"This is how it works. First, we drink you until you're dry." Signora Calvierri explained sadistically, words drawn out and measured, a soft smile on her face. "Then... we fill you with our blood. It rages through you like a fire, changing you, until one morning you awake and your humanity is a dream... now faded." She continued walking around Rani who was tied to the chair.

"Or you die." Francesco chuckled, brushing hair away from Rani's neck almost tenderly. "That can happen." He said almost happily as he breathed in her scent.

"And…And if I survive?" Rani asked, finally coming out of her dazed state. "Then what?" she tried stalling as she waited for the Doctor to rescue her.

"Then there are 10,000 husbands waiting for you in the water." Signora Calvierri said pleasantly.

"Yeah, sorry…I didn't like reading Twilight;I'd rather NOT live it." She lashed out as best she could her legs kicking out at Signora Calvierri, a cracking sound making her smile a bit as her foot connected hard with the side of the older woman.

As she did so Francesco leapt forward to hold her still in the chair. An electrical hum filled the air as Signora Calvierri looked brushed aside a portion of her cape to reveal a strange piece of technology clipped to her belt. Her image flickered in front of Rani's eyes; one moment she was the human she'd seen all day and the next she was well…alien.

She was tall, a bit taller than she was as a human, with an almost insect like body with the head of one of those fish Rani had seen on TV that you only found in the deepest section of the ocean. Within seconds her human image had returned. Before either Francesco or Signora Calvierri could do anything to her however, the sound of shouting voices and running footsteps entered the chamber. The duo looked at each other and took off running upstairs, leaving Rani all alone to try and escape.


The Doctor ran, Amelia's hand in his, down the corridor to escape the vampire girls who seemed intent on eating him, killing him or… worse! As they entered a square section with several doors their process was halted when Francesco and Signora Calvierri stepped in their way.

"Cab for Rani Chandra." the Doctor offered with a cheeky smile.


As Rani struggled suddenly a hand reached over and grabbed the straps. She gasped in surprise before Isabella came into view. As Isabella unstrapped Rani she tried desperately to form a sentence.

No matter how she tried to phrase it or what she tried to say all that came out was an outraged, "She bit me!"


The Doctor was really beginning to realize how much trouble he was in when the girls he'd been running from blocked the escape back out. He held Amelia close, back to back just in case. "This rescue plan isn't exactly watertight, is it?" Signora Calvierri said silkily, smirking as her girls surrounded the interloper.

The Doctor brandished the light at the girls and smirked at Signora Calvierri, "None of my plans ever are!" he laughed at her scowl.

Isabella ran into the corridor, followed by Rani and both came to a quick stop upon seeing who was there waiting.

"Doctor!" Rani cried, quite happy to see him.

"Rani!" he yelled, quite elated Sarah Jane couldn't kill him, she was in one piece!

"Quickly, through here!" Isabella urged them, pulling Rani back the way they came. The Doctor shoved Amelia after them and followed quickly behind, waving the light behind them on occasion to ward off the girls.

"Seal the house." Signora Calvierri ordered angrily.


"They're not vampires!" Rani yelled to the Doctor as they ran. "I mean, we knew they couldn't be but they really aren't! I saw them, they're alien fish!" She almost giggled at his, the irony was just too much.

The Doctor chuckled, "Classic!" he said trying hard himself not to laugh.

"What is wrong with us that that is GOOD news?" Rani asked breaking down and finally laughing the Doctor joining in as he soniced the door open and urged his friends to go through into the next passage before the aliens caught up. He could hear them close behind.

"Come on, move!" he pressed them, gesturing to the door. As they ran ahead he brandished the ultraviolet light at Francesco and the girls, wielding it like a weapon and resisting the deep urge to make whirling noise; he'd been taught long ago he shouldn't play around when death was nearby…they had to be at least two doors or thirty feet away. Francesco hesitated but pushed on anyway with the girls.

"Doctor!" Amelia yelled, waving for him to follow.

"Keep moving!" He yelled back.

Isabella opened a door that was placed at the end of the corridor and ushered the others forwards and out, down the stairs to where she could see her father waiting in the canal. "Quickly. Get out." She pushed Amelia forward lightly, hand on her back. "Quick" She went to follow them but jumped backwards when the sunlight hit her, shielding her eyes. It burned like she'd stuck her hand inside the hot coals of the fire and her eyes were temporarily blinded but all of the light.

The Doctor noticed her distress and turned around quickly. "OH..." he took the stairs two at a time, "Come on, run!" He said trying to pull the girl out and failing as she pulled to go back into the dark.

"I can't!" Isabella cried. The pain was too much, the light too bright and already she could feel hands latching onto her arms and pulling her backwards.

"NO!" the Doctor screamed as the door was slammed shut. This wasn't happening, it wouldn't end this way! "NO!" he pounded on the door repeatedly, trying to find a way in. The sonic couldn't do wood.

Suddenly the wood under his hands became electrified and he felt the voltage run through his body, making all of his muscles spasm and throwing him back from the door. He tumbled down the steps and landed with a thump in a heap at the bottom.

Rani and Amelia rushed to his side, both kneeling to check on him. "He's breathing." Rani told her quickly. "He's alive." She said relieved, both for her and Amelia's sake. Sarah Jane wouldn't forgive her if she got trapped in the past and let him regenerate again.

"His hearts are going really fast." Amelia frowned, hands on either side of his chest to make sure. They were beating like drums under her hands.

"That might be normal." Rani offered, she'd never bothered to ask anything about time lord biology.
She looked backwards and caught Guido's eyes.

He stood in place, his face crestfallen as he stared at the ground. His daughter was lost to him now.


Isabella stood on a plank that extended over the water. At her back stood all the other girls, Signora Calvierri and Francesco. Carlo stood to her side, holding onto parchment and looking as pompous as always. She was terrified, but she'd seen her father. He was trying to get to her. She'd gotten the other girls and their friend to safety, her father could make sure they were okay. She'd been brave , just for him.

Carlo cleared his throat and began to read aloud. "And so in memory of the children lost to the silence, the traitor is delivered to the arms of those she betrayed." He spoke precisely, every word given equal attention. Nodding to a soldier to give orders, the solider stepped forward, lance placed at her back forcing her too to move forward.

"Do you expect me to drown?" She laughed shakily and spoke with pride. "I'm Venetian! I can swim!" the water began to bubble in front of her and she swallowed hard. "We can all swim!" The soldier holding the lance gave her one last push, shoving her forward into the water. The shock of cold was quickly replaced by new sensations. "Something touched my leg." She gasped as the water around her frothed and bubbled and she could feel things moving in the water. "They're all around me! They bite!" With one final yell she was pulled under into oblivion.

"Now leave us." Signora Calvierri ordered everyone as she walked forward. Carlo clapped his hands and everyone followed the orders quickly, clearing the area within moments. Slowly Signora Calvierri walked over to the water and knelt at the water's edge, watching as bubbles began forming in front of her.

Francesco stepped forward quickly. "Mother! Change your form. Or my brothers will think they're being fed twice today." She smiled at her son then turned back to the water. "Not long now." She promised almost tenderly. "It's not long." The waters bubbled more, as if the creatures underneath the water understood.


As Signora Calvierri entered the throne room she looked surprised to see the Doctor sitting in her throne looking quite comfortable, the sound of his wolf whistle caused her to blush and look at him shyly as he greeted her. "You're a long way from Saturnyne, aren't you…" the Doctor looked smug as he smiled at her. "Sister of the Water." Each word was punctuated by him tapping his fingers on the armrest.

She smiled back at him, "Let me guess…The owner of the psychic paper?" He nodded in answer and she smiled hopefully, voice gaining in excitement. "Then I take it you're a refugee, like me?" she asked.

He shook his head in amusement, "I'll make you a deal." the Doctor said, crossing his legs at the ankle.

"Oh?" Signora Calvierri asked curiously.

"An answer for an answer." Signora Calvierri nodded her agreement so he continued. "You're using a perception filter. It doesn't change your features, but manipulates the brainwaves of the person looking at you. But seeing one of you for the first time in, say, a mirror, the brain doesn't know what to fill the gap with, so leaves it blank... hence no reflection." the Doctor was clearly smug as he spelled it out.

"Your question?" she asked, clearly not impressed but humoring him.

"Why can we see your big teeth?" he made a face showing off his own teeth as he said it, causing her to laugh.

"Self-preservation over-rides the mirage." She gestured easily, eying him as if sizing him up. "The subconscious perceives the threat and tries to alert the conscious brain." She explained continuing to examine this new variable to her plan.

The Doctor tucked that piece of information away for later and stood from the chair, he didn't walk near her but stood, reclining against the chair studying her.

"Where's Isabella?" He asked simply.

"My turn." Signora Calvierri scolded him playfully. "Where are you from?" She asked curiously.

He inclined his head in acknowledgement before answering. "Gallifrey." He said truthfully.

"You should be in a museum." She laughed quietly, "Or in a mausoleum." She said amazed.

"Why are you here?" the Doctor ignored any pangs from the comment and focused on their 'game'.

"We ran from the silence." Signora Calvierri said softly, not looking at him but messing distractedly with a cord from the curtains that hung over the large windows. "Why are you here?"

"Vacation. The silence?" The Doctor persisted.

"There were um…There were cracks. Some were tiny... some were as big as the sky." Her voice was distant as if she were in pain as she spoke. "Through some we saw worlds and people and through others we saw silence... and the end of all things. We fled to an ocean like ours and the crack snapped shut behind us... and Saturnyne was lost." Signora Calvierri's voice was choked with emotion.

"So Earth is to become Saturnyne Mark II?" The Doctor asked understanding the plan, a grimace on his face.

"And you can help me." Her eyes met his and were lit with as much hope and excitement as the rest of her face. "We can build a new society here, as others have. What do you say?" She asked hopefully.

"Hmm." He had to admit, the thought had tempted him over the years. He'd be lying if he said he'd never felt the want to try and create a new Gallifrey. Oh, he was all so tempted... humans looked like Time Lords, and with the right technology…But he knew better. You couldn't recreate a world at the expense of another. "Where's Isabella?" He asked trying to shake off that point of view.

"Isabella?" She asked, clearly confused.

"The girl who saved my girls." He clarified.

"Oh, deserters must be executed." Her face lit with understanding as she recalled the girl. "Any general will tell you that." She brushed off the question and leaned closer to him once again, reaching a hand out and brushing it across his jacket lapels. "I need an answer, Doctor. A partnership. Any which way you choose." She asked growing angry at the Alien in front of her and hoping the Time Lord would agree.

"I don't think that's such a good idea, do you?" He leaned close, nearly whispering. "I'm a Time Lord. You're a big fish. Think of the children. Besides, my child and your son might not get along so well; he already scared the hell out of her." He said frowning at that, Francisco would never get near Amelia again if he had anything to say about it.

The hope died, the excitement faded and was replaced by rage. "CARLO!" the steward quickly appeared. "You're right. We are NOTHING alike. I will bend the heavens to save my race, while YOU act pious." She demanded angrily, if he wouldn't help, he would be the enemy.

He didn't seem insulted, if that had been her intent. "This ends today. I'll tear down the House of Calvierri, stone by stone." Carlo reached up and placed a hand on his chest, pushing slightly to get the Doctor to move so he could be led out as asked. The Doctor glowered at him but spoke calmly, simmering rage underneath. "Take your hands off me, Carlo." He turned to storm away but paused at the door and turned around. "And you know why? You didn't know Isabella's name" he opened the door and looked at her with a look of utter disappointment. "You didn't know Isabella's name." the Doctor left quickly, slamming the door behind him.


"ATTEND!" Signora Calvierri screamed as she stormed towards the courtyard. "ATTEND!"
She looked down into the courtyard where her son, Carlo, the girls and attendants entered quickly at the order. "The storm is coming!" She started walking down the stairs but gasped and staggered as the perception filter failed several times. Screaming in frustration she toyed with it to make it stop.

"Mummy... What's wrong with your perception filter?" Francesco asked quietly aside.

"That idiot child must have damaged it when she kicked me." She snarled as she glitched once again. "Now... assemble the girls. I have a job for them." She said ominously.


They sat in Guido's house once again, obviously worried and trying to figure things out.

Rani rested in a chair, back in her uniform, head tilted to the side so the Doctor could check her over.

He examined her neck with the sonic screwdriver and as it hummed the marks disappeared. "Hmm." He tilted it to read the information it gave and smiled slightly.

"You're fine. Open wide." When she did as ordered he popped a boiled sweet into her mouth.

He moved away, pacing and trying to think. As he walked his brain couldn't work out the situation. "I need to think!" he shouted in frustration. "Come on brain, think, think…Think!" he sat down at the table, between Rani and Amelia. "I need to Think!" He continued to himself smacking his head as he talked.

Rani messed with the sweet and spoke around it – something she would generally have yelled at her boys for – "If they're fish people it explains why they hate the sun." she said logically.

The Doctor placed one hand over her mouth. "Stop talking, brain thinking. Hush." He said.

"If they're fish people why start a human school?" The Doctor leaned over and covered Amelia's mouth before she could do anything other than mumble the horrible pun she had in mind.

"Stop talking, brain thinking. Hush." The Doctor continued as he continued to talk to himself.

"I say we take the fight to them!" Guido said fiercely, fist clenched in anger.

"Ah-ah-ah!" the Doctor said quickly.

"What?" Guido asked

"Ah!" he nodded at Amelia who with a roll of her eyes reached over to place her hand over Guido's mouth. "Her planet dies, so they flee through a crack in space and time, and end up here, then she closes off the city and , one by one, changes people into creatures like her to start a new gene pool. Got it." The Doctor said to himself, obviously frustrated as he stated the obvious. "Then what? They come from the sea so they can't survive forever on land. So what is she going to do?" His eyes lit with understanding.

"Unless she's going to do something to the environment to make the city more habitable. She said, 'I shall bend the heavens to save my race.'" He moved his hands from the girls mouths and placed them on top of their heads instead, forcing them to nod as if in understanding. "Bend the heavens... Bend... the heavens... She's going to sink Venice." the Doctor said suddenly as he understood a large portion of the plan.

"She's…She's going to sink Venice?" Guido said in outrage.

"And repopulate it with the girls she's transformed." He replied.

"Repopulate?" Amelia questioned.

"Have more babies." Rani supplied, thinking about what she'd heard.

"You can't repopulate with just girls." Amelia said, clearly not thinking much of Signora Calvierri's plans. "You need daddies too! And then they couldn't anyway, cause you can't call the stork cause storks eat fish. Me an' Rory looked it up once in an animal magazine." She explained.

"She's got dads." Rani said as it finally occurred to her what she'd heard.

"Where?" the Doctor asked curiously. He'd address Amelia's statement later. Or more likely make Rory or Tish do it…Maybe Rani could? There was always the old standby of 'babies come from genetic transfers placed into looms that grow babies till they're ready to be taken home'.

"In the canal. She said to me, 'There are 10,000 husbands waiting in the water.'" Rani clarified.

"Only the male offspring survived the journey here. She's got 10,000 children swimming in the canals, waiting for Mum to make them some compatible girlfriends." He made a face, clearly a bit grossed out.

Amelia and Rani apparently agreed, as both made the same face. "Ew. I mean, I've been around a bit, but, really, that's... that's... Ew."

A loud clattering noise from above interrupted them, it sounded like people stomping around.

"The people upstairs are very noisy." the Doctor said weakly, a small amount of hope in his voice.

"There aren't any people upstairs." Guido replied, eying the ceiling.

"I knew you were going to say that. Did anyone else know he was going to say that?" he asked, Rani nodded slightly, already watching the windows and doors, just in case.

Wood creaked all around them, like someone was trying to sneak across the floors, but no one was to be found. Amelia looked at the ceiling cautiously, easing closer to the Doctor. "Is it the vampires?" she asked quietly, reaching for the doctor's hand.

"Like I said, they're not vampires. Fish from space." He corrected her, but squeezed her hand comfortingly.

A loud thump and breaking glass caused them to all jump and look around. The window had been broken open and girls entered both through the stairs and from the window. The Doctor waved the Ultraviolet light on them to keep them back while Guido made the sign of the cross across his torso and head.

"Aren't we on the second floor?" Rani pointed out as they looked at the girls who seemed to be standing outside the window.

The Doctor waved the light to keep them back and reached for the sonic. Holding it on them he pressed the button, revealing what they had now become: 'fish people'.

"What's happened to them?" Guido asked, hoping that hadn't happened to his little girl.

"There's nothing left of them. They've been fully converted. Blimey, fish from space have never been so... buxom." He found his eyes wandering, but a smack on the arm from Rani brought him back. "OK...Move. Come on."

He gently prodded the girls ahead of him, grabbing the lamp to light the way.

"Give me the lamp." Guido said, taking it from the Doctor and shining it at the girls to keep them away.


[AN: Goodnews, there's more time for me to write - She quit. THREE DAYS and she quit. Technically two days and one day of training. Yeah ,yeah, bite me. That job friggen sucked, I'm never eating takeaway again. I go back to work on monday, however we're actually ahead for the first time in months. But no chance at winning an early chapter this week. Enjoy anyway! Yup, hope you love it. I'm quite pleased with Rani being around; I think he's working at taking all Sarah's kids. Two down, two to go...*evil laugh* Dramatic...]