Blade Page #10

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BLADE:

(eyeballing Pearl)

Don't be. You're another notch on my

sword hilt, nothing else.

Frost's DEEP LAUGHTER drifts from the speakerphone.

INT. FROST'S PENTHOUSE, POOL - NIGHT

Frost settles into his chair, enjoying the cat and mouse.

FROST:

You're quick, Blade, I'll give you

that. In the space of an hour you've

crossed my familiar, destroyed a blood

bank --

(beat)

Now here you are in the heart of our

archives, terrorizing our curator.

PEARL'S VOICE

He has a knife to my throat, Frost!

He --

FROST:

(cutting him off)

You're history, Pearl. Have the good

grace to die with some dignity.

(beat)

Round one to you, Blade.

INT. PEARL'S BEDCHAMBER - NIGHT

CLICK, the line goes dead. Blade tosses his satchel on the bed, opens

it. Inside is a hand-held UV lamp hooked up to a nine-volt battery.

Pearl eyes the device, fearful --

PEARL:

What is that?

BLADE:

A sun lamp. We're gonna play twenty

questions. Depending on your answers,

you might get to have yourself a

tanning session.

Blade looks to Pearl's monitor and SEES a digitized image, the SAME

MANUSCRIPT Deacon had been studying earlier.

BLADE:

What were you in such a big hurry to

delete just now?

Pearl hesitates. Blade turns on the lamp. Pearl HOWLS as the harsh

light falls upon him. Blade flicks the light off.

Pearl cringes, GROWLING, his face smoking profusely. Exposure to the

UV rays, even for one short second, has made his face blister like a

plague victim's.

PEARL:

(relenting)

It's an epistle, a letter Frost has

been translating -- it prophesizes

LaMagra's return.

BLADE:

And who is LaMagra?

Pearl hesitates again -- Blade turns on the lamp for a longer time.

Pearl thrashes, covering his face. His hands blacken, the skin

sizzling away to expose the finger bones beneath. Karen has to avert

her gaze --

Blade turns off the lamp. Pearl SNARLS, his body quivering with

poisonous rage.

PEARL:

LaMagra is The Sleeper!!!

Blade leans in close so he's eye to eye with Pearl.

BLADE:

Where's the original, Pearl? You must

have it around here somewhere.

Pearl sweats blood, his flaking, slug-like lips quivering.

PEARL:

The vault --

Blade follows Pearl's eyes to an armored door, then he stands back,

handing the UV rig to Karen.

BLADE:

If he moves, cook him.

Blade approaches the vault door, sizing up its locking mechanism. He

pulls an explosive charge from his combat belt and secures it to the

door, arming it with a BEEP!

PEARL:

Please, I'll give you the combination

-- you'll damage the documents --

BLADE:

That's the point.

Enraged, Pearl LUNGES from his bed. Karen triggers the UV rig, flash-

frying him to a blackened crisp. Pearl quivers, his enormous body

smoking like a piece of charred meat.

Blade looks back at Karen with newfound respect. She shrugs.

KAREN:

He moved.

Blade turns back to the vault, setting off the charge. BOOM! Blade

kicks the damaged door in, knocking it clear off its hinges --

INSIDE THE VAULT,

ancient papers flutter through the smoky air like wind-borne leaves.

Blade and Karen SEE a lucite-encased document -- fragments of an

ancient, calligraphied papyrus.

KAREN:

What are these?

QUINN (o.s.)

Curiosity killed the cat.

Blade and Karen spin --

-- QUINN,

Mercury, and a number of other vampires stand at the entrance to the

vault.

QUINN:

(grins)

Hola, amigo. Remember me?

Karen triggers the UV light, but Mercury ducks under it, ripping it

from her hands, crushing it. In a split-second, the she-demon has her

claws around Karen's throat.

As Blade reaches for his rifle, the vampires converge on him like

quicksilver. They drag Karen and Blade out --

PEARL'S BEDCHAMBER

The vampires fling Blade against the wall, pinning him.

QUINN:

You took my arm, Blade. But that's

okay, I'm growing a new one --

Quinn lifts up his "arm". A skeletal forearm has grown from the

stump. It's got cartilage, sinew, and muscle, but no flesh yet.

QUINN:

Nice, huh? Think I'll ever play the

piano again?

(shrugging)

You can slice him, you can dice him,

and the man just keeps on coming.

Blade struggles violently, but Quinn is upon him, pounding his fist

into Blade again and again and again -- giving him payback with

compounded interest. When it's over, Quinn steps back, winded --

Blade's head hangs down. He gasps, wincing, every breath sending a

red hot poker to his gut. Quinn grabs a hold of Blade's jaw, forcing

his head up.

QUINN:

Stay with me, sweetness, I'm not

through with you yet.

Quinn pulls Blade's jacket open, sees the bandoleer of mahogany

stakes. He tugs one out, admiring it.

QUINN:

Teak. Nice craftsmanship.

(to the others)

Now here's a man who takes his job

just a little too seriously, don't you

think?

(back to Blade)

Which reminds me, Blade, think I owe

you one --

Quinn stabs the stake into Blade's shoulder. Blade CRIES OUT, tries

to pull free. Karen, who's being held by Mercury, averts her gaze.

QUINN:

Actually, if you want to get

technical, I owe you two.

As Quinn reaches for another stake, Blade starts to laugh.

QUINN:

What's so funny, bright eyes?

BLADE:

I'm expecting some company.

It's then that Quinn notices the micro ear-coil radio receiver in

Blade's ear. As we MOVE IN on it, we hear a tiny VOICE squawking from

it:

VOICE:

(filtered)

Get down!

Blade kicks his feet out, sending Quinn flying backwards. He tears

free of the vamps holding him and DIVES forward, knocking Karen to

the ground just as --

BOOM!!! The wall of Pearl's bedchamber EXPLODES INWARD, knocking

Quinn and the rest of his cronies to their feet.

WHISTLER:

stands in the smoking hole where the wall used to be, brandishing his

cane in one hand and an automatic rifle in the other. He balances the

rifle against his hip like an over-the-hill gunslinger and OPENS FIRE

on the vampires.

Blade rolls, snatching up a fragment of the parchment which has blown

free from the vault. Seconds later, he and Karen are fleeing after

Whistler, retreating back through his newly created exit.

INT. TUNNEL - NIGHT

The three of them find themselves ankle-deep in a flooded sewer

tunnel running parallel to the archives. Whistler pauses, wheezing

from overexertion.

WHISTLER:

Christ, I'm too old for this. Somebody

get me a goddamn wheelchair.

Blade leans against the tunnel wall, GRUNTING as he yanks the stake

from his shoulder. He then pulls out a light-stick, snapping it,

illuminating the area in a GREEN GLOW -- disturbing waves of

GLITTERING COCKROACHES.

Meanwhile, Whistler pulls another explosive device from his backpack

and sets it against the tunnel wall, arming it.

KAREN:

How did you find us?!

Whistler taps a tiny radio headset curled around his ear.

WHISTLER:

We keep in radio contact.

KAREN:

(incredulous)

You've been listening in the whole

time?

WHISTLER:

You think I'd let him run loose

without a chaperone? Blade ferrets

their rat-holes out, I map them. Then

we blow them all to kingdom come.

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