8Night Prey
Twenty years ago, the Blackmans, Kurt [Michael Burgess] and Michele
[Genevieve Langlois] were on their
honeymoon. After sharing a romantic, candlelit dinner outdoors, they
went for a walk. As they stopped for a kiss, they heard the flapping of
wings. Suddenly, a vampire swooped down, knocked Kurt to the ground,
bit Michele, and carried her off as Kurt watched helplessly.Kurt has spent the last 20 years hunting vampires. One night, he
follows a vampire into an alley where he stakes her, after which he
hears a familiar sound--the leathery flutter of a vampire's wings--
following him. Kurt breaks into St Mark's Church looking for
protection. When he sees the Cross of Fire, a relic from the Crusades,
he takes it. The parish priest, Father McDermott, tries to stop him. As
they struggle, a knife blade ejects from the bottom of the cross
[common in medieval times when such protection was used by traveling
monks] and accidentally stabs Fr McDermott in the chest. Father Finn
rushes in to help the dying priest, and Kurt runs away with the cross.
The next night, Kurt follows Evan Van Hellier [Eric Murphy], the vampire who stole
his wife, to the Neon Gargoyle, an exclusive nightclub known to cater
to strange types. When Kurt tries to get in, he is refused entry. When
the vampire doorman tries to rough him up, Kurt holds out the cross,
which suddenly emits a jet of fire and totally incinerates the vampire.Jack is devastated when he hears about Fr McDermott's death, since
the priest was a friend of his. Who would kill a priest over a cross?
Micki checks Uncle Louis's inventory list and finds that Louis sold a
Cross of Fire to one Walter Drake, who later donated the cross to St
Mark's. When news of the doorman's death makes it into the morning
paper, Micki adds up all the strange deaths that have been reported in
that neighborhood--bodies drained of blood, a woman found in an alley
with a stake through her heart, Father McDermott stabbed by the Cross
of Fire, and now the incinerated doorman--and she wonders whether there
might be a connection. Jack concurs. He sends Micki and Johnny to talk
with Father Finn, who tells them that the Cross of Fire is from a
Hungarian Church near Transylvania. Legend says it was used to bless a
member of the congregation who then offered himself to save the village
from a vampire. Because the newspaper article mentions that the
incinerated body was found by club owner Evan Van Hellier, Jack pays
Evan a visit. Unfortunately, Evan isn't available and his renfield
doesn't know anything about the Cross of Fire. So who has the cross now?Kurt has figured out that, when the blade on the cross is used to
kill someone, the ability of the cross to incinerate vampires is
activated. That night, he breaks into Van Hellier's mansion, in the
process stabbing a guard with the crossblade. He attempts to use the
cross against Evan, but before it can work, Evan flies out the door.
Searching the mansion, Kurt comes across two female vampires sharing
their blood with each other. He fries one of them with the cross and
then turns to the other, only to find that it's Michele. Kurt takes
Michele to the basement of an abandoned warehouse where he puts her in
chains and places her inside some mosquito netting which is supposed to
protect her from all the crosses and garlic he has hanging from the
ceiling. Evan tries to break in to save Michele but is weakened by the
crosses and garlic and has to leave. Michele begs Kurt to let her go
because she'll die if she doesn't feed, but Kurt refuses. "I won't lose
you twice," he explains, and later he brings back a hooker from whom
Michele can feed.The next evening, after attending Fr McDermott's funeral, Jack and
Micki return to the shop. Evan Van Hellier pays them a visit. After his
encounter with Kurt, Evan has become interested in the Cross of Fire.
He makes up a story about renting a warehouse to Kurt Blackman who
showed him a cross with a knife blade. While they are talking, Jack
glances in a mirror and notices that Van Hellier casts no reflection,
but Jack says nothing. After Evan leaves, Jack, Micki, and Johnny go to
the warehouse, wrest the cross away from Kurt, and leave. Realizing
that, without the cross, he has no way to protect Michele from Van
Hellier, Kurt has Michele make him into a vampire, too. Realizing that,
without the cross, Kurt is a sitting duck to Van Hellier, Micki runs
back into the warehouse. Evan, who has been watching all along from his
car and knows that Kurt is no longer in possession of the cross, goes
into the warehouse after Michele. In the melee that ensues--vampire vs
vampire vs Micki, Johnny, and Jack--Kurt stakes Evan, causing him to
turn to dust, and Jack splashes Kurt with holy water, causing him to
burst into flames. When Jack turns the holy water on Michele, he seems
to have a change of heart, tosses away the bottle, and walks off.Epilogue: Johnny wonders why Jack let a vampire get away, especially when he
had the chance to use the holy water on her. The only reason Micki can
offer is "He let her live another day. Whatever she does with that is
up to her." Meanwhile, Jack is seated on a bench watching the sunrise
over the ocean. Talking to himself, he says, "I wish I had their
wisdom. Some of them have lived for thousands of years--seen the
building of the pyramids, the glory of the Roman Empire--and must
understand more than we do. God help me, I almost envy them." [Original
synopsis by bj_kuehl]
