Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches (2023) s02e02 Episode Script

Ten of Swords

1
Gifford, you know, it
reflects poorly on me,
showing up alone to these things.
It's not healthy, the way
you hole up at the lake house.
You have a responsibility
to this family.
Gifford, are you listening?
Was everyone well tonight?
Has something happened?
What do you mean? Like what?
Something bad is coming their way.
The cards keep saying
it again and again,
and I will not be drawn into it.
"The cards are saying"?
Jesus, Gifford.
Remind me, what's your
track record with that?
Well, I'm not coming
into town this week,
and there's no reason for
you to come out here either.
Maybe some time apart would
be good for both of us.
[LINE BEEPS]

[WASHING MACHINE RATTLING]
Hello?
Lasher.
[WHOOSHING]
Lasher?
[PHONE BUZZING]
- Lark.
- Hey.
So I ran the blood sample you sent,
but I'm sorry to report I got an error.
What kind of error?
It came back as an
impossible genetic profile.
Nonhuman.
Probably contamination.
Anyway, I stopped testing.
No, no, no, keep testing.
It might be some kind of mutation.
Can you run it through
the database at Keplinger?
Discreetly, please.
"Discreetly"?
What's what's going on?
I really wish I could
tell you, but I can't.
You just have to trust me.
"Mayfair Medical, New Orleans."
- Lark, it's not a puzzle.
- I don't know.
It kind of sounds like a puzzle to me.
Well, how about this? It is a puzzle,
but it's not your puzzle, it's mine.
And I really, really, really
need you to hand me this piece.
[DOOR CLOSES]

[DOORKNOB RATTLES]
[GROANS SOFTLY]
[SNIFFS]
[BIRD CALLING]
[WOOD CREAKS]
Can I help you?
I was watching you here.
I wanted to know what you were thinking.
I don't know.
Not anything, really.
Well, not thinking. Feeling, then.
What were you feeling?
I was watching a loon take off.
Did you see it?
It was beautiful.
You appreciate the natural world.
Yes, I do.
I'm sorry, what was your name?
I used to swim in the ocean.
I remember that.
I remember cliffs.
That sounds nice.
- Where was that?
- Somewhere far away.
Another life.
Have you always come to this spot?
Yes. It was my mother's house.
Did you swim with her?
[CHUCKLES SOFTLY]
Would you like a drink?
[SOFT EERIE MUSIC]

There we go.
[GRUNTS] Ouch! [WINCES]
Are you hurt?
Uh, it's okay.
It always does that.
I feel like I know you.
Do we know each other?
[BREATHES DEEPLY]
You smell wonderful.

[CHUCKLES SOFTLY]
I don't know why I'm
I don't usually do this
invite strange men into my house.
Do you find me strange?
Yeah, I do.
But it's not a bad thing.
Everyone I really like is strange.
Do you spend time with
people you don't like?
Oh, God, yes.
Most of my life.
[BREATHING HEAVILY]
I want to kiss you.

Oh.
[BOTH PANTING]
Am I what you want?
Yes.
[MOANS]
[MUSIC DARKENS]

[SCREAMING]
[HYPERVENTILATING]
[GROANING IN PAIN]
Stay with me.

[EERIE MUSIC]
[VOICES WHISPERING INDISTINCTLY]

[VOCALIZING]

No, no, no, no.
It wasn't my fault. Please.
I didn't want to hurt anyone.
My father my father made me do it!
Please.
[OPERA MUSIC PLAYING]

Oh!
[RECORD SCRATCHES]
[OMINOUS MUSIC]

Father?

[SILVERWARE CLATTERS]
You should have killed him.
I couldn't.
He had a deal with Lasher.
- I thought you'd be angry.
- I am.
At him.
Well, if anyone knows what
Lasher is up to, it's him.
And I hate this, but I need his help.
I thought you'd want to
be here when I wake him up.
No.
- Yes. I have to.
- No. No.
- I have to.
- Do not wake him up.
He won't know anything.
He'll he'll act like he does,
like he has all the answers.
But that's that's just what he does.
There are other ways of finding him.
We'll call Alonso. We'll have him scry.
That won't work. Lasher's
blood isn't human.
The Talamasca, then
they've tracked him before.
- I can't trust Sip.
- We'll we'll think of something.
We'll figure it out.
He is a predator and a manipulator,
and I
God, I trusted him.
I trusted him for so long, and
Okay, okay, okay. We'll figure it out.
We'll figure it out.
I'll think of something.
How long has it been since
you've eaten anything?
- A little while, yeah.
- [LAUGHS]
I'm so tired.
I was out all night looking for him.
He doesn't know how to get by out there.
I bet he comes back on his own.
I talked to the board, by the way.
They are beyond thrilled to have you.
Oh, right. Great.
I'm so glad you're here to stay, Rowan.
I really am.
- Me too.
- [PHONE BUZZING]
Ryan?
Oh, my God.
I okay.
Uh, we'll be there as soon as we can.
Okay.
What happened?
Uh, Cousin Gifford's dead.
[EERIE MUSIC]

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

[DISEMBODIED WHISPERING]
Ma'am.
You don't need to see this.

Are you here?
Lasher, what have you done?

Lasher!
Lasher.

Will you help me?
Of course I will.
[TWIGS SNAPPING]
Where are you?
Close your eyes.
Close my eyes?
- Why?
- Close them.
Okay.
Okay. Okay.
[INHALES DEEPLY]
I didn't want to hurt them.
They smelled so good.
You smelled them?
I didn't know they were so weak.
No, of course not. How could you know?
I thought Mayfairs were strong.
Mayfairs?
That girl last night was a Mayfair, too?
Lucy.
Her name was Lucy.
Why do I do this?
Why do I feel this way?
I don't know.
Come home with me, and we
can figure it out together.
- No.
- Everything's gonna be all right.
I can't trust you anymore.
You can. You can trust me.
- Yes, you can.
- No. You ruined it.
[GASPS]

It can be like how it was before.
Do you remember?
Do you?
[SIGHS]
Do you?
You don't love me that way anymore.
No, I love you in a new way.
- You think I'm bad.
- No.
You don't want to hurt anyone.
I can help you stop. You
don't have to be alone.
- I don't believe you.
- You can believe me.
You don't want to help
me. You want to control me.
No! [GRUNTS]
Somebody has to control you!
You're killing people!
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
You were never my child!

No!
[ENGINE REVVING]

[INSECTS CHIRPING]
[WINCES] Ah!
[GROANS]

[GROANS]
[KNOCK AT DOOR]
Here it is.
Though I really think you should do this
the old-fashioned way and
buy her a cup of coffee,
- get to know her.
- I wish.
Don't have time.
Thanks again for doing this so
quickly really appreciate it.
You know, you use a
trust tab on someone,
you can only use them as an asset once.
To obtain trust through
force is a violation.
People trust you when you trust them.
You're not wrong.
- Thanks.
- Wait.
Here.
Actually, do you mind holding
on to that a little longer?
Give it to me next time.
- It's a memory, isn't it?
- Yeah.
Something I need to be
reminded of, in case
In case what?
Come in for a sec.
The thing is, I've
been having these blips,
these blank moments.
Spaces in my memory.
Do you know what that is?
That's Albrecht.
That's what he does.
He erases memories.
Jesus Christ.
What did he take from me?
If you touch me, can you see?
Can you tell me what the memories were?
I'm sorry.
When they're gone, they're gone.
He's done this to you before,
and you still trust him?
No, I don't trust him.
But I realized I can't do my job alone,
and he's more useful
to me as a colleague
than as an enemy.
I keep my eyes open and
my ear to the ground.
I leave messages in bibles.
The work is worth any
amount of personal risk.
We're all that stands
between order and chaos.
I'd complain to HR,
but I'm pretty sure Albrecht is HR.
[CHUCKLES]
He'd just make you forget
you ever had a complaint.
Effective management technique.
Shitty but effective.
[TENSE MUSIC]

[UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING ON STEREO]
Ah. Ooh, remember this?
- Come on, dance with me.
- No. No, Mom. No, no.
You're already drunk.
I can't do this with you anymore.
I got us a reservation
at Commander's Palace,
your favorite, for old times' sake.
Come on.
Okay, where's the stereo remote?
Can we turn off the music, please?
[CHUCKLES]
And what you want
we'll just leave alone ♪
Is it so hard to just have an
honest conversation with me?
[SIGHS]
And you wonder why people
don't want you around.
Nobody wants to be interrogated, Moira.
I don't want you in my head.
Yeah, I got it.
Clearly, that is very
important to you
more important than having
- any kind of actual relationship with me.
- [SIGHS]
It's the story of my fucking life.
Don't be so dramatic. [SIGHS]
Commander's was Tessa's favorite, Mom,
not mine.
That you can be whatever you want ♪
Nice.
If you believe it
[MUSIC CONTINUES MUFFLED, FADES]
[TENSE MUSIC]

It was always apparent in you,
that weakness of character.
[SUCKS TEETH]
Even as a little boy, you let
your sisters walk all over you.
A dull
unimaginative little boy.
Nothing of the Mayfair in you.
[LAUGHS]
We all wondered if your
mother had stepped out.
A boy like you, when I was young,
you would not have survived.
Oh, no, no, no!
They'd have made mincemeat of you.
You're in my head.
[LAUGHS] No, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no.
Maybe you're in my head.
Did you ever think of that?
Against all logic, you have achieved
your minimum of usefulness,
bringing him into the world,
and now others will
carry out the great work.
What others?
What great work?
Well, let me help.
Father
From each
according to his ability, Cortland.
But I can do it.
[CHUCKLES]
Just tell me what what it is.
Please, just just tell me.
Anything.
Anything.
You ask what you can do
yet you look on as I starve.
It's all talk.
Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk.
[OMINOUS MUSIC]

[KNIFE CLINKS]

[SUCKS TEETH]
[SUCKING TEETH]
[GRUNTS]
[GROANS]
[WHEEZES, GRUNTS]

Better.
The meek shall not inherit the Earth.
It shall be us, enfin
the mighty, the
visionary, the deserving.
Who so eateth their flesh
and drinketh their blood
hath eternal life,
and they shall raise
us up at the last day.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[TENSE MUSIC]

Get out of here, man.
What are you doing?
You're throwing it away. Let me have it.
- It's spoiled.
- Then give me fresh.
- Hey, Len?
- What's going on?
Hey, Len, call the cops.
[DISTANT BELL TOLLING]
[INHALES DEEPLY]
[EXHALES SHARPLY]

Happier times.
[SIGHS]
Before you invaded our home
and opened the door right up for him.
Millie, I didn't open the
door I was the door.
This isn't my fault.
Lasher's
Lasher killed Lucy and Gifford.
He's killing Mayfair women.
First he seduces them,
and then they hemorrhage.
I tried to kill him.
Oh, I doubt that very much.
You're Rowan Mayfair, the 13th witch.
If you really wanted to kill him,
you would have killed him.
But then you'd lose those
nice new parlor tricks
that he gave you, wouldn't you?
So maybe oops
you just missed by a hair.
I did try.
[BOOK CLOSES]
What are you gonna do now?
Whatever it takes to make
sure it doesn't happen again.
He's tracking them by scent.
I'll conjure a storm to
make sure he can't find them.
For an hour maybe.
You poor girl,
trying so hard to convince yourself
that you're protecting this family
when every new gift from him
still gives you goose bumps.
Did they do a good job
with the funeral at least?
I couldn't even get a flight in time.
[SIGHS] I still I
had to come, you know?
Went to her grave.
Just
[CLICKS TONGUE]
Thanks.
- So how long you staying?
- Not long.
I'm gonna take care
of some family stuff,
and then I'm going back
to Spain before they find
some reason to trap me here.
Ugh, it's really good to see you guys.
- You too.
- Yeah.
- I'm gonna pee.
- Okay.
- Don't leave.
- [BOTH LAUGH]
Moira Mayfair. May I speak with you?
[SIGHS] You're Talamasca.
- How can you tell?
- You have a wall up.
I can't read your mind.
It's part of the training.
Listen, I am so sorry about Tessa.
We tried our best, but we
all failed her that night.
Do you have a moment to talk?
Yeah. No, I-I don't think so.
Wait.
[LOW THRUMMING]
[TENSE MUSIC]

You're still in love with her
After everything that
she put you through?
How can that be?
I wouldn't call it love.
If you say so.
She's not even letting us
into the house to see him yet,
so it's not like I can just go in there
and ask him to go for a walk.
But the day will come when you can.
Let me ask you
when you see him face-to-face,
what are you going to do?
Read his mind
see what really happened
between him and my sister.
And then?

Look
I wouldn't be the asset
that you're looking for.
You know I have your family's
best interests at heart.
You have Rowan's best
interests at heart.
Or you think you do,
but you can't help people
who don't want to be helped.

[TENSE RHYTHMIC MUSIC]

[BREATHING SHARPLY]

[THUNDER RUMBLING, RAIN PATTERING]
[INDISTINCT VOCALIZING]

Rowan?
Lark?
[THUNDER RUMBLES]
Hey, Fielding.
Were were you, uh,
taking a shower up there?
[CHUCKLES]
What the hell are you doing here?
I, uh
I brought the analysis
that you asked for.
You're handing me this?
You printed this out and you flew here
instead of emailing me?
I haven't seen you in three years.
I had points that were
gonna expire soon, so
You know, you really
shouldn't be up that high
in a in a storm.
Are you you're familiar
with, um with lightning?
I am aware of lightning, yes.
Are are you gonna invite me in?
Um
now's not a great time.
Oh.
Where are you staying?
Uh, I'm I'm at the
Pontchartrain Hotel.
Have you do you know it?
Oh.
Hey, look at that.
Stopped raining.
Great.
Pontchartrain's not far.
Can I walk you there?
Sure. Yeah.
Let me just put something dry on.
One sec.
[DOOR OPENS]
[GRUNTS SOFTLY]
You okay?
Yeah.
Yeah, let's go.
All right.
All right.
[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]

[WIND WHOOSHING]

You came.
I always knew you'd come back.
[LAUGHING]
Oh, no.
Oh, wow.
[LAUGHING]
Oh, I can't believe
[CHUCKLES] Don't you remember?
- Tell me.
- [CHUCKLES]
You used to come to this window,
when Deirdre was here,
when we had sleepovers as girls.
She was your witch, but I thought
Oh, I'm embarrassed.
I always thought you came to see me.
Yes.

And then what?
[CHUCKLES]
You'd sit here and talk.
You told us stories about Riverbend
[CHUCKLES] About Haiti,
about the antics you got
up to with Oncle Julien,
about Antha in the East Village.
Ah.
Things the grown-ups thought
we were too young to know.
Oh, I had such a crush on you.
- We both did.
- What is that, a crush?
[CHUCKLES] You know, I
thought about you.
I thought something
might happen between us.
But then Deirdre would
leave, and you'd go with her.
[GASPS]
What happened?
- Are you all right?
- [GRUNTS, SIGHS]
I've walked a long way.
[GRUNTS]
I'm very tired.
Oh, my God, and
Are you hungry? Thirsty?
What can I get you?
So you you live here permanently?
I don't know permanently, like, forever,
but I am gonna be head of neurosurgery
at Mayfair Medical.
Was was that your house?
- Yeah.
- Shit, that's
I mean, it's fantastic.
What is it, like, mid-19th century?
Yeah.
It was built by my
great-great-great-grandmother.
It's like a fairy tale, you know?
You you find out you're
the long-lost daughter
of this grand old New Orleans family.
I mean, that that
doesn't happen, right?
That's that's insane.
You have no idea.
So did you find
anything in the database?
No. No, no matches.
Um, but I went back to the sample,
and here's the weird thing.
I identified four extra chromosomes.
- Extra copies?
- No.
No, four entirely distinct chromosomes.
- Really?
- Yeah, yeah.
So give me a little more here.
So how does the patient present?
I really can't talk about it.
I told you, it's my
puzzle. It's not yours.
Right, you're on your island, as usual.
So this is gonna sound crazy,
but can you run it
against historical samples?
- What do you mean, historical?
- Like I don't know.
Like, early human, like Neanderthal.
Not at Keplinger. We're
not anthropologists.
Okay. Well, then what about primate?
- Anything?
- Okay, Ro, what
what the fuck is going on?
Is your patient an orangutan?
I feel like you're messing with me here.
No, my patient's not an orangutan.
Okay. Well, that's a clue.
Are you, like, a zoo doctor?
[CHUCKLES]
[SNIFFS]
[SNIFFS]
Go to bed, Mom.
Mom?
Let's go. [CLEARS THROAT]
Mom.
[SNIFFING]
[TENSE MUSIC]

Hmm.
[DOOR OPENS, FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING]
No.
No, no, no.
Hey. Hey, don't. Just okay?
Just don't come in here.
Stay there!
[LINE TRILLING]
- This is Ciprien.
- Can you come, please?
It's my mom.
Look, you're you're on your
own as far as, um, monkeys.
[CHUCKLES] But what I can do is
is run a literature review
for any mention of these
chromosomal abnormalities
in forensic-anthropology journals.
In fact, I-I could do that
right now on my laptop,
if, um
if you want to come up.
Hey.
I know you keep saying
don't worry about you.
But look me in the eyes right now
and tell me everything's okay.
You know I can't resist a puzzle.
And you sent me a puzzle.
Yeah, look, I mean, you're right.
I found myself in something
out of a fairy tale.
Like, finding my long-lost family.
And, um, I just
I'm in this other world.
Like, through the looking glass.
Like you don't belong?
No, like I do.
But like I'm a different
person than I thought I was,
and I just am still trying to figure out
how to be that person.
Different how?
The things that didn't
make sense about me,
they make sense now.
But, you know, that doesn't
mean that anything's easier
at all.
Coming up?
[PHONE BUZZING]
One sec.
Yeah.
Hi, Jojo.
Alicia's dead.
It looks the same as Gifford.
Rowan, I think Lasher is doing this.
No, I know he is.
I'm gonna take care of it.
I'm gonna take care of him.
Do you mean what I think you mean?
Yes. But I need to find him first.
- Where are you?
- Alicia's house.
- Rowan, Sip is here.
- What?
- Who called him?
- Moira, I guess.
Okay.
Okay, thank you, Jojo. Bye.
[TENSE MUSIC]
Is everything all right?
Yeah. It's just a family thing.
- Can we meet up later?
- Yeah, sure.
I'm really, really, really
glad that you're here.

[DISEMBODIED WHISPERING]

[GASPS]

Stop that.
No, no, no, no, no,
no, no. You stay here.
You you want to
show your loyalty to me?
You'll stay right by
my side until the end.
Stay the hell out of the way.
That's how you serve the family best.
Well, no, Father.
[CHUCKLES]
I don't believe it is.
[GRUNTS]
[SIGHS]
Oh, look at you.
[GASPS]
Rowan.
Rowan, I want you to know that I
Shut up.
I'd never keep him from you.
What does Lasher want?
Where would he go?
You you don't know where he is?
Why did he want to be embodied?
You knew his intentions
better than the rest of us.
He wanted to be born into
human form, and then what?
And then and then he would
lead the family into a new day.
What about the pages ripped
out of Marguerite's diary
and Katherine's notebooks?
All the notes and the
the entries about Lasher.
Did you rip them out? What did they say?
No, no, no, no, no.
I had no idea.
What what is this
about Marguerite's diary?
Are you lying to me?
- No, no.
- Oh, my God.
You really don't know anything.
Lasher's out there
hunting Mayfair women,
and you really don't know anything.
After all the horrific things
that you did in his name,
all of your crimes that you committed,
and all of your selfish behavior.
No, no, no, no.
I had some time to think in there
in a manner of speaking,
and you're right.
- I-I am terrible.
- I don't care.
But I was a pawn, just like you.
[SIGHS]
I was raised by a tyrant, my father.
I modeled myself after him.
I did everything he asked.
A lot of people were born
with horrible fathers.
You think that yours means
that you're not responsible
for your own actions?
No, no. I am I am responsible.
Look.
I won't ask for your forgiveness.
I know I don't deserve it.
All right. Here's what I want you to do.
Oh, anything. Anything at all.
I want you to get the whole family here.
A wake, party, whatever.
I don't care. Just get them all here.
- They always come when you call.
- A party?
- [STAMMERS]
- Yes.
I mean, you kind of lost me there.
If you were me, would
you confide in you?
Huh.
Fair enough.
Okay. Come on.
You have a lot to do,
and you work for me now.
Oh, lucky me.
[INSECTS BUZZING]
[OMINOUS MUSIC]

Rowan.
Rowan.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

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