Queen of the Damned Page #6

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TALBOT (CONT'D)

That's what we have to resist, as

Talamascans...

(as a shadow crosseshis face)

It's not always easy.

JESSE:

(leaning forward)

Talbot. C'mon. You know me. I'm

not freaking out on you. I'm justonto what looks -- alright looked

-- like a good lead. You're the

one who taught me how to do allthis. You're the one who taughtme to keep pushing and pushing...

He still looks at her with a penetrating glance. She

looks back at him.

JESSE:

David. There's nothing else.

Nothing is 'beguiling' me,

alright? Nothing. C'mon.

He gazes at her as she downs her whole coffee,

registering her strong denial. He smiles at her,

forcefully changes the mood.

TALBOT:

Alright. Just checking...

Jesse starts out. Looking down at papers on his desk,

Talbot calls out, almost casually...

TALBOT:

Well, all I can say is you'rereally lucky you're not lyingdead in a gutter with two holeson your neck.

JESSE:

I'd be even luckier if that damn

picture came out...

(stops in her tracks,

turns back, gazes athim, amazed)

Wait a second. So you do believe

me? You do think it's a vampire

coven.

(CONTINUED)

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TALBOT:

(looks up, eyes

sparkling)

Yes. But not exactly for the

reasons you think. Though your

research is top-notch of course...

(smiles)

Come back here. I'm gonna show

you something.

He goes to the paintings hanging on a wall in the back ofhis office, covered with black velvet. Jesse follows.

He unveils them.

They stand before an Eighteenth-Century painting. The

interior of an enormous Italian villa. There's a man in

his forties with long white hair, back to us, but hisface is reflected in a standing mirror.

TALBOT:

What do you see?

JESSE:

They're all nightscapes. The

detail is amazing. Mid-1500s.

Florence.

TALBOT:

Right. And what do you see inthis one?

Jesse moves to the next painting. Another nightscape, agiant medieval tableaux, circa Bruegel.

TALBOT:

And I know it's a Dutch pastoral.

Jesse runs her finger across the faces, then stops on theface of a gentleman with long white hair watching thebloodshed of gory battles and the sacrifices of saintsburned at the stake.

JESSE:

This man is in both.

TALBOT:

Right. He's in all of them.

Jesse moves to the next painting, then the next and thenext, all nightscapes set and painted in the style ofdifferent eras, all featuring a portrait of the samewhite-maned man.

(CONTINUED)

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JESSE:

Have you -

TALBOT:

Carbon tested? Yes. The

different paint samples are allauthentic. All painted at thetime of that particular style.

Jesse stops at a contemporary self-portrait.

TALBOT:

It's Marius, Jesse.

JESSE:

(whirling around)

Marius?! From Lestat's lyrics.

I knew I was right.

TALBOT:

Yes, you were. Good work.

She smiles at him, victorious.

TALBOT:

I've been personally tracinghim for decades. My littleobsession. The oldest vampireever documented. The closest

we've come to the originalvampire.

JESSE:

What do you mean the originalvampire?

Pointing to a larger depiction of a beautiful woman inEgyptian garb -

TALBOT:

There's a Mesopotamian legend thatthere once was a queen of Egypt,

Akasha, long before Tutankhamen orNefertiti. She was believed to be

the original vampire... Mariushimself dates back to 400 B.C...

Jesse gazes at all the paintings, shaking her head inwonder, then speaks softly.

(CONTINUED)

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JESSE:

David, you've been tracking Mariusyour whole life. Maybe he's outthere waiting for you right now.

(without looking

at him)

Don't you ever want to just go andfind him and --

Talbot crosses to her.

TALBOT:

No. Jesus, we are not talkingabout having a drink at theDorchester, Jesse. You know that.

Especially with the ancientvampires -- the older they are,

the more powerful, the moredangerous...

He takes her by the arm, smiles down at her.

TALBOT:

Anyway, you don't need to go andstake out some club. Your time is

too valuable. I have somethingfar better for you...

JESSE:

(surprised)

You do?

He steers her over to a locked cabinet.

TALBOT:

Yes. And I'll tell you something.

I've never shown this to anyone.

No one else has proved themselfin the way you have.

JESSE:

(touched)

Thanks. What is it?

As he unlocks the cabinet...

TALBOT:

Oh you're gonna love this.

(glancing at her)

Although I'm sure it will keep youup nights to come with nightmares...

He takes out an old leather-bound journal. Turns to

Jesse.

(CONTINUED)

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TALBOT:

Lestat's diary. I found it some

years ago. This is where you'llfind the answers you need.

Jesse stares up at him in absolute awe, taking it in.

Talbot gestures in the direction of the Talamascans inthe library.

TALBOT:

They don't need to knoweverything, right?

She smiles at him. He gives her the diary.

JESSE:

Thank you for this.

TALBOT:

My pleasure. When I took you onas an apprentice, I knew it wasthe smartest thing I'd ever done.

Now you and I'll meet when you'redone... This will be our project...

As Jesse goes out, holding the journal, Talbot smilesafter her.

But after the door closes, his gaze turns again to

concern. He crosses back to the paintings, pauses amoment, staring up into Marius's eyes. Then Talbot

covers each with the black velvet.

CUT TO:

49 INT. JESSE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT 49

Jesse sits on the floor, curtains drawn, the room lit

with candles. A LESTAT SONG plays in the b.g. She

opens the journal.

JESSE:

Je suis le vampire Lestat...

(a beat)

I am the vampire Lestat.

50 FLASHBACK - EXT. MEDITERRANEAN ISLAND - FULL SHOT 50

A solitary paradise in a rough, nighttime sea.

(CONTINUED)

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LESTAT (V.O.)

It was the winter of 1788 and I

was brought to a MediterraneanIsland by the man who made me...

A lightning flash illuminates a sprawling 18th-Centurysea-front villa.

LESTAT (V.O.)

... if a man is what you'd callhim.

51 INT. VILLA BEDROOM - NIGHT 51

A great round room encircled with candles, theirreflections flickering in the great glass windows bravingback the outside STORM. A huge antique bed sits in theroom's center, and on it... Lestat lays feverish andfitful, dressed in a soft linen nightshirt. His neck

wears a swollen bite. Another flash of lightningsuddenly jolts him awake. His hands feel the inflamed

wound as he sees...

An indistinct shape of a man dressed in draping redvelvet, sitting asleep in a chair across the room. An

easel stands before him, holding an unseen painting.

Lestat rises out of the bed and grabs his clothes from anearby Louis IV chair. He makes for a door when...

Lestat suddenly stops. He looks back to see the paintingthat stands on the easel. It's a portrait of himself inancient Roman garb, like the god Mars, complete with hisblond hair and fiery blue eyes. Unable to help himself,

he approaches the painting, completely fascinated by hisown image, when suddenly...

The sleeping man leaps up, grabs Lestat unmercifully andagain plunges his teeth into the young man's neck.

Lestat fights as best he can but his strength is no matchas he's slowly drawn down to the floor. Finally...

The strange man lifts himself up from Lestat's neck toreveal the face of the vampire MARIUS, the mysteriousfigure. Wiping his blooded mouth on his painter'scloth!-MARIUS

Lestat. Welcome.

Weakened and helpless, Lestat drags himself back acrossthe floor in terror.

(CONTINUED)

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