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Chapter One
Italy, 1873
The wind gushed around the old house, making it creak.
A gathering of children sat behind a row of lit candles, staring up at the man in front of them. There were thirteen candles. One for each child.
"Are you sure? There is still a chance to leave. But it must be now." The cloaked man said to the children in front of him.
A few of the children hesitated; looking scared, but all nodded. A boy directly opposite the man sat calmly concentrating on the flickering candles, a dark look in his eyes.
The man, Antonio, drew a knife from the folds in his cloak and made a slow, deliberate gash on his palm. Once the blood was trickling at a steady pace he turned to face the children once again. He looked at a child of about thirteen on the edge of the semi-circle
"You. You will be first." He said
The boy stood before Antonio, who made a cut into his palm, like the one on his own. He pressed his palm against the boys and let their blood mix, before picking up the first candle and running it along the length of the child's wound.
"As you know, you were all hand-picked by me. You have all been orphans since birth. It is easier that way." He paused, carefully choosing his next words "You are my peoples hope. You are their saviours. You are their future."
He turned to face the boy he had traded blood with
"What is your name?" He asked
"Giorgio. Giorgio Costello."
"Congratulations, Giorgio, you are the newest member of the Angelo race. In an hour, my blood will have replaced yours and you will be the first half blood angel in over 100 years. But you must rest first. You may go to your chambers now."
As the boy left the room, the man turned back to the other children.
"Who's next?" He asked
"Me." Said a cocky looking boy, two or three years older than the first
"Your name?"
"Giovanni Costello." Said the boy, smirking
The man raised an eyebrow
"Brothers?" He asked
"Yes."
The man picked up his knife once more and slit the boy's palm, as he had done his brother. Blood unnaturally dark welled up from the wound. The man hesitated before pressing their hands together. He flinched slightly. Giovanni's smirk grew bigger.
The man released the boy's hand and the second candle was run across the second boy's palm.
The boy made to walk out of the room.
The man frowned
"You may go, when I tell you to go." The man said, in clipped tones "I am your father now, you will obey me."
The boy merely laughed and left.
'I must keep an eye on him,'The man thought 'He could be dangerous. Or perhaps he thinks of himself as a rebel.' He almost sneered at the thought, but quickly changed his facial expression back to neutral before looking back at the others
"Next."
As soon as the another child- this time a girl- stood up, a load roaring sound filled the room. Right before their disbelieving eyes, a blue wooden box materialized. There was writing on the box, which read 'Police Public Call Box'. As Antonio reached out to touch the box, a door swung open to reveal a man with spiky hair, which he had to admit was rather magnificent. He was wearing strange clothes- some sort of striped suit and shoes that seemed to be made of a fabric Antonio didn't recognise. Behind him stood a young woman, greatly underdressed. She appeared, Antonio thought with disgust, to be wearing trousers.
"'Ello!" The man grinned cheerily "Sorry to burst in on you like this, but what you're doing appears to be a grave mistake."
"Oh, really?" Antonio raised his eyebrows sarcastically "And who are you, sir, to tell me that?"
"I'm the Doctor," The strange man gestured behind him "And this, is beep beep beep beep"
I woke with a start, my alarm clock screaming.
It was the fifth time that week I'd dreamt about this mysterious 'Doctor' man and his blue police box. Each time I did, there was a different adventure, a different person they needed to confront.
A few months ago I would have shrugged them of as figments of my imagination, but after the events at Canary Wharf- or Torchwood as the press insisted on calling it- I wasn't so sure.
I'd lost my best friend to Torchwood. Rose Tyler hadn't been found in the wreckage and officials assumed that she'd been killed by those Dalek things that had attacked the innocent people below.
I disagreed.
I didn't have any proof or anything solid to go off, but somehow, somehow, I knew Rose was alive.
She had to be.
Rose had once told me of a man she'd met. She hadn't told me his name or what he looked like, but she did say that she trusted him with her life. I believed this mystery-man had kept her safe.
My alarm was still blaring, so I silenced it and reluctantly got out of bed. I knew I should probably hurry up, it being the first day of my new job and all, but I had never been a morning person and doubted I ever would be.
I showered and dressed myself in my new uniform- a black shirt with the words Koschei's Coffee across the back and dark trousers- and headed out into the main living space of my apartment. It had been a present from my parents. They were fairly wealthy and had decided that an apartment was a good eighteenth-birthday-gift.
I liked it, sure, but it had never felt like home.
On my way to the door I grabbed a black leather jacket and my keys before locking up and venturing out onto the busy streets of London.
I was taking a short break when a man walked up to the counter. I looked around for any sign of another employee before sighing, realising there was no one.
"Hello sir!" I grinned cheesily as Koschei- the owner and my boss- had instructed. Well... maybe he hadn't said cheesily, but 'friendly' and 'cheesy' seemed to mean the same thing here "And what can I get you?"
The man smiled back and I felt suddenly very strange, as if I recognised him before and he was very important. He showed me a business card
"John Smith, health inspector," He said confidently
"Um... I'm afraid that's just a blank piece of paper, sir." I raised my eyebrows
He furrowed his brow, as if he hadn't been expecting me to realise this. "Well that's not happened in a while..." He concentrated hard on the card and showed me again "How about now?"
"Still blank... Is there a problem?"
He seemed distracted "No... No I don't think so..." He turned his attention back to me and smiled "Do you perhaps think that I could speak to the manager?"
"Don't think he's in, sorry. I could pass on a message, if you'd like? Or you could come back tomorrow?"
He nodded and turned towards the door. He paused and turned back "One more thing… Koschei? That's an unusual name... I mean, assuming it's a name," I confirmed that it was, in fact, a name with a nod "Where's it from?"
"I don't know... You'll have to ask the owner. It's his name."
"Right, thanks." He beamed one last time and left.
I paused, thinking about the strange encounter and where I could have possibly seen his face before. I snapped out of my day dream. Day dream. Dream! Suddenly, I knew just where I had seen the man before.