Anno Dracula - Kim Newman [177]
The FOOTMAN, a vampire youth with a gold-painted face, leads them up the broad stairs and strikes the doors with his stick. They open, disclosing the marbled length of a vaulted reception hall.
RECEPTION HALL, BUCKINGHAM PALACE. INT. NIGHT. It’s like the Wizard of Oz’s antechamber. Thirty-foot diaphanous silk curtains part in the draught as CHARLES and GENEVIEVE step into the hall. SERVANTS appear and relieve the visitors of their cloaks. GENEVIEVE expects her dress to be admired but CHARLES glumly has to hand over his cane to a CARPATHIAN.
CHARLES (suddenly grasping her)
Whatever happens, this you must know. Gené, I love you.
GENEVIEVE
And I you, Charles. I you.
CHARLES
I you what?
GENEVIEVE
Love, Charles. I love you.
He kisses her, and they are drawn along the hallway, towards more tall doors, which open for them.
ANTECHAMBER, BUCKINGHAM PALACE. INT. NIGHT.
CARMILLA, a vampire lady-in-waiting, waits for CHARLES and GENEVIEVE. This hallway is like the last but far more battered. An armadillo wriggles past GENEVIEVE’s feet. The carpets are dirty. CARMILLA guides them to inner doors, which open in noisy lurches. The doorman is JOHN MERRICK, grotesque malformations emphasised by a tailored parti-coloured suit.
CHARLES
Good evening. Merrick, is it not?
GENEVIEVE
Why, it’s...
MERRICK
Don’t be afraid, pretty miss. I know what I’m called. The elephant man.
CHARLES
Mademoiselle Geneviève Dieudonné, may I present Mr John Merrick.
MERRICK (kisses her hand)
A pleasure, miss.
CHARLES
Mr Merrick is a loyal servant of the crown.
GENEVIEVE (quiet)
The Diogenes Club?
MERRICK (manages a twisted smile)
If you will follow me...
They proceed into another hallway.
HALLWAY, BUCKINGHAM PALACE. INT. NIGHT.
CHARLES and GENEVIEVE follow MERRICK to the most elaborate doors yet seen, decorated with gilt bat-motifs.
CHARLES
It amuses the Prince Consort to keep this poor creature on hand.
GENEVIEVE
He’s a monster. Not...
CHARLES
I know who you mean. (MERRICK opens the door.) Gené, if what I do brings harm to you, I am sincerely sorry.
He kisses her again...
BEDROOM, INT. NIGHT. FLASHBACK.
GENEVIEVE, lips bloody, cuddles up to CHARLES, who is awake, brooding.
GENEVIEVE
This can be forever, Charles. Truly forever.
CHARLES
Nothing is forever, my darling...
HALLWAY, BUCKINGHAM PALACE. INT. NIGHT.
... the kiss breaks. Light falls on CHARLES and GENEVIEVE as the doors are fully opened. They are admitted.
THRONE ROOM, BUCKINGHAM PALACE. INT. NIGHT.
Ill-lit by broken chandeliers, the throne-room is an infernal sty of people and animals. Dirtied and abused paintings hang at strange angles. Whimpering, grunting, screaming creatures congregate on divans and carpets. An almost naked CARPATHIAN wrestles a giant ape, their feet scrabbling and slipping on a filthy marble floor. HENTZAU stands by smartly. RUTHVEN is also present, scented handkerchief at his nose as he views the proceedings with distaste. The CARPATHIAN jams the ape’s face against the floor and snaps the animal’s spine.
Gales of cruel laughter are cut off by a wave of a ham-sized hand. Upon the raised hand, an enormous gemstone ring – the Koh-i-Noor, centrepiece of the Crown Jewels – holds the burning reflections of seven fires. GENEVIEVE looks into the jewel, and sees through it the distorted shape of a gross figure.
We pull back to see DRACULA. He sits upon his throne, massive as a commemorative statue, enormously bloated face a rich red under withered grey. Moustaches stiff with recent blood hang to his chest, his thick hair is loose about his shoulders, and his black-stubbled chin is dotted with the gravy of his last feeding. His left hand loosely holds the orb of office, which seems in his grip the size of a tennis ball.
CHARLES (overwhelmed)
I never dreamed...
An ermine-collared black velvet cloak clings to DRACULA’s shoulders like the wings of a giant bat. His body is swollen with blood, rope-thick veins visibly pulsing in his neck and arms. He smiles, showing yellow teeth the size of pointed thumbs.
QUEEN VICTORIA