Big Entrance has her strutting through in Dracula's throne room, in an assertive manner and with a notable sway to her hips. The Fanservice aspect is dialed down, as she's going more for unflinching confidence than sex appeal.
- Turned Against Their Masters: Isaac's flashback/backstory when he turns on and kills his master, a crusading knight, back when he was a slave in the Holy Land.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Trevor and Alucard quickly develop this relationship. Often snarking at, or even threatening, each other, but also doing so good-naturedly and laughing about it.
