Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to the BBC. I do not own any of it nor do I make any money from it.

A/N Thanks for your reviews on the last chapter. Here is Part 3 of the story.

Yet again, some triggers for racism. Also, if there are any historical inaccuracies feel free to point them out.

Happy Reading!

Monsters of India: Deadly Secrets

Previously

"Everything here is as it should be. No sign of alien activity. No disruption in timelines. Not even a bit of foul play."

"MURDER! THERE'S BEEN A MURDER!"

The music stopped as everyone turned to the young Private who had burst into the ballroom.

"MURDER!" he said yet again and then slumped to the floor in a dead faint.

The flurry of activity began immediately as the Doctor and Rose ran outside, closely followed by Lieutenant Campbell, Captain Wesson and a few other men. As they left, they heard Lady Beatrice ordering the servants to fetch brandy for the shocked guests.

Outside, it was a horrible sight as a woman's bloody and lifeless body lay in the middle of the courtyard. Her coral coloured dress was streaked with her blood and torn in many places. Her pale eyes were glassy and open.

"Dear lord have mercy," Captain Wesson mumbled as they saw the body.

"Mary," Corporal Gibson murmured in shock. "That's my Mary!" he yelled as he ran towards the body.

Rose gasped loudly as she saw the man's anguish. The poor man was completely distraught as he saw his wife's body.

The Doctor knelt next to the body and checked for a pulse. Rose didn't even have to wait for him to confirm it; it was obvious that Mary Gibson was dead.

"The lady shouldn't be seeing this," Lieutenant James said at once. "Dr. Smith, I shall escort your wife back inside with your permission."

"Thank you, Lieutenant," the Doctor said. He looked pleadingly at Rose, and it was a testament to how brutal the murder was that Rose nodded and let the Lieutenant escort her back to hers and the Doctor's quarters.

As they climbed up the stairs, Rose noticed the young servant girl from that afternoon watching her with frightened brown eyes. Rose tilted her head towards her and the girl was so spooked that she ran off and disappeared.

They arrived at the quarters and the Lieutenant patted her hand. "I shall have Nora bring some brandy for you, Mrs. Smith," he said kindly.

"That won't be necessary," Rose said immediately. "I'm fine. I have assisted the Doctor before."

"But I assume not with something as brutal as this," he said wisely. "Poor Mary. She was a kind woman. Nora was very fond of her."

"Then you should be with Nora. She will be very distressed," Rose said kindly. "I will just lie down or something."

The Lieutenant nodded gratefully. "Goodnight, Mrs. Smith. I assume Dr. Smith will be back as soon as he can," he said.

Rose gave him a small smile as he left. An image of Mary Gibson's mangled body rose in her mind and she shivered violently. Who could have done something like that? That sort of murder seemed...inhuman.

There was a knock at her door and she ran to open it, expecting it to be the Doctor or Nora. Instead, it was the young Indian girl from before. She looked frightened but had a slightly determined look in her eyes.

"Lady Beatrice send drink," she said in broken English.

Rose noticed the tray in her hand which had a glass of brandy resting on it. "Come in," Rose said. "What's your name?"

"Rui," she answered, her voice shaking slightly reminding Rose of a spooked deer.

"Rui, that's a nice name," Rose said kindly. "My name's Rose."

Rui looked a bit disconcerted at the gentle tone and Rose wondered if anyone in the cantonment had ever spoken nicely to her. Whatever it was, Rose was determined to know why the girl was so frightened.

"Rui, do you know what happened today?" Rose asked.

She nodded slowly, her eyes wide with fear. "Sherni," she said.

"Sherni?" Rose asked. "What is that?"

"Sherni," Rui said again. "Sherni kill Gibson memsahib (madam)."

"This Sherni killed Mrs. Gibson?" Rose asked.

Rui nodded quickly, her eyes filling up with tears. "Sherni very scary," she said. "Sherni want..." she struggled for the English word. Rose wanted to curse at the lack of the TARDIS translation. This would have been so much easier that way.

"The Sherni wants something, does it?" Rose asked. "What?"

Rui said something in Hindi but at Rose's blank look, her face fell. She tried again. "Want to kill because killing," she said.

Rose's brow furrowed at the odd sentence. "The Sherni wants to kill because of killing?" she asked in confusion before her eyes brightened. "Revenge?"

"Yes, yes memsahib," Rui nodded quickly. "Sherni kill for revenge."

"Did Mary Gibson do something to the Sherni?" Rose asked.

"Not memsahib Gibson," Rui said, becoming more confident when she saw that Rose believed her.

"Then who?" Rose asked eagerly.

There was a knock at the door and Rui's confidence evaporated as fear flashed across her face. Rose wanted to throw something at the person who had interrupted. Rui was spooked again and probably wouldn't talk. With gritted teeth, Rose gave permission to enter and saw that it was Lady Beatrice.

"Oh, Rose," she said in a falsely sorrowful voice. "You must be distraught, poor dear."

"I am quite alright, Lady Beatrice," Rose said. "You shouldn't have bothered."

"Oh nonsense," Lady Beatrice insisted. Her eyes fell on Rui. "You girl! Are you bothering Mrs. Smith?" she snapped.

"No, no, she is not bothering me," Rose said at once as poor Rui looked close to tears.

Lady Beatrice ignored Rose. "Get out and leave Mrs. Smith alone," she snapped at Rui. "I do not want you hovering around."

Rui grabbed the empty tray and ran out quickly. Rose was fuming as Lady Beatrice turned back to her. "We must not indulge the brown servants, my dear," she told Rose. "Indecent folk like them belong with their own uncultured savages. We must teach them civility of course, but keep our distance too."

A muscle was twitching in Rose's jaw as she contemplated slapping Lady Beatrice. Uncultured savages? They were in the country that had produced one of the richest ancient cultures of the world, a land of gentle folks who had never invaded any other country. If anyone was uncultured, it was people like Lady Beatrice who thought that the colour of their skin made them superior to others.

She would have let loose that tirade if the Doctor hadn't returned just then. "Lady Beatrice," he said. "I wasn't expecting you here."

"Oh, Dr. Smith," Lady Beatrice smiled. "I was just comforting poor Rose. She was quite distraught."

The Doctor noticed the rage on Rose's face and knew it would be wise to get Lady Beatrice out of there as fast as possible. "Yes, and I must thank you for that. I believe Captain Wesson was looking for you," he said.

"Of course, of course," Lady Beatrice said quickly. "What about poor Mary?"

"We have moved her," said the Doctor sombrely. "Lieutenant Campbell and Sergeant Major Webb are making the arrangements to send her and Corporal Gibson back to Britain."

"Tragic, tragic," Lady Beatrice said, sounding distressed. "Goodnight, Dr. Smith. Rose, dear."

"Goodnight," Rose said through gritted teeth. When the door had closed after her, she huffed out the breath she was holding. "That racist bitch," she snarled. "How dare she?"

"Rose, Rose, calm down," the Doctor said, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I am not going to calm down," Rose snapped at him. "She is a disgusting excuse for a human being."

"Yes, but..."

"We used to have people like that around the Estate, you know," Rose continued without giving any indication of having heard him. "People that yelled slurs and spray-painted vile messages on people's doors, just because of their race. My mum threatened to wallop them if they didn't stop and I so wish I could wallop that arrogant, prissy bitch too."

"Rose," the Doctor said, grabbing her arms. "I understand your anger and it is completely justified. But there is a larger matter at hand."

Rose glared angrily at him. "I know that," she snapped. "But that does not make this any less important."

"I'm not saying it does," he said soothingly. "Please, Rose, you have to calm down." Rose still looked furious but then nodded slowly as the angry patches of colour on her cheeks started to fade. The Doctor cupped her face and kissed her forehead softly. "You are a very nice human being, Rose Tyler. And I know that for every person like Lady Beatrice, there are some like you and your mother. That's what makes your world a better place."

Rose nodded tearfully and threw her arms around his neck in a hug. The Doctor cradled her head gently, making shushing noises as sobbed away her frustration. "I am sorry, Rose," he said.

"You didn't do anything," she mumbled. "It's my species that's so dumb."

The Doctor didn't say anything, merely patted her hair in reply. Rose pulled away after a few moments and wiped away at her face. "Sorry about that," she said. "I shouldn't have yelled out at you. I just...hate being silent when something like this is happening."

The Doctor's eyes softened as he looked at her. "I know," he said, understandingly.

Rose wiped away the last of her tears and looked determinedly at him. "So, what happened to Mary Gibson?" she asked.

The Doctor sighed and sat down in an armchair. "She was mauled by an animal," he said. "The claw marks that I examined looked feline."

"She was mauled by a cat?" Rose asked disbelievingly.

"A very large cat. A tiger most likely," he said.

Rose sat down next to him. "I talked to one of the girls here. Rui, her name. She said that something called a Sherni had killed Mary," she said.

"Sherni?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah, you know what that is?" Rose asked.

"It's the Hindi word for a tigress," he said. "So my suspicions were correct. Poor Mrs. Gibson was mauled by a tiger. Though I fail to understand how it got inside the courtyard past the night guards."

"Hang on, that makes no sense," Rose said. "Rui said that the Sherni killed Mary out of revenge but not for something she had done."

"Revenge?" the Doctor asked incredulously. "Against whom?"

"Lady Beatrice interrupted and scared the poor girl before she could say. I don't think this was just some tiger that killed Mary Gibson," Rose said.

"Are you sure that the girl wasn't just frightened?" the Doctor asked.

"Of course she was frightened," Rose said, indignantly. "But she didn't sound like she was talking about an ordinary tiger. Look, I know it sounds daft but you said yourself that the circumstances are weird. Not to mention that the TARDIS has disappeared."

The Doctor pursed his lips and nodded. "Alright, you have me intrigued," he said. "Can you get your friend to reveal more about the Sherni? There could be a local legend that we might be missing."

Rose nodded. "I'll try and talk to her tomorrow," she said.

The Doctor nodded and smiled softly at her. "Get some sleep. You look exhausted, Rose," he said.

Rose smiled at him and left towards the bedroom. The Doctor sighed slowly, pondering over Rose's words.

He had to swallow his revulsion as he remembered examining Mary's injuries. Her death had not been quick. She had suffered a lot of non-fatal yet painful scratches before the final blow had severed her carotid artery. And therein lay the anomaly. The injuries were far too methodical to have been done by a loose animal. It was as if the killer had wanted her to suffer before she died.

In perspective of what Rose had said, it did indeed seem like revenge killing. He huffed out a breath and stood up from his armchair. The TARDIS had disappeared and a mysterious feline creature was killing in revenge. They had to be connected somehow.

He wandered into the bedroom to ask Rose if she had any more ideas but found her fast asleep in bed. Smiling at her peaceful face, he left her quietly and went out to the balcony overlooking the woods. The night was a lot cooler and it was pitch dark outside.

He peered at the woods, wondering if the creature was prowling in its depths and if it would show itself. He blinked rapidly as two red pinpricks shone out of the darkness quickly. He knew that a tiger's eyes often flashed red when light hit them but it was completely dark.

He focused his gaze and saw that the two pinpricks were in fact, eyes of a feline creature. And judging by the way they were glinting, they belonged to a creature that was most definitely not of this planet.

"Hello," he murmured. "What are you?"

There was no answer but the pinpricks stayed focused on him. He returned the gaze unwaveringly. "Are you trapped here? Do you want us to take you home?" he tried again.

The eyes blinked quickly and then disappeared. The Doctor sighed. That hadn't been useful at all. Except now, he knew that Rose was right. There was an alien creature loose that was apparently killing people for revenge. He would have to find out if anyone else had died in a similar incident. There was also the matter of upon whom that revenge was being taken.

It was a tangled web of secrets alright.

A few chambers over, Nora Campbell had only just managed to stop sobbing after having heard of Mary's death. The timid woman had been Nora's friend and her death had come as an awful shock.

"There, there, Nora," James Campbell said, patting his wife's shoulder.

"Poor Mary," Nora said. "She would never hurt a fly."

"I know, my dear," James said comfortingly.

"But don't you see James?" Nora demanded, sounding near hysterics now. "This is exactly what happened with Wilhelmina."

"Nora, Wilhelmina's death was an accident," James said.

"Dr. Forrester did not seem to think so," Nora pointed out.

"Of course he didn't," James said. "Wilhelmina was his wife. Poor man was so distraught by her death that he lost his grip on reality. Thankfully Dr. Smith was able to arrive so soon."

"What if he was telling the truth, James?" Nora asked. "What if the targets are the wives of people who..."

"Nora, stop!" James ordered, sounding angry now. "Poor Bill Forrester had lost his mind after his wife's death. Do not put stock into an insane man's ramblings. The killings are just an accident. Nothing more."

Nora dissolved into tears and James sighed as he drew her into his embrace. "There, there, Nora. You are completely safe, my dear. Nothing is going to hurt you," he whispered comfortingly.

"I'm telling you Edmund," Lady Beatrice snapped. "We ought to leave for England at once. It's madness to stay here. First Wilhelmina and now Mary."

Captain Wesson glared at his wife. "Do you expect me to go back to England and tell them that a curse killed the wives of those poor men?" he demanded. "I'd be laughed out."

"Well, even if they won't believe you, it wouldn't make it less true," she said angrily. "If we waste anymore time, I could be next."

"Selfless as ever, Bea," he said sarcastically. "Could you stop thinking about yourself for one moment?"

Lady Beatrice swelled furiously. "Do not forget that I made you what you are, Edmund Wesson," she said in a venomous voice. "You were a nobody before I married you. I would have married Lord Blakeley instead of a poor soldier with neither a title nor a penny to his name. Do not forget your place with me."

Captain Wesson paled but glared at her. "Watch it..."

"Shut up!" Lady Beatrice snapped. "You are leaving for Bombay in the morning to find Major Lloyd-Griffiths and telling him what has happened. Demand a transfer or close the cantonment. I expect to be on the next boat to England and I expect you there with me. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Beatrice."

A/N So what did you think? Let me know.

It's about 2 and a half hours to 2013 here, so I'm off. Happy New Year to all of you.

The final part of this story will be up on Thursday. See you then!

~ Phoenix