Chapter 6: Welcome To The Darkness

"There are two of them already. We should get on top of that don't you think?" The Doctor said impatiently, striding towards the exit.

"That door's not going to budge. We're on back-" Haesha fell short when the Doctor merely sonic-ed the seemingly-dead circuit and the doors parted enough for him to reach through and pry it open. Well, he started to, then halfway to the crack he turned and looked expectantly at his silent companion. Koschei let out a put upon huff but obediently obliged, seeming unaware of the way the Doctor was observing him.

"There we go! Come along, Amy." The Doctor beckoned.

"Doctor..." Darius began, looking dubious.

"Yes, yes. You too. Didn't think I had to mention it." The Doctor called over his shoulder, continuing down the darkened hallway. "Ah, but you should bear in mind: no killing."

"I will." Darius agreed in the most noncommittal way possible for someone who wasn't Jyun.

"And what do we do then? Just sit around?" Haesha objected, touching Rory's arm in a silent bid for support. He just arched his eyebrows at her in mild interest.

"Yes. And Rory, rules one through three still apply." The Doctor remarked offhandedly, shaking his screwdriver a tad forcefully as he lit the tip. "Ah! Much better!"

Haesha let out an irritable grumble and wandered back into the medbay, oblivious to to pensive Rory she'd left behind.

"One through three..." He murmured quietly to himself, watching the others disappear around the corner. "What are you up too?"

Around the corner, Amy had fallen a step or two behind, considering the strange statement.

She assumed that he was referring to the rules of the TARDIS that he'd impressed upon her and her then-fiance-Rory shortly after they'd picked him up. He'd restated them to her as they'd been changed to accommodate Koschei and his unique state of being.

~Rule number one: Don't wander off. The same as before, and perfectly reasonable in the current context. Rule number two –somewhat esoteric in their current grouping: Don't eat in front of Koschei, unless you're prepared to share, keeping in mind that he's always hungry, and is liable to bite you.~ She narrowed her eyes at this, realizing only now just how dramatically his metabolism had changed from one regeneration to the next. She hadn't questioned it before because... Well, what did she know about growing a whole new body? It could be normal. ~Number three, the rule that was only spoken once, and was never questioned: Never antagonize the Master.~ The obvious threat underlying that caution need not be said. They'd seen the damage that he could do. It was common sense not to provoke a living weapon. She felt the hairs rise on the back of her neck as that horrible, nagging-doubt invaded her mind again. She'd forgotten something important, something to do with him. It was lost somewhere at the edge of her consciousness, but it mattered.~A weapon who cowered at the sight of our mystery attacker...~ She mused, trying to push down her rising unease and an inexplicable feeling of guilt, to focus on the task at hand. Calming, she heard the Doctor's line of thinking as if he'd spoken into her mind. After a year of traveling it was easy to infer. There's something that doesn't make sense. Let's poke it with a stick.~ She looked over at the Doctor as she caught up and their eyes locked briefly, but the agreement passed between them in an instant.

"How exactly do you propose that we track down these vampires?" Darius inquired, catching Koschei's shoulder to stop him from wandering ahead. "No. The mute stays behind." He added crisply. Koschei glared at him but complied, falling back to hover at the Doctor's other side. Now emitting a continuing, barely-audible growl.

"Like so." The Doctor rested a hand on Koschei's shoulder. "You still have a blade hidden on your person. I'd like to borrow it."

Koschei narrowed his eyes, slowly turning his head to look at the Doctor with an air of distrust.

"Please." The Doctor insisted, unfazed.

"Why?" Darius said what their silent friend was obviously thinking.

"I have a plan."

Koschei gave him an unimpressed look. The Doctor smiled hopefully up at him.

"Oh, just give it too him already!" Amy broke into the minor battle of wills. "You know we're going with his plan anyway!"

Koschei rolled his eyes and handed over the graceful stiletto that he kept hidden in his left sleeve.

"Thank you." Amy acknowledged, then squeaked and slapped a hand over her mouth when the Doctor used the super-sharp blade to slice his own hand open.

"That's a plan?" Darius disapproved, watching the Doctor cross over to a nearby vent and pull it open so that he could drip blood out of his injured palm to form a puddle near the opening.

"Watch." The Doctor instructed, keeping his attention on the blood. For a moment, nothing happened. Koschei drew in a breath as if he were about to speak, causing Amy to shift her gaze hopefully over to him. Alas, instead of that small return to normality, everyone's attention was snapped back to the vent at the sound of a strange sort of sucking whistle from somewhere in the darkness inside. The Doctor's blood began to roll, first in dripping trails, then as they built up speed, they became neat little rolling beads of fluid.

"What in the world..." Amy said, watching the gory spectacle. The Collector beside her winced and clamped his hands over his ears.

"That is the worst sound!" He ground out.

"Yes, sorry. They tend to be noisy eaters I'm afraid... within a certain auditory range. Perhaps you should hang back this time." The Doctor told him before he grabbed the sides of the vent and levered himself up into it.

"Wh-"

"That reminds me, your hand Amy." The Doctor instructed then he pressed a glowing blue disk into her outstretched palm. Amy would have thanked him if she wasn't so concerned by the way the device stuck to her skin. As if sensing this thought, the Doctor hastily added. "Don't try to pull it off. It'll just glue your hands together." There was a beat of relative silence while he reflected on that image. "A bit nasty..."

"You- No! Doctor you are not going in there alone." Darius argued fixated on the mission at hand.

"'Course not. Koschei." The Doctor prompted and Koschei leaped gracefully up into the space behind him.

"The others in the medbay should be able to help you track the other one. I recommend that you try the next set of vents that's- Kos?" At the Doctor's prompting Koschei turned to gesture along with the now obscured Timelord's instructions. "Where was I? Oh, yes. The next set of vents. That'll be down the hall then take a left. The panel should be on the left as well about... What would you say, Koschei? Halfway down?"

Koschei nodded and the Doctor's hand swept back into view to give him a pat on the shoulder.

"All right then. Perfect! Off we go."

"Wait-" Amy began, but Koschei had already ducked back inside and vanished into the pitch blackness with the Doctor.

"He's up to something isn't he?" Darius observed.

"Which one?" Amy responded before pushing past him to begin on their next task.

The Doctor scurried fluidly through the crawlspace ahead of his taller friend, actually making it difficult for him to keep up. Whether that was on purpose or simply due to thoughtlessness on his part was hard to tell. Without any warning or indication why, he pushed through a seemingly random vent and dropped out of sight. The redheaded man behind him hesitated, before following him out more carefully. Koschei could have sworn that he heard the familiar hum of the Doctor's screwdriver scanning him as he climbed out. But when he whirled to face the Doctor the device in question was nowhere to be seen and the Doctor was wearing an innocent smile. ~Scratch that. He's definitely up to something.~

"You're wondering why we've stopped?" The Doctor inferred, continuing on before his friend could even attempt a response. "We've stopped because we're not alone, and we're also stopping because one of us doesn't strictly belong. Do you?"

For a split second Koschei could feel his hearts trying to pound their way out of his chest. At the same time his blood seemed to drain completely from his face, wondering despite himself: ~Does he know?~ Then the Doctor turned his stern expression on a hazy-silhouette hiding in the shadows of the storage room behind him. Koschei managed to relax a little despite himself.

"If you're planning to shoot me again, I should warn you: my friend here has quite the temper. You take me away and provoke him..." The Doctor shrugged "There's no telling what he'll do."

"I know who it is." A feminine voice replied smoothly, stepping into the light. Koschei could see her through the perception filter now and began to growl softly as she approached.

"Oi! No need for insults he's not an it." The Doctor chastened, a bit too calm for his friend's comfort. This woman had recently sent him into stasis after all. "No point keeping up the front now. We can both see you just as much as we can sense you." The Doctor added, seeming to miss the brief look of surprise that the remark prompted from his companion.

"Is that so?" The woman said, sounding mildly amused. She hadn't missed it.

Koschei glared at her while she deactivated her makeshift camouflage and fell back to lean against the wall a few paces behind the Doctor.

"Doctor." The mystery woman greeted with a fond smirk. "I didn't think I'd be seeing you again."

The Doctor stepped closer, studying the brunette's striking features. She kept smiling up at him while he circled her, not saying a word to help him.

"You've regenerated recently." He concluded, managing to surprise the cheeky Timelady.

"That wasn't the response that I was expecting, but yes, I have. Do you have any idea who I am?" She inquired, placing her hands on her hips and turning slightly to face him.

The Doctor arched his brows but didn't answer right away, so she glanced over at Koschei instead with a vaguely accusing air.

"Nope, he hasn't said a word. ...Quite literally, I'm afraid." The Doctor assured her.

"Doctor..."

"Oh, come on, Romana! Of course I remember you!" The Doctor said, dropping his inscrutable facade to pull her into a firm hug.

"Good to see you too then." Romana accepted, giving his back a friendly pat. The Doctor began to release her, but she stopped him, going in for a quick peck on the cheek to cover her covert whisper. "It isn't real. Don't trust it."

"Well, you never change." The Doctor remarked as he released her, pretending that nothing strange or sneaky was going on at all. "Aren't you supposed to be off in e-space somewhere? What brings you all the way out here?"

"The vampires, naturally." Romana explained, ignoring the venomous stares that she was getting from Koschei. "We missed a few larvae last time. Luckily they've remained dormant for a long time, but you know how it goes; eventually some foolish, power-hungry sod just had to go and awaken them. I've been tracking them for a few years and ended up following them here through a rather volatile temporal spacial anomaly- that's all sorted by the way, but I would be ever-so-grateful if you'd stay out of my way."

Koschei grinned while the Doctor sputtered.

"What? Stay out of- I'm- We're helping."

"Yes. Thank you. It is the thought that counts but I was really doing much better before you and your friends came along and disrupted everything." Romana continued, stepping past the Doctor and adjusting a hidden dial on her glowing, shock-orb. "You disrupted their hunting pattern when you arrived or I would've gotten to them before now."

The Doctor gaped at her.

"As I've said: I know that you meant well." Romana assured him before going back to whatever she was trying to do with her homemade weapon. She stopped and leaned back against the terminal opposite Koschei and noted his immediate discomfort without pause.

"Relax, Master. I'm not planning to shoot you." She drawled distractedly.

There was a sudden rushing hiss and a large, leech-like, armored creature with sharp, fang-shaped mandibles surged out of the vent to pounce on the unsuspecting bio-weapon. It was clear that the wretched larva was planning to make him its next meal... but well, you know; That was a bad choice.

The vampire hissed and stretched to latch onto his face, but Koschei hissed right back and clamped his hands around the sides of the alien's...um, face, squeezing mercilessly as he bared his real fangs.

"Koschei!" The Doctor shouted and started forward, but Romana got there first, leaning down over the back of the larva and shoving the glowing shock weapon down against it's nape. The creature convulsed and screamed, smoking as a surge of raw energy cooked it before their eyes. Then Romana tapped a circle on the side of the globe and powered it down with business-like detachment. The larva's corpse collapsed on top of Koschei's stunned form.

"I've got it in hand." She concluded, turning away to fiddle with another device from her utility belt.

"You killed it." The Doctor stated reproachfully, moving to help Koschei wrestle his way out from under his attacker's remains.

"Yes." Romana confirmed, unrepentant.

Elsewhere in the ship, Darius, Rory and Amy were investigating another vent system.

"Er... No sign of anything yet." Amy reported from her perch on Rory's shoulders. "Here pass me a phial and we'll see."

Darius suppressed his annoyance at being ordered around by a bossy civilian and retrieved one of the blood samples that Haesha had furnished them with. "Here."

"Thanks." Amy said distractedly and grimaced as she poured the contents out onto the floor of the vent. "Ugh, this'd better work."

"Anything?" Rory inquired, unable to see very well from his current position.

"Just a minute, I wanna be sure." Amy told him apologetically.

Darius scoffed. "I wouldn't worry, Mrs. Pond. His lot have strength to spare, even your full weight won't be taxing."

Rory slowly turned his head to favor the alien commander with a warning look while Amy let out an indignant shout and swatted the bald, blue head on her right.

"Oi, are you trying to say I'm chubby?!"

"Ow! Honestly!" Darius hissed, putting a hand up to deflect any further attacks. "You lot all look little to us. I'm just-"

"Rude." Rory offered helpfully. Amy would've responded too but she'd just been distracted by the little puddle in front of her beginning to move into an odd, spiral pattern.

"Whatever." Darius dismissed without looking up.

"It almost seems like you're trying for a fight." Rory noted equally oblivious.

"Um.. Guys?" Amy called.

Darius looked up, instantly becoming more alert.

"Did you find something?"Rory asked.

"Kind of?"

"What do you mean 'kind of'?" Darius demanded. "Is it taking the bait or not?"

"That's the thing. It's sort of... spinning." Amy reported doubtfully. "I'm not sure what..." She trailed off as a pair of glowing red eyes came towards her out of the darkness until she was staring into a massive and patently-nasty alien face.

"Amy?" Rory questioned. Darius' eyes had narrowed and he was cautiously reaching for his weapon.

The gaping maw of the thing before Amy opened to accept the beads of blood that danced into it and the monster's gaze locked with hers. She felt a horrible sense of deja-vu, as if she'd already witnessed what was about to happen once before.

"Oh, bollocks." Amy sighed a tad introspectively, and in the next second she was being yanked, lightening fast, into the cold blackness of the vent-shaft with Rory and Darius' shouts echoing after her. She had just enough time to realize two things with perfect clarity. First she had not yet been bitten, which was good, and second she had definitely witnessed something like this happening before, only to someone else—recently even but for some reason her mind was having trouble retrieving the memory. ~I saw something... Something that I wasn't meant to see~ Before the thought could develop any further, Amy's head smacked into the side of the vent and she blacked out.

A/N: Okay. I know this took a ridiculous amount of time to finish, but hopefully, it worked out okay. I've been having trouble finishing chapters as quickly since I lost my proofreader/beta/ soundingboard or whatever I should call her. The problem's probably mostly psychological on my part. Oh well. I'm doing my best. Anyway, thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it... and also that you might review? Seriously, I'm feeling feedback-starved right now. Sorry, I'll shut up.