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TRANSCRIPT:
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Act I

Open with Ian Nottingham picking his way across a trash-filled field. In the background, we see a trash pile on fire and some kids playing. Ian walks on a stack of discarded railroad ties which is surrounded by a huge muddy puddle.

Ian: Father?

Irons' voice: He walks among us.

Ian: Who?

Ian sits down on the stacked wood.

Irons' voice: Nature's contradiction. An angel's nightmare.

Ian: And where can I find him?

Irons' face appears huge, just beneath the surface of the scummy puddle.

Irons: You will see him only where you are not looking.

Ian: He's evil?

Irons: He is capable of both great evil and great shame. And he has wallowed in both for eons. His despair makes him dangerous.

Ian: And what is it that he wants?

Irons: His motives are unclear, but perhaps we can use him to our advantage.

Ian: He's powerful?

Irons: He is.

Ian: He can derail death?

Irons: He can.

Ian: Can he bring you back?

Irons: I am already back, my son.

The image in the water smiles hugely. Ian tosses a couple pebbles in the water.

Cut to Rouen, France, in the year 1431. Joan of Arc's pyre has just been lit. There is a crowd gathered to watch and shout at Joan. A couple nuns pray for her. Lazar is there. {OK, now I'm curious.} A richly dressed man approaches the front of the crowd and just stares at Joan. The man twists his head and sees the bishop instructing his underling to bury the Witchblade in the catacombs.

Cut to this same man, only with short hair and modern dress, looking up on a city street.

Back to the past and him watching Joan burn.

Back to him on the modern street looking up at something off camera.

Back to Joan at her stake.

Back to modern times. He turns away from what he was watching.

Back to Joan burning. The man closes his eyes as if very weary, not really angry at what has happened to Joan.

Cut to the man walking down the modern street.

Back to Joan burning. The man turns away and makes his way out of the crowd.

Back in present day, the man walks down the street. A passerby stares at him.

{Pause for opening sequence.}

We return with Danny and Sara in their car, Danny driving.

Danny: A little early in the morning for the first homicide of the day.

Sara: Early bird catches the psycho.

Danny: My egg sandwich is gonna be all soggy by the time we get back to the office.

Sara: Why didn't you eat at home? Before you came in?

Danny (shrug): It's Tuesday.

Sara: So, you don't eat breakfast at home on Tuesdays?

Danny (low): I didn't have time.

Sara: Danny ... cereal-bowl-milk-spoon-eat. It's not that difficult.

Danny (cough): I was having sex.

Sara: Oh, do not brag.

Danny: We're trying to have another baby, and the ovulation tester stick was fire engine red this morning.

Sara: How romantic.

Danny: Don't give me that. Anyone besides your doctor seen you in your panties in the last year?

Sara: Hey, I got a neighbor with a pair of high-powered, night vision-equipped Bushnells, thank you.

Danny: Now, I'm interested.

Sara: You know, Danny, sex purely for procreation is ...

Danny (interrupts): ... like Christmas.

Sara: Yeah?

Danny: Well ... I'm always worried about, you know, lapping her and hitting the finish line too soon and then her not being satisfied. But, when you are in a target-friendly environment, holding the connubial hall-pass with an egg in the cross-hairs, you just lock and load.

Sara: Saturation bombing of the ovum.

Danny: I do what I can.

They arrive at the murder scene, a street between a couple of 3- and 4-story brick buildings. There is a white-haired man in a dark suit hanging {from something I couldn't see} about 20 feet off the ground. His hands are bound behind him. Danny parks nearly under the corpse. They both get out of the car, both staring at the hanged man.

Sara: Murder ... it's what's for breakfast.

Cut to Vicky Po's lab some time later. The hanged man now lies on one of Vicky's tables. Sara sits on a stool across the table from Vicky. Danny stands next to Vicky as she goes through the contents of a file folder.

Vicky: Caleb Horton, white male, 65, died of a combination of asphyxiation due to hanging and blunt force trauma to the rear occipital.

Sara: That all?

Vicky: And I'd add a broken heart.

Danny: What do you mean?

Vicky: Burst capillaries in the whites of the eyes imply infarction, as well.

Sara: Or a hell of an orgasm.

Danny: Whole left side of the homicide menu.

Vicky: Mm-hmm. Oh, every bone in both hands was also broken pre-mortem. So, someone was pretty angry with this guy. I think he was clergy.

Vicky turns on an x-ray viewing panel.

Danny: Why?

Vicky holds up a bag marked as evidence.

Vicky: Pulled this out of his throat.

In the bag is a large crucifix. On the lighted panel behind her we can see an x-ray of a crucifix of this size between the skull and the chest on a person's skeleton.

Sara: What is that?

Vicky: It's his crucifix.

Sara: A ritual killing?

Vicky: Yeah, or a ritual over-killing.

Sara: Whatever happened to the simple expediency of a .22 behind the ears, a shiv to the aorta, a friggin' bat across the temple? Why does every murder lately have to be this new, break-the-mold example of designer homicidal weirdness?

Danny's brows start making their way toward his hairline during Sara's diatribe. Agree or disagree, he doesn't comment. Instead, he turns to Vicky.

Danny: Anything else?

Vicky: Mmm, yeah. There's some skin under his fingernails. So I should be able to get you a blood type and sex.

Sara (low): Great.

Sara hears a voice from the next room calling her name.

Voice: Sara ...

She stands rapidly, dropping the metal report folder she had been looking at.

Vicky: You all right?

Obviously shaken, Sara tries to reassure Vicky and Danny.

Sara: Um ... yeah. I'm, I'm fine. I'll be right back.

It can't be too reassuring, though, when they see where Sara is going. The next room just so happens to be the cold storage room for the corpses. Sara opens the door to the room and receives another disembodied communication.

Voice: Sara, open the drawer.

Sara looks back then lets the door close as she hesitantly walks into the room. She walks toward the left side of the room.

Voice: You're getting cold.

Sara opens one of the drawers further to the right.

Voice: You're getting colder.

She shuts the drawer immediately. She holds her left hand to her face, eyes frightened. She moves further right and puts her hand on the handle of one drawer.

Voice: You are ice.

Sara pulls on the handle and the drawer opens. The slab slides out and Kenneth Irons appears to be the body lying there. His eyes pop open. Sara gasps and we get the auditory cue for the Witchblade.

Sara: This can't be.

The corpse's eyes move, but that's all as he answers.

Irons: Do you miss me?

Sara: Where are you?

Irons: On holiday. This is happening.

Sara: Are you riding shotgun on this murder?

Irons: Shotguns are for kids.

Sara: Did Ian kill Father Horton?

Irons: No.

Sara: Did you?

Irons: If I confess, how does one detain a vapor for questioning? No .. I did not kill that dear, sweet cleric from Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Sara is rubbing the Witchblade with her left hand as she stands beside the body.

Sara: Nice of you to haunt me, Kenny.

Irons: I'm jealous. Jealous that you are alive ... jealous that you feel the change of season. Jealous that you won the day.

Sara: What keeps you alive?

Irons: Your love.

Sara: Good-bye.

Sara starts to push the slab back inside the drawer, but the corpse's left arm is flung wide, stopping the forward movement.

Irons: Your killer watched your birth. He saw you scrape your knees on playgrounds. He lusts for death with the same vigor that I lust for life.

Sara: Who is he?

Irons: He is death ... and he has come.

The slab slides back into the drawer and the door closes by itself.

Cut to a church where Danny and Sara sit at a table with a priest.

Priest: "There is more faith in honest doubt than all the creeds." Tennyson said that.

Sara: Had Father Horton lost his faith?

Priest: Father Horton came here from Rome. He was a darling of the College of Cardinals. He'd made a pilgrimage to Judea.

Sara: Um, you mean Israel.

Priest: You say potato, I say potahto.

Sara nods.

Priest: He slept in the sands of our Lord. He wept in the Gethsemane. He walked the Via de la Rosa.

Danny: Father, who killed him?

Priest: Horton took a confession yesterday ... from a man who terrified him.

Sara: Did the Father have anything to say about this man?

The priest takes a drink from a tumbler of whiskey.

Priest: He called him ... death.

Danny looks perplexed and Sara is more than likely remembering where she heard that before.

Cut to Gabriel Bowman's. Sara has gone there for help with her current case. Gabriel has up on his monitors a drawing of a mass hanging with spectators treating the day like a fair.

Sara: Oh, they did love their executions.

Gabriel: Yeah, it's kind of the medieval version of, uh ... reality TV.

Sara (laugh): Yeah. It would've been called No Survivor.

Gabriel laughs.

Sara walks over to Gabriel with a drawing of what looks like two monks that have been hanged from a stone bridge.

Sara: What else can you tell me about church related hangings?

Gabriel (soft): Yeah ... let's see ...

Gabriel brings up a different illustration on his computer.

Gabriel: The, uh, the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 was particularly bloody and provocatively weird in its logic. Uh, it was led by a man named Wat Tyler. And, under the guise of rebelling over the poll tax, he led a mob into London. They, uh, they murdered merchants, burned houses, liberated prisons ... regular mob-in-the-street type stuff. But the strange coda was ... the murder of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the hanging of several clergy over the River Thames.

Gabriel shows Sara the picture she had before of the two monks hung from a bridge. Sara nods, but makes no connection.

Sara: How is this helping me?

Gabriel: Well, your killer may have a romantic notion of history. Maybe he's recreating it.

Sara: Or maybe he's just a psychotic killer.

Gabriel: Do you ever get just a straight, down-the-line murder case?

Sara: Not lately.

Gabriel's cell phone rings. He checks the number on the caller ID.

Gabriel: Oh. I, uh, I got to take this.

Sara: OK.

Gabriel picks up the phone and walks across the room. Sara continues looking through pictures on Gabriel's desk.

Gabriel (into phone): Hey.

Sara has run across a picture of a painting of Joan of Arc at the stake. She puts her right hand on the picture and can see flashes of Joan and the crowd. She comes back to herself at the end of Gabriel's phone conversation.

Gabriel (into phone): All right. I love you, too, baby. OK. Yup.

That got Sara's attention.

Gabriel (into phone): I'll see you tonight. OK. All right. Bye.

Gabriel hangs up.

Sara: You're in love?

Gabriel (surprised): Uh ... yeah. Uh, I am.

Sara: Well, who is she?

Gabriel: Uh ... a relative. I just wanted to keep it in the family.

Sara shakes her head.

Gabriel: She's just a girl I met.

Sara: It's not just some girl if you're lobbing "I love you's."

Gabriel: I don't know.

Sara: Why didn't you ever ask me out, Gabriel?

Gabriel: Oh, um ... I don't know. I guess the fantasy was enough for me.

Sara: Thanks. (little laugh)

Sara turns away, perhaps a little hurt. Gabriel decides to explain further.

Gabriel: You're not of this world, Sara ... and I am.

Sara: I'll take that as a compliment.

Gabriel (nods): You should.

Fade.

End Act I.

Act II

Open in small mom-and-pop style diner. Sara enters and spots Danny and Lee at a table. They're nuzzling like teenagers.

Sara: Ahem. Hey, guys. How you doing, Lee?

Sara and Lee kiss cheeks.

Lee: Great, Sara.

Sara: Good.

Lee: It's good to see you.

Sara: It's good to see you, too. What's up, partner?

Sara and Danny clasp hands.

Danny: Partner, partner. See Gabriel?

Sara: Ah ... yeah.

Danny: Any help?

Sara: I don't know. Maybe. Hey, Lee, you wanna talk about the weird murder of the week or something else?

Lee: The latter.

Sara: Yeah. Me, too.

The Woos share a look with huge smiles.

Danny: We got good news today.

Sara: Spiritual or financial?

Danny: We're pregnant.

Sara looks astonished. {Why, I don't know - Danny said they'd been trying.}

Sara: Oh, my gosh.

Sara laughs as Danny kisses Lee.

Sara: I think that's great, Lee. Congratulations to both of you.

Danny: We are very lucky.

Sara: Yeah. Yeah, you are.

Their waitress has come to the table to get Sara's order.

Waitress: Ready to order?

Sara: Uh, yeah. I'll take a boyfriend, medium-rare, please.

Waitress (mock sorrow): We're out.

Sara: Oh, no kidding. Ah, then I will have a tuna melt.

Waitress: Good choice. Easier on your system than a guy.

Sara: Hallelujah, sister.

Danny: Easy.

The waitress walks off as Sara and Lee laugh.

Lee: What kind of boyfriend would you order, Sara?

Sara: Ah ... I want a biker who reads poetry, who drinks beer, and who lowers the toilet seat. Who understands the perfection of 90 feet between the bases, and appreciates the running game. He hates talk shows, reality TV, loves and misses Johnny Carson. He likes to vacuum and change the sheets. A guy who sleeps in, jogs, and smokes. He likes a good bar fight. And he likes to kiss as much as he likes to make love.

Lee: That all?

Sara laughs.

Sara: I don't ask for much, huh?

Danny attacks Lee's neck again. Sara looks on enviously.

Danny (to Sara): Sorry.

Sara: Congratulations, lovebirds. Would you excuse me for a second?

Sara goes back to the diner's one and only restroom. It is already in use.

Sara (low): Of course.

She pulls out her cell phone and dials.

Cut to Jake sitting in a car curbside. His cell phone rings and he answers it.

Jake (into phone): McCartey.

It is Sara, of course.

Sara: Hey, Jake. Any news?

Jake: No, not yet.

Sara: What are you doing?

Jake: Eating a pastrami on rye. Trying to line up my Saturday night.

Sara: What do you mean "line up"?

Jake is looking across the street where a blonde in a leather skirt and top and 5-inch heels is leaning into the driver's window in another car.

Jake: You know, find a little ... nocturnal diversion.

Sara: Gosh, Jake, you're such a romantic.

Jake: Yeah, I prefer to call it intelligent hedonism. Never said I was looking for a profound, long-term commitment.

Sara: No. No, you definitely did not. Well, good luck.

Jake: Yeah, right on. Later, Pez.

They both hang up.

Sara: Yeah, later.

Sara goes and knocks on the restroom door.

Sara: Hello. You need any help in there?

Man's voice: Ah, what kind of help?

Sara: Ah, the hurry-your-ass-out-of-there kind of help.

Man's voice: No, I got it. Thanks.

Sara waits a few more seconds then starts again.

Sara: Good Lord, I don't mean to be rude, but you're ...

The door opens and we see the man from the opening - the one who seemingly was at the burning of Joan of Arc. Sara just stares at him.

Man: Sorry. I was just washing up before I feed.

Sara: It's, it's, it's all right. I was just getting worried.

Man: It's awfully nice to be worried about. Thanks. Here, go ahead.

He goes back and lowers the toilet seat.

Sara: Ah ... of course. Right. Um ... yeah.

They trade places, Sara now inside the restroom and the man just outside.

Man: You know, I could, uh, stand out here and worry about you, if you like.

Sara (little laugh): No, that's, um ... What's your name?

He offers his hand.

Man: Daniel Germaine.

They shake hands and Sara sees herself kissing Daniel madly there just outside the restroom.

Sara: Ah ... Sara. Sara Pezzini.

Daniel: Go ahead. I'll keep you safe, Sara.

Sara notices her hand still in Daniel's and removes it.

Sara: Oh. (laugh) OK. Uh ... thanks.

She shuts the door and we hear the lock click. After the door is shut, Daniel's ready smile disappears and he closes his eyes with a resigned or weary expression.

Cut to sometime after lunch. Danny, Lee, and Sara exit the restaurant, which we see is named the Canary Restaurant.

Sara: Ugh, Danny. I'm gonna purge.

Danny: Nice talk.

Sara: I eat emotionally. Instead of actually pulling the trigger on a personal relationship, I over-eat, over-exercise, and over-do it. It's a rag-ass way of living.

Danny: I'm going to drive Lee home.

Sara: All right. I'll see you back at the office. Bye.

Sara and Lee kiss again.

Sara: Congrats.

Danny and Lee head for their car. Sara is just putting the key in her Buell when she hears another motorcycle approach and turns around to see Daniel Germaine pull up next to her. He parks his bike, putting down the kickstand. Daniel looks over Sara's Buell.

Daniel: 2000 Buell ...

Daniel gets off his bike and approaches the Buell ... and Sara.

Daniel: ... inverted front forks, air-cooled four stroke V-twin, 101 horses at 6000 RPM's, P and M wheels, Dunlop Competition Sport Max tires fore and aft. Ma'am, you'd smoke me stoplight to stoplight.

Sara: Yeah, would you chase me?

Daniel: Would you want me to?

Sara: Yeah, I think I would. Yeah.

Daniel: Me, too.

Sara: Who are you?

Daniel: I'm just a ladies' room doorman who got lucky. Who are you?

Sara: A cop with no hobbies.

Daniel: Would you like one? You on the clock right now?

Sara: Yeah, sorry.

Daniel: Don't be. We got time.

Daniel leans in and kisses Sara. Behind Sara, we see Ian looking out at them through a shop's glass door. As the kiss goes on, Ian closes his eyes and purses his lips slightly. Eventually, Daniel slowly breaks the kiss.

Daniel: I should've asked.

Sara: I'm glad you didn't.

Daniel smiles and moves back to his own bike and mounts it. He tosses his cell phone to Sara.

Sara: What's this?

Daniel: My cell phone.

Daniel starts his motorcycle.

Daniel: I'll call you tonight. We'll go for that ride.

Daniel rides away, Sara watching him. She puts his phone in her pocket. Ian is still watching from his observation post.

Cut to Vicky Po's lab. She is focusing a microscope on a slide. Danny is standing beside her and Sara sits on the table by the microscope. And, oh yeah, Vicky is singing. I'll give the first line and leave it at that.

Vicky (singing): Nobody knows the troubles I've seen ...

Danny clears his throat. Vicky continues singing as Sara shakes her head. Vicky finishes with the microscope and seems quite pleased as she straightens back up.

Vicky: All right. Take a look.

Sara gets down from the table and looks into the microscope. She sees cells moving.

Sara: Um, Vick?

Vicky: Yes?

Sara: What am I looking at?

Vicky: The undead.

Sara raises her head from the microscope.

Sara: What?

Vicky: That slide is of the skin I scraped from under the fingernails of the dead priest.

Vicky has moved to take a seat on one of her autopsy tables.

Vicky: Now, I tried to type and cross-match the blood and DNA ... and what I got would make Anne Rice proud.

Both Danny and Sara are leaning back against the table with the microscope in nearly identical crossed-arms stances.

Vicky: This sample, while from a living being, is also from someone with a DNA blueprint belonging to a civilization that no longer exists.

Witchblade vision: Greeks manning a wall with shield and spear; gladiators entering an arena; a mounted army; the universe expanding {?} ; a lightning flash; a solar flare; a meteor heading for Earth; a deep river valley and sparks being thrown up.

Vicky: The blood is of a Greek origin, Eastern Mediterranean.

Sara sees lions running loose in an arena and captives being burned.

Vicky: The gene pairings are all there. It's just no one's carried those traits for 2000 years.

Witchblade vision: Lightning flash; people rushing from the stands of a large arena to a stage of some sort in the middle.

Cut to Gabriel's shop, Talismaniac. Focus on an hourglass in a dark wooden box lined with red velvet.

Gabriel: This used to belong to Edgar Allan Poe.

His customer, who just happens to be Daniel Germaine, picks up the hourglass.

Daniel: You ever wish you could reverse time? Reverse your mistakes?

Gabriel: Sometimes. Yeah.

Daniel: Me, too ... until recently. You know I find any instrument that purports to measure time nothing short of dismal.

Daniel drops the hourglass to the floor, shattering the glass. There's a pained look on Gabriel's face.

Gabriel: That was worth thousands of dollars.

Daniel: Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I'll compensate you in full.

Gabriel: And it was irreplaceable.

Daniel: As so many things are. Integrity ... innocence ... true love. I need a gift for a woman, a very special woman.

Daniel looks around the shop as Gabriel rubs his face with both hands. {Some days working retail really sucks, huh?}

Daniel: How much for the drums?

Gabriel: They, uh ... they used to belong to Keith Moon.

Daniel: I remember Moonie. Full of life and death. The perfect example of someone whose lust for life warped into rigorous pursuit of self-annihilation.

Daniel stands leaning against an old electric chair.

Daniel: I'll take the drums.

Gabriel (almost challenging): 50,000 dollars.

Cut back to Vicky's little "undead" lecture.

Vicky: The spookiest thing is that the sample is animate.

Danny: What?

Vicky: OK, every skin scraping I have ever pulled from under victims' fingernails and from weapons was dead. This sample ... it's alive.

Danny: Cells are still splitting and reproducing?

Vicky: The mitochondria are still converting CO2 into O2.

Vicky turns to lie face down on the autopsy table to look at her report.

Vicky: And there is still the vaguest impression of circulation. To coin a phrase, it's alive.

Sara: So, basically, we're looking for Dracula.

Vicky: No. Dracula's flesh would have desiccated.

Danny is amazed that these two women are talking seriously about Dracula.

Danny: There's no such thing as Dracula.

Vicky: Yeah, sure there was.

Danny turns to Sara and mimics going for her throat with a huge smile. {Have I mentioned lately that I love Sara and Danny's interaction?}

Sara: What is the matter with you?

Danny: He was a fictitious character in a book.

Sara: Based on Vlad the Impaler.

Danny: Not real.

Sara: Yeah? Then how come they're opening an amusement park in Transylvania about him?

Danny: Same reason they have a park in Anaheim dedicated to a cartoon mouse.

Sara (waves hand): Ugh ... there's no use talking to you.

Danny and Sara go back to their arms-crossed stances.

Vicky: OK, guys ... the real issue is that you've got nothing that could stop him.

Sara: What do you mean?

Vicky: This bad guy ... if you find him, you're not going to be able to kill him. At best, you'd just put him down for a while.

Cut back to Gabriel's. Daniel is writing out a check for his purchases.

Gabriel: So, uh, so where would you like the drums sent, Mister ...

Gabriel looks over to Daniel's check as he fills out the receipt.

Gabriel: ... Germaine?

Daniel: Well, it's a surprise. Could you have them delivered to Sara Pezzini tomorrow afternoon ...

Gabriel stops writing and looks up at Daniel.

Daniel: ... 50 Chambers Street, apartment ...

Gabriel (interrupt): Yeah, 11 ... yeah.

If things were tense before between these two, it just got more so.

Daniel: She's a friend of yours?

Gabriel: Uh, yeah, she is.

Daniel hands over the check.

Daniel: What's your name?

Gabriel: Gabriel.

Daniel: Like the angel ... the messenger. Seems you have an affinity for ancient things.

Gabriel: It's a living.

The look on Gabriel's face is nearly hostile.

Daniel takes something small from his jacket pocket and tosses it onto Gabriel's desk.

Daniel: That coin used to belong to Cartaphilus. You know who that was.

Daniel starts walking out of the shop.

Gabriel: Yeah, doesn't everybody?

Daniel turns back just long enough to reply.

Daniel: Thankfully not.

Gabriel ponders with pursed lips.

Cut to Sara at home. She's turning a light out as the phone rings.

Sara (into phone): Hello?

Gabriel is on the other end of the line. He has a thick old book in his free hand.

Gabriel: Hey, Sara, it's Gabriel. What's up?

Sara: Hey. I was just about to call it a night.

Gabriel: You alone?

Sara: Yes. Why?

Gabriel: Ah, just wondering. You know, it's Friday night. I thought you might have company or something.

Sara: Gabriel, what's up?

Gabriel: Um ... I was just, uh ...

Gabriel closes and puts the book on a shelf.

Gabriel: ... I don't know, I, uh ... (little laugh) ... I couldn't sleep.

Sara: I know the feeling. Where's your girlfriend?

Gabriel: Uh, she's out with friends. Say, listen, um, how about you? Are you seeing anyone these days?

Sara: Uh, actually, I, I did meet a guy. And, for once, I'm kind of optimistic about it.

Gabriel: Hmm. That's good. Well, I certainly hope it works out for you, if you want it to.

As he says this, he looks at the coin Daniel gave him.

Sara: Thanks, kid. Good night.

Sara hangs up. Before she can do anything else, she has a little visit.

Irons' voice: He lusts for death with the same vigor that I lust for life.

Sara sees what appears to be a huge fire in the middle of the room. Then Joan burning at the stake. The past and present flicker for a couple seconds. Sara is left breathing hard and clutching her right wrist. The stone in the Witchblade is dark and still.

Fade.

End Act II

Act III

Open the next day. Sara is in her kitchen pouring herself a cup of coffee when she is interrupted by the sound of a cell phone ringing. She takes a hasty gulp of coffee then reaches for her phone.

Sara (into phone): Hello? Hello ...

The ringing sound continues.

Sara: ... oh.

She puts that phone down and goes to where her jacket is hanging up on a hook. She hesitantly removes Daniel's cell phone from the jacket pocket.

Sara (into phone): Hello?

Daniel is calling her from a pay phone on a street.

Daniel: Sara.

Sara: Daniel.

Daniel: I like how you call me by my whole name.

Sara: Where are you?

Daniel: I'm across from the Met. I was thinking ... I'd hold your hand while looking at paintings, followed by a beer, and maybe a stop at, uh, the Magnolia Bakery.

What follows are images from their idyllic day together: Daniel and Sara riding double (and sans helmets) on his motorcycle; eating ice cream treats in a park; walking arm-in-arm down a sidewalk; sharing a kiss; and riding back at the end.

Cut to Sara's kitchen. She is pouring cold tea for herself and Vicky, who is sitting at her kitchen table.

Sara: It's just that I've never believed in love at first sight.

Sara gives Vicky her tea and sits down at the table.

Vicky: Well, it happens. I mean, it's been documented. I figure you're pretty lucky. So, when are you going to see him again?

Sara: Tonight.

Vicky: Mm-hmm. Well, my advice is, you know, just go with it. I mean, what's the worst that can happen, right? {Don't they know better than to say that by now?}

Sara: That's true.

There's a knocking at her door. Sara gets up, goes to look through the peephole, and opens the door. There's a guy out there with short hair except for long spikes on top. Behind him is a stack of black cases.

Sara: Hello.

Guy: Yeah. A delivery for a Sara Penzini, Pezzini?

Sara looks at the stack of cases in her hall.

Sara: What do you got?

Guy (as if to an idiot): A set of drums.

He holds up a pair of drumsticks with a red ribbon around them. Sara takes the drumsticks.

Sara: Thanks.

Guy: Yeah.

Cut to see Daniel leaning against a brick wall outside and looking up at Sara's apartment. He smiles.

Cut to Irons' den. As usual, there's a roaring fire going. Ian sits in front of the fire in Irons' throne-like chair with his legs crossed at the knees. He's wearing a dark suit that would look more natural on Kenneth Irons. On a small table next to him is Irons' hand in the vase. Ian lowers his hand from his face and the camera shifts so we see a figure on the library stairs over Ian's shoulder that appears to be Kenneth Irons. He's dressed exactly like Ian.

Irons: Do you know who he is, this rival who touches what you love?

Ian: He is my enemy.

Irons: It seems that, despite himself, he is falling in love.

Suddenly, Irons stands between Ian and the fire.

Irons: She may change him.

Now Irons stands behind Ian.

Irons: She may redeem him.

Ian reaches over to touch the vase.

Irons: And theirs ... could prove to be an eternal love.

Irons points to a painting on the wall behind him of Venus and Adonis.

Irons: You must prevent it. Their attraction is intense, authentic, contrary to our purposes.

Ian: What do I do, Father?

Irons: Something spectacular. Something ... violent. Something that will shame and reveal him. Something final.

Ian seems to be alone again. He stares at the hand.

Cut to Sara's apartment. She is lighting candles. She has curled her hair and is wearing a skimpy black dress that, frankly, says "Boink me now." There's a knock on the door and she answers it. Daniel is there and he gives Sara a white lily.

Sara (smile): Oh!

Daniel looks at her for a moment then rushes in, his lips locked to Sara's. They can't get enough of each other. They rapidly make their way to the bed, Daniel shedding his sport coat with their lips still joined. After they reach the bed, they each help the other out of their remaining clothes. They are soon writhing together on Sara's bed.

Shift cameras during the passionate lovemaking to just outside Sara's bedroom window. Ian is there. He watches for a second then turns his head away, closes his eyes and shakes his head as if to dislodge the sight from his mind. He pounds his right fist against his head.

Back to Sara's some time later. Sara is lying in bed propped up on one elbow and hugging a pillow to her front. A couple more pillows are caught between her legs. She appears to be wearing just the Witchblade. Daniel runs his left hand across one of the drum kit's cymbals. He is wearing his pants and unbuttoned white dress shirt.

Sara: How did you know?

Daniel: I just thought they might appeal to you.

Sara: They do.

Daniel: There's something ancient, something primal about drums.

Sara: Where were you born?

Daniel: Athens.

Sara: Really? Still have family there?

Daniel: No, they've all gone.

Sara: Your parents?

Daniel: My mother died the day I was born. My father was in the army. He was a great captain of the guard. We traveled around a lot and ended up settling in Jerusalem.

Sara: You grew up in Israel?

Daniel: It wasn't called Israel when I lived there. {Um ...Sara? The nation of Israel has existed since the late 1940's. You should know this.}

Daniel: The politics of the region were very confusing. Still are.

Sara: Were you in the army, too?

Daniel: No ... I was a prison guard.

Sara: Oh.

Daniel (laugh): Yes, not the summit of intellectual exercise, I know, but ... I saw a lot.

Daniel sits on the bed and runs his hand along Sara's flank.

Daniel: Do you have any wine?

Daniel caresses her shoulder.

Sara: Ah, no, no, I'm, I'm sorry.

Daniel: We must have wine to celebrate.

Sara: And what are we celebrating?

Daniel: The promise of darkness. The darkness that will be our first night together.

Daniel moves to rise from the bed and Sara grasps his hand.

Sara: Um ... Daniel?

Daniel: Yeah?

Sara: What if I've fallen in love with you?

Daniel: What if I've fallen in love with you as well? It certainly wasn't something I was planning on.

Sara: No ... uh, it doesn't make sense.

Daniel: Love's as irrational as murder.

Sara: It's just, I ... This has never happened to me before. Not like this.

Daniel: I've tried not to make sense of what grows in the heart. Magic doesn't require a definition. I should go and find us a nice Brunello.

Sara (soft): OK.

Daniel rises and picks up his coat.

Sara: I'll never get used to you leaving.

Daniel: You won't have to ... ever.

Sara smiles and bites her lip as Daniel walks out the front door. She gets up and pulls on an oversized shirt and walks to a window so she can watch Daniel. Daniel looks up at Sara and she blows him a kiss. Sara's smiling face fills with shock and dismay as she witnesses Ian Nottingham approach Daniel from the rear and pull his sword across Daniel's throat. Daniel puts his hand to his neck {where there's no blood, by the way} and drops to the pavement.

Sara: Nooo ... !

Ian looks up at Sara with a face devoid of all expression. He swings his sword up onto his shoulder and walks away.

Fade.

End Act III

Act IV

Open in a hospital waiting room. A still-shocked Sara is sitting on the edge of her seat with her arms wrapped around herself and rocking slightly. Danny walks in rapidly and she gets up to hug him.

Sara: That son of a bitch sliced Daniel.

Danny: Who?

Sara: I'm gonna kill him, Danny, I'm gonna kill him as hard as I can.

Danny: Calm down, Sara.

Sara (voice raised): Don't tell me to calm down!

Danny: Who attacked him?

Sara: Ian Nottingham.

Danny: What, the freak who's been stalking you?

Sara: Yes!

Sara (voice breaking): I can't lose him. Damn it, I just found him. It isn't fair.

Danny: What do the doctors say?

Sara: The doctors say that, uh, he was slashed through the neck and then ...

Danny: Was he D. O. A.?

They are interrupted by a nurse.

Nurse: Miss Pezzini? Miss Pezzini?

Sara and Danny leave with the nurse. As they go, we see Lazar dressed as a janitor with a mop.

Cut to a treatment room in the hospital. Sara and the nurse part the curtains around a bed, but no one is there.

Sara: Where is he? What happened?

Nurse: I thought you might know.

Sara: I ...

Sara turns to Danny.

Sara: Nottingham.

Sara starts to leave and Danny grabs her arm.

Danny: What? You think he slipped in here and took the body?

Sara: I'll ask him when I find him.

Sara and Danny leave. As they pass Lazar with his mop again, Sara's anger isn't enough to keep her going any more and she starts sobbing. She falls into Danny's arms.

Sara: Oh, God! Oh, my God. What is happening?

A close-up of Danny's face shows it to be eerily calm. And, though his lips move, it is not Danny's voice we hear answer Sara.

Irons' voice: I won't lose to you just because I'm dead.

Sara backs away from Danny, shocked once again. Danny steps back into an area of light and shadow.

Sara: Where is Nottingham?

Irons' voice: The one you seek is at the same pier the Carpathia moored at.

Sara: Why did he kill Daniel?

Irons' voice: Your choice of lovers was hasty, darling. And now you share the same grief as Juliet. It is not exactly what I expected ... but I am enjoying this.

Sara: You son of a bitch.

Sara punches Danny with a hard right and he drops to the floor. Danny feels around inside his mouth.

Danny: Did you just belt me?

Sara stares at her partner with her mouth open.

Sara: Um ... yeah. I'm ... I'll explain later.

Sara gives Danny an apologetic look and then runs out.

Cut to Sara on her Buell. She's using her helmet phone {??} to talk to Gabriel.

Gabriel: Hello?

Sara: Hey, Gabriel, it's Sara. What pier did the Carpathia dock at?

Gabriel: Pier 62. Sara, listen to me. When your friend Daniel came and bought those drums from me, he gave me a coin that he said belonged to Cartaphilus.

Sara: I got to go.

Gabriel: Uh ...

But Sara has already disconnected.

Cut to the pier. Sara rides in an open-sided elevator. When the elevator stops and she raises the barrier, we see a candle on the floor. She steps out a few feet.

Sara (shout): Nottingham!

A blue light glows off to Sara's left and we can hear a multitude of low voices. Sara walks a couple more feet, till she is in a corridor that has a whole line of candles running down the middle on the floor.

Sara (more insistent): Nottingham!

Down the hallway, Daniel steps into the corridor from the side.

Sara: Daniel?

Daniel: My love. I knew you'd find me.

Sara (confused): I, I watched you die. You flatlined before my eyes.

Daniel: I've been killed 100 times, but I've never died.

Ignoring the implications of what he has just said, Sara smiles joyously and starts to run to him. Daniel holds up his left hand to halt her.

Daniel: No. I am Cartaphilus, Pontius Pilate's guard. I was posted guard along the path Jesus would walk to Golgotha.

We see a flash of Jesus carrying his cross. He has dropped to the ground momentarily. Daniel, then called Cartaphilus, is dressed a Roman soldier. He nudges Jesus with the haft of his spear.

Cartaphilus (memory): Get up! Hurry on your way.

Daniel: Jesus looked at me and said, "I will move on, but you will stay here until I return." Condemned to immortality for what I said to the Lord. I've been known by many names, seen in many guises. There have been myths, fables, and fairy tales of my existence, and they're all true.

Daniel begins walking slowly toward Sara, both arms held in front of him.

Daniel: I'm sorry, my love, for having sought you out to end it for me.

Sara: What have you done?

Daniel: Many things. It has been an endless cycle of sin and repentance. I am a beast. I have done things for which there is no atonement.

We get a flash of Daniel {I'll continue using this name.} in medieval garb swinging a sword and carrying a hangman's noose over his shoulder.

Sara: You killed that Father?

Daniel (soft): Yes.

We see a flash of Daniel looking up at Father Horton's body as it swings from the rope.

Daniel: I confessed to him ...

We see Father Horton slamming shut the partition that divides clergy from those giving their confessions.

Father Horton (memory): No ...!

Daniel: ... and he ran out screaming, threatening to tell the world of my existence. Mine is a legend I'd rather have forgotten. Mine is an anger I cannot control.

We get a flash of Daniel's attack on Father Horton.

Daniel closes his eyes and lowers his head.

Sara: What do you want me to do?

Daniel: If you love me, Sara, you must kill me.

Daniel looks desperate.

Sara: But, if you're immortal ...

Daniel: Joan burned in Rouen as I watched. I found her too late to have her do it for me.

A flash of Joan burning as Daniel (the richly dressed man) watches from the front of the crowd.

Daniel: The amulet upon your wrist can end my suffering. It has been worn by martyrs. It is of divine alchemy. If it doesn't work, nothing will. It is the only thing I know of that is powerful enough to terminate this living hell ... a hell that you lifted me from briefly.

Sara: I can't, I can't kill you.

Daniel: Death at your hands is my only chance at redemption. Sara, once I found you, I could have easily manipulated you into killing me. I could have kidnapped your friend Gabriel ...

We get a flash of Gabriel bound to a chair with a vest wired with explosives strapped to him. He yells just before we see a huge explosion.

Daniel: ... blackmailed you. Without blinking an eye, I could have snuffed the lives of your partners that you're so fond of ...

We get a flash of Daniel shooting Jake through his car window and then Daniel driving a knife into a bound and gagged Danny.

Daniel: ... forced you to kill me. All of which was my original plan, but I did none of these things. Instead, I fell in love with you. From afar at first ...

Daniel calms from the storm of violence into a resigned sadness. He reaches for Sara's right hand and holds it in both of his.

Daniel: ... and when I met you, that love grew stronger, and I had begun to believe that, perhaps, you and I could share an eternity together.

We get a flash of Sara and Daniel falling to her bed earlier this evening.

Daniel raises Sara's right hand to rest it firmly against his chest, her knuckles flush against his shirt.

Daniel: Kill me, Sara.

Sara closes her eyes briefly and a tear trickles down her right cheek.

Daniel (voice softening): I can't bear the shame of you knowing what I really am, what I've done, and what I'm capable of.

Sara starts to drift away from Daniel, but he pulls her arm back to him forcefully.

Daniel (firmly): If you don't kill me, others will die.

Sara jerks away. She is surprised when she looks down to see the Witchblade is transforming into the gauntlet with a sword.

Daniel delicately raises the blade of the Witchblade.

Daniel: The Witchblade knows what is the right course.

Daniel places the point of the blade over his heart and firms up his stance.

Daniel: And so do you.

Sara gives one shake of her head, still trying for denial. There is a look of absolute peace on Daniel's face. Sara closes her eyes and when she opens them once more, there is some measure of resolve there. Daniel lunges forward onto the Witchblade. He holds onto Sara's shoulder, then drops to the floor as the Witchblade changes back. Sara gathers him into her arms, crying.

Sara: I'm s.... I'm sorry.

Daniel (weakly): Finally ... I'm dying. Thank you. I've killed ... and I've maimed ... but I never loved ... until you.

Daniel's eyes close and Sara holds him close.

Fade.

End Act IV

END OF EPISODE

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