"What about "Mitch"?" ""Michael"? "Mark"?" "No." " "Melvin."" " Melvin?" "I'm glad we've got a year or two before we make this decision." "Now, does the name have to start with an "M"?" "Yes." "If it's a girl, "Mary" or "Melissa."" "Or how about "Mavis" or "Martina"?" "No, wait, "Maybelline"!" "Just like the song." "I love it." "Melvin, if it's a boy Maybelline, if it's a girl." "Melvin and Maybelline and Liz Sumner." "Perfect." "Yeah, now if we could only agree on how many to invite to the wedding." "Hey, are you okay?" " Hey, what's wrong?" " My asthma, I think but I just had that shot." "Kevin, I can't breathe..." "Liz!" "Liz!" " How long?" " Oh, it's impossible to predict." "An asthmatic going into coma from an overdose of epinephrine is unusual, but it's not unheard of." "Hopefully, this will all pass in less than 24 hours." "All we can do now is wait for her lungs to clear and let the stress in her entire system subside." " Can she hear me?" " Yes." "Yes, I believe she can." "You'll have to excuse me, Mr. Sumner." "I'm due in surgery." "Thanks." "I'll look back in on her as soon as I can." "Hi." "How are you?" "Your son is still in a coma..." "Liz I don't know if you can hear me." "But I just want you to know I love you more than anything in this world." "What?" "Quiet." "Get down." "Where are we?" "Get out." "Now." "Before it's too late!" "I hunger." "You cannot escape!" "It tore him apart!" "Somebody help that boy!" "Doctor, come here!" "Come on, come on, come on!" "Miguel, over there." "Quick, quick!" "Do something." "You have to do something!" "Somebody help him!" " Somebody!" " Okay." "Okay." "Okay." "No pulse, Doctor." "Since the beginning oh time  mankind has existed between the world oh light  and the world oh darkness." "Our secret society has been here horever  protecting others hrom the creatures  who inhabit the shadows and the night." "Known only to the initiated by our true name  The Legacy." "Voila." "Now, this should make our French brethren very happy." "Directly, in person to Lucien Bretonne, head of Paris House." "When you get there, speak to no one not even other members of the House." "Lucien was very specific." "Okay." "I'll call you from Paris." " Be careful." " I will." "Paris, nice." "Sounds like a milk run." " Need some company?" " Sorry." "I'm on my own for this one." " See you later." " Right." "Nick, you had a message." "A Kevin Sumner called." "He said his fiancée wanted to talk to you." "Liz Barrow." " Liz?" " She's been admitted to St. Alban's Hospital." "Sounds serious." "Kevin?" "Nick." "Thanks for calling." "Trust me, it wasn't my idea." "How's she doing?" "She's better." "She's sleeping now." "I can't believe this all started from an asthma attack." "She's had it since she was a kid." "Well, right after they brought her up from the ER, she went into a coma." " A coma?" " Scared the hell out of me." "But then, when she came to, she..." "She started raving like a madwoman about a boy being torn apart." "Then, of course, she starts asking for you." "Sorry, if my being here bothers you." "Damn right it bothers me." "Maybe I should come back at another time." "Nick." "Hey, Lizzie." "It's been so long." " How are you?" " Okay." "More importantly, how are you doing?" "I'd be a lot better if I could just get out of here." " Did Kevin tell you what happened?" " Yeah, briefly." "I remember you telling me once about how you work with some pretty strange stuff, and..." "I swear, Nick, it can't be any stranger than this." "Hey, later." "Later, okay?" "Nick." "Yeah, yeah." "Definitely." "I'll come back a little later." "In the meantime, if there's anything you guys need, just give me a shout." "Supposedly, we have the best doctors in town looking after her." "Although, after what she's been through I'm not so sure." "Well, I have a friend of mine who's a doctor." "A psychiatrist, actually." "Maybe she could help." "You think I'm crazy too." " Kevin does." " Hey, hey." "No, I don't." "Come on, now." " No, I don't." " Why don't I bring my friend by when I come back?" "A second opinion couldn't hurt, right?" "Okay." "See you." "Excuse me." "No smoking." "The patients." " So where do you want me to...?" " Here." "Talk about weird." "Where'd that guy come from?" "He's as bizarre as everything else around here." "Yeah, well, at least Liz isn't in a coma." "Be thankful for that." "Yeah, I guess you're right." " Rachel, Kevin." "Kevin, Rachel." " Hi." "Hi." "So why don't we go talk to your friend, see how she's doing, huh?" "Hey, Liz." "This is Rachel Corrigan, the psychiatrist I told you about." "Hi, Liz." "How are you feeling?" "All right." "Except, I can't stop thinking about what happened." "Well, that's what Nick said." "Can you tell me what you actually remember?" "It wasn't at all like a dream." "I mean, it was so real." "You think I'm out of my mind." "Not any more than the rest of us." "Hey, Dr. Corrigan's here to help." "You just tell her what you told me." "At first it was just pitch black." "And then I could feel myself being pulled deeper and deeper into the darkness." "What was pulling you?" "Some force." "Some..." "Something." "I don't know." "But the next thing I knew, I was in this strange place, and there were..." "Well, everything was twisted and grey, and then that's when I saw the little boy." "Can you tell me what the little boy looked like?" "He was blond." "The same boy I saw when I came out of the coma right over there." "The one who died." "You see, he was..." "He was hiding from something." "And then there was this terrible noise, like..." "Like a hungry beast." "And then he started to run, but..." "This thing..." "This..." "This..." "This big dark, shadow, it came over him." "You're safe." "I'm right here, talk to me." " It killed him, in cold blood." " All right, Liz I want you to take a deep breath." "Take a deep breath for me." "I'm not crazy, I swear." "This wasn't my imagination." "This place is real." "I know." "I believe you." "There you go." "There you go." "Okay." "There's a good girl." "We have to consider the possibility that her visions were completely delusional." "What's that, psychobabble for "crazy"?" "Nick, I didn't say that." "Okay, "delusional" then." "Except for that boy dying in the next bed at the exact moment that Liz came out of her coma." "She could have seen him in the ER or in the hallway before she went into her coma, creating a subconscious impression which explains his appearance in her nightmare." "However, coincidences like these shouldn't be completely ignored." "Any other links between Liz and the boy?" "Yeah, yeah." "For starters, they had the same emergency room team, same ward, and after they went into coma they had the same neurosurgeon, a Dr. Patterson." "And the same supervising physician, a Dr. Brendan Slade." "World-class surgeon." "Perhaps these gentlemen won't mind answering a few questions." "Luna Foundation." "Well, this is quite a privilege." "Your generosity is well known in the medical community." "And your reputation precedes you, too, doctor." "When I was a student, I attended a series of lectures you gave on the treatment of children with a vascular necrosis." " Excellent." " Well, don't stop now." "I'm not a man to discourage adulation." "Or funding, for that matter." "We could always use a new name on a wing." " Please, sit down." " Thanks." "Actually, we're here on behalf of a patient at the hospital." "Elizabeth Barrow." "Miss Barrow." "Yes, we're quite pleased with her progress." "Well, if it's possible, we'd like to speak to her neurosurgeon in charge of her case, Dr. Patterson." "Yes, I don't have a problem with that." "He's a good man." "Liz is certainly recovering quite nicely under his care." "Even though she has an overwhelming fear of becoming comatose again?" "I'm sorry, what are you talking about?" "You weren't informed of the vision she experienced while in her coma?" "How she saw the boy, in the bed next to her, killed?" "No, I was not." "This is the first I've heard about it." "Perhaps she talked to Dr. Patterson about it." " We'll ask him." " Yeah, please do." "Sorry." "I'm afraid you caught me in a bit of a rush." "We won't take much of your time, Dr. Patterson." "We just have..." "No, no." "No problem." "No problem." "I'm just sorry I don't have much time to give you." "I've got a pre-op in 10 minutes." " This is about Liz Barrow, correct?" " Yes." "An epinephrine overdose leading to swelling of the cranial hemisphere." "Transient ischemic coma and, hopefully a quick and permanent recovery." "Is there anything else?" "Yeah." "I have a question about the Sanford boy." "How did a routine appendectomy leave him in a coma?" "A coma he never came out of while under your care?" "Dr. Patterson, we certainly don't mean to imply that you had..." "No, no, no." "It's all right." "It's all right." "What happened to that boy is a source of complete frustration to me." "I honestly can't tell you what caused his coma, or his death." "Now, excuse me, I have some work to do." "Thanks." "What the hell do you think you were doing in there?" "Long time no see." "You stopped just short of accusing him of malpractice." "If I did, maybe we'd get answers rather than the runaround." "What are you talking about?" "Patterson is a top neurosurgeon and Slade is the most respected surgical man." "That's no reason to treat him like the next Albert Schweitzer." " You doctors always stick together?" " Okay I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that." "Something bad is going on in this hospital." "Open your eyes and see it." "I'll tell you what I see." "I see somebody who's so emotionally involved that he's blinding himself to reality." "Are you saying she's incompetent?" "No." "I'm saying she may have serious emotional problems." "If you're not willing to face that possibility, I'm out of here." "Okay." "Well, single moms are mad, and they're highting back." "Today we're talking about Single Moms United." "It's a new coalition  dedicated to the hormation oh legislation hor..." "Hi." "Hi, yourself." " How you doing?" " Better." "Nothing like catching up on talk shows to make you want to get out of the hospital." "Right." "You ever notice how most people never say what they really mean?" "All the time." "Kind of sounds like us, huh?" "You figure?" "Yeah." "So Kevin seems like a good guy." "Now who isn't saying what they mean?" "What do you want me to say, Liz?" "I haven't got the words." "I know." "It's just a shame, that's all." "Bad timing." "Terrible." "But things are good, really." "Kevin is wonderful, and we have so much in common." "He teaches at the same school as me." "We're both nuts about kids." "The only thing we can't agree on is how many to have and what their names should be." "That is, if I ever get out of here." "So, what does your friend say?" "Am I crazy?" "You're a little warped, but you'll be okay." "You're such a creep." "No, you'll get out of here." "Count on it." "I was gonna go to the cafeteria and choke down a little bit of food." "I'll come back and check on you before I go." "Nick I'm glad you came." "Me too." "I'm very sorry, visiting hours are over." "No exceptions." "Come on." "It's, like, five minutes after 9." "Give me a break." "Rules are rules, my friend." "You don't wanna get me fired, do you?" " Come on, cut him some slack." " No." "Liz!" " Hold her." " I get a doctor." "Put the mask on." "Oh, God." "Liz." "She's gone into a coma." " Yes?" " Derek, it's me." "Alex, how's it going?" "Have you delivered  the briehcase to Lucien?" "Just a second, okay?" "Listen, that's why I called." "I went to the Paris House, but no sign oh Lucien, until now." " Did you speak to him?" " No, but he leht a note." "He wants me to meet him before dawn at the base of the steps of 23 Rue de Rivoli." "You have to be carehul." "If Bretonne fails to show, or you feel endangered..." "Alex?" " Hey." " Hey." "Sorry about before." "I was a little bit frustrated with the situation." "Forget it." "We've all been there." "I'm sorry, she's not responding." " She's slipped back." " No, I'm not gonna accept this." " Take it easy." " You're a doctor." "You're supposed to be able to do something here." "We've done everything possible for her, and will continue to do so." "Some things are just beyond our control." " This isn't fair." " No, it's not fair." "It's life." "Look, why don't you step outside and get some air." "I'll take care of her for a while." "Yeah." "Yeah, I guess you're right." " What?" " Look." "Okay, this substance that Nick found on Liz's neck is a variant on scopolamine, a substance extracted from the barracera plant of the nightshade family." " Deadly nightshade." " Exactly." "Used by shamans in Central and South America." "It causes loss of will and memory for days." "Only this is much more highly concentrated." "It was probably absorbed through the skin." " Enough to induce coma?" " At the very least." "That's enough for me." "Where are you going?" "To the hospital to get another look at that mark." "Wait for me." "Look, I was going through this book." "This is what we're looking for." "It's similar but not quite the same." "Maybe the skin's stretched." "Let me try this." " That's it." " Yeah, it's Aztec and demonic." " Oh, man." "I'm having a really hard time believing somebody's actually practicing black magic in the city hospital." "Can we, at least, pursue the possibility of some more rational explanation?" "Give me one." "Right." "So it's up to us." " Nick, you know what to do." " Right." "What about causes of death?" "In every case, it coincides with whatever the patient was being treated for." " So there's no connection." " Except in 21 cases." "The patient's illness was so routine that their slipping into a coma was listed as an unexplainable side effect." "Twenty-one cases?" "Who are the attending physicians?" "There's no kind of pattern there." "They're all different." "So we're right back where we started." "Who says it has to be a doctor?" "What about Miguel Sanchez?" "He's an orderly on Liz's floor." "And he's been on duty every time that somebody has died." "Born and raised in Mexico City." "What do you want to bet he's got Aztec blood in his veins." "Okay, tell you what, I'm gonna call an old friend of mine." "He's a cardiovascular surgeon." "Goes way back over there." "See if he wants to have dinner." "Fill in some gaps." "You wanna come?" "So, Bill, when you said you'd join me for dinner I guess I should have known we're talking doctor's hours, huh?" "Well, next time, we'll have to dine some place more elegant." "But I must admit, I've developed a certain fondness for meatloaf over the years." "Anyway, I knew you haven't got much time so I'll cut right to the chase." "I just wanted to pick your brain a little bit about some some people who work here." "A friend of a friend of mine is a patient, and I just..." "Say no more." "Say no more." "You wanna feel out the turf and make sure you get the best care possible." " Absolutely." "Great." "Just great." "What about Dr. Slade?" "Oh, Bren?" "Bren and I go way back." "We did our residency together." "Play golf together." "Drink together." "Even travel together, once in a while, since my divorce." "We've been to Paris London, Mazatlán." " Mazatlán?" " I didn't think much of it myself but I didn't get to see much." " Why not?" "Supposed to be there a week, had to come back after two days." "Had an emergency." "Bren liked it well enough, though, I can tell you." "He was really depressed when he went down there." "Was feeling great when he came back." "Been down a couple of times since." "You remember the last time he went down there?" "About a year ago." "He hooked up with this local medicine man down there." "I thought he was setting up a tax dodge, write off all the trips and that sort of thing." "He was looking for a cure for his arthritis." "Slade has arthritis?" ""Had." He thought it was irreversible." "It usually is." "And career-ending news for a surgeon." "Yeah, no question." "Whatever Bren found down there in the jungle power of positive thinking, mud wraps never gave me the details." "Worked like a damn charm." " He's fine now, as far as I can tell." " Really." "Lucky man." "No!" "No." "Alex, how did it go?" "Not good at all." "Bretonne's dead." "What?" " How?" " Something is very wrong here." "Listen, I'll explain when I get back." "I've gotta get out of here." "Yes, of course." "Alex, be safe." "Derek, I found our man." "It's Slade." "Slade?" "Are you sure?" "You betcha." "He had rheumatoid arthritis until he went to Mexico and found a shaman to restore his hands." "Now he's a hundred percent." "He's perfect enough to do surgery." "That's not the way arthritis works." "What's this?" " "Quihatzin." "The hungry one."" " Believed by the Aztecs to be the gatekeeper of Talocan, shadow world between life and death." ""A demon who seduces anyone who's willing to trade innocent victims for worldly gain." "He slowly feeds off their souls until nothing remains."" "The hospital." "You were never one to make things easy, were you?" "I'm finally ready to talk, and you can't hear me." "Turnabout's fair play, right?" "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry that I never treated you the way you deserved to be treated." "That'll be all." "Little late for rounds, isn't it, doctor?" "Busy man like you, how do you find the time?" "What are you doing here, Mr. Boyle?" "Visiting hours are over." "What's that you got there, new treatment?" "Yes, that's right." "I suggest you leave before I call security." "Why don't you do that." "Then we can all sit down and talk about what you got in your hand." "Then you tell us about the patients you've killed." "What are you talking about?" "What kind of a dark deal have you made here?" "What did you get in return for the lives of your patients?" "I got my life and my hands." "I was on the brink of killing myself in Mexico." " This opportunity arose." " Opportunity?" "For what?" "Eternal bondage?" "Your demon's never satisfied, is he?" "They never are." "No." "You're right about that." "Say hello to Liz for me." "I hope you'll be very happy together." "Till death do you part." " Slade!" " Care to join him?" "He's alive, Derek, barely." "But he's way under." "Hypnosis." "Nick, stay strong." "The demon will do everything it can to mislead you." "But it's powerless to attack unless you surrender to its will." "Listen for me." "Let's do it." "Derek, it's 11:15." "I'm giving you five minutes, maximum." "Considering where you're going, that's all you get." "Then I'm bringing you back." "Understand?" " Yeah." " Okay." "Concentrate on this image." "Total focus." "Visualize it as you enter the void." "Close your eyes." "Relax." "And let your breath take you deeper and deeper." "Prodigal lover returns." "Liz." "Oh, how I've missed you." "Where are we?" "Anywhere we want to be." "As long as we're together till the end of time." "Remember that night we spent in San Francisco that penthouse on the bay?" "You took me there for my birthday." "Blindfolded." "Just think of all the things we could do." " This isn't real." " It is, if we try." "We could be happy again, just like before." "I want you, Nick." "All you have to do is come take me now." " Liz, listen to me." " No." "You listen to me." "You could erase all this pain." "All those days and nights I spent waiting for you after you'd left me." "I remember." " I wanted to marry you." " I know." "I was afraid." "Of what?" "Of ruining everything I touched." "Like my father." "You're not your father, Nick." "I love you." "Come touch me." "Come to me, Nick." "Feel me." "Come to me, Nick." "Come to me on your own." "Come to you?" " Why?" " Because I need you." "Why won't you touch me?" "Why won't you reach out and hold me?" "You can't control me." "Unless I surrender to your will." "Can you, Liz?" "Thief!" "You dare enter my world unbidden to steal what is mine." " Liz!" "Where are you?" "Come, thief, take her if you can." "But if you fail, you're mine forever." "Derek, listen to me, I'm gonna have to pull you out." "Liz?" "Make your choice, or she shall die." "Save me." "No, save yourself." "Derek, listen to me." "Listen to my voice." "On the count of three, you will regain consciousness." "One, two..." "Save me." "No, save yourself." "Hurry, do it now!" " We gotta go." " I can't." " Leave me!" " Come on, you can do it." "Quickly, this way!" " Come on!" " I'm trying!" "Hang on." "Nick, you must be stronger!" "Do it now!" "Derek!" " Leave me!" "Save yourself." " I won't let you go." "Derek!" "Nick, this way!" "Hurry!" "Hurry!" "Nick?" " You're back." " How did you manage that?" "It was a team effort." "Thanks." "Forget it." " You okay?" " Yeah." "You all right?" "Hey." "Hey." "Oh, God." "Thank you."