I got a beautiful set of new kitchen knives for Christmas this year. Holding the large chef's knife in one hand and the smaller paring knife in the other, an idea came to me.
I imagined one of the early, minor antagonists of the novel might be a knife fighter.
I've tentatively named this character 'Basilicus'. He's a sickly assassin, prince of the grave-banished, a largely humanoid, entirely subterranean race that the protagonists (Alec and Mina) encounter in the catacombs beneath the crypt of James Leander.
I imagined Basilicus confronting Alec and Mina in a nearly flooded grotto, slinking through the cave, gollum-like. This idea is even better when he's carrying a rusted knife in each webbed hand.
I went online to get further inspiration and found this video of Awud Mied - Thai knife fighting. Once I got past the instro-metal soundtrack, I found plenty of inspiration for the character and the scene.
Nothing on wikipedia about Awud Mied, but I did find this great blog about Daga - Filipino knife fighting.