Meanwhile, a group of vampires are discussing Blade's latest attack on their members. Apparently this club (and to an extent, Quinn) is the property of a vampire named Deacon Frost. Frost wants the vampires to outright rule the humans, while the others (particularly an older vampire named Dragonetti) prefer to maintain a peaceful co-existance.
Dragonetti in particular does not like Frost because Frost is not a "pure-blood" (ie: was not born a vampire, merely became one through the bite of another).
The next morning, Karen Jenson awakens and sees Whistler injecting Blade with some type of serum. She tries to run away but Whistler confronts her and tells her that he and Blade are hunting vampires.
Karen of course is skeptical, but Whistler goes on to talk about what they use to hunt- explaining that vampires are severely allergic to silver & garlic while also being vulnerable to sunlight (ultraviolet rays in particular).
Whistler fuels up Blade's car and gives him a new UV flashlight to use when hunting that night.
Whistler also gives Karen a type of "vampire mace" (garlic & silver nitrate in a liquid form).
Blade drops Karen off at her apartment and she tries to pack up and get out of town.
A police officer, identifying himself as Officer Krieger, arrives and questions her about the events at the hospital last night, as a pretext for trying to attack her. Before he can kill her, Blade returns and subdues the policeman. Blade explains that this officer is a "familiar," (also called a "Renfield" or a "bug-eater") a human slave owned by a vampire.
Blade reveals a tattoo called a "glyph" on the back of the officer's neck and recognizes it as the mark of Deacon Frost. Blade lets Officer Krieger go free in the hopes of tracking him to another vampire club. Sure enough, Blade and Karen arrive at a new underground club and have a confrontation with Pearl, a morbidly-obese vampire who works as a record keeper.
Pearl confesses that Deacon Frost is researching ancient vampire prophecies... one in particular involving a ritual and a creature named "La Magra." Karen burns Pearl severely with Whistler's giant UV light and Blade steals part of Pearl's hard drive.
Blade and Karen move further into the vampire records and find pages from "The Book of Erebus," the vampire Bible.
They are suddenly ambushed by a group of vampires led by Quinn, now healed and having regrown his lost hand. Quinn attempts to torture Blade for information (and for his own amusement) but realizes that Blade has a radio link in his ear. Whistler suddenly arrives (having been listening in the whole time) and opens fire on the vampires.
The three heroes escape through the subway system, and Blade cuts off Quinn's other hand to get away. When he and Karen board a passing subway car, Blade steps back and injects himself with more serum. Karen suspects that Blade is actually a vampire himself, but Blade responds in the negative; he is something completely different.
At a vampire club, Officer Krieger arrives where he reports to Frost about Blade and of his new alliance with the doctor, Karen. Frost is angry for letting Blade get away, but does not kill Krieger. Frost lets his blond vamp girlfriend Mercury do it for him who bites out Krieger's throat in gory fashion.
Back at the hideout, Whistler explains Blade's history to Karen: Blade was the baby seen in the opening scene; his mother was attacked by a vampire hours before he was born. She died but Blade lived. Due to the unique circumstances of his birth, Blade is a hybrid of human and vampire abilities.
He can resist garlic & silver, can walk in open sunlight (hence the nickname "Daywalker" given by other vampires) and has enhanced strength and healing abilities. But Blade has also inherited the vampire's thirst for blood. Whistler developed a serum to curb Blade's cravings, but Blade's body is starting to resist it.
Whistler also gives Karen a bit of his own history: his own children and wife were killed by a vampire years before and he acts out of revenge, as much as social justice. Whistler also learns that his attempted cure of Karen was ineffective and that she is growing close to turning into a vampire.
Karen refuses to give up, taking a few items from the hospital where she worked to try and find a cure for both her and Blade. The first item she brings (an anti-coagulant formula known as EDTA) is found to have a violent reaction when mixed with vampire blood, so she gives it to Blade for use as a weapon.
Meanwhile, Quinn is at Frosts' headquarters, berated for his second failure. Frost encourages Quinn to go back out and get Blade... alive. Quinn is confused by this as the vampires have been trying to kill Blade for a very long time.
Afterwords, Frost takes Mercury and his entourage of followers and abducts Dragonetti, forcibly ripping out the elder vampire's fangs. Frost's gang shields themselves with sunscreen, black clothing and motorcycle helmets, leaving Dragonetti to burn to death in the sun.
Frost confronts the remaining elders of the Vampire Council, asking for 12 people to "volunteer" for his "La Magra" project. While Blade purchases more items for hunting, Whistler and Karen discuss her latest attempt at a cure. Karen is sure that the new formula will work on her, but is unsure what effects it might have on Blade since he was born with vampirism.
|
