Author's note: Sorry about not posting yesterday, guys. We have this routine thing in South Africa where they like to switch off our power at inopportune moments :/

Anyway, link for Rose's outfit is on the profile, as per usual. Hope you like these next two chapters!

...

Thoughts of Rose and the Count plagued the Doctor's mind all through the time he spent in his chambers. When light started peeking through the space between the heavy draperies in his room three hours later, he was all too eager to set off in search of his companion.

He noted wryly that it was just past 06:30.

He could already hear the telling off Rose was going to give him for waking her so early. Among all the brilliant and wonderful things about her that he'd come to discover in the time they had spent together, this was probably one of her most prominent qualities: Rose Tyler was not a morning person.

Thinking on that with a little smile, the Doctor moved forward to grab the heavy iron of the door-handle and exit the room. Just as he was about two feet away, however, the door seemed to open of its own accord.

Ana gave a small start when she found the Time Lord standing so closely to her instead of in his bed. "Oh! Excuse me, Doctor, I didn't realise you were already up," the Doctor noticed that the young girl was taking in his fully-dressed appearance and knew that she was wondering if he had slept at all.

The answer to that question was no. Time Lords didn't need to sleep. Not when their companions were in danger of falling victim to an evil vampire's flirtations, at least.

"Um," Ana cleared her throat, "My master has requested that you be present for breakfast in the dining hall at 07:00."

The Doctor looked at the pale girl and felt a bout of sympathy for her. Perhaps the way to get his mind off worrying about Rose (who was completely fine, he reassured himself again) was by getting back to the task at hand: Namely getting Ana and all the other girls that the Count had managed to take back to their families.

"Why are you so scared of him, Ana?" he asked her softly, putting a hand on her shoulder and guiding her to the edge of the bed behind him. He sat her down there, sitting beside her and looking into her eyes intently, "What has he done to you?"

He could see that the girl was just about to burst into tears, but instead of replying she simply shook her head. She kept her eyes firmly trained on a spot on the floor in front of her, refusing to meet his gaze.

"Ana," he pressed, "He can't hurt you. Not while I'm here. Tell me what he did and I'll put a stop to it. I promise."

"The Count is good to us," she murmured, and the Doctor knew that these words most definitely weren't her own, "He cares for us. We have no one else in life."

The Doctor could feel his jaw clenching at how completely the Count had managed to dominate Ana's thoughts. What made him even more furious was the fact that she apparently wasn't the only one.

If Dracula tried something like this with Rose…

"Ana, look at me," the Doctor told her firmly. He waited and her eyes eventually lifted to meet his. They were swimming in tears.

"We are alone," she choked out.

"No," he insisted fiercely, grabbing her by the hands, "No, Ana, listen to me. You are not alone. He's made you believe that you are, but it's just a lie. You have a family, Ana. Your father is worried sick about you."

Ana shook her head, refusing to believe a word he told her. "No," she insisted, "I have no family. I have no father. Just the Count. The Count provides."

The sick reverence with which she spoke of Dracula caused the Doctor's resolve to strengthen.

"Yes, you do," he countered. He let go of the girl's hands and placed his fingertips on her temples, "Look, I'll show you."

But before he closed his eyes and focused in on her mind, something in his peripheral vision caused him to drop his hands and reach in his jacket pocket for his glasses, placing them on his nose.

"Hold on," he murmured.

Rose had said last night about something on her neck…

Realising where his gaze was now centred, Ana gave a gasp and instantly jumped away from the Doctor's side. Without so much as another peep, the girl all but ran for retreat from the room.

The Doctor didn't stop her. He'd already seen what he had to.

He needed to find Rose.

…

Rose felt groggy when she woke up for the second time that day.

This time, at least, she knew where she was.

She reckoned that she couldn't have gotten more than a few hours of sleep, seeing as her escapades of the previous evening had only ended well into the early morning hours.

Still, she realised as she sat up in her plush bed with a frown, she'd gotten by on less sleep in the past. Far less. Even when having run on adrenaline the entire day and only getting in about two hours of sleep afterwards, she'd never felt quite this exhausted.

She felt absolutely drained.

She tried to think back on the events of the evening, attempting to remember what actions on her part could have possibly resulted in tiring her so much.

She'd come here with—someone. Who was it again?

She mentally slapped herself. It was the Doctor, obviously.

They'd been talking about something in the library. It had been some book or film, and afterwards they'd ended up landing the TARDIS in the centre of town. They'd met the townspeople and then Felix, the village head, had told them about his missing daughter.

Someone— no, not someone. It was the Doctor!—had suggested that they try to lure the demon that had kidnapped Felix's daughter (Ana, she seemed to recall) into town to get a better look at it. Only, when she'd been acting as bait, it had taken her.

And then she'd met him. Count Dracula. The dark, handsome nobleman with those absolutely gorgeous eyes that stared straight into your soul. She could have looked into those eyes forever. She was sure that if he'd asked her to, she would.

Hold on.

That wasn't right.

No, she'd already promised her forever to someone (The Doctor! Her mind screamed) else. She couldn't stay with Count Dracula. She wouldn't.

Not while he still needed her.

Yes, that was it!

Abruptly, the fogginess in her head cleared and she felt a great wave of affection roll through her as images of spiky hair, pin-striped suits and leather jackets filled her mind's eye. Along with these images, the rest of the evening's events also fell into place; the Doctor's jealousy at Dracula's attentiveness towards her, his consternation at them having to stay in separate wings of the castle, his concern for her well-being so far away from him—

All but one memory.

What had happened after Ana had ushered her to her room? A small part of her remembered something along the lines of running into the Count on the way, but how long had they talked? What had they talked about?

What had happened to her?

And then she spotted something on the far side of the room. A ray of sunlight reflected off a mirror mounted on the wall. She shielded her eyes slightly against the stark light shining in her eyes, but started towards the mirror all the same.

She felt dizzy when she stood up. It was like a bad case of vertigo. It made her worry about what exactly had happened to her in those forgotten moments of the previous evening all the more.

When she first caught sight of her reflection, she gasped.

She was paler than usual. She might have chalked it up to being a result of her coming down with something akin to a cold if she didn't know any better. But that wasn't the reason for her horror.

There. On her neck. Just over her carotid artery.

Two small puncture wounds.

She spun around at the speed of light, spotting a high-necked, deep blue dress hanging over the door to the wardrobe on her right. She assumed that this would be her attire for the day. She also didn't miss the fact that the neckline of the dress would conceal the markings on her neck quite nicely.

Well, she thought adamantly as she got dressed, that definitely wasn't going to stop her from showing the Doctor. If she was one of many (which she most certainly was), she and the Doctor needed to stop the injustice being done to these girls as soon as possible.

With some difficulty, she finished lacing up the back of her dress (thankfully not as tightly as Ana had done) and headed for the door. She had barely taken two steps down the hall when she suddenly very nearly collided with a distraught-looking Doctor.

"Rose!" he exclaimed when he saw her. Relief became evident on his face and he grinned at her, "You look nice."

She felt herself returning the grin automatically. "For a human, you mean?"

His smile widened. "Well, obviously."

She giggled at this, but the laughter quickly died away on her tongue as she remembered the seriousness of the situation.

Detecting the sobering of her expression, the Doctor's smile vanished. "What's wrong?" he asked her, fearing her answer, "What happened?"

"I need to show you something."

The Doctor frowned. He lifted a hand and touched her cheek. "You look pale," his brow furrowed further and he hoped that she couldn't hear the sudden increasing of his heartbeats, "Are you coming down with something?"

"No, I—" Rose lifted her hand to pull away the material around her neck.

It was best to just show him.

"Rose?"

Her hand had promptly frozen mid-action.

The concern on the Doctor's face became all the more evident the longer she stood still. After about a minute of agony, he took her slightly elevated hand in his, thumb moving in comforting circles over the back of her hand, "You alright?"

She focused her gaze back on him with a little jolt.

"What were we talking about?" she asked him dreamily.

The Doctor searched her eyes for a moment. "You were just about to show me something," he said slowly.

Her brows lifted. "I was?" she asked confusedly.

Rose couldn't fathom the darkness that then filled the Time Lord's eyes. Instantly, she could see that he had gone into full Oncoming Storm-mode.

But why?

"You were," he affirmed before pulling her down the hall after him at a brisk walk.

"Where are we going now?" she called after him, trying to keep up with his steadily increasing pace.

"Breakfast," he answered darkly.