The Soul Collector

by Sabrina Lonewalker

Centuries ago, there was a being of unique abilities who loved to collect souls. Finally, the Doctor, in his Third Incarnation, had trapped him in a temporal prison and returned the souls to where they belonged. Now, in his Eighth Incarnation, the Doctor finds his ancient enemy has been inadvertently freed and is again collecting souls but now, The Collector wants one particular

The Soul Collector

Part One

by

Sabrina Lonewalker

The Doctor stood at the control console, watching the screen, setting coordinates, wondering where he was going now. He had left Earth a few days ago, leaving Grace behind. It had been hard but, he understood her reasoning, she was needed back in San Francisco. Her skills, her compassionate nature were all needed by her patients but, he couldn't help but feel a little bit put out. He loved her and wanted her by his side as he explored the universe but, he had agreed with her decision.

He sighed and shook his head, why was it that when he fell in love it never worked out? It was times like these that he wished he wasn't a Time Lord. It only made his life so much more complicated but, he couldn't change what was so, he had to live with it. That didn't mean that he had to like it though. He sighed and checked the coordiantes and then put the old girl on auto pilot and took his cup of tea to his chair so he could finish the book he had started before landing on Earth.

As he read, his eyes became heavy and he managed to fall asleep, the book turned open side down on his chest. The grammophone record he had been listening to hit the end and the needle began to bump and scratch like always. He jerked a bit then stood up. "Not again," he said as he walked over to the grammophone to reset the needle when inexplicably, he shivered, like a cold wind had wafted through the TARDIS. "Strange," he thought, "I haven't felt anything like that for centuries now. The last time I felt that wind was..." His voice trailed off and his blue eyes widened in horror, "Oh no, he's loose again, someone has let him out." He flew to the console and began twisting dials and flipping switches almost frantically to get to his destination. Finally, he landed.

The three archeologists who had opened the chamber buried beneath the Incan pyramid in South America were dead, the creature inside had devoured their souls as soon as he was free. Now, he was sated for awhile and could think about what to do. It had been so many centuries locked in his prison with nothing to feed on that he had reacted instinctively when the seal on his prison had been broken. He then took over one of the male bodies and sifted through the memories in order to move about without attracting suspicion.