Olga Boyko - The Chronicles of the Counts Dracula-Cardie. Adapted from Baron Olshevris novel «Vampires»

(picks up the pieces from the floor)

Scared to death.

INT – TEACHER’S BEDROOM IN THE TEACHER’S HOUSE-MORNING

There is no nenufare in the glass on the desk anymore. The teacher looks at the empty glass half awake

TEACHER

May it be a spirit of a suicide?

INT-DINING ROOM IN THE TEACHER’S HOUSE – SAME MORNING

The teacher enters the dining room on the ground floor. Mina puts dishes for breakfast on the table

TEACHER

Mina, have you seen the flower in my bedroom?

MINA

(puts the dishes)

The faded one? I’ve thrown it away.

TEACHER

(sits at the table)

Pity, I got used to it.

MINA

(stops and looks at her brother)

You are pale in the morning.

TEACHER

Just sleepy.

MINA

(continues putting the dishes)

You know, Heinrich has become an assistant to the church watchman.

TEACHER

Ah…

MINA

(puts pies in front of the brother)

Eat, I’ve baked in the morning.

She sits down in front of him, pours out tea

TEACHER

(bites off a pie)

My favourite. Thank you.

MINA

(pours out tea)

Maria is glad that Heinrich was found. Truly speaking, he has become odd. Silent. So the old church watchman invited him. The watchman is strange, has planted garlic everywhere in the garden.

She gives a cup of tea to the brother

TEACHER

(takes the cup from her hands)

I should go and see Heinrich.

MINA

Go-go. It won’t be bad.

She puts a pie on her saucer.

EXT – WITCHES” VALLEY – SUMMER NIGHT OF THE SAME DAY

The teacher stands in the Witches’ Valley near the water, on the lakeshore.

Mist rises over the lake, taking on different forms: now the white cloud takes shapes of a lady with nenufares in her hair.

And now nenufares on the water surface open their petals, fireflies float over them.

Blossomed trees, growing near here, give their white petals to the wind.

White snowstorm of petals whirls in the air over the lake and the schoolteacher’s head

TEACHER

(peers into the white whirl over the lake)

What if everything that the villagers say about the valley is true?

He goes into the lake

END OF THE MEMORIES

EXT – CLEARING IN THE FOREST OF CARDIE’S CASTLE – EVENING

Harry and the company enjoy their picnic, Smith accidently spills some wine on Harry’s shirt

HARRY

(shouting)

What the hell is the matter with you, Smith? My shirt isn’t a wineglass, damn it!

Smith spreads his arms in embarrassment

SMITH

Forgive me, it was an accident. For a moment I imagined that someone was looking at me from the forest. Someone with red eyes.

Everybody looks around nervously

JAMES

There is no one!

HARRY

I never took you for someone who suffers from a persecution complex, Smith. Oh well, pour me some more wine and, for once, try to aim for the glass and avoid my shirt.

Smith pours the wine but his hands shake. He shivers and points towards the forest

SMITH

My God, it is still there.

Captain Wright grabs a rifle and fires a single shot in the direction pointed by Smith. Black bat flies out of the forest

HARRY

Calm down, Smith, it is only a perfectly harmless bat.

Suddenly the bushes behind the resting men creak. Everyone jumps to their feet and grabs their rifles

CAPTAIN WRIGHT

Halt before you get a bullet in your guts. Who is there? Answer me, damn you!

A VILLAGE HEADSMAN, a fat middle aged man emerges from the bushes

VILLAGE HEADMAN

Gentlemen, calm down. It is only me.

HARRY

You see, Smith, he is hardly a demon.

Smith crosses himself and kisses a religious medallion at his neck

HARRY

Gentlemen, it is time to get going. We haven’t had the chance to explore the Western side of the castle yet. And now that we are so lucky to get a tour guide, – the village headsman, we should really waste no time.

(addressing the headsman)

Have you got a horse?

VILLAGE HEADSMAN

No.

HARRY

Then Smith’s mare will have to carry you both.

CAPTAIN WRIGHT

(quietly)

The poor mare – a hysterical damsel and a fat man together on her back.

Everyone mounts their horses and rides away.

EXT-VILLAGE CHURCH GARDEN – SUMMER DAY, TEACHER’S MEMORIES

BEGINNING OF THE MEMORIES

The yard is planted with garlic flowers. The teacher goes by the white flowers to the church, holding his nose with his hand.

INT – IN THE VILLAGE CHURCH – SAME DAY

The teacher enters the village church.

It is ornamented with crosses and lined with wreathes of garlic over the windows and doors.

CHURCH WATCHMAN (aka Petro in his old age, 60 years old) stands on a ladder and fixes a wreath of white garlic flowers above the entrance door from the inside.

Heinrich sorts mistletoe crosses

TEACHER

How are you, Heinrich?

HEINRICH

(sorting crosses)

So far, so good.

TEACHER

(comes up to Heinrich)

And what about your neck?

HEINRICH

(touches a bandage on his neck)

Scratched, the wounds are not healing well.

CHURCH WATCHMAN

(comes off the ladder)

And they wouldn’t heal, until she bites somebody else.

The teacher turns to the entrance door and points to the wreaths of white flowers

TEACHER

What is it?

CHURCH WATCHMAN

She doesn’t like it!

TEACHER

(wrinkles his nose)

I guess, me too.

Heinrich looks askance at the teacher

TEACHER

(continues)

I’ve heard your stories. Can the dead rise from their coffins?

CHURCH WATCHMAN

(takes the ladder away from the entrance and puts it in the corner)

You are still young, wait till you get to my age.

TEACHER

(turns to Heinrich)

Do you really believe in that too?

Heinrich sorts crosses in silence and hides his eyes

HEINRICH

(quietly)

I do.

INT – LIVING ROOM IN THE TEACHER’S HOUSE – EVENING OF THE SAME DAY

Mina sews in a chair by the window. The teacher rocks in a rocking chair

MINA

(darns a shirt)

They say, the old man knew better life. He was the uncle of one of the young Counts Dracula and lived in the castle.

(bites the thread in two with her teeth and examines her work)

Then the family suffered some sort of misfortune. The castle was abandoned.

(puts the shirt on her knees and looks at the brother)

The counts have relatives somewhere in America, but no one knows them.

TEACHER

(stops rocking)

Are you talking about our church watchman, Mina?

MINA

(sighs)

About him. Who else?

END OF THE TEACHER’S MEMORIES

INT-ROOM IN THE VILLAGE INN – SAME NIGHT

Karl Ivanovich looks into his notebook and keeps silent.

TITLE: 1912

GEORGES

(rubs his eyes half asleep)

The teacher writes about your relatives, doesn’t he?

HARRY

Why do you think so?

GEORGES

(shrugs his shoulders)

Intuition.

KARL IVANOVICH

(reads the teacher’s diary)

Today the church watchman came to our house, bringing some objects for Mina to clean. I lured him to my study and gave him a cup of tea, into which I had poured two tablespoons of rum.

INT – STUDY IN THE TEACHER’S HOUSE – EVENING, THE TEACHER’S MEMORIES

BEGINNING OF THE MEMORIES

The teacher and church watchman sit in the teacher’s study at the table. The teacher gives the church watchman some tea from the tray

TITLE: 1852

CHURCH WATCHMAN

(a little drunk)

And I dare say, she almost bit me to death!

TEACHER

Who, the hound bitch?

CHURCH WATCHMAN

What bitch? The Countess herself! She died, but at the time of the full moon she starts to stroll around. If she gets stuck on someone – you know, the poor man is dead!