Is mad. How could he not be mad? The course he has charted. They say he disguises himself and passes among his subjects, bat-ears a-tremble for treachery.
ARTHUR
The years must weigh heavily.
HENTZAU
Elders aren’t all like that. This Dieudonne snip, who caused so much grief for the late Count Vardalek.
ARTHUR
The girl with Charles Beauregard?
HENTZAU
She bears watching.
DRAVOT’s door opens. DRAVOT emerges.
ARTHUR
And so, evidently, does this gentleman. The Diogenes Club is in this to the elbows. (DRAVOT looks around, senses them, and retreats inside.) Damn, I should have remembered. Mycroft teaches his men well.
HENTZAU
He has to come out again.
ARTHUR
There’ll be a dozen back ways out. We’ve shown our hand. We might as well follow through...
ARTHUR and HENTZAU climb to DRAVOT’s door. ARTHUR pushes it open.
DRAVOT’S FLAT, WHITECHAPEL. INT. DUSK.
ARTHUR
It’s not even locked.
HENTZAU finds the same paper on the desk.
HENTZAU
Ho, what’s this?
ARTHUR (looking at the scrawl)
We have him, Rupert. And them, the Diogenes Club. It’s a plot. Mycroft’s calculating brain invented the whole thing. There’s no mad vampire killer, rallying the warm to revolt. Just clever men, warm and un-dead, undermining the rule of Dracula. We must catch Dravot and expose this conspiracy. There’ll be credit in it for us all.*
* * *
MILLER’S COURT, WHITECHAPEL. EXT. NIGHT.
CHARLES and GENEVIEVE step into the courtyard. GENEVIEVE senses but does not see DRAVOT, who stands red-eyed in a corner. A window glows with candle-light, and we hear wet sounds. CHARLES and GENEVIEVE fix their attention on the door of MARY’s room. CHARLES pushes it open.
MARY’S ROOM, WHITECHAPEL. INT. NIGHT.
CHARLES and GENEVIEVE are shocked silent. SEWARD kneels on the bed, in the middle of a ruin barely recognisable as MARY. He is still working, apron and shirtsleeves dyed red. His silver scalpel flickers in firelight. Blood and other substances are spread across the bed and the floor, around the walls up to the height of three feet.
SEWARD
Nearly done. I have to be sure Lucy is dead.
SEWARD stands up and futilely wipes his hands on his apron. CHARLES points a revolver.
CHARLES
Dr Seward, put down the knife and step away from her.
SEWARD keeps the scalpel but steps away. CHARLES, eyes on SEWARD, steps near MARY and looks down, holding his horror rigidly in check.
SEWARD
Van Helsing says her soul will not rest until she is truly dead.
GENEVIEVE
Oh, Jack, Jack...
CHARLES cocks his revolver and aims at SEWARD’s heart.
CHARLES
It’ll be a mercy.
As his finger tightens on the trigger, MARY surges up from the bed – her insides open and red – and takes hold of CHARLES from behind, fangs near his throat.
MARY
No, you mustn’t hurt my Jack, my doctor...
GENEVIEVE dashes to help CHARLES, and SEWARD comes for her with the scalpel.
SEWARD
You’re Lucy. You’re Lucy too. I have to keep... helping Lucy...
SEWARD’s scalpel nears GENEVIEVE’s throat. CHARLES fights off the sorely wounded MARY, and hauls SEWARD off GENEVIEVE. SEWARD raises the scalpel to stab, and CHARLES shoots him in the heart.
SEWARD falls on to the bed, into MARY’s bloody embrace. MARY smiles sadly, madly, at him, and expires.
SEWARD
There. She is delivered. God is merciful. See, she is at peace. Sleep well, Lucy my love. It’s over. We’ve beaten him. We’ve defeated the Count. The contagion cannot spread.
SEWARD dies. GENEVIEVE and CHARLES, shaken, stand over the bed.
GENEVIEVE
You’ve killed him. Poor Jack.
CHARLES
Poor Jack. Poor Mary. Poor Lucy. Poor Everybody.
DRAVOT steps in, a bundle on his shoulder.
DRAVOT
Well done, sir. You’ve put an end to Jack the Ripper.
CHARLES
Dravot.
DRAVOT
All along, sir, there were two murderers, working together. It should have been obvious.
DRAVOT opens his bundle. A dead white face stared up, lips drawn back in a last snarl. ARTHUR.
CHARLES
It’s Godalming.
DRAVOT
Lord Godalming, sir. He was in it with Dr Seward. They fell out last night.
CHARLES
How long have you known this, Dravot? How long has the Diogenes Club known but not seen fit to tell me?
DRAVOT
You caught the Rippers, sir. I’ve just been looking out for you. Your guardian angel.
CHARLES
And Jago? Was that you?
DRAVOT
Another matter, sir.
CHARLES
There’ll be a fearful scandal. Godalming was well-thought-of. He had a reputation as a coming man.
DRAVOT
His name will be entirely blackened.
CHARLES
And he was a vampire. That will cause a stir. The assumption was that the Ripper was warm. There will be
