Anne Rice's Talamasca: The Secret Order

Previously on Talamasca...

The Talamasca facility is all part

of some hush-hush program.

You hear things others cannot.

Painful to listen, isn't it, dear?

You'll get better at it.

I'm not going to kill you.

I'm Doris. You're not cut out for this.

The back of an entire library.

That's what the 752 is.

So, you know what it looks like.

And I know who has it.

You and I could have some fun together after all.

Kill me!

-Yes? -Either your new

recruit's getting a marathon lap dance at Cupid's,

or he's gone dark. He missed a drop.

We've all missed a drop. He's a rookie.

Yeah, with a rookie's dumb instincts.

Are you sure he's still on the level?

I'm sure.

Stay put. He'll show.

Excuse me.

I'm just wondering, have you seen me before?

A week or two ago. Was I here?

It's just sometimes I have a bit of trouble with my memory.

I'm here every day.

But I haven't seen you before in my life.

Thank you. Appreciate it.

Wakey, wakey. Big day ahead, amigo.

How do you take your coffee?

Dude... it's not like, poisoned,

if that's what you're thinking.

You can trust me.

Question is, can I trust you?

Young recruit comes barging in off the street,

all full of piss and vinegar.

Conveniently wants to help me out.

Feels like a ruse.

It's not a ruse.

I thought my mom was dead, okay?

Turns out she's been alive this whole time.

She's in hiding. From them.

Sounds like their kind of kink.

Take a look.

Jesus.

See the punctures? Vampire bite.

That's who killed Archie.

And probably your friend Keves, too.

And it's who took the book.

A vampire.

-Who? -We'll get to that.

Okay, one thing.

The book.

Full of secrets, right?

Spells? Payroll records? I don't know.

Why is it so important to you?

I mean, what are you going to do with it?

Come on.

I'll tell you a story.

It's 1271. Romania.

There's this vampire named Vesel.

Nobody special, but he's got a secret.

Where are we going?

To my kill room.

I'm fucking with you, man.

Relax. We're going to the basement.

It's a good story.

Come on.

So... Romania, 1271, Vesel the Vampire.

His big secret is that he's sworn off human blood

and drinks only the blood of chickens.

That's weird.

Weird? Back then, that sort of stuff was unthinkable.

That's why Vesel keeps it quiet.

But someone finds out

and squeals to the rest of the coven.

And they banish Vesel. Permanently.

I mean cast him the fuck out.

After you.

Fast forward to the 1920s.

Vesel's had a rough few centuries.

Now he's a bitter old fucker,

and he decided to finally figure out who screwed him over

way back in 1271.

And where do you think he turns for help

with his little investigation?

We watch...

And we're always there.

He bribes a field agent in Lisbon

to scour the Talamasca's files,

and that agent heads to the Central Library in Amsterdam.

And sure enough, they turn up a name.

Mergu.

An old Romanian vampire

who was in Bolivia by then

heading up a coven in La Paz.

So Vesel flies down there.

And then? He slaughters those poor motherfuckers,

every... last... one of them.

One night, 17 lives.

Because of what one greedy Talamasca agent let slip.

And that agent, he isn't the exception, Guy.

He's the rule.

When you live forever...

heartbreak, loss, grudges?

All that shit lives forever right along with you.

That's why the book matters.

And it's why the Talamasca

cannot be allowed to get it back.

For centuries, they've collected our stories and secrets

and wielded them as a weapon to keep us in line.

And the worst part? We let 'em do it.

The power in our world isn't blood or fangs or spells.

It's information.

What are we doing down here?

Aah!

What the hell is that?!

A little pet project.

Special breed, variation on ancient Revenant vampires.

Just as vicious, but loyal. Submissive.

And I've got a bunch more just like him.

You're bleeding.

Come on. Let's get you cleaned up,

looking sharp.

Checkers will tag along in case we need backup.

Backup for what?

For the mission. To get the book.

Soledad, Marcel. Soledad, Soledad...

There you are.

The Westcroft.

The vampire we're looking for is there.

Staying in some swank hotel. Getting turn down service.

No, running the place.

The only vampire coven in town operates the Westcroft.

It's a front. A hotel for mortals,

that immortals own and sometimes patronize.

Easy to go looking for fresh blood

when it's sleeping under your roof.

Let me see.

The whole coven's a bunch of underworld thugs

that think they're hard. Like to wave guns around,

seen way too many Guy Ritchie movies.

They deal in whatever pays... drugs, guns, black market shit.

Usually the spooks at the Mother House

pick up constant chatter for them.

But all of a sudden, they go silent.

Wanna guess why?

Wait, so you're going in there to get the book?

No, Guy. You.

I can't go in there. They know who I am.

I wouldn't get past the lobby.

But you, you're just a civilian.

Who can read vampire minds without them knowing.

-How'd you know? -I know a lot of things.

Call it a perk of the office.

Okay, no, look, I go in there, they'll find me out.

They'll rip my face off.

How will they find you out, huh?

You've been trained, haven't you?

Besides, we'll have backup just in case.

Hold still...

Shouldn't do this.

It's kind of against the code or whatever,

but I like you.

You want a scar?

Come here.

Doesn't hurt.

Just trust me.

You know, it's just recon.

All you gotta do is figure out where they're hiding the book.

Then I'll send in some real shit-kickers

to actually get the thing.

What then?

Information is power, Guy.

Information is all there is.

You're gonna use the Seven-Five-Two

to bring down the Talamasca.

Once and for all.

How?

That book contains the whereabouts

of every vampire alive today.

And do you know how many vampires there are

right now in the world?

No.

Not enough.

I think, um...

maybe I gave you the wrong idea.

See, now I'm back to feeling like this is a setup.

No...

"I'm gonna make them pay. They ruined my life."

It's true. All of it.

You think you're special?

You know, they didn't all die.

Mergu's coven.

It was a blended family.

Some vampires, some not.

One young mortal wasn't home the day that Vesel hit them.

And when this kid, this... this boy...

...came back, he found his whole family massacred.