This is a new world of gods and monsters. I pray...I hope there is a place for mankind. 
- — Sherlock Holmes
Victorian Undead: Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula #5 is an issue of the series Victorian Undead: Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula (Volume 1) with a cover date of May, 2011. It was published on March 9, 2011.
Synopsis for "Red Monarch"
Sherlock Holmes and his company quickly ride to Buckingham Palace on a covered wagon. They arrive at the Palace's gates and are held at gunpoint by the Queen's Guards. Fortunately, Mycroft Holmes arrives and allow his brother and his companions inside, and shows that Queen Victoria is not leaving the Palace for her own safety as she is already hosting a costume ball for an engagement party for her grandson Prince Albert Victor and Mary of Teck; the party includes half the crowned heads of Europe. Thus far Mycroft had the building scoured and bolstered the security with Royal Marines, but found no sign of Dracula. Sherlock does not doubt that the vampire is hiding in the midst of the party.
Holmes then deduces a way to draw out Dracula is by having sanctified Eucharist wafers provided by Professor Van Helsing administered to every bottle of champagne that is given to the partygoers. Mycroft then proposes a toast to the Queen, whereby Holmes and the others are able to find Dracula as the person not drinking his drink, who is disguised as a red-cloaked Bedouin. However, before anyone can take out Dracula he quickly tears off his disguise and runs up to the Queen, removing her bodyguard and holding her hostage. Dracula congratulates Holmes for coming this far to track him before he bites the Queen's throat and escapes through the windows. Sherlock and Quincey Morris chase after him and are able to grab on to him as he transforms into a monstrous bat-like creature. Dracula attempts to shrug them off by flying higher, but Morris slices one of Dracula's wings with his silver-bladed Bowie knife and causing them to fall into a nearby construction site.
Morris is fatally wounded and gives his Bowie knife to Holmes to deal with Dracula. As Holmes confronts the vampire, Dracula lunges at him but the detective uses his fast intuition in cutting some ropes which drop a scaffolding that impales Dracula. Sherlock then decapitates Dracula, killing him for good.
Holmes returns to Buckingham Palace to find Watson failing to do anything to help the Queen as she had already died. After informing Van Helsing and Jonathan Harker of Morris's and Dracula's deaths, Holmes reveals to everyone that the "Queen" was actually her body double, actress Bathsheba Slatterthwaite, and the real Queen was safe and sound at Windsor Castle. In the aftermath, Sherlock bitterly expresses to Watson that the entire event doesn't spell any end to the fantastic horrors that are emerging in the world and fearing that the British government will continue to weaponize the supernatural. Holmes can only hope that there is a place for mankind in a "new world of gods and monsters."
Appearing in "Red Monarch"
Featured Characters:
- Sherlock Holmes
Supporting Characters:
- Dr. John Watson
- Mycroft Holmes
- Professor Abraham Van Helsing
- Quincey Morris (Dies)
- Jonathan Harker
Antagonists:
- Dracula (Dies)
Other Characters:
- "Queen Victoria" (Bathsheba Slatterthwaite) (Dies)
- Prince Albert Victor
- Mary of Teck
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Trivia
- The real Prince Albert Victor became engaged to Mary of Teck on 3 December 1891. They were to have been married on 27 February 1892 but he died from pneumonia on 14 January. She later married his brother, who became King George V.
- The man seen defending the Queen's double is John Brown, Queen Victoria's Scottish personal servant and favourite.
- Holmes noted that there had been earlier assassination attempts on Queen Victoria's life. Historically, the Queen survived eight assassination attempts.
- Holmes' line "this is a new world of gods and monsters" is derived from a scene in the 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein, in which the character Dr. Pretorius toasts Dr. Frankenstein, "To a new world of gods and monsters!"
See Also