Victorian Undead: Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula #2 is an issue of the series Victorian Undead: Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula (Volume 1) with a cover date of February, 2011. It was published on December 15, 2010.
Synopsis for "Dracula"
Watson and Holmes are trapped in the conflagration. Watson sees Holmes, who rises up and is covered with boils afflicted from bubonic plague. Watson suddenly wakes up; everything he saw was a nightmare. Holmes has recovered and is only suffering from a graze bullet. Both Holmes and Watson are at a Romani camp, which Holmes reassures to Watson that they are not the same people that attacked them.
They are amicably greeted by Francisco, the leader of the community, and the man who saved Holmes and Watson. He explains to them that he and his friends happened to find them while hunting for the men who attacked them, the Szgany, who are considered a bedeviled stain to the Romani people. Francisco elaborates that the Szgany served for evil and worked for their master who "cannot walk in daylight", and were hired by Billington to unload the cargo from the Demeter at Whitby. It was the Whitby locals who troubled Francisco's people, mistaking them for the Szgany, for taking their work and allowing them to locate their hated kin. This information made Holmes realize that Billington was being used. He and Watson are then directed to the diviner, who wishes to speak with them. The woman tells Holmes and Watson that the master the Szgany serve is Vlad Tepes, also known as Vlad Dracul, a strigoi - a vampire.
It is revealed that Vlad Dracul is plotting to rule Europe through infecting the royal families of the continent as it turns out that Lord Godalming, an agent to Dracul, reveals that the "cure" for the royal disease among Queen Victoria's bloodline was a ruse. He is using a unique strain of the bubonic plague - which he chanced upon and used during his war against the Turks - to let loose among the human population and eradicating humanity in the process to conquer unhindered while leaving a few enough survivors to rule over.
Meanwhile, Holmes and Watson trace the location of the cargo containing the contagion from the Demeter, according to Billington's manifest, to Carfax Abbey in Purfleet. Holmes has not notified the police for fear of being carelessly exposed and instead notified Mycroft. However, they are too late to find someone already there at the abbey: Professor Abraham Van Helsing, Dr. John Seward, Quincey Morris, and Jonathan Harker are preparing to open the crates while believing that there are vampires within them. They are stopped from doing so by Holmes and Watson, who are cautiously motioned from approaching them by Quincey Morris. Van Helsing holds Morris from firing his rifle and demands Holmes and Watson as to who they are. The two introduce themselves and warn them about the crates' contents. Van Helsing is skeptical, but Harker does when Holmes mentions the fate of Billington and his family; Harker's firm previously engaged Billington to move the crates.
Holmes then takes care in incinerating the crates with incendiary grenades. The men are then confronted by a vampiric Lucy Westenra, who vents her rage over the loss of the crates' contents and tells them that their actions will not stop Dracula's plans. Lucy then attempts to bite Seward but is ward off by Van Helsing. Lucy summons her vampire followers to salvage the crates' contents and infect themselves with the contagion, thus becoming plague carriers. The men try to incapacitate the vampires from leaving by shooting them in the head. Holmes tries to use his grenades, but he is grabbed by Lucy, who then flies him over the abbey. But Holmes grabs a flare gun from his bag and fires it at Lucy, who drops him. Fortunately, he is able to grab onto a ledge where he requests a ladder for him to climb down while the others have already finish eliminating the vampires.
Appearing in "Dracula"
Featured Characters:
- Sherlock Holmes
- Dr. John Watson
Supporting Characters:
- Professor Abraham Van Helsing
- Dr. John Seward
- Quincey Morris
- Jonathan Harker
Antagonists:
- Dracula/Vlad Dracul
- Lucy Westenra
- Lord Godalming
Other Characters:
- Francisco
Locations:
Items:
- None
Vehicles:
- None
Trivia
- Holmes corrects Watson to refer to the Romani by their term rather than "gypsies". The English term "gypsy" originates from the Middle English gypcian, short for Egipcien. This designation owes its existence to the belief, common in the Middle Ages, that the Romani were itinerant Egyptians. The word is sometimes considered derogatory because of its negative and stereotypical associations.
- Strigoi are troubled spirits in Romanian mythology that are said to have risen from the grave. They are the basis for the modern day depiction of vampires.
- Dracula's description of weaponizing infected corpses by hurling them over city walls using catapults and infecting the defenders were a rudimentary form of biological warfare actually practiced during the Middle Ages (which was previously explained by Sherlock Holmes in Victorian Undead #5). In Dracula's flashback, plague doctors are seen loading the infected corpses onto catapults.
- Holmes describes his incendiary grenades being made from a cocktail of phosphorus and magnesium. Phosphorus and magnesium were previously used by the British military in eradicating the undead in Victorian Undead #2.
See Also