Rani stood awkwardly, trying not to act nervous. Isabella was a few inches shorter than her so the skirt fit a less than perfectly, but it would do in a pinch. The outfit was quite simple, a light brown skirt that almost showed off her ankles, a cream colored peasant blouse and what felt and looked like ballet flats; her hair down and resting around her shoulders, she felt like when her parents made her dress for her Grandmother.
In front of her Francesco and Signora Calvierri waited, listening to the lie the Doctor had constructed. They knew Guido, they knew the Doctor, the only choice they had was to have Rani present herself and hope for the best.
"So,both of my parents are dead from the plague." Rani tried hard not to stumble, relying on practice from class debates to get by. "My Brother was a gondola…driver…until his death and even then money was a bit tight. So basically I'm all alone. Going to your school is the only choice I have, signora," Rani bowed her head slightly to look contrite. "And I hope you consider me worthy of your school."
Francesco looked at her in interest, circling her like he had with Isabella. She tried hard not to show any fear.
"Well, she does have references from the King of Sweden." Francesco mused, looking her up and down.
"Let me see." Signora Calvierri held her hand out awaiting Rani's obedience.
Rani stepped forward, trying to maintain the slightly cowed attitude while internally ranting against the entitled act of the wealthy. "Signora." She nodded again, handing her the psychic paper.
Signora Calvierri examined it and a slow but predatory smile spread across her face. "Well, now I can see what got my steward so excited." She handed the paper back to Rani who took it gratefully and ducked backwards again. Signora Calvierri examined her in earnest now, not the slightly bored attitude she'd portrayed before.
"Certainly young enough. Pretty." Signora Calvierri acknowledged, watching Rani react. "What say you, Francesco? Do you like her?" she asked acknowledged her son who was staring at the young girl.
"Oh, I do, Mother. I do." Francesco's voice never changed in level but contained dueling notes of desire and brutality that made Rani's skin crawl.
"We would be delighted to accept you. Have you no one to say goodbye to?" Signora Calvierri said smiling creepily at Rani.
"No one, Signora." Rani told her, "Thank you for accepting me." She would have to get a message to the Doctor as soon as she was alone. It seemed while she couldn't call home to talk she could send a message from her phone to the Doctor's phone and that should be enough to get him to the right spot at the right time.
Signora Calvierri's steward led Rani through the school easily. The entire thing was made of stone it seemed and was oddly cold. The only light was from the few windows or candles in holders that hung on walls or stood in corners.
She couldn't shake the feeling she was being watched no matter how few people were around. Finally he opened a door to a large room that housed several beds and a few trunks. It was quite opulent and the roof was domed, obviously they'd put a LOT of money into the girls room. Turning to her Carlo nodded towards the room. "There are clothes on the bed. Get changed and wait here." He ordered.
Rani looked around. The room was impressive. "Blimey…this is private education then…" she muttered to herself.
She didn't even make it too her bed before the room cleared, leaving just her and one other female who sat on her bed staring into the distance.
"Hey. Hello." Rani said, moving to introduce herself. "I'm Rani. What's your name?" she asked putting on a smile for the other girl.
"I-Isabella." Isabella replied, voice quiet and timid, she seemed like she wasn't fully awake as well.
Rani sat down on the bed next to Isabella and took her hand before speaking urgently. "Listen, we're going to get you out of here – your dad and my friend are working on it - but I need you to tell me what's going on. What is this place? What are they doing?" Rani started whispering urgently.
"They, um... they come at night." Isabella said mechanically, staring at the floor as if she couldn't see Rani. "They gather around my bed and them they take me to a room... with this, this um green light and a chair with... w-with straps, as if for a surgeon." Her voice wavered a bit as she started getting lost in the memories.
"What happens in there?" Rani prodded gently, almost afraid of the answer.
"I don't know… I wake up here. But it's different…I, I can't…it's like my mind isn't here and the sunlight burns my skin like candle wax." Isabella told her, rubbing her own arm like she was reassuring herself the skin was okay.
Rani just sat there for a moment, holding her hand. "It's going to be okay, I promise. Your father is coming for you, we'll get you out." She said, attempting to calm the other girl.
A bell tolled somewhere in the school and Isabella stiffened.
Rani looked around warily, "We'll be OK, Isabella." She said trying hard to make herself believe it.
-The Doctor-
The underground was nearly as dark as it had been outside, not long after Rani had left them he had got a text message from her saying she was inside. It was night now, so if all went according to plan she'd be downstairs opening the trap door for them.
The Doctor sat back in the gondola with Amelia as Guido guided them along the canal. They'd made a brief stop by the TARDIS to drop Yumo off, it was too dangerous to take him underground. He'd stop and grab him when it was all over.
His phone was still buzzing, not letting off as it had been all day.
"Can't you quiet that thing?" Guido demanded.
The Doctor pulled it out of his pocket. He didn't need to look at the screen to know who it was, only one person was set with that ringtone. He flipped it open and put it to his ear , "Hello, Sarah." He said in his cheeriest voice, pulling the phone away from his ear at the loud yell that started as soon as he answered, and winced.
Amelia looked at him curiously and he shook his head.
"Calm down, Sarah, you're echoing." The doctor said quietly as they continued through the tunnel.
"Where is she? I want to talk to Rani." Sarah demanded angrily.
"She's not available right now." the Doctor said, choosing his words carefully. "Try her phone?" he said patting himself on the back.
"You know damn well her phone won't call through time. What year are you in? Where are you?"Sarah Jane continued.
"Venice. 1580." the Doctor said simply.
"Where's Rani?" Sarah Jane's yelling got louder again at the Doctor's evasions.
"Uh, a few hundred feet away forward and up. Going to get her now. She'll be fine." The doctor said trying to calm her.
"You can promise me that, can you?" Sarah Jane snapped, "I did travel with you. Why did you take her?" she continued, her anger and disappointment evident even to the Doctor.
"Because I couldn't find you and I needed a female to get into a school full of alien vampires. It's an all-girl school, they'd already seen me and I had no one else to sneak in. She'll be fine." He repeated.
"I want her back here, now. Safe, sane and unharmed. This isn't a request." Sarah Jane said coldly, her tone promising a regeneration if he didn't.
The Doctor winced at the tone, feeling more chastised then his mother had ever made him feel. "As soon as I thwart the invasion and actually have her once again I will get right on that. Have to go now, coming up on where we need to get her. Guido is looking annoyed at me for talking when I should be rescuing his daughter! Bye, Sarah!" He hung up quickly and slipped the phone into his pocket. Oh, he was going to regret that later…
-Rani-
Rani snuck down the stairs cautiously, searching for the room Isabella had mentioned and the trapdoor she needed to let the Doctor in. Dressed in a white nightgown and with only a lamp to light her way it was slow going and quiet cold. She passed mostly stone and empty chambers along the way.
She slowed and looked around at a corridor, choosing to go right, mercifully the lamp didn't light the wooden chest to the left, nor did she notice the slight glance of a skeletal hand that hung out from it.
-The Doctor-
"We're here." Guido said as the gondola stopped.
The Doctor hopped out of the gondola and offered Amelia hand. "Coming, Guido?"
"No, I'll stay so we can leave quickly." Guido replied, "Go and save my Isabella."
The Doctor nodded seriously and with Amelia's hand in his and a torch in his free hand they left Guido behind, stepping into the darkness.
"Right, OK…I'm going first." the Doctor told her. "If anything happens to me, Go back…"
"Is Luke's mum going to hurt you." Amelia asked innocently, not liking the idea of it, but she sure sounded mad through the phone.
He stopped at the base of a set of wooden stairs. "No, I-I'm-Probably." He admitted finally. "More than likely." He went up the stairs and tapped lightly on the wooden door, testing it.
"Really badly?" Amelia asked quietly.
"She'll stop short of regeneration." the Doctor replied offhandedly.
Rani stepped down the stairs quickly and walked across the courtyard. It was barely recognizable from where Francesco and his mother had lounged earlier in the day, bathed in darkness with the sole light coming from Rani's lamp. She set it down quietly next to the well in the center of the courtyard and with some effort released the bar that locked the grate shut.
She picked up the lamp once again and started to sneak inside, but as she turned around she nearly walked straight into Carlo.
With a frightened shriek she dropped the lamp.
The passage the door had hidden was dark, so dark that Amelia was clinging to his hand in near fear, the only light coming from his torch, though it didn't show much more than darkness did.
"So we shouldn't have taken Rani?" Amelia asked curiously, clinging to the Doctor's hand tighter.
"Probably not." He acknowledged, "but it was the logical choice."
"Will Tish be mad too?" she asked not wanting either of the to get in trouble with their favorite companion.
The Doctor froze in place, "I hadn't thought of that." She might be really mad at him…Oh God, she could tell Francine! Francine could hit him. He resisted the urge to rub his face at the memory of that particular incident. "We'll have to check on that."
A strong gust of wind blew through the passageway, nearly knocking them over and blowing out the torch.
He felt Amelia's hand tighten around his. "Want to go see the vampires now?" he said hoping it would distract the girl, her grip was starting to hurt.
Rani gasped in fear and pain as Carlo forced her down the stairs by her arm, His fingers holding tight and digging into the skin. He was leading her back down the path she'd traveled earlier when searching, deeper and deeper into the underground.
"Control yourself, child!" Carlo chided her; no proper female would make such noises of protestation when a man was leading them.
The room was dim, lit only by a few candles, but she could clearly make out Signora Calvierri, Francesco and some of the girls from earlier standing around waiting for her.
"Get your hands off me!" Rani demanded, struggling against his grasp.
"Psychic paper." Signora Calvierri said heatedly. "Did you really thing that would work on me?" she asked angrily.
"I- I don't know—" Rani stuttered, not sure what to do in this situation.
A hum of power interrupted Rani and filled the chamber with noise as suddenly they were all bathed in a green light.
The Doctor pushed the grate open with a loud clang and peeked out. All clear. He struggled to climb up, digging his fingers into the grate and the surrounding area to pull himself out. He landed with a flop on the ground and peeked back into the grate. "Come on." He pulled Amelia out easily. "There we are…"
He looked around, it was nearly completely dark, the only light coming from what little moon was above. "I can't see a thing…Just as well I brought this!" He said dramatically before pulling out a large torch that looked almost like a lightsaber from his jacket. "Ultraviolet. Portable sunlight." He explained for Amelia's benefit.
Amelia dug into her pockets and produced a small pencil torch. "I should have brought a bigger one."
The Doctor laughed quietly and took her hand again before leading her away to find Rani.
Rani struggled against Carlo's hold, but he'd moved to hold her tighter.
Signora Calvierri circled her much like Francesco had, but with more curiosity and less lechery. "Where are you from? Did you fall through the chasm?" she questioned.
"Mother this is pointless." Francesco whined impatiently. "Let's just start the process already." He demanded.
"Hold your tongue, Francesco!" She replied sternly. "I need to know what this girl is doing in a world of savages with psychic paper." With a gesture of her hand two of the girls scooted a large wooden chair with leather straps tied to it into the middle of the room. "Who are you with? I scarcely believe that you've come all on your own." As she spoke her son and the girls readied the room. Francesco hung a large hook from a steel loop in the ceiling and one of the girls attached an IV bag to it.
"So I repeat, what are you doing in my school." Her voice continued gaining a tone of impatience and anger.
Rani looked around nervously but steeled herself, Sarah Jane wouldn't be nervous or afraid , so she wouldn't be either. "Okay, I'll tell you…I work for Ofsted." She said flippantly.
Signora Calvierri laughed dryly, "Put her in the chair."
Carlo pushed her forward and into the chair. As Rani fought against them they still managed to fasten the straps around her arms to hold her down.
"NO! Get your hands off me!" Rani yelled as Francesco held her head straight from behind the chair.
"Oh, make sport of me, will you?" Signora Calvierri snarled, "Teas me as if I were your dog? Well, this dog has bite, girl!" Signora Calvierri turned around to face Rani and showed she indeed did have fangs.
"Doctor!" Rani screamed in terror as Signora Calvierri leaned in close to Rani.
As the Doctor prowled around searching one side of their immediate area, Amelia searched the other.
They hadn't found Rani yet, they hadn't found anyone at all. It was quiet. She shined the light from her torch around and it landed on a chest. She nudged it open and jumped back with a small yelp before she quickly slapped a hand over her mouth to silence it.
The Doctor was at her side in an instant, "What's wrong?" He caught sight of the skeleton in the chest and scooted Amelia backwards and behind him.
"What happened to them?" Amelia asked, head buried against the back of his jacket.
"They've…They've had all the moisture taken out of them." He replied frankly.
Signora Calvierri pulled away from Rani and stood up straight again, licking her lips as she turned away. The girls backed away as if they'd heard something and disappeared out the doors. Rani stayed still in the chair, breathing shallow and her eyes glazed. Francesco leaned down over the back of her chair and ran his finger along the puncture wounds on her neck, she didn't stir.
"Mother... when you drink from her, may we share? I'm so thirsty." His voice held a deep whine.
"Of course, darling." She replied sweetly.
"That's what vampires do, right?" Amelia asked quietly, clutching his jacket. "They drink your blood all up till it's gone." She asked recalling the few vampire movies she'd watched.
"Yeah, except they haven't just had their blood taken, but all the water in their bodies." He said.
"Why did they die? Why aren't they like the other vampires? That's what happens, right?" Amelia asked curiously.
"I think that maybe not everyone survives the process."He looked up and at Amelia seriously, "We need to find Rani, now."
"Who are you?" several voices asked in unison, making Amelia and the Doctor jump.
The girls appeared from separate archways, moving closer to the duo with malevolent intent. The Doctor held up his ultraviolet light against them, making them flinch backwards.
"We should run." the Doctor told Amelia urgently. "Run!"
With her hand in his and with him waving the light ant any that came near him they ran for it through one of the archways.
[AN: Wow, an early chapter...on a week where we added a bonus chapter...Unheard of! I know! Great day seeing as my partner here got a job! I'm working minimum wage at a takeaway joint. Hush, a job is a job! Yes...And I'm thrilled. Anyway, enjoy the chapter! No guessing games for a bonus this week, you'll just have to wait!]
