Blade Page #20

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Frost shakes, possessed by an unseen force. A wind picks up from

nowhere, swirling about the chamber, accompanied by a strange

HUMMING.

Suddenly, one of the tombs BURSTS OPEN. A WRAITH-LIKE SPIRIT rushes

outward in a fountain of light, penetrating Frost's body.

Then ANOTHER TOMB SPLITS APART. Then ANOTHER, and ANOTHER -- until a

torrent of SPIRIT-WRAITHS are surging into Frost, buffeting him about

like a scarecrow in a cyclone.

Mercury, Vanessa, and the other vampires back away, apprehensive,

humbled by what they're witnessing.

CUT TO:

INT. ANTECHAMBER - NIGHT

Blade moans, sinking his teeth deeper. Karen's head rolls back. Her

eyes open -- glassy, unseeing -- as a wave of ecstasy overtakes her.

She shudders, her breath quickening, falling into a synchronous

rhythm with Blade's. Her fingers dig deep into his back, clawing

downward, tearing into him --

She's not Karen anymore -- she's a red blood cell, an erythrocyte,

spinning in a river of plasma, roaring up Blade's femoral artery,

racing towards the pumping chambers of his heart which beats like the

deafening breath of God, which blots all other sounds out of

existence and we're --

CUTTING BACK AND FORTH NOW

between Frost's transformation and Blade's, each of them growing

stronger by the second, caught in an ever-increasing feedback loop of

expanding energy until --

BLADE:

NO!!!!

Blade tears himself from Karen, his pulse racing as --

CUT TO:

INT. TEMPLE SANCTUARY - NIGHT

-- the invocation of LaMagra reaches critical mass. Frost is consumed

by a hellish force, unable to withstand the onslaught of spirit

energy any longer.

CUT TO:

INT. ANTECHAMBER - NIGHT

-- Karen clawing at Blade, tears streaming down her cheeks.

KAREN:

Don't stop --

But Blade grips her by her shoulders, shoving her back. Karen stares

at Blade, wide-eyed, as if waking from a trance. She touches the raw

wounds on her neck, shaken --

KAREN:

My God --

Blade rises to his full height. His strength has more than returned,

it's been doubled by the infusion of real blood. And there's

something else in his gaze now too -- an animal fury that was missing

before. Blade has taken one giant step closer to the darkness.

KAREN:

(hesitant)

Are you -- all right?

Blade pulls at the chains manacled to his wrists, SNAPPING them apart

like toys. He flexes his hands -- fingernails lengthening to tapered

points. And he smiles, offering us a view of his canines, which have

elongated into fangs.

BLADE:

(near-demonic)

Never been better.

INT. TEMPLE SANCTUARY - NIGHT

The aftermath. Smoke hangs heavy in the air, occluding the area where

Frost had stood. As it dissipates, Mercury and the others creep

forward, apprehensive --

MERCURY:

Deacon?

FROST:

stands with his back to us, his body trailing wisps of occult fumes.

As he slowly turns, we catch a glimpse of his eyes -- burning with an

awesome, inner fire.

FROST:

No longer.

BLADE (O.S.)

Frost!!!

All heads turn --

BLADE:

stands at the balcony overhead, Karen at his side. He leaps from it,

somersaulting down to the floor below, landing on his feet like a

predatory cat.

BLADE:

Who dies first?

FROST:

(growling, to the others)

Take him.

Quinn GROWLS, stepping forward, armed with Blade's punching dagger.

He offers his second "new hand" up for view.

QUINN:

Grew another hand for you sweetmeat --

(tossing the dagger to his new hand)

-- and now I'm gonna kill you with it.

Quinn charges. Blade meets the vampire head-on, dropping into a low

kick and sweeping the vampire's legs out from under him. He spins

behind Quinn --

BLADE:

Let's see if you can grow a new one

of these!

Blade hooks a finger through the metal ring at the end of his jacket

sleeve, pulling out a retractable strangle-wire which he twists

around Quinn's throat.

Blade tightens the wire, decapitating Quinn. The headless body

staggers about, then drops to the cavern floor. Blade scoops up his

punching dagger --

BLADE:

Next?

Mercury and the other faithful vampires charge en masse. Blade

launches a spinning wheel kick into the first vamp's face, SNAPPING

its neck --

Mercury has Blade's .454 Casulls. She aims them at him --

MERCURY:

Have a taste of your own medicine!

As she FIRES, Blade tucks and rolls, knocking one of the guns from

her hand. The guns spins across the floor, where it's scooped up

by --

KAREN,

who takes aim at an approaching vamp, BLOWING it away.

Meanwhile, Blade traps Mercury's other hand, disarming her, flipping

her over his shoulder. He hefts his Casull, BLASTING her into

eternity --

A bloodbath ensues. Blade moves like speed-personified, FIRING off

one, two, THREE HEADSHOTS with brain-numbing accuracy, cutting down

the vampires where they stand.

It's an orgy of gunpowder smoke and showering bodily fluids and

-CLICK-CA-CHING-CLICK!- Blade and Karen have spent their bullets

and --

FROST (O.S.)

Enough!!!

Blade turns to face --

FROST,

who's advancing, clutching Blade's own sword in his hand. He thrusts

the sword forward --

Blade presses the grip-trigger on his punching dagger -CHING!- the

two side blades spread out. We hear the RASP and CLANG of metal on

metal as Blade manages to trap the sword-point between two of the

dagger blades --

For a moment, both men are eye to eye, their weapons locked together,

then, Frost forces Blade backwards --

What happens next is the most blindingly-fast sword fight ever

exposed to celluloid. Both men, fueled by super-human speed, lunge

and spin across the cavern floor in a blurred ballet of lethal moves.

Frost lands a powerful blow on Blade's shoulder, the sword-edge

biting deep into the flesh. Blade SCREAMS. Frost withdraws the sword

for another strike --

-- until Blade sees an opening and takes it, slicing Frost's left arm

off at the shoulder --

The severed arm releases Blade's sword, but the arm doesn't fall! To

Frost and Blade's mutual surprise the arm floats in mid-air, bleeding

red, quivering like zero-G liquid, then SLURPING back to Frost's arm-

stump to re-attach itself!

Undaunted, Blade slices the punching dagger into Frost's mid-section,

meeting only liquid-like resistance. The moment Blade withdraws his

dagger, Frost's flesh seals itself up again.

Blade hesitates now, uncertain -- and Frost laughs, understanding

what has happened.

FROST:

You're too late, Blade. I'm already

changing. Don't you see? The Sleeper

has awakened. I'm not just Frost

anymore. I'm becoming a god now,

blood incarnate.

Even as Frost utters the words, his body begins to ripple and morph,

bleeding red, taking on the characteristics of liquid. He doesn't

walk so much now as flow. He's become a three-dimensional creature of

animated blood! A blood demon.

ON KAREN,

as she watches Frost's transformation, wide-eyed. She SEES Blade's

discarded sword, reaches for it -- suddenly, a SHADOW moves on the

periphery of her vision --

VANESSA:

rushes at Karen in a near-blur. The SNARLING hellion is upon Karen in

an eye-blink, SLAMMING her down against the temple floor, pinning

her.

VANESSA:

Did you think I'd forgotten you, you

little whore?

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