NOTE: Sequel to Dracula 2000. It is not crucial, but it helps to have first seen Dracula 2000, ifonly to know Dracula's lineage and how he was left burned and hanging from a lighted crucifix.Father Uffizi [Jason Scott Lee] hunts vampires. He travels the world to behead themwith his bullwhip, but his ultimate goal is to find the first vampire, Dracula (revealed as Judas Iscariot in Dracula 2000), absolve Dracula'ssins against Jesus, set his soul free, and end his unholy existence.So, when Dracula's charred body turns up in the New Orleans morgue,Uffizi heads there. Medical students, Liz Blaine [Diane Neal] and Luke [Jason London] are charged withautopsying the body. When they open the abdominal cavity, they find thatthe liver and other organs are white, suggesting to Luke that the persondid not produce his own blood but got it elsewhere, i.e., a vampire. Notbelieving, Liz searches the mouth for fangs, which suddenly erupt and stabher finger. Then comes a phone call offering them $30 million for thebody. They decide to switch the vampire with another burn victim, keep the$30 million, and hide the vampire's body in order to study it. Liz andLuke, accompanied by two other med students, Kenny [Khary Payton] and Tanya [Brande Roderick], transportthe vampire's body to the abandoned home of Professor Lowell [Craig Sheffer], whois also Liz's lover and who is confined to a wheelchair because ofcerebral palsy.They're not quite sure how they're going to research this vampire,but the first thing on the agenda is to immerse him in 350 pints of bloodto allow his body to heal. After two hours without a ripple, they decideto fish out the body to see if anything is happening. Just then, thevampire [Stephen Billington] sits up, busts his way out of the tub, and kills Tanya in theprocess. As Luke prepares to stake the very angry vampire, Eric [John Light] enterswith a 'sungun' and subdues the vampire. Eric introduces himself as "themoney." After the vampire is secured and Tanya is buried, they move thevampire to an abandoned gym where a testing room has been set up withultraviolet lights and a table to which the vampire can be secured withchains coated in liquid silver. The plan is to find the vampire's essenceand make from it a vaccine that can be used to cure diseased cells.The first experiment involves placing a drop of human blood on asample of skin taken from the vampire. The skin quickly grows "like acancer but without the chaos." Next, a syringeful of blood is drawn fromthe vampire's neck, and a drop of the vampire's blood is placed on atissue sample from Lowell's wasted muscle. The vampire blood cellsimmediately begin killing off the human cells. "If it's replacing thecells that it has killed, when do you stop being you?" Liz wonders. Luke squirtsthe changing tissue with holy water, and it immediately begins to sizzleas though acid had been poured on it. Now, "the trick is to separate thediseased vector--the evil, if you will--from the cure," says Lowell.But Kenny can't wait. He injects the remainder of the vampire's bloodinto himself. Of course, he turns into a vampire. Eric, Liz, and Luke golooking for him. In their absence, the vampire mesmerizes Lowell intodriving his wheelchair off a ledge. When Liz and Luke return, they findLowell badly injured. Meanwhile, Liz has been noticing that her vampirebite is infected and that the infection is spreading throughout her body.Yet, she is still committed to the research because of her love forLowell. Finding a cure for him is of tantamount importance. Liz reveals toLuke the extent of her infection and pleads with him to help.But the vampire's blood supply has been depleted. Liz decides totransfuse some of her own blood into the vampire so that she can get moreblood from him. She injects this blood into Lowell, who immediately beginsto heal. Lowell then laughs at Liz and tells her that he was only usingher, along with four others, to find a vampire. He says that he neverloved Liz and that he is "the money" behind the whole project. In a fit of"jilted bitch," Liz tosses holy water on him.To protect themselves, Luke has sprinkled seeds around the vampireand placed a knotted net on his chest. In the melee that ensues, Lowellbecomes a vampire and Dracula breaks free from his bindings. First,Dracula bites off Eric's face. Then he turns on Luke and Liz. Luke reminds him that he must untie all the knots, butDracula tosses down a knotfree net. [Already done!] Luke reminds him thathe must count all the seeds, and Dracula replies, "47,812." Luke tosses abucket of seeds at him and challenges, "Count these!" Before the seedseven hit the ground, Dracula says, "737,818." When one more seed fallsfrom the basket, Dracula amends his count to "...19."Fortunately, Father Uffizi has managed to destroy Tanya, Kenny, andall the other vampires left in the wake. He now catches up with Dracula.Liz is turning, too. Uffizi tells Luke to take her out into the sun, butLiz is too far gone. In an attempt to kill Dracula, Uffizi smashes all thewindows to let in the sunlight. He wraps his whip around Dracula's neckand is just about to behead him when Dracula forces upon him a vision ofChrist, blinding Uffizi for a moment. In that moment, Liz shoots Uffizi.As Dracula escapes with Liz, Uffizi promises, "I'll find you." Dracula replies, "I'm counting on it." [Original synopsis by bj_kuehl]
Output: Question: What secret were the scientists trying to discover?, Answer: How to use Dracula's essence and make a vaccine to cure diseased cells.