The absolutely true account of my absence-

Me: So Nine, how long have I been gone?

Nine: About four days.

~later~

Nine: Did I say four days? It's er... four weeks. You've been gone a whole month.

Me:...

Nine: Sorry

Anyway, if any of you are still reading this, here's chapter 7.

Rose was having far too much of a good time to care about that little bit of worry in the pit of her stomach that came up when the doctor was delayed. Dinner and small talk with Queen Victoria, imagine that! Quite amusing. Her chair was pulled up to the table as far as it could, and she leaned forward. She addressed the master of the house. "Now then, sir. You promised us a tale of nightmares, didn't you? This wolf?"

"Indeed. Since my husband's death, I find myself with more of a taste for supernatural fiction." The aforementioned queen added. Rose took a second to glance at her.

There was pain in her voice when she mentioned her husband that Rose knew. "You must miss him, yeah?"

The queen turned to look straight into her eyes. "Very much. Oh, completely. And that's the charm of a ghost story, isn't it? Not the scares and chills, that's just for children, but the... hope of some contact with the great all want some message from that place..."

"Yeah," Rose breathed, but nobody heard her. It had been less than a year in her linear time stream since the Time War. If she had some hope of talking to those that she lost, even if, perhaps, that hope came in the form of a dubious myth, she had little doubt she would take it.

"...it's the Creator's greatest mystery that we are allowed no such consolation. The dead stay silent. And we must wait." She seemed to shrug herself out of the faze. Of course she would, she was British. "Come! Begin your tale, Sir Robert. There's a chill in the air. The wind is howling through the eaves. Tell us of monsters!"

And so, he did. He told the story of the 300 year legend that made its way onto wood carvings and drawings, about the man who could turn into a wolf. A werewolf. The pit of worry in Rose's stomach grew greater, as her subconscious kept track of how long the doctor had been kept up. Far too long. Her eyes rested on Father Angelo, standing next to the window. And his reflection was chanting three words over and over again. Lupis deus est, Lupis deus est, Lupis deus...

The wolf is god...

Robert's father was turned on by the monastery, but his work was far from ungodly. That was the problem. In her head, it all came together. Sir Robert was leading towards Rose's thoughts. "What if they turned from God, and worshipped the wolf?" There was fear there- he knew something...

"Or better yet," Rose brought him up short as she heard the chanting getting louder. "What if they were with us right now?" Her head snapped back to Father Angelo. "Where's Doctor Smith?"

John rubbed the back of his head, which had been previously lying on something hard and cold, and blearily opened his eyes. Ugh, what a dream. He sat up and blocked off all the surrounding noise. Can hardly remember it... Groaning, he opened up his eyes all the way to see that he was chained to a metal rod with several other people in Victorian dress. "Ah, this," He said out loud, and made a face.

Something clanged over to his right. There was a cage, and sitting inside it, eyes closed, was a man. The woman next to him spoke. "Don't make a sound. They said if we scream or shout, then he will slaughter us."

"Who's he then? What's he gonna do to us from over there in that cage? He's more a prisoner than us!"

"There's more than that. That creature is not mortal."

At this, the man opened his eyes, revealing them to be completely black. John frowned speculatively. "Ah, that's not nice. Poor bloke's probably just got a genetic disorder or somewhat..." Despite the woman's protests, he walked up as far as he could go and kneeled down before it. "At this point in history you should all be beyond this," He muttered, before addressing the hooded figure. "What's your name?"

"Ohhh, stupidity... just like this body," it responded.

John narrowed his eyebrows. "What're you on about."

"This body... ten miles away... a weakling, heartsick boy. Stolen away at night by the brethren from my cultivation. I carved out his soul and sat in his heart."

His breath quickened. "So what you're saying is that this body that you're in right now... it's not yours?" He was just indulging this obviously severe mental case. Yeah, that's what he was doing- it's not like he believed the rubbish. Nah... "Where do you come from then?"

"So far from home, but then why would I leave this place? A world of industry, of workforce and warfare. I could turn it to such purpose... I will migrate to the Holy Monarch and with one bite, I would pass into her blood. And then it begins. The Empire of the Wolf! So many questions..."

The creature- yes John was completely certain now- lunged forwards, making him and the rest of the prisoners jump. "Look, inside your eyes! You've seen it too!"

"Seen what?"

"The wolf! You have seen the greatest and most powerful wolf, one that has hunted across all of space and time!"

"I don't know what you mean," John replied.

"One day you will be like a storm, but tonight, it is clear enough to see the moon." The door swung open and light from the night outside filtered in. The creature pressed his face against the bars and smiled blissfully. "Moonlight..."

John's eyes widened. He turned to the uncomfortable group of prisoners who were standing there, panicking. Making a snap decision, "Listen to me now, all of you! Stop looking at it! Flora, don't look - listen to me. Grab hold of the chain and pull!" he ordered.

The creature began to growl.

Sorry for the shortness of this one- it just sort of ended without my permission. Thanks to everyone that's reading this and reviewing. Let me know what you think!

To Be Continued.