Blade (film)

Blade's History
Erik Brooks' mother was bitten by a vampire while she was pregnant with him. Although she died, Brooks survived, and the vampire bite made him half-vampire, possessing all the strengths of a vampire, but without their weaknesses. Growing up an orphan on the streets of London, Brooks was trained in the art of vampire-hunting by Jamal Afari, a professional who also worked as a jazz trumpeter. Brooks took the name Blade because of his skills with knives and swords, and set out on a one-man crusade to rid the world of bloodsuckers.

Battle
Blade stalks through the Transylvanian wilderness, looking for vampires to slay. Suddenly, he sees the glow of a fire over the next hill, and goes to check it out. In his campsite, Gabriel van Helsing sits making dinner for himself, when he senses he is being watched. Slowly, he reaches for his crossbow and pulls it nearer to him. Climbing over the hill, Blade readies his Remington 870 shotgun, aims at van Helsing, and fires. Van Helsing hears Blade cock his gun and dodges just in the nick of time, returning fire with a volley of bolts. Blade is unprepared for the large amount of bolts flying at him, and is hit in the hand, dropping his gun. Van Helsing gathers up his other weapons and runs into the woods, as Blade painfully pulls out the crossbow bolt. He snarls at it before heading off in pursuit.

Van Helsing runs through the trees as he hears Blade chasing him. He turns and fires another volley, but this time, Blade is prepared. He jumps and runs along a tree trunk, pulling out and throwing a glaive as he does so. The glaive knocks the crossbow out of van Helsing's hands, and the startled monster hunter looks up to see Blade getting closer. Van Helsing pulls out his wheellock pistol and fires at Blade, but he dodges the shot as he unsheathes his katana. Blade swipes at van Helsing, who rolls out of the way, pulling out his hand saws. The two hunters lock eyes for a moment, before van Helsing starts up the saws and attacks.

Blade dodges van Helsing's charge, cutting him on the shoulder as he passes. Van Helsing shouts in pain, but quickly recovers, swiping at Blade again. Blade blocks the saws with his katana, but van Helsing pulls the sword out of Blade's hands as he does so. Furious, Blade pulls out a teakwood dagger, tossing it at van Helsing. He dodges, but is then roundhouse kicked by Blade. Van Helsing falls to the ground as Blade pulls out another dagger. He leaps on top of Van Helsing, prepared to stab him to death, but Van Helsing suddenly draws a silver stake, thrusting it directly into Blade's heart. Blade only has time to spit out some blood, before Van Helsing pushes his body off. He gets up, turns to Blade's corpse, and crosses himself, saying a prayer in Latin. Van Helsing then picks up his hat and places it on his head, walking back to his camp.

Winner: Gabriel van Helsing

This was a very close match between two experienced vampire hunters. Despite Blade's more modern arsenal, however, his primary strength was at a distance. When van Helsing closed the distance, however, his one-of-a-kind short range weapons allowed him to surpass Blade's fighting skills and deliver the death blow.