BOOK OF BLOOD

CHAPTER 06

INT. QUAID'S OFFICES - FORTUNE-TELLING ROOM -(continuation)

Why are you here? Did you cone... up here for a reading? Quaid takes hold of Harry's hand. HARRY NO ... I... Quaid stares at Harry's HAND. Fascinated, he momentarily forgets his pain. He traces the lines with bloody fingers. QUAID (quietly) My God. HARRY What? QUAID You've taken some strange journeys in your life. HARRY Yeah. You could say that.

QUAID You're drawn to the dark side, over and over. And it's drawn to you. (looks at Harry) You don't like that. HARRY Not much. QUAID You can't change it. You have to walk... (coughs) ...walk the line between Heaven and Hell. It's your destiny. Accept it. Harry takes his hand from Quaid's grip. Quaid winces in pain. HARRY Hold on. QUAID I'm not afraid to die. There's something terrible... coming home... HARRY The Puritan? QUAID Yes... HARRY Who is he? Quaid shudders, and dies. HARRY (softly; sadly) Shit.

He looks away, down at the CARDS. All have been turned over but ONE. He turns it. The card is the Ten of Swords which pictures a prostrate man against a thunderous sky, pierced by all ten swords. An image of death and desolation.

EXT. QUAID'S OFFICES - ALLEY BEHIND BUILDING - NIGHT:

The flashing LIGHTS of two patrol cars illuminate the scene. DETECTIVE EDDISON, a surfer-turned-policeman with buzz-cut blond hair, heads along the alley with Harry. He's midway through taking Harry's statement. There are already two OFFICERS examining the drapes. We can't yet see the body. EDDISON (to Harry) What were you doing up there? HARRY I'm a private detective. I was hired to follow somebody for a few days. A guy called Tapert. Insurance fraud.

EDDISON (writing) Tapert. So, now I've got Tapert, Butterfield. HARRY Tapert's got nothing to do with this. He came here to get his palm read. EDDISON What makes you so sure? HARRY (shrugs) I got a file on him two inches thick. He's a petty fraudster. This is something else. Ever heard of someone called the Puritan? EDDISON New one on me. (to Officer) Okay. Let's see him. OFFICER #l shakes his head, and opens up the drape. Broken GLASS drops from the folds, but that's all. Miller has gone. EDDISON Where the fuck is he? HARRY He got up and walked.

EDDISON (looking up at window) After that fall?. He must have broken half his bones. WE MOVE IN ON HARRY, as he stares down at the drape. HARRY I don't think he'd have given a shit. CUT TO:

INT. BUTTERFIELD'S APARTMENT - NIGHT :

The rooms are spartan. Nothing on the walls. Nothing on the floors. Very little furniture. Butterfield sits beside the window, obsessively combing his long hair. There is something feminine about him now: his voice a whisper, his stare distracted. If we didn't guess it already, we're in the presence of a madman. Miller is squatting against the wall, picking shards of GLASS out of his torso. It hurts, but he's enjoying himself.

BUTTERFIELD D'Amour... D'Amour... Why do I know that name? MILLER I know him. I saw him. He stops to pull out a particularly large piece of glass, sighing with pleasure. MILLER I saw him on T.V. Some kid got possessed and he saved the little bastard's life. BUTTERFIELD He's a priest? MILLER No. He's just a guy who's got a nose for this shit. (a beat. A smirk) Like you. A long beat of silence. Butterfield combs. Miller digs for glass.

BUTTERFIELD I don't want him getting in the way. MILLER He won't. Another silence. BUTTERFIELD (dreamily) We've all of us waited too long to have the homecoming spoiled. MILLER What do you mean, "all of us?" BUTTERFIELD You didn't think it was just going to be you and me? A lot of people believed in Nix. They haven't forgotten his promise. MILLER About? BUTTERFIELD Death.

MILLER What about death? BUTTERFIELD (a beat) It's an illusion. (:CUT TO:)

EXT. PHILADELPHIA STREET - MORNING

On screen: Philadelphia A suburban street. Early morning light.

INT. SUBURBAN HOUSE - PHILADELPHIA - MORNING CLOSE-UP:

Of a PHOTOGRAPH of the Cultist with the Painted Face, from the opening scene, standing outside Nix's house in Nevada. His name is Norman Sanders. ON NORMAN, thirteen years older, looking down at the photograph. He lays it down, beside a letter, on which two words are written: "Homecoming Time." Norman smiles to himself. Goes to the wardrobe. Gets out a small suitcase. His WIFE'S BODY is slumped in the wardrobe, glassy-eyed. CLOSE UP of letter -�

INT. KITCHEN IN MIAMI HOUSE - DAY :

DRAW OUT from the letter to a different interior, a different domestic circumstance. On the screen: Miami. BARBARA - the blonde girl who carved the cult's sigil into her chest - is washing her hands. She casually dries them, and picks up the letter, walking past her HUSBAND and SON, both DEAD at the breakfast table, BLOOD spreading around their heads.

When she gets to the door she steps over the body of her DAUGHTER, who has also been shot trying to escape her mother's murder spree. ON THE RADIO, George Harrison sings "My Sweet Lord." RADIO "I really want to see you, Lord, And it won't take long, my Lord, My sweet Lord..."