Blackwing
     Forever Knight, Season 3, Episode 4
     Written by Gillian Horvath
     Transcribed by Marg Baskin 
     Proofread by Nancy Warlocke

Guest Cast:
     Jess...........................................Denis LaCroix
     Marian.......................................Michelle Thrush
     Gary Blackwing..................................Jack Burning
     Young Gary........................................Glen Gould
     Reporter.......................................Paula Barrett
     Judge Beatrice Payne.......................Victoria Mitchell
     Mark Buckwater.........................Peter Kelly Gaudrault
     Roger Bland.........................................Jim York
     Security Guard...................................Colm Magner

TEASER

[Intermixed images from three scenes: an old native man, Gary 
Blackwing, is sitting in a modern room, chanting; elsewhere in 
the city, his granddaughter, Marian, sleeps restlessly; and in a 
birch forest, Marian, in traditional costume, approaches a young 
man, similarly dressed. She kneels in front of him, then looks up 
at him uncertainly.]

Marian: Grandfather?

[The old man hears movement behind him, but as he starts to turn, 
someone grabs him from behind and slits his throat. In the birch 
forest, the young man is simultaneously wounded, and drops to the 
ground, bleeding.]

Marian: Grandfather!

[She starts awake from the dream, crying. Elsewhere in the city, 
her grandfather dies as she saw him die in her dream.]

Marian: Grandfather...

OPENING CREDITS

[SCENE: Tracy's apartment. She's getting ready for work. The TV 
is turned on behind her, and she's idly listening to the news as 
she gets dressed. The news is covering a protest outside a high-
rise office building. Several demonstrators are being led away by 
police.]

TV Reporter: [on TV] We're standing in front of the corporate 
offices of Robinson Developers, where a group of demonstrators 
has gathered to protest plans to build the world's largest 
shopping mall on a tract of land just north of Toronto. The 
rightful ownership of this land has become the focus of a bitter 
and escalating debate, with emotions running high on both sides.

TV Reporter: [on TV] [snagging one of the protesters to 
interview] And where do you stand on this issue?

Vachon: [on TV] The Mississauga Indians' claim to this land is 
valid.

[Hearing his familiar voice, Tracy turns to stare at the TV set.]

TV Reporter: [on TV] But that hasn't been proven yet.

Vachon: [on TV] It will be, and when it is, you'll see that they 
have every right to be fully fledged partners in this mega-mall. 
It's not like they're trying to stop the project. I think the big 
problem in all of this is Robinson and his greed.

[He gestures towards the building behind them. His image on the 
screen is subtitled "Concerned Citizen."]

Vachon: [on TV] Well, believe me, there's a lot of people out 
there who won't want to patronize this mall until the land claim 
issue has been settled.

[Tracy's phone rings, and she goes to answer it. On the TV, 
Vachon pulls on a motorcycle helmet, mounts his bike and drives 
off as the reporter goes looking for another interviewee.]

Tracy: [into the phone, still staring at the TV in disbelief] 
Yeah.... Right... Okay, I'm on it, Captain. I'll catch up with 
him there.

[SCENE: Gary Blackwing's apartment. Nick and Tracy watch 
Blackwing's corpse being zipped into a body bag.]

Nick: A friend found him about an hour ago. His name's Gary 
Blackwing. He's involved in the Mississauga tribal land claim. 
The Robinson Mega-mall case. He was their main advocate.

[Natalie walks up to Nick, carrying a wooden display mountain 
which holds a single obsidian knife.]

Natalie: Nick. I'm thinking this is a clue. Throat slit. [she 
indicates the item in her hand.] Knife missing from matched set. 
Made of obsidian. Volcanic glass. It's very sharp, and very, very 
brittle. If one like this was used on him, it may have left 
shards in the wound.

[Nick reaches for the remaining knife, but as his fingers touch 
the handle he grunts in pain and hastily draws back.]

Natalie: What?

Nick: Uh... [He looks at Tracy, who is standing nearby, and 
lies.] Nothing. I think it was just a static charge. What is it? 
Raven?

[He holds open an evidence bag, and Natalie places the dagger 
inside it.]

Tracy: Yeah. Power animal of the medicine man. Iktomi the 
Trickster bird. He was a very popular icon in native culture. He 
stole the sun from his brother, and gave it to the world...

[Natalie and Nick are staring at her in surprise, so she grins.]

Tracy: Sixth grade. Girl Guides. Merit badge in Native American 
culture.

Nick: Let's talk to his friend. 

[Nick and Tracy approach Jess Nevins, who is waiting nearby.]

Nick: Mr. Nevins, I'd like to ask what brought you here at this time 
of night?

Jess: There's a hearing tomorrow. I drove down from the reserve 
to stay over with Gary. I was late coming in.

Nick: There's been a lot of press about your tribe's land claim.

Jess: They want to build the world's biggest shopping mall on our 
land, Detective. Lots of job there. Lots of revenue. The Dakotas 
have casinos. The Seminoles do bingo. We got zilch. Turquoise and 
trinkets. We just want to participate. Our fair share, no more 
than that. Our people need this.

Nick: Mr. Blackwing--did he have a lot of enemies?

Jess: You saw him. Would you say that's the work of a friend?

Tracy: Was Mr. Blackwing a medicine man, Mr. Nevins?

Jess: Gary Blackwing did walk the spirit plane, but he was very much 
of this earth in business, and in the interests of his people.

Tracy: Why do you think he was murdered with a ritual Raven knife?

Jess: [amused] Probably because it was sharp and it was handy. 
Robinson wants to put up a multi-media mega-mall on land that 
wasn't his. Gary had the original surveyor's letter to prove it. 

Nick: Where is the letter now?

Jess: He didn't say. He didn't trust anybody. Only said he'd 
bring it. You don't need to walk among the spirits to find his 
killer, ma'am. He's right here on this earth.

[There's a disturbance by the door, as Marian Blackwing tries to 
push her way past two uniformed officers.]

Marian: I want to see my grandfather.

[The uniformed cops let her past, and Jess hurries over to her.]

Jess: Marian! Marian, I was going call you.

Marian: Jess, where is he? What are they doing here?

Nick: I'm Detective Knight. This is Detective Vetter... Your 
grandfather's been murdered.

Marian: I knew that.

[Nick steps forward and lays a hand on Marian's arm. The moment 
they make physical contact, Marian sees a vision of him in 
vampire form. Nick hastily withdraws, and Tracy steps in, leading 
her aside to a seat.]

Tracy: I'm so sorry. Come have a seat. 

Marian: I saw... my grandfather die.

Jess: [kneeling in front of her] What did you see?... You're 
here, Marian, and no one called you. What brought you?

Marian: Somebody cut his throat. [conspiratorially] I saw it on 
the spirit walk, Jess.

[SCENE: an interrogation room at the precinct. Jess and Marian 
are sitting together on one side of a table, with Tracy on the 
other. Nick is keeping in the background, leaning against a wall, 
letting Tracy handle the interview.]

Jess: Her grandfather was keeper of the old ways among my people. He 
used to say that Marian had his gift, too. She only had to 
embrace it, and it would blossom within her.

Marian: I never felt anything.

Tracy: But tonight?

Marian: I dreamed we were in this place I've never been before. It was 
like a forest. It was like a real place, but then again, not 
real.

Jess: The spirit walk.

Marian: There was this... young native man there. He was dressed 
real traditional like. I don't know how, but he was my 
grandfather... Somehow, I just knew.

Jess: That was Gary. In the spirit walk, we are young forever. 
[glances at Tracy] Good deal, huh? What did he tell you?

Marian: Nothing. He never spoke. He tried to give me something.

Jess: A warrior's lance?

Marian: Yeah.

Jess: The symbol of his power.

Marian: And then, somebody cut his throat.

[CUT to Captain Reese and Natalie who have been listening to the 
interview through the two-way mirror.]

Reese: This is a new one on me.

Natalie: Well, it's not unheard of in close relatives, Captain. Some 
sort of powerful psychic link.

Reese: It's not what you'd call admissible, Doctor, is it?

Natalie: No.

Reese: No. 

[SCENE: the squad room. Tracy is leading Marian out of the 
interview room, with Jess trailing them.

Tracy: Well, maybe you saw something that could give us a clue as to 
who it was.

Marian: There was nobody there. It was just him and me.

Tracy: [to Jess] Is there some kind of ceremony she could do? To 
go back to the spirit walk? Maybe you could talk to your 
grandfather--ask him what happened?

Jess: I think we should go now.

[He leads Marian away.]

Tracy: Thank you.

[She approaches her desk. Nick is sitting on the edge of his 
desk, reading some papers.]

[CUT to Jess and Marian, who haven't yet left.]

Jess: Even now you see with Gary Blackwing's eyes, aren't you? What 
do you see?

[Marian points at Nick, who has his back to them.]

Marian: Darkness. He's surrounded by it. There's this light that I 
sense that's trying to break free of the darkness, but it can't.

Jess: That's part of the power. You can take the darkness away. You 
can heal.

[Nick turns, sees them, and comes over.]

Nick: Look, I'm sorry this is taking so long. I under--

[As soon as he reaches them, Marian reaches out and touches her 
face. Instantly, she seems him in vampire form, killing LaCroix. 
Horrified, she retreats to a corner of the room. Jess steps 
between her and Nick.]

Jess: She sees you with her grandfather's vision, Detective. Says a 
great darkness encases you. It strangles your spirit... You're 
not married, are you, Detective?

Nick: [staring at Marian over his shoulder.] No.

Jess: Couldn't be that, then. Whatever it is, she can heal it. I'm 
certain of it. Good night, Detective.

[Tracy comes up behind Nick as Jess leads Marian out of the squad 
room.]

Tracy: [cheerfully] I think Marian's got a little crush on you, 
Nick.

[SCENE: Driving through the city, Nick begins to flash on images 
of Marian on the spirit walk. Parking the car, he flies to her 
apartment. In the physical world, Marian is in bed, asleep and 
restless. On the spirit walk, she finds a body covered in a 
blanket, profusely stained with blood. She touches it, stares at 
the blood on her hands in horror, then turns to find Nick 
standing behind her. Startled, she wakes up--and Nick is standing 
in her bedroom.]

Marian: You're here... Why? What's happening to me?... To us?

Nick: I was hoping you'd know. Maybe we could help each other.

Marian: I want to help you. I mean, I feel like I can, but... I'm just 
not sure how. 

[Nick steps up behind her, embracing her for a moment, then 
withdrawing.]

Marian: They say that a medicine man looks for heat to learn 
where the trouble lies... [She touches him hesitantly, 
exploring his skin.] My grandfather could do it with a single 
touch, but you--you're so cold.

Nick: I know where my trouble lies. 

[CUT to the spirit walk, where they continue touching and 
exploring each other. Nick suddenly realizes that it's daylight.]

Nick: The sun...

Marian: [soothing] It can't harm you. It's all right...
This was my grandfather's gift--the power to heal. [She cuts his 
forearm with a raven knife, then her own, and presses them 
together.] Let it heal you.
 
[They start kissing in earnest. CUT to later: Marian is asleep in 
bed. Nick bends over her, kisses her, then gets up. He goes to 
the mirror and studies himself curiously in the mirror.]

COMMERCIAL

[SCENE: Nick and Nat talking on the phone. Nick is in his 
apartment, drying off after a shower. Nat is in the morgue.]

Nick: I just feel better, okay? I'd like to see you.

Natalie: With what I charge for house calls, you'd be better off to 
wait til dark.

Nick: I think it worked. I don't really know what she did to me...

Natalie: [sarcastic] Well, if I were you, I'd still stay out of 
the sun.

Nick: You don't believe me. 

Natalie: Let's just say that I am really skeptical about this 
whole thing, Nick. I have studied you every which way from 
Sunday, and if there's anything I do know, it's that your 
condition is not a metaphysical disorder.

[Nick goes over to stand near the windows. It's daytime, and a 
little sunlight is leaking in through cracks in his shutters.]

Nick: I wish you could feel what it feels like. It's like I've been 
freed. Like the past has been erased.

Natalie: That easy, huh?

[He sticks his hand into the shaft of sunlight. It burns and 
begins to smoke. He gasps in pain and pulls it away.]

Natalie: Nick, you okay?

Nick: Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Look, Nat, all I'm saying is that I 
don't know what, but something's changed. Something's definitely 
changed.

[CUT to Marian, as he's speaking. She, too, is just emerging from 
the shower. She wipes the steam away from her bathroom mirror, 
and stares at her image with a cold, dark expression that's 
nothing like her previous personality.]

[SCENE: Toronto, a judge's chambers within old City Hall. The 
hearing about the land claim is underway, with Jess, Buckwater--a 
young native lawyer--and Marian, among others, present. Jess and 
Buckwater are talking off to one side while the judge reviews 
documents.]

Buckwater: Look, the settlement money is guaranteed.

Jess: Screw the settlement. That's our land. We're entitled. Gary 
Blackwing speaks to his granddaughter. She'll find the letter.

Buckwater: He speaks to her. Don't tell me, from beyond the grave. From 
the spirit plane.

Jess: Be careful how you mock what you don't believe, Little 
Cloud. Even now, Blackwing watches and hears.

Judge: Well, Mr. Buckwater, you've had sufficient time to take 
your case to the press, apparently, but not prepare for this 
hearing?

Buckwater: Your Honor, our proof rests in an original surveyor's 
letter showing Mississauga titles on land not covered in the 
treaties.

Jess: But your honor, that letter was in the possession of Gary 
Blackwing--tribal elder and a friend who was killed tragically 
last night. I don't doubt that he was murdered because of his 
stand against this injustice.

Judge: As tragic as Mr. Blackwing's death is, I have no patience 
for unsupported allegations, sir. Plaintiff is ordered to produce 
evidence to substantiate your claim by 9 a.m. Friday, or 
litigation will be summarily dismissed. 

[The representatives of Robinson Developers exchange smug, 
satisfied glances.]

Judge: One week, gentlemen. No more.

Marian: Your Honor, may I be recognized?

Judge: You are not a signed party to this dispute, Miss 
Blackwing.

Marian: But Gary Blackwing was. Your Honor, I speak for my grandfather 
now. His cause is my cause, and I wish to take his place in this 
dispute.

Judge: Very well. 

[Jess looks pleased. The Robinson Developers people exchange 
uncertain shrugs, one of them muttering "I don't know," to the 
others.]

[SCENE: the loft. It's daylight outside. Nick is still in his 
bathrobe. Natalie is sitting beside him, with a stethoscope 
around her neck, taking his blood pressure with a cuff.]

Nick: I don't feel guilty. That's what it is. 

[Natalie isn't listening. She has the stethoscope stuffed in her 
ears, so Nick picks it up and speaks into it, playfully.]

Nick: For the first time in my life, I don't feel guilty.

Natalie: Really? 

[She unwraps the cuff, stands up, and begins putting her 
equipment away. Every movement is stiff and angry.]

Natalie: So, how much does it cost to get your soul dry cleaned 
these days? Maybe I'll send mine out, too. [mildly contrite] I'm 
sorry, I just think you're a victim of the placebo effect.

Nick: So I just feel better because I want to feel better, is that 
what you're saying?

Natalie: Exactly.

Nick: What about the visions?

Natalie: I don't know. Maybe byproducts of sleep deprivation. Vivid 
daydreaming. Basically you need to get more sleep.

[Nick picks up on the complete lack of conviction in her voice.]

Nick: You have a scientific explanation for everything, don't you? 
Even if you don't believe it.

Natalie: [highly irritated] I don't mean to burst your morning-
after bubble, but you still don't tan, you boil. And you had 
three pints of donated plasma this morning--for breakfast. You 
are still a vampire.

Nick: But I don't feel like one. Maybe that's progress enough.

[SCENE: Gary Blackwing's apartment. Tracy is wandering around, 
examining various things. As she kneels down to take a closer 
look at a painting set up on an easel, Marian enters the room 
behind her.]

Marian: It's one of mine.

[Startled, Tracy jumps to her feet.]

Tracy: Oh, come on in. Just don't touch anything. I'm going over 
my work to see if I missed anything.

Marian: I never even showed him my art. I thought he'd be 
disappointed.

Tracy: Why? It's really good.

Marian: It was more of his attitude towards me. The fact that I left 
the Rez and his way of life.

Tracy: Well, he sure parked it where everyone could see it.

Marian: He must've got it from a dealer. Look, Detective, I've been 
thinking about what you were saying, about using this power that 
I seem to have inherited. I think I need to try. I think I need 
to try--try to finish what my grandfather started, even though 
I'm not even sure where to, just yet.

Tracy: Well... once we get clearance, we can start going through 
his things.

Marian: We're never going to get through this in a week. Thanks a 
lot Mishumis <sp?>.

Tracy: [Looking around] Is he here?

Marian: I wish. Ever... You know if he expected me to finish this 
stuff, he should have left a clue where to start.

Tracy: How old were you when you left the Reserve?

Marian: Seventeen. I started working, and putting myself through 
art school. I never looked back. It was hard, but it was the 
right thing to do. Look at it this way, I'm probably the only 
woman in town with a master's degree in fine arts--and can skin a 
deer.

Tracy: You know, my whole family's cops. When I was a little kid, I 
kind of thought everyone was a cop. So when I went to college, I 
tried pre-med, pre-law, computers. Anything but another Officer 
Vetter. But you know what? I am a good cop. Sometimes I think 
we're just meant to do what we're meant to do.

Marian: Yeah. I think I know what you mean.

[SCENE: Vachon's church. Tracy walks in. There are candles 
burning, but no sign of Vachon.]

Tracy: Hello? Anyone there? 

[She turns around and almost runs into Vachon, who is now 
standing behind her, with a wooden crate marked "Point Pelee 
Winery" under his arm.]

Tracy: [gasping in surprise] Geez, why do you do that?

Vachon: [smug and amused] 'Cause I can. You like what I've done 
with the place?

Tracy: Let's talk, Mr. Concerned Citizen.

Vachon: You saw me on television.

[He sets the crate down, and begins checking the bottles inside.]

Tracy: Mmhm. This was a side of you I was not aware of.

Vachon: Let's just say I have a personal stake in the proceedings.

Tracy: I thought you didn't get involved?

Vachon: [sighing] I know the Mississauga claim is 100% valid.

Tracy: You've see the proof?

Vachon: The surveyor's letter. You forget. I've been around. 

[He lights a candle from one of those sitting around, and starts 
wandering around, lighting more as he talks.]

Vachon: It was more than two hundred year ago. Queen Anne's 
Campaign.

Tracy: [fascinated] The French-Indian Wars?

Vachon: And more, on and off, for seventy-five years. You know 
me, love a good fight--at least that's how I used to be... 
Sometimes, fighting for a losing cause, no matter how right it 
is, can frustrate you. Wear you down.

Tracy: So whose side were you on?

Vachon: Whoever was losing. I fought with the Iroquois against 
the French. The Ojibwas against the English. We were running in 
small bands, hit and run stuff. Harassing their scouts.

Tracy: Harassing?

Vachon: Yeah. Harassing... Interrupting supply lines, so to 
speak. 

[CUT to FLASHBACK, playing out visually while Vachon continues 
to. A man dressed in frontier clothes of the period is walking 
through a night time forest. Vachon leaps on him, feeding.]

Vachon: I was there when the Mississauga tribe negotiated the 
land settlement treaty with the government of Upper Canada. 

[CUT to FLASHBACK, again playing out while Vachon narrates. A 
group of English soldiers and Indians are gathered around a rough 
table by torchlight. Vachon, dressed in buckskins, steps up and 
signs his name--J. Vachon--to the treaty, then adds a native 
glyph.]

Vachon: We were on our way to bring the treaty back to the 
tribes, and we were double crossed. Ambushed. 

[The FLASHBACK continues with a scene of Vachon moving among the 
bodies of slaughtered natives. He bends down beside one body, 
lifting its head so he can see the face.]

Vachon: The pact was stolen, and all real proof of the tribe's 
territorial rights disappeared. I searched for years after. Never 
found it. Then, somehow, it turned up. Gary Blackwing found it. 
Anyway, it's not my fight anymore. Never really was.

Tracy: Well, in that case, you might want to light one of those 
candles for Gary Blackwing. He was murdered last night.

[Vachon stares at her in surprise, then blows out the candle.]

[SCENE: Nick is asleep in bed while his consciousness wanders the 
spirit plane. Marian joins him, and they kiss.]

Marian: [drawing away] I helped you. Help us now.

[She turns and runs away. Nick looks down at his hands, finding 
them blood stained. He looks around and sees a man sitting on a 
nearby rock, facing away from him. When he approaches, he 
discovers it is a corpse, his throat cut like Gary Blackwing's. 
Startled, he wakes up in bed, his brow covered in blood sweat.]

[SCENE: the precinct. Nick is heading for his desk, but Reese 
intercepts him.]

Reese: Don't get comfortable, Nick.

Nick: You've got something?

Reese: Warm body. Twenty-sixth Precinct picked it up. Go over and 
take a look at it, will you? It's Robinson's lawyer, Timothy 
Wade. Eye for an eye, looks like.

[SCENE: the murder scene, which is a parked car. Tracy is already 
on the scene. She meets Nick at the Caddy when he arrives.]

Tracy: Hooker called it in. Thought it was a guy hanging around for a 
party. But when she leaned in to chat him up...

[The corpse is sitting in the driver's seat of the car. Wade is 
the man Nick saw on the spirit walk, and his throat is cut in an 
identical manner.]

COMMERCIAL

[SCENE: the murder scene, later. Natalie is just finishing her 
examination of Wade's body.]

Tracy: I can see it now: Land claims battle comes to Toronto.

Natalie: Lawyers get murdered all the time. It doesn't mean it 
has anything to do with the land dispute.

Tracy: Unless someone didn't like what happened to Gary 
Blackwing--which is not an unreasonable assumption.

[Nick hurries over to Natalie, as Tracy moves away.]

Nick: Do you have a time of death?

Natalie: Uh, we've still got some temperature. Maybe 8 p.m., give or 
take thirty minutes.

[SCENE: the precinct. Reese is arguing with Buckwater, who has 
been brought in for questioning.]

Reese: It's just an interview, Mr. Buckwater.

Buckwater: Don't you realize what this will do to our case? We 
don't stand a chance in court if the public turns against us.

Reese: Public opinion will have no bearing on the judge's decision, 
and you know that. And nobody's under arrest. Now, look, the 
sooner we get your statement, the sooner we all go home.

[Reese ushers Buckwater into his office. They pass Tracy's desk, 
where Tracy is taking a statement from Jess.]

Jess: Always the same, isn't it? Crime is committed. Round up the 
usual suspects. That lawyer didn't have any white enemies?

Tracy: [smiling] We won't keep you long.

[Jess looks across the room to where Nick and Marian are 
together, talking quietly.]

Jess: It's good that Marian has someone to share her spirit with. 
She's too much of a loner. I always tell her that. 

Tracy: Yeah. Nick's the same. He's a secretive guy. Keeps to himself 
a lot.

Jess: [conspiratorially] Not anymore.

[He leaves with Captain Reese, who has come out to find him. 
Smiling, Tracy continues to surreptitiously watch Nick and Marian 
together.]

[CUT to Nick and Marian, across the room.]

Nick: I can't quite put my finger on it, but I feel good. There's 
something to it.

Marian: I helped you. Help us now. We can't let the press make a big 
deal out of this.

Nick: Listen, I know what you were talking about the other night. I 
had a dream with Timothy Wade in it. I think I dreamed his death.

Marian: You've been on the spirit walk again.

Nick: This was real. I just couldn't see who killed him.

Marian: You know, I still see my grandfather dying. He used to say 
that life turned into dreams, and dreams, into life. 

Nick: That's what I'm most afraid of.

[SCENE: Tracy at her desk at the precinct, talking on the phone 
to Vachon, at the church.]

Tracy: [on the phone] Please tell me you had nothing to do with 
this.

Vachon: Not my fight anymore. I told you.

Tracy: And you'll stay out of it?

Vachon: Absolutely.

Tracy: How am I to trust you? How am I supposed to know that anything 
you tell me is true?

Vachon: Find the letter. You'll see--when you find the letter. 

[He hangs up.]

[SCENE: Nick crossing the squad room. Reese calls to him from the 
office.]

Reese: Knight! In here a sec.

Nick: Have you seen Tracy?

Reese: In the morgue, I think. What's going on with you and Marian 
Blackwing?

Nick: It's not what you think.

Reese: You don't want to know what I think--but I'll tell you anyway. 
Marian Blackwing is a suspect.

Nick: We're running everyone's alibi. I just don't think she's 
capable of such brutality.

Reese: Nevertheless, I want someone on her.

Nick: Well, let me handle her, all right?

Reese: Well, you keep your head on, okay?

Nick: Yeah.

[SCENE: The morgue. Tracy is looking at Timothy Wade's corpse, 
which is covered with a sheet.]

Natalie: ...nearly took his head right off.

Tracy: Just like Gary Blackwing.

Natalie: Well, not quite. Gary Blackwing's throat wound was much 
shallower. More tentative cut. Fatal enough. Wade here nearly got 
decapitated. Different killer. Stronger maybe.

Tracy: Or same guy, more confident in his technique, now that he's 
had some practice.

Natalie: Well, one thing is certain. You were right about the 
ceremonial knife. I found microscopic flakes of obsidian in both 
victims. The lab will tell us if they're from the same blade. 

[Natalie gestures to the microscope. Tracy sits down in front of 
it and examines the slide.]

Natalie: One knife or two, whoever it was sure knew how to use 
'em.

[SCENE: LaCroix is on the air as the Nightcrawler. In his 
broadcast booth, he's reading the newspaper, with headlines about 
the two murders involved in the land claim situation. Nick is 
driving through the streets, listening on the radio.

LaCroix: It's Indian legend time. A Native American faery story 
for children of all ages. Legend has it that when the world was 
young and unfinished, the Great Spirit father made the mistake of 
leaving his paints where his children could get them. Raven 
begged Eagle to paint him as beautiful and grand as the Great 
Spirit had made Eagle himself. And so he did. Or so he tried. But 
when Raven looked at his reflection in the water, he didn't like 
what he saw. Raven became angry. He and Eagle fought, and the 
Great Spirit father's paints were spilled over Raven, and made 
him all black. Black wings. Black eyes. Black breast. Raven ran 
into the river, and flapped his wings against the current, but 
the color was indelible. The water wouldn't wash it away. This is 
your punishment, said the Great Father, for interfering with my 
work. Black you are, and black you will stay. You will never come 
clean. Not much of a legend at that, is it, children? But I 
rather like the moral.

[SCENE: On the spirit walk, Nick sees Marian again. She points at 
him accusingly, but doesn't approach. Then the dream turns to 
nightmare, with images of a man in bed, being murdered by a 
figure holding a Raven knife. As the knife sinks in, Nick starts 
awake, still at the wheel of the Cadillac, which is parked. The 
Dispatcher is trying to raise him on the radio.]

Dispatcher: 81-kilo (2). Please respond. 81-kilo (2). Please 
respond.

COMMERCIAL

[SCENE: the precinct. Reese is talking to Tracy.]

Tracy: ...the crime scene's in the 44th's jurisdiction. They won't 
let me near it.

Reese: And you've lost your partner.

Tracy: Dispatch keeps trying, but--

Reese: Does Knight know about Roger Bland's murder?

Tracy: I don't know.

Reese: Has anyone called Andrew Robinson, to let him know that 
maybe he'll want to watch his back?

Tracy: No luck yet. Apparently he's overseas on business.

Reese: Dr. Lambert's the M.E. on call. Talk to her about Bland. Hell, 
she might know where Knight is, too.

[Tracy nods and leaves.]

[SCENE: Tracy and Natalie enter the morgue lab together, 
talking.]

Tracy: We have been trying to get a hold of Nick for over an hour. 
The last thing we heard, he was over at Marian Blackwing's place.

Natalie: And?

Tracy: We checked. There's no one there.

Natalie: [with calculated indifference] Well, if he calls here, 
I'll let you know.

Tracy: So?

Natalie: So, Roger Bland was stabbed to death.

Tracy: With the ceremonial raven knife?

Natalie: Well, can't tell for sure, but I did get the lab results back, 
and they are 99% sure that Gary Blackwing and Timothy Wade were 
both killed with a weapon made of obsidian. Problem is that 
although obsidian has a distinct chemical signature we can't tell 
if--

Tracy: It is the missing knife from Gary Blackwing's matching set. 
Or--

Natalie: One of a dozen or so fashioned out of a huge block of the 
stuff.

Tracy: Thanks.

[She leaves, and Natalie's professional demeanor crumples into 
worry.]

[SCENE: Marian's apartment. Nick arrives, and finds Jess inside, 
staring at one of Marian's paintings.]

Jess: I guess we're both troubled.

Nick: Where's Marian?

Jess: Don't know. Came here a little while ago. Can you tell me why 
I feel as if she's in trouble?

Nick: I'm sorry. No... I need to find her.

Jess: She cured you, didn't she?

Nick: I don't know.

Jess: She took away your darkness.

Nick: Strange things have been happening to me since. Visions.

Jess: The spirit plane. You've been there.

Nick: I saw the murders.

Jess: Did you see Gary Blackwing?

Nick: No, but I saw Marian.

Jess: You two have forged a powerful bond. If she has opened your 
heart and soul to the spirit plane, then you share her gift. The 
power of the elders are within you now. You can use them. And you 
needn't look for her anywhere else. You can find her there, 
anytime you wish. Open yourself to the spirits again. They will 
guide you to her. And if you should see Gary Blackwing, tell him 
I miss him and love him like a brother. But he still owes me 
money.

[SCENE: the morgue. Natalie is sitting at her desk, talking to 
Reese on the phone.]

Natalie: [on the phone] Yes, sir, I'll have those preliminaries for you 
ASAP, Captain... What?... Yeah, I'll tell him if he turns up. 
Good night.

[She jumps as Nick walks in.]

Nick: I showed up.

Natalie: Are you all right? Everybody's looking for you. There's been 
another killing.

Nick: I know... I think I did it.

COMMERCIAL

[SCENE: The office of Bland, the man who was murdered the 
previous night. Bland's assistant is reluctantly letting Tracy 
enter the office to search it.]

Assistant: I don't know, Detective, I don't think that Mr. Bland 
is going to like this.

Tracy: [handing him the piece of paper she's carrying] Hard to 
argue with a warrant. And besides, I don't think Mr. Bland is in 
much of a position to argue.

Assistant: Okay.

[He leaves her to look around.]

[SCENE: the morgue. Nick and Natalie.]

Nick: It's the perfect irony, isn't it? She took away the guilt. She 
took away the very thing that kept the Vampire in check, and now 
it killed without remorse.

Natalie: There has to be some other explanation.

Nick: I'm telling you I was there. It was as real as talking to 
you. 

Natalie: The spirit plane?

Nick: Or something. I don't know. But I was there when Wade was 
murdered, too. I saw blood on my hands.

Natalie: [surprised] You saw the murders?

Nick: I saw the knife. 

Natalie: What else?

Nick: Their faces.

Natalie: Are you holding the knife?

Nick: I know this is ridiculous.

Natalie: It's not ridiculous, Nick. Not if you're right. Are you 
holding the knife?

Nick: I don't know. I'm looking through my eyes... but not my eyes. 

[As he speaks, he's reliving the dream in his mind. This time, 
the figure with the knife turns toward him. It's Marian, wearing 
the same dark, mad expression she wore after the night they were 
together.]

Nick: Not mine. Marian. She took the killer out of me, and into 
herself. 

[SCENE: Bland's office. Tracy is listening to the contents of an 
audio tape.]

Bland: [on tape] Buckwater? Are you listening, Buckwater?

Buckwater: [on tape] I'm here... Okay. You can consider that we 
have an agreement, then. I'll work with Gary Blackwing. I'll... 
hold him up as long as I can.

Bland: [on tape] Wade will see to your compensation. 

[Tracy rewinds the tape and replays the last line a second time.]

Tracy: [in disgust] Lawyers.

[SCENE: Nick is perched on the roof of one of the downtown high 
rises. As he stands there, he's momentarily drawn into the spirit 
plane, catching a quick glimpse of Buckwater, in native costume, 
killing Marian's grandfather. He takes off, flying.]

[SCENE: Gary Blackwing's apartment. Buckwater is tearing the 
place apart, looking for the surveyor's letter. He jumps as 
Marian speaks from behind him.]

Marian: What you doing, Mr. Buckwater?

Buckwater: Geez, Marian, you scared me. Um, without that 
surveyor's letter, we're screwed. I didn't think it would hurt to 
look.

Marian: [smugly] I know where it is.

[She walks over to the painting her grandfather had on display, 
and leans on the frame. Her whole manner is different than 
previously--amused and self-confident.]

Buckwater: You knew the whole time?

Marian: No. My grandfather tried to tell me, but I wasn't listening. I 
couldn't see.

Buckwater: It's, um, here?

Marian: Yes. 

[She walks around in front of the painting, kneels down and 
begins to run her fingers sensuously over the canvas.]

Marian: His gift to me. And my gift to him. Even when I didn't 
know it, it was in me. 

[Behind her, Buckwater draws the Raven knife. Marian starts to 
see visions of the spirit plane, and this time she, too, sees and 
recognizes the figure who murdered her grandfather. Her eyes 
widen in horror as she stands up.]

Marian: [screaming the words, but without turning away from the 
picture.] How could you be--

[The words cut off as Buckwater grabs her from behind and stabs 
her. He flings her onto the couch at the same moment that Nick 
bursts in, vamped out. Buckwater pulls a gun on Nick, but just 
stares at him--especially the eyes and fangs--without firing. 
Then he jerks backwards as a knife embeds itself in his chest. By 
the time Nick turns to stare at Jess, who threw the knife, he's 
in human guise again. Nick goes quickly to Marian.]

Marian: ...Blackwing's... dying wish was for vengeance.

Nick: It wasn't Blackwing, Marian. It was me. 

Marian: [horrified] What... have you... made me... do?

Nick: It was what you took from me. It was the darkness that made 
you kill. It wasn't your fault.

Marian: Then it will die with me. 

Nick: No. 

[She cries out in pain, and just before her eyes close, they're 
vampire golden. Nick clutches her to him and follows her into the 
spirit plane, where he lowers her body to a travois on the forest 
floor. He kisses her, and covers her body with a blanket. As he 
draws back into the real world, his eyes have again turned gold.]

COMMERCIAL

[SCENE: Blackwing's apartment, later. Nick, Tracy, Jess and some 
others are there. Nick walks over to Marian's painting, turns it 
over, slits open the protective backing and draws out a wad of 
folded paper.]

Jess: The letter. 

[Nick hands some of the papers to Jess, and the rest to Tracy, 
who scans it until she finds "J. Vachon" among the signatures.]

Tracy: This should prove Gary Blackwing's case. At least he got his 
wish.

Jess: How?

Nick: Blackwing showed me where to find it. On the spirit plane. 
Marian was there, too. I'm sorry.

Jess: It's not your fault, Detective. This was fate. Tragedy is 
always close to my people. It's almost a birthright. Tell me, 
Nick--Marian did help you, didn't she?

Nick: Oh, there was something... I'm sure of it.

Jess: But you took it back, all of it... Marian didn't have time 
to learn all the ways of the elders. She didn't know that a wise 
healer takes the pain not into themselves. They transfer it. They 
put it into an animal sometimes. Or a mountain. Or a stream that 
carries it to the ocean. She didn't have time to learn. There was 
no one to teach her when Gary Blackwing died. My heart is too 
heavy tonight.

[He walks off. After a moment, Nick leaves, too. Tracy takes a 
final look at the Vachon's signature, then folds the document and 
follows them out of the apartment.]

END CREDITS