Blade Page #9

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INT. TANAKA'S MUSTANG - NIGHT

Tanaka speeds, shouting into the speaker phone --

TANAKA:

Get me Pearl!

VOICE:

(filtered, on speaker)

Pearl is feeding --

TANAKA:

Look, I'm not f***ing around here!

That hunter Frost has been talking

about? He was just at the clinic. Tore

the goddamn place apart!

EXT. THE BLACK PEARL - NIGHT

Tokyo town. A black edifice, no windows, secured parking, no signage

except for a purple neon scroll above the entrance -- a FLASHING

KANJI, just like the glyph tattooed on Tanaka's neck.

Tanaka's Mustang pulls into the parking lot. He climbs out, flagging

away the valets, heads inside --

WHIP PAN TO:

Blade's Olds stopping a few blocks down the street.

INT. BLADE'S OLDS - NIGHT

Blade kills the engine, studying The Black Pearl.

BLADE:

Looks like we hit pay-dirt. This place

is crawling with them.

(pointing)

See the valets over there? They're

vampires. So is the doorman.

KAREN:

How can you tell?

BLADE:

The way they move, they way they

smell --

Blade continues to scan the area, pointing out a few more likely

candidates --

BLADE:

The whore on the corner, she's one

too. So are the two men standing under

the streetlight.

Blade reaches into the back seat, retrieves his sword and a satchel.

He snaps open his shotgun, loads it. Karen continues to study the

vampires Blade identified.

KAREN:

So many of them -- I still can't

believe they're real.

BLADE:

There are worse things than vampires

out there.

KAREN:

Like what?

BLADE:

(pumping his shotgun)

Like me.

Blade reaches for the door --

EXT. THE BLACK PEARL - NIGHT

Blade and Karen climb out. He lets his shotgun fall within the folds

of his longcoat and starts across the street -- only to be challenged

by a HULKING DOORMAN at the entrance.

DOORMAN:

I'm sorry, sir -- do you have an

invitation?

INT. BLACK PEARL - NIGHT

CRASH! The front door flies open as the Doorman's body sails through.

Blade enters, Karen at his heels --

The 'Pearl' is an all-hours strip club cum casino catering

exclusively to Japanese zaibatsu clientele. Dimly lit, the air thick

with cigarette smoke, deafening MUSIC. Go boards, pachinko machines,

sexy little MANGA WAIFS in schoolgirl outfits doling out drinks --

STRIPPERS writhe in the circular "pit" tables surrounded by HOWLING

grab-ass men. But that's nothing compared to --

The MAIN ATTRACTION,

who's doing a bump and grind down the runway, shaking a body worthy

of a schoolboy's wet dream. Her attire? A leather S&M face mask,

nipple rings, 6-inch spikes, and a pair of panties to hide her

modesty.

Blade scans the room -- just in time to see Tanaka ducking into a

back hallway. Blade pushes towards the rear of the club. Karen

follows.

ON THE STRIPPER:

as she catches sight of Blade and freezes in mid-routine. The

stripper pulls off her hood. Long black hair with a streak of white

tumbles down her back -- it's Mercury.

INT. BLACK PEARL, HALLWAY - NIGHT

Blade and Karen head past the bathrooms. At the end of the hall is a

door marked "OFFICE". Just then, the Men's door opens, a DRUNK

COLLEGE KID steps out, SEES Blade --

KID:

Hey --

Blade plants a hand over the kid's face, shoving him back into the

bathroom as he kicks open the office door --

INT. THE BLACK PEARL, BACK OFFICE - NIGHT

Tanaka spins around, startled, tries to throw a punch --

Blade traps Tanaka's arm, levering the man up and over. He CRASHES

into a shelving unit, taking the whole thing down with him. Karen

winces. Blade grabs a handful of Tanaka's hair, yanks his head up --

BLADE:

Where's the entrance?!

TANAKA:

I can't -- they'll kill me!

Blade rips off his glasses and gives Tanaka an eyeful -- his irises

pulse and glow.

BLADE:

I got news for you, butt-boy. You're

already dead.

TANAKA:

(terrified)

Oh God, sh*t -- behind the bookcase --

Blade drops Tanaka, moves to the bookcase. He searches the wall a

moment, then finds a trigger. Hits it -- the bookcase slides aside,

revealing a hidden elevator. As Blade moves to put his sunglasses

back on --

BLADE'S POV (IN THE REFLECTION OF HIS SUNGLASSES)

We see Tanaka behind him, pulling a handgun out of a desk drawer,

swinging it up --

Blade unholsters one of his Casulls faster than any gunslinger in

history. He FIRES over his own shoulder, BLOWING Tanaka back against

the wall.

Blade puts his sunglasses back on, motions to the elevator, then nods

to Karen --

BLADE:

After you.

INT. THE BLACK PEARL, ELEVATOR - NIGHT

The elevator descends. Then a tone CHIMES, signaling the end of the

ride. The doors hiss open --

INT. THE VAMPIRE ARCHIVES, HALLWAY - NIGHT

Blade and Karen enter the narrow, maze-like "stacks" of the vampire

archives, weaving their way through shelves of climate-controlled,

digitized records.

KAREN:

What is this place?

BLADE:

Some kind of archive --

KAREN:

Isn't this all a little high-tech? I

thought vampires were more into

cobwebs and coffins.

BLADE:

You've been watching too much TV.

They've got their claws sunk into

everything -- finance, real estate,

politics. Probably own half of

Downtown.

Blade pulls a CD-ROM from the shelves, its spine labeled in

indecipherable vampire glyphs.

BLADE:

This must be where they keep their

records --

He pauses, hearing a DISTANT WHISPER. Blade signals quiet, silently

leading Karen through the stacks towards --

PEARL'S LAIR

A vestibule of sorts, leading to a larger bed chamber constructed of

rice paper shoji screens and tatami mats. Candles glow within,

illuminating a MONSTROUSLY OBESE SHADOW beyond the translucent rice

paper walls.

The shadow speaks in a tremulous, bird-like voice -- the secret

tongue. As Blade draws his sword, the massive shadow freezes --

PEARL'S VOICE

(frightened)

Lorca, is that you?

Blade slides open the nearest shoji screen --

INT. PEARL'S BED CHAMBER - NIGHT

Nothing Karen's seen up until this point could prepare her for the

archive's curator --

PEARL,

a nine-hundred-pound androgynous vampire of Asian origin, lounging

amidst pillowed rice mats, wearing a communications headset. Think of

a cross between Divine and Jabba The Hutt. Skin the complexion of

buttermilk, so corpulent he can barely move, so engorged with blood

that he's actually sweating it from the pores of his skin.

Pearl is surrounded by a nest of monitors and keyboards which have

been affixed to counter-balanced arms -- this way, Pearl can access

information without leaving bed.

Lying next to Pearl, dwarfed by the vampire's massive size, is the

chalk-white body of a recently-drained NAKED BOY.

At the sight of Blade, Pearl's eyes widen in fear --

PEARL:

(into a speakerphone)

He's here!

FROST'S VOICE

(over speakerphone)

Congratulations, Day-Walker.

BLADE:

Frost?

INT. FROST'S PENTHOUSE, POOL - NIGHT

Frost paces the length of his pool, wearing a hands-free

communications headset, grinning.

FROST:

In the flesh, Blade. I understand

you've been looking for me. I'm

flattered.

INT. PEARL'S BEDCHAMBER - NIGHT

As Blade listens, Pearl reaches for his trackball, attempting to

delete the document currently on his monitors -- but Blade lunges

forward, sinking the tip of his sword into Pearl's fleshy throat.

Pearl freezes.

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