As she bustled through the door of the private room she and the Doctor shared, she breathed a sigh of relief. Tegan had been in her share of clubs and parties, but the hype surrounding this one was immense in her estimation. The Doctor appeared to understand the growing need in the mob and ushered her in urgently. He gave barely a glance at anyone in the room and forcibly removed a man's hand from her arm. Unceremoniously and not without a bit of contained disdain, the Doctor opened the door and deposited her inside. With a final warning to wedge the lone chair in the room against the portal, he left.
And if the barely contained glimmer of hunger in the Doctor's eyes was any indication of the need for food of those vampires, Tegan was rather glad to be back in her tomb.
It was an easy darkness that night. The door shut with the chair pressed into the portal gave her a measure of safety. She was curled, comfortable, in the nest in the room. There was laughter, happiness in the air; the feast was in full swing. The aura of fear she had existed in for the last three days had heightened when the Doctor walked out the door. A few hours, standing, arms wrapped about her chest and pacing, staring at the door had shown no change. So with a measure of ease, she sank into the blankets and the Doctor's coat.
And sometime in the dark she fell asleep, lulled as much as by the familiar aroma of the Doctor's coat as by the laughter in the next room.
She sat upright in the nest, rustling the now familiar blankets, alerted by a sudden and sharp noise at the door. With a crack, the door flew open, pressed away by a very strong force to bang into the wall. The yipe in her throat was deadened by the realization that it was the Doctor. He entered and pressed the chair back into its place. In the dim and dark of the morning, he looked pale as a ghost. Even at twenty paces she could see the strain in his face, the pain in his eyes as they twinkled in what little light was in the room.
"Ah, Tegan...sorry to wake you..."
Weak and hoarse, the voice barely made her ears. She knew immediately that he was weak. The coarseness of the blanket scratched her hands as her fists tightened. The pit of her stomach, she felt the pull, the need in his voice.
"You didn't eat, did you?" she accused.
"Tegan..."
"Doc...you needed it. If you thought waking up this evening was bad, tomorrow will be worse..."
"Their idea of cuisine is not mine," he mumbled. "I couldn't..."
Tegan sighed. "You're the one that told me to attempt to understand their culture..."
The Doctor rounded on her, his red-rimmed gaze centered on her as he crossed the floor. She drew her legs in, coiling to run. There was an edge of danger in him that had her suddenly uneasy. "Shall I tell you, Tegan? Hmm?" he asked as he slowed, slipping his hands into his pockets. He bent at his waist to contemplate her. "Do you know what their idea of cuisine is? A slaughter. They ripped the throats out of the beasts. Look at me. Look my clothes, Tegan. Look at the blood...and this was from a distance."
She saw the swatches, the wide spray patterns of the darkness on his chest and arms and fought to keep the shiver from working through her body. He looked like he had been in the middle of a mass murder.
"I couldn't...deal...with that level of violence," he rumbled.
"And when you rip my throat out in a fit of hunger?"
The Doctor seemed to stop breathing, stopped moving. Tegan gripped the blanket harder. She wanted to pull it up over her, to hide, to burrow. Still, she forced her fear to the back and confronted her friend. "What are we to do then? Doc, it will happen...you can't...not...eat..."
He suddenly crouched next to her. "I wouldn't..."
"Wouldn't you?" Tegan demanded. With a sigh, she held up her arm to him. "You can see the blood in me, can't you? You can hear it."
"Tegan.."
"And when you can't stand the drive anymore? What am I to do about that then? Doc...I'm worried about you...I'm worried about me..." she breathed. "I don't want to be your meal and let you feed to my death."
The Doctor was staring at her arm, his gaze far away and barely coherent. Something in her snapped. Her friend was becoming a shell, lifeless before her eyes. He was unable to concentrate and that would get them killed. He was unable to keep others away from her and that would get her killed. She pushed down the blanket and edged closer to him. "Doc...if you were you still have your..."
"While I still have a sliver of my personality in my control?" he asked, his voice hoarse. "I wouldn't kill you, Tegan...I wouldn't harm you."
She pushed back the portion of material on her arm. The flash of hunger in his eyes made her stomach clench. She had seen him tiring and in pain for the last two days; she didn't want to see him get worse. "Feed..." she said quietly, looking down at her arm. "On me, Doc. Do it while you can control it. I don't want to see you will yourself to death. I NEED you in one piece and coherent."
He slowly brought his eyes up to look at her. "Tegan..."
"Look, it isn't like myths on Earth, is it? I'm not going to become your slave or some such nonsense. I've actually thought about this while you were gone..." She leaned forward, trying in vain, she knew, to keep the fear and disgust at what she was offering to a minimum. Deep down in her heart she knew that it was the only way to keep it controlled...and to keep the both of them alive. "I know you won't kill me, Doc..."
His voice was barely above a whisper. "Don't be so sure, Tegan. Vampirism and it's need for food run deep."
"Just do it," she muttered. "Before I can't handle it, Doc. We should have done this before." She pushed her arm up in front of his face. "Please..."
The Doctor took her arm in his cold hands and swallowed hard. He quivered and, sickeningly, Tegan couldn't tell if it was from restraint or from need. "Here?" he muttered as he tapped his fingers against her wrist, against the blue veins under the surface. "I'll need oxygenated blood."
"Whatever," she whispered and lifted her chin. "Just don't do too much damage."
His eyes softened and he released her arm. With a very gentle touch, he moved the tendrils of hair at her neck and pressed his rough forefinger against her neck just shy of her ear. "There's a reason vampires feed on the neck, Tegan. More blood, easier, quicker. If I were to do it on your carotid artery, it would be less painful for you, and..."
"It would be quicker..." Tegan sighed. "Enzymes."
He sighed and ruffled the hair at her nape. "Tegan...I don't want to...harm you..."
The answer was quick and concise. "Then don't. Doc...do it!"
His fingers moved her hair away from her nape and she tilted her head to the side. His fingers were cold and his breath was colder still against her skin. She squeezed her eyes shut which made her exist with only tactile sensation. There were two short sighs, mere puffs of breath, against her skin. Then the touch of something like icicles, wet and cold, on her neck. Tegan sighed with the imagination that it was his lips. And then, sharp like a bee sting, he penetrated her vein. She started, but didn't move as his hands landed on her shoulders to keep her from moving.
"Ouch..." she whimpered. But then warmth spread over her, languid like lying in warm sunlight, and the pain disappeared. Her whimper quieted into a sigh; all she could feel was his lips against her skin. "Oh that's nice..." she breathed.
The cold left her neck and she felt rather than heard: "No pain?"
She shook her head once. He shifted against her, and she felt his legs slide to the right of hers. Then there was pressure against her neck again. She closed her eyes again and relaxed back against his arm. The only strange feeling she had before she drifted off in a sea of tactile sensation and warmth was that it felt a little too intimate to sit with him like that. But soon that thought too drifted off into the ether.
"Tegan?"
"Hmm?" she asked dreamily as she blinked her eyes open. It was growing lighter in the room. "Doc? Are you better?"
"Better," he agreed. "But you'll be weak. If we're to continue this, we shall have to do less more often. I took as little as I was able, but I do think it was more than I should have."
She felt him lift her, arm under her back and under her knees. The blankets and coat seemed warm and welcoming as she was set down in its embrace. "Doc? You won't need more tonight..."
"No. Just sleep, Tegan," he whispered, his voice tone and tone. "You'll be better in the evening."
As she settled down to sleep, she felt him lie next to her. The first stray thought she had spilled out her mouth: "Was their feast that horrid?"
He sighed. "Yes, well...I suppose it wasn't horrible to their standards, but it was violent."
"I can't believe that of Bria..." she yawned.
The last thing she heard was: "I'll be right here, Tegan. I promise."
Lukan wiped his mouth as he ducked out the door to meet Umbria on the step. The sun hadn't quite risen and they had some time. After that feast, Luke had decided it was best to get some air. He smiled down at the spray pattern on the front of his shirt and the nearly matching one the girl's chest.
"Quite wonderful, wasn't it?" he asked quietly as he drew alongside her. "The feast, that is. I loved the actual letting. There's something about doing the biting into flesh that makes me...even hungrier."
Umbria nodded. "But the Doctor didn't eat..." she replied.
Luke frowned as he licked his fingers. He stopped and contemplated the end of his digits discerningly. "I had noticed that."
"Probably has been too long since he had live food-"
"He's got that bipedal," Lukan mused, cutting her off. "He bleeds her, doesn't he? Wouldn't you? Fresh blood...and you mentioned that it was possible that she likes it."
"And it's possible that she feels fear as well. Never mind if he does. Tegan doesn't recoil in fear from him; she trusts him unlike the rest of us."
"You told him about the Dome?" Lukan asked, suddenly.
"She doesn't want to be fed on by you," Bria laughed. "Good try with the change of subject and no, I didn't. I did hear about the polar attempts at genetic engineering; very interesting. He's coming back with us to the Dome; he'll see it soon enough."
Lukan shrugged and Bria laughed harder in response. "Maybe I should transfer," was the last thing he said before he disappeared off into the beginning of daybreak.
"What is that thing?" Tegan asked.
The Doctor squinted and gave a slight smile in the dim of the new night. "A transport, of a personal nature. Very similar to the transports on Gallifrey if I'm not mistaken," he responded. As he turned to speak to her, he cleared his throat and adjusted Tegan's collar to cover his bite marks. Her hand flew to the wounds. She knew it made him guilty to see them; it was a sign of what he thought was his weakness. They weren't in agreement on that.
"Doc..." she had responded as he had pulled away from her neck that evening. He had only fed for five minutes; she felt none of the classic weakness she had felt for the last two evenings. Part of her was angry that she worried about whether he had actually taken enough blood. The words caught in her throat when she asked: "Are you sure...Rabbits...have you had enough food, Doc?"
He reached forward and pressed his finger against her neck. The wounds ceased to seep under his touch. "More than enough," he had replied earnestly, but his eyes were wary as he contemplated her.
She adjusted her collar. "I think they know that you feed on me by now, Doc..." she said.
"Ah, yes," he muttered, "but I would rather not create an advert for it. Do keep it covered up."
Tegan grunted and crossed her arms over her chest. "And we're to ride in that thing...where? In the boot?"
The Doctor rolled his eyes and reached out to drag her to the transport. She followed and thanked whatever God lived in that world that she had shoes as they tripped over the uneven ground.
"Tegan...what? Oh...the shoes...sorry, but you'll have to deal..." he muttered and then drew up short next to the transport. "Ah, good moonrise, Luke! Wonderful evening, isn't it?"
Lukan stopped what he was doing. Tegan recognized the packets of blood that she had seen Bria's mother preparing the last two days. It had seemed to her like the canning her grandmother had done when she was a child and as she saw the packets, she realized what they were for: care packages from home. They were piled in the side of the very small backseat of the transport. He intercepted her look. "Yes, a wonderful evening, Doctor. You're looking better; you've eaten, I take it. Good. Was worried about you there. And we don't often have guests with us when we head back to the Dome; it will be a tight fit back there." With a laugh, he continued. "Bri and I won't be separated from our food, you understand, don't you, old man?"
"Oh..." Tegan saw the Doctor move and was more than a little agitated when he completed his sentence and found his eyes unconsciously on her. "Quite."
"Good, good..."
"Oh for the love of Pyrthia, Lukan!" Bria called as she burst from her house. Tegan jumped at the sound; the girl's voice was tone on tone. "We have to get going...we'll be late. They'll shut the gates on us again. Always the first one for home and the last one back..."
The Doctor frowned and climbed into the door of the transport. He stood, bent, staring about the interior until Tegan tumbled in after him to collapse in the back area. It wasn't really a seat, but it looked to be the area prepared for them. Bri tossed her satchel to Luke and smiled into the interior. "Moonrise! I suppose you've found out that Lukan pilots a very...out of date...transport and one that's for all primary purpose a two seater."
"Hmm, yes well..." The Doctor twisted about and looked for a seat.
"How are you at piloting a transport, old man?" Lukan asked. "I could sit in the back...with Tegan on my lap. It's only for a short trip...about a standard hour..."
Bria gave Tegan a wide grin as the Doctor tapped Tegan on the arm and she rose. A second later, he sat and reached up to make Tegan sit on the packs in the back half on his lap. "Lukan...haven't you learned?" she asked with a teasing tone. "The Doctor is very protective of his charge and he's seen you eat. Are you comfortable back there?" She continued as she climbed into the interior and collapsed on the seat.
"Ah, well..."
Tegan exasperatedly sighed and shifted. "As comfortable as sardines in a can," she replied. The Doctor humphed.
"Good!"
Luke grumbled and geared the transport to leave. It left the ground a short distance and lurched forward. Tegan gave the Doctor a glare and turned her eyes toward the moving view outside. The edge of the village approached and Tegan saw the fields and the beasts corralled. In the light of the twin moons, she could tell that the animals were all alive and several had young. "Oh Lord...that will be..." she breathed.
The Doctor hummed. "I can't say it won't be the fate of bipedal blood formers, Tegan," he agreed. She twisted in the seat, oblivious to Bria and glared at the Time Lord.
"That's inhumane..."
"They aren't humans," he whispered. "And for the purpose of the blood formers, it would be no different than cows or chickens on your planet. You use them for food; the inhabitants of this planet would use bipedals..." he touched at her neck impersonally. "...the same way."
"Hell's teeth," she hissed. "Have I told you that I have a hard time seeing that side of things?"
"Lukan is asking for permission to land."
The statement was said without emotional inflection. Yei lifted his eyes tiredly from the reports in front of him. His second in command stood just to the inside of the door of his office. The yellow of his uniform reflected what little light was in the room and made the young man look exceptionally pale.
"Returned, have they?" Yei shook his head and lowered his gaze to the papers on his desk. "I assume that he has an excuse for his tardiness."
"He says he has a representative from the Trench Research Station, Polar Region on board." The assistant shuffled his feet. "With a product of their research on board. He sounds rather impressed. He requests permission for Umbria to bring the representative to you-"
"Of course!" Yei snapped with an impatient wave of his hand. "What did you think the answer would be?" He squinted at the assistant. A glance of the young man's shoulder, he nodded. "Come in Dr. Pedra. Dismissed."
Pedra pushed in beside the confused assistant and shut the door soundly behind him. "Yei, you really must give that man a holiday."
Yei set down the reports with a sigh and rubbed his temples. "I should give every person on this project a holiday, Pedra, but there simply isn't the manpower nor the time to do so. Every single one of them..."
"I don't think you know the full extent of the exposure that they've had," Pedra responded unkindly. "Their systems have withstood the first exposure, but with the next phase starting..."
"If it doesn't work, they'll all have a long holiday," Yei responded with a grumble. "Need I remind you that you said there would be minimal side effects..."
"With the end product! Need I remind you, Yei, that we are still in the development stages?"
Yei rose from his desk. "And that we are nearing the deadline set by you and your superiors. That our...volunteers...are suffering certain illnesses is..."
A squawk from Yei's desk interrupted their argument. Pedra tossed a couple of reports to the surface as he rose to leave. "We are on schedule...sir." And with those words, he walked out the door.
"Good heavens," the Doctor breathed as the transport drew to a stop. His voice was barely above a whisper in Tegan's ear. "That is very reminiscent of Gallifrey, I must say."
"Must you?"
The response was more of an exaggerated sigh than a breath. And then he, as usual, ignored her. "Bria, I'm to guess that's the Dome?"
Bria leaned on the back of the seat and grinned at the Doctor. "Impressive isn't it? The largest research dome on the planet."
Tegan listened to the conversation in the background and gazed at the Dome. It dominated the area, rising several tens of stories off the ground. It looked like a large futuristic upside down bowl and appeared to be either black onyx or black glass; swallowing moonlight as it came into contact with it. There were attachments, not more than merely small houses attached to the side of the building.
"There are barracks and offices flanking the main research area," Bria was saying. "Completely self-contained. It took them five standard years to blast out enough Tridium to construct it."
"Five years?" The Doctor sounded impressed. "Tridium...whatever it is that you are doing, you certainly don't want it interrupted, do you?"
Lukan stifled a laugh. "Of course not. I say, it's rather silly that you don't know what goes on here."
"We didn't really know what went on in the polar regions either until the Doctor showed Tegan," Bria argued.
Tegan wriggled with impatience. "Showed, indeed."
"She has pride too?" Lukan sounded surprised. The Doctor frowned and Tegan felt a pinch at her arm and knew he wanted her to keep her mouth shut.
Bria, unknowingly, came to the Doctor's aid. "Well, we only heard rumors about the bipedal animals, Luke. We didn't know they were real until Tegan was introduced. Oh look...it appears that Chir is waiting for us. I wonder what we've done now."
Luke slowed the transport, setting it down gently in amongst other vehicles of similar form and use. Tegan shifted uncomfortably as she viewed another vampire. "Oh no..." she said, realizing that they were walking into the lion's den. Why did the White Guardian have to send us here? It seems like there's nothing that threatens the rest of the universe going on. And all it's giving me is a royal headache trying to keep from being sucked dry.
As the transport opened, the technician stuck his head in the door. "It's about time, you two. Yei's on the warpath looking for you. One of these days, you'll make it back on time." He glanced to the back of the transport. "Hello, you must be the representative from the Polar facility..." his eyes strayed to Tegan. "The Head of the Facility wants to see you. Bria, you're supposed to..."
"Escort them there," Bria finished for the man as she piled out of the transport and reached for her pack. "I had figured that..." she shook her head. "Oh, don't look so shocked, Chir," she laughed. "That's Tegan...a successful attempt at a bipedal blood former...do wipe the drool off your chin and yes, you can smell her blood."
The Doctor smiled and leaned forward, his hand extended in greeting. "Hello, I'm the Doctor and this is Tegan, as you've been informed. Quite a facility you have here..." he continued as he let Tegan preceed him out the door. Lukan helped her to the ground. "Bria, we don't want to keep you from your work longer than needed. I suppose you should show us to your leader..." He smiled widely at his joke that it seemed only Tegan realized. She gave a sour look at his back as he began to follow Bria. As an afterthought, she felt her hand grabbed and she was hurried away from Lukan.
She shrugged in apology and kept up his quick pace as they disappeared into the monstrous Dome.
Tegan stumbled as she disconnected herself from another overly interested technician as they walked through the Dome. The Doctor glanced behind them and inserted himself in the walking order immediately behind Tegan. "Couldn't that supervisor person take just ten minutes to see us?"
Bria frowned and opened another set of doors with her pass.
"He should have been able to. He must have been called into a meeting. I was left orders to bring the two of you to the primary observation deck. That's near my office." Her frown turned into a small smile. "I can show you my personal stake in this research project."
"Yes, well..." the Doctor muttered as he made sure the door shut behind them. "That will be very interesting, Bria. Exactly what are we going to witness?"
"Tonight is the beginning of the final stage of experimentation on our project. I'll have to be quick about a great deal of things; I'm needed to run the main switches..."
"Do you have a vantage point from your office?"
"Yes," Bria said as she escorted them through another door.
"Then we can just watch it from your office." The Doctor bestowed a wide smile on Bria. "Two birds in the hand and all that."
"What are you doing?" Tegan asked, quietly. She stood at the window and looked into the almost fathomless interior of the Dome. It seemed to her that there was enough room for a world and then some. There were the illusion of a blue sky at the top of it all, she thought. I wonder if it'll rain, she thought crazily. Still, there was the overwhelming feeling that she was in an enclosed space although the sides and tops of that space were not defined; like in the cloister room of the TARDIS. And just from the gleam, she envisioned technology beyond her wildest dreams from these cousins of the Time Lords.
The Doctor gave a chuckle. "Cousins, hmm? Interesting, Tegan."
"Hell's teeth..." A light hiss from the Doctor made her drop the volume of her voice.
"...you're listening to my thoughts," she commented, her arms crossed over her chest.
With a look akin to shock, the Doctor contemplated Tegan. "It was clear as if spoken," he muttered.
"Cripes," she cursed.
"Ah, well..." he cleared his throat and squinted out the window.
"Damn it," she whispered to her reflection. She fought to keep her anger under control. "You knew this was a possible side effect...didn't you?"
"Of our feedings? No, Tegan, I didn't. This, of course, means that I am transferring some sort of enzyme into your blood that matches the psychological control that is inherent in my voice," he sighed. "I had not expected there to be transfer and have it work so quickly."
Tegan glanced into the reflection and frowned. The Doctor looked morose in the reflection; his sad blue eyes were wide. She knew he would feel guilt on some level for the situation, and she had been the one that had both enticed him and offered herself for his food. "Well, it's done now, isn't it?" she stated as she lowered her eyes to stare out at the room below. "I don't like it, but there you have it."
He sighed and slipped his hands into his pockets.
"What are they doing?"
She jumped as his voice answered her back in her head. I don't know, Tegan, but we do need to find out.
"Look at the size of it down there..." she breathed. "What would they need a room that size for?"
He laid a hand on her shoulder and stepped closer to the pane of glass. He seemed to be intent on the movement below. "They're wearing radiation suits of sorts. Interesting. With their stamina and genetic make-up, they should be able to handle a fair amount of ambient high radiation levels. If this was a nuclear reactor, they still should be able to handle it." He sighed. "My only other theory is something to do with light...they would need protection from that."
Bria called over. "We're starting the next phase in ten minutes. Tegan might be able to see a closer view, but Doctor, you should remain here until we get you a suit."
He frowned, but Tegan replied. "Can I go closer? Without danger?"
Bria smiled. "If you wish...you might be the only one here that can. Lukan is at the next stage level...would you like to join him?"
Tegan turned and met the Doctor's eyes. He lifted an eyebrow and she felt his agreement. "Only if Luke minds his manners and understands that she's not dinner; I think she might find it interesting..." the Doctor stated.
"Oh, I think you've gotten that point across," Bria joked. "I'll call him, shall I?"
Tegan grinned. She returned her gaze to her friend. "I'll be all right..."
Besides, she thought, we need to get a closer look, right? Just don't leave me with that swine any longer than I have to be.
