unoriginalname38 – the blog of Dave Cole

A little light reading...

Channel Four are running a competition to write a play. Details are at channel4.com/theplay. This is an idea I developed a bit and I'd very much appreciate any comments, even if they are of the 'it's a load of shite you self-important prat' variety.

Baby Dracula

The argument

Two vampires have tried to leave their soulless life and be as normal as possible. They have set up a small household, the male working as a nightwatchman and the woman as a barmaid. She is pregnant, something that has never happened before. Humans and vampires have mated occaisionally, giving rise to a purer form of vampire. They do not hunt, instead occaisionally satisfying their needs, when it is unbearable, on the fauna that live in London.

In a meeting of a secret society, the Brotherhood of the Bleeding Heart. One of its members is appointed to track down the vampires and kill them and the offspring for fear that the pure-bred vampire, once fully grown, would be unstoppable.

Cut to the home of the vampire couple. Domestic scene - she is heavily pregnant. The monk breaks in and kills the couple. He takes the baby in his arms and cannot kill it, so he goes to a hospital and leaves it outside.

A reaver is sent to kill the threesome, but feels pity for the young super vampire, and lets it live.

14 years pass – the reaver explains part of the story, including how vampires actually function

The reaver has a job (cleaner?) at the orphanage where the boy (who has become difficult) is. The reaver has a rapport with the boy. Cleaner loses his job to a contractor. Opens a shop selling 'magical' stuff and other arcana. Scene at the orphanage. SI? Isn't the fact that it's a magic shop just a rip-off of buffy? Make him work as a barkeep and have them meet in the appropriate section of the library?

A girl, not from the orphanage (from a boarding school?) buys stuff at the reaver's shop. Has been becoming progressively more interested. Does an incantation that shows links between a coming syzygy and the boy. The reaver explains that the boy is important and that at the syzygy he will be weak and that the brotherhood will try to kill him then. He doesn't say that the boy is a supervampire or that he, the reaver, is a former member of the brotherhood.

The girl asks what a syzygy is - the reaver uses an astrolabe to explain.

18 months pass – more information from the reaver

A new brother, who justifies evil means when they are for good ends, is sent to kill the boy.

The syzygy is approaching... say six months away. The scene is that of some amateur witches, one of whom is the girl (who has become a decent herblorist), doing silly love potions from a book on witchcraft. They go to the section on vampires because one of them has a boyfriend who is a wannabe vampire. The girl realises what is happening and uses the old tome to interpret the positioning of the syzygy to give the place and time of an event to do with a new vampire, who she realises is the boy.

The brother arrives looking for the boy. Goes straight to the reaver's shop to get the information out of him. The reaver realises he is coming and hides the girl in the back of the shop. The brother beats the reaver hollow. In the hospital, the reaver explains the story and that rather than being a force for evil, the boy is just power that can be moulded. Potential to be like the second coming.

Visit to hospital
The reaver had discovered that the brotherhood's belief that the boy had to be destroyed was wrong, that the power could be harnessed. Had intended to kill him at or near birth before trying to leave the brotherhood, but couldn't bring himself to kill a child. Explanation of what the brotherhood does here? The reaver asks the girl to protect the boy till after the syzygy in the hope that the act of protection will teach him that humans can be kind as well as cruel and so allow the potential good to be used.

Six months pass

The reaver is out of hospital. The syzygy is approaching. The boy has been arrested for petty theft. The girl goes to the reaver to bail him out. The brother catches up with the boy, girl and reaver outside the police station. Follows them. Fight ensues in which the boy is wounded and the reaver killed or otherwise taken out of commission. The girl and the brother face off. The brother explains his side of things. The girl is taken aback and appears to be about to capitulate when the police arrive. There is confusion and the boy jumps at a policeman, who shoots him. The girl leans over him and he dies.

FIN.

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