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TRANSCRIPT:
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Act One

Vicki has come to the JuJu lounge to meet with her new client, Angelique, who is searching for her brother. Vincent, the bartender, comes and sets a smoking drink in front of her and Vicki looks at it hesitantly.

Vicki: I don’t know whether to drink this or use it to take the rust off my patio furniture.

Angelique: It’s Tafia. It’s rum, anisette, molasses, some African herbs and a little tree frog. It’s a traditional drink back home in New Orleans.

Vicki: Ah. Well, I’m not much for traditional… or tree frog.

Vicki pushes her drink to Angelique’s strong, silent bodyguard, Jean-Marc.

Vicki: Don’t let this go to waste big guy. Listen, Angelique, if you want to find your brother I would suggest starting with the cops, at least that way you’re not burning through your savings.

Angelique: No. No. I-I can’t go to the police. After the floods back home, everything was turned upside down and Royal lost his way. Fell in with some men, I think it was drugs. He wasn’t quite himself.

Vicki: Listen, uh if I do get in to this you have to be prepared for what I might find out about him.

Angelique: I understand.

Vicki: All right. My time is $500 a day, plus expenses. I’ll need a list of, uh, anyone he might know in town, your contact information and a recent photo of him.

Angelique gives Vicki an envelope and a picture of Royal.

Angelique: My contact is in here and enough for about a week of your time. And that’s Royal; he’s a very beautiful boy. He’s my mother’s pride and joy.

Vicki: Well don’t worry, if he’s in town I will find him.

Angelique and Jean-Marc as well as Vicki exit the JuJu lounge and are walking through a dark alley as they continue to discuss Royal.

Angelique: The man who drew my brother into this, his name is Henri Gregoire and he’s a very dangerous man.

Vicki: Ahh. I meet a lot of that type in this line of work.

Jean-Marc catches sight of something and then the camera shows a man walking jerkily down the alley towards the group, speaking gibberish. Angelique calls out to Vicki as Jean-Marc hurries her away.

Angelique: Run! Get out of here!

Vicki: What? Hey Angelique! Wait!

Vicki takes off after Angelique and Jean-Marc, who have taken cover in a deeper part of the alley.

Vicki: Angelique? What the hell is going on? Who was that?

Angelique doesn’t have time to answer as the Zombie pushes Vicki down from behind. Then he goes after Jean-Marc and they fight for a moment before the Zombie throws him against a trash dumpster. Angelique looks on, frightened, as the Zombie then turns his attention towards her.

Before he can get to Angelique, Vicki recovers and gets up, unsheathing her baton and going after the Zombie. He fends off her blows and grabs her around the neck, lifting her off the ground.

Vicki: Angelique! Run! Run!

Angelique takes off and the Zombie hesitates for a moment before dumping Vicki back on to the ground and taking off after her. Vicki watches him go as she lies on the ground in pain.

 

Act Two

The police are snapping pictures of the now very dead Jean-Marc and Vicki, now up and about, snaps one for herself as they zip him up into a body bag. Mike and Dave come up on the scene and stand next to Vicki.

Mike: Hey.

Vicki: Somebody tell me there’s a cement mixer running and that grinding is not my head.

Dave: No, that’d be your head.

Mike: So, uh, who is this guy?

Vicki: Uh, Jean-Marc, I don’t know his last name. He was a friend of my client’s. Uh, I’m telling you neither one of us could slow down the guy that came after us.

Mike: And who is this client? And why does somebody want them dead?

Vicki: Her name is Angelique Jarou.

Dave: Do you have a contact for her?

Vicki: Um, yeah. She gave me this number. I haven’t had any luck though. She’s looking for her brother, Royal. He’s gotten mixed up with someone named Henri Gregoire.

Dave: Okay, I’ll call it in; see what I can find out on him.

Mike: All right, thanks Dave.

Mike and Vicki take a little bit of a walk away from the crime scene as Dave heads off to find out about Henri Gregoire.

Mike: Okay, what else?

Vicki: What do you mean what else?

Mike: Well, since when does an unarmed guy just walk away from you huh?

Vicki: Well, uh, this is where… it gets complicated.

Mike: Complicated?

Vicki: (sighs) Look, I was right up in this guy’s face okay? Wailing on him, and there’s nothing. I mean he’s making gargly noises, but he’s not… breathing.

Mike: So, what? You’re just saying that this guy isn’t alive? That kind of thing?

Vicki: I guess I am. I mean I don’t think the guy was alive.

Mike: (sighs) Vicki, don’t do this.

Vicki: Don’t do what?

Mike: Don’t turn into a whack job, okay? Look, sometimes the only way I can get through my day is knowing that there are normal people out there, okay? And, until recently, I considered you one of them. You know what I’m saying?

Vicki: I’m telling you, this guy was unstoppable.

Mike: Okay. It could be PCP, crystal meth, who knows…

Vicki: I saw him!

Mike: Vicki, its pitch black! You’re half blind! (sigh) I said that last part out loud didn’t I?

Vicki: Uh-huh.

Mike: Look, I just… I don’t want to hear that you’re back out there chasing vampires, okay?

Vicki: It wasn’t a vampire, all right? I… don’t know what it was.

Mike: Is Henry Fitzroy involved in this somehow?

Vicki: Henry has nothing to do with this.

Mike: Because I’ll tell you, ever since you met him, he’s been putting these crazy ideas in your head.

Vicki: Since you’ve known me, when has anyone put anything in my head I didn’t want there?

Mike: Okay. Okay you say you’re good. You’re good. I believe you.

Vicki: You know what, Mike? You know what I hate more than the pity? Is this macho over-protective crap. I can take care of myself.

Mike: Garbage can. 12 o’clock.

Vicki comes to see Henry at his penthouse, where he is busily drawing his latest graphic novel. Her knock at the door causes him to break one of his pens on his latest canvas. He gets up to let her in.

Henry: I knew you wouldn’t be able to stay away.

Vicki: You’re one of those guys who’s just riddled with nagging self-doubt aren’t you?

Henry: I have a fair opinion of myself. And hundreds of years of positive reinforcement.

Vicki: Henry, I-I need your help. Something happened to me tonight and you may be the only person who’d believe me.  It was uh… it was supernatural.

Henry: And I should get involved because?

Vicki: Hey, listen; you’re the one who dragged me in to this world of vampires, monsters and demons. I don’t have anyone else to go to.

Henry: Well never let it be said that Henry Fitzroy shirked a responsibility. (turns serious) What happened?

Vicki: I got attacked tonight by this guy. (sighs) At least he used to be a guy.

Henry: Used to be?

Vicki: Where do I start? Uh, grey skin, no pupils, not breathing. I was meeting with this client of mine from New Orleans. She’s looking for her lost brother. This thing attacked us. It- it killed her friend. And it’s still out there looking for her.

Henry: The man who attacked you? His eyes were glazed over? He looked like he wasn’t in control of his body?

Vicki: I see you’ve met.

Henry: He was a zombie.

Vicki: A zombie. As in eating brains in the shopping mall zombie?

Henry: No, zombie, like voodoo. Dead bodies resurrected to carry out the will of a powerful bokor. You need to stay away from this, Vicki.

Vicki: You know what? You’re the second man to say that to me tonight and I wasn’t crazy about it the first time.  What is the big deal? A big scary vampire frightened of a little zombie?

As she’s talking Vicki scoffs and turns away from Henry. Moving at high speed he pulls her against him from behind, a hand around her throat, his eyes and teeth bared and his voice a deep, rough growl. Vicki gasps, frightened.

Henry: You share a familiarity with me that very few people in this world have known. But I am not to be taken lightly. Do not forget who and what I am.

Vicki: Yeah. Th-That’s unlikely.

Henry: Now, I will help you if only to keep you alive.

Letting her go, Henry moves away and calms himself down as Vicki tries to do the same.

Henry: The trick will be to locate whoever created the zombie and break the connection. But I promise you, that will be a lot more difficult than it sounds.

As Henry talks and moves around off camera, Vicki wanders in to his work area, looking at the drawings for his latest novel. Henry returns, ready to leave and interrupts her viewing.

Henry: I don’t usually show my work before I’ve completed it. Call me superstitious.

Vicki: Well that seems to be the name of the game lately. It’s beautiful. What’s it about?

Henry: Passion… politics, good and evil. Technology and magic and a woman in search of her own destiny. Please.

Henry pushes her towards the door but Vicki’s mind is still on his work.

Vicki: Will you let me read it when it’s done?

Henry: Well, maybe you can help me come up with an ending.

In a dark warehouse type building Papa Samedi is talking about the “Angelique problem”

Papa Samedi: Woman like Angelique can’t hide. How you hide a wildfire? How you hide a mountain?

Ti-Jon: Our people are on the streets. The girl can count her time in hours.

Papa Samedi: You know who she is! You talk like a fool!

Ti-Jon: Her protection’s gone.

Papa Samedi: Girl like that always has protection. You think your chasing the lamb? That’s when you get gored. (laughs) You want to find her. Wake up! You tell them boys to look stronger. ‘Cause if they don’t find her my babies’ gonna find them. (laughs again) Oh, oh, I think one of them baby’s just found you.

As he’s talking Papa Samedi sits on some kind of voodoo throne chair as Ti-Jon stands in front of him. As he finishes Papa Samedi looks at Ti-Jon from above his glasses and Ti-Jon hunches over and vomits up a snake.

Papa Samedi: You tell the boys, Ti-Jon. Find the girl or the babies find them.

Ti-Jon runs out of the room, bumping into the zombie along the way. Papa Samedi laughs heartily as he watches from his chair.

 

Act Three

Vicki and Henry stop by Vicki’s office where Coreen has been digging for information on Voodoo. She has her results spread out on a table in front of her.

Coreen: You asked for Voodoo in 100 words or less? I’ve got a ton of stuff on curses, sympathetic magic, voodoo dolls, zombies.

Vicki: Is there anything on how to stop them?

Coreen: I’m still reading, but it looks like they’re pretty unstoppable.

Vicki: Yeah I was kinda getting that. Why isn’t it just like the movies where you have to bash their brains in?

Henry: Don’t trust the movies. Look what they did to vampires?

Vicki: Oh yeah, right.

Vicki imitates the Nosferatu movie, going towards Henry with her hands outstretched. He just looks at her in annoyance. She backs off and mouths an apology.

Coreen: I’ve got something else too. I was looking at the pictures you took of the guy who got killed in the alley? Something was bugging me about his tattoos. And then it hit me, they were in the book.

Vicki: What are they? Gang related?

Coreen: They’re veve. Voodoo symbols marking allegiance to certain gods. Kind of like access codes. They’re for power and protection.

Vicki: Well it looks like they didn’t give him much of either.

Henry: This is not something we want to involve ourselves in Vicki.

Vicki: You know what? I got a client out there with killer zombies on her ass. I’m not going to bail on her.

Vicki puts her coat on and heads for the door. Henry watches her for a moment and then turns back to the drawings.

Vicki: You coming?

Henry continues to look at the drawings and Coreen watches him for a moment before giving him a pointed look. They stare each other down for a second and then Henry leaves.

Back at the JuJu lounge Henry and Vicki are poking around for information. They approach Vincent the bartender.

Vicki: Hi

Vincent: What do you drink?

Vicki: I’ll have a beer. And him? You don’t want to know. You remember me from earlier right?

Vincent: Uh, maybe. A lot of people come in here.

Vicki: Yeah, but a lot of people don’t come and talk to Angelique.

Vincent: Can’t say I remember her either.

Vicki: You sure treated her like she was someone special.

Vincent: I treat all the customers that way. That’s how we do business.

Henry: Then it must not matter to you that the man that she was with is dead. Or that she was almost killed.

Vincent turns from his drinks and looks at them in shock.

Vicki: Ah, now that got your attention didn’t it?

Henry: (lowered voice) I’m going to give this a shot.

Vicki: I’ve got this under control.

Henry: Trust me. I can make him talk.

Vicki: Knock yourself out.

Henry crosses around the bar and lifts Vincent off his feet. In his deep, controlling voice he questions the guy.

Henry: Where… is… she?

At a nearby table, someone breaks a bottle off to use as a weapon and Vicki tries to calm down the situation.

Vicki: Ah, you know what? That’s an excellent try but you might want to ramp it back a notch.

Henry looks to see the cavalry, a group of three men ready to do battle and drops Vincent like a stone.

Vicki: Everybody. Sorry. No harm, no foul, just a little misunderstanding. (hands the Vincent her card) You know what? You see that girl, you give me a call.

As Henry and Vicki leave Vincent looks around and Vicki gets on Henry’s case about his investigative techniques.

Vicki: How many times do I have to tell you? Don’t bite the bartender?

Henry: I was only playing.

As they leave Ti-Jon looks at them and then back toward Vincent. Outside, Vicki and Henry approach his car.

Henry: Trust me, he would have talked.

Vicki: Yeah, but we would have been too busy getting our asses kicked to hear him.

Henry: ‘Our’ asses?

Vicki: Trust me my way is a whole lot neater.

Henry: And what exactly is your way?

Vicki: Umm… we wait for him to lead us right to her.

They watch as Vincent leaves the club and gets into his car. He leaves and they follow him to a building in the warehouse district. They go inside to see a bunch of lit candles and find Angelique chanting. Vincent catches sight of them and throws a knife at them which Henry catches quite handily before it can reach its target.

Angelique: Arret!

Angelique turns and Henry immediately growls steps in front of Vicki.

Angelique: Please.

Vicki: Henry!

Angelique: No more killing.

 

Act Four

Angelique tries to explain what’s happening at her hideout.

Angelique: I didn’t expect to see you again. I was sure you’d been scared off by what you’d seen already. But I suppose I at least should tell you the truth, huh?

Vicki: That’d be a start.

Angelique: Voodoo has been in our home for generations. Our mother was a mambo, our father a houngan, a umm… priest and priestess. And Royal and I were supposed to follow in their footsteps.

Henry: Tough to get kids into the family business these days.

Angelique: We saw things that no child should have to see. Angels and gods possessing their followers. Possessing our parents. We saw what it did to them. It sucked their life away. They died when we were still small children.

Vicki: How did they die?

Angelique: They were murdered by a follower of the secta rouge, dark side of our religion. My brother and I, we came home from school one day and found them… nailed to the wall. Gutted… as a sacrifice. Royal and I, we ran away, determined to keep ourselves apart from that world and then he disappeared. I dreamt him in a vision. He was in a dark place, crawling with snakes and spiders. And when he opened his mouth to call for me? It was a window to hell.

As Angelique tells her story, Henry in particular is very affected by it, Vicki just seeming to take it all in. They exchange glances.

Angelique: And now my religion might be the only protection I have that I can rely on.

Vicki: Not the only thing. We’ll protect you.

At Vicki’s words Henry gives a sound of disgust and walks a little away.

Vicki: And we’ll help you find your brother.

Henry: Vicki, a word? Please?

Vicki walks over to him and Henry lowers his voice to a whisper.

Henry: You don’t know what you’re promising. Keeping that girl alive is one thing but going up against a powerful Voudoun is suicide.

Vicki: She needs our help.

Henry: She almost got you killed.

Vicki: That’s not her fault.

Henry: You going to keep doing this?

Vicki: What?

Henry: Coming up with an answer for everything I say?

Vicki: Only if you keep saying things.

Henry: (laughs harshly) This is a world you know nothing about.

Vicki: Then tell me.

Instead Henry just looks back at Angelique and Vincent causing Vicki to leave him and walk back to them.

Vicki: I want to you come with us. I think you’d be safer at my office than here, okay?

Angelique: Thank you Vicki

Vicki: Thank me once we find your brother.

Vicki turns and walks away, Angelique following her. Henry hesitates for a moment and then follows them out but not before sharing one last intense look with Vincent who stays behind and crosses himself.

Back in Vicki’s office Angelique and Henry are trading an intense stare as Coreen approaches.

Coreen: Okay, I have been reading up on this stuff for, like, hours now and I never expected to talk to a real life mambo. So now that you’re here, you have got to tell me how to do some of this stuff… curses, soul traveling, attracting money.

Angelique: The spirits are not to be toyed with. And nothing comes for free. The gifts you ask carry a heavy price.

Coreen: Why do people always say that?

Henry: (still glaring at Angelique) Because some of them have paid. And some of them are still paying.

Vicki: All right, we’ve got some things to do. Do you mind staying here with Angelique?

Coreen: Absolutely. We should have a million things to chat about.

Vicki and Henry head to the police station and meet up with Mike.

Vicki: Hey

Mike: Hey Vick, surprise surprise. I see you brought your cartoonist friend.

Henry: Detective Celluci. And what I create are graphic novels.

Mike: Yeah, if I were a cartoonist I’d call ‘em that too.

Vicki: Yeah. Did you find anything about that name I gave you?

Mike: There is no Henri Gregoire in VI-CAP or VI-CLASS databases. Nothing in DMV, property registry or tax filings. I have a feeling that your friend doesn’t exactly take out an ad when he comes in to town.

Henry: Perhaps it might take some real detective work.

Mike: Ohh, is that where you come in sport?

Henry: Someone will have to.

Mike: I see.

Vicki: Yeah, you know what? I have a client out there being chased by a killer zombie so maybe we could just focus on that for, I don’t know, a minute?

Henry: Of course.

Vicki, angry, walks away as Henry is talking and Mike and Henry stare each other down for a few more seconds before Henry follows her out, leaving Mike to stare after them.

Vicki and Henry go back to the JuJu lounge and find it deserted but unlocked.

Vicki: It’s open. Would you say that’s a good thing or a bad thing?

Henry: I’d say very bad.

They go in anyway, Vicki with her nice bright flashlight and Henry leading the way.

Vicki: Hello? Hello? Oh jeez.

At the top of the entrance stairs they find Vincent in a pool of blood.

Henry: He’s dead.

Vicki: And whatever he knew about those guys we’re looking for, it’s gone.

Henry: And whoever killed him isn’t.

Vicki moves further into the lounge as Henry looks around the room

Vicki: Is anyone there?

As she finishes speaking the zombie rises from his place on the ground and gets up. Henry turns and moves over to her.

Henry: (whispered) Vicki.

The zombie finishes getting up and Henry growls and goes to attack him. The Zombie fights him off and turns on Vicki who has been whacking at him from behind and picks her up off the ground. Henry moves with vampire speed and pulls the zombie of Vicki and Henry and the zombie continue to struggle. Vicki picks up some big harpoon looking thing off the wall and jabs it into the zombie’s back, coming up just short of staking Henry in the chest.

Henry: (deep vampire voice) bad idea, bad idea!

The zombie tries to impale Henry on the harpoon with him but Henry manages to dodge him and send the zombie into the wall, held there by the harpoon. Henry and Vicki watch him struggle for a moment.

Henry: Let’s go.

 

Act Five

Vicki and Henry are returning to his car outside the JuJu lounge as Vicki berates herself for taking Angelique’s case so lightly.

Vicki: Say it. I didn’t take this seriously enough. It almost staked you.

Henry: You’re in a new world. It’s hard to comprehend the dangers unless you’ve seen them with your own eyes.

Vicki: That thing’s unstoppable.

Henry: It’s just a puppet. It’s the person who created it we have to stop.

Vicki: Yeah, well I hope he responds better to a beating.

Henry: Do you really have a death wish?

Vicki: Okay, this is not about you hating magic. Are you going to tell me or what?

Henry just looks at Vicki prompting her to take off her glasses.

Vicki: Come on, I’m all ears.

Henry looks away as Vicki leans against the car waiting. Finally he leans next to her and begins to tell his story.

Henry: In the 20’s I visited Haiti with a woman I’d met in Paris. Sandrine. She was keen to experience the world and everything in it. She’d heard of a voodoo ceremony taking place and insisted we go. I was so full of my own power I was sure we’d be safe.

Henry gets up and walks a little away from the car, lost in his memories as he continues.

Henry: When we got there it was like the crowd was electrified. People dancing, drinking, calling to the spirits asking them to take over their bodies and live through them. I… I got so wound up in it; I didn’t even notice she was gone.

Vicki: What happened?

Henry closes his eyes for a moment and shakes his head.

Henry: I finally found her at the head of the crowd, lying on an altar, her clothes ripped and bloodied. There was a priest standing over her with a knife. I tried to get to her through the crowd but I couldn’t get to her before he completed the sacrifice.

Vicki: I’m sorry.

Henry slowly turns to face Vicki as he relives the nightmare.

Henry: There were two zombies holding me like the thing we saw tonight. The priest said he knew what I was. He said that we’d greet the dawn together, him, me and Sandrine.

Vicki: I though you said he killed her.

Henry: He did. And then he made me watch as he brought her back. It took the rest of the night and when she finally arose, it wasn’t Sandrine that stood before me. It was one of them.

Vicki: No, she wanted to go. You couldn’t have known.

Henry: Now I do. And I am not going to let that happen to you.

The next day, Mike is sitting in the police station as Vicki comes to see him.

Mike: Hey, just in time Vick, I almost gave up on our dinner date.

Vicki: Yeah, that’s the thing Mike. I think I’m going to have to cancel. This case is getting really hairy.

Mike takes a deep breath, obviously trying to calm down.

Vicki: Sorry. Did you um, did you find anything out on Gregoire?

Mike: Yeah, yeah. (laughs) Turns out this guy, uh, runs a hoodoo voodoo freak show. Calls himself Papa Samedi.

Vicki: That would be the guy.

Mike: Yeah, he’s got a place in the old McMillan building on, uh, King West. He offers healings, love filters, curses to the people that can find him, at least. I’ll tell ya; this is not an easy guy to do a work up on. Not many people willing to talk about him.

Vicki: I think I know why.

Mike: All right. Your turn. You tell me, how do I connect that guy to the body I got in the morgue and don’t tell me this is where it gets complicated.

Vicki: Okay, if I told you that Samedi created a zombie that killed my client’s friend would you believe me?

As she talks, she walks around the office she goes up to a glass marking board where an accident scene is sketched.

Mike: Not in a million years, no.

Vicki: Well that being said, it’s … complicated.

Mike: Vicki, why do you keep shutting me out of these things? What is going on?

Vicki: You’re the one banging your head against an open door.

Vicki picks up a marker and makes a change on the board as she and Mike fight.

Mike: Your friend, Henry, does he believe in all this crap?

Vicki: Believe it or not, he wants me off this case even more than you do.

Mike: He has no problem supporting your trip to fantasyland, does he? In fact, he’s driving the bus, isn’t he?

Vicki: (sighs as she recaps the pen and sets it down) Mike, this is not about Henry.

Dave hears the raised voices from across the way and looks up, listening in as they talk.

Vicki: I know you think I’m going nuts. And maybe I am but I still feel like I’m thinking straight. It’s like, the more I lose my vision, the more clearly I’m seeing the world. And… and there is a whole other side to it that I was completely missing. It’s scary and it’s exciting and it’s real. And I know you don’t believe me. A month ago I wouldn’t have either. I’m just asking you to sit tight, okay? I will share whatever I find out with you and you can take it or leave it. It’s the best I can do.

Vicki leaves Mike to think about what she’s said. So instead he calls Dave over.

Mike: Hey Dave, I need you to do me a favor okay? Run a records check on this Henry Fitzroy. He’s some kind of comic book writer.

Dave: You think he’s got something to do with the homicide?

Mike: Well, even if he isn’t, Vicki’s bringing him into it so let’s do it.

Dave starts to move away but thinks better of it.

Dave: So, this is about the case or about Vicki?

Mike: Why? What are you getting at?

Dave: Oh, no-nothing. Uh, I mean, I’m certainly not suggesting that you… asked me to run a guy just because he’s hittin on your woman.

Mike: Do you think that’s what this is about, huh?

Dave: Well, n-no, no, I mean just because she canceled a dinner date with you to spend quality time running around…

Mike: They’re not running around Dave. It’s a case. It’s as simple as that, okay?

Dave: You know that’s what I told one of my wives? I’m not sure if it was number 2 or number 3.

Mike: Yeah, well thank you for that, Dave, because if something was, you know, on my mind that put my mind completely at ease. Thanks a lot.

Dave: Oh, hey, I’m here for you brother!

Mike: Yeah I can see that!

Dave: You know what I’m saying?

As sun sets and night falls Vicki checks her watch and looks at Angelique and Coreen, who are talking on the couch before crossing to her desk to grab and put on her coat.

Vicki: All right, Mike said that Papa Samedi is working out of the McMillan building on King West.

Angelique: Did they find Royal? Is he with them?

Vicki: No, they don’t know. And until we have concrete proof of a link between him and Jean-Marc’s death we’re on our own.

Coreen: It’s kind of romantic, isn’t it? Nobody believing us. Plumbing the deep horizons of experience. Having to search out the truth all on our own.

Vicki: Well, more accurately, you’ll be here, searching out dinner for you and Angelique.

Angelique gets up as Vicki goes to leave.

Angelique: I should be with you.

Vicki: What? No, no, no. If this guy’s looking for you, I’m not going to lead you to him. You’re safer here. Henry and I will be fine.

Angelique takes off one of her bracelets and puts it on Vicki.

Angelique: It’s for your protection, huh? Hopefully you won’t need it.

Vicki: Thanks.

As Vicki leaves Coreen steps over to Angelique with the book.

Coreen: Angelique, I think I still need a little help with my love Juju.

Angelique: Come on?

Coreen: Say I was trying to attract a man. Much older than myself, but, who doesn’t look it. Incredibly attractive, a real night owl. Would I be better off using aloes or acacia. Maybe I should just use both.

Angelique: Actually, maybe we should start again from scratch.

Coreen: Okay.

Henry and Vicki arrive at Papa Samedi’s. As they approach his throne room they hear an evil laugh but Papa Samedi is nowhere to be found, even though his voice comes to them loud and clear.

Papa Samedi: You come to kill me, Nightwalker; you’ve got to be way more quiet. I hear you thinking.

Henry: We’re not here to kill you.

Papa Samedi: You’re too late for dinner, too early for breakfast. What you here for then?

Vicki: You tried to kill my client, Angelique. We want her brother back.

Papa Samedi: (laughs) You working for the zombie queen?

Henry spots the same zombie they fought the night before as Papa Samedi continues.

Papa Samedi: Man, you already sewed up tight in the devil’s pocket.

Henry: Enough games! Show yourself.

Papa Samedi does, popping up from behind one of the lit fires.

Papa Samedi: You don’t even know do you? That woman been hunting me a long time.

Vicki: You took her brother.

Papa Samedi: Somebody had to. The two of them was the family from hell. Some serve the ‘aved deu mains’. Serve with two hands. Them two only served the dark. They bring a lot of people to hell with them. That’s why I take the brother… bring him here after the floods wash open my hiding place.

Vicki: So you killed him too.

Papa Samedi: I helped him along the path. His bones are hidden in the cemetery but his soul… it stays with me. Without him the crone’s not so strong.

Vicki: Crone? She’s what? 25?

Papa Samedi: Looks are deceiving girl. You know how Angelique and her brother keep looking so young? Is a long chain of dead children give up their lives for her to look so good. A lot of those young spirits were children of my flock.

Vicki: You’re saying she killed children to stay alive?

Papa Samedi: Angelique cut their innocent hearts out and fed on them while they were still beating. When the flood waters washed their bodies up they called out to me. Them children not gonna rest until that witch is dead.

Henry: Why should we believe you?

Papa Samedi: You got no choice ‘mon ami’. Moon and stars feel right tomorrow night for burying cemetery to give up his dead. Angelique want to bring that black soul brother back to earth. If she gets him back, children start dying in this place, too.  Disappearing.

Meanwhile, Angelique is gyrating and performing her voodoo as Coreen watches, nervous. Angelique’s incantations are not captioned.

Coreen: Maybe we should wait for Vicki. Order some food like she said. … I don’t really need a love Juju. There’s always online dating.

Angelique turns toward her, yelling at her

Angelique: Shut up!

Coreen recoils, groaning and trying to talk but her mouth is no longer there. Angelique smiles evilly and continues her incantation.

Back at the McMillan building Henry is pressing Papa Samedi.

Henry: How do we know you’re telling the truth?

Papa Samedi: Why? You think I care about you believing? (laughs) You’re not strong enough to stop me, and I’m plenty strong enough to put you down.

The zombie falls dead as we intercut back and forth between Angelique’s voodoo and Papa Samedi, who is now looking very ill.

Papa Samedi: I underestimate that old girl. I think she send you here to talk, but she sent you in wearing a bandeau.

Vicki: What? Oh jeez.

She realizes it’s the bracelet and immediately takes it off and tosses it away.

Papa Samedi: You walk in bold as brass to eat my soul.

Papa Samedi looks at them as he’s dying, blood running from his eyes as the scene changes again to Angelique and her voodoo. Vicki approaches Samedi with Henry close behind.

Vicki: You have to tell us where Royal is buried, okay? What cemetery.

Papa Samedi: The amulet. Don’t let her have it.

Papa Samedi dies and Henry takes the amulet containing Royal’s soul.

Henry: She played us. And we delivered her right to Papa Samedi and the amulet.

Vicki: Oh god, she’s got Coreen.

They run out of the building and back to Vicki’s office to find Coreen, still at the voodoo altar and still without a mouth.

Vicki: Oh, Coreen! Thank god you’re okay. Henry! Her mouth.

Henry: Coreen.

Angelique approaches from the inner office

Angelique: You were a big help, Miss Vicki Nelson.

Henry growls

Angelique: I knew you and your undead friend would get me everything I needed. You’ve given me a gift and now I give you one.

From behind her, Angelique produces the voodoo doll.

Vicki: You know what? I think we’re both a little old to play with dolls.

As Vicki talks, she gets up and approaches Angelique. But Angelique just shakes the doll at her causing Vicki to double over in pain.

Angelique: Uh-uh.

Vicki: Ohh!

Henry rushes over toward Vicki

Angelique: I squeeze too hard, who knows what will happen? You and this doll have a lot in common. The hair came right from your brush. And you see this? This is a grave bug. My bug is very hungry. And she gets hungrier. I tell her to eat… Vicki dies.

Vicki: What do you want?

Angelique: I want the amulet. I want my brother’s soul.

Henry: You know we can’t give you that.

Angelique: I can wait one more night. Can you?

Angelique turns and disappears back into the inner office and Henry and Vicki run after her only to find she’s disappeared. Coreen screams as she recovers her mouth. Vicki doubles over in pain again and Henry crouches beside her.

Henry: Vicki? Vicki!

 

Act Six

Henry helps a sick Vicki to a chair as Coreen feels her mouth to make sure it’s back.

Coreen: She took my mouth away.

Vicki: Oh I’d love to learn that trick sometime.

Henry: Do you have to wisecrack even when you’re dying?

Vicki: I’m not dying. Yet.

Coreen: Henry, do something. She needs help.

Henry: We can’t exactly take her to a hospital and ask for a voodoo curse specialist. The only thing we can do is get the doll back before she makes her next move. Now it’s almost daylight and I’ve got to go.

Coreen: You can’t just leave her like this.

Henry: Coreen, you have to be strong. Keep her comfortable until I get back, okay?

Vicki: (laughs) Comfortable?

Henry walks over to her and crouches down beside her chair.

Vicki: Screwed up trusting her, huh? Should have listened to you.

Henry: You only do it one way.

Vicki: Huh. I have to stop her, Henry. I just keep thinking about the parents. You know? Finding their kids bodies and realizing how they suffered and died? If she gets her brother back, how many more families are Royal and Angelique going to destroy?

Henry: Do what you can to find the cemetery Royal’s hidden in. Wait for me until I get back okay?

Vicki: Yeah, I’ll think about it.

Henry gets up to leave but before he does he asks Coreen for a favor.

Henry: Keep her here. Sit on her if you have to.

Henry leaves and Coreen goes over to Vicki, crouching down in front of her chair where Henry was before.

Vicki: Hey. I need you to do something for me okay? Papa Samedi said that he sent the brother’s remains up here after Katrina hit New Orleans. So I need you to check all the cemeteries in the downtown core. I need the name of anyone who was, uh, shipped up here after the hurricane, um, probably interred without a ceremony.

Coreen: Right. Are you sure you’re okay?

Vicki: Yeah I’ll be fine. Just go, okay?

Coreen gets up to do as Vicki asked. As she does we see Henry return home to his penthouse and wearily sit on his bed, clicking a remote in order to shut out the sun. Laying down he slips into the sleep of the day.

Later that day, Coreen returns to Vicki’s office where she’s laying on the couch, still trying to stay alive from the voodoo curse.

Coreen: Vicki, I got something.

Vicki: Oh, say it’s a quick death.

Coreen: I called every cemetery in town. At first I thought it was going to be total bust. But then, the guy at Mount Pleasant said someone came in, bought a crypt there eleven months ago. They guy who bought it paid cash and gave the name, Damballah. That’s the sky serpent spirit in Voodoo.

Vicki: Remind me never to make fun of your supernatural obsessions again.

The phone rings and Coreen answers it as Vicki continues to groan and move about in pain.

Coreen: Vicki Nelson Investigations. (Covers the phone and whispers) It’s Mike.

Vicki puts her hand out for the phone and Coreen gives it up.

Vicki: Hi Mike.

Mike: Where are you?

Vicki: Uh, in the office why?

Mike: I’ve got two more bodies racked up connected to your case. A guy from the bar where you met your client, and Gregoire, the guy whose address I gave you.

Vicki: Don’t look at me; I didn’t kill ‘em.

Mike: Yeah but you know something about who did.

Vicki: Umm, well to tell you the truth it was my client.

Mike: What? That young, innocent thing looking for her brother?

Vicki: Yeah, try voodoo witch trying to resurrect her dead brother so they can go on a killing spree at your local elementary school.

As she talks we see Mike in his office, pulling the phone away from his ear and trying to calm down from what he’s hearing.

Mike: (Sighs)

Vicki: Are you still there?

Mike: Yeah, I’m here and I don’t know why, Vicki. Listen, I need to see you.

Vicki: See, I-I can’t right now. I’m kind of battling a bit of a stomach bug. I’ll call you later, though.

Mike: No, not later. Vicki I need to talk… Vicki?

As Mike is talking Vicki hangs up on him but he doesn’t have time to get angry because Dave gets his attention.

Dave: Hey, Mike? We did that search on that Fitzroy guy you asked for.

Mike: Yeah?

Dave: Dude leaves less footprints than a cat on concrete. Hmm, squeaky clean driving record, perfect credit rating, no previous address or employment record. It’s like the guy just started one day.

Mike: Yeah, why does this not surprise me?

Dave: Hmm, should we roust him a bit? You know, see what he’s got to say for himself?

Mike: No, no, put a pin in that for now okay?

Dave: All right.

Mike: Thanks.

Back at Vicki’s office she grabs her coat and prepares to leave over Coreen’s objections.

Coreen: Where are you going?

Vicki: I can’t wait for Henry. I gotta find Royal’s body before Angelique does.

Coreen: Don’t do this Vicki.

Vicki does it anyway. As night falls on the city, Vicki is traipsing around in a dark cemetery with just her flashlight and a hacking cough for company. She groans as her stomach pains get worse.

Back at her office Coreen takes a call from Henry.

Coreen: Vicki Nelson Investigations.

Henry: Coreen, it’s me, how is she?

Coreen: Henry, she didn’t listen, she took off out to the cemetery.

Henry: (scoffs) The lamb to the slaughter. Which cemetery?

Coreen: Mount Pleasant.

Henry: Okay, I’m on my way. If she calls, tell her to wait for me.

Coreen: Hey, one more thing. Uh, one of my books says something about zombies. You can use salt.

Henry: (laughs) I don’t want to season them Coreen, I’d like to kill them.

Coreen: The book says that if they taste salt, it’s supposed to remind them of their mortality. They’ll return to the grave.

Henry: Coreen, you can’t believe everything you read. Now, if Vicki calls tell her to wait for me, okay?

Coreen: All right. Bye.

As Henry talks to Coreen he’s shrugging into his leather coat and once he hangs up, Henry leaves the apartment. Only to return a few moments for the salt.

Henry: Salt. Salt!

Salt in hand he once again makes for the cemetery. Meanwhile, at the cemetery, Vicki is still coughing, gasping and wandering around but she soon enough stumbles upon the crypt. Entering it she goes down, baton in hand, to find Angelique in the room where her brother’s body lays. Angelique has her back to Vicki, drawing pictures on the wall in chalk. She turns as Vicki enters.

Angelique: I was wondering when you would get here.

Vicki: How did you find this? I thought you didn’t know where Royal was.

Angelique: I knew where the body was. I just needed someone to breech Samedi’s defenses so I could get to him.

A zombie charges out from it’s hiding place and grabs Vicki, holding her easily.

Vicki: Oof! No! You still don’t have the amulet.

Angelique: It’s coming.

Vicki falls and groans in pain.

Angelique: We both know that.

Outside Henry is running at full fast speed to the crypt, slowing down as he reaches it. Inside, Angelique is performing the incantation on Royal’s body.

Angelique: O kwa! O jibile! Ou pa we m inosan! Baron cemetiere donner moi mon frere! Bring him to me.

Henry enters the room, holding up the amulet.

Henry: I don’t think so! Let her go or I destroy this!

Angelique just laughs as one of her zombies reaches out and grabs Henry, holding him as Angelique approaches and grabs the amulet.

Henry: No!

Angelique approaches the grave with the amulet, talking to it as she does so.

Angelique: Hello my Royal. Hello my brother. I’m going to bring you back real soon now.

Angelique looks at Henry.

Angelique: And as for you? You get to see this foolish girl help bring him back.

Henry struggles as Angelique grabs a ceremonial knife and goes to finish the ritual to bring Royal back.

Henry: Vicki!

Angelique: See my sacrifice. See this woman’s life who I trade. Come to me now.

On the floor in front of Royal’s grave Vicki lies coughing and holding her stomach, eyes closed.

Angelique: (To Vicki) This…

Henry: No, no, no!

Angelique: is for your worms.

Angelique switches to her chanting language again to complete the ritual as Henry throws the zombie over his shoulder and uses the salt on it, pouring it directly into his mouth.

Angelique: My brother for the light.

Henry runs to attack Angelique but she ducks him and he jumps over her, landing next to Royal’s grave. Angelique straightens up, smiling, threatening Henry with the knife she planned to use on Vicki.

Angelique: You missed. But I won’t.

Henry: Who says I missed?

Henry holds up the doll, having removed the grave bug. Behind Angelique Vicki, feeling much better, rises up and taps Angelique on the shoulder. Angelique turns to face her and Vicki socks her right in the mouth, making her fall against her brother’s grave. Henry uses the opportunity to grab the amulet. Holding it up he smashes it and Angelique screams.

Angelique: NO!

A bony hand reaches out from the grave and pulls Angelique into it. The crypt starts to rumble and collapse around them and Henry pulls Vicki out.

Henry: Come on! Let’s go!

They run out of the crypt, barely managing to dodge the explosion by diving to the ground. Henry helps Vicki up.

Henry: You okay?

Vicki takes stock of herself, looking back towards the crypt as Henry explains.

Henry: Destroying the soul amulet ruined the ceremony and angered the god.

Vicki: Yeah, well remind me not to do that.

Henry: Would it do any good?

Vicki: No, but you could just keep trying.

Henry takes out the doll and tries to hand it to Vicki.

Henry: You might want it as a souvenir.

Vicki: You know I stopped playing with dolls a long time ago, but uh, as for voodoo…

Henry: Hey, I think we’ve had enough of that in our lifetime, maybe two.

Henry cups Vicki’s neck and leans in, but she brushes his hair back and kisses him on the cheek instead. She grins as she puts on her glasses and gestures to the doll

Vicki: Thank you Henry. And, um… take care of that.

Henry watches Vicki as she makes her way through the cemetery, stumbling over a grave as she looks back at him.

Later, in daylight, Mike comes to see Vicki, who is looking much better and sitting behind her desk in her office as he comes in.

Vicki: What took you so long?

Mike: How’d you know it was me?

Vicki: Well it’s like the guy in the comic books, the more you lose your sight, the sharper your other senses get.

Mike: Ah.

Vicki: Well, that or I would have been here an hour ago if I was you.

Mike: Want to hear what I found at Mount Pleasant cemetery?

Vicki: Ooh, I’m all ears.

Mike: Two old corpses in an open casket. One in fresh clothes. The other the body of your client’s friend who magically jumped out of the city morgue on his own.

Vicki: Well at least he was walking in the right direction.

Mike: You were there weren’t you?

Vicki: You don’t want to know that Mike, even if you think you do.

Mike: Vicki, Vicki. Come on! What’s next, huh? Goblins in the subway, Bigfoot in the shopping mall, that kind of thing.

Vicki: What’s next is lunch. Okay?

Mike: Mmhmm.

Vicki: Come on, I’m buyin’ big guy.

Vicki grabs her coat and they take off, Mike following tiredly behind her.

End Bad JuJu

== BLOOD TIES ==
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