Here's a quick description of what Ali looks like. She's 5ft 5 with wavy red hair that falls halfway between her shoulder and elbow. She also has green eyes and wears a charm bracelet on her left wrist. I picture her to look similar to Clary Fray from the Mortal Instrument Movie, portrayed by Lily Collins.

Instead of going straight home Alyssa headed for the Coffeehouse, where she worked the summer before to pick up some breakfast as she'd left that morning without eating any "Hey Ali" Steve, a 23 year old brown haired man greeted.

"Hey Steve", Alyssa said approaching the counter he was standing behind.

"What can I get for you?" he asked.

"A medium tea, to-go and a chicken pasty", Alyssa replied. Steve nodded and turned to the machine to prepare her order.

"How have you been doing?" the man asked turning back to set down the pasty.

"As well as I can be", Alyssa replied honestly.

"Get better with time it will. The force is strong with you my young padawan", Steve said in an impression of Jedi Master Yoda. Alyssa cracked a small smile at his impression. He knew that she was a fairly big fan of Star Wars.

"I needed that", she admitted "thanks".

"That's what friends are for", Steve said. He turned to the machine to get Alyssa's to-go cup and stuck a lid on it. "You coming to work her during your break?" he asked.

"No, but I will be back here this summer if Mrs Michaelson will hire me", Alyssa said.

"I know she will", Steve said confidently handing over her tea.

"You sound pretty confident about that. Are you psychic now or something?" Alyssa joked.

"The only gifted one around here is you", Steve said giving her a wink. Alyssa knew what he meant by that, he was referring to her psychic abilities. The ones she inherited from her paternal grandmother, the empathic psychic Emma Grayling. Not many people knew she had abilities the exception being her own mother, Steve and her best friend Ellie. Her father was aware that she was different but instead of accepting it, he wanted nothing to do with her. At the age of 5 her parents divorced forcing Sarah, her mother to raise her on her own. To this day Alyssa still hated her father for divorcing her mother because of her. Things would've been different if he had inherited his mother's psychic abilities. But unfortunately that particular gene seemed to have skipped Mathew completely and inherited by his daughter. "The reason I'm confident is because I know you. You're a hard worker, Mrs Michaelson would be mad not to hire you again in the summer", he continued.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see", Alyssa said "see you later".

"See you later", Steve replied. Alyssa took the items she ordered to the cashier where got her pasty bagged up. She then paid for them and left the Coffeehouse. The young woman wandered along the street at a casual pace drinking her tea, completely unaware that she was being followed.


The 9th Doctor hung back as he watched Alyssa sit down on a bench in the park and started to eat the food she had in the bag. He'd been following her discretely trying to work out why the TARDIS brought the young woman to his attention. He'd literally been about to rematerialize to let Rose know the blue box could travel in time when she jumped back into the Time Vortex going forward in time by one month. The moment she'd landed, Alyssa's picture popped up on the scanner with the words 'important' written in Gallifreyan next to the image. Of course he'd asked the box why this woman was important and all he got in return was a load of information in regards to the woman.

The Doctor had looked through the information he was given and couldn't find anything out of the ordinary about her. When he told the box that the woman seemed perfectly ordinary judging by the information he received a rather angry hum in response as if the TARDIS was offended by him calling Alyssa ordinary. Because of the response he'd gotten from the TARDIS, the Doctor decided to go find out why the box felt that the woman was important.

The minutes ticked by and the Doctor was getting more and more bored. Eventually another slightly older brunette woman wearing glasses approached Alyssa. Judging by the greetings the two knew each other. They exchanged words for several minutes which unfortunately the Doctor was too far away to hear what was being said. The conversation came to a close with the brunette woman placing a hand over Alyssa's and saying something which the red head responded to. The two women got up, said their goodbyes and the brunette went on her way. Alyssa stayed where she was for a moment to gather up the to-go cup and paper bag.

The Doctor turned his gaze away as Alyssa walked up the path towards him so she wouldn't realise that he'd been watching her. However as she passed where he was sitting he noticed something that made him stiffen. On the back of the hand that was closest to him was something horribly familiar. It was the symbol of the industria lamia, more commonly known as an energy vampire. Those only appeared on the backs of the hands that the vampire picks as its next victim.

The Doctor stood up and ran back to the TARDIS knowing that he had to track down the woman Alyssa had been talking to. She had to be the vampire who'd marked her, he hadn't noticed the symbol on her hand until after Alyssa's conversation with the woman. And he had to find her fast because once a victim had been marked, they didn't live to see the next day. There was no way he was going to let Alyssa be killed. For one thing, she was young with her whole life ahead of her. And for another, the TARDIS seemed to think Alyssa was important enough to bring him forward a month to find her. I can't let her die he thought pushing himself to go faster I can't.


~ice rink~

"Hey Ali!" George the ice rink's security guard greeted as he opened the door to the building "its been a while".

"Yeah, I know. I've had some…things that I've needed to deal with", Alyssa said stepping through the door "Is it still ok to come here after closing?" she asked. It had been George who'd caught her sneaking into rink after closing one night. Alyssa had managed to persuade him not to report her to the police, though it took a good few minutes to do so. Plus she also gave him her coffee which also helped somewhat as being an ice rink, it was always cold. Ever since then they made a deal where he would allow Alyssa to come by after closing so long as she bought coffee and occasionally a cake.

"Of course it is", George replied "As long as you brought…"

"Coffee and cake?" Alyssa said "don't worry. I came prepared", she added producing the items.

"You are a star", George said when she handed them over.

"You're welcome", Alyssa said "I won't be here long. About an hour", she promised and George nodded.

Alyssa headed over to the benches to put on her ice skates. She laced up her white skates and stepped out on the ice, grabbing on to the side. Taking a couple of breaths, Alyssa pushed off from the side. The next hour was spent gliding around the ice growing more confident as the time went on. Ever since she was a child she loved to ice skate. As a form of encouragement, her mother allowed her to take lessons. When she was 16, Alyssa entered in an ice dancing completion. She made it all the way to the final but unfortunately narrowly missed out on 1st place. Alyssa changed her mind about making it her career when she reached college as conservation and curation took her interest. That didn't mean she stopped ice skating, it just meant that it became more of a hobby than practice for a future career. Although her mother did say that it would be useful to hone her ice skating skills as she could use it as a fall back in case the conservation/curation career didn't work out.

But since her grandmother had passed away, Alyssa had stopped coming to the ice rink. She just didn't have the heart to do it especially as her maternal grandmother, Elizabeth, had been her second biggest supporter. But talking to the stranger today in the graveyard really made her think about the things she stopped doing because her gran had passed away. She stopped ice skating because of this very reason. If her grandmother really could talk to her, she'd be telling her not to give up the things she loved. So Alyssa would continue to skate, continue to live on to make her gran proud.

"Thanks for letting me skate around for a bit George", Alyssa said as the man met her part way towards the entrance "I appreciate it".

"You're welcome Alyssa", George said smiling at her.

Alyssa went to move past him assuming that he'd open to door to let her out but he stepped in her way. She moved to the other side and was confused when he moved with her. "George what are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm sorry Alyssa but I can't let you go" Alyssa's eyes widened when the middle aged man changed into Tanya. She tried to run but the woman grabbed hold of her wrist tight.

"You've been marked", Tanya said pulling Alyssa back around to face her "and now you have to die". Tanya placed her free hand on Alyssa's face. The red head screamed from the searing pain that ran through her body the second Tanya touched her.

"Oh Ali", Tanya cooed as the young woman dropped to her knees gasping, weakening from having her life force being taken. "This isn't personal. I have to feed just like you humans. Usually I go for older people but after centuries of the same old diet I decided to go for something fresh". Tanya placed her other hand on Alyssa's paling face watching her fight to stay awake. "Don't fight it Ali. Just give in. You'll be with your dear grandmother soon", Tanya said quietly.

Alyssa clenched her fists determined to fight, to stay awake. She couldn't give in. She just couldn't! She gasped when she felt her energy being pulled from her at a quicker pace. Darkness appeared at the edges of her vision and she knew that she'd lost. Mum I'm sorry she thought as her entire body grew slack and her eyes drifted shut. The last thing she heard was strange sound before she succumbed to the darkness.

"It can't be", Tanya said releasing Alyssa as a blue police box appeared. She'd been around long enough to hear stories about a blue police box and the man it contained within. The Doctor, the Oncoming Storm. What she had heard about him was enough to attempt to keep a low profile in order to avoid meeting him. But now he was here, on the exact day she'd marked Alyssa. How did he find out what she'd done? How did he know she was going to be here? She didn't really have a lot of time to dwell on those thoughts when the door opened and the Time Lord himself stepped out. "Well if it isn't the last of the Time Lords. I've heard quite a bit about you", Tanya said trying to hide how afraid she actually was.

The Doctor didn't say anything to her, he simply walked past her and knelt by Alyssa. He placed two fingers on her neck and was relieved when he felt a pulse. But it was very faint. She was alive, only just. The Doctor carefully gathered the woman up in his arms and headed back to the TARDIS ignoring Tanya's pleas for mercy. She didn't deserve any, not for what she almost did. "Do it", he told the TARDIS after he stepped in with Alyssa in his arms. He didn't flinch when Tanya started screaming. In fact he didn't even look around as the alien burned from the power of the heart of the TARDIS. He just kept going, into the depths of his ship towards the med bay.

Minutes ticked by as the Doctor sat at Alyssa's bedside waiting for her to wake. It was about an hour later when the young woman started to stir. "Don't try to move", he told her as she tried to do so, unsuccessfully "you're still pretty weak".

"Who are you?" she asked quietly.

"I'm the Doctor", the Doctor replied.

"Tanya…."

"You don't have to worry Ali. I stopped her", the Doctor assured her.

"You saved me?" Alyssa asked, her tried brain not even registering the fact that he'd called her by her nickname.

The Doctor nodded "I did", he confirmed.

"Thank you", Alyssa managed to say before she passed out again. The Doctor moved from the edge of the bed back to the chair. He settled down knowing that it may be some time before she woke again.


The Doctor shifted in his chair extremely bored. It had been two days, two very long days and Alyssa still hadn't woken up. Well she had but not fully. The longest she'd been awake was 5 minutes and even that had been a struggle for her. The Doctor had considered continuing his travels to keep himself occupied but he quickly pushed those thoughts aside. It didn't feel right to leave her alone not when she could wake at any moment. Also it was likely the TARDIS would put up a fight if he tried to go anywhere. So the Doctor waited.

And waited…

And waited…