"LIPS OF BLOOD" "Do you come here often?" " Yes." "Alone?" "What will you have, Mother?" "Scotch, vodka?" "No, it's too early for that." "I'll have a Cinzano." "Very good." "A vodka." "Yes, sir." "You're not too bored?" "Not at all." "The Parisian in-crowd can be fascinating." "What a scent!" "Scents are like memories - the person evaporates but the memory remains." "Mummy!" "Mummy, Daddy!" "I'm lost." "I'm scared." "Why are you crying?" "I'm not crying." "Come in." "I'm a bit scared." "Open the gate and come in." "You're all in white." "I got lost following the big black dog with the ripped ear." "Are you still scared?" " Do you live here?" " Yes." "You can sleep here." " Are you staying with me?" " Yes." " What's wrong?" " I cut myself." "Go to sleep." " OK." "I'll say my prayers." " There's no need for that." " But there are crucifixes!" " They're all dead." "Don't worry." " Close your eyes." " Without praying?" "Yes, without praying." "You're so beautiful all in white." " You've got to wake up." " But it's not light yet." "Your mother is worried." "Hurry up!" "Will you give me a kiss?" "I'll be back." "I love you." "Do you like it that much?" "I don't know." "I'm looking for something..." "That landscape, the one behind the bottle." "Frederic, my glass is empty." "Forgive me, Mother." "I'm not a very dutiful son." "A port, for a change." " Frederic, I'm waiting." " Sorry." "But that poster..." "What do you think of it?" " It's very beautiful." " lsn't it?" "You can feel it!" "That landscape..." "Those ruins you can see, where are they?" "It's a nice place." "One of my photographers discovered it." "My glass is empty, too." "But those ruins, that landscape..." "They're like a part of my childhood." "I feel like I've been there before." "Leave me alone!" "I'm trying to remember..." "Oh, that's nice - abandoning me for some old ruins!" "Mmm, this is good." "The guy who gave you those photos..." " Which photos?" " The ruins on that poster." "Is he here?" "Actually, it's a woman and she's just left." " Could I have her address?" " Of course." "Is that really necessary, Frederic?" "It's important to me." "Come with me." "Oh, please excuse us." "Listen to me, Mother." "Yes?" "What do you think about the perfume poster?" "Not bad." "Your jacket is all dirty!" "That landscape..." "You know, the one used as a background on that poster." "Does it remind you of anything?" "Why?" "Should it?" "I feel like I know it." "It happens." "Many landscapes give you a feeling of deja vu." "You don't look well." "Looking at those ruins, brings back memories and images... from when I was a child." "There was a bridge, I think." "You really don't remember anything?" "No, really." "I don't know that place." "The evening has been a success, hasn't it?" "You're not listening to me!" "I'm talking about something that's very important to me." "You know that since Father's death," "I can't recall a part of my childhood." "I have forgotten it." "And that poster brings some images back to mind." "Of somebody." "A young girl." "I have told you about your past a hundred times." "There was never any young girl." "Be a good boy and come back to the living room." "I'm a bit cold." "Shall I tell you the rest or shall I just shut up?" "Please, go on." "It's amusing." "I can see myself as a little boy in those ruins with a young girl." "She was very pretty, dressed all in white." "I slept next to her all night." "We fell in love, the way 12-year -olds do." "You're not listening to me!" "Believe me, I'd remember if you'd had an experience like that." "I'm going to go and see those ruins." "Do you know where they are?" "Not yet." "The photographer will tell me." "Who knows... the young girl might still be there." "The one you dreamt of?" "I don't think it was just a dream." "Be careful, my child." "Of what, Mother?" "I don't know." "Of the night." "More to the right." " Hello." " Hello." "Can I have a word?" "Sure." "Come in." "I think we've already met, haven't we?" "Ah, yes, I remember." " At the cocktail party." " That's right." "I'll be with you in a second." "Hello." "Is he my new partner?" "No, that's it for today." "You're free to go." "Have a seat." "Thanks." "What can I do for you?" "Well, you sold a photograph of some ruins for a poster." "For a poster?" "Yes, I remember." "Have you got a copy?" "Yes, I think so." "Wait a minute." "This one?" "Yes, that's the one." "What's the place called?" "Where is it?" "I can't tell you anything about it." "Why?" "I was paid a lot of money to forget all about it." "It's just that I remember that place from my childhood." "I'd like to see it again, that's all." "There's no reason to hide it from me." "I'm sorry, I was paid to keep it quiet - perhaps to keep it a secret from you!" "But that's ridiculous!" "Who paid you?" "Oh, yes, of course." "You can't say anything." "Wait a minute." "I've got an appointment." "I need to get changed." "Where did I put my dress?" "I like you." "Come closer." "Come to the aquarium tonight." "I'll look in my files and tell you where those damn ruins are!" "But the aquarium is closed at night." "Not for a press photographer." "I'm doing a shoot there." "Come at midnight." "Miss?" "Could you lend me your torch?" "Have you lost something?" "Thank you." "Hello, Frederic." "How do you know my name?" "I was the young girl." "Don't you remember?" "You were about 12 years old." "In the countryside, near the ruins." "You don't look like her." "Does that matter?" "I don't know." "Why are you here tonight?" "More than 20 years have gone by." "That's true." "Earlier, I thought I saw you as you were 20 years ago." "Come, this night will be ours." "T ell me." "20 years ago, a little boy gave you his toy." "What was that toy?" "I didn't believe your story for a second." "I don't know who you're all working for, or why you don't want me to find the girl." "But you can tell your employer that I'm not about to give up." "They tried to kill me." "What?" "But you're soaked." "I tell you, they want my head!" "Get changed." "You're freezing." "I saw her dead." "Murdered!" "But who?" "The photographer!" "She was waiting for me." "So they decided to kill her." "It's crazy!" "Just because she wanted to tell me the name of those ruins." "I was alone with her dead body." " I ran away." " Good." "You could have been accused." "A bat." "A huge bat." "A monster in the coffin." "What are you saying?" "She's real." "I saw her." "Or..." "Or otherwise I'm mad!" "Relax." "Get changed and then I'll listen to you." "He's come back." "He's acting like a madman." "Come straight away!" "She was there." "Her white figure." "It was the same girl." "She hadn't changed." "I don't understand." "You're not making sense." "They desperately tried to stop me from finding the girl and the place." "But who and what are you talking about?" "The ruins." "The ruins in the photograph." "They are linked to my childhood." "I want to find them." "That's why they killed her." "Who?" "Where?" "All my life, with all my strength," "I've tried to give you the childhood you lost after your father's death." "The two of us have patiently rebuilt..." "Unfortunately," "I've always felt a stranger to the childhood you describe." "That has been the root of all your anguish, and your visions." "Like this young girl, for example." "I saw her tonight." "She was calling me and enticing me, as if she needed my help." "It's you who needs help - from a good doctor." "You want me to believe that I'm mad." "I just want you to go and see my doctor." "Enough!" "That's enough, or I'll smash this place up!" "Until I've found that young girl and those ruins," "I won't set foot in this house again." "You're looking at me as if you can actually see me." "If you don't really exist, then I know that I'm mad " "really mad!" "I feel completely imprisoned." "My head, my memory," "you, standing there in front of me." "Even when I close my eyes..." "I beg you, if you do exist, if you're alive somewhere, if I can find you again, if you're not just a vision from my childhood dreams, then talk to me." "Tell me that you can hear me." "I'll find the place where you're imprisoned." "I love you." "Have you calmed down?" "Good." "We're going to administer a short series of electric shocks." "Don't be afraid but..." "You bastard!" "Who paid you?" "Bastard!" "Don't be angry." "I use good old-fashioned methods." "They've been tried and tested." "You're in safe hands." "Sauveterre Castle." "Platform 9, mind the doors, the train is about to leave." "Frederic, I'm here to stop you freeing the woman who brought so much pain to your father and I." "You, and your father and I lived nearby." "You didn't know that she was also living with us." "She was locked up, hidden away for eternity at the age of 16." "At night, she would escape." "One evening, you met her in these ruins." "I knew it." "You lied to me." "I knew that meeting really happened, that she was real." "Like vampires, like the living dead." "Vampirism is a terrible affliction." "The little girl infected several people - our relatives, our friends." "I had to reveal my secret to the town mayor, especially after the death of your father." "But it was already too late." "By then, four other young girls had become monsters, too." "When night fell on the fields, they would attack and kill anyone who approached the ruins." "Sometimes, we could hear their victims' screams from afar." "Little Jennifer would take them into the castle and lead them to their horrible fate." "Then, one day I plucked up enough courage, and I tried to kill her in her dungeon." "I drove a stake into her heart." "But I had to sever her head from her body and I wasn't brave enough to do that." "So I entombed her in these ruins, alive!" "Locked away for eternity." "We couldn't bring ourselves to kill the four girls either." "During the day, vampires must rest where they are buried." "We moved their bodies into abandoned vaults in Paris." "They were alive but they couldn't escape from their unfamiliar tombs." "It was you who freed them." "A vampire?" "So she is still alive?" "We're going to destroy them before this curse spreads." "At dawn a short while ago, they came back to reclaim their home." "We were brave enough to destroy them." "You must now have the courage to kill the monster in this dungeon who you nearly brought back to life." "The female vampires will stay out in daylight." "We'll burn them tonight." "When night falls, bring us Jennifer's head." "Go." "She killed your father." "Light the fire." "Throw on the bodies." "Come." "Let's leave." "We must forget everything." "Later." "You go." "I want to stay here alone." "You're the little boy who gave me his toy." "I've watched you for many years without being able to speak to you." "You had to remember me before I could appear to you." "The old woman put all my things here so nothing was left of me outside." "My whole life up until the age of 16 is in here." "I read and re-read this book when I was in my coffin." "Before I could project myself physically to the outside world," "I learnt to project my sight." "I read this book without leaving my coffin." "I've never actually been to this beach before," "I've only seen it from my coffin." "I've dreamt about actually being able to run along this beach." "You see, it's ours." "I've thought about it for 20 years." "Look, I'm free!" "Music!" "Look at the brass instruments, with a mad conductor leading them!" "They're going to break everything." "Listen." "I used to come here as a spirit, too." "Without realising it, by closing the gate the little boy shut me in." "I saw my abandoned toy rusting away all alone." "I thought it would be the first thing I'd look f or when I was free." "The tide will carry us out into the ocean, to a desert island." "They won't find us." "It's called Sand Island." "Come." "There we'll lure rich sailors." "You're like me now." "I'm just starting to live."