Little Red Cells

Part 3



               INT. THE CAPTIVES' APARTMENT - DAY

               A key rattles in the door lock outside. 

               Lyle pops up his head, hair mussed, behind the back of the
               couch, to look anxiously toward the door. 

               Lyle and Katy both jump up from some loveplay on the couch,
               straightening their clothes and hair, as the door is being
               opened. 

               Thug #1 roughly brings in Dorian, while Thug #2 strides over
               to the wall hanging, which is back on the wall. 

               Yolanda enters, prances over to Lyle.  Thug #3 waits by the
               door.  Thug #2 yanks the hanging from the wall and begins
               gathering it up. 

               Yolanda touches Lyle's face.

                                   YOLANDA
                         We'll be back for you soon. After
                         the sunset. 

               There is contempt in Lyle's eyes.  Yolanda glances at Katy
               with disdain, smiles at Dorian.  

               Yolanda turns, sashays toward the door.

                                   YOLANDA (cont'd)
                         That is when La Fiesta begins. 

               Thug #2, heading out with the wall hanging, pauses by Dorian
               to taunt him:

                                   THUG #2
                         Du brauchst nicht dieser
                         Wandteppich.  (You don't need 
                         this wall hanging.) 

               Thug #2 proceeds out with his fellow thugs and Yolanda.

               As the captives are being locked in:

                                   DORIAN
                         He's here.  I met him.

                                   KATY
                         Dracula?

               Dorian begins worriedly pacing.

                                   DORIAN
                         Yeah.  Quincey.  Whatever his name
                         is.  King of the Vampires.  What
                         are we going to do?  "Tonight's the
                         night," he said.  Tonight he gets
                         his blood, and I'm the one with all
                         the little red cells.  They're
                         having a feast, and I'm the fatted
                         calf.

                                   LYLE
                         What's that make me and Katy, the
                         Worchestershire sauce? 

               Dorian sits down, begins rubbing his brow.

                                   DORIAN
                         Sorry, Lyle.  Katy.  We're all 
                         in this together.  Have I got a
                         headache!  I always get a headache
                         like this when I get too much 
                         blood in me. 

               Lyle and Katy seem to wish Dorian hadn't said that.

               EXT. THE SUNSET

               A dying red glow on the horizon.

               INT. CAPTIVES' APARTMENT - NIGHT

               Dorian, Katy, and Lyle sit close together, holding hands, on
               the couch.  They're awaiting their fate, scared, their eyes
               on the darkness outside.

                                   DORIAN
                         Katy, tell me a story.

                                   LYLE
                         Tell us both one.

               Katy thinks, then,

                                   KATY
                         Once upon a time there were three
                         people being held captive in a
                         castle by vampires.  And they knew
                         there was no escape. So you know
                         what they did?  The three of them
                         sat down close together on a couch,
                         just like this, and they wished
                         with all their might that they were
                         somewhere far away from that
                         castle.  And lo and behold -

                                   LYLE
                             (interrupting)
                         What kind of story is that?  You
                         think we can wish our way out of
                         this?

                                   KATY
                         Okay, smartie, let's hear you make
                         one up.

                                   LYLE
                         At a time like this?
                             (then)
                         Okay.  One time there was this
                         perfectly good decent guy, who had
                         never done one evil thing in his
                         life, who suddenly found himself
                         being held in a castle by vampires. 
                         And he kept asking himself, "Why
                         me?"  And there was simply no
                         logical answer. And -

                                   KATY
                             (interrupting)
                         This guy was all by himself?  There
                         were no other captives with him?

                                   LYLE
                         Of course there were.  There was a
                         young woman, whom he loved.  And
                         there was a little boy, who had all
                         these little red cells. 

               The rattle of a key.  The door opens, and Vlad steps in,
               thugs waiting outside.

                                   VLAD
                         You are invited . . . to our feast.

               It's the last thing they wanted to hear.

               INT. THE FEAST - NIGHT

               Murtala begins ceremonially burning herbs in the flame of a
               charcoal brazier.  He chants:

                                   MURTALA 
                         Hear me, O Terrible and Invisible
                         God . . .

               It is a scene not of feasting but of ritual magic, with most
               of the hall in darkness. 

               Dorian sits, arms and feet bound to his low-backed chair, in
               a magic circle drawn on the floor.  (Maybe a spotlight is on
               him.) 

               Behind Dorian is darkness.  Ranged before him, in a great
               semicircle, watching from the shadows, are the 50 or so
               vampires seen earlier at the Bucket o' Blood. 

               Murtala, in priestly red robe and jewelry, continues his
               chant by the brazier:                  

                                   MURTALA (cont'd)
                         . . . and make all the spirits of
                         heaven, of earth, below earth, on
                         land and in water, now subject to
                         me! 

               Lyle and Katy stand off to the side, hands bound behind their
               backs, grimly watching.  They are flanked by Thugs #1 and #2. 

               Bogdan, bejeweled, in his Grand Boyar robe, steps to Thug
               #1's side and whispers:

                                   BOGDAN
                         Where is Jukes with the goblet? 

               Thug #1 shrugs that he doesn't know.

                                   BOGDAN (cont'd)
                         Go get him.

               Before Thug #1 can go, Bogdan hears:

                                   JUKES 
                         Grand Boyar, sir. 

               Jukes arrives, fairly drunk, with a fancy goblet.  Bogdan
               takes the goblet, glances in it, looks hard at Jukes.

                                   BOGDAN
                         Is it going to work?

                                   JUKES
                         I most fervently hope so.

               Bogdan moves off with the goblet.  Jukes is now standing by
               Lyle, Thug #1 is behind them. 

               During all this, Murtala's incantation continues:

                                   MURTALA
                         Thee I invoke, O Iduna, in the name
                         of Odin, of Thor, of Loki, of
                         Balder, of Freya; thee I invoke, O
                         Iduna, in the name of Vithar, of
                         Nanna, of Tyr, in the name of all
                         gods of Gladsheim and Vingolf.  I
                         invoke thee, O Iduna, to be with us
                         now in thy spirit. 

               Bogdan, moving to his mark as leader of the ritual, hands the
               goblet to Murtala in passing. 

               Facing the vampire audience, Bogdan gestures with an
               outstretched arm toward the darkness behind him.

                                   BOGDAN
                         Arise, O Voivode, come forth,
                         mighty Boyar, for the spirit of
                         Iduna is with us! 

               During this, bound Dorian sits helpless, sweating in fear, in
               his chair.

                                   BOGDAN (cont'd)
                         Arise, O scion of Vlad Tepes, brave
                         Prince of Wallachia, who broke the
                         Hungarian yoke . . . 

               Now Dracula can dimly be seen, in tuxedo and scarlet- lined
               black cape, coming forth from a thronelike chair in the
               darkness.

                                   BOGDAN (cont'd)
                         . . . who crossed the Danube to
                         beat the Turk on the Turk's own
                         ground, who with the blood of the
                         Huns, of Attila himself, in his
                         veins, did vanquish the Magyar, 
                         the Lombard, the Saxon . . .

               Lyle speaks quietly to Jukes:

                                   LYLE
                         Now we meet him, eh?  Hail to the
                         Prince of Darkness.

                                   JUKES
                         You would call him that.  That's
                         always the way.  We vampires always
                         get a bad rap.

               During this and under it:

                                   BOGDAN 
                         . . . thou whose place is the place
                         of all honor in the Order Eternal
                         of Walpurgisnacht.

               Dracula, emerged from the darkness, is moving toward waiting
               Bogdan.

                                   BOGDAN (cont'd)
                         Again we humbly welcome thee,
                         Prince of Wallachia, scion of the
                         Dragon, O Voivode of Voivodes!

               The dialogue of Katy, Lyle, and Jukes, quietly spoken, will
               OVERLAP Bogdan's speech:

                                   BOGDAN (cont'd)
                         There is new blood and old, 
                         O Voivode, in our temple this
                         evening.  Such new blood may
                         enrich, or such new blood may
                         dilute, the old blood, tried 
                         and true, of our order.  The
                         judgment, O Voivode, is yours. 

               Jukes, amiable drunk that he is, seems eager to make Lyle see
               the light:

                                   JUKES
                         We're not so bad.  You'll see. 
                         This is our good deed for the year.

                                   LYLE
                         Good deed?  Okay, Doc, I give up:
                         What good deed?

               As Jukes gestures off toward Dracula:

                                   JUKES
                         It's there, in the drink.

               Bogdan, receiving the goblet from Murtala, hands it to
               Dracula.

                                   BOGDAN
                         Drink now of this blood - the old,
                         tried and true - of the Order
                         Eternal. 

               Dracula drinks.

                                   JUKES
                         There, you see?  It's coating his
                         teeth.  Which will soon be in
                         Dorian.

                                   LYLE
                         You call that a good deed?  Tell
                         Dorian that.

                                   JUKES
                         We can't.  That's the trouble.
                         We have to be appropriately evil,
                         like the vampires we are, or he
                         might stop believing.  We could
                         hardly have that, now could we? 

               This seems to start wheels turning in Lyle's head.

               As Dracula, wiping his mouth, hands the cup back to Bogdan:

                                   BOGDAN
                         Pass judgment, O Voivode, if new
                         blood is to now be commingled.

               Dracula burps.

                                   DRACULA
                         Let new blood be commingled.

               Bogdan returns the cup to Murtala.

                                   BOGDAN
                         Let new blood be commingled.

                                   DRACULA
                         There's nothing like blood.

               The truth is beginning to dawn on Lyle.

                                   LYLE
                         Katy, I think you were right.

                                   JUKES
                             (quietly, to Lyle)
                         The boy must be injected - 

               Lyle is thinking, not listening to Jukes.

                                   KATY
                         About what?

                                   JUKES
                         - for our good deed to work.

                                   LYLE
                             (eagerly, to Katy)
                         Wishing our way out of this.  That's
                         how we got in!

                                   KATY
                         What?

                                   LYLE
                         You heard him.  They've got to keep
                         Dorian believing - in vampires!

               Dracula and Bogdan move toward terrified Dorian.

                                   DRACULA
                         Whose blood have you brought me?

                                   BOGDAN
                         The blood of three mortals, O
                         Voivode.

                                   LYLE
                         The Vortex.  It's like a whirlpool,
                         yeah - of belief!

               Dorian's terror is mounting, as Dracula puts a bony hand on
               Dorian's shoulder.

                                   DRACULA
                         Then let us begin, that new blood
                         be commingled.

               Lyle speaks more loudly now, but not yet disruptively:

                                   LYLE
                         Get thousands to believe something -
                         millions -

                                   JUKES
                         Every little bit helps.

                                   LYLE
                         Then someone like Dorian -

                                   JUKES
                         It works wonders.

               As Bogdan and Dracula still concentrate on the ritual:

                                   BOGDAN
                         Comes now Dorian Jarrett -

                                   DORIAN
                         No . . .

                                   LYLE
                         Without Dorian -

                                   JUKES
                         Why, it would catastrophic.

                                   BOGDAN
                         - to join us in the Order 
                         Eternal - 

               Dracula begins slowly, hungrily leaning down toward Dorian's
               neck.

                                   DORIAN
                         No . . .

                                   BOGDAN
                         - of Walpurgisnacht . . .

               Lyle gets louder, with drunk Jukes caught up in Lyle's
               excitement:

                                   LYLE
                             (to Katy)
                         We helped, too, by believing,
                         coming here to Bran Castle -

                                   JUKES
                         Indeed. 

               Dracula stops, his teeth only inches from Dorian's neck.
               Everyone can hear Lyle now, and all the vampires have looks
               of concern.

                                   LYLE
                         But it's Dorian!  He made the
                         difference!

                                   JUKES
                         Bless his soul.

                                   LYLE
                         He put 'em over the top!

               Katy now seems to understand.

                                   KATY
                         If Dorian stopped believing -

                                   JUKES
                         Don't say that.

                                   LYLE
                         It would put 'em out of commission!

                                   BOGDAN
                         Silence him! 

               Yolanda, shoving two or three vampires out of the way, is
               rushing toward Lyle.

                                   LYLE
                         Dorian, you can stop 'em! 

               Thug #2 grabs Lyle, slaps a hand over Lyle's mouth.

               As Dracula looks dottily confused:

                                   BOGDAN
                             (to Dracula)
                         Go ahead!

                                   KATY
                         Dorian, don't believe it! 

               Lyle bites Thug #2's hand, Thug #2 screams.  As Thug #1 grabs
               Lyle:

                                   LYLE
                             (to Dorian)
                         Don't believe that it's happening! 

               As Dracula, fire in his eyes, is about to bite Dorian's neck:

                                   DORIAN
                         Don't believe it? 

               As Yolanda sinks her teeth into Lyle's neck, Thug #1 holding
               him:

                                   LYLE
                         DON'T BELIEVE IT, DORIAN!!  YOU CAN
                         STOP 'EM!!

               Dr. Gross, out of nowhere, lustfully sinks his teeth into
               Katy.

                                   KATY
                         DON'T BELIEVE!! . . .

               Dracula's teeth are sinking into Dorian's neck now, blood
               pouring down.

                                   DORIAN
                         NOOOO!! . . . I DON'T BELIEVE
                         IT!! . . . I DON'T BELIEVE THIS 
                         IS HAPPENING!! . . .

               As Dorian continues screaming, a strong howling wind bursts
               into the room. 

               With Dracula's teeth still in Dorian, Yolanda's and Gross's
               still in Lyle and Katy, the vampires all begin turning to
               bright, reddish dust, spiraling clouds of it, as if in so
               many whirlwinds.

                                   DORIAN (cont'd)
                         I DON'T BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING!! .
                         . . I DON'T!!

               As Lyle and Katy moan, losing consciousness:

                                   LYLE & KATY
                         Don't believe . . . 

               Swirling dust fills the room, all that's left of the
               vampires, save for a few visages that float here and there,
               like spirits trying to cling to reality.

               Through the swirl Dorian is still screaming "I DON'T BELIEVE
               THIS IS HAPPENING" but it seems far away, under the sound of
               the wind.

               Dorian begins falling, in slow motion, through the dust cloud
               and what looks like splintering boards. 

               He lands in slow motion, losing consciousness, neck bleeding,
               amid fallen rubble.

               INT. A ROOM - THE CASTLE - DAY

               Willard Jarrett hurries in from a corridor.  He stops and
               looks down in horror. 

               Part of the floor is missing, collapsed.  Dorian lies,
               unconscious and bleeding, on the rubble-strewn floor of the
               room below this one.

                                   WILLARD
                         Dorian!

               EXTREME CLOSE-UP: DORIAN

               somewhere else now.  He begins groggily opening his eyes.

                                   WILLARD (O.S.)
                         Dorian . . .

               INT. A HOSPITAL ROOM - ROMANIA - DAY

               Willard and Sonya are at his bedside as Dorian is awaking. 
               Also present is a ROMANIAN NURSE, who will linger briefly and
               leave. 

               Dorian, neck bandaged, looks around, Willard holding his hand.

                                   DORIAN
                         Where's this?  Where are we?

                                   WILLARD
                         In Brasov.  You little bugger. You
                         wandered off alone, in a closed-off
                         part of the castle. You fell
                         through an old wooden floor. 

                                   DORIAN
                         No . . . No, wait, that - that's
                         not what happened.

                                   WILLARD
                         Don't try to deny it.  That's where
                         we found you.  One of the nails cut
                         your little neck open. Lucky for us
                         you're alive.

                                   DORIAN
                         What about Lyle and Katy?

                                   WILLARD
                         Who?

                                   DORIAN
                         Lyle and Katy.  They were with me.

                                   WILLARD
                         There was no one with you, Dorian. 
                         You wandered off alone. And I hope
                         you've learned your lesson. 

               Dorian looks very confused.

               EXT. A U.S. AIRPORT - DAY

               A U.S. airlines jet touches down.

               INT. DR. RAY'S OFFICE DOOR - DAY

               The plaque reads DR. MICHAEL S. RAY, HEMATOLOGY.   

               OVERLAP SOUND:

                                   RAY (V.O.)
                         Three weeks in a row . . .

               INT. DR. RAY'S OFFICE - DAY

               Dr. Ray is reporting test results to Dorian and Willard.
               Dorian has quite a scar on his neck.

                                   RAY
                         The hematocrit ratio continues to
                         hold at forty-five percent, with no
                         sign of increase.  None.

                                   WILLARD
                         But with Dorian that's unheard of.

                                   RAY
                         Yes, it is.

                                   WILLARD
                         What does it mean?

                                   RAY
                         I don't know what it means, Mister
                         Jarrett.  But apparently Dorian no
                         longer has polycythemia.

               EXT. A LIMO MOVING IN TRAFFIC - DAY (TEN MINUTES LATER)

               An argument is going inside the limo:

                                   WILLARD (V.O.)
                         It's gone into remission, Dorian,
                         that's all.  Let's be glad!  I
                         don't want to hear any more about
                         vampires.

               INT. THE LIMO - DAY

               The CHAUFFEUR is driving Dorian and Willard home.  

                                   DORIAN
                         But Daddy, that's what happened!

                                   WILLARD
                         They do not exist.

                                   DORIAN
                         They had this blood doctor, see,
                         doing blood experiments, for a
                         vampire cure, and he came up with a
                         cure for what I had.  So I got an
                         injection.  And Dracula did the
                         injecting.

                                   WILLARD
                         I don't believe what I'm hearing.
                         Why don't they give this cure to
                         the world?  Why be so selective? 

                                   DORIAN
                         'Cause they can't go public, that's
                         why.  What would happen to 'em
                         then?  They're vampires.

                                   WILLARD
                         Oh, I see.  They have to keep the
                         lid on till they decide to come out
                         of the coffin.

                                   DORIAN
                         Okay, don't believe me!  What about
                         your shrink Doctor Gross?  Ask him
                         when you see him.  He was there.

                                   WILLARD
                         I won't be seeing him.

                                   DORIAN
                         Why not? 

                                   WILLARD
                         I, uh - I understand he left town.

                                   DORIAN
                         About the same time we left for
                         Romania?

                                   WILLARD
                         Just a coincidence.

                                   DORIAN
                         Why did he leave?

                                   WILLARD
                         Some trouble with a patient. 
                         That's irrelevant.  I'm sure he
                         didn't go to Romania.

                                   DORIAN
                         He did too.

                                   WILLARD
                         He did not.  There were no vampires.

                                   DORIAN
                         There were too, Daddy.  And there
                         still are - there must be.  I'm
                         going to prove it.

                                   WILLARD
                         Where have I heard that before? 

               Willard turns his attention to the scenery, as if the
               argument's over and he's won.

               Dorian fumes in frustration, then 

               DORIAN'S ATLAS MAP OF ROMANIA

               again fills the screen.  We zero in on:

               EXT. BRAN CASTLE - REESTABLISHING - DAY

               Majestic in its mountain fastness.

               EXT. MOUNTAIN ROAD - DAY

               A tour bus (a later model than the one seen earlier) is
               approaching the castle.

               On the roadside, the peasant woman, several years older now,
               crosses herself as before, with a weary shake of the head, as
               if to say "not again."

               EXT. FRONT OF CASTLE - DAY

               The tour bus pulls up and stops.

               EXT. FRONT OF CASTLE - DAY (TWO MINUTES LATER)

               A YOUNG WOMAN, pretty, early 20's, is among the TOURISTS who
               have disembarked.  She excitedly snaps a photo of the castle. 

               As she's readying her camera for the next photo:

                                   YOUNG MAN (O.S.)
                         Some castle, eh? 

               She glances at the YOUNG MAN beside her.  He's handsome,
               early 20's, intellectual in his horn-rimmed glasses. 

               As she looks through her viewfinder at the castle:

                                   YOUNG WOMAN
                         Yes, it certainly is.

               She snaps a photo.

                                   YOUNG MAN
                         Your first time here?

                                   YOUNG WOMAN
                         Sure is.  You've been here before?

                                   YOUNG MAN
                         Once.  I'm Dorian.  Dorian Jarrett.

                                   YOUNG WOMAN
                         Hi, Dorian.  I'm Lynn, Lynn Haven. 
                         I'm a grad student, anthropology. 
                         I'm here to do work on the Szekler
                         community.

                                   DORIAN
                         Yeah?  I'm in English lit.  I'll be
                         starting my thesis this fall.

                                   LYNN
                         What's it on?

                                   DORIAN
                         Subliminal sex in the works of Bram
                         Stoker.  And I have this theory -
                         which I hope to prove - that Dracula
                         really existed.

                                   LYNN
                         Oh really?

                                   DORIAN
                         That's why I've come back.

               INT. MAIN HALL - THE CASTLE - DAY

               Ioan, who is gray now, greets the assembled tourists,
               including Dorian and Lynn.

                                   IOAN
                         I am Ioan.  I shall be your guide
                         through Bran Castle.  At all times
                         during the tour, you will kindly
                         stay with the group.  This way,
                         please.

               INT. A GALLERY - DAY

               Dorian and Lynn are lagging behind Ioan and the others. 
               Their dialogue overlaps Ioan's speech, which fades away:

                                   IOAN
                         During the Second World War,
                         Transylvania was annexed by
                         Hungary.  Then after the war -

                                   DORIAN
                         Tell me something.  Being a student
                         of anthropology, what do you think
                         about collective consciousness?

                                   LYNN
                         That sounds more like a subject 
                         for psychology.  I'm not even sure
                         what it means.

                                   DORIAN
                         I wasn't sure either.  Before.

                                   LYNN
                         So?  Why should I believe in
                         collective consciousness?

                                   DORIAN
                         Wait till I tell ya.  When I first
                         came here - that was, let's see . . . 

               As they move off, Dorian's voice fading away, the portrait of
               Vlad Tepes, with the large evil eyes, is still on the wall,
               and almost seems to be watching them.

               INT. THE STUDY - DAY

               Dorian enters from the corridor, looks around with pleased
               recognition.  He motions for Lynn to come in, which she does. 

               Dorian looks the room over, Lynn leaving the door open.
               There's nice carpet on the floor, everything looks fairly
               new.

                                   DORIAN
                         This is it.  It's different now,
                         but this is the room.

                                   LYNN
                         What do you mean?

                                   DORIAN
                         This is where I met Vlad.  "Vlad
                         short for Vladimir."

                                   LYNN
                         Dorian -

                                   DORIAN
                             (interrupting)
                         Lynn, think about it: How many
                         people in the world - modern,
                         primitive - believe vampires may
                         really exist?  Why, there must be
                         millions.  And all the tourists at
                         the castle that day - I'll bet half
                         of them believed too.  And here I
                         was - sort of the believer of
                         believers.  And Lyle and Katy.
                         It all came together, here at Bran
                         Castle.

                                   LYNN
                         I hate to say it, Dorian, but it
                         sounds to me like so much wishful
                         thinking.

                                   DORIAN
                         That's what it was, in a way. It's
                         like mind over matter.  There's a
                         way, yet to be fathomed, in which
                         what we collectively think and
                         believe - "we" being enough people -
                         can make something happen or be.  I
                         had an experience that proves it - 
                         if I can prove I had the experience. 

               Dorian looks around.  He seems suddenly to remember something.

               FLASHBACK - DORIAN

               desperate, pressing his back to the door, then looking at his
               finger, cut, dripping blood on the floor.  Vlad grabs Dorian's
               wrist.

               BACK TO SCENE

               Dorian looks down at the carpet by the doorway.  He closes
               the door, then kneels in front of it, to lift the edge of the
               carpet and look beneath it.

                                   LYNN
                         What are you doing? 

                                   DORIAN
                         Looking for bloodstains. 

               The wooden floor exposed is clean.  Not a trace of a bloodstain.

                                   DORIAN (cont'd)
                         They could have replaced the wood.

               The door opens, hitting Dorian in the head.

               Dorian gets up holding his head, Lynn comforting him, as
               displeased Ioan steps into the room.

                                   IOAN
                         Are you all right, sir?

                                   DORIAN
                         Yes.

                                   IOAN
                         You are at fault.  I said "Kindly
                         stay with the group."  What were
                         you doing? 

               Dorian and Ioan stare at each other.  Dorian seems to fish
               for some tell-tale reaction:

                                   DORIAN
                         Looking for bloodstains.

                                   IOAN
                         Bloodstains?

                                   DORIAN
                         I'm Dorian Jarrett. 

                                   IOAN
                         How do you do.  You are to come
                         join the others this instant.

               INT. THE CORRIDOR - DAY

               Ioan steps out of the study and waits.  Dorian and Lynn come
               out of the study and dutifully head off down the corridor,
               Ioan following.

               EXT. FRONT OF CASTLE - DAY

               Ioan is bidding farewell to the tourists as they are exiting
               the castle to head for their bus. 

               Ioan barely glances at Dorian and Lynn as they come out and
               walk a few yards away. 

                                   DORIAN
                         Nothing's the same.  But it
                         happened.  I know it.  Maybe
                         they're gone now.  Maybe I
                         destroyed them.  Forever.  
                         But it still happened once. 

                                   IOAN 
                         Mister Jarrett . . . 

               Dorian turns to find Ioan standing by him, the last tourists
               heading toward the bus.

                                   IOAN (cont'd)
                         May I speak with you a moment? 

               Ioan and Dorian step a few feet away, out of Lynn's hearing.  

               Ioan looks Dorian in the eye for a moment - then starts
               quietly singing "Varney the Vampire."

               Breaking into a smile, Dorian joins in - singing at least the
               lines he remembers.

               Ioan and Dorian start dancing around a little as they sing,
               louder now, the tourists stopping to stare.

               Ioan and Dorian strike poses at the end of their dance, and
               laugh.  Then Ioan notes the tourists by the bus staring at
               them. 

               Ioan straightens up in a dignified manner.  He gives Dorian 
               a little pat on the back.

                                   IOAN (cont'd)
                         Good to see you again.

               Ioan turns and heads back into the castle. 

               Dorian looks happy and relieved as he steps back over to
               amused but bewildered Lynn.

                                   LYNN
                         And what was that supposed to mean?

                                   DORIAN
                         That it's true.

               In a glorious mood, Dorian offers Lynn his arm.

                                   DORIAN (cont'd)
                         Would you like to have dinner this
                         evening?

               As Lynn takes his arm:

                                   LYNN
                         Yes, I would. 

               As they start walking toward the bus:

                                   DORIAN
                         Have you tried the ciorba taranesca? 

                                   LYNN 
                         No, I haven't.

                                   DORIAN 
                         It's sort of a national dish.  It's
                         delicious.

               INT. THE CASTLE - DAY

               Various SHOTS devoid of people: a corridor, a suit of armor,
               a stairway, the Vlad Tepes portrait, another corridor.  And
               lastly a closed door.

               The plaque on the door reads CARETAKER.

               INT. CARETAKER'S QUARTERS - DAY

               Caretaker Lyle, sitting slumped in a chair, slams shut a book
               entitled "Hematology," tosses it aside with disgust.  

               Lyle is at his wit's end.  He's pale, but he hasn't aged, in
               his vampiric black. 

               Lyle hears a tapping sound. 

               He looks over at the monkey in its cage.  

               The monkey, a little gray now, is beckoning.  Lyle jumps up
               with great hope, hurries over to the cage. 

               Through the bars the monkey hands him a little piece of
               paper.

                                   LYLE
                         Katy!  Katy, he's got something! 

               Katy, in vampiric black, comes out of an adjoining room.  She
               hurries over, as the monkey hands Lyle a second piece of
               paper. 

               Lyle eagerly puts the two pieces together and reads.  He
               reads it two times and three, Katy waiting.

                                   KATY
                         Lyle, what is it?

                                   LYLE
                         It's nothing! 

               Lyle throws away the pieces.  He's distraught.

                                   LYLE (cont'd)
                         At this rate we'll never find a
                         cure.

                                   KATY
                         Give him time, Lyle.

                                   LYLE
                         Time?  I thought this monkey had
                         some smarts!  He can't do 
                         anything but peel bananas!
                             (to monkey)
                         No more bananas! 

               The monkey goes into a rage, starts filling the air with
               little pieces of paper.

                                   LYLE (cont'd)
                         You heard me!  No more peeling, you
                         piddling primate! 

               The monkey is pitching a fit, squawking, rattling its cage. 
               Lyle moves right up to the bars.

                                   LYLE (cont'd)
                         You give me a formula, you can have
                         a banana!  Till then, no - 

               Through the bars the monkey grabs Lyle by the hair.  Lyle
               yelps, can't get free without losing his scalp:

                                   LYLE (cont'd)
                         YAAAAA!!  Okay, you can have a
                         banana!  YIEE!!  Katy - YAAAAA!!

               As Katy is running to get one, the monkey furiously yanking
               Lyle's hair, Lyle screaming:

                                   LYLE (cont'd)
                         GET THIS MONKEY A BANANA!!

               EXT. THE CASTLE - DAY

               A black helicopter lands.  As the engine stops, its blades'
               wash subsiding, Ioan moves to meet a VISITOR emerging from
               the chopper. 

               The visitor whom Ioan greets is Bogdan.

                                   IOAN
                         Welcome, Grand Boyar, sir.

                                   BOGDAN
                         Ioan.  It is good to be back.

                                   IOAN
                         You are the first to arrive this
                         year. 

               They hear a distant cry of pain (and something about "A
               BANANA!") from a window high above.

                                   IOAN (cont'd)
                         The caretakers, sir.  The worst
                         we've ever had. 

               Bogdan starts toward the castle, then stops, as if remembering
               something.

                                   BOGDAN
                         Oh - by the way.  Dorian Jarrett.

                                   IOAN
                         He was here, sir, just a few days
                         ago.  He believes as strongly as
                         ever. 

               Bogdan looks pleased, though not surprised.

                                   BOGDAN
                         I don't know what we'd do without
                         him. 

               As Bogdan and Ioan move to enter the castle:

               OVERLAP SOUND:

               The opening riffs of "Varney the Vampire."

               INT. THE "BUCKET O' BLOOD" - DAY

               The country rock singer and band are again performing "Varney
               the Vampire" for 50 or so partying vampires.

               Bogdan makes eyes over drinks with - by golly, it's Dr. Ray's
               vampiric nurse;  

               Yolanda dances with - whattaya know, it's Dr. Ray himself;  

               Thug #1 flirts with the vampiric maid;  

               Lyle, with Katy, shows something in "Hematology" to the
               monkey, who rips out the page;  

               The former caretaker is there with her wolf;  

               Jukes tries his latest concoction on Dracula. 

               Things look "alive," if not "well," at the Vampire Vortex.

                                                           FADE OUT.

                                   THE END






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