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| The Vachon FAQ
by Amy R. original
in 1997; |
Frequently Asked Questions about Vachon:
- Who is Vachon?
- What is Vachon's full name?
- Who plays Vachon?
- Is there a FORKNI-L affiliation for Vachon?
- Which episodes is he in?
- What is his fate, in the final episode in which he appears?
- How old is Vachon?
- Who are Vachon's known relatives, contacts and relationships?
- What does Vachon look like?
- Who is "the Inca"?
- What kind of personality is Vachon?
- What is the chronology of Vachon's life?
- Special Notes
- Vachon-focused Episode-descriptions
Who is Vachon?
Javier Vachon is a vampire character in the third season of the syndicated
fantasy television program, Forever Knight. He is a friend of Tracy Vetter,
partner of the protagonist Detective Nick Knight.
What is Vachon's full name?
There is no reason to suspect it is not "Javier Vachon." Unlike Nick, Vachon does not seem to have many aliases or nicknames.
Vachon's given name is not known for certain, though the Inca's statement that he was killed by the Spaniard "Javier Vachon"
strongly suggests that is what the character was called as a mortal. He bought his plane ticket in "Black Buddha" under the name "J.D. Valdez," but that is the only time that name has been employed on screen.
In 1890 (HoD), he introduces himself to Urs as "Javier Vachon," the same name he gives Tracy in 1995 (BB).
His signature on the Mississauga treaty in 1787 is "J Vachon" (BW).
Tracy usually calls him "Vachon," but twice, in extraordinary circumstances (TG, AtA), uses "Javier;" Urs usually calls him "Javier," but has also, casually, used "Vachon;" Screed once called him "V-man," and once "Vachonetti."
Who
plays Vachon?
Ben Bass, recently a guest-star on the
ABC/USA television series Monk, is the actor who depicts Vachon. He
has also appeared in the movie Child's Play IV and other projects.
Is there a FORKNI-L
affiliation for Vachon?
Vachon's followers call themselves "Vaqueros" and "Vaqueras." Fans of the Vachon/Tracy relationship are "T&Vpackers." Fans of a Vachon/Natalie relationship are "Lonelyhearts." Fans of the Vachon/Urs relationship are "Dark Hearts." Fans of both Vachon and Nick are "Heartbreakers."
Vaqueros symbolize themselves with a conquistador's helmet and the legend "Because I can."
Other listmembers, however, have sometimes jokingly symbolized them with cows; "vaquero" is Spanish for "cowboy."
Which
episodes is Vachon in?
- "Black Buddha, Part 1" (BB1)
- "Black Buddha, Part 2" (BB2)
- "Blackwing" (BW)
- "My Boyfriend is a Vampire" (MBIAV)
- "Hearts of Darkness" (HoD)
- "Trophy Girl" (TG)
- "Let No Man Tear Asunder" (LNMTA)
- "Fever"
- "Francesca" (Fran)
- "Ashes to Ashes" (AtA)
What is
Vachon's fate, in the final episode in which he appears?
In "Ashes to Ashes," maddened by Divia's poison, Vachon impales himself through the heart on a wooden stake held by Tracy, and
dies. Tracy removes the stake and says that she will take his body to Screed, whom Vachon buried on the lakeshore in "Fever."
How
old is Vachon?
Ben Bass once said that Vachon was meant to be 17 when brought across in 1531.
In "Black Buddha, Part 1" the police estimate him at 25. He has spent 465 years as a vampire in 1996, and is thus 482-490 years old in
1996, the present-day of the story.
Who are Vachon's known relatives, contacts and
relationships?
Vachon's master, Angel, a South American vampire of otherwise unspecified origins, suicides after she brings him and his "brother," the Inca, across to vampirism (BB2). Vachon brings Urs across in 1890 (HoD). Some speculate that Vachon is Screed's master, but there is no hard evidence for that on screen; certainly, they have a friendship spanning centuries and across continents. Bourbon (MBIAV, HoD) is a part of Vachon's crew in the past; his modern fate is not known. The Inca is widely believed to have pursued Vachon more-or-less continuously since they became vampires. Nothing is known of Vachon's human family.
When Nick asks after Vachon in BB2, Lacroix is familiar with "the young Spaniard;" Nick meets him later in that episode. Both Lacroix and Nick treat him fairly dismissively. Vachon meets Natalie in "Fever," but had previously heard about Nick's friend who is "pretty good with the dead -- and undead" from an unknown source. In "Let No Man Tear Asunder," he shows himself to be directly aware of contacts involved in illegal harvesting of human organs, but attributes that information to Screed. He has an interest in the Mississauga people that has continued over two centuries.
Tracy Vetter has an ambiguous relationship with Vachon. On the one hand, he is her "snitch" in police cases; on the other, she is clearly attracted to him.
From Vachon's perspective, he has been ordered to look out for Tracy by Nick Knight, on the threat of the older vampire's vengeance, though he also seems to enjoy Tracy's company and
be attracted to her. After Vachon dies, Tracy says: "I never got the chance to tell you how I felt about you . . . I'll always love you for [having opened my eyes]."
What does Vachon
look like?
Vachon is 5'10" tall and weighs perhaps 150 pounds. He has thick, black, slightly-wavy hair, which reaches below his shoulders; it inevitably looks somewhat on the wind-blown side, and is always worn loose.
Vachon has noticeably large, brown eyes, framed with long, black lashes, and frequently seems to be a day past his last shave.
In the present-day, he almost always wears a black, leather jacket, along with t-shirts, jeans, and black boots; he owns a long, black duster.
Vachon does not wear any jewelry on screen.
Who is
"the Inca"?
Damon D'Oliveira plays the Inca, Vachon's vampire "brother." Vachon and the Inca
are "mortal enemies;" their last mortal acts were to wound each other to the point of death.
When Angel brings them across that night, she gives them "eternal orders" to protect those who "value life" and kill those who do not.
The Inca apparently embraces these orders as his purpose in existence; Vachon
rejects them, unwilling to be tied either to his mortal enemy or, apparently, any set of imposed rules.
On first awakening as a vampire, Vachon attempts to stake the Inca. He
fails. Apparently, the Inca has pursued him ever since, wishing to compel him to join in following Angel's orders; in BB2, Screed reacts to news of the Inca's arrival in the city as to news of incipient trouble, but links this trouble directly to Vachon's presence; Urs asks, "You know about that?" when Nick mentions the Inca to her.
The Inca is widely assumed to die at the end of BB2; he carries the bomb to "mother moon," likening himself to Angel, who immolated herself in sunlight.
The bomb is seen to explode high above Toronto. No personal name for the Inca is revealed on screen.
What kind of
personality is Vachon?
Vachon often gives the appearance of irresponsibility to society, but seems quite loyal to the commitments he chooses for himself. This contradiction underlies the entire presentation of Vachon in Forever Knight. In "Black Buddha, Part Two," Urs says that "Javier's always running . . . from the Inca, from responsibility. It's part of his charm, you see; he's so hard to catch." Lacroix similarly characterizes him as "irresponsible," and Nick takes him to task for running from his obligations (BB). I n the present day, Vachon has no apparent employment, lives in an abandoned building, and has frustrated Tracy with his reluctance to commit to some sort of relationship (MBIAV); all of these things contribute to an appearance of irresponsibility, going back to the night he came across, when he decided to kill his vampire brother rather than be tied to a mortal enemy under an imposed code of morality.
Vachon resists Angel's decree but, on his own, has seemed largely to make choices that coincide with her dictum of sparing those who value life and killing those who do not. Nick's imposition of responsibility for Tracy, who Vachon chose to befriend, similarly meets resistance from Vachon, but he eventually acquiesces, as when Nick reminds Vachon that he is responsible for Urs, who he chose to bring across (HoD). Vachon fought on the side of numerous American Indian nations against European invaders (BW); he attempts to care for a crying child (AtA); he kills Vudu, but not Tracy, even when the vampire code seems to demand it (BB); he kills Lemieux to save Urs (HoD).
Vachon apparently has few compunctions about killing; he kills or tries to kill someone in every flashback in which he appears, as well as killing Vudu in the present day. Urs says that she does not take death as "lightly" as he does (HoD).
If he takes death "lightly," as Urs believes, however, friendship appears to be among his heaviest values. Vachon goes to Urs when she is troubled in HoD, and responds to her call after a nightmare in AtA. He sticks by Screed throughout his illness (Fever), feeding him his own blood and even braving daylight in an attempt to get help. Vachon has shown himself willing to lie to protect his own kind (HoD, AtA), and his interest in the Mississauga people has persisted for two-hundred years (BW). In "Fever," when Screed asks him for "one last" favor, Vachon immediately replies, "Anything." In AtA, when Tracy asks, "Will you do me a favor?" Vachon again answers, "Anything." Vachon never seems to act rashly, and frequently pauses for consideration before speaking or moving.
Vachon has demonstrated a preference for championing the underdog, claiming to have spent seventy-five years on the side of "whoever was losing" in struggles between Indians and Europeans (BW), as well as rescuing Urs from Lemieux (HoD), and Tracy from Vudu (BB2), and simply being friends with Screed, who may well be, as a carouche, an oppressed minority in vampire society (BF).
If Vachon appears irresponsible to the standards others would impose on him, it seems that in those he has chosen himself, his commitment is well-considered and absolute.
What is the
chronology of Vachon's life?
Most of Vachon's life has apparently been spent running from the Inca, an idea implied in "Black Buddha."
Presumably born in Spain, Vachon becomes a vampire near Lake Titicaca, in the Andes mountains of South America, in 1531, after serving in Pizarro's army (BB2), but his whereabouts for the next two centuries are unknown.
If he is Screed's master, he must have encountered the Englishman some time around 1580 (Fever); those who accept that speculation frequently
picture Vachon returning to Europe when he brings the sailor across. Vachon spent most of the eighteenth century fighting on various sides of the French and Indian Wars in North America, killing a "French regular" in the 1720s (BW) and signing a treaty as a representative of the Mississauga people in 1787(BW); Vachon says he spent "years" searching for proof of that treaty after the party was ambushed and the deed lost (BW).
He is next seen in 1792 Spain in the company of Screed and Bourbon (MBIAV).
A century
later, in 1890 New Orleans, Vachon is still accompanied by Screed and Bourbon; there he brings Urs across (HoD).
Nothing is known of Vachon or his crew between 1890 and their presence in Toronto in 1995.
However, his conversations with Urs in BB2 may imply that they had "run as a crew" until fairly recently.
Certainly, both Urs and Screed imply that pursuit by the Inca has been a regular -- though not dogged --
activity during their time with Vachon.
Special Notes
-
History
-
South America
The story told in the flashbacks of "Black Buddha, Part Two," with the date given in the script, is not historically possible -- not in this reality, anyway. Pizzaro and his troops were nowhere near Lake Titicaca in 1531; it would be 1533 before they pushed far enough south for that encounter to be possible. In addition, there was no artillery in the area of Peru until 1532. The cannons, if any, would be on board ship back at the staging area in Panama. A few guns, if that, would be all the "artillery" Pizzaro's troops would have had. -
North America
The area now encompassing Toronto, known as "New France" from 1701-1763, was ceded to the British in the Treaty of Paris in 1763, and purchased by Lord Dorchester, the British Governor of Quebec, from the Mississauga tribe in 1787. This later purchase may be the historical occasion of the flashbacks in "Blackwing." However, the script specifies only the "1790s" for this flashback, and the treaty prop reads "in the thirty eighth year of the reign of our Great Father King George the Third;" George III ascended the throne in 1760, thus placing the on-screen treaty in 1797. The Queen Anne's War segment of the French and Indian Wars, specifically mentioned by Vachon, dates 1702-1713. About the same time as the Mississauga purchase, the British renamed the territory Upper Canada (approximately the boundaries of Ontario) and Lower Canada (now Quebec). The land bought from the Mississauga included a small fort/trading post known as Fort Rouille, or Fort Toronto, originally built by the French.
-
-
Angel
-
Vachon's master is named "Angel" in the credits; neither her proper name nor her background are known. She wears a sleeveless, white dress and a long cape of bright, multi-colored feathers, and has sleek, black hair, dark eyes, and a round face. Her ethnic appearance may suggest Pacific Islander ancestors.
-
The actress playing Angel also depicts Brianna, a Raven employee, in the second-season episode "A More Permanent Hell."
-
-
Other
-
Vachon is known to speak Spanish, English and French. Presumably, he also speaks the languages of at least some of the American Indian groups at whose side he fought for over seventy-five years.
-
Vachon's motorcycle is a red Triumph, and he rides wearing a black helmet.
-
A webpage devoted to Vachon may be found at: http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/jdvachon/.
-
Vachon-focused Episode-descriptions
Detective Nick Knight's new partner, Tracy Vetter, spots Vachon opening his eyes in the wreckage of a plane crash, but on examination, she and Reese determine him to be dead.
When their backs are turned, Vachon runs from the crash site. Later, Tracy confronts Vachon in the hangar serving as a morgue; she faints when she sees him casually holding his severed right hand in his intact, left one.
He drives her car back to her apartment, and tries to mesmerize her. When that fails, he bargains with her, promising information about the crash.
When Tracy is threatened by the Inca at the abandoned church, Vachon is there to rescue her.
The episode ends with him jumping into flight with her unconscious body in his arms.
"Black Buddha, Part 2" --
Vachon takes Tracy to Screed's lair. Vachon tells Screed "she's a resistor," and Screed replies that Vachon should just kill her, rather than imposing on a friend.
Vachon relates flashbacks to Lake Titicaca, 1531, to Tracy. In them, Vachon is a soldier in the army of Pizarro against the Incan people; he and an Inca almost kill each other, and are then brought across by a colorfully-dressed vampire, named "Angel" in the credits; Vachon describes his coming across as "the most erotic thing I've ever experienced.
And yet, it was somehow ... pure." After teaching them "the way of the night" and giving them instructions that "those who treasure life must live; those who don't must die," Angel walks into the sun and dies.
The next night, Vachon, unwilling to be tied down by Angel's orders, tries to kill the Inca, and flees.
Tracy expresses disdain for his behavior, and Vachon seems surprised. Nick finds Vachon in Screed's lair, and holds him forcibly against the wall; Nick tells Vachon that since he let Tracy find out about vampires, he is responsible for the consequences of her knowledge, and that if anything happens to Tracy, Nick will make him regret it.
Vachon intercepts Vudu when they meet at an airline ticket counter, follows him, and is shot six times before draining Vudu in front of Tracy.
Nick arrives and, for Tracy's benefit, Vachon pretends to hypnotize away Nick's knowledge of vampires.
Tracy visits Vachon in the church; he tells her Screed has gone to Vegas.
"Blackwing" --
Vachon appears on television as a "concerned citizen," interviewed by a reporter covering protests at the site of a proposed "mega mall." Vachon says that the claim of the Mississauga people is valid, that it will be proven, and that they deserve to be full partners in the development. He says that a lot of people will be unwilling to patronize the mall until the land issue is settled, and then leaves the scene on his motorcycle. Two nights later, Tracy goes to the church. Vachon surprises her, "because [he] can," implies that he has redecorated, and learns that she saw him on television. "This is a side of you I was not aware of," Tracy says.
"Let's just say I have a personal stake in the proceedings." He repeats that the Mississauga claim is "100% valid" and that he saw the surveyor's letter during "Queen Anne's Campaign," the French and Indian Wars. "For seventy-five years. You know me -- love a good fight. At least, that's how I used to be. Sometimes, fighting for a losing cause, no matter how right it is, can frustrate you, wear you down."
"So whose side were you on?" Tracy asks.
"Whoever was losing. I fought with the Iroquois against the French, the Ojibwas against the English. We were running in small bands, hit-and-run stuff, harassing their scouts ... interrupting supply lines, so to speak." In flashback to that era, he drains a scout. Vachon tells Tracy that he was at the signing of the land settlement treaty between the Mississauga and the government of Upper Canada, something which occurred in 1787. He signed it himself, with the name "J Vachon" and a drawing of a crane to indicate his clan, though he does not tell Tracy that. The group was ambushed bringing the treaty back to the tribe, he says, and he "searched for proof for years, after," never finding it. "Anyway, it's not my fight anymore; never really was." At that, Tracy tells him that Gary Blackwing was murdered the night before.
Tracy calls Vachon after a lawyer on the opposite side of the case is found dead.
Vachon assures her he is not involved with the murder, and will not become involved.
Tracy asks how she can trust him at all; "find the letter," he replies.
Finally, when Nick finds the map and surveyor's letter, Tracy sees Vachon's signature and mark on it.
"My Boyfriend is a Vampire" --
In flashbacks to 1592 Spain, Vachon recalls Screed, Bourbon and himself taking and draining four young women in a barn full of hay. The women -- dressed like barmaids or serving girls -- seem happy and willing, but they do end up dead. Vachon makes a speech in the process of seduction which is both poetic and Freudian, full of coded vampiric imagery the women could not possibly comprehend unless they knew about vampires, though they seem enthralled by his words. After the women are dead, both Screed and Bourbon seem entirely satisfied with the encounter and their freedom from commitment to any woman, though they debate whether passive or feisty women are to be preferred. Vachon seems slightly detached from them, possibly even brooding, though he does culminate the encounter by saying, "To each his own, gentlemen," in French, and "I love women!" in English.
In 1995 Toronto, these memories are first occasioned by an encounter with Tracy in a cafe, where she asks for advice on the Maggie Dwyer case; he says that if she finds a real vampire involved, she will be dead before she can tell anyone, and so there is no reason to worry.
Tracy offers a non-sequitur about men who do not even recognize when they are in relationships; Vachon's minimal reaction annoys Tracy, and she leaves.
Earlier in the episode, Vachon trails Tracy to the stakeout of Dwyer's apartment and helps Nick apprehend Dwyer's boyfriend, assuring Tracy that the boyfriend is not a vampire -- even though she doesn't want him to say "that word:" "vampire."
Later, more memories are provoked by staring at Tracy's backside while she muses on the television talk-show which wants to dress her as a "babe cop."
She asks him if he will appear as her snitch on the program, with his identity blocked; he agrees, and quotes lines from
The Maltese Falcon in front of the camera. Tracy apparently gets the joke.
She is attacked with a knife, however, and Vachon, with the camera on him, can only pursue the assailant as "humanly possible."
Nick reveals to Tracy and Reese that he knows Vachon, but only as a snitch he "used a few times last year."
At one point, he stands at the bar in the Raven with Nick and Lacroix, musing on the days when vampire-male/human-female relations were infinitely simpler, as in his memories of the drained-to-death girls in the hay.
"Hearts of Darkness" --
A murder has been committed by a female vampire. Urs is suspected, but it is multiple-personality Ellen/Monika/Jacqueline. Even Vachon suspects Urs, and comments, she "doesn't know her own strength." Tracy goes to Vachon at the Raven to ask him about the murder; he assures her that it is highly unlikely that a vampire is involved. When Nick comes to the Raven about the same murder, Vachon tells him that Tracy is still obsessed by the "new wrinkle in her reality," seeing vampires under every rock.
Vachon is simultaneously obliged to watch Urs, who is following Ellen and for whom he is responsible as her master, and Tracy, whom Nick has ordered him to watch as she accompanies Ellen, the suspect in a vampire-committed homicide. Ellen succumbs to her Monika personality, and then her Jacqueline vampire-personality, knocking Tracy down and escaping. Nick had ordered Vachon to watch over Tracy; distracted by Urs, who denies having killed when he accuses her of it, and says "I don't take death as lightly as you do, Javier," Vachon returns to Tracy along with Nick just as Jacqueline is escaping. Nick goes after Jacqueline and Vachon stays with Tracy, ordered by Nick to watch out for her but not be seen by her.
While with Urs, Vachon is reminded of her coming across, and, apparently for the first time, is confronted with the knowledge that she really did not want it. In Urs's words: "I asked you to kill me, not to bring me across. Not to bear for eternity what I couldn't bear for another second. I asked for death, and you gave me forever. Forever." Urs is singing honky-tonk music when she encounters Vachon, Screed and Bourbon in 1890 New Orleans. Her companion takes offense at her flirting with Vachon during her performance. He takes more offense when Vachon defends her, and attempts to cut Urs's throat for it. Vachon drains him, instead.
Urs says she heard of men who live to kill, afraid of nothing; "is that you and your friends?"
"We don't live to kill," Vachon answers. "We kill to live."
Vachon offers to take her "away from all this. Someone of your beauty, dancing for fools and thieves ... ."
Urs, however, asks Vachon to help her die, to "Please -- feed and then let me die.
Please. Please. Kill me." Vachon, instead, brings her across, promising her a "beginning" when she had asked for an "end."
In the present day, he apologizes. At the end of the episode, Urs muses to Vachon on whether simply knowing the nature of her father-based emotional problems, as explained by Jacqueline, is enough to change.
Vachon says he "can't say."
"Trophy Girl" --
Sitting at the Raven bar with Urs, contemplating a cocktail umbrella, Vachon is startled to see Tracy arrive "dressed to kill." Commenting to Urs that Tracy's meeting a man in a tuxedo there looks "totally weird," he follows them outside and tries to talk with Tracy, prompting her about "that private thing" they need to discuss, and pretending he barely recognizes her. Tracy conspicuously mispronounces his name "Hav-ee-are," but he fails to take the hint and hypnotizes her date to "get lost." "You should keep that hypno-thing in your holster!" she says angrily; she is undercover and his attempt to protect her ruins the plan. "Sorry," he responds. "Sometimes it gets away from me." Tracy stalks off toward her own car, and Vachon stands in front of what is assumed to be his motorcycle for a moment before heading back toward the Raven.
Later, Vachon drops into the back seat of Nick's convertible at an intersection.
"Cars are sexier with fins, don't you think?" he asks Nick. "More predatory."
When the older vampire asserts "trunk space," Vachon calls him "Pragmatist.
Speaking of which, what's with your partner?" Nick informs him that Tracy
killed a drug dealer in the line of duty, and is consequently on a leave of absence.
Vachon asks if she is "all right with that;" Nick says that she has not been "forthcoming" with him, but might be with Vachon.
Vachon disagrees, and tells Nick about the incident at the Raven. Informed that Tracy was "undercover," Nick starts his car and asks if Vachon is
coming. Vachon flies off, saying he thinks he had better stay out of this one.
"Let No Man Tear Asunder" --
In her apartment, Tracy asks Vachon what he knows about illegal organ
transplants. He complains that every time she encounters something weird,
she runs to her "supernatural chum" for the "inside dope."
She grins that
he's the only "supernatural friend" she has, and then admits that it is "not
really just a police matter." She is concerned for her uncle, who will die
without a heart transplant. Vachon tells her that Screed told him that
there are millions of dollars involved in such transactions by a group of
doctors who travel between "here and Rio," and who "accelerate the process
of procurement." Tracy asks what he means. "Do you want me to draw you a
picture?" he responds. Vachon emphasizes that he is just repeating what
Screed told him, and that he has nothing to do with this himself. Tracy
asks for names and places. Vachon asks if she is really that desperate.
When she fails to respond, he sighs and says to tell a "Dr. Walters" that
"Enrique from the clinic in Rio" sent her, and that she will pay whatever he asks.
He writes down an address for her. When Tracy is cut off in the middle of a call to Nick, he goes to Vachon to find out where she went.
Vachon gives Nick the same information he gave Tracy. He says he is sorry, and thought he was
helping. "What else can I say? I'll come along." Nick refuses his help however, and leaves Vachon at the Raven.
"Fever" --
Tracy and Vachon enter Screed's abode. Screed pounces on her, desperate for the "fruit in her veins," but Vachon intervenes. "First kill, any kill," Screed says, shaking. Vachon translates that to Tracy, explaining the nature of vampiric first-hunger. "He's starving," Vachon observes, and offers him his wrist. Screed seizes it greedily, and on Tracy's suggestion, Vachon concludes that, contradicting everything he knows about vampires, Screed is sick. The next day -- and Vachon does indeed brave the sun, according to the script, though this is not seen clearly on screen -- Vachon goes to Nick, hoping Natalie, as a doctor, can help Screed, who he has been feeding "all morning," but who is "still starving." Natalie tries, but can do nothing, and Screed dies in Vachon's arms.
Tracy visits Vachon later at the church and asks if he is all right; Vachon hacks out, "I've been better."
He begins to observe the "taste of apricots, scent of calla lilies" radiating from her blood.
Tracy is sensually enthralled, until Vachon throws her away from him and begs her to leave; he recognizes that it is like the first hunger, and when he says that, she dashes for the door.
She returns later with a donated bag of blood, and finds Vachon lying, weak and ill, in bed.
She offers him the blood, but he says he isn't hungry anymore. Later, Vachon seems to have slept; he asks Tracy how long she's been there.
When she replies that it is almost dawn, he tells her to go. She reminds him of how he once told her that his master committed suicide by stepping into the sun.
He sees Nick appear in the corner of the room, and tells her, again, to go, thanking her "for trying."
She kisses him gently, and then flees the room. Nick administers the cure Natalie has discovered, and when he recovers, Vachon buries Screed near the water, in accord with his last request, and toasts him with a bottle of blood over his grave: "See you in Hell, sailor."
"Francesca" --
As Vachon and Tracy sit on opposite ends of his couch, him drinking blood and her sipping a red (or orange) can of soda-pop, he tells her that "it
sounds like you have a [vampire] connoisseur on your hands [in her investigation].
With everyone being real careful," it is an expensive taste, but not unknown; there is always a market for a special vintage, a poet, a musician, "even an actor."
Vachon says that the carelessness with which the bodies were left does not fit the profile of a vampire blood broker; Tracy says that she does not think this is a professional, that these murders are somehow personal.
Vachon asks, "Trace, if it is a vampire ...?" Tracy admits she does not know what she will do, and Vachon gives her a long look.
Later, Vachon restrings his guitar as Tracy tells him more about the case.
She asks if the name "Nicholas Chevalier," the name of the suspect's lover in
a supposed past life as Francesca, means anything to him, and proposes that this is the connoisseur they are
seeking. Vachon, apparently recognizing the name as French for "Nick Knight," tries to deflect her, but the more he remains noncommittally silent, the more sure Tracy is that she is on to something.
Vachon rests his head on the neck of his guitar as Tracy leaves.
"Ashes to Ashes" --
Vachon is with Urs in a back room of the Raven. "It's not what you think," he tells Lacroix; Urs called him for comfort after a nightmare. He and Urs are observed by Divia as they leave the Raven. Vachon meets Tracy at her car, and she thanks him for coming. Vachon, wide-eyed, lies, "No," to Tracy questioning if Lacroix is a vampire. She discusses a feeling of evil she thinks she's picking up from Lacroix, and declares, "Evil's a part of you; maybe that's why we'd never work." "What?" Vachon asks, nonplussed. Tracy is disconcerted and uncomfortable; she asks for a favor. "Sure; anything," Vachon replies, but she hesitates and only asks him to call her when he gets in.
Vachon is lured into an alley by Divia, who poses as a crying child. Vachon goes to help her, looking around the alley as if for another vampire, checks her neck, and then suddenly finds himself at her mercy. She bites him, announcing, "you will pay for [Lacroix's] sins."
Later, Urs goes to Vachon's residence, and Vachon attacks her. She throws him off, and demands to know what's happening. "Make them stop," he begs, flashing to images of Divia's life. "I can't stop the killing. Men, women, children . . . especially children. I see them killing and being killed. I can't stand the pleasure . . . her visions, her memories." Vachon tells Urs she must leave, in Divia's words, "before you are staked, scorched by the sun." He calls Tracy: "I know who's doing this. I know why that body was in the Raven." He breaks off in an agonizing scream.
Tracy finds him wounded and delirious. "It's okay," she embraces him. "Your wounds will heal." "I'm not healing," he tells her. "I'm dying." Vachon asks Tracy to kill him, declaring that he knows he will die anyway. She picks up the stake he indicates; Vachon kneels before her, opening his shirt, and she holds it to his chest. "I can't," she withdraws. "You have to," he says, and suddenly flies at her. Tracy brings up the stake in a defensive gesture, and Vachon impales himself on it. As she lowers his body, he says, "Tracy." "Javier," she responds. He smiles weakly, "Wish me luck." Tracy removes the stake and stays with the body for some time, promising to take him "to Screed."
Nick later asks Lacroix to hypnotize away Tracy's memory of Vachon's death, though leaving her the knowledge that he was a vampire and "good friend," and informs Lacroix that Tracy has buried Vachon by Screed.
With many thanks to Bonnie, Janis, Apache and Marg.
FAQ created and maintained by Knightie Amy
R.. Comments and constructive criticism are appreciated.
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