are we bringing home strays now?
you should've killed her, then.
no promises. you watch her close. she starts to turn, you finish her off.
localized necrosis. she's borderline. another hour and she'd be well into the change.
can you hear me, woman?
you've been bitten by a vampire. we've got to try and burn out the venom, just like a rattlesnake bite --
hold her.
"dr. karen jansen". listen close, i'm going to inject you with an antidote made from allium setivum -- garlic. this is going to hurt. a lot.
i had to increase the dose. you're building up a resistance to the serum --
wandered off the beaten path, doctor?
my name is abraham whistler. this is blade. as for our little homunculus here --
not at all. you're looking at a prime specimen of the homines nocturna.
if blade hadn't brought you here, you would've wound up like him.
maybe not. i did some checking, she's a hematologist. knowledge like that might come in handy.
some of the old wives' tales are true -- they're severely allergic to silver, various types of wood. feed them garlic and they'll go into anaphylactic shock --
-- and of course there's always sunlight, ultra-violet rays.
there's a war going on out there. blade, myself, a few others -- we've tried to keep it from spilling over onto the streets. sometimes people like yourself get caught in the cross-fire.
you're talking about a brotherhood that predates the catholic church by thousands of years. their survival depends on their ability to blend in. chances are, you've encountered them and not even known it. on the subway, in a bar --
wait.
consider it a parting gift. vampire mace -- silver nitrate, essence of garlic.
there is one other thing. i'd buy yourself a gun if i were you. if you start becoming sensitive to the daylight, if you start becoming thirsty regardless of much you've had to drink -- then i suggest you take that gun and use it on yourself. better that, than the alternative.
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.
christ, i'm too old for this. somebody get me a goddamn wheelchair.
we keep in radio contact.
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.
there's a subway line due east of here. we'd best make tracks.
go on, i'll be fine!
is waiting for them, sitting at a workbench.
what took you so long?
we weren't sure we could trust you.
blade's mother was attacked by a vampire while she was pregnant. ultimately, she died, but her unborn child lived. unfortunately, he'd undergone certain genetic changes while in the womb --
i found blade when he was thirteen. he'd been living on the streets, feeding off the homeless. apparently the thirst manifested itself at puberty -- i took him for one of them at first, almost killed him, too. but then i realized what he was.
blade's unique, you know. a one in a billion anomaly. he can withstand sunlight, garlic, even silver. but he still has the thirst.
the thirst overcomes him, just like the others. it's not something he can control. the problem is, time's running out. his body's starting to reject the serum. and so far, all my efforts to find a cure have ended in failure --
which is why you're here. we could use someone with your experience.
this used to be mine, you know. it's been passed down through the centuries, from one hunter to the next --
habit, mostly, just like this.
i had a family once -- a wife, three daughters. then a drifter named deacon frost came calling one evening --
eventually. he toyed with them first. he made me choose, do you understand? which order they would die in --
i didn't. he was cruel enough to let me live. even gave me a souvenir to remember him by.
frost's bodycount keeps rising, and i'm not getting any younger, am i?
i wouldn't go in there if i were you. it's best to leave him alone when he's like this.
going somewhere?
she's been making real progress, blade. show him --
can you imagine what a dash of that would do on your sword?
their own blood can't sustain hemoglobin.
how?
you're serious? you actually think this could work?
then we're back to square one, aren't we? sooner or later, the thirst always wins.
i don't know, but the back-up generator should've kicked in.
uv floodlights are down too.
get it!!!
understand this -- they are monsters. hesitate for even a moment, and you've lost.
has been strung up by his arms against the far wall, tortured and left for dead. in response to blade's voice, a moan escapes the dying man's lips.
frost took her --
listen. you have to -- finish me off. you don't want me coming back.
too far gone, you know that.
yes you can. now get on with it.
i know. just be quick about it, will you? do it right.