CHAPTER 54

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!

THE POWER OF WORDS

It was a chaotic scene as Carmilla and her duplicates fought against the Bad Wolves and their allies and tore apart the entire area. The time vampires were all much too agile to be hit by any of their opponents' attacks so they had the clear advantage in this battle as no one could lay a hand on them. If they touched anyone else though even for a moment they could always start draining them of life or turning them into one of them in a matter of seconds. This newest version of Carmilla was more dangerous than ever for that very reason.

Lily was quickly surrounded by several Carmillas as they all watched her with looks of ravenous hunger on their faces. Instead of being afraid of them though, Lily actually smiled. She looked forward to their attacks.

"If we could drain this one, we would have near unlimited power. We would never need to feed again at least not for hunger anyway. We could still always feed for fun though of course," Carmilla said.

"I'm not going to make it that easy for you, ladies. If you don't believe me, then why are you so far away from me?" Lily asked as she glowed with regenerative energy.

To show that she wasn't just idly boasting, she incinerated a nearby lamp post with a single blast of power. The Carmillas backed away from her warily but still encircled her as they waited for any opening that they could find in order to attack her. The possible gains to them far outweighed the risks.

"I thought so. You're terrified and you should be. I'm not that easy to get rid of," Lily said.

"Tell me about it," the Doctor joked.

Calliope glared at him. Did he not see that she was trying to become friends with her again?

"What?" the Doctor asked.

"Don't worry about him making me angry. That's just Theta being his usual dim-witted self. I'm used to it by now," Lily said as she saw the look on Calliope's face.

"Oi!" the Doctor said while Clara laughed.

Then things became deadly serious once again as Carmilla herself grabbed Michelle who had been trying to send her into the Mirror Verse. Michelle fell to her knees and let out a heartbreaking scream of absolute agony while Carmilla kept an iron grip on her arm and refused to let go.

Michelle started to age right before the horrified eyes of her friends as Carmilla said, "You're not exactly human are you? Your life is somewhat tainted by your other half because it's always trying to turn you back into what you were before. That doesn't exactly make you very healthy for me since the pure undiluted essences are the best ones in my opinion. A creature such as yourself where half of you is in a state of constant war with the other half gives me just a slight bit of indigestion while I'm trying to absorb the life in your years. I still can't help but enjoy its taste though. I've always loved junk food after all."

Michelle hissed at her and said, "I'll show you who and what I really am if I ever get free of you."

Donna looked at Ileana in disbelief as she said, "I thought that Michelle had put all of her baggage from being Sister of Mine behind her a long time ago. Why didn't she ever say anything?"

Ileana said, "She's very good at hiding her inner darkness, but it's still there, Donna. She didn't want us to realize that. She wanted us to think that she was alright. I think that she thinks that we wouldn't trust her if we knew the truth."

"Of course I'd still trust her. She's more than proven herself over and over again," Donna said annoyed.

"You don't have an inner darkness inside of you, Donna, or you'd know just how unworthy of being around others that it makes you feel. I'm glad that you still feel that way about her though, and I know that she will be too once she finds out," Ileana said.

Victoria meanwhile used her power to take control of the mind of the duplicate holding Michelle and had forced her to let her go. Victoria quickly grabbed Michelle and carried her away from the battle as she said, "You're going to be okay now. Don't worry."

"About what she said . . ." Michelle started to say in a nervous voice.

"It's okay. It doesn't matter to any of us," Victoria quickly reassured her.

"I promise that I have my inner darkness under complete control," Michelle said still uncertain of how they felt about her.

"I know you do, sweetheart. Don't worry. Ileana and I have known about it for some time now. Donna's a bit shocked, but I think she'll be okay with it. She'll expect you to be completely honest with her about it from now on though. That's just the way that she is."

"I'm sorry. I know that I should have told everyone from the start, but I didn't want anyone to know that that part of me still existed. It's not something that I'm proud of," Michelle said.

"I have a dark side too, Michelle. All of us do. Don't worry about it especially not in this group. We're all a little out there here," Victoria said smiling.

"Yeah, I guess we are quite a band of misfits aren't we?" Michelle said laughing.

"Don't ever let Donna hear you say that," Victoria warned.

Michelle wasn't the only one who was about to reveal a secret about herself to the others though. Soon everyone was about to see Lilith in a very different light.

"I'm warning you. Turn my friend back or I'll wipe you off of the face of this planet!" Lilith said in a voice filled with emotion.

"Emmy's just the first of you to fall. Before the day is over with, you will all belong to me. You will join my army, and we will feed off of the cattle around us. First though, I'm going to turn the little girl in front of her mother. Bring her to me," Carmilla commanded her army.

One of them grabbed Amanda who shouted, "No, leave me alone. Why does everyone always come after me for anyway?"

"Maybe it's because you're so annoying. In my case though, it's because I've had a grudge against your mother for centuries. Now that Vlad's not here to protect her anymore, it's well past time for me to finish her off once and for all. First I want to see her suffer before she dies though. Here's where it all begins, Katherine dear. Say goodbye to your beloved little girl. Turn her. Now!" Carmilla commanded her clone.

Amanda screamed in terror and tried to get away, but it was already too late. She was already starting to change.

"No. I won't become you. I don't ever want to be like you. I'd rather die," Amanda said in absolute terror as she felt herself losing the battle to stay in control of her own mind.

"Don't worry. Soon you won't feel fear anymore or anything else except for what I want you to feel. You'll learn to enjoy being me. I mean who wouldn't?" Carmilla said laughing.

"No! Leave her alone! Change me if you want but let her go. Why don't you let her go?" Katherine pleaded.

"Because you want me to," Carmilla said in a cold voice with a smile covering her face from ear to ear.

As Amanda started to look just like Carmilla and started laughing along with her, Katherine burst into tears and started to wail uncontrollably. It was a sad, mournful cry as if her very heart were being torn apart inside of her which in a way it was.

Something inside of Lilith broke in that moment. Not only had she stolen her best friend away from her and badly hurt Michelle, but now she was trying to steal sweet little Amanda away from her mother too. She wasn't going to stand by and put up with it anymore. Lilith screamed as a violent paroxysm of anger, rage, and despair overcame her all at once.

She gestured at Amanda who was already halfway turned into a Carmilla and shouted, "Reverse the change before it's too late and allow this poor girl to continue to determine her own fate."

Amanda instantly became herself again while Carmilla looked at Lilith in shock.

"That's it! I've had enough of you! Drain her life. All of it! Turn her into dust," Carmilla said to her doubles.

Carmilla and her clones all started to drain the years of Lilith's life away from her at once. Or at least they tried to anyway.

"I do not have to fear because my years will not disappear. From you and your clones I will not cower because over me you have no power," Lilith said as she somehow resisted having any of her life drained away.

"That's not possible! Turn her. Turn her into one of me," Carmilla commanded.

Lilith didn't even try to escape. She stood there unmoving and let one of Carmilla's clones touch her. Still nothing happened. Lilith remained herself despite the clone's best attempt to change her. Not even several clones trying to touch her at once could affect her.

"But you can't do that. How could you possibly do that?" Carmilla asked.

"I'm a Carrionite that's how. I may seem weak and unassuming in my human form but that's just an illusion that I maintain to put my friends at ease around me. My people long ago learned how to harness and manipulate all of time and space in order to get them to obey us. I can control the very laws of the universe themselves with just the right words said in the right way. I can save a life, prevent a life from being ruined or destroyed, and I can also . . . take a life."

She gestured at Carmilla and said, "You have finally reached your final hour where the lifespans of others will no longer give you either life or power."

Carmilla started to look weaker and weaker as she said, "What have you done? My powers are gone. I feel so tired. So very tired. What have you done? What have you done to me?!"

Carmilla started to visibly age even as her duplicates started changing back to their original forms and every person whose life she had ever taken away began to slowly gain their youth back no matter how far away that they were from her. Lilith smiled as Emmy began regaining her true form once more as well.

Lilith wasn't done with Carmilla just yet though.

Even as Carmilla started aging into an old woman right in front of her eyes, Lilith said, "She is not going fast enough towards the vampire's version of Valhalla so now is the time to speed upon her way the demise of the late unlamented Mircalla."

Carmilla screamed as Lilith used the power of the name to rapidly age her into dust. Then the dust itself faded away until there was nothing left to show that the vampire had ever even been there.

Lilith turned to see Emmy standing there watching her with awe on her face as she said with an expression of concern, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. How did you do all of that? You completely trashed her all by yourself! Since when have you been that powerful?" Emmy asked in amazement.

"Since she took you away from me. I love you, Arianrhod!" Lilith said as she grabbed Emmy and gave her a tight hug.

"I love you too. I'm alright, Lil. Don't worry," Emmy said in a soothing tone as Lilith continued to hug her as her entire body shook with emotion.

The Doctor smiled as he realized that Lilith really did love his sister dearly. He hadn't believed it at first, but now he knew it for sure. Lilith was the only Carrionite he knew of that not only liked Time Lords but loved one of them as well with all of her heart. Rose had once told him that Lilith and Emmy were sisters in all but blood, and now he could see for himself that she was right.

Then again Rose was always right so he shouldn't have been too surprised.

"That was really impressive! It looks like you've been holding out on us, Witch Lady," Donna asked.

Lilith looked up for a minute and said, "No, I haven't. I don't know what happened. I just somehow got a power boost for a moment there. Just for a minute, all I could think of was saving Emmy and Amanda and making Carmilla pay. I wasn't going to let her steal my friends away from me. I was never going to let her hurt my Emmy."

Lilith started to hug Emmy again and kissed her cheek. Emmy turned red with embarrassment and said, "Stop it, Lil. You're embarrassing me. I do love you but don't kiss me in front of the others. Okay?"

"I don't care. I've seen other people kiss their family on the cheek. You're my family. You and Calliope," Lilith said as she kissed Emmy's cheek again.

The Doctor coughed and cleared his throat as he said, "What about me?" Lilith looked at him and said, "I still don't like you. I'm willing to tolerate you though because you're Emmy's brother. Don't push it or I might forget that."

"I love her already," Lily said laughing at the look on the Doctor's face.

"Lilith, you shouldn't talk to him like that. Apologize," Calliope said.

"Alright. I'm sorry, Doctor. I would never hurt you so I'm sorry for making it sound like I would. I still don't like you though," Lilith said.

Calliope glared at her and caused Lilith to say, "I can't lie, Calliope. I'm trying to reform."

Calliope smiled and said, "Well, I guess that'll have to be good enough for now."

"I guess as long as she doesn't want to kill me that's better than nothing," the Doctor said.

"Cheer up, Chin Boy. Not everyone's going to like you," Clara said.

"I just wish that the ones who didn't weren't quite so violent about it. They usually end up wanting to kill me," the Doctor said.

"Funny how that works out, huh? Don't worry though. I like you, Chinny. You'll always have me," Clara said smiling.

"Thanks, Clara. Just one of you is worth a million other friends," the Doctor said.

"That's right and don't you forget it," Clara said.

"I love you, Clara, but you have really bad taste," Lily joked.

Calliope glared at Lily and Lily tried not to smile as she said, "What?"

"What's going on? How did we all get here?" one of Carmilla's victims finally gathered the courage to ask.

The Doctor smiled as he walked up to all of the bewildered victims and said, "I'm afraid that you've all been under the influence of a very nasty forced genetic template transformation which has resulted in all of you being turned into exact biological and psychological duplicates of the original template. Now you've been fixed though and you can all go home."

They all looked at each other in confusion so Donna said, "You all had your bodies hijacked by an evil vampire and now you're you again because one of my friends dusted her."

"Oh, well that makes sense then," one of the victims said.

"That's exactly what I said except you dumbed it down. I mean that explanation works I suppose if you want it to be boring. Mine was much more interesting. It was way cooler," the Doctor said.

Donna shook her head at him and rolled her eyes as she said, "Dumbo."

Ileana leaned over and whispered to Donna, "I don't care what she says. Lilith's been holding back on us for some reason."

"I always thought something was off about her. She never seemed to be anywhere near as powerful as Martha told me that she was. I think she's been trying not to be noticed because she wanted to fit in with us. She wants us to like her and not be intimidated by what she can do. That's nice and all but we could really use her at full power in a fight and not just have her show it when Emmy or Amanda are in danger. I think we're both going to have to talk to her about that. Maybe we could get Michelle and Victoria to join in," Donna said.

"I want to talk to her, but let's be as nice as we can to her. We don't want to drive her off," Ileana said.

"I'm always nice. When am I not nice?" Donna asked offended.

"You are always nice, but you can be a bit . . . in your face and over the top," Ileana said trying to put it delicately.

"Are you trying to say that I'm a big mouth or something? Are you saying that I talk too much and that I'm too overbearing?" Donna asked.

"You said it not her," the Doctor quipped.

"Shut up, Spaceman!" Donna growled and then she grinned.

Everyone sighed in relief as they realized that Donna was just playing around with them. Even she realized that she could be a bit much at times it seemed.

"Now that everyone's okay and Carmilla's history, I'd like to make a special announcement since most of the people that I care about are already here anyway," Donna said.

She gestured towards Lee as she said, "Our wedding's going to be next week at my grandfather's house. I haven't had any time to plan for it but I don't care. I'm having it. I'm sick of some new crazy menace or creature of the week after another showing up and stopping us. We're getting married next week, and I don't care what happens. If anyone or anything decides to attack me that day, I'll just rip them apart and get on with it anyway. I've been waiting a very, very long time for this, and I'm going . . . to . . . be . . . married. Got it?!"

"Why do you look at me when you say that?" the Doctor asked.

"I'm warning you not to mess it up. That's why, Spaceman. If anything, and I mean anything, happens to ruin my wedding, I'm going to hold you personally responsible for it. Got it?" Donna threatened.

The Doctor gulped as he said, "Your wedding is going to go off without a hitch, Donna. I won't bother you I swear. You're going to have the coolest wedding ever except for both of mine of course."

"Ha!" Lily said.

"You're never going to stop being angry at me for marrying Rose are you?" the Doctor asked.

"Nope. It's never going to happen," Lily said smiling at him in amusement.

"Anyway you're all invited to come. It's just going to be a nice normal wedding but not something overblown and extravagant. I did that last time and that didn't turn out so well. This time it's going to be nice and simple, and it's going to be a good one. The one that lasts," Donna said.

She said the last part as if she was trying to convince herself of that. This was going to be her third wedding after all unless you counted the one that never happened that took place inside of CAL.

"I-I-It will be, Donna. I p-p-promise," Lee said nervously.

"I know it will. I can't imagine ever being with anyone else but you," Donna said.

"S-s-same here," Lee said as he kissed her.

"It'll be perfect, Donna. I promise," the Doctor said in a serious voice.

"Could I come? I realize that I'm not family but . . ." Lily started to say.

"Of course you're family. Rose is related to me by marriage, and she's like a sister to me anyway. If it wasn't for you, then Calliope couldn't be there at all so of course you can come," Donna said as she hugged Lily.

This response got a very enthusiastic thumbs-up from Calliope and a huge frown and an audible sigh from the Doctor. Lily stuck her tongue out at the Doctor and held her head up in triumph. She was glad to get to come because she knew that it would give her a chance to get reacquainted with Calliope and to talk to Wilf who she really didn't know that well.

"Well, if you're inviting her to your wedding then all bets are off, Donna. Get ready for a bumpy ride," the Doctor said.

Donna just shook her head at him and said, "You can't bluff me, Spaceman. I know how you really feel about her. I've got the same memories, remember?"

"Yes, well keep that under your hat, will you? I mean you'd absolutely ruin my image," the Doctor joked with a small smile.

"Oh, I quite agree. It's way too much fun to hate you instead of being nice to you. The two of us just getting along all of the time would just be boring, wouldn't it?" Lily said as she eavesdropped on their conversation.

"For once, I actually agree with you about something. Our little feud just kind of helps defines us in a way doesn't it?" the Doctor said.

"You two are just demented. Do you know that? You're both bonkers," Donna said in exasperation.

"Yes and your point is?" Lily asked grinning.

Donna laughed at them both saying nothing. She never would understand Time Lords. Not even being one would help her with that it seemed.

As Donna and the others celebrated their victory, Discord watched them invisible and undetected from several feet away. She had thought that Donna might turn against the High Council in order to save Calliope and that this would lead to her becoming more susceptible to her influence. No such luck though.

Donna Noble truly lived up to her name. She had hoped just for a moment that this woman who helped others keep their own personal darkness in check might become her ally so that the people that she helped might be added to her own forces someday. These Bad Wolves would become valuable allies if they were on her side. It just wasn't meant to be though at least not today anyway.

Perhaps some other time.

Next: It's the last wedding that Donna Noble will ever have so it's going to be perfect or else! It's just too bad that no one told that to the Queen of the Racnoss. We all know how she loves ruining Donna's weddings, and this one will be no exception it seems. How did she get free from the Mirror Verse though? The answer to that lies in the next chapter.