Debut

They have assembled outside of the Grand Guignol, and Malcolm holds such hope. Now they will find her. Now they will face the monster who has claimed her and they will take her back. Because who really has the right to Mina? Not that thing, certainly. She is his daughter and he loves her with all the capacity of his heart. And if not him then Vanessa- who, for her many flaws and darkest sins, loves Mina as a sister. Indeed, those girls had been closer than Mina and Peter had ever been as blood relations. That was, of course, why Vanessa’s transgression had ruined not only their friendship, but two families at once.

Malcolm looks at her and he thinks all of this in the space of a breath. One in, one out in a shivering cloud that rises into the coal-stained London night and just as quickly the thought is gone. There can be no trace of that, no thoughts against his comrade. For she is now, Vanessa, and she will be until they see this to the end. Unto their very ruin, they shall both go down together as they strive to find the one shred of good, of light, of truth, one shred of hope. Their Mina.

The team meets outside and enters all together, but it is clear who is at the head of this expedition. Like charging headfirst into the unknown continent of darkest Africa, Malcolm takes the lead with his intrepid Vanessa at his heel. They breach the curtain only to find not the theater but a train platform. Malcolm looks to Vanessa with a question in his eyes, but even behind them there is no curtain. No Victor, Ethan, or Sembene, either. Just the two of them.

Instinctively, Malcolm puts his arm around Vanessa to protect her from whatever horror Van Helsing’s vampire may have conjured for their torture now.