Ethan finds himself in the middle of the desert, and sees Kaetenay approaching. The Apache disappears and reappears next to Ethan, covered in blood and screaming...
... and Ethan wakes up from his nightmare. He's in a stable, and Hecate is sitting nearby watching him. She assures him that he's safe and offers a canteen of water. Ethan takes a drink and warns that they'll be after him, and Hecate wonders where he plans to go. She insists on coming, pointing out that she's proven her loyalty, and promises to follow the Wolf of God to Hell.
In London, Renfield is writing Vanessa's name over and over in his journal. Inside Seward's office, Vanessa paces back and forth and complains that Seward is judging her. She asks if Seward believes her, and Seward wonders which part of her story does she want her to believe. She says that believes it because Vanessa believes it, and says that she is full of pain. Seward tells Vanessa that she's in pain, and her mind creates fantasies to cope with it. Vanessa asks for a cigarette, and when Seward reaches for the case, Vanessa grabs her hand. She says that Seward has a scar on the back of her neck, caused by a man, and he would have killed Seward if she hadn't killed him first. Vanessa releases the doctor's hand and says that the creatures of darkness asks a name, and asks Seward if they shall see them together.
As Caliban travels back to London, he remembers more of his time when he was a man with his son Jack and wife Maggie. He remembers looking out the window and seeing a Chinese dragon in a parade, and looks up to realize that he is on a carriage heading into the city. A salesman riding him with makes small talk, asking if Caliban has family in London. Caliban says that he does.
At Bedlam, Victor questions Balfour and confirms that he is insane, as Henry looks on. Victor asks if Balfour remembers being sane when his insanity returns, and Balfour admits that he doesn't. Henry's serum wears off and Balfour returns to his deranged state. The attendants take him away, and Victor insists that each of them are good and evil combined. Henry doesn't believe it and insists that in the end, they are what the world demands of them. Furious, he insists that they can't allow the other man, the man made up of their buried lusts. Victor tells his friend to brace himself for the work ahead, and Henry says that he has endured it his whole life. Satisfied, Victory says that he can extend the duration of the serum's effect using electricity. By combing his work with Henry's, they shall make a choir of angels.
Lily is at a café with Justine, who is staring at a man at another table. Justine's new mentor says that all men are slaves to their desire, but tells the girl that Dorian is not a man like other men. When Justine says that she's never known a man who didn't want to fuck her or beat her, Lily says that she knew one: Ethan. She refuses to say what happened to him, but Justine insists that she is Lily's. As Lily starts to answer, a group of suffragettes come by. The police drag them away, and Lily says that the suffragettes seek equality while they seek the quiet accumulation of power. When they have that power, then they will go to war.
In the U.S., Malcolm and Kaetenay are taking a train across the desert. Malcolm finally asks Kaetenay why he came to find him. Kaetenay says that Ethan trust Malcolm with his life, and that a deeply-scarred woman has found Ethan. Malcolm says that the woman is a witch, and Kaetenay says that they must find Ethan and kill anyone who stands if their way. If they don't then a terrible end awaits them all and the darkness will overcome the earth. Only Ethan can save them, and Kaetenay knows because he has seen it.
Two men approach the travelers and tell Kaetenay that the train is for whites only. Malcolm says that Kaetenay is with him, and advises the men to consider or he'll kill them. They quickly back off and walk away. Kaetenay says nothing, and Malcolm goes back to looking out the window.
Ethan considers the distance they have to travel, and Hecate assures him that their horses won't die along the way. He warns her that there is no mercy in the land or in himself for her. Hecate tells Ethan that he knows she's there for a reason, even if he doesn't know what it is yet. Ethan says that his Apache father taught him to believe in things that they couldn't understand, and concedes that Hecate is one of them. They go to get horses at a nearby ranch, and the rancher draws a gun on them. When the rancher's wife calls to him, Hecate cuts his throat, runs inside, and kills the wife as well. She goes back to Ethan and says that what's done is done, and asks how many corpses he has left in his way. Hecate then walks away, smiling.
At the saloon in Cascabel, Rusk, his junior, and Ostow find the corpses that Ethan and Hecate left. Rusk notices the owner's body and points out that he was neatly killed while the others were butchered and cannibalized. They figure that Ethan had help, and Ostow demands to know the truth. Rusk insists that he's chasing Ethan because it's his duty, and leaves the saloon. As they go, he advises Ostow to start believing in the occult.
In Chinatown, Caliban goes to the street he remembers and sees Vanessa across the street. Before he can approach her, Caliban sees Sweet arrive and smiles wistfully as the curator leaves with Vanessa. Caliban then sees his flat window and enters the mahjong parlor below it. He asks the owner who lives upstairs, and the man says that it's been empty since he came. The owner takes Caliban upstairs to see it, and when he proves uncooperative, Caliban grabs him by the throat and says that he wants to find the people who lived there.
Vanessa and Sweet walk around Limehouse, and Sweet says that he's interested in new things. He talks about how the woman he loved passed away a year ago, and he's just finding his feet again. Vanessa says that she understands, and Sweet tells her that he hears his love's voice when he sees Vanessa. They continue walking and Sweet takes in the live all around them. He admits that he hasn't taken much notice of it in the last year, and Vanessa says that she has been much the same. She says that she finds it promising and smiles. As they walk on, Dracula's lead familiar follows them.
Caliban goes to the docks and looks at the factory workers as they let out. The men go to their nearby tenements, and Caliban goes upstairs to one flat. There's a hole in the hallway ceiling, and Caliban climbs up and then over to the flat. He peers down and see the model that he and Jack made together. Maggie comes in and Jack calls to his mother, and Caliban realizes that the boy is ill. Crying, he looks down on his son.
That night, Vanessa and Sweet attend the fun fair. They come to a Hall of Mirrors and go inside and enter the maze. Vanessa sees the lead familiar watching behind her and hangs behind, but he disappears when she glances away for a moment. She tries to find Sweet and instead comes to a central chamber where she is seemingly alone. The familiar appears and addresses her, and Vanessa asks where his master is. He says that she will soon meet the Master again, reminds her that the Master's teeth were at her throat, and licks her throat. Vanessa demands to know when it happened, and the familiar says that it took place long ago in the White Room where there was no time. The familiar suddenly looks up in shock, drops to the floor, and crawls backward out of the chamber.
Malcolm and Kaetenay find the dead rancher and his wife, and Malcolm points out that Ethan does kill that way. Kaetenay warns that Ethan is halfway gone already, and says that they will go into the desert and not stop until they find Ethan. When they find him, they will save him if they can... and kill the evil he has become if they cannot.
Further on, Ethan tells Hecate that once they enter the desert, they have to continue on. He wonders why she is there, and Hecate tells him that she wants to liberate the beast that lurks around the heart. Once Ethan has embraced the beast, she wants to rule at his side. Ethan says that he may not someone at his side, and Hecate says that he wants someone like Vanessa. As he snarls at her to not speak Vanessa's name, Ostow's men open fire on them from a nearby ridge. Ethan and Hecate get to the horses and ride off, and Rusk says that he wants Ethan alive if possible. As Ostow and his men mount up, Rusk watches Ethan ride away.
After Vanessa finds Sweet, they go to a tea shop and he asks what happened. She finally says that it's impossible for the two of them be together. Sweet insists that he knows nothing is impossible, but Vanessa says that it's too dangerous and leaves. The doctor stares after her and shatters a tea cup in his grasp.
A gentleman is walking down the street when Caliban drags him into an alley. Caliban takes the man's wallet and watch and walks away.
At Dorian's manor, Dorian tells Lily and Justine that in the Dark Age, nuns cuts off their breasts and pledged themselves to God to prove themselves. He says that they're all tested in one way or another, and then walks over to a naked man tied to a chair. Justine recognizes him as the proprietor who bought her when she was 12. He used her as his personal whore and then whored her out when he grew tired of her. Dorian offers Justine a dagger, and he and Lily tell the girl that once she makes her pledge, she can never go back. She takes the dagger and eagerly cuts the proprietor's throat, and then drives the dagger into his body over and over again. Dorian goes over and strokes Justine's blood-covered face, and then kisses her. The two of them and Lily then have sex, covered in blood.
At the empty warehouse, the boy familiar is waiting and playing jacks while the lead familiar watches. Dracula whispers out of the darkness, saying that the lead familiar approached Vanessa. The Master throws the familiar across the room and says that when the time is right and Vanessa is helpless, then and only then will they have her. He then tells his servants to feed, and they tear the lead familiar apart.
The next day, Jack's heavy breathing wakes Maggie. She checks on her son, and sees the money and watch on the table. Caliban watches from above and smiles.
In Dorian's bedchamber, Lily says that to build an empire they start with a single soldier. She tells Justin that she's their first and there will be more: the disgraced and the powerless, the shunned and hated. Once they have their army, they will be no man's pets.
At Seward's office, Renfield listens from his desk. A fly lands nearby and he quickly snatches and eats it. Inside, Vanessa asks Seward to hypnotize her. Seward warns against it, explaining that it's a new science, and Vanessa says that the familiar must have been talking about the Banning Clinic and the white room where she was kept. The records show that Banning treated Vanessa with hydrotherapy and psychotropic drugs, and performed brain surgery. Vanessa figures that it must be the room where she met the Master in the past, and begs Seward to help her remember. Seward warns that the mind protects itself from what it doesn't want to know, and the emotions can be very raw. Vanessa insists, and Seward reluctantly agrees.
Seward begins the procedure, and warns that she can only facilitate Vanessa's decision. She hypnotizes Vanessa, and then regresses her back to her room at the Banning Clinic. Vanessa describes the room where she was confined, and how only the attendants came in to bring food and take her for treatment. Vanessa finds herself back in the padded room, and an orderly--the man who will become Caliban--brings her meal.
Written by Gadfly on May 16, 2016