"A Million Nights Stretch Out Before Us":

A Defense of Lucard/Klaus

Some of you may be visiting this site for the first time and wonder how anyone could possibly slash Alexander Lucard and Klaus Helsing. After all, "Dracula: the Series" is a family show. It features exactly one real kiss (Lucard and Margo Burton; Sophie and Chris don't count). It's hard even to imagine the married couples sleeping together. (Lana and Lane Zorro? Ewwww. Anna and Peter Dyson? Zzzzzz. Lance and Margo Burton? Poor Margo!) So how can anyone justify a slash pairing?

Well, first of all, D:tS is a family show, not a children's show (at least, I hope not). There are constant undercurrents of darkness and danger percolating under the relatively upbeat surface. Lucard racks up an impressive body count and although some of those murders are villains whose deaths seem at least possibly justified, many of them aren't. The show constantly hints at nefarious deeds Lucard Industries is carrying out. Gustav Helsing has obviously destroyed many vampires in his life--and he is bringing up children to do the same. Would fanfiction exploring these issues be inappropriate? I don't think so, although it would probably a challenge to write such stories and still maintain a sense that we were in the D:tS universe and watching D:tS characters. So it is with stories dealing with the relationship between Lucard and Klaus.

Second, given that there was only one season and only four episodes featuring Klaus, there's a lot of evidence to give rise to speculations about that relationship. Speculations, mind you--there is no on-screen proof that the characters are attracted to each other, but then there isn't for any other slash fandom. If there were, there'd be no need to write the stories. What sort of evidence am I talking about? There are several points:

• Lucard and Klaus live together (at least til the end of "Black Sheep"). This is directly confirmed in "Black Sheep," when Lucard tells Klaus from the castle to "come straight home after the rendezvous..." It is never stated or implied anywhere in the series that any other sentient person (as opposed to a zombie) lives there.
• Klaus calls Lucard "Alexander." He is the only male character on the show to do so, except for Ted Singleton, whose insolence Lucard clearly resents. Dr. Varney and Nosferatu call him "Dracula," which also suggests to me a certain degree of familiarity, but dating from further back (before he became "Lucard"). For his part, Lucard once addresses his assistant as "my dear Klaus!"
• Lucard and Klaus are constantly touching and smirking at each other in the most flirtatious way. Most notably, of course, Klaus slides his arm around Lucard's shoulder as they recite "Romeo and Juliet" together ("Vampire Solution"). Does it get any slashier than that? There are others; a touch that's not easy to see on casual viewing is Klaus seizing Lucard's arm after they've been knocked down by Max's energy bolts and are lying on the ground together. And what about Lucard's actually sheltering Klaus from Max the first time he fires those bolts?
• "Take me back, Alexander!" Rather an odd phrasing, no?
• "If only you'd listened to me, if only you'd respected me...if only you'd loved me..." Spoken to Gustav andLucard in "Decline of the Romanian Vampire." We know what it means with regard to Gustav, but to Lucard...?
• Klaus remembers with a bitter smile that Lucard once trusted him ("Klaus Encounters"). Obviously Klaus doesn't have a clear view of all of Lucard's motives for their relationship, but given how closely they work together in "Vampire Solution" ("we have a report from our people") and "Black Sheep," it does seem to be true. Lucard doesn't even trust Varney, his "old friend." The implications?
• In the second-season outlines, Klaus succeeds in gaining control over Lucard's empire and promptly recruits a new vampire to take over his old position. He carries on a romantic relationship with his replacement!

It's hard to avoid the conclusion that Lucard and Klaus are on, at least, a very intimate footing. You don't have to read this as sexual or potentially sexual, but I see no reason that you shouldn't if you're so inclined. Certainly we know that Lucard is attracted to women, but that doesn't mean he can't also be attracted to another man. As for Klaus, the closest he gets to having anything to do with the fair sex is to have Eileen think that he's "cute." Clearly, the poor fellow deserves better.

Finally, treating the relationship as slashy raises some interesting questions and problems to resolve in fanfic. For example, Lucard is generally so aloof that being able to write about someone with whom he is intimate is a great opportunity, especially since Margo is such a cipher. D:tS never had a chance to deal with the past of the characters (having read the second-season outlines, I'm glad it didn't)--writing about Lucard and Klaus's relationship is a natural means of introducing the subject. There are even some great "missing scenes" possibilities: to name just one, how did Lucard and Klaus spend the time in between Klaus's arrival in Lucard Industries and Gustav's arrival in the castle several hours later?

So, one not only can slash Lucard and Klaus, but should. Are there others out there who'd like to give it a try? It has to be more interesting than writing about yet another American Mary Sue who comes into town just in time for Lucard to fall passionately in love with her.