"BLADE II" -- by David Goyer
BLADE II -- By David Goyer
EXT. COMMUNITY BLOOD BANK - NIGHT
PULL BACK from a neon red cross ablaze in the cold December
night to REVEAL an inner-city, store-front clinic. Trash and
leaves blow over wet, snowy pavement.
ANGLE ON a PALE FIGURE standing across the street. He looks
feverish and strung-out, in serious need of a fix. This is
JARED NOMAK, 20s. He starts towards the clinic.
INT. COMMUNITY BLOOD BANK - ENTRANCE - NIGHT
Potential DONORS sit in a waiting area, filling out forms,
leafing through informational material. A sign in the window
reads: "Se habla Espanol". Others read: "YOU ARE MAKING A
DIFFERENCE", "GIVE LIFE", and "BECOME A PLATELET DONOR". We
overhear a bored-looking EMPLOYEE behind the information desk
quizzing someone over the phone:
EMPLOYEE
Have you recently visited a tropical
country? Uh-huh? In the past twelve
months have you gotten a tattoo, non
sterile acupuncture, or undergone any
ear, skin or body piercing?
We MOVE PAST the employee to Nomak, waiting.
NURSE (O.S.)
Jared Nomak?
Nomak looks up. We get a better look at his face now - he
has a thin scar running from his lower lip down his chin. A
childhood accident, perhaps. A NURSE smiles and motions for
him to join her. She's carrying a clipboard.
NURSE (CONT'D)
Hi. We're ready for you now.
INT. COMMUNITY BLOOD BANK - HALLWAY - NIGHT
Nomak follows the Nurse into a dimly-lit hallway. We track
their progress in a convex safety mirror suspended from the
hallway ceiling as they pass all manner of medical supplies --
centrifuges, an apheresis device, etc.
NURSE
(referring to her clipboard)
I see from your questionnaire that you
don't have any immediate next of kin?
NOMAK
Not that I'm in contact with.
NURSE
Nobody to call in case of an emergency?
NOMAK
No --
(apprehensive)
Does that mean I can't be a donor?
NURSE
It depends. We came up with some
unusual results on your blood test.
Nomak follows the Nurse to a steel door were TWO SECURITY
GUARDS await them. Both look bored, paying little attention
to the monitor which offers a view of the examining room
beyond. There is also a small window with safety glass.
GUARD #1 opens the door, following Nomak and the Nurse
inside. GUARD #2 remains behind, manning the hallway.
INT. COMMUNITY BLOOD BANK - EXAMINING ROOM - NIGHT
The Nurse ushers Nomak into the room, indicating he should
sit in a kind of reclining dental chair with arm and
headrests. Nomak notices a security camera mounted above.
NOMAK
(anxious)
How unusual?
Beat. The Nurse sets aside Nomak's file, looking
uncomfortable.
NURSE
Your blood has a very rare phenotype,
one that's quite valuable to people like
us.
NOMAK
Us? What are you talking about?
A kind-faced DOCTOR enters, nodding to Guard #1.
DOCTOR
It's a good news-bad news scenario,
Jared. Good news for us, bad for you.
The Doctor and Nurse smile, BARING FANGS. We realize now
that they are both vampires. The Guard, too. He grips Nomak
by the throat, forcing him back into the restraint chair. As
the vampire Guard does so, his hand brushes against Nomak's
jaw. The flesh on Nomak's chin briefly separates along the
scar - almost as if it were a seam.
The guard pauses - and Nomak LAUGHS. Definitely NOT the
reaction the vampires were expecting from a potential victim.
Nomak starts to shake and twitch, like he's going into some
kind of seizure. The whites of his eyes bleed red. He
throws his head back, opening his mouth as a PAIR OF RAZOR
SHARP CANINES extrude from his gums. These are longer, much
more lethal-looking than the fangs of the vampires and --
Nomak lashes out, knocking the Guard backwards. The Nurse
SCREAMS. Nomak clamps his mouth onto her throat, SLAMMING
her back against the wall.
The vampire Doctor rushes to the door, scrambling to unbolt
it. Nomak reaches for him, HOWLING with blood-drunk laughter
as he lifts the Doctor up. Nomak flings the Doctor about
like a toy, using his body to SMASH the lights, then the
security camera above.
INT. COMMUNITY BLOOD BANK - HALLWAY - NIGHT
We hear SCREAMS and HORRIBLE NOISES coming from the examining
room. Guard #2 draws a gun and looks to the security monitor
with alarm. The screen goes black. He looks to the small
window, trying to peer into the now-darkened room beyond --
SPLASH! A wave of blood smears across a window. A HAND
wipes a patch of blood away, revealing Nomak's baleful,
distorted eyes. Guard #2 starts to back away when --
BANG! Nomak slams against the other side of the steel door.
BANG!BANG!BANG! The door begins to bend, hand-shaped
impressions bulging outward as Nomak starts to peel the door
apart like it was an aluminum can.
Guard #2 has seen enough. He turns and runs even as the door
CAVES INWARD off its hinges. Forward momentum sends the door
sliding across the hallway floor where it trips up the Guard.
ON THE DOORWAY
as Nomak steps into the hallway. Because of the lights
above, there are alternating pools of light and shadow in the
hall. Nomak advances towards us, his face coming in and out
of darkness.
NOMAK
Vampires --
With each pool of light, his awful smile seems to distort
further and further, until his mouth seems to be widening all
the way back to his ears.
NOMAK (CONT'D)
I fucking hate vampires.
On the floor, the vampire Guard CRIES OUT in fear, helplessly
raising his hands to defend himself. Nomak HOWLS and leaps
towards him/us, blacking out the screen with his hurtling
form as we --
CUT TO:
EXT. INNER-CITY BACK-ALLEY - NIGHT
BOOM! A second-story door flies open and FIVE VAMPIRE thug
wannabes come spilling out. They race down a flight of
stairs, tripping and tumbling over themselves. In descending
order, they are: RUSH, a pimped-out Vanilla Ice clone wearing
Karl Kani gear, followed by JIGSAW, ST. CLOUD, T-BAG and
SEGURA.
BLADE
exits just behind them, eschewing the stairs completely and
vaulting over the railing. He unholsters his MACH pistol as
he drops, FIRING it as he lands in a cat-like stance on the
snowy ground below --
BA-BANG! A silver-tipped bullet punches through T-Bag's
chest. He turns to ash even as his fellow vamps dash through
the disintegrating cloud that used to be his body. The
embers melt the snow where they land.
A super-charged foot chase ensues, with hunter and prey
moving at speeds in excess of anything a human would ever be
capable of. We're talking thirty-five, even forty miles an
hour.
ON BLADE
Running like a bull, condensed vapor streaming from his mouth
and nostrils. Splashing through puddles of icy water
storming through barriers of plywood and razor wire, leaping
over mountains of garbage bags.
ON THE VAMPIRES
as they flatten a length of cyclone fencing like it was crepe
paper. They scramble up an obstacle of waste bins, leaping
into the air --
BACK TO BLADE
pulling out his twin-bladed boomerang as he runs. He flings
the weapon. It twirls around, catching --
ST. CLOUD IN MID-LEAP
and cutting the vampire completely in half. As the
disintegrating halves of St. Cloud fall to the side, Blade
storms over the waste bin.
EXT. INNER-CITY - SECOND ALLEY - NIGHT
The remaining vampires stumble into a narrower alley where a
GROUP OF BUMS are warming themselves over a series of oil
drum fires.
Jigsaw slips, TRIPPING over one of the burning oil drums,
catching himself ablaze. He doesn't give a shit. He keeps
on running, barreling his way into --
INT. NOODLE FACTORY - NIGHT
-- the back entrance of a cramped, sweat-shop. Some kind of
noodle factory filled with steam and equipment and YAMMERING
FOREIGNERS and --
-- here comes Blade, hot on the vampires' heels, shouldering
workers aside and --
EXT. NOODLE FACTORY - NIGHT
-- Rush and the remaining vamps spill out onto the street
where a number of motorcycles are waiting for them -- two BMW
R1200 motorbikes and a tricked-out Panhead Harley chopper
with ape-hanger handlebars.
Rush and Segura leap atop their BMWs. Jigsaw rolls into a
puddle of water, dousing himself, then jumps onto his
chopper. As the vamps peel out --
BLADE
Bursts from the factory. Segura revs his BMW, trying to run
him down. At the last second, Blade pivots aside like a
matador. Segura circles around for another try.
Blade leaps, somersaulting through the air, then lands on the
back of the bike behind Segura. SHINGGG! Blade pulls a
retractable garrotte wire from the sleeve of his jacket and
wraps it around Segura's throat.
With a violent twist, Blade decapitates Segura. As the
vampire's headless body turns to ash before him, Blade leans
forward and takes the controls of the speeding motorcycle.
WHOOSH! Blade speeds after the other vamps.
EXT. STREET - NIGHT
Rush and Jigsaw gun their bikes for all they're worth. Up
ahead, a line of construction barricades are blocking the
way. The vampires power on through the barricades, then
abruptly brake --
THE OVERPASS
before them is under construction. There's a twenty-foot gap
in the road where a portion is missing, pieces of re-bar
poking out from the ends of the prefabricated sections.
Rush and Jigsaw consider their options, but then they hear
the ROAR of Blade's engine as he comes SCREAMING over the
rise in the road!
Fuck it. Rush powers his chopper forward, making the jump,
burning rubber as he lands on the far side. Jigsaw torques
his handle and follows, rocketing towards the gap.
ON BLADE
as he snaps his hand up -- a trio of Japanese throwing stars
appearing between his fingers like a magician's cards. He
flings the stars at Jigsaw's bike --
The throwing stars hit Jigsaw's back tire and the bike goes
down, vomiting SPARKS as it slides forward. Jigsaw is flung
forward like a ragdoll, out over the gap in the overpass and
-- WHUNK! Jigsaw is impaled on the protruding re-bar! He
HOWLS, instantly disintegrating as Blade makes the jump!
UP AHEAD
Rush cuts onto an on-ramp, powering his way onto the freeway.
EXT. FREEWAY - NIGHT
Hyper-speed. Rush slouches low, trying to cut wind
resistance and will his bike faster. He hazards a look back.
BLADE
is gaining on him like demon of speed.
Rush pulls a TEC-9, FIRING back at Blade. It's no good.
Blade is nearly upon him, unsheathing his sword from his back
scabbard --
Blade JABS his sword forward into Rush's rear-wheel. The
bike locks up, flips over, BURSTS INTO FLAMES. The whole
screaming wreck slews forward, SHOWERING SPARKS --
RUSH
goes flying onto the road, rolling over and over, one of his
legs SNAPPING at a bone-breaking angle. As he lies there
MOANING, Blade circles around, sweeping past Rush's decimated
bike, retrieving his sward from the burning wreckage.
Blade kills the engine on his own bike and dismounts. Rush
is pathetically trying to drag his broken body to safety.
Blade approaches, placing his boot heel on the back of Rush's
neck, forcing his face against the asphalt. He unholsters
his MACH, pointing it at the vampire's bleeding head.
Blade's opening line:
BLADE
Tell me where he his now and I'll
consider you a loose end.
CUT TO:
EXT. MOO-COW CREAMERY - MILK FACTORY - NIGHT
CLOSE ON a peeling wall mural -- smiling 30s cartoon cow
winking at us, licking her chops. The logo reads: "TASTY".
Blade's matte-black Charger RUMBLES into view and parks in
front of the abandoned milk factory. Blade steps out,
heaving an equipment sack onto his shoulder.
INT. WAREHOUSE - NIGHT
THREE LACONIC VAMPIRE TOUGHS are playing poker at a card
table, dealing out novelty nudie cards. We hear a NOISE.
One of the vampires approaches a reinforced door. He slides
open a viewing slot and peers through. Nobody outside. The
vampire turns back to his poker buddies, shrugging --
VAMPIRE
Nobody's th--
Before the vampire can even finish his sentence, Blade's
SWORD punches straight through the door into his chest. He
gasps and turns to ash as the sword disengages back out
through the door and --
CRASH! The door explodes open, sending clouds of burning
vampire embers every which way. In walks Blade, grinning
wickedly, MACH ready --
As the other two vampires rise - POW! A silver hollow-point
hits the first one in the neck. POW! Another hollow-point
takes out the second. The vampires drop, turning to ash.
Blade holsters his MACH, striding through vampire ash piles.
The place is eerily quiet here, in stark contrast to the
mayhem of the last few minutes. Just the steady, low-pitched
HUM of machinery.
Blade starts forward. Up ahead, a FAINT GLOW is emitting
from behind an area that's been sectioned off with canvas
tarps. Blade sweeps one of the tarps aside --
THREE LARGE TANKS
are hidden inside. The first two are empty. A MAN is
suspended within the third, bobbing weightlessly in a sea of
red plasma. His long, gray hair floats about his face,
shrouding his weathered features. We're not sure if he's
sleeping or dead.
BLADE
Old man, old man, what've they done to
you --
Whistler's ace drifts around into view. Blade shakes his
head in sadness. He looks about for a way to extract
Whistler, doesn't see any obvious means, then --
CRASH! Blade kicks through the glass. Blood and fluids
flood out around him as Whistler's limp body tumbles partly
down, but he's still suspended by the wires and medical
leads. Blade unsheathes his sword, severing the wires --
Whistler falls into his arms. Blade cradles him, then -- the
gunsmith's eyes abruptly snap open, flooding with rage.
Blade staggers back as the HOWLING horror that used to be his
mentor wraps his hands around Blade's throat, forcing him to
the ground. Whistler ROARS, revealing a set of jagged fangs.
WHISTLER
Why didn't you finish me off?!?! I told
you --
Whistler SLAMS the back of Blade's head against the concrete
floor again and again, punctuating his words with each SLAM --
WHISTLER (CONT'D)
-- TO -- FUCKING -- FINISH -- ME -- OFF!
Blade knees Whistler in the balls. Whistler lets go, cupping
his groin as Blade heaves him aside.
Blade strips off his gauntlets. Whistler springs at him
again. Blade sinks his fist deep in Whistler's stomach. As
Whistler doubles over, Blade twists Whistler's hands behind
his back, cuffing his wrists together with a pair of titanium
manacles.
Blade pulls a restraint hood from his equipment bag and
quickly slips it over Whistler's head, cinching it tight.
Another beat. Whistler doesn't stir. He's down for the
count. Blade pauses a moment, catching his breath as he
leans on Whistler's still form. He's exhausted.
BLADE
Come on, Whistler.
He rises, heaving Whistler's body over his shoulder.
BLADE (CONT'D)
Let's go home.
EXT. THE CITY - NIGHT
Blade's battered Charger knifes through the snow-dusted urban
blight like a shadow. Boarded up businesses, tent cities,
doorways bombed with graffiti throwups -- wherever this
godforsaken Gomorrah is, it's definitely a notch down on the
misery scale from the city Blade used to call home.
Up ahead, the sprawl levels out, giving way to an ice-bound
harbor wreathed in fog.
INT. BLADE'S CHARGER - NIGHT
Blade drives on, inured to the sqaulor. He made peace with
the darkness a long time ago.
EXT. SHIPYARD - NIGHT
The Charger weaves its way through a maze of scrap metal and
rusty shipping containers, homing in on a sprawling warehouse
that's been cordoned off by cyclone fencing and razor wire.
Utlra-violent floodlights illuminate the area, while security
cameras keep a watchful eye.
INT. WAREHOUSE - INDUSTRIAL ELEVATOR - NIGHT
More UV lights flicker on. We're in a massive loading
elevator/platform which HUMS as it ascends, eventually
reaching its destination with a BOOMING CLANG. The doors at
the rear glide open. Blade guides the Charger out.
INT. SCUD'S WORKSHOP - NIGHT
Santa's workshop by way of Soldier of Fortune. Industrial
equipment is strewn everywhere. Mills, old furnaces, gutted
vehicles, an ad hoc surgical theater. We also notice the big
rig which Scud had been piloting. Because of various leaking
overhead pipes, the floor is slick with a sheen of water.
Blade kills his Charger, looking around as he climbs out.
BLADE
Scud!
Blade's voice ECHOES throughout the cavernous room.
SCUD (O.S.)
Lock up your daughters, people --
ANGLE ON SCUD
A handlebar moustached, weed-sucking stoner. Thrift-store
chic, wearing a Jimmy Walker "Dyn-O-Mite!" T-shirt.
SCUD (CONT'D)
The Dark Knight returns.
Scud is lowering himself down from the ceiling on a rope and
pulley system where he'd been suspended in a safety harness,
doing some kind of electrical wiring job. He reaches the
floor and unclips himself. We notice he's wearing a surfer's
charm around his neck that's been strung with vampire fangs.
Scud pulls a half-smoked roach from behind his ear, using a
lighter in the shape of a woman's torso to fire up. The
flame jets from a hole in one of her tits. He takes a
Spicoli-sized hit and offers the roach to Blade.
SCUD (CONT'D)
Little toke of the smokage, B?
Blade slaps it from his hand.
BLADE
Knock it off. We've got work to do.
Blade opens the trunk. Scud joins him.
WHISTLER
is inside. Blade unfastens the hood, slipping it off.
Immediately, Whistler sits up, LUNGING at Blade!
SCUD
Fuck me!
Blade gets Whistler in a headlock, choking him as he drags
him out of the trunk. It's like trying to wrestle a rabid
pit bull. He looks to Scud, annoyed.
BLADE
You going to stand there crapping your
pants or are you going to help me?!
Scud steps forward, tentative. Together, he and Blade drag
Whistler kicking and SCREAMING across the workshop, forcing
him into a small, cell-like room.
INT. SCUD'S WORKSHOP - CELL - NIGHT
WHAP! Blade throws Whistler onto the concrete floor, pinning
him as Scud quickly slips a series of chains around him which
have been secured to the wall. The opposite wall is covered
by a series of steel shutters. As Whistler continues to
thrash, Blade affixes a muzzle to the older man's mouth.
SCUD
You got something in mind, Blade?
BLADE
Ultra-rapid detox. They use it on
heroin addicts, make 'em go cold-turkey
in one night.
Blade pulls out a pneumatic syringe, plunging an ampoule of
amber-colored fluid into the bottle mount.
BLADE (CONT'D)
Gonna try and OD Whistler on a
retroviral cure.
SCUD
I don't know about this, man --
Blade injects Whistler with the syringe. Whistler HOWLS in
pain, nearly throwing Blade and Scud off him.
BLADE
(to Scud)
Get back!!!
Scud scurries away. Whistler's struggles have taken an even
more violent turn. Blade beats him back down.
Finally, Blade steps on Whistler's neck, pinning his head as
he draws a shotgun from a holster beneath his armpit. He
shoves it in Whistler's SNARLING FACE.
BLADE (CONT'D)
If there's anything of you left in
there, Whistler, listen up now. Come
morning, those shutters are going up.
Either you'll be cured, or you'll fry.
Blade raises his foot from Whistler's neck, quickly backing
out the door. Whistler THROWS himself at Blade, nearly
tearing the chains from the wall as --
INT. SCUD'S WORKSHOP - NIGHT
BOOM! Blade slams the cell door closed. The door is heavy
steel. Nevertheless, Whistler kicks against it, threatening
to tear it off its hinges. Blade throws a heavy cross-bar
over the door. Then he steps back, joining Scud.
WHUMP!WHUMP!WHUMP! Whistler hammers the door again and again
and again. But the crossbar holds. Blade glances at Scud,
who's looking winded and shaken by the ordeal.
BLADE
It's going to be a long night.
Scud nods and exits. Blade drags a chair across the floor,
setting it in front of the door. He sits down, shotgun
resting across his knees, holding vigil. And off that grim,
stoic image we --
CUT TO:
EXT. CITY DUMP - DAY (20 YEARS AGO)
Daylight bleaches the image, almost whiting it out. A WINO
sifts through refuse, collecting bottles. Three MUTTS are
tethered to his side with rope. He reaches for a bottle,
cuts himself on a piece of glass. As he inspects his wound,
his dogs GROWL. The Wino looks up --
A BLACK KID (14) is standing atop a mountain of refuse --
wiry and intense, perched there like a predator. The Wino
glances at his wrist again, the blood, then back up at the
black kid. Unnerved, the Wino starts to back away, then
turns -- BUMPING right into the black kid, who has moved
beside him with uncanny speed. (NOTE: this all happens
within a single, continuous shot.)
The boy SLAMS the Wino against the trestle wall and SNARLS,
baring FANGS. And just as he's about to tear the man's
throat out --
A HAND reaches in from off-screen, pulling the boy back.
It's WHISTLER, twenty years younger and spryer, with a head
full of RAVEN BLACK hair.
Whistler throws the boy into the light, forcing him onto the
ground. He shoves a .45 against the boy's face and is just
about to pull the trigger when he stops, NOTICING overhead
sun reflected in the boy's eyes. Whistler looks up and SEES
the sun at high noon, then glances back at the boy in
understanding. He smiles.
WHISTLER
Daylight. Son of a bitch.
CUT TO:
INT. SCUD'S WORKSHOP - DAWN
Blade wakes up, lifts his head. A shaft of sunlight shines
directly down onto him, reflecting back at us from his now
adult eyes. Blade hasn't moved. He sits in the chair in
front of the cell door which is now silent. He stands,
unlocking the cell door. He heaves the cross-bar away. The
door GROANS as he opens it.
INT. SCUD'S WORKSHOP - CELL - DAWN
Blade enters. It's dark. We can just make out Whistler's
figure huddled in the corner like some kind of caged animal,
his lanky, gray hair obscuring his face.
Whistler doesn't stir. Blade crosses over to the steel
shutters. For the briefest moments, he hesitates. Then he
hits the switch, readying his shotgun. With a HUM, the
shutters rise, throwing a SHAFT OF BLINDING SUNLIGHT over
Whistler.
Nothing happens. Blade lowers his shotgun. Whistler slowly
raises his head, fixing Blade with a bloodshot eye.
BLADE
How do you feel?
WHISTLER
Like a fucking heifer took a dump in my
mouth.
INT. SCUD'S WORKSHOP - BATHROOM AREA - LATER
Whistler stands bare-chested before a corroded mirror,
splashing water from a sink over his face, rinsing off
shaving cream residue. He inspects his features -- he's
cleaned himself up a bit, trimmed his beard, etc.
He pulls on a fresh shirt, then turns to face Blade, who
stands behind him.
WHISTLER
You came back for me.
BLADE
Did you think I wouldn't?
WHISTLER
Took you long enough.
Blade smiles. That was as close to a thank-you as this old
junkyard dog is ever going to give.
INT. SCUD'S WORKSHOP - BACKSTORAGE AREA - DAY
Whistler has fired up a Lucky Strike. He's moving through
the storage area where much of his old equipment has been
shelved, pulling tarps off, checking things. Blade follows.
BLADE
Let's just hope you've kicked the Thirst
for good. I'll be watching you close.
You start to back-slide --
WHISTLER
You put a bullet in my brain. Wouldn't
expect anything else.
Whistler takes a long drag, expelling the smoke slowly,
studying the cigarette in his hand.
WHISTLER (CONT'D)
I'll say one thing for doing time as a
suckhead. Seems to have knocked that
cancer of mine back into remission.
Blade nods. Then Whistler stops, obviously frustrated.
WHISTLER (CONT'D)
Where the hell's my lathe?
Just then we hear the SOUND of an industrial lathe firing up.
Curious, Whistler exits into --
INT. SCUD'S WORKSHOP - DAY
The workshop proper. Scud is working at Whistler's old
lathe, bopping his head along to MUSIC which is playing on a
nearby TV. The them song to SPEED RACER. Now he's wearing a
Ron Jeremy T-shirt that says "Daddy".
TV (O.S.)
Here he comes, here comes Speed Racer!
He's a demon on wheels. He's gaining on
you so you better look alive. He's busy
revving up the powerful Mach Five --
Whistler cocks an incredulous eyebrow at Blade, who has
fallen in beside him. Scud kills the lathe and approaches.
SCUD
Whistler. Cool beans. Nice to meet
you, man. Heard a lot. I'm Josh
Frohmeyer. You can call me Scud,
though. That's what most people do.
Scud offers his hand. Whistler doesn't take it. Scud shoots
an uneasy glance at Blade, raising an eyebrow in question.
Is Whistler okay, or not? Blade nods. Whistler moves over
to the Charger which has its hood up.
WHISTLER
Tell me something, Skid --
SCUD
Scud.
WHISTLER
Whatever --
(checking the motor)
What'd you do to the Charger?
SCUD
The pimp-mobile? Just made a few after
market modifications. Nitrous-oxide
injection system, forged aluminum
pistons and crankshaft, higher flowing
fuel pump.
WHISTLER
Gave it a more aggressive exhaust
profile ramping.
SCUD
Fuck yeah. Whole package'll crank this
betty up another three-hundred
horsepower.
WHISTLER
(cutting him off)
And you'll burn the damn thing out
before your next fucking oil change.
Whistler just looks to Blade and shakes his head.
WHISTLER (CONT'D)
Where'd you dig up this shit-bird
anyway?
SCUD
Look, what's your problem?
Whistler gets in Scud's face. Scud looks to Blade for help,
but he just watches, letting the two of them sort things out.
WHISTLER
My problem, shitbird, is that I tried to
blow my fucking head off and wound up
sucking blood clots for the last year
and a half! Now you're standing there
choking your chicken like we're all
walking around some fucking candy-ass
vampire sitcom!
Scud attempts to show some balls, but stammers all the same.
SCUD
Hey, you think I don't know what's at
stake here? We practically compromised
our whole operation to save your
puckered old ass! And for what?
WHISTLER
(grabs Scud's shirt)
Our operation?! Our operation?! I
built this operation, you fucking turd
stain.
Just then, however, an alarm starts BEEPING. Scud checks a
display as Blade readies his MACH.
SCUD
Motion sensors. Looks like Zone Three.
BLADE
Human?
Scud checks a series of thermal signature displays.
SCUD
Body temp's fifty so I'll guess suck
head.
Scud looks to a bank of security monitors -- the views break
into static as a FIGURE rushes past them. He tries a few
keyboard commands.
SCUD (CONT'D)
I don't understand, I'm not getting
anything on the surveillance cams.
Whistler makes a few adjustments on the nearest monitor.
WHISTLER
They're fried. Whoever's out there is
using magnesium flares. Seems like
they've got your security system stopped
out pretty well.
Whistler moves to a rack of weaponry. As he reaches for CAR
15, Scud moves to stop him.
SCUD
Whoa, whoa, easy cowboy - I'm not
trusting you with a weapon just yet.
Whistler SMACKS Scud in the face with the butt of the CAR-15
and pushes past him. We hear a CRASH.
ANGLE ON
TWO BLACK, LATEX-CLAD, NINJA LIKE INTRUDERS
Running on all fours, racing upside down across the ceiling
at break-neck speed. Then they drop, somersaulting down
fifty feet, landing in a cat-like stance.
BLADE
Hit the God-lights.
Scud, with his nose now bleeding, activates a series of
stadium-style lights secured to the ceiling. The entire
place goes white with UV light, the image nearly blowing out.
CLOSE ON FIGURES' FACES
They are wearing metal goggles with iris shut to mere pin
prick openings.
Whistler trains the CAR-15 on --
THE FIRST LATEX CLAD FIGURE
Who is now removing something from a satchel. Whistler
FIRES. The Intruder drops the object and cartwheels away.
In the blink of an eye, the Second Intruder has launched
himself at Whistler, hand-springing off the floor, then
kicking him in the mid-section. As Whistler falls back, the
Second Intruder presses forward.
ON BLADE
Unsheathing his sword, rushing at the First Intruder.
WHAP! The Intruder traps Blade's forearm, pivoting, planting
a boot in Blade's ribcage. Obviously, the Intruder is a
serious martial arts student.
WHAP!WHAP!WHAP! The two of them go at it, unleashing a
flurry of kicks, blocks, and punches. The Intruder gets
Blade in a back-choke. He twists out of it, throwing the
Intruder over his shoulder, who neatly cartwheels, springing
back off the wall at Blade again --
Blade ducks beneath one of the Intruder's kicks, then traps
the Intruder's foot, giving it a savage twist. CRACK! Blade
backhands the intruder with a blow so strong that it knocks
the Intruder to his knees. Then the Intruder reaches for a
short sword. In a heartbeat, the sword is out and against
Blade's throat. Just as Blade's sword is not against the
Intruder's. It's a stalemate.
SECOND INTRUDER
Stop!!!!!
Blade and the First Intruder freeze. The Second Intruder
steps away from Whistler, whom he clearly had the drop on,
and tosses the CAR-15 to the ground.
SECOND INTRUDER (CONT'D)
We didn't come here to fight. We came
to deliver a message.
Blade looks back to the First Intruder. Then slowly
withdraws his sword. The Intruder does the same. Blade
turns off the God-lights. The UVs fade and normal lighting
returns. Scud and Whistler pick themselves up off the floor.
BLADE
Take off your masks.
The Intruders remove their masks. The first is ASAD, a
cautious Sufi Muslim possessing a restrained nobility.
The second is a woman, NYSSA. 20-something, with emerald
eyes and strong, darkly exotic features. Both are Vampire.
ASAD
My name is Asad. This is Nyssa. We
represent the Shadow Cabinet. The
ruling body of Vampire nation. They're
offering you a truce. They want to meet
with you.
SCUD
(wiping blood from his nose)
Bullshit.
Blade holds up his hand, silencing Scud's outburst. He nods
for Nyssa and Asad to continue.
Nyssa slowly crouches and reaches for the object she dropped
- a CD. She tosses it to Blade. Still keeping an eye on
them, Blade slips the CD into a reader. We SEE a slide-show
of video capture shots taken from a surveillance camera.
Nomak tearing into the blood bank staff, etc.
NYSSA
For decades you've been the thing we've
feared the most. But there's something
else loose on the streets now --
CLOSE ON
The final still. A blurry, horrific shot of Nomak's half
turned face and back. We get a sense of distorted, inhuman
physiognomy.
NYSSA (CONT'D)
Something worse than you.
CUT TO:
EXT. BLADE AND SCUD'S WAREHOUSE - ROOFTOP - NIGHT
Blade, Whistler, and Scud stand near the ledge, while Asad
stands a few yards off, talking on a phone. Nyssa stands
even further away, watching them with distrust.
SCUD
This whole deal's giving me a serious
case of the butt-willies.
WHISTLER
Look, kid, they obviously found your
base of operations. If it was a trap,
why flip their dicks by announcing
themselves?
BLADE
I agree. We play along for now, we
might wind up learning something about
how their world ticks.
WHISTLER
(grinning at Scud)
Either that or feeding the worms.
Asad finishes his call and approaches them.
ASAD
They're ready to see you now.
As if on cue, we hear the THRUM of helicopters. Seconds
later, two Bell Jet Rangers appear above them, illuminating
them in their searchlight.
CUT TO:
EXT. SKY - NIGHT
We track the helicopters across the night sky. We SEE
Whistler and Asad in one, Blade, Scud and Nyssa in another.
INT. JET RANGER - NIGHT
Blade and Nyssa sit in the rear of the first helicopter.
Nyssa is studying Blade.
BLADE
What?
NYSSA
They tell bedtime stories about you.
Blade the big, bad boogie-man. Frankly,
I'm disappointed.
(Blade raises an eyebrow)
That you were willing to come along so
easily, I mean. Without any assurances.
Blade smiles and opens his coat, gesturing to a bandolier of
plastic explosives secured to his chest.
BLADE
Semtex explosive. Enough to level a
city block. How's that for assurance?
The helicopter abruptly banks right, dropping down low.
EXT. HELICOPTER - NIGHT
The Bell Jet Rangers touch down outside a terraced, Frank
Lloyd Wright structure overlooking the ocean. As Nyssa and
Asad lead Blade, Whistler and Scud towards the facility we
SEE a circular crimson logo encircling a double-helix.
Scud notices a series of RED LIGHT DOTS on his arms and
chest. He looks up to see DOZENS OF VAMPIRE MARKSMEN on the
roofs above, training their weapons on them.
INT. ELEVATOR CAB - NIGHT
The group rides down. The elevator stops. The doors open.
INT. DAMASKINO'S STRONGHOLD - 4-WAY INTERSECTION - NIGHT
Nyssa and Asad lead them into a hub out of which multiple
corridors project. They take the central corridor.
INT. STEEL CORRIDOR - NIGHT
The corridor ends at a pair of steel security doors. Nyssa
stands before a biometric scanner, allowing a beam of light
to play over her face. The scanner acknowledges her identity
and the doors HISS open, revealing a series of security doors
beyond these which successively open into --
A FINAL DOOR
Oak, set into a stainless steel wall. Incalculably ancient,
elaborately carved. Brought over from the "Old World."
NYSSA
The House of Erebus you encountered
before were nothing but feudal lords.
The true power of the Vampire Nation
lies here --
As they move towards the final door, Whistler shivers. Scud
watches as his breath escapes from his mouth in a frosty
plume. Asad takes notice.
ASAD
Few warmbloods have seen what's beyond
this door.
He pushes the doors open into --
INT. DAMASKINO'S LAIR - NIGHT
A crescent-shaped room filled with antiquities: quarry
columns from Middle Kingdom Egypt, stacks of arcane volumes,
Medieval frontispieces. A Borgia-esque Renaissance portrait
staring down at us with a severe gaze. Towering over all of
these is a massive Greek Cross carved from stone. MUSIC
echoes around them -- Boito's Faust. Standing in the midst
of this is OVERLORD ELI DAMASKINOS, wearing a robe of black
silk.
NYSSA
Father --
Damaskinos holds up his hand. He waits for the music to
crescendo, then turns, his face still hidden in shadow.
DAMASKINOS
I hope you don't mind the cold. When
one such as myself reaches an advanced
age, certain precautions are needed in
order to preserve the flesh.
ASAD
Blade, this is Overlord Eli Damaskinos.
DAMASKINOS
(in vampire dialect; subtitled)
Welcome, Daywalker. I thank you for
coming. I've been anxious to meet you
for quite some time.
Damaskinos draws closer now, stepping into the light. Bright
eyed with smile like moonlight gleaming off a knife blade.
His skin is impossibly pale, almost marble-like, with
traceries of blue blood pulsing underneath.
DAMASKINOS (CONT'D)
And the late Abraham Whistler. I trust
your time amongst our numbers was
agreeable?
Whistler glares at Damaskinos. The two men stare at each
other a moment, sizing one another up.
DAMASKINOS (CONT'D)
(smiling knowingly)
It has been said, you may have enemies
whom you hate, but not enemies whom you
despise. Be proud of your enemy: then
his success shall be yours, too. In
that regard, I should thank you.
BLADE
For what?
STEVENS (O.S.)
Eliminating Deacon Frost.
CARTER STEVENS, an officious-looking familiar who has been
quietly watching from the wings now steps forward.
STEVENS (CONT'D)
All that unseemly business with LaMagra.
You did us a favor.
(offering his hand to Blade)
Carter Stevens.
As Blade and Stevens shake, Blade notices a vampire glyph
poking out from beneath the familiar's shirt cuff.
BLADE
You're human.
STEVENS
(with a smile)
Barely. I'm a lawyer.
ASAD
Mr. Stevens works with the National
Institute of Health.
(off Blade's look)
Given that they monitor the nation's
blood supply, a strategic alliance
seemed prudent.
STEVENS
We also finance a number of humanitarian
organizations -- the National Institute
of Infectious Diseases for one, the
Human Genome Project...
BLADE
Why?
NYSSA
Survival.
Blade and the others turn to Nyssa, who uses a complex
mechanical key to activate a holo-projector mounted above the
table. As she focuses the image, a 3-D DIORAMA of vampire
viral nucleocapsids swirls into view. The nucelocapsids
begin attacking human red blood cells.
NYSSA (CONT'D)
As you may know, Vampirism is an
arbovirus, one that's spread through the
saliva of parasitic organisms --
(motioning to the hologram)
In this case, vampires are the vector.
The virus replicates within the human
bloodstream, evolving its host into an
entirely new life-form.
(beat)
Unfortunately, viruses evolve too --
As Nyssa talks, one of the viral nucleocapsids changes,
mutating from its original, elegant design into a harsher,
more menacing form.
The mutated nucleocapsid begins feeding on the original
vampire capsids, causing a chain-reaction of mutation. In
seconds, the holo-image is filled with throbbing, microscopic
horrors which then mutate into --
NYSSA (CONT'D)
We've dubbed this new virus the Reaper
Strain. And like any good pathogen, it
appears to have found a carrier -- a
"Patient Zero".
A rotating 3-D image of Jared Nomak's face. Eyes red, his
skin in full "blood mode" blush.
NYSSA (CONT'D)
His name is Jared Nomak.
DAMASKINOS
Thiavolos, as we used to say in Greece.
The Devil. Pure Thirst. Nothing more.
He was born a vampire, but he is an
anomaly.
(to Blade)
Like you. Unlike the rest of us,
however, he feeds on not just humans,
but vampires as well.
BLADE
Seems like he's doing me a favor, then.
NYSSA
You're missing the point. Their vampire
victims don't die. They turn. They
become carriers. If the Reapers
continue unchecked, there could be
thousands of them before the month is
over. Do the math.
Blade turns to Damaskinos.
BLADE
(vampire dialect; subtitled)
You want me to hunt them for you.
DAMASKINOS
(vampire dialect; subtitled)
Not alone.
ASAD
We've been training a small tactical
unit -- the Bloodpack. We want you to
lead them.
WHISTLER
Just how long has this little social
club of yours been together?
NYSSA
Two years.
BLADE
Then they weren't created to go after
your "patient zero".
NYSSA
No. They've been training to hunt you.
CUT TO:
INT. SCUD'S WORKSHOP - DAWN
Blade, Whistler and Scud enter through the loading elevator.
Blade turns to Whistler.
BLADE
What do you think?
WHISTLER
Sounds like a plan.
BLADE
What do you really think?
WHISTLER
(lighting a cigarette)
These guys are shitting bricks cause
they're no longer on the top of the food
chain. They're going to fuck us the
first chance they get.
Whistler moves away. Blade shrugs off his jacket, begins
putting away his weapons. Scud lingers, apprehensive.
SCUD
So you're going to do this?
BLADE
Keep your friends close and your enemies
closer. Isn't that how the saying goes?
Scud follows Blade's gaze, watching Whistler, who has
collapsed into a chair at the far end of the workshop. The
grizzled hunter pulls off his leg brace, then massages his
bum knee. Scud nods in Whistler's direction.
SCUD
I'm worried about him.
(off Blade's look)
Look, I know he's your friend, but just
watch him, okay? Nobody goes cold
Turkey from the Thirst in a night.
BACK ON WHISTLER
Surrounded by the salvaged parts and massive gears of long
discarded machinery, half-hidden in shadow. A shaft of
morning sunlight cuts in through one of the windows, slowly
moving across the floor towards his position. He shifts in
his chair, moving slightly --
Away from the light.
CUT TO:
EXT. GAS STATION - NIGHT
It's late. An ice-encased streetlight HUMS and flickers.
The pumps are vacant. A heavy blanket of sooty snow covers
the grounds of the station. The fluorescents of the mini
mart are the only beacon of light in an otherwise fog-bound
night.
INT. MINI-MART - NIGHT
A KOREAN WOMAN (30s) mans the counter. Her TODDLER sits in a
circular safety walker nearby. The kind that rolls and is
affixed with toys to keep a baby occupied. The woman glances
at two surveillance monitors. On the first monitor we see --
A CAR
pull up to the pumps outside. A MAN gets out, slides his
credit card through the reader, starts pumping gas.
ON THE SECOND MONITOR
We SEE a FIGURE standing at the back by the Slurpee machine.
The figure turns, approaching. It's Nomak. He sets a
package of gum on the counter, looks to the baby. He smiles,
wriggles his finger. The child COOS and smiles back.
Unnerved by Nomak, the Korean woman quickly rings the
transaction, gives him his change. He removes a stick of gum
from the pack, carefully unwraps it, slides it into his
mouth, watching the child all the while. Finally, he nods to
the woman and leaves. The door CHIMES as he exits.
Beat. The woman looks to the surveillance monitors again.
THE FIRST MONITOR
The car is still there, but the man pumping gas is gone.
Puzzled, the woman steps from behind the counter and moves to
the glass doors, looking out --
HER POV
The car's driver side door hangs open. Even more disturbing,
the hose for the gas pump lies untended on the icy ground,
spilling fuel from its nozzle.
EXT. GAS STATION - NIGHT
The Korean woman cautiously exits the mini-mart. No one is
in sight. She hurries to the abandoned car, disengaging the
lock on the pump handle, then setting it back in its cradle.
She looks to the open driver's door. A FEW DROPLETS OF BLOOD
have stained the snow just outside it. Then she sees --
A GHOSTLY FIGURE
Standing off in the fog-bound shadows. The woman looks back
to the mini-mart, then back again to where the figure was
standing. But the figure is gone! Growing increasingly
anxious, the woman hurries back.
INT. GAS STATION - NIGHT
The woman shuts the door, locks it. But she's still just a
target standing inside a well-lit glass box. She moves to
the safety walker, scoops up her child.
After another moment's indecision, she slides the accordion
style gate down over the doors and windows. Then she turns
off the lights. Feeling somewhat more secure, the woman
moves back around the counter and SEES --
An unwrapped stick of gum resting on the tray of the baby
walker. It wasn't there before. With a rising sense of
dread, the woman backs away, bumping right into --
NOMAK
He smiles cruelly, the scar/seam in his chin just beginning
to part. The woman gasps, turns to run --
and bumps into THREE MORE REAPERS. Gaunt and feral-looking.
All three with shaved heads.
No eyebrows, and hairline scar/seams running down their
chins. As one, the reapers descend on her. We hear the
child's TERRIFIED WAIL and we --
CUT TO:
EXT. THE CITY - NIGHT
A sulfur-colored moon shines its baleful light down upon the
icy cityscape as NOMAK'S ROAR echoes through the canyon of
buildings.
INT. SCUD'S WORKSHOP - BLADE'S SLEEPING AREA - NIGHT
Blade is just finishing injecting himself with serum. He
sighs, falling back into the chair he's sitting in, waiting
for the shakes to subside. He unwraps a piece of rubbing
tubing which he'd been using as a tourniquet, flexes his
hand.
The door to his room opens. Scud stands there in silhouette.
SCUD
Um, we've got company.
INT. SCUD'S WORKSHOP - NIGHT
Blade emerges into the workshop proper with Whistler and
Scud.
NYSSA AND BLOODPACK
Stand before us. They represent an assortment of ages and
races, their one unifying characteristic being a callous,
almost fanatical disregard for human life. In short, these
guys are the most stone-cold motherfuckers we've ever seen.
WHISTLER
Well if it isn't Snow White and the
Seven Suckheads.
Their leader, DIETER REINHARDT (30s), is a square-jawed,
chiseled Austrian. Next to Reinhardt is SNOWMAN, a wire
albino, LIGHTHAMMER, a massive Blackfoot Indian, and PRIEST,
a bald-headed modern primitive with copious piercings and
facial tattoos. Rounding out the bunch is CHUPA, a blunt
featured Puerto Rican, and VERLAINE, a familiar-looking
curvaceous beauty with bee-stung lips that exudes a predatory
sexuality.
(NOTE: Verlaine looks familiar because she is the twin sister
of Raquel, the bodacious vamp played by Traci Lords that
Blade killed in the opening scene of the first film.)
REINHARDT
Check it out, troops. Count Chocula.
The vampires LAUGH. Asad quiets them with a look, then
gestures to them in turn.
ASAD
Blade, this is Reinhardt. That's
Snowman, Lighthammer, Priest, Chupa and
Verlaine.
Reinhardt advances until he and Blade are nose to nose.
REINHARDT
Tell me something, Chief. Can you
blush?
A tense beat. Then Blade flashes a broad smile.
BLADE
Alright, you want to play this game?
Blade pulls out one of his silver stakes. In response, the
vampires reach for their weapons. But Blade merely twirls it
around his fingers. Then tosses it to Reinhardt.
BLADE (CONT'D)
You've been training two years to take
me out. Here I am, the big, bad vampire
hunter. So do it.
NYSSA
What the hell are you doing, Blade?
BLADE
We're going to be working as a unit, you
people will be taking orders from me.
(spreading his hands wide)
So let's get it over with. I'll give
you a free shot, Reinhardt.
Reinhardt looks to Nyssa, uncomfortable.
BLADE (CONT'D)
Why are you looking at her for? You
need permission? I'm giving it to you.
CHUPA
Take him, cabron!
Blade grabs Reinhardt's wrist, pulling the stake against his
chest, fixing the vampire with the deadliest of poker gazes.
BLADE
What's wrong, Reinhardt? You need a
fucking manual?
VERLAINE
Do it, Reinhardt. Do it!!!
Reinhardt tenses, thrusting the stake forward -- but Blade
has already whirled out of the way, trapping his hand, then
violently twisting it backwards.
Before Reinhardt even knows what's happening, Blade swings
him around into a headlock. In his free hand he's got a
tiny, barbed flechette. The barbs spring open like a tick's
gripping mandibles as Blade drives the flechette into the
base of Reinhardt's skull. Reinhardt HOWLS in pain, but
Blade just tightens his grip, choking off Reinhardt's air.
BLADE
Listen up, Adolph, I just popped an
explosive charge in the back of your
head. Silver nitrate. Rigged to blow
if anyone tampers with it. I'll be
keeping the detonator on me at all
times. You so much as look at me
crosswise and I swear you'll be macking
your girlfriend's pie with a fucking
neck stump! Got it?!
Reinhardt lets loose a choked GRUNT. Blade releases him,
dropping the GASPING AUSTRIAN to the floor.
BLADE (CONT'D)
Any questions?
No one says a word.
CUT TO:
WHISTLER
Hefting a heavy ordnance case on the table. Blade and
company sit on one side, the Bloodpack on the other.
WHISTLER
(opening a case of bullets)
Glaser safety rounds in .38, .45, and
9mm caliber. Foil capsules at the tip
filled with silver nitrate grains. They
pack a major kinetic energy dump. And
since you suckheads don't like sunlight,
we've modified the entry lights with UV
filters --
Whistler flicks on the entry light. Then notices that Chupa
isn't paying attention. The vampire is looking at Snowman
who is saying something in sign-language. Chupa snickers.
Whistler picks up a massive gun with a modified C-mag
(hundred round cylindrical mag). It has a strange electromag
assembly barrel with shockwave ports running along it.
WHISTLER (CONT'D)
This puppy here? Hyper-velocity
railgun. Spits up silver-tipped iron
core needles at six thousand butt
humping feet per second. Like this --
Whistler FIRES -- BA-BANG! A SONIC BOOM rocks the workshop,
SHATTERING a number of windows and computer monitor screens
as a wad of needle rushes just millimeters past Chupa's face,
embedding in the wall behind him.
CHUPA
Hey, hey! The fuck you doing?!
WHISTLER
Getting your attention, Paco.
CHUPA
Well you've got it, warmblood. Now what
the fuck are you gonna do with it?
Blade clears his throat and stands.
BLADE
If you girls are finished flirting, I'd
like to get started.
MOMENTS LATER
Blade, Whistler, and the Bloodpack are silently suiting up
for war -- strapping on body armor, securing stakes and
knives, CLICKING ammo cartridges into their various weapons.
We SEE them lacing up combat boots, checking rifle sights,
entry lights. Blade dons one of his EDTA pneumatic
gauntlets. Whistler loads custom rounds into a shotgun.
Then he reaches to clip on an ammo vest. But his hands are
shaking slightly and he can't seem to clip the locking
mechanism together. After a beat, Blade reaches over and
does it for Whistler. Like a son helping his father. A beat
passes between them, Whistler and Blade looking at one
another. Then Whistler nods, satisfied.
As Blade crosses towards Asad and Nyssa, he stops by
Verlaine, sizing her up.
BLADE (CONT'D)
Didn't I kill you already?
VERLAINE
(cold)
That was my sister.
Beat. Blade smiles coldly.
BLADE
This the part where you beat your chest
and vow revenge?
VERLAINE
Something like that.
BLADE
Save it for the director's cut.
Blade moves on, stopping before Nyssa.
BLADE (CONT'D)
Where to first?
NYSSA
The House of Pain.
CUT TO:
EXT. ROOFTOP - NIGHT
Blade, Whistler, and the Bloodpack are gathered on a rooftop
overlooking a derelict city block.
THE HOUSE OF PAIN
Rises before them, a Gothic Revival hotel marred by graffiti
scrawls and boarded up windows. There's a large neon "HOTEL"
sign on the side of the building.
NYSSA
From what we can gather, the Reapers
hunt in packs, targeting places where
vampires congregate. So far, they've
attacked bloodbanks, safehouses,
underground clubs like this --
WHISTLER
I don't see any traffic, no vampire
glyphs --
Whistler lifts up a pair of night-vision binoculars and scans
the building.
WHISTLER'S POV (THROUGH BINOCULARS)
He scans the graffiti scrawls, doesn't see anything.
NYSSA
Look closer. Because of your efforts,
we've had to re-think our habits,
tighten our security.
WHISTLER'S POV (THROUGH BINOCULARS)
Whistler switches to infra-red. A previously unseen Vampire
GLYPH is now revealed, hidden amongst the haphazard graffiti.
Just beneath the glyph are a pair of loading doors set flush
into the concrete sidewalk.
WHISTLER
(lowering binocs; to Blade)
Let's put this clusterfuck in gear.
Reinhardt reaches for Whistler, stopping him.
REINHARDT
You're not going anywhere, greenjeans.
You won't be able to pass for us.
WHISTLER
Like I give a shit.
Before things can escalate, Blade steps between them.
BLADE
(to Whistler; sotto)
He's right. They'll smell that you're
human. Stay here, watch our backs.
WHISTLER
(bristling)
I don't like it.
BLADE
I'm not giving you a choice, old man.
Whistler considers Blade's words, then reluctantly nods.
Blade rejoins the vampires. Reinhardt grins.
REINHARDT
You don't keep that dog of yours curbed,
Blade. We might have to do it for you.
Blade pulls out the remote for the flechette in Reinhardt's
head, holding it up for view.
BLADE
Keep pushing, asshole.
INT. HOUSE OF PAIN - UNDERGROUND ENTRANCE - NIGHT
Nyssa leads the group into a loading area. The only light is
coming from a series of burning trashcans. VAMPIRE SENTRIES
crouch on the steps, watching, smelling Nyssa's group as they
move past. Adjacent areas are walled off with sheets of
vinyl. We hear the pulsing, bass-heavy beat of MUSIC coming
from beyond the sheeting, beckoning us onward.
INT. HOUSE OF PAIN - UNDERGROUND HALLWAY - NIGHT
The MUSIC is louder. Neon-lit, corridor-long steel counters
line both walls, displaying various surgical instruments
offered as party favors. As Blade's scans the area, we SEE
the deadly instruments reflected in his sunglasses. Nyssa
looks to him.
NYSSA
This is our world you're entering. You
may see things -- feeding.
(off Blade's inscrutable face)
Just remember why you're here.
BLADE
(cryptic)
I haven't forgotten.
They reach a steel loading door emblazoned with warning signs
-- the kind that is split horizontally, one-half retracting
into the ceiling, the other into the floor.
PRIEST
So what are we looking for, exactly?
ASAD
Anyone who looks suspicious.
On that portentous note, Nyssa hits a button. The hydraulic
doors open on into --
BLADE
You gotta be kidding me.
INT. HOUSE OF PAIN - BALLROOM - NIGHT
A high-ceilinged ballroom packed with SWAYING BODIES.
Retrofitted into a trance-dance hall. Off to the sides,
people are being pierced, tattooed, ritually scarred. Silver
trays piled high with razor blades are passed through the
writhing crowd. Everyone looks suspicious.
AN ELABORATE S&M STAGE SHOW
is under way. Joel Peter Witkin channeled by Julie Taymor.
A SHE-VAMPIRE hangs from the ceiling, her body supported by
steel pins which have been hooked through her flesh. THREE
PVC-clad spindly FIGURES minister to her.
TWO VAMPIRES
French kiss, exchanging razor blades with their tongues.
BLADE
(to Nyssa)
What is it with you people and pain?
NYSSA
We need it. Sensations are addictive
and pain cuts the deepest.
(off his look)
Tattoos, piercings, tribal scarring --
because we regenerate, none of it's
permanent. So we have to take it to the
next level. To remind us we're alive.
The Bloodpack fans out through the trancing crowd.
ON BLADE
Drifting through the press of flesh. Feral faces flash by
us, distorted by the stroboscopic lights. A SHE-VAMPIRE
latches onto him. He shoves her aside, keeps scanning faces.
It takes every ounce of his restraint not to cut loose.
BLADE
You reading me, Scud?
EXT. STREET - NIGHT
A nondescript van with primer blotches is parked nearby.
SCUD (O.S.)
Loud and clear, B.
INT. OPERATIONS VAN - NIGHT
The interior of the van has been outfitted into a mobile "op
center". Scud sits in a cluttered nest of electronic
ephermera, munching on a bag of White Castle hamburgers.
He's watching a video feed from a camera mounted on Blade's
gear, listening to the Bloodpack's CHATTER coming in from
various audio channels. In the background, he's also got
Barry White's "Love Machine" playing.
SCUD
Everything's copacetic in the Mystery
Van. How you doing, Whistler?
EXT. ROOFTOP - NIGHT
Whistler is atop the roof of a nearby building, outfitted
with a sniper rifle on a tripod.
WHISTLER
Walking on sunshine, toke-boy.
WHISTLER'S POV (NIGHT VISION BINOCULARS)
The view pans from the hotel entrance to Scud's van.
Whistler puts down the binoculars, lights a cigarette. He
takes out a knife and slices open his palm. He stares at the
blood, his hand slowly trembling.
INT. HOUSE OF PAIN - BALLROOM - NIGHT
Blade works his way through the crowd. The beat is getting
heavier now, the crowd more energized. He briefly makes eye
contact with Nyssa, but then she's gone again, disappearing
into the sea of flesh, ducking past one of the vinyl sheets
into a corridor beyond. Chupa, Asad, Snowman and Priest
remain behind, searching the crowd.
As Blade walks, he notices a series of grates beneath their
feet. We shift our POV --
INT. HOUSE OF PAIN - DRAINAGE AREA - NIGHT
-- and we are below Blade, looking up at him through the
grate. We are in a blood-encrusted drainage area just
beneath the ballroom that slopes inward towards a large,
octagonal iron culvert. As we watch, a section of the
culvert rises, a pair of RED EYES peering out from the
darkness within.
INT. HOUSE OF PAIN - STAIRCASE - NIGHT
Blade follows Nyssa up a narrow staircase into a corridor
lined with gangrenous, peeling wallpaper. Some of the room
doors are shut, some open. Clearly, many are occupied.
INT. HOUSE OF PAIN - KITCHEN - NIGHT
A 1930s industrial kitchen filled with corroded equipment.
Reinhardt, Verlaine, and Lighthammer work their way inward,
searching the area. Lighthammer carries massive war hammer
like his namesake.
Reinhardt nods to Verlaine, who opens a walk-in, shining her
entry light over an assortment of rusting meat hooks.
INT. HOUSE OF PAIN - FIRST CORRIDOR - NIGHT
Blade checks more doorways, catching half-glimpses of FLESH,
LEATHER, and STEEL. He hears SOBBING, MOANS, WHISPERS.
Then, a distinctly HUMAN WHIMPER catches his attention.
Nyssa opens a door onto an empty room. A vacant stainless
steel examination table gleams in the center, waiting.
Blade pushes open another door. We SEE a fearful YOUNG WOMAN
crouching in the corner of a soiled room. A corpulent
VAMPIRE in a leather apron is hosing down the floor.
CORPULENT VAMPIRE
Close the fucking door, buddy.
Blade makes eye-contact with the woman. She's clearly human.
Blade tenses. The corpulent vampire is getting irate when --
CORPULENT VAMPIRE (CONT'D)
I said, close the f--
THUNK! Blade throws a sliver stake into the vampire's
forehead. Even as the vampire turns to ash, Blade motions
for the girl to leave and we're out the hallway again, Nyssa
turning around.
NYSSA
What was that?
BLADE
(poker-faced)
Nothing.
We SEE the woman duck out the room behind him.
INT. HOUSE OF PAIN - KITCHEN - NIGHT
Reinhardt, Verlaine, and Lighthammer. A Styrofoam cup rolls
across the floor, blown by a breeze. Reinhardt pauses,
notices another walk-in freezer door ajar, moves in that
direction.
Unseen behind them, a door BEHIND THEM slowly swings open.
INT. HOUSE OF PAIN - BALLROOM - NIGHT
Chupa, Asad, Snowman and Priest. THREE SHADOWED FIGURES are
lurking near one of the exits -- skinhead types, each with a
hairline scar running down their chin.
Asad silently motions to snowman and the others, indicating
figures. Snowman signs something back. The vampire trio
starts towards them.
INT. OPERATIONS VAN - NIGHT
Bored to shit, Scud plucks a joint from behind his ear. As
he fires up his woman torso lighter we HEAR SOMETHING just
outside the van. Scud kills the Barry White, listening.
Silence. Then, a FAINT SKITTERING.
SCUD
Um, Whistler, you out there?
No response.
SCUD (CONT'D)
(more urgently)
Whistler?
Still no response. Scud reaches for a handgun and creeps
into the front of the van. He looks out the windshield --
nothing. He looks left, then right - nothing.
Unnerved, Scud returns to the back of the van. He reaches
for the handle of the rear door and abruptly jerks the door
open, aiming the gun out --
There's nothing outside the van. But then Scud hears the
SKITTERING AGAIN. His eyes shift apprehensively to the floor
of the van below him.
INT. HOUSE OF PAIN - FIRST CORRIDOR - NIGHT
As they near the end of the hall, Blade notices a drop-down
attic door in the ceiling above. He unsheathes his sword and
uses the tip to unlatch the trapdoor. The counter-weighted
door CREAKS and LOWERS, unfolding a sectioned ladder. We see
darkness beyond. As Blade cautiously mounts the stairs --
Nyssa's attention is drawn to a billowing piece of vinyl. A
BLURRY FIGURE is visible behind it. Then it moves away.
Nyssa ducks past the vinyl.
INT. HOUSE OF PAIN - BALLROOM - NIGHT
As the music reaches a crescendo, Asad notices MORE SHADOWY
FIGURES by another exit. And even MORE by a third. Snowman
signs to Asad again, more urgently this time, as the first
potential Reaper begins to turn and we are --
INT. OPERATIONS VAN - NIGHT
-- back with Scud. He ducks his head outside, looking
beneath the van. Nothing there. Relieved, Scud shuts the
rear door, laughs to himself.
A PAIR OF CLAWED HANDS
Suddenly rip down through the ceiling of the van, peeling it
up and back like it was tinfoil! A REAPER with a bloody
bandage covering his eye SNARLS down at us.
INT. HOUSE OF PAIN - BALLROOM - NIGHT
The first skinhead figure spins towards us. It's a Reaper.
All three of them are, eyes wide with bloodlust as they leap
at Asad and the others.
Suddenly, the Reapers are everywhere, blocking the exits,
ripping into their vampire victims, tossing them aside like
toys. Vampires scream and run, some taking to the walls as a
means of escape, some racing across the ceiling.
INT. HOUSE OF PAIN - FIRST CORRIDOR - NIGHT
Blade stops half-way up the ladder as he hears GUNFIRE. He
drops back to the floor, then notices that Nyssa is gone. HE
pushes through the vinyl curtain and finds -- Nyssa forced
back against the wall, wrestling with --
SCUD (O.S.)
(filtered; panicked)
They're here!!!!
-- Nomak, who swings his head around towards Blade! Blade
FIRES his MACH pistol point-blank into Nomak's face, blasting
the Reaper backwards --
But Nomak is back on his feet in a split-second, SMASHING
through a window onto the fire escape beyond. Blade rushes
to the window, looks out --
BLADE'S POV
Nomak is scaling his way straight up the neon hotel sign,
jumping from one letter to the next with lightning speed.
INT. HOUSE OF PAIN - KITCHEN - NIGHT
A Reaper EXPLODES out from the walk-in, rather than the door
behind them. He leaps atop Reinhardt, SLAMMING him to the
floor. Lighthammer swings his hammer, missing the Reaper,
taking out a chunk of the wall instead.
Lighthammer swings and misses again, taking a chunk out of
the floor. Verlaine empties her automatic rifle into the
Reaper even as --
The Reaper turns on Lighthammer, catching the war hammer,
Reaper's lower jaw disengages and splits open, revealing a
freakishly enlarged esophagus lined with serrated, sharklike
teeth.
All of this takes a split-second. No time for Lighthammer to
react as the Reaper latches its grossly expanded mouth onto
his throat and begins draining him before our eyes. The
Reaper SHUDDERS and the whites of his eyes bleed red as an
ecstatic wave washes over him. His pale flesh, pulsing with
engorged veinwork, becomes flushed, turning crimson as --
LIGHTHAMMER
Ohmygodhe'sfuckingkillingmehe's --
Lighthammer's face becomes increasingly pallid! His face
begins caving inward, shrinking as every millimeter of blood
is vacuumed out of him.
BLOOD VESSELS
Are popping up beneath the Reaper's briefly translucent skin,
becoming engorged and dilated. The veins continue to swell,
racing up his neck, then branching out over his face, chest,
and arms -- like an instant network of varicose veins.
Verlaine retreats, horrified. Reinhardt scurries backwards,
then scrambles to his feet, running for his life into --
INT. HOUSE OF PAIN - BALLROOM - NIGHT
Chaos. Vampire patrons flee. The Bloodpack FIRE, unleashing
a hailstorm of bullets, cutting into vampires and Reapers
alike as --
EXT. FIRE ESCAPE - NIGHT
Blade steps out onto the icy fire escape. CRASH! Nomak has
dislodged the "H" from the hotel sign. It comes HURTLING
towards Blade, who ducks back into the center of the "O" to
avoid being hit. The "H" continues falling, SMASHING down
into the street near the Mystery Van where --
INT/EXT. OPERATIONS VAN - NIGHT
Scud unloads his handgun into the Reaper atop the van. The
Reaper should turn to ash, but it doesn't! Scud flees,
DIVING into the front of the van, ducking behind the wheel.
He keys the ignition --
WHAM! Now the Reaper is atop the hood, SMASHING his feet
through the windshield. Scud SCREAMS as he slams the van
into the drive and floors the pedal --
WK-KRUNCH! Scud CRASHES the van against the side of a
building, pinning the Reaper between the van's front bumper
and the crumbling wall. He keeps his foot on the gas pedal,
GRINDING the van's wheels.
This gambit should cut the Reaper in half, or at the very
least, fatally wound it -- but it only enrages it further.
The Reaper stretches forward across the van's crumpled hood
and resumes BATTERING away at the cracked windshield --
SCUD
UV headlights, c'mon, come on!!!
Scud fumbles for the headlights. They won't go on! Then he
notices a mess of wiring haphazardly duct-taped together. He
reaches for the wiring, fiddling with it --
SCUD (CONT'D)
FuckmefuckmefuckmeFUCKME!!!!
INT. HOUSE OF PAIN - BALLROOM - NIGHT
The Reaper nearest Priest turns in his direction. We
recognize her as the Nurse from the bloodbank. She LEAPS at
Priest --
Priest fires a Glaser round through the she-Reaper's head.
The Reaper twists in mid-leap, falls to the floor, then picks
herself up again. Like Scud's Reaper, she seems unaffected
by the custom-made ammo.
ON THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE BLOODPACK
Having similarly disastrous results. The Reapers are
shrugging off their firepower. Asad leaps, snapping a
Reaper's neck with a spinning heel kick, but the Reaper keeps
coming!
BACK TO THE PRIEST
Alarmed, reaching for a specialized shotgun instead. The
Reaper continues forward, moving so fast she almost seems a
blur as BA-BOOM! BA-BOOM! Priest pumps his shotgun
repeatedly. Two projectiles fire out, chained together by a
length of titanium cable. The cable catches the Reaper in
the mid-section, cutting it clean in half!
The upper half of the Reaper falls, then rights itself,
landing on its clawed hands.
Impossibly, the she-Reaper keeps coming! She skitters
towards Priest on his hands like the half-man from Todd
Browning's "FREAKS".
The half-Reaper launches itself at Priest, hitting him in the
chest, knocking him back to the floor. Priest panics as he
struggles with the thing, trying to fend off its claws and
fangs as it locks its mouth into his arm. He SCREAMS.
CUT TO:
EXT. VAN - NIGHT
As Scud continues to fiddle with the faulty headlight wiring,
the windshield finally SHATTERS beneath the Reaper's pounding
fists. It latches onto Scud's collar and pulls him forward
over the wheel even as the seam/scar in its chin splits apart
and the Reaper's enlarged maw flowers open. Scud is just
centimeters away from having his face being bitten off when --
-- the wires SPARK and the headlights come on, illuminating
the Reaper in a wash of UV light! The effect is
instantaneous. The Reaper HOWLS and lets go, then promptly
BURSTS INTO FLAMES.
Scud cups his ear, shouting via the comm system.
SCUD
Use your entry lights! They can't stand
the UV!!!
INT. HOUSE OF PAIN - BASEMENT - NIGHT
Asad hears Scud's message as he continues fending off a
Reaper's attack. Then he manages to get hold of his rifle.
He FLICKS on the UV entry light, aiming it at the Reaper's
face. The Reaper's head catches fire. Asad SHOUTS to the
others --
ASAD
Use your entry lights!
One by one, the members of the Bloodpack CLICK ON the entry
lights mounted atop their guns. It's working -- the UV beams
are the only thing that seems to be driving the Reapers back.
EXT. HOUSE OF PAIN - ROOF - DAWN
BOOM! Blade kicks open the roof access door. He hurries
outside, followed by Nyssa, who hesitates when she SEES --
THE SUN
beginning to rise beyond the cityscape horizon. Nomak is
already at the opposite side of the building, moving fast.
BLADE
(into com-link)
Whistler! He's heading across the roof!
Take him!
Nyssa falls back into the shadows as Blade continues onward,
unsheathing his sword.
BLADE (CONT'D)
Whistler!!!
EXT. ROOFTOP - NIGHT
Whistler's sniper rifle and binoculars have been abandoned
and --
EXT. HOUSE OF PAIN - ROOFTOP - DAWN
We're back with Blade as he chases Nomak across the roof.
UP AHEAD
Nomak abruptly stops, having reached the end of the roof.
The nearest neighboring rooftop is too far away and the drop
from this last ledge looks unsurvivable, even for someone
like Nomak.
As Blade cautiously advances, Nomak turns around and smiles --
a wolfish grin, unnaturally wide. The Reaper's face is
beginning to smoke beneath the rising sun's rays. In
response, a polarized nictomembrane slides down over Nomak's
irises -- like something you'd see on a crocodile to protect
its eyes from harsh light.
NOMAK
Is the enemy of my enemy my friend or my
enemy? What do you think, Blade? What
am I to you?
Nomak LAUGHS, then LUNGES, scooping up a rusty iron bar that
lies nearby. He swings it at Blade. Blade parries and steps
backward, taking a blow to the head in the process, then
another to the side.
The two of them exchange a flurry of blows back and forth
until their weapons lock and they are face to face. Nomak's
back is to the rising sun, now. His whole body is beginning
to lightly smoke.
Both men are trembling, straining against their weapons,
using every ounce of strength to keep the other at bay. And
just when it looks like Nomak is gaining the upper hand --
NOMAK (CONT'D)
Athelfiki singenia ex amato.
-- Blade pivots the flat edge of his sword upwards, catching
the light of the rising sun, reflecting it directly into
Nomak's eyes!
Nomak SCREAMS and rears back, his face catching fire. Then
he stumbles backwards and falls -- right off the ledge of the
roof! Blade hurries to the roof's ledge and looks down --
But the Reaper is nowhere in sight. Dumbfounded, Blade
retreats, haunted by the conviction that Nomak is still
alive.
INT. HOUSE OF PAIN - BALLROOM - DAWN
Blade has returned to the scene of the melee. The Reapers
have fled, leaving Nyssa and the others to lick their wounds
and survey the carnage. Quite a few full-body ash outlines
marking the passing of various vampires. Blade approaches
Nyssa. She notices his wounds.
NYSSA
You're hurt.
BLADE
(brushing off her concern)
I'll heal.
NYSSA
What about Nomak?
BLADE
He escaped. You didn't tell me they
were immune to silver and garlic.
NYSSA
I didn't know.
Beat. Tense. Does he trust this woman? No way.
BLADE
We lose anybody?
NOMAK
Lighthammer and --
Just then, we hear an unearthly SCREAM.
ANGLE ON
Priest, being held down by Chupa and Snowman. He's thrashing
about, clutching his wounded, infected arm.
PRIEST
Oh god, oh God it hurts! It hurts, it
hurts, fuck, it hurts. Ugh!
Priest lets loose an agonized SCREAM as Blade and the others
gather around him. He's undergoing a horrific change, taking
on the gaunt, vein-engorged features of a proper Reaper. He
SNARLS and WAILS, GNASHING his teeth like a rabid animal.
Reinhardt and his team look uneasy. Shaken by their
teammate's downward progression.
BLADE
how long since he was bitten?
NYSSA
Minutes.
Blade draws closer. Already, the flesh on Priest's chin is
splitting as a seam begins to form.
BLADE
It's already changing him --
Reinhardt paces, annoyed by Priest's WAILING.
REINHARDT
Jesus, can't you get him to shut the
fuck up!?
NYSSA
(gravely)
His blood cells aren't producing oxygen
anymore. His own body is suffocating
him. These things are like crack
addicts. If they don't feed every few
hours, they'll feed on themselves.
As if in response, Priest starts convulsing. His flesh
tightens, drawing taut around his increasingly skeletal form.
His screams become unbearable, twisting into a high-pitched
ululation that's making the Bloodpack's skin crawl.
REINHARDT
Somebody put him out of his misery for
fuck's sake!
VERLAINE
You kill him! I'm not killing him!
Asad pulls out his handgun and empties the clip into Priest's
body -- but Priest keeps SHRIEKING.
Unnerved, Reinhardt unsheathes a machete, decapitating Priest
even as the others protest.
The headless body continues thrashing, still making noise
from it's open throat! If anything, it seems to be
redoubling its efforts. It LURCHES forward, jerking itself
free from Chupa and Snowman's restraining arms.
CHUPA
Mierda!!
The juddering horror that used to be Priest staggers to its
feet. Reinhardt and his men panic, stumbling backwards. The
headless monstrosity LUNGES STRAIGHT AT --
BLADE
Without batting an eye, he draws his MACH pistol, briefly
aiming at the on-rushing creature's chest, then adjusting his
aim to one of the blacked-out windows above and behind it.
BAM!BAM!BAM! Blade shoots out the window and BLAZING SHAFT
OF SUNLIGHT slices down through the darkness, spotlighting
Priest like an ant beneath a magnifying glass.
FWASH!!! The headless body is incinerated in mid-step. It
collapses to the floor, just inches before Blade. One of its
blackened claws feebly grabs Blade's boot, then grows still.
Beat. You could hear the pin drop in the silence that
follows, every one of the Bloodpack thinking some variation
of "there but for the grace of God go I". Asad lays a hand
on Nyssa's shoulder, steadying her.
Blade shifts his foot, causing the cinder-like hand gripping
his boot to crumble to dust.
WHISTLER (O.S.)
If this is the best you turd-stains have
to offer, I'm not impressed.
Blade looks over to see Whistler, who is just entering. He
moves over to him, angry. Chupa follows, equally pissed.
BLADE
I thought you were supposed to be
watching our backs.
WHISTLER
Ran into a little Reaper trouble myself.
CHUPA
(approaching, hostile)
Oh yeah? Like how little? In case you
hadn't noticed, we lost two men while
you were out farting around.
WHISTLER
(poking Chupa in the chest)
You need to ratchet those 'nads of yours
down a few notches, paco.
Chupa flushes with anger and flicks his knife across
Whistler's shoulder, opening a gash. Whistler goes ballistic
and PUNCHES Chupa in the face. A brief tussle ensues before
Blade and the others can separate them. As Chupa is pulled
away by Asad, he looks back at Whistler.
CHUPA
Listen, hillbilly, you are a cunt-hair
away from cowboy heaven.
WHISTLER
Ain't no thing but a chicken wing,
buttercup.
BLADE
(still suspicious)
Where were you, Whistler?
WHISTLER
I'll show you.
INT. HOUSE OF PAIN - DRAINAGE AREA - CONTINUOUS
Whistler, Blade and the surviving members of the Bloodpack
are now gathered around the octagonal iron culvert just
beneath the ballroom. Whistler turns on a flashlight. We
HEAR something moving in the darkness. The group tenses,
then Whistler's flashlight beam reveals --
A REAPER
Cowering by the culvert. One we recognize. The other
vampire guard from the bloodbank, now transformed. He's
shrunken and emaciated, pale. And although he's obviously
dying, he still HISSES, his fanged mouth snapping
ineffectually at them. His arm has been trapped -- pinned
under one of the sectional culvert coverings. It looks like
he's been trying to gnaw it off in order to escape.
REINHARDT
What the hell?
WHISTLER
I found him like this. I think he was
trying to crawl back into that culvert.
Blade looks to the culvert in question. He pulls back one of
the sectioned covers. The opening is about two feet wide,
just large enough for a man to gain access.
INT. SEWER/OUTFLOW AREA - CONTINUOUS
Blade drops into the sewer line. The area is claustrophobic,
damp. There are torn pieces of insulation hanging from the
ceiling, saturated and dripping with blood.
Blade crouch-walks further in. We hear WIND. He shines his
FLASHLIGHT. A portion of the brick wall looks like it's been
clawed open.
NYSSA
(calling down)
Everything okay?
Blade retreats back to the drain-pipe, pulling himself back
up. We HOLD for a beat, then drift up to the blood-saturated
strips of insulation. SOMEONE is crouched in the shadows
there, clinging to the ceiling upside down.
It's NOMAK, red-eyes shining in the darkness.
CUT TO:
INT. DAMASKINO'S LAIR - BATHHOUSE - DAY
We are in a previously unseen portion of Damaskino's vast
bedroom. An elegantly tiled pool area has been partitioned
off by a series of latticed screens. In the counterpoint to
this are a series of muted monitors tuned to the pulse of the
world -- CNN, MSNBC, C-SPAN, etc.
Damaskinos sits in a robe, finishing a meal, his eyes
flicking over the monitors -- tracking current events, market
fluctuations. We get the sense that the man is a true
polymath. That he owes his five thousand-plus years of
existence to resourcefulness rather than luck.
Stevens enters, waiting to be acknowledged.
DAMASKINOS
(vampire dialect; subtitled)
Yes?
STEVENS
(vampire dialect; subtitled)
They've made contact with the Reapers.
DAMASKINOS
(vampire dialect; subtitled)
Any casualties?
STEVENS
(vampire dialect; subtitled)
Two so far.
Unconcerned, Damaskinos slices into a piece of raw meat.
DAMASKINOS
(reverting to English)
An inevitability, I suppose. Nyssa was
not among them, I trust.
STEVENS
No. This is a dangerous game, you're
playing, Damaskinos.
DAMASKINOS
Any game worthy of being played is. One
must be patient. In this way, I have
outlived my enemies. All of them.
Damaskinos steps beyond the screens now, into the pool area --
and although we can't see the water from this angle, we can
see patterns of ruby light flickering off the tiled walls.
Stevens follows, uncomfortable.
STEVENS
Blade's too volatile. You're not going
to be able to keep manipulating him --
Damaskinos steps into the steaming liquid, which we now see
is BLOOD. His robe spreads out, floating on the surface.
DAMASKINOS
You worry too much, Stevens. I have
assurance from our friend inside that
events are unfolding as scripted.
STEVENS
As scripted? You've already lost two of
your own. How many more are you willing
to sacrifice?
Damaskinos sinks until he's waist-deep in the crimson fluid.
DAMASKINOS
As many as it takes.
(pointing)
Do you see that jar over there?
Stevens looks to a shelf where a gold and crystal Coptic jar
rests. A HUMAN HEART floats within.
DAMASKINOS (CONT'D)
It contains my human heart --
(touching a pale scar on his
chest)
Something I relinquished a long time
ago. Only a fool would appeal to it
now.
CUT TO:
INT. SCUD'S WORKSHOP - CELL - NIGHT
The dying Reaper has now been chained inside the cell. It
WHEEZES and MOANS, clearly in agony. Blade and Nyssa stand
watch. Blade grips the Reaper beneath its jaw, turning its
face towards us.
BLADE
Recognize him?
NYSSA
(nodding)
From the surveillance footage in the
bloodbank. He was one of the guard's
Nomak attacked.
BLADE
Which means he turned about seventy-two
hours ago.
NYSSA
Right. So why is he dying? He doesn't
appear to have any broken bones, no
entry wounds of any kind -- what's
killing him?
BLADE
Time.
Blade nicks the Reaper's carotid artery with a knife. CLEAR
SERUM oozes out, no red blood cells at all.
BLADE (CONT'D)
No hemoglobin left.
Their metabolisms are too fast. They
burn out. That's why they're having to
feed so often. Their systems are self
destructing.
NYSSA
If that's true, what about Nomak? He's
been alive longer than the others.
BLADE
Nomak's different. He's the carrier.
(shaking his head)
There's something driving him beyond the
Thirst. Something we're missing.
As they watch, the Reaper shakes through its final death
throes, then grows still, the nictomembranes over its eyes
slowly sliding down.
MOMENTS LATER - A SERIES OF ISOLATED CLOSE-UPS
A pair of GLOVED HANDS spreads apart the Reaper's eyelids.
In response, the protective nictomembrane slides mechanically
down over the pupil.
NYSSA (O.S.)
They appear to have a nictating membrane
here, like you'd see on a crocodile or
camel. Shields the eyes from sunlight.
The hands now part the Reaper's mouth, probing the seam in
the chin, then splitting the mandible apart to reveal the
enlarged esophagus. The fingers push back on the gums and
the pressure-sensitive fangs extend even further in response.
NYSSA (O.S.) (CONT'D)
A bifurcated mandible. More developed
masseter muscles and zygomatic bones
around the mouth allowing for a much
larger, stronger bite --
PULL BACK TO REVEAL
Blade, Nyssa, and Scud are gathered around the autopsy table.
The rest of the crew linger further back.
NYSSA (CONT'D)
Epidermal layers are thicker, tougher --
Nyssa begins the Y-incision along the chest. Once again,
CLEAR SERUM oozes out. She cracks open the thoracic cavity.
SCUD
Ho-lee shit.
We SEE inside the abdominal cavity. A complex, pinkish/gray
parasitic organism has taken over every organ visible.
NYSSA
I've never seen anything like this. The
Reapers are as different from us as we
are from you.
(probing the organism)
It's almost as if the virus is re-wiring
their bodies, creating new, parasitic
organs which consume the old ones.
BLADE
Like cancer with a purpose.
NYSSA
Exactly. Look at the digestive system.
It's been drastically simplified. Super
charged. And this --
She pulls back the lungs -- a calcified structure encasing a
fibrous mass rests where the heart would normally be. She
taps the calcified structure with a scalpel.
NYSSA (CONT'D)
The heart is completely encased in bone.
She tries to cut into the bony shell and the scalpel snaps.
Scud WHISTLES, impressed.
SCUD
Good luck getting a stake through that.
Blade studies the Reaper corpse, then looks to the Bloodpack.
BLADE
We've got six hours till sunrise. Be
ready by then.
ASAD
What happens at sunrise?
BLADE
We take up the hunt again.
CHUPA
You gotta be fucking joking.
BLADE
You've seen what we're up against.
Daylight's the only advantage we've got.
They'll be more vulnerable then.
REINHARDT
(pointedly)
And so will we.
BLADE
Look, I care about the humans who are
dying, not you, got it?
REINHARDT
(snarling)
Spare me the race card, OJ. We're not
going out into the sun. It's too risky.
BLADE
You don't have a choice. You're just
going to have to protect yourselves as
best you can.
Blade spins and leaves. Whistler follows. Nyssa watches
them disappear into Blade's room. Reinhardt and the other
vampires approach her.
REINHARDT
You buying any of this chocolate Elvis
bullshit?
Nyssa just stares him down, obviously conflicted.
CHUPA
This guy doesn't know what the fuck he's
doing. We already lost Priest and
Lighthammer, who's gonna be next? Fuck
him. Fuck his rules. First chance I
get, I'm chowing down on that fucking
HeeHaw sidekick of his.
Snowman signs something to Verlaine.
VERLAINE
What do you think, Asad?
ASAD
(pointedly)
I don't think. I follow orders.
Asad looks to Nyssa once more -- perhaps he's even concerned
now. She's still staring in the direction Blade left.
INT. SCUD'S WORKSHOP - BLADE'S SLEEPING AREA - NIGHT
Blade sits in the shadows, wrapping a piece of rubber tubing
around his arm, injecting himself with pneumatic syringe of
serum. He shivers, convulses violently, then throws back his
head in relief. When he does so, he SEES --
Whistler standing in the doorway. They eye each other a
moment as Blade unwraps the tubing from his arm, puts away
his syringe and serum. Whistler lights a cigarette, then
nods through a window towards Nyssa and the others.
WHISTLER
You ask me, you and Miss Muffet are
getting a mite too cozy for my taste.
BLADE
I wouldn't worry about it.
Blade moves to walk away, but Whistler stops him.
WHISTLER
I am worrying. Seems to me, you're
starting to get confused as to which
side of the line you're standing on.
BLADE
Pretty hollow words coming from a man
who spent the last year running with the
enemy.
WHISTLER
What the hell is that supposed to mean?
BLADE
It means I'm starting to wonder if the
vampires still have their hooks in you.
You've been acting strange ever since I
gave you the cure. Reckless, quick to
anger --
(beat)
You said it yourself, Whistler. Those
vampires knew our defense system
backwards and forwards. Where'd they
get their intel?
Whistler steps closer, his voice dropping to a lethal,
whisper.
WHISTLER
I'm compromised?! Me?! I'm not the one
playing stink-finger with Vampirella out
there!
Blade stares back at Whistler, calm as a viper.
BLADE
You're out of line, old man.
The two comrades in arms stare each other down. Then,
finally, Whistler backs away.
WHISTLER
(quietly)
We'll see.
Whistler turns and strides exits. We HOLD ON Blade, torn,
conflicted, watching Whistler retreat.
EXT. BLADE'S WAREHOUSE/SHIPYARD - NIGHT
We SEE a FIGURE emerge from the shadows -- CHUPA.
EXT. CITY SLUM - NIGHT
Chupa walks the night, scanning shadows.
CHUPA'S POV (VAMPIRE VISION)
Like heat-vision, only tinged with crimson. There are DRUG
DEALERS and bottom feeding WHORES trolling for tricks out
here, BEATING HEARTS and BRANCHING ARTERIES highlighted on
their ghostly silhouettes.
Chupa moves to the mouth of an alley, nodding to a DEALER.
DEALER
Lookin' to get hooked up?
CHUPA
What you got?
As the dealer glances around to see if anyone's watching --
DEALER
Horse, Hawaiian ice. Whatever you want.
Chupa sniffs the air, glancing at a pulsating vein on the
dealer's neck, and smiles.
CHUPA
Whatever, huh? Well I'm all off the
hook on that bitch.
Chupa steps into the alley with the dealer.
DEALER
So what's it gonna be?
CHUPA
Fear.
Chupa is at the dealer's throat before he can finish,
flashing his fangs, shoving him backwards. Then --
CHUPA (CONT'D)
I like a little adrenaline chaser.
WHAP! A HAND
Grabs a fistful of Chupa's hair, jerking his head back. It's
Blade. He yanks Chupa off the dealer.
BLADE
What do you think you're doing?
CHUPA
Trying to feed, puto baboso!
The dealer takes off as Blade swings Chupa around. They
exchange a couple of blows, then Blade knees him in the
balls, twisting him around by his arm, dislocating it.
Blade releases Chupa, shoving him forward. Chupa's broken
arm dangles awkwardly. Furious, Chupa reaches for his .45
with his good hand -- only to hear the CLICK of another gun
as it's placed against the back of his head.
ANGLE ON NYSSA
Standing behind him, looking grim and determined.
NYSSA
Do it and you die.
(Chupa considers options)
You heard Asad. Until this is over,
these people are our allies.
CHUPA
Oh I haven't forgotten about Asad. I'm
just wondering if you have.
Chupa re-holsters his gun, then jams his dislocated arm up
against the wall and resets it. He backs away. Nyssa
watches him leave, looks to Blade.
NYSSA
He's right about one thing. We do have
to survive.
BLADE
You don't have to hunt to do it.
NYSSA
Really? What are we supposed to do,
then? Starve ourselves because we fee
on others in order to live? What about
that scumbag you just let off the hook?
A nothing. A drug-dealer. How do you
justify saving people like that?
Blade doesn't answer, just moves away. She follows.
NYSSA (CONT'D)
You know the Thirst better than any of
us. You're barely managing to tread
water yourself. Living in a constant
state of pain, having to shoot up that
serum of yours. That's not what I call
surviving, Blade.
Off Blade's stony expression we --
CUT TO:
INT. SCUD'S WORKSHOP - NIGHT
The back of the workshop. Scud takes a hit of weed then
resumes working on one of the UV entry lights -- it's been
taken half-apart and tweaked-out with cables and a crystal
prism. Whistler is there too, loading magazines.
WHISTLER
(observing Scud)
The hell are you fiddling with there?
SCUD
(proud, succinct)
Tweaked the phosphor rod, modified the
collimated beam, wanna concentrate the
light, get something like a UV laser
going.
WHISTLER
(shaking his head)
You're wasting your time, already been
tried.
SCUD
Yeah, but you didn't have the Scudster
working on it, did you?
WHISTLER
(testy)
Nope. Back then we did not.
SCUD
(unfazed)
So how long have you known Blade,
anyway?
WHISTLER
Going on twenty years now.
SCUD
Blade doesn't talk about the old days
much.
WHISTLER
Blade doesn't talk about anything much.
(nodding to Scud)
What about you, though?
Scud pulls up his T-shirt. His abdomen is covered in a
network of horrific scars. Like something you'd see on the
survivor of a shark attack.
WHISTLER (CONT'D)
Pretty.
SCUD
I was backpacking. Hooked up with these
two chicks who were off to see the
Burning Man festival. We were gonna
take "E", have ourselves a little
freeball out in the desert. You know
the riff, "Dear Penthouse, I never
thought this would happen to me, but --"
Scud takes a Phillip and adjust some screws on the laser.
SCUD (CONT'D)
Anyway, halfway through our Three's
Company marathon, Janet and Chrissy
started taking chunks out of me. Woulda
died too if Blade hadn't shown up and
staked those mamacitas a new honeyhole.
(shrugging)
Things kinda fell in place after that.
Scud jiggles the necklace of fangs around his neck.
SCUD (CONT'D)
Took myself a few souvenirs, though.
Scud triggers the modified entry light. The light PULSES
like a series of flash-bulbs going off, creating a
stroboscopic effect as a wafer-thin, super-concentrated BLUE
BEAM OF LIGHT slices through the shadows. Scud looks to
Whistler and smiles.
SCUD (CONT'D)
Mmm-mmm. Poppa's got a brand new bag.
EXT. CITYSCAPE - PRE-DAWN
Beyond the shadowed skyline of monolithic buildings, the
night is beginning to give way to dawn.
INT. SCUD'S WORKSHOP - PRE-DAWN
Scud stands before the others. He looks bleary-eyed but
pleased with the night's work. The fruit of their efforts
are laid on a work table before them -- a half-dozen UV laser
guns, along with a collection of UV flashbang grenades and a
much bigger explosive device secured into a backpack carrier.
Blade picks up one of the UV lasers. He sights down the
length of it. Scud takes a power pack and slaps into the
base of Blade's gun.
SCUD
The powerpacks have a limited charge,
maybe ten minutes of continuous use at
most.
Nyssa gestures to the flashbang grenades.
NYSSA
What are these?
SCUD
UV flashbang grenades with plug-in
phosphor sticks --
(pointing to a backpack
carrier)
This is for the grand finale. Wired
together a couple-dozen of those
puppies. But I'd be careful where you
pop your load. Might end up frying
yourselves in the process.
WHISTLER
What about you? You're not coming?
SCUD
After last night? Dude, I'm a lover,
not a fighter.
Asad looks to Blade.
ASAD
What good is all this firepower if we
don't know where they're hiding?
BLADE
We won't need to. They'll come to us.
REINHARDT
How?
Blade looks to Nyssa, who tosses Reinhardt an aerosol
cannister. He sprays a little, then wrinkles his nose in
disgust, gagging.
REINHARDT (CONT'D)
This is fucking foul!
NYSSA
They're pheromones. I infused them from
that Reaper's adrenal glands. All
mammals use them to mark their
territory. Even vampires.
CHUPA
Fuck that! I'm not spraying some gash
hound's nut-juice on me!
NYSSA
Trust me, the Reapers will key to it.
If we use this, we'll draw them out.
CUT TO:
INT. HOUSE OF PAIN - DRAINAGE AREA - DAWN
Beneath the ballroom gratings. A high-angle shot looking
down at the octagonal iron culvert around which Blade,
Whistler, and the remainder of the Bloodpack are gathered.
The mechanized, sectional portions of the culvert covering
are GRINDING UPWARD, flowering open and apart like some blood
and rust-encrusted gateway to Hell.
INT. SEWER/OUTFLOW AREA - DAWN
One by one, the group of hunters descend into the
claustrophobic chamber. Verlaine is lugs the UV bomb on her
back. Blade leads them to the clawed-open portion of the
brick wall, then on through.
INT. SEWER LINE - CONTINUOUS
Blade leads the group along a grime-encrusted line which
slopes gradually downward, sloshing through ankle-deep run
off water collected from the city above them. Tendrils of
mist drift about, cutting their field of vision even further.
Here and there, thin SHAFTS of SUNLIGHT cut down through
cracks in the street above, requiring the vampires to
cautiously circumvent them.
They reach a four-way intersection of tunnels. Blade pauses.
BLADE
Time for Nyssa's pheromones.
Blade opens a statchel. Inside are a dozen distinctive
aluminum atomizers. He hands them out to the others.
Whistler triggers a can, spraying a thin mist over his face,
wrinkling his noses in disgust.
WHISTLER
Eau de suckhead. Tasty.
BLADE
We'll split into three units. First
team that makes contact wins the prize.
Try to maintain radio silence from here
on out.
Blade points to Chupa and Whistler, indicating the Eastern
tunnel. They head off. Next, Blade directs Nyssa, Asad,
Snowman, and Verlaine down the Western tunnel. Blade nods to
Reinhardt and starts down the Northern branch.
INT. EASTERN TUNNEL - DAY
It's darker here, no shafts of sunlight slicing down from
above. Whistler turns on his UV entry light. Chupa reaches
out with his hand, partially blocking the beam.
CHUPA
Turn it off.
As the shifting patterns of light and shadow play across
Chupa's face we SEE his pupils contract and dilate
unnaturally large in response.
CHUPA (CONT'D)
We want to attract them, not scare them
off.
WHISTLER
Yeah, but you fangs can see in the dark.
What am I supposed to do?
Chupa tosses Whistler a pair of night-vision goggles.
CHUPA
Bifocals, grandpa. And try to keep up.
Chupa heads into the darkness, moving with uncanny speed.
INT. TUNNELS - VARIOUS
We intercut between the three teams now, back and forth as
they progress deeper into the city's bowels.
INT. NORTHERN TUNNEL - DAY
Blade and Reinhardt trudge along. The tunnel slopes inward,
forming a V-shaped channel where a trickle of water flows.
Blade notices SOMETHING bobbing in the water. He nudges it
with his foot and knocks it free. It's a broken HUMAN TIBIA
which twirls around, then flows past their legs.
A few steps later on, Reinhardt notices SOMETHING ELSE. He
stoops into waist-deep water, picking up what he thinks is an
isolated HUMAN RIB -- but ends up snagging a tangled mass of
hair, mud, and bones.
INT. EASTERN TUNNEL - DAY
Whistler and Chupa move side by side. Chupa is anxious, eyes
darting about. Occasionally, they come upon a transection
with smaller conduits leading off to the right and the left.
Then they reach a stooped, narrower tunnel and have to move
single file.
Suddenly, a BLAST of LIGHT and THUNDEROUS SOUND explodes
above them. They look up --
WHISTLER
(startled)
Shit!
A subway TRAIN rockets by on a track just above them,
pummeling them with soot and dust.
Unseen by them, briefly illuminated by the flashing subway
lights we see three Reaper faces, pale and haunting, hanging
upside down.
INT. NORTHERN TUNNEL - DAY
Blade and Reinhardt reach a dead-end where the tunnel has
caved in. A BERM OF HUMAN BONES slopes upward from the water
-- skulls and ribs, vertebrae, tibias, metatarsi. Blade
kneels, inspecting them. There are gnaw marks on them.
BLADE
Must be hundreds of these skeletons
here.
REINHARDT
So?
BLADE
So I think you people may have
underestimated how many Reapers you're
dealing with.
INT. WESTERN TUNNEL - DAY
As Nyssa, Snowman, Verlaine, and Asad cautiously move
forward, Nyssa GASPS, startled by --
HALF A DOZEN REAPERS laying on the tunnel floor before them
in a stagnant pool of sewage water. Dead.
INT. EASTERN TUNNEL - DAY
Back with Whistler and Chupa, Whistler is in the lead.
CHUPA (O.S.)
Hey,hillbilly.
As Whistler turns around, Chupa SLAMS Whistler in the side of
the head, swiping his night-vision goggles off. As Whistler
vainly searches for his goggles.
WHISTLER
What the fuck you doing?
CHUPA
Ain't nobody here but you and me,
chicken wing. I'd say this is as good a
time as any to settle up.
Chupa moves stealthily in darkness, violently KICKING the
older man. Whistler tries to crawl away, then reaches for
his pheromone atomizer and locks it in the "on-position". As
Chupa continues to lay into Whistler we SEE the atomizer roll
away, dispensing its contents.
INT. NORTHERN TUNNEL - DAY
Blade and Reinhardt by the berm of human bones.
NYSSA (O.S.)
(filtered; over comm.)
Blade. We've got six Reapers. They're
all dead.
BLADE
Fry 'em.
INT. WESTERN TUNNEL - DAY
Nyssa nods to Asad and Verlaine. They train their UV lasers
on the area where the Reaper corpses were -- but the Reaper
bodies are gone. And so is Snowman for that matter.
ASAD
What? Where did they go?
VERLAINE
Screw that, where did Snowman go?
Just then, we hear a NOISE from above. Nyssa and the others
whip their UV lasers in that direction.
NYSSA
Jesus, they were playing possum!
THEIR POV
A HORDE OF REAPERS skitter away from the lights.
INT. EASTERN TUNNEL - DAY
CLOSE ON the pheromone atomizer, the spray petering out.
Whistler is beat to shit, bleeding from his mouth. Chupa
reaches for his handgun, whipping it out just as --
Whistler's hands brush the damaged night vision goggles. He
swings them upward.
WHISTLER'S POV (THROUGH GOGGLES)
Whistler has just enough time to register Chupa, the handgun
pointed directly at him/us before noticing SOMETHING ELSE
just beyond Chupa.
A DOZEN REAPERS
Clinging to the ceiling above. They drop down on Chupa like
a pack of rabid dogs, literally tearing him in half.
INT. NORTHERN TUNNEL - DAY (20 YEARS AGO)
Hearing GUNFIRE and SCREAMS, Blade charges back in Whistler's
direction as --
THE BERM OF HUMAN BONES
EXPLODE apart. Reapers CHARGE towards them, hitting Blade in
the chest, driving him backwards. As Blade falls, his entry
light swings upward, illuminating.
ANOTHER REAPER
Drops down atop Reinhardt, knocking his UV gun into the
water. We SEE even MORE REAPERS converging in on them from
the side tunnels in a cacophony of SHADOW and NOISE.
INT. WESTERN TUNNEL - DAY (20 YEARS AGO)
Verlaine, Nyssa and Asad are FIRING their UV lasers. The
pumping flashes of their guns throw crazy shadows in every
direction. Adding to the unbridled chaos of strobing light
and NOISE. More and more Reapers are swarming towards them,
moving towards us at an unearthly clip! Nyssa and her
compatriots retreat, running for their lives.
A REAPER
Leaps, landing on Verlaine's back. It grabs her head and
deftly SNAPS her spine in half with a sickening CRUNCH!
INT. EASTERN TUNNEL - DAY (20 YEARS AGO)
Whistler panics, backing away from the SOUNDS of the reapers
slaughtering Chupa. He finds his gun, flicks on the UV entry
light --
And just like that, the attacking reapers have vanished.
Whistler whirls about, sweeping the UV beam around, but all
he SEES is darkness.
Then, a bone-chilling WHISPER cuts through the shadows.
NOMAK (O.S.)
Whistler.
Whistler spins. NOMAK RIGHT BEHIND HIM. As Whistler whips
the UV gun up, Nomak stops it. The beam is mere millimeters
from the Reaper's face -- close enough to illuminate his
nightmarish features, but not close enough to burn.
NOMAK (CONT'D)
If you survive this, tell your master.
My end is my beginning.
In an eyeblink, Nomak is gone. Whistler spins, shining the
UV this way and that. Alone in the dark.
INT. NORTHERN TUNNEL - DAY
Blade FIRES his UV into a Reaper's torso. As the Reaper
incinerates, Blade spins, FIRING at a second Reaper --
ON REINHARDT
Firing his non-UV weapon. Two Reapers are closing in on him.
BLADE
Take mine!
Blade throws Reinhardt his UV laser and unsheathes his sword.
Reinhardt sweeps the lethal beam over the two reapers.
Blade retreats back into the water, calm, letting the
creatures comes to him. As they close in on him, he slips
the tip of the sword beneath the surface of the water,
waiting --
As one, the Reapers converge on Blade. He swings his sword
up from the water, hacking away at them, using their own
momentum against them.
Reinhardt considers his options. He decides to run for it --
BLADE (CONT'D)
Reinhardt!
Reinhardt races away, abandoning Blade. Blade reaches for
one of the UV flashbangs clipped to his harness. He pulls
the pin with his teeth and shoves it into an on-rushing
Reaper's mouth as --
Reinhardt slips on the wet concrete and --
BANG! Searing LIGHT fills the tunnel, instantly incinerating
the Reaper.
Reinhardt's unprotected face CATCHES FIRE. He SCREAMS,
falling back into the water, trying to douse the flames.
ANOTHER REAPER lands atop him, dragging him down as --
INT. NORTHERN AND WESTERN TUNNELS - CONTINUOUS
We hear GUNFIRE and SCREAMS coming from all directions.
Blade retreats. A reaper, fully ON FIRE from the UV
explosion, races towards him. As Blade decapitates it:
BLADE
(shouting into radio)
Re-group! Re-group!
Asad and Nyssa also retreat. Nyssa pulls a pin on a UV
flashbang, throws it behind her. BA-BANG! UV light fills
the tunnels and --
INT. SEWER LINE - FOUR-WAY INTERSECTION - DAY
Blade, Nyssa, Whistler and Asad abruptly find themselves back
in the four-way juncture, knee-deep in water. They quickly
regroup, out of breath, riding adrenaline highs.
NYSSA
Where's Chupa?
WHISTLER
Forget him, he's chunk-style.
ASAD
Same with Snowman and Verlaine.
WHISTLER
Guess that perfume of yours did the
trick after all?
BLADE
(quietly)
A little too well, I'd say.
The others turn to look in Blade's direction.
DOZENS OF RED EYES
are staring out at them from the darkness of the Eastern
Tunnel. Then we hear a HISSING SOUND coming from the
opposite direction. Blade and the others spin around --
MORE RED-EYED REAPERS
are closing in on them from the West. AND THE NORTH. AND
THE SOUTH! There must be forty of them in all.
WHISTLER
Perfect. We got the whole fucking
Partridge family here.
They retreat until they are back to back, each one of them
covering their respective tunnel opening.
A REAPER
Lunges at them from the North. Asad triggers his UV laser,
scorching the creature. It HOWLS and slinks backwards.
TWO MORE REAPERS
Attack from the East and the West. Blade and Nyssa respond
in kind, burning their assailants in mid-air. But even as
they fire, their UV beams weaken, the flashes of light coming
from their barrels pulsing less frequently.
WHISTLER (CONT'D)
Unless anybody has any bright ideas, I'd
say we're about half a battery away from
a reaper gang-bang.
The foursome are managing to keep the Reapers at bay, but
just barely. Blade motions to Nyssa.
BLADE
Give me the rest of the pheromones.
Nyssa reaches inside her harness, handing Blade the remaining
atomizers. He crushes them in his fist, letting the fluid
within spill over his face and chest.
ASAD
What are you doing?
The Reapers become even more agitated, HISSING loudly,
pressing in on them closer and closer. Blade nods his head
back down the Western tunnel.
BLADE
Verlaine's body is back there somewhere
with the UV bomb. If you train your
guns in that direction, you'll drive an
opening in their ranks. I'll run for
it. When the Reapers come after me, you
make a break for it the other way.
Asad studies Blade with newfound respect.
ASAD
You won't make it.
BLADE
(hefting his UV gun)
Then I'll die trying, won't I?
NYSSA
Blade.
BLADE
Save it. I don't want to hear your
words. Let's do this NOW!!!
The foursome spin, FIRING their UV lasers down the Western
tunnel. The Reapers SHRIEK, falling to either side, their
bodies burning --
Blade CHARGES FORWARD, firing his dying UV laser. As he
makes it past the line of Reapers, they start after him,
driven into a frenzy by the pheromones. The Reapers in the
Northern and Eastern tunnels flood after Blade too, leaving --
Nyssa, Whistler and Asad to contend with the Reapers in the
Southern tunnel. They discharge their weapons, shouldering
Reapers aside, making a mad dash for freedom.
INT. WESTERN TUNNEL - DAY
Blade runs, splashing and stumbling through the water, just a
hair's breadth ahead of the HOWLING Reaper horde. Suddenly,
the tunnel widens out into a larger chamber.
INT. SOUTHERN TUNNEL - DAY
Whistler and the others FIRE BACK at the small group of
Reapers which have followed them, rather than Blade.
ON WHISTLER
cut off from Nyssa and Asad. He spots a maintenance ladder
and runs for it, dragging himself up the rungs. A Reaper
leaps up the ladder after him --
Whistler reaches the top of the ladder, but his exit is
blocked by a manhole cover! It's STUCK! Whistler swings up
his shotgun, FIRING into the cover.
The cover is BLOWN UPWARDS, sending a shaft of blinding
sunlight down on the Reaper below him. As the Reaper
incinerates, Whistler scurries upwards to safety.
INT. WESTERN TUNNEL/CHAMBER - DAY
Blade reaches Verlaine's half-submerged body. He tears the
backpack carrier off the dead vampire and hefts it onto his
shoulder, charging up an elevated concrete embankment as --
INT. SOUTHERN TUNNEL - DAY
Nyssa and Asad find themselves cornered. Their UV lasers are
shot. The Reapers are closing in and we're --
INT. WESTERN TUNNEL/CHAMBER - DAY
Back with Blade, the Reapers overrunning him. They pile atop
one another in a frenzied effort to get to him. Dozens and
dozens of them. And still Blade struggles upward, lifting
the UV cluster bomb triumphantly above his head, triggering
the device.
The world goes white.
No explosions. Just BLINDING, PURIFYING LIGHT leaving us
with a retina-burn image of Blade's silhouette surrounded by
Reapers. In that brief instant, the Reapers are frozen,
revealed as WRAITH-LIKE X-RAY IMAGES of bone and muscle.
INT. SOUTHERN TUNNEL - DAY
A BLAST-WAVE of LIGHT fills the tunnel, chasing its way
towards Nyssa and Asad, overtaking the Reapers before them.
Asad throws himself at Nyssa, knocking her into the knee-deep
water, shielding her body with his own.
BENEATH THE WATER
Asad still burns, flaring up and disintegrating from the
surface on downward like a piece of liquid-drenched
magnesium, bubbles streaming from his writing body.
INT. WESTERN TUNNEL - DAY
Darkness, then patterns of subtle shadow and light as our
vision slowly returns. FWASH! Blade strikes a FLARE. In
the sputtering aureole, the aftermath is slowly revealed.
Blade crouches, unscathed, as if he were standing ground zero
in the aftermath of Hiroshima. Scores of Reaper ash-outlines
radiate out from him, some of them flash-seared into the
surrounding brickwork walls like permanent shadows.
INT. SOUTHERN TUNNEL - DAY
Blade slowly makes his way down the tunnel, using the
sputtering flare to guide him. As before, he sees nothing
but Reaper ash outlines. But then, Blade sees --
NYSSA
Bleeding and horribly burned despite Asad's sacrifice. Blade
crouches, scooping her up into his arms.
CUT TO:
INT. HOSPITAL - INNER-CITY TRAUMA WARD - DAY
BANG! Blade kicks open a pair of doors, hurrying Nyssa
inside. He's carrying her limp form in his arms, having
wrapped her in a blanket. Blade himself looks like hell
warmed over -- covered in blood, ash, and grime.
He rushes her towards the ER, navigating through a maze of
PATIENTS and VISITORS. An ER NURSE approaches.
ER NURSE
Sir, you can't just --
WHAM! Blade shoulders the ER NURSE aside, barreling into the
triage where bewildered DOCTORS and ORDERLIES wait.
DOCTOR
What?!
BLADE
She needs a hypertransfusion. NOW!
Blade sets Nyssa down on an operating table, pulling off the
blanket. She's badly burned and she's lost an enormous
amount of blood. As we watch, she GROANS, revealing her
fangs.
DOCTOR
(aghast)
God in Heaven.
Just then, a POLICEMAN enters, gun drawn.
POLICEMAN
Alright, buddy, step away if --
WHAP! Blade slaps the cop's gun away and KICKS him in the
chest. The cop flies backwards, SLAMS into a bank of
equipment, falls. A NURSE SCREAMS. In a near blur, Blade
has his MACH out and pressed against the Doctor's forehead.
BLADE
Do you want to die?
DOCTOR
Not particularly.
BLADE
(holstering his MACH)
Then get your fucking team in gear.
Blade unsheathes his sword, deftly drawing the edge across
his wrist, opening a vein. He cradles Nyssa's head, pulling
her mouth to the wound on his wrist. And as she starts to
feed we pull back and --
CUT TO:
EXT. THE CITY - DUSK
The sun dips towards the horizon. The shadows of the urban
landscape lengthen and darken in time-lapse.
INT. SCUD'S WORKSHOP - SHOWERS - DUSK
Blade stands beneath the showerhead, turning his face up into
the scalding spray, rinsing the blood from his chiseled
physique. Crimson water circles the drain.
INT. SCUD'S WORKSHOP - BLADE'S SLEEPING AREA - DUSK
Nyssa now rests on a cot. Peaceful, the color having
somewhat returned to her features. After a moment, her eyes
flutter open and she takes in her surroundings. She is in
Blade's austere bedroom -- there are tatami mats, a basin for
water, a well-thumbed volume of Zen koans.
A SHAFT OF SUNLIGHT
cuts through an icy window pane above, angling down near
Nyssa's cot. Dust motes swirl about it.
Nyssa focuses on it. Longingly. Then she raises her arm and
reaches towards it. Closer, closer -- just barely extending
her hand into the light. Her fingertips blacken and smoke,
yet Nyssa endures the pain for another moment. Finally, she
withdraws her hand, inspecting the damage -- then notices
Blade watching her from the doorway.
NYSSA
Each day is a little life.
BLADE
What?
NYSSA
"Each day is a little life. Every
waking and rising a little birth, every
fresh morning a little youth, every
going to rest and sleep a little death."
She looks back to the sunlight, wistful, sits herself up.
NYSSA (CONT'D)
Anyone else make it?
BLADE
I don't think so.
Blade enters, kneeling by the edge of the cot, inspecting her
wounds. Studiously avoiding her gaze.
NYSSA
Thank you.
BLADE
For what?
NYSSA
It would've been easy for you to let me
die back there today, but you didn't.
BLADE
(shrugging)
I wouldn't read too much into it.
She reaches for his face. Blade stops her hand.
BLADE (CONT'D)
You don't want to go there.
NYSSA
Why?
BLADE
Because one of us is going to kill the
other before this ends.
NYSSA
It doesn't have to be like that. We
don't have to be enemies.
BLADE
Get real. I was useful to Damaskinos as
long as the hunt was still on. Now that
it's over, all bets are off.
NYSSA
(pointedly)
If that's true, then why'd you save me?
Blade stands now, moving to the ice-covered window, troubled
by the question. Damned if he knows the answer. After a
beat, Nyssa rises too, keeping to the shadows.
NYSSA (CONT'D)
Why do you hate us so much?
BLADE
I am a hunter. A weapon. It's what I
do. It's in my blood.
NYSSA
Well it's in mine, too. I'm a
pureblood. I wasn't turned. I was born
this way. Just like you. Am I evil
because I want to survive?
(beat)
What about a wolf? What about any
predator?
Nyssa pursues Blade, circling around in front of him so he
has to face her again.
NYSSA (CONT'D)
The only difference between you and me
is that I made peace with who I was a
long time ago. I'm not ashamed of what
I am.
(beat)
You haven't been hunting us all these
years. You've been hunting yourself.
Blade moves away. She reaches for his shoulder. He whirls
on her, angry, traps her hand. She tires to pull it free but
he grips her wrist tightly, pulling her closer --
NYSSA (CONT'D)
You're hurting me.
BLADE
Pain cuts the deepest, isn't that what
you said?
And closer, their faces are just inches apart now --
BLADE (CONT'D)
Reminds you you're alive?
And Blade kisses her, hungrily. Nyssa responds in kind. Her
head drops low, her mouth finding the cords of his neck --
sucking at his flesh, then sinking her teeth in deep and --
WHAM! Blade clamps a hand around her throat, slamming her
head back. A droplet of blood dribbles from her lips as she
lets loose a breathless shudder. She's in the ecstatic
throes of the Thirst now, all reason gone.
Blade reaches his other hand to her shirt, ripping it open as
he runs his fingers across her breasts, then over her exposed
rib cage. He turns her around, forcing her against the wall,
sinking his own fangs into the back of her neck. She groans
as we --
CUT TO:
THE TWO OF THEM
Naked on the tatami mats upon which Blade sleeps. Skin
beaded with sweat. Breath steaming in the chill air. He's
atop her, moving inside her with measured thrusts.
Nyssa's limbs are wrapped around him. She claws at the
expanse of his back with her fingernails. Her mouth is
locked on Blade's throat, then his is locked on hers.
Together they drink, leeching blood from one another.
PULLING BACK AGAIN
Nyssa clutching greedily at Blade like she never wants to let
go. Her soul is gone -- transported to that place we drift
to when the euphoria overtake us and we're somehow able to
transcend the horror of our fleeting lives.
Finally, Nyssa GASPS, climaxing as she retracts her fangs
from Blade. Her head rolls to the side as her pupil --
focused on nothing short of eternity -- dilate unnaturally
large.
LATER
Blade and Nyssa lie in each other's arms, awash in moonlight,
blissfully dead to the world until --
SOMETHING MAKES BLADE STIR
He sits up, listening. Nyssa stirs beside him. She moves to
speak but Blade holds up a hand, silencing her. Together,
they slowly creep towards a nearby window where --
JARED NOMAK'S NIGHTMARE FACE
is pressed up against the icy glass, staring back at them!
Nyssa GASPS. Blade draws back with a start. But in the time
it takes to blink, Nomak is gone. Just then, we hear a
NOISE. Scud appears in a doorway, groggy.
SCUD
What's going on?
BLADE
He was here. Watching us.
SCUD
Nomak?
BLADE
He wants us to know he's hunting us now.
MOMENTS LATER
Blade is at the computer workstation. He activates the
footage of Nomak he was viewing earlier. He fast-forwards to
a specific moment, then plays it back at normal speed.
BLADE (CONT'D)
Nomak said something to me before he
disappeared the first time --
Blade points to the screen, saying the words as Nomak
silently mouths them.
BLADE (CONT'D)
Athelfiki singenia ex amato. At first I
thought he might've been using one of
the vampire dialects. But it turns out,
it's Greek. Do you know what it means?
Nyssa shakes her head.
BLADE (CONT'D)
It means "bloodbrother."
NYSSA
I don't understand.
WHISTLER (O.S.)
Well maybe I do.
Blade spins, his MACH pistol up and ready to fire. Whistler
sits on the opposite side of the room, watching them as he
smokes.
WHISTLER (CONT'D)
(to Scud)
Your security's for shit, kid.
BLADE
Where the hell have you been?
WHISTLER
Just out connecting a few dots.
Whistler rises from his chair. He flicks his cigarette butt
into the shadows and fixes Blade with a heavy stares.
WHISTLER (CONT'D)
Bangin' some vampire chick. Kind of a
faux pas in our line of work, wouldn't
you say? Hope you double bagged it, at
least.
Blade is still guarded, not yet ready to lower his MACH.
BLADE
What's your problem, Whistler?
WHISTLER
Why don't you ask your girlfriend?
Blade looks to Nyssa, but she seems equally perplexed.
WHISTLER (CONT'D)
I did some checking on that Carter
Stevens character. That familiar of
theirs who claimed he was with the NIH?
Turns out he used to work for them, but
he doesn't anymore.
BLADE
Then who does he work for?
Whistler gives Nyssa a rueful stare, then tosses Blade a
research folder. On the cover is the same red, double-helix
logo we saw at Damaskinos' facility.
WHISTLER
Some biotech outfit called Caliban
Industries. They've been lying to us
since day one. This Nomak fucker didn't
evolve. He was designed.
Nyssa look to Blade, imploring.
NYSSA
I don't know what he's talking about.
WHISTLER
You expect us to believe that?
(to Blade)
Who you going to trust, Blade? Me or
her?
EXT. CALIBAN INDUSTRIES - NIGHT
A high-tech, heavily guarded industrial complex nestled
within an expanse of unassuming wooded acreage overlooking
the ocean.
INT. DAMASKINOS' LAIR - NIGHT
Carter Stevens shuts down his computer workstation, then
moves to the heavy oak door, glancing at a medical chart as
he opens it. When he looks up --
STEVENS
You?
A fist PUNCHES Stevens in the face.
BLADE
Stands in the entry way. Whistler is behind him, holding a
gun to Nyssa. Scud is there, too.
BLADE
(mobing in on Stevens)
Start talking, bitch.
STEVENS
I don't know what you --
Blade spins Stevens around, shoving his face against a glass
case, crushing the man's nose, spiderwebbing the glass.
BLADE
Nomak! You created him!
Blade clamps his fingers around Stevens' broken nose and
twists it with a sickening CRUNCH. Stevens SCREAMS, caving.
STEVENS
Ohgodohgodohgod...
(in agony)
Alright, alright. Yes, we did...
(gasping)
PLEASE! PLEASE!!!
Blade releases him. Stevens sinks to the floor, cradling his
brutalized face.
BLADE
Keep talking, Stevens. Tell me why.
STEVENS
(sputtering)
The Shadow Cabinet. For decades they've
been trying to find a way to rid
themselves of their hereditary
weaknesses. Viral epidemiology,
immunochemistry. Recombinant DNA was
the next logical step.
NYSSA
(genuinely horrified)
No, that's not possible. They wouldn't
keep something like this from me...
STEVENS
Your father didn't want you to know.
(haltingly)
Something went wrong. The Reaper strain
was too aggressive. Then Nomak escaped.
WHISTLER
And we're supposed to clean up your
mess. Fucking perfect.
STEVENS
(defensive)
Look, the fact that Nomak was
artificially created didn't make the
threat any less urgent. He was still
out there, spreading the Reaper virus.
But Blade's not concerned about that now. He's got something
more pressing on his mind.
BLADE
The genetic material you spliced into
Nomak --
(beat; almost fearful)
Where did you get it?
DAMASKINOS (O.S.)
I should think that would be obvious at
this point.
ANGLE ON DAMASKINOS
Standing behind them.
DAMASKINOS (CONT'D)
We took the genetic material from you.
INT. CALIBAN INDUSTRIES - ELEVATED CORRIDOR - NIGHT
Damaskinos leads them down a corridor.
DAMASKINOS
Jared Nomak is your genetic brother.
And I suppose if you follow that line of
reasoning to its logical conclusion,
then these are your offspring.
Damaskinos reaches to a nearby control panel, pressing a
button. A pair of massive doors slide apart, revealing:
THE EUGENICS CHAMBER
We are in a vast, multitiered, temperature-controlled chamber
-- equal parts 21st century medical facility and Hammer House
of Horror.
A network of catwalks look down upon the circular chamber,
the center of which is dominated by a massive, steel cask,
which is in turn ringed by a safety railing. The operation
looks not unlike a small-scale water purification plant, or
perhaps a futuristic distillery. Only in this instance, the
liquid churning within the cask is HUMAN BLOOD.
TINY EMBRYOS
Each no bigger than a thumbnail, line the walls of the
chamber, preserved in credit card sized cryo-cases. There
are thousands of them, resting atop one another in racks with
stretch from the floor on upwards.
As Damaskinos removes an embryo from the rack, we see ANOTHER
EMBRYO behind it. That cryo-case now slides forward with a
WHIR, taking the place of the one which Damaskinos removed.
Like some kind of perverse vending machine. God knows how
deep they're stacked. If thousands are visible, there could
be tens of thousands in total.
Damaskinos holds the translucent cryo-case up to the light.
The Embryo within shudders, its tiny heart beating.
DAMASKINOS (CONT'D)
(proudly)
A new breed, begotten from your own
flesh. Immune to silver, even sunlight.
(stepping towards Blade)
The wolves have lain with the sheep long
enough. No more compromises. No more
deals. Only closure.
BOOM! We hear the tread of HEAVY FOOTSTEPS approaching. All
eyes turn towards a side corridor.
REINHARDT
enters from the shadows, holding Scud's rail-gun. Much of
his face has been burnt away, leaving him with a ghastly
death's head mask of blackened muscle and exposed bone.
REINHARDT
Put it back in park, Blade.
BLADE
Thought you were dead.
REINHARDT
Seems like there's a lot of that going
around these days.
As Reinhardt aims the rail gun at Blade, a DOZEN VAMPIRE
GUARDS appear on the catwalks above, also taking aim.
REINHARDT (CONT'D)
Six-thousand feet per second, isn't that
what Whistler said? Let's see you dodge
this one --
Blade does his level best, pulling his MACH, squeezing off a
SHOT even as Reinhardt FIRES. BA-BANG! Blade is hit in the
side, spun clear around. His shot goes wild, hitting one of
the Guards in the head, turning him to ash as Blade himself
falls to the floor.
NYSSA
Blade!
Blade GASPS in shock. The rail-gun needles have ripped a
brutal hole through the side of his chest-plate. He clutches
at his flank, trying to staunch the blood that's seeping
between his fingers. As he sits forward, we see MORE
FLECHETTES have embedded in the wall behind him, having torn
completely through him.
Whistler steps forward. One of the vampire sentries LASHES
OUT, striking him in the face with the butt of his rifle.
Whistler sinks to his knees, stunned. The guard disarms him.
ON BLADE
Gritting his teeth against the pain. He reaches inside his
combat harness, pulling out the remote detonator for the
explosive flechette in Reinhardt's skull.
BLADE
Kiss your ass goodbye, Reinhardt.
SCUD
You're wasting your time, Blade. The
flechette's a dud.
Scud crosses over to Reinhardt's side. Whistler stares at
him in disbelief.
SCUD (CONT'D)
It was never supposed to explode. All
it was supposed to do was make you feel
like you were in control.
Blade's eyes darken with hatred. Reinhardt laughs.
REINHARDT
Thought you had me on a short leash,
didn't you, chief? Only it turns out,
you're the one that's been on the leash.
Reinhardt digs his claws into his scalp and tugs the barbed
flechette from his skull. As he does so, Blade's remote
detonator BEEPS to indicate it's being tempered with.
Reinhardt finishes removing it and sighs contentedly.
REINHARDT (CONT'D)
That's better.
Reinhardt tosses the fletchette to Scud, who grins, flipping
down his lower lip to reveal a vampire glyph tattooed on it.
SCUD
See, I'm one of Damaskinos' familiars.
Blade looks to Nyssa who averts her gaze.
SCUD (CONT'D)
Yeah, your little cootchie knew.
WHISTLER
You little shit. When did they get to
you?
SCUD
Back when Blade had me hunting down your
puckered old ass. What's up with your
hair, anyway? Fucking Willie Nelson
look-a-like?
Scud punches Whistler in the face.
SCUD (CONT'D)
Man, I so wanted to do that.
Scud shakes his hand, which is smarting from the blow. He
looks to Blade now, angry.
SCUD (CONT'D)
And you. You never cared about me. I
gave you everything. All you cared
about was digging up the old fuck! You
think they scoped out my security
system?
(chuckling)
I let them in. Dude, I practically gave
'em the fucking keys. I've been feeding
Damaskinos information the whole time.
Providing them with samples of your
genetic material -- helping them with
the Reaper program. They're close,
Blade. Right up against it. Any day
now, they're all going to be Daywalkers.
And when that happens, well, let's just
say, I don't want to be on the losing
team. You may be strong, you may be
fast, but in the end, you're just too
human, B.
He pinches Blade's cheek. Then he stands up.
SCUD (CONT'D)
So that's down and dirty. Got anything
to say for yourself?
BLADE
(weak, but defiant)
Two things. One, I was on to you the
moment they turned you. And two --
(raising the detonator;
smiling)
I switched that dud of yours back with
the real one.
Scud has a split-second of terrified, wide-eyed realization
before Blade pushes the button and BOOM! The flechette in
Scud's hand EXPLODES, blowing his body apart, spraying those
nearest him with blood. Primarily Reinhardt.
REINHARDT
Son of a bitch!
As the others react with varying degrees of surprise and
horror, Reinhardt savagely KICKS Blade across the face. He
HITS Blade again and again, driving him down to the floor.
Then he bends and tugs the sword from Blade's back-scabbard,
preparing to cut his throat.
DAMASKINOS
Reinhardt!
Reinhardt hesitates. Nyssa takes a step towards Blade, but
Damaskinos stops her. Damaskinos gestures to his guards.
They haul Blade up and drag him from the lab. Reinhardt
gestures to Whistler.
REINHARDT
What about him, then?
(crossing to Whistler,
handcuffing him)
Me and Hobo Kelly here have a little
unfinished business.
Damaskinos waves dismissively. Reinhardt takes Whistler
away.
INT. CALIBAN INDUSTRIES - AUTOPSY ROOM - NIGHT
Blade is dragged into a large autopsy room. The vampire
guards lay him on a steel autopsy table. He struggles
against them, but he's just too weak from loss of blood.
Eventually they get him secured, clamping his wrists and
ankles into steel manacles which are affixed to the table.
INT. CALIBAN INDUSTRIES - SECURITY ROOM - NIGHT
CLOSE ON
Blade's sword pommel as the booby-trap blades in the handle
spring out.
REINHARDT (O.S.)
Nice.
PULL BACK to reveal Reinhardt holding Blade's sword. He
gives it a few practiced swings, then runs his thumb along
the blade.
REINHARDT (CONT'D)
How many vampires do you think he's
killed with this thing?
ON WHISTLER
Sitting in the corner, his hands cuffed behind his back. We
are in a security station filled with surveillance monitors
offering various views of the laboratory complex.
WHISTLER
Not nearly enough, Fritz.
REINHARDT
Keep talking, warmblood.
Reinhardt KICKS Whistler in the face.
REINHARDT (CONT'D)
When I'm through with you, you'll be
begging for a dirt nap.
Whistler spits blood and glares up at Reinhardt.
WHISTLER
Been dead before. Didn't much cotton to
it. Tell you what, chicken shit. You
do your worst. We'll settle up after.
CUT TO:
INT. CALIBAN INDUSTRIES - EUGENICS CHAMBER - NIGHT
Nyssa stands before the banks of vampire embryos, clearly
troubled. Damaskinos regards her.
DAMASKINOS
(vampire dialect; subtitled)
My child --
Damaskinos moves in close to her, running a finger along her
throat. She doesn't acknowledge it.
DAMASKINOS (CONT'D)
(in English)
I would hate to think you were losing
your perspective. Who do you think God
favors in the web? The spider or the
fly?
NYSSA
Nomak said something to Blade in Greek.
Athelfiki singenia ex amato. Where did
he learn that?
DAMASKINOS
From his father, of course.
NYSSA
(horrified)
You experimented on your own, son?
Damaskinos slowly tightens his hand around Nyssa's throat.
DAMASKINOS
I have fathered thousands of children in
centuries since I first walked this
earth. Make no mistake, Nyssa. Those
blood-ties mean nothing to me when
measured against the ascendancy of our
race. Nothing.
(giving her an extra squeeze)
If you have any interest in remaining
alive, you would do well to remember
that.
Damaskinos releases Nyssa. She falls, GASPING for breath.
He stares down at her with disdain, then exits.
CUT TO:
INT. CALIBAN INDUSTRIES - AUTOPSY ROOM - NIGHT
Damaskinos enters, followed by Carter Stevens. The guards
remain posted at the main entrance of the room. Damaskinos
approaches, looking down at Blade.
Blade stares back at him, still defiant, but fighting a
losing battle. He's dying and he knows it. His breathing is
shallow. It's an effort just to keep his eyes open.
DAMASKINOS
With every century, humans become more
repulsive to me. Once, you were souls
to be taken, corrupted. But you have
disgraced yourselves to being nothing
more than blood and meat.
TWO SURGEONS snap on surgical gloves. Stevens is enjoying
seeing Blade helpless.
STEVENS
We're going to harvest you, Blade.
(injecting fluid into Blade)
Bone marrow, organs, everything. Your
tissue's too valuable to let go to
waste.
BLADE
(weakly)
Nomak is still out there.
DAMASKINOS
True, but thanks to you, we know his
weakness. We can keep him contained.
It's just a matter of time before we
hunt him down.
BLADE
Too bad you're out of it.
Damaskinos is amused by Blade's seeming lack of concern.
DAMASKINOS
And why is that?
BLADE
Revenge. That's what Nomak wanted all
along. To pay back the people who
created him.
STEVENS
You may be right. Fortunately for us,
he has no idea where this facility is
located.
Blade smiles, laughing tiredly.
BLADE
He does now.
(off their concerned looks)
He's been watching me since the tunnels.
Following me. I led him right to you.
Blade lifts up his hand, unfurling his previously closed
fist. There is a deep gash in his palms.
BLADE (CONT'D)
Just like a trail of bread crumbs.
Damaskinos stares at Blade's hand, then looks to the floor.
A line of blood droplets lead back to the doors through which
he entered.
CUT TO:
A SERIES OF QUICK SHOTS
Various hallways, the helipad outside Caliban industries,
etc. In rapid succession, we SEE more TRAILS OF BLOOD
DROPLETS. Then, just as quickly, we are back --
INT. CALIBAN INDUSTRIES - AUTOPSY ROOM - NIGHT
With Damaskinos and company. Suddenly, the lights above them
flicker then go out. As emergency lights kick on --
BANG! BANG!BANG!BANG! All eyes turn towards a steel
security door which is shuddering -- bulging and bending
inwards as Nomak throws himself against it.
Damaskinos looks to a bank of security monitors which are
flickering back to life now. We see Nomak's blurred
silhouette from various angles, pummeling the door. Then --
RIPPPPPP!!! A portion of the door is clawed open and we see
a glimpse of Nomak's SNARLING FACE.
NOMAK
(roaring)
FATHER!
Damaskinos' eyes widen in terror as he stumbles backwards,
activating an ALARM. He looks to the guards, SCREAMING.
DAMASKINOS
Stop him!
Damaskinos runs for his life, rushing out the opposite door,
quickly followed by Stevens as we --
CUT TO:
INT. CALIBAN INDUSTRIES - CORRIDOR - NIGHT
Nyssa hears the ALARMS and moves into a corridor lit by red,
strobing emergency lights. VAMPIRE GUARDS are rushing past.
INT. CALIBAN INDUSTRIES - SECURITY ROOM - NIGHT
Reinhardt also hears the ALARMS. He looks to the
surveillance monitors where he SEES Nomak.
REINHARDT
Shit!
Behind him, we see Whistler taking advantage of the
distraction. He folds his legs up under him, working his
cuffed hands over his feet. When Reinhardt spins back away
from the security monitors --
Whistler is GONE. A steel grating in the floor lies half
open. The obvious means of exit.
CUT TO:
INT. CALIBAN INDUSTRIES - AUTOPSY ROOM - NIGHT
As Nomak continues tearing down the autopsy door, BULLETS
hammer into his back. He turns, sees a DOZEN GUARDS FIRING
at him, their gunfire chewing the shit out of the concrete
walls around him. Nomak staggers, but doesn't go down as
CLEAR BLOOD sprays from the body hits.
INT. CALIBAN INDUSTRIES - MAINTENANCE CONDUIT - NIGHT
Whistler shuffles forward through the narrow conduit on his
elbows. We hear footsteps. Through the metal gratings
above, we glimpse TWO FIGURES rushing past --
INT. CALIBAN INDUSTRIES - ANOTHER CORRIDOR - NIGHT
Damaskinos and Stevens round a corner, spilling into several
GUARDS. He shoves his fellow vampires aside.
DAMASKINOS
Get out of the way.
CUT TO:
INT. CALIBAN INDUSTRIES - AUTOPSY ROOM - NIGHT
CLOSE ON a grate moving up from the floor. Whistler emerges,
rushing to Blade's side. As he starts frantically releasing
Blade from his bonds, he looks to the ravaged door --
WHISTLER'S POV (THROUGH THE V-SHAPED GAP IN DOOR)
Nomak savages the guards, flinging them into the air. A
guard's body hits the V-gap in the door and obscures our view
as --
Whistler redoubles his efforts, finally freeing Blade. He
helps him from the autopsy table. Blade is sinking, starting
to fade. Whistler slaps his face, shaking him.
WHISTLER
Come on, Blade. Talk to me!
BLADE
(weakly)
Blood...
INT. CALIBAN INDUSTRIES - AUTOPSY ROOM HALLWAY - NIGHT
Carnage. A frazetta painting come to life. Nomak atop dead
guards, draining the last of his victims' blood. He whips
his face in our direction and ROARS, charging the door --
INT. CALIBAN INDUSTRIES - AUTOPSY ROOM - NIGHT
WHAM! The door gives way and Nomak enters. To the right, he
SEES Whistler and Blade exiting. To the left, he SEES the
security monitors. Damaskinos and Stevens can be glimpsed in
one of these monitors.
Nomak moves to the left.
INT. CALIBAN INDUSTRIES - THIRD CORRIDOR - NIGHT
Blade clutches his bleeding side, staggering down the
corridor towards a door marked "Eugenics" with Whistler's
help. By all rights, Blade should be dead. But he continues
on, moving towards the door with determination.
INT. CALIBAN INDUSTRIES - 4-WAY INTERSECTION - NIGHT
CLOSE ON a hand twisting a safety lever on the floor. PULL
BACK to reveal Stevens manually activating a series of
hydraulic lock-down latches.
CHINK!CHINK!CHINK! The doors of the Eastern, Northern, and
Western corridors are sealing, lock-down latches clamping
down for extra security. Even as the Western door seals, we
glimpse Nomak rushing towards it with inhuman speed.
ON STEVENS
panicked, turning towards the open elevator cab where --
DAMASKINOS
is waiting. But even as Stevens starts towards the elevator,
Damaskinos dispassionately presses the "CLOSE DOOR" button.
STEVENS
What are you doing?!!
Stevens rushes towards the closing elevator doors, but it's
too late. He pounds his fist against them. Behind him, we
hear a terrible RENDING OF METAL as the Western door gives.
Stevens looks in that direction --
In an eyeblink, Nomak is upon him, SLAMMING his hand over
Stevens' face, crushing it.
INT. CALIBAN INDUSTRIES - ELEVATOR CAB - NIGHT
As Damaskinos slides a security card through a reader and
punches in a code, a thin SPRAY OF BLOOD jets across his pale
forearm. He looks to the elevator doors. The spray of blood
is coming through the vertical door seal. The metal doors
SHUDDER violently and then the cab begins to ascend.
Damaskinos retreats to the far corner of the elevator,
breathing a sigh of relief.
CUT TO:
INT. CALIBAN INDUSTRIES - EUGENICS CHAMBER - NIGHT
WHOOSH! A pneumatic door slides open. Blade and Whistler
enter. They are on the second level now, up amongst the
catwalks. Below them is the churning cask of purified blood.
They have almost reached the end of the catwalk when --
REINHARDT AND HIS MEN
converge on the lab from two directions at once. Some of the
vampires spill through the door on the second level with
Reinhardt, while others enter on the ground floor.
REINHARDT
Stop him!!!
As Reinhardt takes aim at Blade with the shotgun, the other
vampires FIRE. Whistler is HIT in the leg. He goes down,
CRYING OUT, then grips Blade's arm, shoving him onward --
WHISTLER
GO!!!
ON BLADE
gripping the guard rail for support, dragging himself along.
Reinhardt fires. A SHOTGUN BLAST hits Blade, grazing him but
otherwise missing him. As Reinhardt curses and prepares to
fire again --
Blade makes it to the end of the catwalk, pitching himself
out into open space. Time slows to a crawl as Blade tumbles
downward, plummeting into --
THE BLOOD CASK BELOW
Blade sinks from view, disappearing beneath the churning
slurry of crimson. A beat passes as Reinhardt and his men
draw closer, apprehensive. Then, an explosion of BLOOD
gushes over Reinhardt and the others. They fall backwards,
blinded, slipping --
BLADE
surfaces from the cask in morbidly glorious slow-motion.
Think of Sheen in the end-sequence of Apocalypse Now, only
instead of a river of mud, Blade is covered head-to-toe in
crimson. Majestic and glistening. A primordial god. He
rears back his head, letting loose a triumphal ROAR.
Reinhardt's men hesitate. One look at Blade's eyes and we
can see he's tapped into a well-spring of fury even he never
knew he had. The man is super-charged and ready for war.
Blade tears into the vampires, unleashing a blizzard of
martial arts moves. He powers a right hook into the first
vampire's face, then pivots, launching a devastating spinning
back-fist into the face of a second. At the same time, he
rips the second guard's security belt from his waist,
twirling it around nanchadku-style to blind a third guard and
capture the wrist of a fourth.
Some vampires FIRE their guns, but Blade is a whirlwind,
shifting and dodging. BULLETS go wild, hitting circuitry,
EXPLODING APART cannisters of combustible chemicals. In
seconds, FLAMES are licking across the laboratory floor.
Blade drops, causing a pair of vampires to FIRE their guns at
one another.
Then Blade knocks two more vampires onto their asses with a
foot sweep. Then he's up again. Slamming the bridge of a
fifth vampire's nose into his brain with a palm heel strike.
A snap kick, an overhand elbow strike, a knee stamp that
shatter's the vampire's knee cap. An upward block, a jab, a
cross, a shin kick aimed at a vamp's quadriceps.
Overhand punches, rising punches, parallel punches, spinning
rear elbows, deep kicks, on and on and on and on in an orgy
of super-hero violence until --
WHAM! Blade cuts the last of the vampire soldiers down,
turning from the creature's disintegrating body to face --
REINHARDT
The vampire mercenary clutches Blade's sword in his hand, but
the weapon provides him with little sense of security given
that he's just seen a dozen of his men slaughtered. The
automatic sprinkler system is on now, spraying water down
upon Blade and Reinhardt alike. Blade advances.
Reinhardt's been cornered. There's nowhere else for him to
run. Refusing to be cowed, Reinhardt SCREAMS and brings the
sword down at Blade's head when WHOOSH --
But Blade swings his hands upward, slapping them on either
side of the blade, trapping the sword on its downward arc.
Reinhardt strains, trying to tear the sword away from Blade's
grip. The vampire's eyes widen in fear. And during that
split-second in which the two men are frozen, connected by
the weapon which vibrates between them, Blade says:
BLADE
Tell me something, chief. Can you
blush?
TWHISH! The sword twists free from Reinhardt's grasp,
spinning upward into the air. Reinhardt stumbles backwards
against the blood cask railing as --
Blade catches the sword on its way down, swinging it around
in one fluid motion, slicing Reinhardt's torso in half, along
with a diagonal axis! Reinhardt sinks to his knees as the
TWO HALVES split apart, turning to ash before they hit floor.
Beat. Blade stands beneath the spray of the overhead
sprinklers, rinsing the blood from his body. He turns
towards the exit, sword in hand.
CUT TO:
INT. CALIBAN INDUSTRIES - LOBBY - NIGHT
A set of elevator doors open, disgorging Damaskinos. Beyond
the lobby windows we can SEE a waiting helicopter, VAMPIRE
SOLDIERS readying it for take-off. Damaskinos rushes across
the lobby and is almost at the exit when --
CHUNK!CHUNK!CHUNK! A series of steel shutters slam down over
the doors and windows. Damaskinos tries to tug one of the
shutters upwards, then moves to a keypad nearby. He starts
hurriedly tapping in a numeric sequence when we hear:
NYSSA (O.S.)
I overrode the security codes.
Damaskinos spins around. Nyssa stands behind him. She's got
Whistler's rail-gun in her hands.
NYSSA (CONT'D)
We're locked in.
DAMASKINOS
Are you insane? He'll kill us both!
NYSSA
Maybe it's better that way.
AS if in response, a GRINDING SHUDDER comes from the elevator
doors. Damaskinos spins in wide-eyed horror, then --
BLADE (O.S.)
What's it going to be, Damaskinos?
Thiavolos. The devil you know --
BLADE
enters the lobby from a mezzanine above, sword in hand.
BLADE (CONT'D)
-- or the devil you don't?
Damaskinos turns back to his daughter, making a last appeal.
DAMASKINOS
(vampire dialect; subtitled)
For God's sake, Nyssa! Let us out of
here!
WHAM!WHAM!WHAM! Nomak pounds away. The elevator doors are
starting to buckle, then they tear apart completely --
NOMAK
bursts into the lobby, ROARING. If anything, he is even more
animalistic now, his features having become grossly
distorted.
NOMAK
(in vampire dialect)
Why are you frightened, father? The
prodigal son has returned.
Damaskinos scurries backwards, but there's nowhere left to
run. Nomak descends on him, lifting the vampire into a rib
crushing embrace, chomping his elongated canines into
Damaskinos' throat.
Damaskinos SQUEALS like a child as his life-blood is sucked
out of him. His body begins to cave inward, shrinking and
twisting until there's nothing left but shriveled husk.
Nyssa hefts the rail-gun and FIRES at Nomak's back. Nomak
HOWLS, releasing Damaskinos' body, then turns, focusing his
blood-drunk gaze on Nomak.
BLADE
(alarmed)
Get out of here!
But Nyssa stands her ground, rachetting back the slide on the
rail-gun, readying to unleash another barrage of needles.
Nomak CHARGES, moving at unbelievable speed. She FIRES
AGAIN, aiming at Nomak's chest --
but then Nomak is upon her. He slaps the rail-gun from her
hands, SMASHING IT TO PIECES.
Then he wraps his hand around her throat, pulling her
forward, sinking his teeth into her neck. Nyssa SCREAMS.
BLADE (CONT'D)
Nyssa!!!
ON BLADE
as he leaps from the mezzanine level, sword extended, like
Beowulf diving to slay Grendel. He PLUNGES the sword deep
into Nomak's upper torso. Then DRIVES it in even further --
Nomak releases Nyssa and back-hands Blade across the face,
sending him sailing through the air. He lands, skids across
the floor --
ON NOMAK
stumbling backwards into the wall. The sword has sunk so
deep that the tip is actually protruding out his back,
SCRAPING a gash across the wall as Nomak slides towards the
floor.
Nomak GRUNTS, then reaches for the pomeel with his ruined
hand. He grips the pommel and SNAPS the sword-blade in half.
Then he SLAMS against the wall, forcing the half of the
broken blade that's still embedded in him out back through
the front of his chest. As Nomak rises to his feet --
Blade is on him again, snap-kicking the Reaper in the chest.
Nomak retaliates. Blade somersaults out of the way, then
springs back again, KICKING Nomak in the face, BREAKING
Nomak's NECK. Nomak's head lolls unnaturally sideways for a
heartbeat and then Nomak swings his head around, somehow
righting his neck vertebrae with a snap of his head.
They trade blows, a brutal death-match that seems to defy
gravity. Blade moves in for a round-house punch, but Nomak
catches his fist, holding it for a split-second, then bending
Blade's hand at an unnatural angle, SNAPPING his wrist bones.
The pain is enormous.
Nomak starts beating the living shit out of Blade, pummeling
him with his fists, gripped by an uncontrollable rage. He
SMASHES Blade against a marble column, cracking it. Then he
flings Blade against one of the brushed steel walls - so hard
that Blade's body actually leaves an indentation.
Before Blade can recover, Nomak is in front of him, launching
another kick. Blade rolls his head out of the way, barely
avoiding Nomak's boot heel which dents the wall. Nomak kicks
a second time. Blade avoids Nomak, but third time's the
charm and Nomak lands one squarely in Blade's gut.
Blade falls beneath a flurry of blows, unable to defend
himself any longer. Blood stains his eyes, obscuring his
vision. He strikes out blindly, but Nomak has forced him to
the ground, pinning him there. As Blade struggles to free
himself --
NOMAK
lowers his head towards Blade's face. The scar/seam in
Nomak's chin splits open and Nomak's lower jaw flares apart,
distending and widening to reveal the awful, glistening hell
maw -- the hollow inner fangs and striated cartilage which
are closing about Blade's face. Blade twists his head
violently to the right, then glimpses the broken tip of his
sword resting a few feet away. He reaches for it in
desperation, plunging it up into Nomak's chest. Nomak HOWLS.
Because the hilt has been broken off, Blade is forced to grip
the cutting edge of the weapon with his bare hands. It
slices into his fingers --
but Blade just grips the broken sword tighter, ignoring the
pain, driving it deeper and deeper -- until, suddenly, it
penetrates the cartilaginous shell around Nomak's heart and --
NOMAK
(in vampire dialect)
Blood brother.
Nomak smiles, covering Blade's hands with his own. He looks
blade in the eye, then drives the broken sword home.
Nomak's body stiffens, his eyes grow unseeing, an oddly
serene look spreading across his tortured face. A patch of
BLACKNESS begins radiating outward from his chest, moving
over his body, carbonizing him from within. As his blackened
flesh begins to crack, BLUE FLAMES flicker out from the
fissures. In seconds, Nomak is gone.
Beat. Blade stands, exhausted. Then he looks to where Nyssa
rests. He moves to her side, kneeling beside her. She
smiles up at him, bravely, but frightened all the same.
Blade inspects the wound on her neck. It's clearly fatal.
NYSSA
How does it look?
BLADE
(with genuine sadness)
Not good.
Nyssa nods. Blade has only confirmed her existing fears.
NYSSA
It won't be long now. I can already
feel it burning inside me --
She grips Blade's arm, her eyes welling with tears.
NYSSA (CONT'D)
I don't want to become what Nomak was --
(beat; straining)
I can't. I want to die while I'm still
vampire.
Blade sighs. The burden is all to familiar to him.
BLADE
What do you want me to do?
NYSSA
I want to see the sun rise.
ON BLADE
his face a mask of sad resignation. He lifts Nyssa into his
arms. She closes her eyes, resting her head on his chest.
EXT. CALIBAN INDUSTRIES - JUST BEFORE DAWN
The shutters over the doors and windows slowly rise. Blade
shoulders open the front door, moving across the lawn towards
a bluff overlooking the ocean. A moment later, Whistler
emerges into the light, watching as Blade sets Nysa down on
the grass. Her eyes flutter open and she looks into --
THE HORIZON
where the faintest glimmer of pre-dawn light brightens the
cloud-swept sky. It's peaceful. We can hear the SURF
crashing on the shore below.
Together they wait.
A GLIMMER OF LIGHT emerges over the earth's curvature,
spreading its dazzling radiance out across the skyline.
Nyssa's eyes widen in expectation, her breath catching. She
looks up at Blade, stroking his face, smiling.
NYSSA
Each day is a little life. Remember?
Blade nods, he's strong for her. Despite his best efforts, a
tear slides down his cheek. They kiss then as the sun rises
in full glory, flooding the world with its brilliance.
Blade holds Nyssa tightly to his chest, refusing to
relinquish his grip as her body catches fire. The end is
blessedly quick -- not a slow-burn of blazing agony, but a
nearly seamless transition from life --
To ash... Nyssa collapses apart in Blade's arms, billowing
out around him in a cloud of glowing embers. One moment
she's there, the next she's gone. Blade remains where he is,
kneeling on the bluff, the wind carrying the last traces of
Nyssa aloft into the sky. He shuts his eyes. Turns his face
to the warmth of the sun, surrendering himself to acceptance.
WE RISE UP
isolating Blade alone on the windswept bluff. After a
moment, Whistler moves to Blade's side. He rests a hand on
Blade's shoulder, but doesn't say a word. We keep moving up
and up until the two of them are just a pair of tiny figures
on the rolling coastline. Then we --
DISSOLVE TO:
A SERIES OF CLOSEUPS
Images of a weapon being forged, all filtered through
shimmering convection waves of intense heat. We SEE a HAMMER
CLANGING DOWN. The FIRES of a ROARING furnace. SPARKS
showering up from titanium slowly being given shape. Molten
silver. Acid etching. And then we PULL BACK to reveal --
INT. BLADE'S WORKSHOP - NIGHT
Blade works before a forge by moonlight, his body dripping
with sweat. He slips his hand in a protective glove and
grips the red-hot weapon, dousing it in a quench bucket. As
a cloud of steam envelops Blade, he lifts it up for view.
A NEW SWORD
perfect. Lethal. Wrought from titanium, plated in sliver.
As Blade inspects the sword, we hear his earlier words again:
BLADE (V.O.)
I am a hunter. A weapon. It's what I
do. It's in my blood...
Satisfied with his work, Blade smiles --
EXT. FUCKINGHAM PALACE - NIGHT
A shit-hole porno emporium offering the latest in bagged-for
your-pleasure Euro-raunch.
INT. FUCKINGHAM PALACE - NIGHT
Rush, the vampire brother wanna-be from the opening of the
film, is up at the register, exchanging a twenty for a
handful of tokens. He's humming along to that old E-Rotic
song "Voulez-vous couchez avec moi".
RUSH
-- yelling for your tender touch, you
can never get enough --
We FOLLOW HIM down a hall lined with video booths, serenaded
all the while by the cheesy SYNTH SOUNDTRACKS and faked
ORGASMOGROANS coming from beyond the doors.
RUSH (CONT'D)
-- cover me with your love --
Rush stops at "Buddy Booth No. 3 - HOT ONE-ON-ONE ACTION."
INT. BUDDY BOOTH - NIGHT
Rush steps inside. There's a chair set in front of a
Plexiglas window, an intercom with a phone receiver, box of
Kleenex, and a slot for the tokens.
Rush gets himself situated, picks up the receiver, then
eagerly pops some tokens in the slot.
RUSH
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir!
Voulez-vous coucher AVEC MOI!!!
With a HUM, the screen in front of the window rises, offering
us a view of the booth on the other side of the Plexiglas.
Only instead of a skanked out booth girl, Rush finds himself
staring in open-mouthed astonishment at --
BLADE
Who flashes an evil smile at us.
BLADE
What? You think I forgot about you?
In a near blur, Blade draws his new sword from his back
scabbard and stabs it RIGHT INTO CAMERA, SMASHING apart the
Plexiglas window as we --
FADE TO BLACK.
|
