Chapter One
The Doctor frowned slightly and glanced down at his phone when he heard it buzz, signaling he had received a text. He picked it up from its spot on the TARDIS's console, glanced at the number and didn't recognize it. The content, however, piqued his interest:
This is going to sound a little strange, but what's the best way to get blood stains out of clothes?
He smiled to himself and texted back: Oh, it doesn't sound strange at all. Soak in cold/lukewarm water with detergent for 30 minutes. 'Course, it all depends on how old the bloodstains are.
Fresh, was the reply. Found another Hound that crossed over; killed a woman… Have you discovered anything more on that mirror I crossed through, Jack?
The Doctor's smile turned into a frown. Okay. What? What mirror?
Oh, shit!… Jack? Tell me that's you!
…Nope. This is the Doctor. Who is this?
Doctor? Why does that sound familiar? Jack's mentioned you, I think, gave me your # in case of an emergency still…how did I dial you instead of Jack? My name is Angelika, btw. I don't believe we've officially met.
Time Lord. Last of. …Anything? He texted back. Ah. Jack Harkness? Yeah, he'd do that. No idea. Wrong digit or two, maybe? ...No, we haven't. And what's this about a Hound and a mirror?
Ah, yes! That does sound very familiar. Yes, Jack Harkness. Maybe, I was dialing fairly fast. I'll assume from your questions, Jack hasn't told you about me… Brief pause, then another text. Since Jack trusts you, that's good enough for me, but I don't want to explain it like this. Are you willing to meet with me?
No, but then, I haven't seen him nor contacted him in years. I have no idea what he's been up to, the Doctor texted in response to her first statement. (Rassilon's robes, he hated mobile phones.) Then he considered her request, shrugged and nodded in agreement, forgetting that this Anjelika couldn't see him. Sure. When and where?
Give me an hour. Her address followed. Please don't make me regret this…
Got it, ta, he replied and then added, I won't make any promises.
After sending the text, the Doctor slipped Martha's old mobile into his pocket, then jumped up from where he'd been reclining on the yellow captain's chair in his console room. He entered the address Anjelika had given him into the TARDIS' computer, then set the time for one hour in the future. For him, at least, it had been only a few minutes before the TARDIS materialized.
After receiving the Doctor's text, Anjelika quickly finished washing her blood stained blouse and hung it in the bathroom to dry. She then tidied up her flat before jumping in the shower and changing into a comfortable pair of jeans and a loose t-shirt. Looking at her clock, she realized the Doctor would be there shortly if not already. She grabbed her towel to finish drying her hair as she walked back out to her living room.
As soon as the TARDIS finished materializing, the Doctor opened the door and stuck his head out. After noting that he was in someone's living room and that the place seemed relatively safe—there weren't any guns being pointed at him, at least—he stepped outside the TARDIS and shut the door behind him.
"Hello?" he called out.
"Coming!" she called out, stopping to toss the towel into the bathroom hamper before stepping out into the living room.
She stopped dead in her tracks as she took in the blue police box currently taking up space near her front door. Some part of her brain registered the man standing beside it. Turning her gaze to him, she finally closed her mouth and swallowed. "The Doctor, I presume?" she asked somewhat incredulously.
She had to admit to herself, at least, she hadn't quite believed Jack when he told her the Doctor had a time machine disguised as an old 60′s police box. She could barely believe that Jack had a vortex manipulator. Something she hadn't even heard of until finding herself in this universe and meeting Jack.
"I'm Anjelika," she greeted cautiously, but held out her hand to him.
"Yeah, I'm the Doctor," he said, taking her hand and shaking it once before letting go and sticking his hands in his pockets. "Though I've somehow picked up 'Teine' as a nickname; feel free to call me that if you wish." His eyes narrowed slightly as he studied her, though they gave nothing away as to what he was thinking. "So, what's Jack been up to lately? And what's all that you mentioned about a Hound and a mirror?"
"Right. Down to business. Jack, I believe is currently in the States. Left Ianto in charge of Torchwood and frankly, I don't think I trust the guy," she said flatly. She eyed the Doctor for a moment more. Something was trying to click in her mind. Like she should recognize who she was looking at but couldn't. She was still recovering mentally from her time in the Nightlands.
"As for the Hound and mirror, that's a little harder to explain. Hounds are from my world, or rather, from a nightmarish refection of it. Have you ever read Through the Looking Glass, Doctor? One wonders, in my world at least, if Lewis Carroll wasn't tripping, but actually fell through a mirror somehow and that book of his is a well disguised documentary…Though his was a much lighter version than the real thing. You see, mirrors in my world are doorways, for the right people."
"Yeah, I've read Through the Looking Glass," the Doctor said shortly, leaning back against his TARDIS and folding his arms over his chest. "It doesn't surprise me that you don't trust Ianto; I don't trust anyone who works for Torchwood." He paused. "And I'm going to take a wild guess here and say you're one of those 'right people' who can pass through these mirrors."
"Jack's the only one I trust. I figure it's the least I can do considering he helped get me back on my feet. And yeah, I am one of those 'right people'. Or I was. The Mirror Walk doesn't want to work from this side. I'm stuck here. In this world. So I help Jack by keeping an eye out for anything else that might come through. So far, it's only been three Hounds. Individual. Nothing I can't handle on my own. But should they ever come through in a group? I wouldn't be able to stop all of them. And God only knows they damage that would be caused."
She stopped to take a breath and, she realized, to stop pacing. "D'ya want something to eat? Drink?" she asked, remembering her manners.
"Mmm. I see. And yeah, a cuppa tea would be nice."
Anjelika nodded and headed into the small kitchen to fill the electric kettle with water and turned it on. While she waited for the water to boil, she got down two cups and a tin of rooibos tea and a teabag of black tea. "How do you take it?" she asked him, poking her head back into the living room.
"Just black's fine." He'd already shoved off from the TARDIS and was busy looking around. (Could he help it if he was an incurable snoop? Leave him unattended in a room for less than five mutes and he would browse through everything.)
The living room was very plain. Hardwood floor with only a large throw rug centered under a long wood coffee table. Two end tables on either side of an old leather couch and a matching reading chair. And a bookshelf with far too few books and a telly. There were no pictures to be found anywhere.
In the kitchen, Anjelika made their tea and carefully brought it out into the living room, handing the Doctor his cup. She smiled warily and moved to sit on the couch. "Have a seat, if you like. Sorry I don't have much in the way of entertainment," she said ruefully.
"S'okay." He took the cup and sat next to her on the couch, taking a sip before setting it down on one of the end tables. "You're not home much, are you?"
She was taken aback by his forward question. Anjelika shook her head slightly, too shocked to get snarky. "N-no. I'm not. Usually only long enough to have a late dinner and get a few hours sleep," she confessed. Why was she being so open?
"Cos you're busy saving the world with Torchwood from these …what do you call them, exactly? And what are you? You're not human; I can sense that much."
"Yeah," she breathed, again surprised by the man sitting next to her. "Hounds. Th-there called Hounds. Consider them foot soldiers for something far worse," she told him plainly. She looked at him strangely from behind her mug of tea, furrowing her brows. "How is it you can sense that?" she asked, unable to hide her curiosity. "Jack couldn't. Not even Torchwood with all its fancy equipment and extensive testing couldn't. Not until I changed form would they have known…everything said I was human."
"Time Lord," the Doctor said, tapping at his forehead. "I can see your timeline and all the possible futures. Every waking moment I can see what is, what was, what should and should not be. My past incarnations all had the ability; it just manifested in slightly different ways with each body. And…" He hesitated before adding, "I'm a touch-telepath, but I don't make a habit of entering another's mind unless it's absolutely necessary."
"Well," she began, brows raising to her hairline, "Jack did not tell me that." She took a long drink from her cooling tea. Again, something in her mind was trying to fit pieces together. Things she had forgotten. A familiar face and telepathy. But to look at it too long, to try to see it and examine it, hurt.
"Should it become…necessary," she started nervously, "it won't work without my permission."
"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me." The Doctor's lips curved in a smile as he reached for his tea. After taking a long sip, he said, "I'll keep that in mind. And I'm guessing Jack never told you he's immortal."
"No, that he told me. Not right away, but he did eventually. It was a mutual realization that neither of us were aging," she explained taking a sip of tea. "After finding out I was immortal as well, I thought Jack was going to ask me to marry him right then and there," she laughed. "But there is a difference in our immortality. Where Jack can be torn limb from limb and come back whole again; I can die. I just don't age."
"Which reminds me: You never did tell me what you are." He looked at her, the smile gone, his dark eyes suddenly serious.
"No, s'pose I haven't," she said, swallowing thickly. She was feeling nervous again at his mercurial mood. "My race, for lack of a better word, is called Nightbane. Though many of us look like something out of nightmares, the name is literal. We are the Bane of Night. The problem is, it's intangible. Though it does give form to some creatures, like the Hounds. But there are other things as well."
"Define 'other things.'"
She let out a puff of air. "That is a list. Not everything in the Nightlands wants to take over the real world or eat you, but most do. And at the top of that list are what we call Night Lords. They're god-like creatures and look human except for the fact that they have horns growing around their heads. And they appear to wear black armor, similar to the Hounds and Hound Masters. The Hunters, think of them as flying Hounds with a skeletal bird head. Then there's the Ashmedi: giant, fleshy worm-like vile creatures that take pleasure in hunting Humans for fun. And the Hollow Men. Well, the Namtar. 'Hollow Men' are their disguises, the Namtar inside are the real threat. They are intelligent beetles, or look like beetles, about 5 to 20 cm long," she explained. "There are also Doppelgangers, but they're rare. There could be other things I'm missing, either because I am unaware of them or can't remember. Jack said I have partial amnesia."
The Doctor leaned back, took another drink of tea. "Oookay. And if you want, I might be able to help with your partial amnesia, but it's better for the memories to come back on their own." Finished with his cup, he set it down and then stood up and started pacing. He hated being still for very long, and movement helped him to think. "You were tracking a Hound earlier, you said?"
"Some things are coming back slowly. But there seems to be a period of time my mind won't unlock. I'll see something or hear something and I'll get a very brief glimpse of a memory. But if I try to hold onto it, remember what it was, it hurts, almost like a migraine. I'll keep it in mind, Doctor, but I don't know if I want to remember."
She finished her own tea, but held onto the mug, rolling it between her hands and staring off into the distance until his question pulled her back to the here and now. "Um, yeah. Got it though. But not before it killed someone. It came through the same mirror I did, inside Torchwood. I keep telling them to break it, wrap the pieces in a dark cloth and bury it. Or at least cover it. Or move it away from the rift!" she exclaimed.
By now she had gotten up as well and began to pace. A combination of restlessness and anger at Jack's refusal to listen to her on that.
The Doctor stopped pacing at that and whirled to face her. "The rift?" His expression sharpened. "It's not still active, is it?"
"As far as we can tell, yes. It's a working theory that's the reason I got through in the first place. And how the Hounds are getting through. The mirror's proximity to the rift leaves it more open to things from my universe. It's connected to a Torchwood on that side." She felt more on guard now. Perhaps she had said too much. But maybe this Doctor could get Jack to finally listen about destroying the mirror. Even though it meant she was truly stuck here.
Storm clouds gathered in his eyes. "I've told Jack that the rift should remain closed," the Doctor growled. "There's no way to tell what could come through. One time it was a whole horde of murderous Gelth. Another time the entire city of Cardiff—the world would have been next—was almost torn apart. There's more, but it would take me a while to list them all. What is Jack even thinking, leaving it open?!"
Anjelika took an involuntary step back. Something in his eyes scared her, put her on guard. Yet she couldn't help the not entirely unpleasant shiver that ran up her spine. "I don't know. You'll have to ask Jack. But…from personal experience? Sometimes a rift won't stay closed," she told him. "Places of great power, especially those that connect to other realms…or universes can't be closed. Though apparently they can be one way only…"
His eyes narrowed. "What is this 'one way only'? And… hang on." He turned around in a circle, both hands tugging and ruffling through his hair, making it an even further mess. "Traveling between universes now should be impossible. Back when my people were alive, yeah, sure, you could hop between them and be home for tea, but now? Even with the Rift in time and space that shouldn't be happening."
She let out a heavy sigh. "Means, even though I somehow ended up here, I can't seem to find a way back. I don't know how things work, or used to work, in this universe. But in mine, rifts like the one here in Cardiff, while not common, aren't unheard of either. Though, it is extremely rare to hear of someone disappearing through one. Unless we're talking the Bermuda Triangle…Even then, it's been some time since that's swallowed anything up."
"Ah. Then again…" Both eyebrows raised as he briefly tilted his head to the side. "I mean, yeah, occasionally you get tears in the fabric of reality on other planets, other areas, but they're not really time rifts like the one in Cardiff. You could also accidentally create a Sario rip—the Andalite word for a time-rift—but that takes huge amounts of power. Strange that the Bermuda Triangle hasn't nabbed anyone in a while, but it's not like anyone's seriously keeping track. …" Abruptly, he changed the subject: "Where exactly in America is Jack? I need to see him. Or call him, at least."
She cocked her head to the side in curiosity. She'd never heard the term before. But at his question of where Jack was, she straightened. "New York, I think. Hang on, I have it written down," she answered and went to her bedroom where she kept the information in a locked drawer of her vanity. She retrieved it quickly and handed it to him. The piece of paper held both and address and contact number.
"Thanks," the Doctor said as he accepted the paper. He glanced at the address, then looked back at Anjelika. "If you wanted, you could… I dunno… come with me."
She looked up at him wide eyed. She had to admit to herself that she was curious. Had been since he arrived. Anjelika looked at the Doctor, then at the blue box sitting in her living room. "Yeah. I mean, if you really don't mind," she answered hopefully.
"I don't. Have you ever been inside a TARDIS before?"
"No, can't say that I have," she answered. "Sounds like an acronym… What's it stand for?"
"Time And Relative Dimension In Space," the Doctor said as he walked over to his ship and opened the door. "You'll find out why soon enough. Want to take a peek inside?"
Anjelika nodded as she took a step closer. "Yes, please." She had always had an insatiable sense of curiosity and couldn't resist something like this. Her approach was cautious, but she came right up to the door to look inside. What she saw made her gasp in surprise, but found her legs carrying her inside the ship and up the ramp. "It's… gorgeous," she whispered as she looked around the room. "Wait…TARDIS… Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. It's a time and space ship? That's bigger on the inside?! Wow…"
The Doctor shut the door, shrugged off his coat, and draped it over one of the coral struts as he strode up the ramp. "Is it?" he said sarcastically. "I hadn't noticed."
Then he was at the console, hands busily working at the controls. "Jack's in the U.S., yeah? Which city and state?"
Anjelika rolled her eyes at his sarcasm. "New York," she answered. "The capital, Albany." Then she rattled off the address.
She circled the console room, still trying to take it all in. She was in awe and had to admit, very impressed. She wondered how it was even possible, but then, she shouldn't be possible either. So for now, she kept such questions to herself, least he start asking questions about her true nature. She didn't want to call attention to it unless he gave her no choice or she trusted him.
"Hey, at least it's not New York City. And I've never been to upstate New York. This could be fun." The Doctor's hands were busy entering the coordinates for Albany, New York, and the address Anjelika had given him but he still managed to flash her a smile. Then he yanked down the lever; the wheezing and grinding of the TARDIS's engines filled the air as the time rotor moved up and down; and they were in the Time Vortex.
"Never been to New York at all," she admitted. "Could be fun. Only one way to find out, yeah?"
She watched in awe as the time rotor moved up and down, grabbing hold of the railing behind her as the TARDIS gave a slight lurch. She couldn't help but smile as a giddy, excited feeling washed over her. It was moving!
Ten minutes later, the time rotor stopped moving and the engines quieted. "Well, we've landed," the Doctor quipped, glancing up at the ceiling before shooting Anjelika a rather excited smile.
Angelica looked from the Doctor to the TARDIS doors and back again. She started down the ramp and then stopped. "May I have the honors, or do you want them? It is your ship after all."
"Go ahead," the Doctor said, gesturing to the door before shrugging on his coat. "I'll be right behind you."
Anjelika smiled and ran the rest of the way down the ramp, opening the door and stepping out. Her smile faded to a look of awe. They had definitely moved. Rather than finding herself inside a building, she had stepped into an alley. The sounds of heavy traffic and people weren't far off. She started to walk toward the open end of the alley, looking back to make sure the Doctor was following her.