Metro police detective Nick Knight (Geraint Wyn Davies) and his partner Don Schanke (John Kapelos) are at their wit's end when it come to a case in which another police detective strangled an accountant to death then was himself stabbed. The opening scenes reveal the killer to be an extremely persuasive woman who commanded one murder then committed the second. The victims had past reputations for being upstanding, conscientious and sedate before changing.
Retracing the steps of the murdered men they locate a strip club and Ann Foley (Cynthia Preston) - a young exotic dancer whom both men were seen talking to. Nick is smitten almost upon sight of her, feeling something he remembers from when he first saw Janette (Deborah Duchene) - his ex, a vampire who helped bring him into that lifestyle during the Crusades. It indicates that it isn't just an animal attraction.
Knight's partner Schanke - normally a drooling, sweating horn-dog doesn't see much in Ann that he can't see in any of the other girls working in the club the night they go there. Ann's power of attraction just doesn't quite work on him for some reason. But Nick goes "red kryptonite Superman" for a spell and as a vampire, or just as a cop abusing his authority, that can lead to some very bad things.
For audiences a game on this show was not just guessing who the killer was, or the motive of the crime on each episode, but rather which one of the guest stars is a vampire. Is Ann a vampire? Or is she meant to show the vampire tendencies some individuals have that make them seem vampire-like? Actually she shows considerably more than that. Her arc opens up an examination into the mindset of those who actually recruited and mentored Nick in the vampire lifestyle as well as his mindset in being recruited.
Janette's seduction of Nicholas De Brabant aka Nick Knight, is depicted and juxtaposed with Ann's seduction of Nick. It implies that part of the appeal of becoming a vampire might have been the thrill and running with the wrong crowd which can happen to the best of people. Janette's surprise introduction of her friend Lucien LaCroix (Nigel Bennett) indicates there was a level of peer pressure to it as well and that physical intimidation might have been part of it. The aspect of cult is also implicit. LaCroix is a vampire's vampire and he chooses Nick.
The character study of the hero was the backbone of the writing on the show. Ann is the kind of woman Janette or LaCroix would have recruited. The vampire community is full of her kind of thrill-seeking, power-abusing disposers of victims. A century or two earlier, Nick himself might have turned her. But his arc has changed and that is illustrated perfectly here. The subtlety of that is immaculate.
