Blade Page #19

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CURTIS REVENANT:

Tell, me, Karennn -- ever have second

thoughts -- about us?

Karen SCREAMS, trying to force the revenant away from her, but it

lunges closer, lolling its distended tongue over her mouth in a

pathetic approximation of a French kiss.

She fumbles behind her, choking, grabbing hold of a human femur,

blindly swinging it upward --

CRACK! The blow shatters the Curtis-thing's jaw. It rears back,

falling to the side.

Karen crawls out from under its weight, swinging the femur again and

again --

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! Karen pummels the howling horror, driving it

back until the femur actually splinters in half. The creature's head

hangs at an awkward angle now, its neck broken -- but still it

advances, dragging itself back up.

Sobbing, Karen retreats, clutching the splintered femur like a

makeshift dagger.

Curtis charges at her, a blur of slashing claws. At the last moment,

Karen ducks, thrusting the bone dagger up into Curtis' chest --

Curtis impales himself, right through the heart. For one split-

second, his eyes widen in surprise --

-- and then he goes into a death-spasm, vomiting up a spray of

caustic vampire blood-bile, spattering Karen. She sinks to her knees,

GASPING, as the thing that used to be Curtis shrivels up, melting

away into burbling puddle.

After a beat, Karen rises and moves to the pit wall, running her

hands over the lichen-slick surface, searching for a way out. The

mortar between the brickwork is ancient, crumbling.

Karen looks to the ground, reaching for one of the splintered femurs.

She pounds it into the mortar between two bricks -- and it holds,

working as a makeshift piton.

Karen reaches for another broken femur, lodging it a foot above the

first. She hauls her body up now, suspending her weight from the two

makeshift pitons. Again, they hold.

Trembling from exertion, Karen pulls the right piton free, hanging

solely from her left hand now. Though her handhold is precarious, she

manages to swing the right hand up again, pounding that piton another

foot above the left.

In this slow, torturous manner, Karen begins to climb her way up out

of the pit.

INT. TEMPLE OF NIGHT - BLEEDING CHAMBER - NIGHT

Blade hangs from his chains, head slack, eyes half-lidded and

lusterless. His skin has grown ashen as his life's blood has been

bled away.

Mercury appears before him, accompanied by Quinn. She bends in close

to kiss Blade lightly on the lips.

MERCURY:

It won't be long now, lover.

Quinn draws alongside her, hefting Blade's punching dagger. He places

it against Blade's throat, slowly applying pressure. At this point,

Blade's too weak to even resist.

QUINN:

We should finish him off.

MERCURY:

(shaking her head)

No. Deacon wants him turned.

Quinn releases Blade, disgusted.

QUINN:

F***ing waste, if you ask me.

As Mercury and Quinn exit, the CAMERA DROPS DOWN to the cistern

beneath Blade's feet. We follow the blood which has collected there

as it flows into a crude drain and --

INT. SANCTUARY - NIGHT

-- emerges from the ceiling of the sanctuary below. The stream of

blood is directed down the channels of a spiral column, where it

finally pools into a waiting chalice.

PULL BACK TO REVEAL

the sanctuary in full. A large circular chamber, the perimeter of

which is lined with recessed alcoves housing the remains of the

vampire ancients, set into the sanctuary walls like cells in a hive.

DEACON FROST:

stands in the center of the chamber, allowing Vanessa to clothe him

in ceremonial regalia -- gleaming, centuries-old armor. He pauses,

kissing her hungrily.

Having finished suiting up, he turns to face the vampires who have

been faithful to his cause -- Mercury, Quinn, a host of others. A

hush settles upon them. There's an excitement in the air, a sense

that something remarkable is about to happen.

FROST:

Tonight is the night we've waited our

entire lives for. Tonight, the

blood-dimmed Tide is loosed upon the

world. Tonight, the Age of Man comes

to an end.

The vampires bellow out a CHORUS OF CHEERS, their voices resonating

off the stone walls like thunder.

CUT TO:

INT. TEMPLE OF NIGHT - BONE PIT - NIGHT

Karen's hands appear over the lip of the bone pit. She heaves herself

up, collapsing onto the floor --

-- but there's no time to rest. Even now she can hear the VAMPIRES

CHEERING. She drags herself to her feet, letting the voices guide

her.

CUT TO:

INT. ANTECHAMBER - NIGHT

Karen slips around a corner, guarded, searching. She SEES Blade

strung up before her, seemingly lifeless.

Karen studies the chains which bind Blade, following them back to

their source at the winch. She releases the brake on the winch crank,

sending the chains RATTLING down through the overhead pulleys which

suspend them.

Blade crumples to the floor, lying still. Karen is at his side in an

instant --

KAREN:

(whispering, urgent)

Blade.

Blade's eyes flicker open, fixing on her. Inhuman. He's shaking

like an alcoholic going into delirium tremens.

INT. TEMPLE SANCTUARY - NIGHT

Vanessa hands Frost the chalice containing Blade's blood. He lifts it

up for all to see. The vampires begin to chant en masse, some long-

forgotten invocation in the vampire tongue.

FROST:

(grinning, to himself)

"And what rough beast, its hour come

round at last, slouches towards

Bethlehem to be born?"

Frost lifts the chalice to his lips and begins to drink.

CUT TO:

INT. ANTECHAMBER - NIGHT

Blade tries to sit up, gripping Karen's wrist --

BLADE:

Get out of here --

KAREN:

I'm not leaving without you.

BLADE:

You don't understand. The Thirst --

He clutches his stomach, experiencing phenomenal pain.

BLADE:

(gasping)

-- tearing me -- apart.

KAREN:

I know. Take some of my blood.

BLADE:

No --

KAREN:

It's the only way. You know that.

We'll never get out of here alive if

you don't.

Blade suppresses a shudder. Simply keeping himself from attacking her

takes every ounce of his resolve.

BLADE:

I can't -- I won't be able to stop --

KAREN:

Yes you will. The human side of you is

stronger. I know it is.

Karen matches Blade's gaze, steeling herself. The truth is, she's

terrified.

Blade stares back at her. At this moment, he wants what Karen is

offering more than anything he's ever desired. And so he rises --

CUT TO:

INT. TEMPLE OF NIGHT - SANCTUARY - NIGHT

Frost continues drinking down the blood, when suddenly, a force

seizes his body. He throws his head back, eyes rolling to white,

flinging the chalice aside.

And as the vampire incantation reaches a fevered pitch, we SEE the

stone tomb tablets off the vampire ancestors beginning to judder --

as if some force within were trying to break free --

CUT TO:

INT. ANTECHAMBER - NIGHT

Karen turns her head to the side, baring her neck, offering herself

to Blade. Blade opens his mouth. His canines elongate. He lowers his

head --

-- and starts to feed. Karen involuntarily stiffens as Blade's teeth

puncture her skin and we --

CUT TO:

INT. TEMPLE SANCTUARY - NIGHT

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