Storyboard #8 - Part 2

While making a donation for a blood drive at the police station, Schanke strikes up a conversation with the phlebotomist, Jack Fenner who tells him about different blood types. "Anybody can take O-Negative," he explains, "but O-Negatives can't take anything else." After giving blood, Schanke eats some raw garlic to help replenish his strength. As a joke, he blows his breath in Nick's face, then hits him with the news that per the captain's orders, they will be riding together for the night.

While cruising the streets, Schanke gives his theories on the murders and encourages Nick to listen to the voice of experience. The conversation soon turns towards more personal topics, including Schanke's seven-year marriage, his addiction to cigarettes, and Nick's choosing to drive a '59 Cadillac because of the roomy trunk space. Their talk is cut short when a call comes over the radio reporting shots fired at Echo Park with a possible hostage situation. Nick immediately heads the car towards their new destination.

When they arrive at the scene, Schanke helps a shooting victim while Nick teams with backup cop, Detective Jessell who's raring to go after the drug-crazed, machine-gun toting perp. Nick takes a side door as Jessell goes through the main entrance leading to the pool area. Holding on firmly to his female hostage, the gunman blasts Jessell with the machine gun before the detective has a chance to fire his gun.

Dodging the gunman's fire, Nick puts away his own weapon and attempts to reason with the shooter. The man lets his guard down for a moment, giving his hostage a chance to fight back. She knees him in the gut, then runs to safety. Thinking he has a chance to tackle him, Nick is unprepared when the gunman quickly regains his wits and fires several rounds into Nick's body, sending him splashing into the swimming pool.

Believing that he has killed the cop, the shooter is shocked when Nick suddenly leaps out of the water. In an attempt to escape, the gunman plows through the nearest window and lands on the ground outside. He's terrified as a monster flies towards him. Nick, in his vamped out mode, picks the man up by the lapels and asks him what kind of drugs he's on. He then hurls him into a lighted sign which explodes into fireworks. When a police helicopter flies overhead, and he hears Schanke calling out to him, Nick runs away to keep from being spotted in his present condition.

In another part of town, Nick's homeless friends, Topper and Jeanie are being targeted by the killer as they prepare to bed down for the night. Later, back at the precinct, Schanke and Jessell, who's suffering from a bullet to the shoulder discuss the shootout incident with the captain. The gunman, though high on drugs, insists that he was attacked by a vampire. The captain doesn't want to hear such nonsense and believes that if Knight was seen going after the perp, then Knight was the one who got him. It doesn't seem to bother him however, that no one has seen or heard from Nick since.

While studying an old excavation book at the museum, Alyce comes across a picture that looks remarkably like Det. Knight. As she's making an enlarged photocopy of it, someone sneaks up behind her. She's startled, then relieved to find that it's only Nick. She's careful to keep the picture she found to herself as he apologizes for scaring her. They begin a conversation about the jade cup and how it might have been stolen to go along with a second one found at an older dig site. Feeling an attraction to Alyce, Nick quickly leads the shop talk towards a more personal level.

Physically drawn to one another, the two engage in a kiss. After a few brief moments of holding her close, Nick feels the vampire emerging. With a tremendous amount of self-control, he manages to keep from biting her neck, then quickly pulls away. Alyce's attention is diverted for a few seconds when the security guard enters the room, but when she looks back again, Nick has disappeared.

Jack stops by to visit Nick to see why he never reported back to the police station. He finds his friend depressed and drinking heavily from his wine bottle of blood. Nick explains what happened with Alyce and laments how difficult it's been for him outliving his mortal friends and not being able to have a normal relationship with a woman. When Jack asks about the others, Nick tells him about his master, LaCroix and how he has been following him through the centuries, trying to keep him from regaining his mortality. He believes that LaCroix has come for him again. "These murders are his way of calling me out, Jack. His way of getting to me."