Hello there! This is my first Doctor Who fic so first off please be nice. I have been toying with this idea for quite some time and I really, really hope it is as good as I think it is. So please review and do be kind. If you must point out an error or give criticism please do be nice about it!

Disclaimer: I own nothing that you actually recognize. They belong to their respective owners. I am merely using them for my own entertainment. If you don't recognize it than it is most likely from my mind. I do own Addie Hunter and the general plot.

On with the show!

The Point of Incandescence

Chapter One

Parties.

Addie Hunter hated them with a burning passion. It wasn't the drinking that bothered her, in fact she enjoyed drinking, which was why she was nursing a bottle of beer while she sat by the window watching the street below. It wasn't the loud noises either. Even the large congregation of people wasn't so much of a bother to her. Having spent much of her life with only one other person, being around people was a Godsend.

No, it wasn't all that which made her hate parties.

It was the fake atmosphere that came with parties that bothered her. She wasn't what someone would call a wallflower but she wasn't a social butterfly either. She was what some would call a people watcher even when she was in the middle of a group talking a mile a minute. So at parties she knew what really went on, what people were really doing, and what they said once someone left the room.

People had a tendency to lie. Some meant it, some didn't. Sometimes a lie was told to keep someone safe or make them feel better. Other times the lies were intentional, meant to sting and stab until it got to the point that the person on the receiving end left in tears or someone was on the ground bleeding. The lies weren't always verbal. From time to time it was a fake smile, a smile that would hide a terrible truth. Other times it was a look, a comment, an outfit, or a wave of the hand.

Within everything, Addie could find a lie because she could see it on every face she saw. She also heard what people said. Someone was given a compliment or praised to their face, as soon as their back were turned the rumors and gossip flared like the flames of a wildfire. Those fires were never put out, dimmed from time to time, but flaring later when something else appeared.

She hated lies and because of this she hated parties, or at least the one she was stuck at right in that moment. So to keep herself out of the melee that was music, drinking, and eating she settled herself on the window seat where she watched the city below as cars rushed in dull streaks on the street. The sky above was heavy with snow clouds, a common sight in December. Before she knew it she would be walking through fluffy white flakes that would later make life hell when it iced over her car and the sidewalks she used to get to work or her flat. It didn't matter, she had always loved the snow.

Addie sighed lightly taking a deep swig on her beer. It had gone warm but still it didn't taste all that bad, well that might have been the influence of two other beers talking.

"You always seem to be the life of the party," one of Addie's close friend said sarcastically as she sat herself across from the other woman.

Addie rolled her eyes at the black haired woman. "I didn't even want to come Kelly. I don't like parties. You know that." She finished off her beer.

"You didn't have to come," Kelly said with a huff of air and annoyance. "No one forced you to be here."

There was a snort as Addie tried not to laugh loudly. "Oh course I was forced. Kelly, you and Grant literally kidnapped me, forced me into pretty but weather appropriate clothing and then put me in heels, and finally set me loose here. I had no choice in the matter."

Kelly rolled her blue eyes in exaggeration. "You've always had a choice," she said before walking away to join the mass of bodies crammed into the two story townhouse.

Addie sighed again thumping her head back against the wall while continuing to look out the window. She wouldn't admit it to anyone but she would have rather been anywhere else in the universe than at that party.

Though it was rude, and she had been raised to not be rude unless the situation called for it, she stood from her seat leaving the empty beer bottle where she had sat it moments ago. She weaved in and out of the throng of hot bodies until she spotted Kelly talking to some bloke. She motioned with her head towards the back hall where no one would be.

"What?" Kelly questioned in a loud voice as they passed by the DJ's table.

"I've got a headache, so I'm just going to go. I apologize for not having been any fun tonight." Addie gave a not so apologetic shrug towards her best friend. "See you Monday?"

"Sure," Kelly growled but allowed her friend to slip back into the crowd.

Without so much as a hint of guilt, Addie weaved through the group apologizing as she went when she bumped into someone or stepped on some feet. She murmured a thank you as the door was opened as she approached it. Never in her life had she been to a party that wasn't only annoying but polite. Usually a party was annoying and rude.

Once out on the street she smiled, finally feeling the bonds breaking. Being stuck inside was never something she enjoyed. She liked being outside not in areas where there were tons of people gathered around to the point where she felt like a sardine in a tin can.

So now, out in the open, she felt so much freer and so much better than she had in the last few hours. It was cold, as she knew it would be, but that didn't quite matter. She pulled her coat closer around her neck blocking out the cold breeze that blow through the city. Like she noticed before, the sky was heavy with snow clouds and as she walked slowly down the street the fat, fluffy flakes drifted down in a lazy fashion that had a grin spreading across her face.

She continued to walk, her black heeled boots clicking less often as a thin sheet of snow began to coat the concrete beneath her feet. She had to be careful as the risk of slipping increased with every flake and every step. She often tripped in her heels to begin with and adding snow and ice didn't help her balance any. If it had only been rain she would have slipped off the shoes and walked barefoot but with the cold she didn't want to risk getting frostbite on her feet. She would deal with a twisted ankle if she had to, she rather liked her feet.

Addie crossed her arms over her chest and shivered against the cold. She might like winter but she wasn't quite a fan of the cold itself. She had been to places far colder than where she was now but still it felt like she was living in the arctic. She wished she'd brought a scarf with her but she hadn't thought of it. It had still been rather warm when she left for the party but now the temperature had plummeted and brought the first real lasting snow of the season.

As she walked she thought. At twenty five years old she felt so much older. There were stories in her mind, songs in her heart, things she could never say or tell anyone but Lily, her adopted sister. Not even her adopted parents knew what she knew though they had a kind of knowledge about everything. It was actually nights like this when she wished with all her heart there was someone, well a certain someone, she could talk to. She wanted so badly to relive those fun and odd moments as well as the boring and dangerous times. Yet that would never happen, or at least it would seem that way.

A soft sigh, something she seemed to be doing a lot of that night, whispered through her lips as she watched a car lazily roll from a near by parking lot of some late night shop. She had nothing to worry about in this neighborhood. Nothing, besides the occasional theft, happened in the area.

Nothing until right that instant.

She heard noises coming from down the street, in a back ally in which she had just passed. At first she paid no mind to the noise passing it off as just the sound of a stray tomcat chasing a mouse or a female cat. It was a normal sound, a natural one she heard from time to time when walking the streets at any given time during the day. Though at three in the morning it seemed more likely that she would hear the sounds of nighttime creatures roaming around darkened allies.

When the thumping noise sounded again it stopped her in her tracks. It wasn't distant any longer. It sounded like something come out of a nightmare she wasn't willing to relieve right that moment. She felt her heart race increase. She was scared, though the fear itself should have been unfounded. Fear hadn't played a large part in her life for nearly more than a decade.

She kept her steps steady even as her pulse raced, as her heart beat in such a rapid manner that had her worrying for her own safety. She thought, at first, this was all just a memory coming to life after a couple of beers. That was the main reason she refused to drink much outside of her own home. Drinking lead to her memories waking leaving her feeling as though something terrible, something from her past, was out to get her.

When Addie heard nothing for several minutes as she walked she steadied herself. The fear receded into the back of her mind, still nibbling just at the edges of her conscious. This lull in her emotions allowed her to take a deep breath and put her mind on a different train of thought.

Her moment of peace evaporated as soon as it had begun. The thumping was now a banging and it had gotten closer behind her. She nearly jumped as her pulse shot up and her eyes widened. She couldn't breathe for a moment as the pain in her chest ripped through her. She felt like a caged animal being stalked by some unknown predator. She was a sitting duck and nothing she could do in the very moment could keep her from staying rooted in her spot. Her brain might have been telling her to move but her feet wouldn't listen.

Running was second nature to her in situations like this but she couldn't. How could something once normal to her change into something so foreign? She didn't know, and she couldn't be sure, but in the end she knew it would come down to the fact that she hadn't actually had to run in nearly a decade. She hadn't realized how much time could effect her.

The noise, or whatever it was, approached at a faster pace. In this time her mind finally kicked into high gear allowing her flight or fight instincts to catch on. The flight however was stronger than then fight. She took off despite the fact she was still in three inch heels. Somehow running was all that really mattered at the moment, not the health of her feet or bones.

She seemed to be okay with the running for a while until her heel hit a sleek patch of icy water. Her ankle twisted as she hit the ground on her knees. The pain that shot through her knees was immediate but the pain she knew she should be feeling in her ankle wasn't there. This let her know that her ankle was well and truly sprained because it never hurt until you took a step on it. She tried to pay no mind as to the pain as her body protested as she hauled herself up off the sidewalk.

At this point her breath was coming in little bursts as her lungs sucked in icy air expelling puffs of fog. She knew she should stop, pull out her phone and call someone but now that her mind had settled on running it wouldn't change its course. She hated that. For as long as she could remember she was always able to think things through even if she was fleeing. Her mind was getting lazy and there seemed to be nothing she could do about it.

So she kept running because it was the only thing she could do in the moment. Her ankle had begun to throb painfully and with every step she took the pounding of all her weight on the foot in question began to weaken it. She felt the quivering of her ankle giving way as she stumbled back to the ground scraping her knees painfully on the ice cold concrete. She hissed loudly but pulled herself up again realizing the heel of her shoe was cracked.

Stumbling her way down the street she found a nice and steady light to stand under. Panting she leaned up against the cold and damp brick wall of the building behind her. She didn't know how far she ran nor did she know if whatever was following her was still doing so at the moment. All she knew was that her ankle was throbbing, her heel was broken, her knees were bloody, and the blood was pounding so hard in her ear she couldn't even hear the sounds of the city around her.

She stood there trying to catch her breath as her eyes darted around the street falling to the ally just a few yards away from her where she stood. The shadows were never a good place, a fact she had learned so long ago in what felt like a different life, in a different world. She had actually been running from the shadows, or at least something lurking in them from the noises she had been hearing. She couldn't be sure anymore.

She hadn't seen anything in the shadows, not that she had been paying much attention as she had run down the street and passed alleyways. Her mind hadn't been quite willing to fall back into it's natural survival mood which had ended up leaving her in the injured state she was. If her instincts hadn't kicked in in the manner they had she would have time to take off the accursed shoes and she wouldn't have a busted ankle nor injured knees.

Slipping off her shoes she tossed them in a nearby trashcan without so much as a regret. They were ruined to begin with so they were of no use to her any longer. She would have rather gone barefoot if she needed to run anymore that night. The damn heels were the reason she was hurting and the reason her breath came in frantic little pants. Heels only slowed her down and for that she cursed her friends for making her wear them in the first place.

She was in the middle of debating running back to the party just to be somewhere safe when she heard a thump in the ally down the street in the way she was going not from where she was coming. Her heart rate picked up to the point where she feared a heart attack brought on by fear. Her hazy eyes darted up and down the street looking for away out but found nothing but darkened apartment buildings. After all at three in the morning reasonable people were tucked away safely into their beds where the evils that lurked in the night couldn't touch them or those close to them.

As the noise grew closer she knew she had to make up her mind. Without so much as another thought she darted the way she had come as she realized that whatever was after her had somehow gotten in front of her. She didn't scream, didn't call out, just ran because at that point in time her life depended on it.

She ran several blocks before she found a small dimly lit alcove on one of the buildings she could have sworn she passed moments ago. There was enough light that it was safe but shadowed just enough so that she could hide her small frame for as long as she needed. She had to bite her lower lip to keep from panting heavily. Her heart beat so loudly she was sure that someone would hear the distinct beat. She worried her own godforsaken anatomy would give away her hiding space.

The seconds ticked by as her feet began to freeze on the snow laden cement. She wished for the first time in all the time she had lived in London that it was summer. At that moment she would have given her life just to feel the nearly overbearing heat of life within the packed city during the summer.

She closed her eyes when she heard the footsteps approaching her little hiding spot. Her heart beat faster, her pulse raced frantically. This moment, out of all the freaky things she'd seen, topped the list of the scariest. She just hoped she lived through it to tell the story to anyone who was willing to listen, to anyone who wouldn't just blow it off as a drunk moment.

As she opened her eyes she saw a hand come from the lit area, though from her spot in the corner she couldn't quite make out who, or better yet, what it was. She nearly squeaked when the hand took hers and pulled her from the shadows into the light.

"Come on," she heard the owner of the hand order. She blinked rapidly looking at the face before listening. Running down the street she felt a little safer but she could almost feel the unmistakable feeling of something breathing down her neck.

Something grabbed her, hit her from behind. All she heard was a shout of her name, then complete and utter blackness.