Old Loves, Old Lies
-by Baron Karza von Karnstein
-dedicated to Diane Neal
N.B. I do not own any of these characters. Dan Curtis owns all the Dark Shadows Characters. Joel Soissons and Patrick Lußier own all the Dracula II: Ascension Characters
I
Introductory Voice-Over: "My name is Elizabeth Blaine. Night falls over an abandoned recreation hall in New Orleans. There, a group of medical students have made an astonishing and frightening discovery: the body of a dead man who is not dead. In an atmosphere pregnant with tension and uncertainty, some among them seek to learn from their discovery, with the aim of finding a cure for a fatal disease. Others seek to profit from this new finding. But none of them know of the terrible betrayal and the terror that is awaits them.
Following Lowell's instructions, Liz, Tanya, Kenny and Luke had taken the body down to the empty pool of the decrepit recreational facility. There, they found a strange, silent, hostile, curly-haired young Briton named Eric waiting for them. When they asked him who he was, Eric would only say that he was an agent of the man who had telephoned Luke at the morgue with an offer of a substantial sum of money for the body.
Eric had a large, iron, X-shaped Saint Andrew's Cross set up in the middle of the pool. The Cross was leaned backwards at about forty-five degrees. Two pieces of thick pipe, bent to just over ninety degrees, their ends welded to the arms of the "X", held the Cross up from the grimy floor of the pool. On either side, and slightly in front of the forward-facing aspect of the Cross, were two tall poles, each supporting an array of what appeared to be floodlights on top.
If the sadomasochistic connotations of the Saint Andrew's Cross were not enough, the fact that Eric had iron—instead of the usual leather—restraints added to the disquiet of the four medical students. But Eric did not allow their increased disquiet to set in. He ordered them to remove the body from the bag, and place it upon the cross, binding the wrists and ankles with the restraints. In addition to his brooding look, there was an air of danger and of violence about Eric. The four complied.
Several feet in front of the Cross, Eric had set up a table, and had placed a hard metal case on top of it. Satisfied that the limp body was secured on the Cross, Eric turned towards the table, and opened the case as soon as he reached it. He pulled out what seemed to be a battery-operated web cam, closed the case and set the web cam device atop the case. Next to the case lay a switchbox, linked by cables to the two arrays of floodlights high above the Saint Andrew's Cross on either side.
"You know, you're too far away to get a good view…" began Kenny.
"Relax, college boy. This isn't something I just picked up from Radio Shack."
"Hey! Who you calling 'boy', motherf—"
Kenny was silenced by the swift appearance of a Smith&Wesson automatic in Eric's hand, an automatic whose barrel Eric now pointed between Kenny's eyes.
"Let's not get excited, here. I don't need any one of you anymore. The only reason I haven't gotten rid of you already is that your pathology Prof insisted on keeping you alive. I need him for the next little bit, but I will not be pushed."
"LOWELL!" exclaimed Liz, the fieriness of her voice matching the red of her long, flowing hair. "What did you do to him?"
There was a steely determination in her voice, and even Eric had to admit he was afraid that those angry green eyes would drill right through his heart, as she stepped forward towards him, ignoring the pistol he now trained on her.
"Lizzie, be careful!" The warning hissed out of Tanya's mouth louder then she had intended.
"Yeah, the bastard's got a gun!" added Luke, anger in his voice, as he moved to the side and away from Liz, forcing Eric to shift his glance and eventually the barrel of his S&W away from her. It was certain that Eric would take out one of the four with his first shot. But would he get a third, or even a second before the others fell on him?
"Easy, easy, now…everybody just take a deep breath."
"Lowell!" Liz cried out "Where are you?"
"Right up here, darling!"
Lowell's mechanized wheelchair came into view at the door of the pool. He brought it to just a few feet of the edge of the pool, so he could look down into it. His voice was amplified. Luke realized that there must have been loudspeakers pre-positioned in the pool room. He also noticed that Eric had not wheeled around to face Lowell. Something was not right.
"What's going on, Lowell?" he asked.
"What's going on, Luke, is that we have the opportunity of a lifetime. I have been searching for a real-live vampire for years. Too many hacks and wannabe producers have crapped out all kinds of B.S., but not one empirical study of vampires has been published. My friends, we are going to be pioneers. Who knows what a vampire's blood will do to advance medical science?"
"Yeah, sounds real nice, Lowell!" responded Kenny. "But who the hell is this jerk here?" He pointed at Eric, who still held the S&W in his hand, albeit limply at his side, the barrel pointed downwards now.
"Kenny, Kenny research like this costs money. Who do you think is going to give me a grant if I write a proposal for research on the hematopathology of vampires? The NIH? The usual foundations? I don't think so. But I have a couple of backers who are willing to fund me. Eric here is their on-site observer. He's here to make sure they get their money's worth."
"Well, what about the gun, then?" asked Tanya "And what about that…that thing over there that looks like it's straight out of an S&M club?"
"It IS straight out of S&M club, sunshine!" responded Eric with a leer on his face as he replaced his pistol. "With a few modifications, of course. Would you prefer our friend over there were free when he wakes up?"
This seemed to satisfy Tanya.
"As for the gun, I have some pretty expensive equipment set up back here." explained Lowell. "Corning 12-pettes, DG-2 microscopes, a GC/MS machine, monitors, a couple of laptops—all of which could be modified to be 'dual-use.' No matter how comprehensive your insurance is, you always need supplemental .45-calibre coverage. Especially if you have a mobile lab like this."
"But this bastard threatened to kill us, Lowell." pointed out Luke "He said 'I don't need any one of you anymore…'"
"When you're excited, you say things you don't mean." replied Lowell. "Isn't that right, Eric?"
There was no response.
"Isn't that RIGHT, ERIC?" There was annoyance in Lowell's voice now.
"Yes…" Eric grudgingly conceded. "That's right, Professor!"
"Good! Now that we got that out of our systems, maybe we can get to work." concluded Lowell. "Kenny, Luke, Tanya, you stay down there with Eric until our friend comes to. Liz, darling, why don't you come up here?"
Lowell turned his wheelchair back towards the door and led the way. Liz followed him.
"It seems you have quite an operation, here, Lowell!" Liz commented when she saw all the equipment that had been set up in the other room. "Were you planning to clue me in at any point?"
"Liz, you had enough to worry about. I know you love me. And I really do appreciate you waiting on me hand and foot Plus, there was school and the morgue…I didn't want to burden you…"
"Burden me? Burden me with the news that you had funding to try to find a cure? Burden me with the possibility that there might be some hope that I'm not going to be a grieving widow sometimes very soon?"
"Hope is not a guarantee, Liz. You should know that. We're both scientists. We deal with facts and probabilities, not hopes and speculations …"
"For God's sake, Lowell!" interrupted Liz "We're not writing a paper! I'm talking about you! Your survival! Your beating this!"
"We're not married, Liz!" replied Lowell testily. "And you seem to forget that I am the one stuck in this wheelchair! I am the one who craps and pisses his pants like a baby."
It was as if he had slapped Liz across the face.
"Luke's right, Lowell…" she began, after recovering from her shock at those stinging words. "You ARE a big egotistical jerk."
With that, Liz turned and made to storm out of the back room.
"Liz, wait…I'm sorry…I…"
"I'll send Luke up here. He got straight A's in Lab Techniques. He can help you better than I can!" declared Liz, her voice fading as she stepped out the door.