Nyssa followed the Doctor into the TARDIS's control room. He set the book down on the floor carefully, as though he was afraid it was going to burn him, before moving around the console to the scanner controls.
"Quickly Nyssa, close the doors," he said, an audible note of urgency in his voice. Nyssa pressed the door lever into position before turning to the Doctor again.
"What is it?" she asked, looking down at the book on the floor.
"Don't touch it!" the Doctor warned, as Nyssa knelt beside it. "I think this is what we've been looking for - it could be incredibly dangerous. Stand aside, I'm going to refocus the scanner."
He turned a dial on the console, and the book became surrounded with a glowing yellow energy. Nyssa looked at the scanner screen in the control room's wall – a computerised image of the book was displayed on the screen, a shifting mass of reds and purples and blues.
"What is that?" Nyssa asked, watching the display with interest.
"A tribophysical energy signature on the same frequency as the one that brought us here," said the Doctor. "The signal's much clearer now – it's very narrow, almost directional..."
"Could it be a beacon?" Nyssa asked.
"Like landing lights on a runway. Yes, I think so," said the Doctor. "It's been sent here ahead of its creator, to guide them in, possibly. Very good Nyssa. I'm going to try and increase the scan..."
He turned the dial again. There was the sound of power rising and building up, before the control panel beneath the Doctor's hands suddenly sparked explosively – he yelped and pulled his hands away. At the same time, the energy field around the book dissipated.
"Quite remarkable," said the Doctor. "You know, I suspect this book has some level of sentience. It felt like it was… fighting back, against the scanner."
"It's alive?" said Nyssa. She looked at the book with renewed curiosity.
"Not in the traditional sense, but there is something… unusual about it," said the Doctor. He gingerly picked it up from the floor and set it on the console. Carefully, he opened the cover and turned the first page.
"What is that?" Nyssa asked, as they saw the first page. Instead of writing, there was a large, circular rune – intersecting lines and symbols, looping around endlessly on the page. The next page was the same, and the next. Every time the Doctor turned the page, there was a similar rune waiting for them.
"This is very worrying," the Doctor muttered. "It must be some sort of language, but the TARDIS isn't able to translate it."
"You said this book came from another universe," said Nyssa. "I suppose the translation circuits mustn't extend to certain extra-dimensional linguistic patterns."
"You're very probably right," said the Doctor. He snapped the book shut suddenly. "I think we need to speak to Finn again. Whatever's happening here obviously centres on him, and he's the only one who can give us any answers."
He reached over and pulled the door lever. Nyssa gasped as the Doctor turned back towards the book – or rather, the now-empty space on the TARDIS console where the book had been sitting just moments before.
"It just disappeared," said Nyssa. "As soon as you opened the doors, it vanished!"
They crossed Little Harrowdown quickly, finding Finn's house again with ease. However, Finn was nowhere to be seen – when they rang the doorbell, there was no reply. The Doctor knocked and tried the handle, but the door was locked.
"They must have gone out," said Nyssa. "Didn't Finn say something about going to the church earlier?"
The Doctor checked his watch.
"Yes, it's about the right time for a Sunday service," he said. "Come along Nyssa, we can wait outside for him."
The church sat at the centre of the village, tall and proud above the homes and shops. They found a wooden bench at the edge of the green, just opposite the church doors and waited.
It wasn't long before the church's large doors opened, and people began to emerge into the sunshine from its gloomy interior. The congregation was not especially large, and the Doctor and Nyssa spotted Finn and his parents almost immediately. Finn saw them too and waved. He said a few words to his parents before running over.
"Hello!" he called.
"Hello again!" the Doctor smiled. He reached into his pockets and rooted around for something. "Would you like a... Ah, I don't seem to have any. My mistake – old habits, and all that."
"We wanted to ask you a few questions about that book," said Nyssa.
"It's one of my favourites," said Finn. "My favourite bit is when they go to the cave..."
"We're not talking about The Mysterious Island," the Doctor cut in. "We meant the other one – the one you lent to us this morning. I'm afraid we seem to have mislaid it."
"Oh, this one," said Finn. He reached into the inner pocket of his jacket and pulled out the leather-bound book. The Doctor's eyes widened as he saw it.
"Extraordinary," he said. "How on Earth did you get it back?"
"It just happens," said Finn. "I tested it one day – I left it in my desk at school, and when I got home, it was sitting on my pillow."
"Very interesting," said the Doctor. "Does it have a title?"
"I don't know," said Finn. "It just appeared on Dad's bookshelf one morning. I came downstairs to look for something new to read and found it there. It's not his though, I asked - he thought it was just an old notebook. It isn't though, you can't write in it. The ink just disappears."
"Now that is very peculiar," said the Doctor. "It obviously doesn't want to be interfered with. When did it arrive?"
"About a week and a half ago," said Finn. "Last Sunday morning, I think."
"And your nightmares started around the same time?" the Doctor asked.
"Yes, that's right," said Finn.
"Tell me more about these nightmares," said the Doctor. "They could be very important."
"It's always the same dream," said Finn. "It's night-time, and the Count's outside my bedroom window, looking in at me. At first, I thought it was real, but Dad says it can't be - he says there's no such thing as vampires."
"He might be surprised…" the Doctor muttered. "Dads aren't always right about this sort of thing - Mums too. Nobody rationalises the inexplicable like a grown up. Tell me everything about the dreams."
"I try not to look at him, he's scary," said Finn. "But I never last long - it's like I can't stop myself. I always see his face at the window, no matter how much I try to avoid it. The Count's always smiling, but not in a nice way."
"I don't doubt it," said the Doctor.
"I look at him and then I wake up." Finn frowned. "I don't ever remember waking up, but Mum and Dad say I have to have been dreaming."
"Why do you call him the Count?" Nyssa asked.
"Because he looks like Count Dracula!" said Finn. "You know, like in the film?"
"The film?" Nyssa looked at the Doctor for clarification.
"Of course," The Doctor wore a look of realisation on his face. "Finn, is there a clock in your bedroom? And have you ever seen it in one of your dreams?"
"Yes," said Finn. He beamed proudly. "Twice - it was ten past midnight both times."
"That's excellent Finn, excellent," said the Doctor. Finn's smile grew wider at his praise.
"I'd better go," said Finn, looking over his shoulder towards his waiting parents. "Mum and Dad and I are going to visit my aunt in London - we'll be leaving soon, and we won't be back until it's very late. Will I see you again?"
"I can guarantee it," said the Doctor. As Finn ran off towards his house, the Doctor looked down at the book in his hands. "We need to get back to the TARDIS. Once we're inside, the book won't be able to escape. I hope."
"Doctor, what's going on?" Nyssa asked, as they set off towards the green again. "This Count in Finn's dreams: is that what sent the book here? Is it the creature that's trying to break into our universe?"
"Precisely, Nyssa," said the Doctor. "I doubt Finn's dreams are just dreams - I suspect they're rather more real than he and his parents think."
"You mean there actually is a vampire at Finn's window each night?" Nyssa asked, her tone disbelieving. "There's no such thing as vampires."
"Not anymore at least, or so we thought," said the Doctor, as they reached the TARDIS. He slotted his key into the lock and turned it, pushing the door open. "Come along Nyssa, we need to find something."
The Doctor led Nyssa through the warren-like corridors of the TARDIS' interior. They were passing door after door, and the Doctor explained that they were looking for a particular storage room.
"What did Finn mean when he said the vampire was like the one in a film?" Nyssa asked.
"This must be 1958, Nyssa," said the Doctor. "A very popular film adaptation of the novel Dracula has just been released - Finn said earlier that his parents had taken him to read it. Presumably he's read the original book too."
"But what does that mean?" Nyssa asked.
"I think the Count, or whatever it really is, has pulled the image of Dracula from Finn's mind," said the Doctor. "But why did it pick that particular form?"
"What do we do now? How do we stop it?"
"It's using the book as a guide to bring itself into this universe," said the Doctor. "But that arrived in Finn's living room a week ago - Finn's been having nightmares every night since then. It might not need the book anymore. Simply removing its beacon won't do any good - we must defeat the creature itself. In here."
He gestured to a door on their right and pushed it open to reveal a cluttered storage room, full of items from various times and places.
"What are you looking for?" Nyssa asked, as the Doctor retrieved opened a cupboard, and started rooting around inside.
"Something that should help us defend ourselves against an extra-dimensional entity like the Count," he replied. "I just hope I didn't get rid of it after that terrible business in Cottingly..."
The Doctor emerged from the cupboard again, holding a cardboard box full of yet more junk. He swept some metal components off a nearby table and started to empty the box into their place.
"Aha!" He suddenly exclaimed, reaching into the box one final time. He showed Nyssa a small machine, with two switches and a dial on the front, underneath a needle displaying some sort of magnitude against a scale.
"What is it?" Nyssa asked, taking the device from him. It was about the size of a brick, and about as heavy.
"A dimensional manipulator," said the Doctor. "It's a little bit primitive, but it's portable and it should work for what we need to do. I'll boost the power with some components from the console before we leave, but we can hopefully use it to trap the Count."
"What do we do with him once we've done that?" Nyssa asked.
"Ideally, we send him back to wherever he came from, and seal the dimension walls again," said the Doctor. "But that might be easier said than done. We'll just have to try our best."
A/N: Thanks for reading! If you've enjoyed this story so far, please consider leaving a review or following, they're always much appreciated.