With one fluid movement he threw on the handbrake and the TARDIS came to a resolute stop upon an unknown ground. The Doctor stepped back from the console and eyed his companion.

"Ready?" he asked her, taking note of the excitement, but slight hesitation on her face.

"Where are we?" she asked in response.

"Jasmin."

"Jasmin?"

"Yes, Clara, Jasmin. It's named after the Supreme Ruler of the planet. She's wanted to meet me for some time."

There was a mischievous twinkle in Clara's eye.

"Well, it's not like you to keep a woman waiting," she joked with a tone of pleasant sarcasm. The Doctor didn't smile, he didn't smile often these days, but Clara recognised something more than that. Annoyance maybe… Fear? She wasn't sure.

"So who is she? Jasmin, I mean?" Clara asked to break the unwelcome silence. She wasn't comforted by the look in the Doctor's eyes, so if he could tell her that Jasmin was some sort of wonderful angel, that's be great.

"I suppose humans would call her a witch, but that's not right. She's a shape-shifter of sorts; many shapes, many forms. She's lived for centuries but nobody knows what her true form is-" The Doctor trailed off, he did that a lot these days, almost like he'd forgotten what he was going to say. "She wants something from me, but I plan to offer her an alternative."

Clara sighed. A witch she thought, great!

Clara stepped through the doors first, pulling her jacket tightly around her as if it would somehow shield her from danger. The floor she stood upon was hard and her heels clicked against it as she stepped from the TARDIS. She took a slow step forward and heard the TARDIS door snap shut behind her, that always unnerved her a little, like the doors of her one safe-haven being locked forever.

It was cold and snow was falling in cruel, sharp flakes but not leaving any trace on the ground. It was dark but there were two full moons floating in the sky illuminating a flat and empty landscape. It was a bleak place; it looked like everything had died. No glistening golden pools, no odd space trees, no peculiar aliens walking about the place as if it were normal. Just nothing.

Clara noticed the Doctor was catching the falling shards of ice in his palms. She looked at him puzzled; would she ever understand his mood patterns? One minute a grumpy old man, the next a silly child. She sighed again.

"She's sending us a message," the Doctor said, still peering at his palms. "Look."

Clara shuffled over, trying to keep warm as she moved. She gazed down into the Doctors hands and what she saw next made a small gasp escape from her lips. The tiny shards of ice were cutting through the Doctors skin, causing small pools of blood to form and freeze on the surface of his skin.

"That's horrible," she exclaimed.

"We should leave," said the Doctor quietly. "She knows we're here and she's coming for us. I have a feeling-" he trailed off again. "Let's go."

This was an unusual turn up; the Doctor running away from an adventure. She thought he was going to offer this woman an alternative- though an alternative to what Clara didn't know. If the Doctor was leaving, then it wasn't worth the risk them being there.

They took two steps back to the TARDIS and the Doctor pulled out the key. Why isn't it going in the lock? Clara thought, waiting impatiently to get inside.

"She's frozen," came the Doctor's worried voice, as if he was responding to her thoughts. The message ticked away in Clara's mind before she realised what had been said.

"What?" she said.

"Don't you listen? I said she's frozen," replied the Doctor, annoyed. "Y'know, you never listen."

"Yes, I do!"

"No, you don't!"

"I don't think now is a good time to be arguing about this," Clara hissed tipping her head to one side.

The Doctor turned to glance in the direction she'd indicated. They weren't alone.

"Doctor," a woman's voice said with sultry enthusiasm. Clara raised her eyebrows.

The woman came into full view. She was tall and slender, her face was thin but beautiful with no lines or shadows. Her pale, bare feet treaded weightlessly across the ground and she appeared to glide towards them. Her long black hair seemed to melt into the black, velvet gown she wore and her eyes were deceivingly warm.

"I've waited almost a millennia for you, Doctor, and you've finally come for me," she soothed.

She held out her hand to him which he shook in one small flick of the wrist before taking a step to the side.

"Have you frozen my TARDIS?" he asked.

"Couldn't have you running away now, could we? Not until you've given me what I want."

"And what would that be?" he replied in a serious tone.

At that point the woman suddenly seemed to acknowledge Clara, like she hadn't been standing there bright as day for all this time.

"Who is the female?" the woman asked.

"I'm Clara," Clara said in a confident, almost offended tone of voice.

The woman let out a throaty laugh.

"Jasmin," she purred, extending her arm. "Charmed, I'm sure."

Clara didn't know what happened first. It might have been the electricity burning up her hand, then arm and coursing through her body. It might have been the Doctor yelling her name. It might have been her knees buckling and crashing into the ground below. It might have been the devilish cackle that escaped Jasmin's thin lips. She didn't know, everything went black too soon.

The Doctor was furious. How could he have let this happen?

He'd been standing in front of the TARDIS, key still in hand when Jasmin turned her attention to Clara. Before he could stop her she grasped his companion's hand and was seemingly scolding her through her skin. Clara had screamed out briefly before crumbling to the floor. He hadn't managed to get to Clara's side two steps away before Jasmin transformed and seized him. The arms of a mighty, mechanical beast held him tightly and dragged him away through the bitter darkness. He called out to Clara but she didn't move, she didn't hear. The Doctor hoped that the TARDIS would somehow protect her.

Now he was chained up, and Jasmin was back in her humanoid form. She'd taken him to her palace and strapped him to a chair in her private laboratory. It quickly became apparent to him what she wanted. The glass bottles and beakers on the table beside him, the long tubes and the needles were a clear sign of what was to come. The Doctor knew he couldn't let this happen, but he couldn't move.

"You know what I want from you," Jasmin said, massaging the Doctor's shoulders from behind. He fidgeted in the chair but was too tied down to escape her touch.

"Where are your people?" the Doctor said, stalling.

"That's no matter," she purred. "Unimportant." She walked around to face him, she stood towering over him. He avoided her gaze.

"I'd be worried if I didn't know where my citizens were," he scoffed. "Or have they left you?"

"They're fine!" she snapped, "Now," her voice returned to normal, "Let's get on with it."

She crouched down and slid her slender fingers beneath his coat and slipped it from his shoulders.

"What are you doing?" he uttered, his voice breaking only slightly.

His coat wouldn't fall beneath the chains across his chest and arms; for that he was thankful.

Jasmin seemed thoroughly put out by this and let out a tempered 'hmph'. She took two paces backwards and raised her arm; long fingers outstretched like they were grasping at something in the distance. The Doctor squeezed his eyes shut tightly as a ferocious gust of wind washed over him, burning his skin. He couldn't breathe, the forced pounding on his chest was too strong. He was swirling, faster and faster. And then it stopped. When it was all over he peered through one eye to see his coat firmly grasped in Jasmin's outstretched hand, completely intact. She released the coat and let it slip from her fingers into a pool on the black, tiled floor.

She approached him once more, muttered a brief, 'That's better,' and cast a blade out of thin air which she twirled delicately between her fingers. It was easily eight inches long and shone menacingly in the candlelight. She strode forwards and knelt at the Doctor's feet. He was powerless to stop her.

"Now it's time," Jasmin hissed. She lifted the knife. The Doctor said a silent apology to Clara.

Clara.

Her head hurt, then her shoulders. As more body part awoke she felt them ache. She tried to push herself up into a sitting position but her elbows seemed to refuse, gravity was pulling her down to the ground.

"Doctor," she croaked, but all that came back was silence. "Doctor?"

She twisted her head around, her stiff neck all but creaked as she did.

"Help me," she muttered up to the big, blue box. "Help me!" The TARDIS remain still and frozen, it felt like it wasn't there at all. It provided her with absolutely no comfort.

After several deep and painful breaths Clara found her feet. She felt a surge of pain with every footstep as she ambled almost blindly through the darkness. This can't be real, she thought to herself and wished she was back in her English classroom where the children would throw paper aeroplanes at her. Anything is better than this. And that's when the tears came, that's where her legs stopped and she fell to the floor in silent tears. Nobody was coming, she hadn't seen a soul. She was going to die.

It was if by a miracle she spotted a tiny light flickering in the distance. It was as if some tiny ray of hope inside of her was searching the skies, because she knew she hadn't been looking. She'd just seen it.

"Doctor," she whispered to herself. Gathering the little energy she had left she struggled to her feet and stepped slowly towards the light. With every aching step Clara was convinced the light was getting no closer. It didn't seem to be any bigger, like it was torturing her. She wanted to scream at it but the energy just wasn't there.

After what felt like an eternity she came upon a path, it was only just visible at her feet. She followed it almost dragging her feet through the dirt. She arrived at a vast shadow of a palace which was only lit by a single glowing window upstairs. She pushed through the unlocked door and went inside.

She was glad to be indoors, it was warm and quite welcoming. Still aching and feeling unable to run, she crept to the staircase and slowly began to climb.

"Doctor," she called out. Her voice echoed around her but no reply came. She continued to climb.

When she reached the first landing she called out again but there was no sight or sound from anyone. When she reached the fourth landing her legs were shaking and threatening to give in once more, but when there was a faint glow coming from above she willed herself to keep going.

The light poured from the ajar door on the fifth landing and she could hear Jasmin's lustful voice.

"You know what I want from you, Doctor, are you going to give it to me, or do I have to be forceful?"

An involuntary gasp escape Clara, she had to clasp her hand to her mouth to silence it. She prayed nobody heard her.

"I told you," came a Scottish voice, "I'm not giving you anything until you get Clara back."

"Oh really, I was hoping we could do this without her. Much more private. Much more… Intimate," Jasmin breathed.

There was a tearing sound, like fabric being ripped apart. Clara's heart raced.

"No, don't!" the Doctor yelled. Clara didn't like the tone of fear in her voice. She had to stop this, she had to save him. Her Doctor. From whatever that evil witch was doing to him.

Suddenly filled with adrenaline she burst through the door, it swung back and crashed into the wall. Clara leapt over to where Jasmin stood with the Doctor's torn shirt in one hand and a knife in the other. Without hesitation she pounced like a lion and the two women came crashing down. Clara heard the Doctor breathe a sigh of relief. Then came the rattle of the chains as he tried to free his arms.

Clara was on top of Jasmin with her hands at her throat. She wanted to scream that nobody touches the Doctor, nobody hurts the Doctor! But she couldn't quite find any words. She was breathing hard and the anger had made tears fall from her eyes.

Jasmin threw Clara aside like a doll, but Clara launched herself back at Jasmin who was prowling back over to the Doctor. They both slammed into the cold floor several feet apart. In that instant there was a deafening crack and Jasmin transformed once more into a huge black crow, the size of a man and took flight around the laboratory. Clara let out a scream.

She scrambled over to the Doctor and to her horror he was as white as a ghost, his head flopping to one side.

"What have you done?!" Clara yelled. The giant bird screeched angrily.

There was a tube fixed into the back of the Doctor's neck feeding his deep red blood into glass bottles on the adjoining table. Clara gasped. She tried tugging at the tube in the Doctor's neck but it wouldn't budge, not even a wiggle.

Jasmin swooped low and clawed at Clara with every passing. She has cuts across her face that were stinging but her panic for the Doctor seemed to burn louder than any physical pain.

The Doctor wasn't moving and Clara was running out of time.

"You want his blood? What for?" she yelled. The giant bird landed with a thud before transforming back into Jasmin.

"With that magical elixir I'll be immortal. I can leave this desolate rock and rule the universe!"

"Then why don't you just leave?" Clara cried.

"My ship is damaged," Jasmin confessed. "When it crashed on this planet it leaked copious amounts of radiation. Everything and everyone died. Except me, safe in my quarantine pod. "

"You wiped out a whole planet?"

"I survived and that's what matters. The radiation in the atmosphere wore away but the engine will still produce much of it once it's turned on and I can't operate it from the quarantine pod. Centuries I've waited for the Doctor and now, finally, I can fly away. His blood is powerful enough to protect me from the radiation in a self-replicating healing cycle, so long as I keep the dosage topped-up."

"But it doesn't have to be this way, the Doctor can get you off this planet; you don't have to kill him!"

"My ship is one of the most powerful in the universe, I'm not going to leave it here. I won't fly away in your Doctor's magical box with no ship and no hope." Jasmin paused and glanced at the Doctor drooping in his seat. Clara saw a small but wicked smile flitter on her lips. "I'm afraid in order to get enough Time Lord blood to make the journey, I'll have to… Bleed him dry." Jasmin let out a cruel, insane laugh that almost shook the room.

"No!" Clara screamed. She knelt down beside the Doctor and took his frozen face in her hands. "Wake up. You wake up now and tell me what to do!" she cried helplessly. "You look cold," she told an unhearing Doctor and reached for his coat. She wrapped it around his bare torso and clung to his arms. "Please," she whispered.

The room fell silent.

Somewhere far away Clara's prayers were answered. There was a familiar sound filling the room, a sound that brings hope wherever it goes… To everyone.

Jasmin stood transfixed at the blue box materialising inside her laboratory. While she was distracted Clara returned the key to the Doctor's pocket and pulled out the Sonic. She zapped the tube in his neck and it broke away with a quick snap! She then freed him from his chains so that they rested loosely around his body.And just for good measure, she pushed the glass bottles from the table and watched them shatter across the floor.

"NO!" screeched Jasmin. "What have you done, fool?"

"You want his blood, drink it off the floor," said Clara.

That was a mistake. Jasmin was striding away from the blue box toward Clara with her arm outstretched. Clara held out the Sonic in a threatening gesture but knew it was a pointless act. Jasmin seemed to know too; she cackled.

A ball of red light was growing in her hand, getting bigger and brighter until it eventually burned gold. Jasmin was still advancing on Clara who was almost pressed up against the far wall.

With a flick of her wrist the ball flew from Jasmin's hand and shot at Clara, who tried to jump out of the way but still collapsed to the floor. Jasmin screamed in dark delight.

The Doctor had been stirring in his chair, his biology bringing him back to life, that powerful Time Lord blood. He'd been kept alive, but only just, and now he was healing.

"Clara!" he yelled pushing aside the lose chains and rising to his feet. "What have you done?" he turned on Jasmin who had her arm outstretched once more. "Your magic won't work on me," the Doctor mumbled. Jasmin tried in vain anyway, shooting sparks that hit the Doctor but seemed not to affect him.

"No!" Jasmin hissed, lunging herself at the Doctor. He seized her by her wrists and threw her backwards, it wasn't a strong shove but she stumbled and crashed into the wall, her bones seemed to crack against it. She screamed deeply, a frenzied look in her red eyes, as she tried to scramble to her feet but the pain was weighing her down.

The Doctor hurried over to where Clara lay squirming and moaning in agony, her blood was now spilled across the floor too. He pulled her up into his arms and carried her across the room, and laid her safely in the TARDIS control room. He walked back out into the laboratory.

There was one bottle of blood left on the table that Clara hadn't managed to smash. The Doctor picked it up and walked over to Jasmin, still screaming on the floor.

"You'll be alright," he told her, speaking in a deep voice. "But you'll stay here, alone, forever."

Jasmin didn't speak again, she didn't scream, she just watched him go back into his blue box which vanished from the room a few seconds later.

The Doctor took Clara back to his room and laid her on his bed. She'd stopped moaning now and was in a deep sleep, but the Doctor knew she's be just fine. He perched on the mattress beside her and pulled her head into his lap.

"You were brave today," he told her, but it fell on unhearing ears. "Thank you."

He took one last look at the gash in her side; the spell had burned right through her clothes and cast a deep burn into her ribs that was bleeding and raw.

He reached for the glass bottle on the nightstand and poured a single droplet of his blood into the cut and immediately the magic started working. The burn healed and the skin that replaced it was perfect and new. The cuts on her face vanished and the colour came back to her cheeks. Clara's eyes sparked open.

"What happened?" she asked in a whisper. "Am I in your room?"

"The TARDIS appears to have lost yours again. She's getting as forgetful as me."

Clara smiled up at the Doctor. "Promise you won't ever leave me," she said.

The Doctor smiled, a genuine smile which was rare for this face.

"Are you going to leave me?" he asked.

"Never," said Clara.

"Good. I think- I think I need you."