AN: And this is the chapter where the science came back to bite me…no pun intended! Warning: This chapter gets a little…freaky.

Blood Lust

"He what?!"

What had begun as an innocent inquiry into the current state of Janet's health and the condition of the newly returned villagers had spiraled rapidly out of control. In hindsight, Sam realized, there had been plenty of red flags. They just hadn't seen them in time. Aeronn and Maram were uncharacteristically composed when they received Esser, and Zephrey had babbled, yes babbled, about the number of young people who had returned. Furthermore, Alison Crombie whom, to the best of Sam's knowledge was supposed to be Earthside, had her very best game face on and was exerting an iron, if silent, control over her team.

Jack had given his report, interrupted often by Sam, who corrected his pronunciations, and Teal'c, who complimented Esser's work and then apprehensively dropped the question 'Have you heard from Daniel lately?'. Aeronn, looking incredibly uncomfortable, had told him an abbreviated version of the story.

If Jack had missed the signs of the impending incident, he definitely did not miss that Crombie wanted a word with him, alone, very, very badly. It was plainly evident that Aeronn was leaving something out, and Sam could only wonder at what it must have been to drive Daniel so far off the edge. It was Maram who provided a way out, when she finally answered Esser's insistent questions about Eprem, and the four Sandiem set off to see him.

"Crombie, what the hell happened here?" Jack asked almost before Esser, her parents and uncle had made it to the corner.

"Dr. Fraiser got worse, Colonel," Alison said. "It turns out that once exposed the virus continues to increase in number and infection, regardless of continued exposure to the radiation."

"But all of my experiments...none of them burnt." Sam broke in.

"We ran a few of them again," Crombie said. "Those which had the Sanoctem protein and were not exposed to the radiation still became more infected. They just didn't explode."

"I never used a microscope. I should have...." Sam petered out and then straightened. "So Janet went mad?"

"Yes. That's when Aeronn contacted us. He said he had a treatment." Alison's voice hardened. "His treatment was a cloister; a small, locked room with east facing windows and no curtains."

"And that's when Daniel blew up," Jack surmised.

"Yes sir," Alison replied. "He took Janet and my med kit with him. I had the best kit, sir, but even that..."

"How much of a start?"

"Around midnight, sir. Almost eight hours."

Jack squinted up. The sun had been up for almost an hour. Where would Daniel go?

"Can you track them, Teal'c?"

"Daniel Jackson is moving quickly with a companion who is either non-responsive or resistant," Teal'c pointed out. "I believe you could track them, O'Neill."

Jack glared at him, but then gave up the attempt at any emotion that did not involve large amounts of worry.

"Zephrey took men to the 'Gate, sir. They've been there ever since. Dr. Jackson is still on the planet."

"The caves!" Sam burst out. "They can be sealed and they're safe. He went to the caves."

"All right then," Jack said. "Trip's not over yet, campers. We're going spelunking."

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It had taken six hours to reach the cave. Of course, Daniel had only the vaguest idea where he was going, he was being hunted, it was dark, and the drug Janet was on was wearing off. Still, he managed to find them a cave and seal the door well before sunrise.

Janet had been silent since he'd shut the door, merely sitting slumped against the wall. He lit a fire in the hearth and discovered that the Sanoctem had designed the caves in such a way that the light was reflected and amplified. By lighting the fireplace, Daniel had, essentially, flicked the switch for the whole room. This realization, however, was quickly muffled by something else.

After Abydos, Daniel recognized a Goa'uld naquadah mine when he saw it. And currently, he was sealed up inside one. That explained a lot. The door, the light, the ventilation; all were of Goa'uld of construction, built before the abandonment of their slaves. The shaft extended past the light, but Daniel could not see its end, assuming it even had one.

"Sam's going to love this," he mused aloud, half to himself and half out of habit to Janet.

"Love what?" came the completely unexpected reply, and he flew to her side.

"Are you okay?"

"For the moment. I guess coming down off the drug is like waking up: the screws go back into place." She shook her head and winced. "Where are we?"

Daniel quickly told her everything that had come to pass. He was about to ask Janet another question when a flash of fear in her eyes made him stop.

"Daniel, you have to go."

"Why?"

"Because the Blood Lust is next."

"I know."

"Daniel, go!" she begged.

"If I go, you'll die of starvation." How could he be so calm?

"Daniel!" Her eyes widened when she realized his intent.

"You need a specific protein," he explained, still in that inexplicably calm tone. "Earth animals don't have it. The ones on this planet do. And so do I."

"Daniel, no."

"I love you, Janet."

"No!" she screamed.

But she couldn't stop him. Some instinct in her she could not fight hungered for blood and knew that without him, she would never get it. Daniel slid his knife out of his pocket, set his teeth and drew the blade across his wrist.

With a feral howl, Janet was on him. Her mouth sealed around his wound, desperately sucking to pull out as much blood as she could. He was completely unprepared for the ferocity of her attack, but he did not fight her. As the life flowed out of him and into her, Daniel collapsed against the wall, pulling her with him. His last thought, before giving into the excruciating blackness, was that maybe the Goa'uld didn't know so much about light after all.

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to be continued….