Demons

Amy rolled her eyes as the Doctor leaned over the railing of the hotel they'd landed in, grinning. "'Let's go to Ravan-Skala', he says. 'The people are six hundred feet tall, meaning you have to talk to them in hot air balloons', she says. 'The Tourist Information Center is made of one of their hats', he says. I'm sorry, but I don't see any huge hats."

The Doctor turned to look at the companions, grinning. "Amy, Beaky, this could be the most exciting thing I have ever seen."

"You're kidding."

Amy shook her head. "How can you be excited about a rubbish hotel on a rubbish bit of Earth?"

"Because this isn't Earth," Adelaide said from where she stood beside Amy and Rory, having been watching the Doctor with raised eyebrows. "This has just been made to resemble Earth."

"The craftsmanship involved…" the Doctor ran a hand along the wall next to him. "Can you imagine?"

"What?" Amy frowned. "Then where are we?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Something must have yanked us off course." He hurried down the stairs to where they had left the TARDIS, surrounded by potted plants. "Look at the detail on that cheese plant!" he sniffed one of the leaves, stroking it.

"Right, but who would mock up an Earth hotel?"

The Doctor picked up an apple, ducking away from Adelaide even if she didn't make any motion to take it from him. "Colonists, maybe, recreating a bit of home, like when ex-pats open English pubs in Majorca." He took a bite from the apple. "No, whoever did this, I am shaking his/her hand/tentacle."

Rory walked over to the photos on the wall. "Have you seen these? Look at the labels underneath." He pointed to a Sontaran. "Commander Halke, defeat." A man. "Tim Heath, having his photo taken." A woman. "Lady Silver-Tear, Daleks."

"Paige Barnes, other people's socks," Amy continued as Adelaide touched one of the frames, frowning at it. "Time Nelson, balloons. Novice Prin, saberwolves. Royston Luke Gold, Plymouth. Lucy Hayward, that brutal gorilla." She glanced at the Time Lords. "What does it mean?"

The Doctor shrugged. "I don't know." He grinned. "Let's find out!" He ran over to the reception desk, which they could see down a hallway, and rang the bell as many times as he could before Adelaide snatched him back. Three people ran around another corner, brandishing a broken chair like a weapon. "Blimey, that was a bit quick."

"We surrender!" one of the three, a Tivolian, said.

"No, it's okay, we're not…" Rory held up his hands. "We're not-"

"We surrender!"

"We're nice!"

The Doctor turned to Adelaide. "She's threatening me with a chair leg!"

"Who are you?" the woman with the broken chair, dressed in hospital scrubs, said.

The final of the three, a young man, groaned. "Oh, God, we're back in reception."

"We surrender!"

The Doctor frowned. "I've never been threatened with a chair leg before…no, hang on, I tell a lie."

Amy turned to Rory. "Did you just say, 'it's okay, we're nice'?"

"Okay, I need everyone to shut up, now!"

Adelaide raised her eyebrows at the woman. "A please would be appreciated."

The young man stepped closer to the woman. "Rita, be careful, yeah?"

Rita, however, just stepped forward and examined something. "Their pupils are dilated. They're as surprised as we are. Besides which, if it's a trick, it'll tell us something."

Adelaide and the Doctor grinned in unison, though it was the Time Lady who spoke first. "Very good."

"Amy," the Doctor turned to her, "with regret, you're fired."

"What?"

"I'm kidding." He looked at Rita, mouthing, "we'll talk," and then returned to normal, turning to the Tivolian. "I take it from the pathological compulsion to surrender, you're from Tivoli."

The Tivolian nodded. "Yes, the most invaded planet in the galaxy. Our anthem is 'Glory To Insert-Name-Here'."

"You, with the face…" the Doctor turned to the young man.

"Howie."

"Howie…you said you were surprised to be back in reception."

Howie nodded. "The walls move. Everything changes."

"You, clever one," he pointed at Rita. "What's he talking about?"

"The corridors twist and stretch. Rooms vanish and pop up somewhere else. It's like the hotel's alive."

The Doctor soniced the music playing in the background, shutting it off. "That's quite enough of that."

"Yeah," Howie added, "and it's huge, with, like, no way out."

"Have you tried the front door?"

"No," Rita said, sarcastically. "In two days it never occurred to us to try the front door. Thank God you're here."

Amy laughed and the Doctor moved over to the doors they could see, scanning them before opening them to reveal the brick wall. "They're not doors, they're walls. Walls that look like doors. Door-walls, if you like, or 'dwalls'. 'Woors' even, though you'd probably got it when you said they're not doors. I mean, the windows are…" he pulled back the curtains, revealing more wall. "Right, big day if you're a fan of walls."

"It's not just that. The rooms have things in them," Rita said.

"Things? Hello! What kind of things? Interesting things? I love things, ask anyone, not including her," he pointed at Adelaide, "unless you have really nice manners."

"Bad dreams."

His smile fell. "Well, that killed the mood."

Adelaide turned to the group. "How did you get here?"

Rita shrugged. "I don't know. I'd just started my shift. I must have passed out because suddenly I was here."

"I was blogging," Howie said. "Next thing, this."

"Oh, I was at work," the Tivolian said. "I'm in Town Planning. We're lining all the highways with trees so invading forces can march in the shade."

The Doctor nodded. "Ah."

"Which is nice for them."

"Yeah…so, what have we got?" he turned to Adelaide. "People snatched from their lives and dropped into an endless, shifting maze that looks like a 1980s hotel with bad dreams in the bedrooms…" he pulled a Rubik's Cube from his pocket, "well, apart from anything else, that's just rude." He grinned. "See? I pay attention."

|C-S|

The Doctor bounced back to where they'd left the TARDIS. "We'll pop back to the TARDIS, I'll actually let Adelaide do a planet-wide diagnostic sweep, and then we'll have a sing-song."

Amy frowned, looking around the room. "Where's the TARDIS? You parked it there, didn't you?"

"What's a TARDIS?"

Rory sighed. "Our way out. And it's gone."

The Doctor looked up as the music started up again. "Okay, this is bad. At the moment, I don't know how bad, but certainly we're three buses, a long walk, and eight quid in a taxi from good."

Adelaide looked at Rita. "Is there anyone else here?"

"Joe, but he's tied up right now."

The Doctor frowned. "Doing what?"

"No, I mean he's tied up right now."

"There'd best be a good reason," Adelaide said, crossing her arms.

|C-S|

Rita brought them to the dining room of the hotel, though the Doctor and Adelaide entered the room first. There was a man tied to the chair and surrounded by various ventriloquist dummies, which were all nodding their heads and laughing at him.

Adelaide walked over to him, the Doctor by her side. "Hello, Joe. I'm Adelaide, this is the Doctor."

"We're going to die here," Joe said, sounding dazed.

"Well, they certainly didn't mention that in the brochure." The Doctor bent down to be at Joe's eye level. "Is Joe there? Can we have a quick word?"

"Oh, it's still me, Doctor, but I've seen the light. I lived a blasphemous life, but he has forgiven my inconstancy, and soon he shall feast."

"You've been here for two days," Adelaide said. "Why is he waiting?"

"We weren't ready. We were still raw."

"And now you're…cooked?"

Joe nodded. "If you like. Soon you will be, too. Be patient. First…find your room."

"My…room?"

"There's a room here for everyone, Doctor. Even you."

She raised her eyebrows. "You said that you'd 'seen the light'."

"Nothing else matters anymore. Only him. It's like these things…" he looked at the dummies. "I used to hate them. They make me laugh now." He laughed. "Gottle o' geer! Gottle o' geer!" all of the dummies joined in, but Joe stopped suddenly. "You should go. He'll be here soon."

The Doctor glanced at Adelaide before grabbing a luggage trolley from nearby, pushing it under Joe's chair. "I think you should come with us."

|C-S|

Once they'd returned to reception, Howie, the Tivolian, and Joe were on one side on the desk with everyone else on the other side. The Doctor eyed the original four. "Why you four? That's what I don't understand…aside from all the other things I don't understand."

"What does it matter?" the Tivolian asked. "Sooner or later, someone will come along and rescue us. Or enslave us."

"First," the Doctor said, cutting off the Tivolian, "we find the TARDIS."

"Before we go," Adelaide said, "ensure someone else can see you at all times and, if you feel drawn to a particular room, do not go in or near it."

"Joe said 'he will feast'. Is there something here with us?" Rita asked them.

Joe laughed, and the Doctor looked at him. "Something to add, Joe?"

"'Here comes a candle to light you to bed. Here comes a chopper to chop off your head. Chop, chop, chop, chop.'"

Howie grimaced. "Can we do something about him?"

|C-S|

The Time Lords led the way with the rest of them following, though Joe now had his mouth taped shut. "Personally, I think you've got the right idea," the Tivolian said to Joe, who he was pushing. "Times like this, I think of my old school motto; 'Resistance is Exhausting'."

Howie, who was walking next to Rory, turned to him. "I've worked out where we are."

"Hmm?"

"Norway."

"Norway?"

He nodded. "You see, the U.S. government has entire cities hidden in the Norwegian mountains. You see, Earth is on a collision course with this other planet, and this is where they're going to send all the rich people when it kicks off."

"Amazing."

"It's all there on the internet."

Rory shook his head. "No, it's amazing you've come up with a theory even more insane than what's actually happening."

"Manners," Adelaide called back, almost instinctively, and immediately cursed herself.

A man, dressed like a PE teacher, stepped out of one of the rooms. "Hello!" the Doctor said, waving.

"Have you forgotten your PE kit again? Right, that's it, you're doing it in your pants!" he walked back into the room, shutting the door.

Adelaide turned, just seeing Howie out of the corner of her eye. "Howie! Don't!"

The Doctor, who was closest, tried to push Howie out of the way, but not soon enough for him to not open the door, revealing a group of women laughing at him. "Oh, look, girls," one of them said, "it's H-H-H-Howie!"

"What's loser in K-K-K-Klingon?" another said.

Howie stumbled away from the door. "Shut the d-d-th-the door." The Doctor closer it. "This is just some m-m-messed up CIA stuff, I-I-I'm telling you."

The Doctor wrapped an arm around Howie's shoulders. "You're right. Keep telling yourself that. It's a CIA thing, nothing more."

|C-S|

"I don't like this," the Doctor whispered to Adelaide, stepping closer to her as he scanned the hall.

"Just be careful." She leaned over to see the readings. "Don't look in your room."

"And don't look in yours." The Doctor, with a small smile, tapped Adelaide on the nose before stepping away.

Rory bent down to tie his shoes and then looked up, frowning. "Er…guys?"

"Look," Amy said, walking over to the Time Lords, but was interrupted by a roar that echoed down the halls. "Okay, whatever that is, it's not real, yeah?"

The Doctor glanced at Adelaide. "No…no, I'm sure it isn't, but just in case, let's run away and hide anyway." He opened a random door. "In here." They all ran in, though Rita dragged Joe into a separate room.

"No, this way!" Rory called, not following. "I've found a…"

"Rory, come on!"

"There was a…"

"Come on!"

Rory ran into the room but stopped when he saw what was already there, which made the Time Lords turn to look. "Eek!" the Doctor said as he nearly ran right into a Weeping Angel.

"Don't blink," Amy warned.

"What?"

The lights flickered and Adelaide grabbed the Doctor's arm instinctually. "Amy," the Doctor said, "get back."

Adelaide managed to focus enough to frown. "Why haven't they gotten us yet?" She reached forward and brushed a hand through one of them. "They're not real."

"What?" Amy frowned.

"If they were real, they would have gotten us by now."

The Doctor turned, grabbing Amy's arms. "Amy, look at me. Focus on me. It's your bad dream, that's all."

"I don't even think they're for us," Rory said as the Tivolian screamed, slamming the door to the cupboard he was hiding in. Something roared from the hallway again, this time sounding like it was actually right outside the door.

Slowly, the Doctor approached the door, with Adelaide standing a step behind him. "Doctor," Amy asked them, "what are you doing?"

"I'm sorry, I just have to see what it is. I just have to see." He moved to look through the peephole. "Oh, look at you. Oh, you are beautiful." He stepped back, letting Adelaide look through.

But she stepped back almost immediately. "It's going after Joe."

"Come on, come to me!" Joe shouted. "Come to me! Praise him!" He screamed and the Time Lords ran into the room with just enough time to see Joe being dragged away.

"Leave him alone!" the Doctor ran after him and Adelaide actually had to stop herself from following him because she wanted to.

And she didn't know if it was because they were the last Time Lords or if they were friends or if there was something else because she barely knew anything anymore. All she knew for certain was that she wanted to follow the Doctor but knew she shouldn't because he'd already run out of sight and she knew that she'd get lost attempting to follow him.

But she wanted to follow him because she didn't want him to be in danger, even if she knew that he could take care of himself.

She wanted him to be safe.

But she didn't want to want that.

|C-S|

The Doctor and Adelaide stood on either side of Joe's body, scanning it.

"If we can wedge a chair under the door handles, that should stop anything from getting in," Rory offered since he and Howie were working on blocking the doors.

"Help yourself to tea," Rita called, carrying a tray. "Guys, tea over here."

"If it's any consolation," Amy said to the Tivolian, "I've met the Weeping Angels, so I know how. In fact, I thought that room was for me."

"Joe was right. Whatever is in here, it actually wants to kill us. Not oppress us or enslave us, kill us!"

"Listen," Amy walked a bit closer to him. "The Doctor and Adelaide have been part of my life for so long now, and they've never let me down. Even when I thought they had, when I was a kid and he left me, she made him come back. They saved me. And now they're going to save you. But don't tell them I said that because his smugness would be terrifying."

The Tivolian shrugged. "Of course, if the Weeping Angels were meant for me, then your room is still out there somewhere."

Rory walked over to Amy, nodding at how Rita was walking over to the Time Lords. "Every time the Doctor gets pally with someone, I have this overwhelming urge to notify their next of kin." He laughed and then flinched. "Sorry, the last time I said something like that, you hit me with your shoe. And you literally had to sit down and unlace it first, so it was surprising Adelaide didn't stop you.

Rita stepped up next to the Doctor. "What exactly happened to him?"

The Doctor studied his sonic. "He died."

"You are a medical doctor, aren't you? You haven't just got a degree in cheese-making or something."

Adelaide laughed, but the Doctor looked slightly offended. "No! Well…yes, both, actually." He nodded at Adelaide. "But she's an actual qualified scientist."

She shook her head. "There's no cause of death; all his vital organs just stopped."

"As if the simple spark of life, his loves and hates, his faiths and fears were just taken…" the Doctor frowned at the tea Rita handed him "and this is a cup of tea."

Rita shrugged. "Of course, I'm British, it's how we cope with trauma. That and tutting."

"But how did you make it?"

Rita exchanged a look with Adelaide. "All hotels should have a well-stocked kitchen, even alien fake ones. I heard you talking when you arrived. Look, it's no more ridiculous than Howie's CIA theory, or mine."

"Which is?" she prompted.

"This is Jahannam."

The Doctor's eyes widened. "You're a Muslim."

"Don't be frightened."

"Ha! You think this is Hell." He spat the tea he'd just taken a drink of back into the cup.

"Manners," Adelaide said.

Rita looked around the room. "The whole '80s hotel thing took me by surprise, though."

"And all these fears and phobias wandering about, most are completely unconnected to us, so why are they still here?"

She shrugged. "Maybe the cleaners have gone on strike."

"Ha! I like you. You're a right clever clogs; nothing like Adelaide, but…"

Adelaide lowered her cup of tea. "Doctor…"

He coughed. "But this isn't Hell, Rita."

"You don't understand," Rita shook her head. "I say that without fear. Jahannam will play its tricks, and there'll be times when I want to run and scream, but I've tried to live a good life, and that knowledge keeps me sane, despite the monsters and bonkers rooms." She went quiet and even Adelaide eyed her about how impossibly calm she sounded about the entire situation. "Gibbis is an alien, isn't he?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"Okay. I'm going to file that under 'freak out about later'."

Amy walked over to them, holding out a collection of paper. "Doctor, Adelaide, look at this. I found it in a corridor, I completely forgot I had it." The Doctor tapped Amy's head before leaning his elbows on the table to read it, Adelaide leaning beside him, their arms touching.

"Er…'My name is Lucy Hayward and I'm the last one left. It took Luke first. It got him on his first day, almost as soon as we arrived. It's funny. You don't know what's going to be in your room until you see it, then you realize it could never have been anything else. I just saw mine. It was a gorilla from a book I'd read as a kid. My God, that thing used to terrify me. The gaps between my worships are getting shorter, like contractions. This is what happened to the others, and how lucky they were. It's all so clear now. I'm so happy. Praise him.'"

"Praise him," Howie said, making Adelaide look at him sharply.

"What did you just say?"

His eyes widened. "Nothing…praise him!" he clamped a hand over his mouth.

Gibbis, the Tivolian, backed away from him. "You'll lead it right here!"

"We won't leave you," the Doctor told him, holding out a hand. "I promise you, you have my word on that."

"I don't want to get eaten!"

"Calm down!" Amy tried.

"He's going to lead the creature right here!"

"Hold it!" the Doctor, grabbing Adelaide's sonic, pressed the two together to create a very high-pitched sonic sound, quieting everyone instantly. "Thank you."

"Don't you see?" Gibbis said, not deterred. "He'll lead it right here!"

Rita turned to him. "What do you suggest?"

"Look, whatever it is out there, it's obviously chosen Howard as its next course. Now, tragic though that is, this is no time for sentiment. I'm saying if it were to find him, it may be satisfied and let the rest of us go. All I want to do is go home and be conquered and oppressed. Is that too much to ask?"

Adelaide raised her eyebrows at him. "I believe the letter the Doctor just read made it quite clear that the rest of us will not just be 'let go' once it makes a meal of Howie."

"Adelaide…"

She held up a finger to the Doctor, stepping closer to Gibbis. "Your civilization is one of the oldest in the galaxy and, once, I admired that. But then I visited you. I saw who you were and this, today, has just proven my conclusion from all those centuries ago. You're not cowards; you know exactly what you're doing. Evolution has let you stay in the background and let others die in your name." She sighed. "Did you know, when I first determined that, I admired that even more because you were the perfect predators. But now…now I'm not going to let anyone die today because of your false cowardice. I'm not going to make you a murderer again."

Adelaide wasn't going to let herself become a murderer again. She was going to try, for once.

She backed up again, turning to Howie. "Howie, it's likely going to attempt to possess you again and, when that happens, the Doctor and I are going to ask you some questions," she gestured for the Doctor to come up beside her. "Try your hardest to answer them."

"I hope my mum's alright," Howie said as he sat again. "She's going to be w-worried." He smiled, beginning to sway.

A/N: The Tivoli do strike a cord in Adelaide, don't they?

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Starangel5593: Glad you enjoyed them :)