Thanks to The Tenth Doctor's Companion, Leila-Rose-Bell, pinktardis, Tai Greywing, Izzfrogger, Krokneze, Rusty4Coke, Shrink To Be and padfoots-wife!

Rose: Whoa, don't go giving yourself brain damage on my account! I swear I've harmed mine enough in the past to represent half the world! It's nice that you're after an update, though, thanks! And here it is! So there's no need to fret anymore, now, right? Thanks for reviewing!

Doobrey Ferkin: Thank you, thank you, thank you! Wow, lovely review! And I'm hoping to up the game a bit, yes. Whether or not it'll seem any different is a different matter, though. Anywho, here it is, and thanks for reviewing again! They really do mean so much!

LittleGinny15: Review number 1: Thank you! Yeah, it was kinda sad about those poor li'l people getting sold, but I needed to get a little emotion flowing, give Harry and the Doctor a really big motive for helping out, y'know. I'm wonderful, thanks for asking! How 'bout you? Nope, haven't seen CitC yet, but I've heard of it. Is it on TV these days or just on DVD? Thanks for reviewing again! Love ya lots, hon! You've been a star!

Review number 2: I am so sorry! You probably hate me, now, but it totally wasn't planned! I seriously can't believe how long it's taken, and I hate myself for that, but see my reasons below, and maybe … just maybe you might be able to find it in your heart to forgive me … puppy dog eyes … as for the number of chapters? No idea! Not a clue! Sorry!

Disclaimer: Nope, nada … unless you don't recognise it, that is …

Ahem, sorry, I was on holiday … but Writer's Block mighta kinda encouraged the delay, too … slaps wrists … yup, that was one baaad dose of Writer's Block, right there … finds she's tried to be calm for too long, and then the true feelings burst their boundaries, at last …Oh, my God! I am soooooooo sorry!!!!! … Howls like a wounded wolf … you must all hate me, now! I can't express how truly sorry I am for such a wait! But with me starting Year 11 and being over-run by GCSE coursework (Oh, and finally finding a boyfriend! Yes, you did hear correctly, and we've been together 1 month on Thursday, dudes!), I just haven't had the time! I am really, truly, unforgivably sorry, though! Sorry! A thousand sorries to all of you, complete with complimentary sporks and an entire factory full of cyber-cookies, each and every one of you! Forgive me? Probably not … But I really am sorry! Sobs …

Dealing With Death

"So that's why you wanted to find him," she whispered, horrified.

Rose felt the sting of tears attack the corners of her eyes, but she refused to blink. The Weasley's and Hermione found their attempts at escape to be blocked by the wall at their backs. Glaring at the Master in pure horror, they glanced momentarily at Rose, who, instead of retreating, was stepping closer to the column.

The Master sighed.

"Yes, I needed the Doctor because our friend needed him. But why won't you understand that I was never actually going to send him there? I want to work with the Doctor, not against him!"

"Does the Doctor know that?" Rose whispered, shocked beyond reason. The Master paused, then shook his head.

"Not really, he still suspects I'm involved somehow, but it's probably for nothing good. If I'd have told him I wanted to work with him, he'd never have agreed. He'd just reckon I was up to something. So that's why I infected you; I needed to give him a reason to help me. And what better reason than a cure for his best friend? He knew that the only way I'd get the cure for your condition to him was if he cooperated, and surprise, surprise; it worked. Well, almost."

"How'd it 'work'?" Rose shouted, infuriated. "He's not even here, for God's sake! We've been separated for God knows how long, and we've no idea where the Hell he is, now! If your plan all along was to get him to Voldemort, why did you let him split us up?"

"I tried to talk him out of it, in case you'd forgotten!" he shouted back, furiously. "But you know as well as I, Miss Tyler, how stubborn the Doctor can be!"

"You told him that if we couldn't find him when we scanned for him that you were gonna leave without him. Would you really have left?" Ginny asked, quietly, her voice cutting through the tension slightly. The Master blinked and turned to her. Slowly, he shook his head.

"No, I couldn't have. Your 'Voldemort' friend would have killed me. I had to at least make it look like I was trying to get him to Voldemort, even if I wasn't actually going to. I was hoping that if the Doctor accompanied me to my TARDIS, we could have discussed terms properly on our way to Voldemort. It was my hope that if the Doctor agreed to help, which he would have had no choice but to accept if he was trapped in my TARDIS anyway, we could have fought Voldemort upon arrival ourselves. You know, play along until we got there."

Rose was considering him with a look a little less hostile than before. The Master smiled hopefully and stared directly at her.

"Believe me?" he asked, quietly. Rose shrugged.

"I don't know if I can," she murmured, sadly. "Your words make a scary kind of sense, but then again, from what I gather, you and the Doctor go way back and it isn't for anything pretty. I know you've tried to kill him on countless occasions, and that just doesn't bode well for believing that you want to help him. What would you do? Leave in separate directions and then just forget all about it till the next time you have it out?"

The Master grinned.

"It's worked for the past nine centuries," he smirked. "As you so rightly said, I have tried to dispose of the Doctor, and probably more times than you've washed your hair, but has it crossed your mind how many of those times we've worked together to stop a greater evil? Every time we work together, once the threat's out of the way, we're enemies once again. That's just how we are."

Rose stared at him, sceptically.

"And he's okay with that?" she asked, eyebrows raised. He nodded. She sighed, unsure of what to say next. "Right, so … so do we have your word that you definitely want to work with the Doctor? That you're not gonna turn him in straight away? Because if not, we can kill you where we stand!" she threatened. The Master nodded.

"I was brought here against my will, Miss Tyler. I've been given a task, and Voldemort expects me to complete it. But I don't trust him to keep his side of the bargain, and I will not have him killing me when I arrive with the Doctor. I could tell during that discussion that the guy is completely insane. I'm not going to let him screw this world up if I can help it. And the only way I could think of stopping him was an alliance with the Doctor. Believe me, as soon as we find him, he's going to know the truth. I've gained enough trust from him to look after you, haven't I?"

Rose nodded, numbly. The Weasley's and Hermione were staring at her with wide eyes.

"One wrong move and you're dead," Ron whispered, dangerously, when Rose nodded at them to relax a little. "You got that?"

The Master nodded.

The discussion was halted a second later, when a heart-stopping crash burst through the uncomfortable silence. The TARDIS trembled alarmingly, throwing its occupants clear across the room.

"What the Hell was that?" Ginny demanded, attempting with great difficulty to extract herself from the tangle of legs that were her twin older brothers. But the Master's response was drowned out by a loud, incessant growl from the rising column. Every pair of eyes turned in time to see its movement grind to a screeching halt.

"I think … I think we've found him," the Master murmured, bewildered.

No-one dared move. After what felt like an eternity, Rose threw herself at the Console and vigorously twisted the large dial winking invitingly up at her, revealing the window-like screen in the wall. The barrier dropping painstakingly slowly, they stared in shock as what appeared to be an underground market slid into view.

"Oh, I swear, if he's decided to take himself off for a shopping spree while I've been worried outa my brains I'm gonna kill him," Rose murmured, eyes wide.

"Erm, that doesn't look to be the kind of shopping spree he'd go for, Rose," Ginny whispered, a shaking finger pointing at a large podium at the corner of the screen. Rose followed Ginny's gaze and was sickened to see the people standing in line, chains binding hands and ankles while their deathly pale faces shone like beacons through the red, fiery light.

"That's disgusting," Hermione cried, her eyes wide with horror and her hand desperately seeking out Ron's. He found it and squeezed it gently, staring mortified at the screen himself. The twins swapped dark looks, then made directly for the door.

"Hey, wait, where d'you think you're going?" the Master called, quickly. The glared back in response, eyes narrowed slits.

"To find Harry and the Doctor. Beats sitting in here listening to you lot arguing all the time," Fred replied, shrugging and turning away.

"We're not separating! I have absolutely no idea where we are, but wherever it is doesn't look one hundred per cent safe. I'd rather we waited here until we can pin-point the Doctor's exact location."

"Where's the fun in that?" George moaned, irritated. "We can damn well find them ourselves!"

"And how do you expect to find them in that lot?" he asked, pointing at the intense scrabble of people meandering clumsily through the stalls.

"Well, the Doctor stands out, don't he?" Fred replied, grinning. "We'll find him."

Rose grinned herself at that, but it quickly fell away as she heard a triumphantly pompous voice float through from outside as the twins disappeared from view. "Sold for thirty-four potions to the Demon at the back! All yours, sir!" A moment later, one of the men in line was thrown unceremoniously into the crowd below the podium, chains clanking.

"That's just sick," Ginny whispered, hand to her mouth. "We've gotta go help them!"

"No, we don't," the Master snapped, firmly. "We have to find the Doctor. He's the one we're here for, and the sooner we find him, the sooner we can leave. Now come on, your brothers have already gone, despite the fact that I warned them not to."

"It's about time you learned that those two never do as they're told. They wouldn't be Fred and George if they did," Ron replied, smirking. "What's the matter? Too much to handle?" he asked, innocently. The Master glared at him, but said nothing.

Hearts racing, Hermione, Ron and Ginny followed a shaking Rose to the now open doorway, tracing the twins' footsteps and finding Fred and George waiting for them outside the door. The Master nodded with satisfaction as he closed the door with a snap, staring at his booth-shaped TARDIS as he locked it briskly. The 'closed' sign dangling over the empty table top left a grin breaking his features as they turned and walked away.

Her thoughts were black, now. Nothing but flashes of her seventeen years of life were visible to her. Memories were being wiped clean, but she hardly noticed anything beyond the pain.

--

She was nine. Standing in the middle of an arena with a spear in one hand and a look of pure hatred on her face. Two years had past since she'd found herself alone, her only companion a Type70 TARDIS that she'd decided to call Peanut. Now she had to battle for Peanut's release. No, she sure as Hell wasn't going to lose her best friend to a few Native Indian Trigons. She had to win this. Nine, she may have been, but when something stood between her and Peanut, there wasn't anything that could stop her from getting to the one thing her Mother had left for her. Nothing

--

Mark Gates, her loving father figure during her two months of rest on Earth was reading to her, his voice alight with mischief and excitement as he told her yet again the story of Cinderella. Closing the book with a snap and a wide grin breaking across his face, he reached across and ran a hand delicately through her hair.

"You'll find your Prince Charming one day, Teri. Promise! Be it this Galaxy or the next."

--

Her eyes watched the explosion, but her head wasn't working, properly. Her Mummy was on that planet … her big brother and her baby brother, too. And if the planet wasn't there, anymore, then her Mummy and her brothers weren't there, anymore.

That couldn't be true! It just … It just couldn't

But it was. Gallifrey was nothing but smouldering rocks and dust, now. Ash and debris from a once glorious planet. A once glorious civilisation.

Now, it was gone.

No more Dalek ships, either. At least they were gone, now, too.

Her legs gave way, crumpling beneath her. Teri hit the floor hard, her mind completely drained. Curling up into a ball, she cried for her family. She cried for the World she'd called home for seven years. She cried for herself. Blinking through the tears, she spotted the Doctor, his face dirty and strained, his longish locks unruly and matted, his eyes wide with shock and horror, staring numbly at the screen.

He looked empty.

Hollow.

Taking a shuddering breath, she allowed the blackness to consume her.

--

Her eyes fluttered open, her ears picking up a dull thrumming sound. A comforting sound, she decided. Blinking away the hazy fog, she found herself lying in a bed, the usually bright, white lights that were above her head dulled to a more accepting glare. Almost as though her Mother's TARDIS knew that she needed it.

'Mummy's TARDIS …'

Tears falling from her eyes, she threw back the quilt and raced out the door, heading straight for the Console Room that she knew so well.

'It isn't Mummy's TARDIS anymore,' she told herself as she arrived. The room seemed to buzz with excitement as she banged open the door and bolted down the stairs, her hands encircling the Console as though it were her lifeline.

A lone peanut rolled from the half-open packet that was still resting precariously on the edge. It hit the floor, and was stopped in its rolling journey as it came into contact with her foot. Teri blinked and looked at it.

'Binky's favourite snack,' she remembered. Her Mother loved peanuts. For some reason, whenever anyone saw a peanut, be it her or her brothers, they would always say' Binky's favourite snack'. It had become a tradition, now. Teri was sure her Mother had started it, though. She could vaguely remember sitting on a younger Biancalundra's knee, watching as she picked up a peanut from the dish beside their chair and waved it at her. 'Binky's favourite snack, Teri,' she had said, before popping the peanut into her mouth.

Biancalundra …

Her Mother …

'Mummy's gone … Gallifrey's gone …' she thought, finally, tears glistening in her eyes. But, knowing her mother would have wanted her to be strong, she bit her tongue and held them back.

"Hey, peanut," she murmured, stooping down to pick up the nut with a shaky hand. She stared at it, then turned to the Console. It seemed to be waiting for her to put two and two together. She half-smiled.

"Hey, Peanut," she repeated, stroking the TARDIS gently. The lights flickered in approval and she nodded, forgetting to restrain the tears. There was no point, now. There was nobody else to see, nobody to tell her she was just a weak and pathetic little girl; like her brothers used to teasingly tell her whenever she fell over and grazed her knee, nobody to tell her to dry her eyes and smile, because smiling made life look so much brighter; just like her Mummy used to tell her. And Peanut wouldn't mind if she cried. Falling onto the floor and hugging her knees, Peanut humming soothingly in the background, Teri wept.

--

Teri's eyes flew wide.

She remembered.

The last time she'd seen the Doctor. His Eighth Incarnation.

The War.

Gallifrey's destruction.

The death of her brothers.

Her Mother's death.

The reason she was alone.

Teri understood. She had wanted answers, needed to know why she had spent the last ten years alone.

And she'd known why all along.

All along, the answers she'd so desperately needed had been inside her own head.

Tears cascading down her cheeks, she shook her head violently, no longer aware of the pain enforced upon her by the machine that was slowly pulling out her Memories. As pain, understanding and anguish flared within her soul, she screamed out, ten years of loneliness urging her cries on, as she cried for her family.

"NO!"

"Sorry, is this a bad time?"

Silence.

Voldemort grinned manically, still beating his wand against his palm as though bored.

"Well, I must offer my sincerest apologies for not being here to welcome you to my quarters," he continued. Nobody spoke. Nobody moved. Nobody appeared to even be breathing, anymore.

Smirking, he stepped over the threshold, wand now twirling between his freakishly long fingers as his eyes were drawn to Jack.

"Ahh, I was wondering if you'd be up here, Jack. Who broke you out, then?"

Jack scowled, hatred radiating from him in waves as his eyes locked with the piercing red of their newest arrival. He dropped his hands into his pockets, secretly enclosing one around the handle of his gun, as he turned completely and stood, glaring at Voldemort.

"Why? You offering out medals?" he asked, outraged. Voldemort grinned.

"No, but I did fancy congratulating them. It's quite a feat, to break out a prisoner from my downstairs dungeons. Even more so when I'm still in the building."

"Pretty full of yourself, aren't you?" Jack spat, eyebrows raised. He took a step forward, his confidence flaring as four wands straightened out around him. A quick glance showed Lupin, Tonks, Neville and Luna to be flanking him. His eyes flicking around the room told him a moment later that many of their comrades were pulling themselves together and raising their own wands, too.

"Why lie about what's true?" Voldemort countered, airily, seemingly unconcerned by the entourage of wooden sticks that were now trained upon him and the two guards stood behind him.

Jack shrugged.

"We'll see how true you are."

"Indeed."

Silence rekindled around them, every witch and wizard present glaring at the three newcomers, who were considering the group of five stood in the middle of the hall. Neville was white, but his glare was strong. Luna looked irate, her eyes narrowed slits as she stared at Voldemort with an unexpected seriousness. Lupin and Tonks looked livid. Jack was defiant.

Thrown unexpectedly sideways into the wall, Jack groaned and struggled to his feet. Roaring with fury, he launched forwards, momentarily forgetting who he was up against as he withdrew the gun from a pocket and aimed it quickly.

"No, Jack, wait!" Lupin shouted. Jack faltered, turning. "That's not going to work!"

Voldemort was staring at him in amusement, eyes glinting with malice, as Jack aimed the gun upwards and pulled the trigger. No bullet was sent soaring.

"Shit," he murmured, flinging it down, feeling suddenly vulnerable.

"What's your next bright idea, Harkness?" Voldemort asked, airily, his eyes betraying his fury as they glittered maliciously. Jack, momentarily thrown out of the zone as the knowledge that his weapons were not going to be any help to him this time sunk in, remained tactfully silent.

Voldemort sighed, and stepped forward, shaking his head as though he were scolding a particularly stubborn, defiantly misbehaving school kid.

"Shame, Jack," he murmured, smirking. "I brought you here thinking you might have been of use. Turns out you're more of a hindrance."

Silence.

"W-wait … You brought me here?" Jack barely whispered, eyes as wide as saucers.

"Did I stutter?"

Jack was in shock.

"That vortex thing was all your doing?"

"Well, duh."

His mind reeling, Jack knew not what to make of what was going on around him. Nobody was moving a muscle. The Ultimate Evil was standing feet from them, and yet not one person found it necessary to move.

All were staring at Jack.

"Why?" he asked, quietly, as the silence began to spiral horribly around him. Voldemort shrugged.

"I need to find the Doctor before he screws up my plans even more. My first plan isn't working as well as I'd hoped. The person I first summoned is taking his sweet time in retrieving the Doctor, and I grew impatient of waiting. According to Teri, you're an … acquaintance of his. I suppose I was hoping you'd be a bit … less … human, if you were a friend of the Doctor's. Shows how wrong I was, doesn't it?"

"Hang on, Teri told you? How did she know?"

"Well, she didn't physically tell me, but I … well, let's just say I forced it out of her, eventually. A memory of meeting you on Satellite Five, actually. Nothing major, but it seemed to appear between two other memories of the Doctor, so I just assumed you two were known to one another. I don't even think Teri knew you were the Doctor's companion, herself to begin with, but it was in her head, nevertheless. All a waste of time, apparently. I guess the saying's true, after all; if you want something doing, you've got to go and do it yourself."

The spell was mutely launched before anyone had time to so much as blink, and three beams of white light shot out of Voldemort's wand, gliding away from one another to hit three wizards behind the five closest to him. Three simultaneous screams of pain echoed around the room, before, with a flash of intense green light, three explosions rocked the very frameworks of Voldemort's hide-out. As the light dimmed, Jack turned painfully slowly, his eyes slowly becoming accustomed to the back-to-normal lighting, and his heart plummeted. Three smouldering piles of ash rested on the spot where three fighting-fit wizards had once stood.

"Now, as I was saying. Shame, Jack. Real shame. If only you'd been a little more helpful. Teri's doing a fantastic job, you should have been more like her. But, it seems that was one memory I needn't have bothered with. You clearly don't have a clue where the Doctor is. Which means there isn't really anything else you can do for me. Best end it now, I guess. Time's a rolling on, Jack. I've got business to take care of."

Jack could do nothing. He merely watched, his heart thumping, his mind racing, a strange sense of doom settling within his veins, as Voldemort took an edgy step forwards, wand poised and aimed directly at Jack's heart.

'So this is how it ends. Sorry, Teri. Maybe the Doctor's not coming, after all. Can't say we didn't try, though.'

"My Lord? They've arrived."

Harry and the Doctor shared a glance, before turning to face Chris, who was standing beneath a wrought iron archway, staring into the black oblivion beyond. Whoever was beyond their depleted vision must have received the news, because, with a small bow, Chris backed away from the archway and made his way purposefully quickly towards the Doctor. Harry raised an eyebrow, and he nodded mutely, as if to say, 'he's on his way'.

They didn't have to wait long. A sudden, loud clap of thunder had the three non-dead jumping a mile.

"I have been waiting for you, Doctor."

The Doctor rolled his eyes at the melodramatic entrance, and turned on the spot, staring at the newcomer with a neutral expression drawing across his face. Seeing a strange hint of respect blazing within the two gleaming scarlet eyes before him, he was grateful that it was to be optional to bow to this … Demon. Instead, he nodded curtly, his own limited respect keeping his head on level-footing.

"I'd heard," he replied, coldly, unable to restrain the bite as much as he'd hoped to. But after seeing what was going on behind this Creature's safe-haven, after seeing men, women and children being bargained off like pieces of meat, his conviction was sorely shaken up. Trying to reign in his emotions before they over-stepped the boundaries, he let out a low, steadying breath, and continued. "Something about an alliance, wasn't it?"

"Indeed."

Taking the time to study their Lord and Master with a shrewdly calculating expression, Harry remained silent, figuring the Doctor would be much better at negotiating their terms. Chris, Harry soon realised, was standing beside the iron archway, his head downcast but his attention unmistakably trained upon them. Harry suppressed a grin with great difficulty. But it vanished from non-existence as his eyes returned to the company they were now keeping.

His eyes trailing over the pure, night-ebony-black robe that was draped about the Demon's shoulders, Harry held back a shudder.

Red eyes, black cloak.

This guy seemed to be the Demonic equivalent of Voldemort.

Were they really about to bargain with him?

"So, this alliance … what are you willing to exchange if we agreed to make it?"

Apparently they were really about to bargain with him.

The Demon stared at the Doctor, his crimson eyes narrowing, more out of an impatient tolerance than outright dislike. The Doctor stared defiantly back.

"That depends on what it is that you need," he replied, after a moment's pause.

"Answers," Harry stated, forced-calmly. The Doctor nodded once, his eyes never leaving the scarlet orbs before him. Just as the Demon's eyes refused to leave the Doctor's.

"Is that all?" the Demon asked, amusement alight behind his low, scratchily grating tones.

Silence coursed throughout the dimly lit cave, its tantalising stillness robbing the air of everything, as the Doctor faltered, unsure of how best to voice their main approach to the bargain.

"No," he agreed, as the Demon's impatience fluttered towards his senses, alerting him to the short temper of the being that was leaning against the stone wall, face half hidden by a dim, blood-red shadow. He glanced across to Harry, who nodded once, then turned back to the Demon, his eyes briefly flittering across to a motionless Chris, before-hand.

A tiny glance that soon settled his resolve.

He squared his shoulders, face set, expression one of the utmost sincerity.

"We want you to free every single soul you are containing down here. Every last living being that has been captured, enslaved, sold, or killed for Demonic pleasure. Those you've murdered will be able to finally move on. Those enslaved will have their lives back. I understand that you need magic to survive, I get that … but there are other ways to go about it. What you're doing, buying and selling, murdering living witches and wizards is way over the mark, buddy."

Chris visibly winced, as though trying to prepare himself for the accusations and abuse he believed he was going to get once the Doctor and Harry had left. His shudder caught Harry's attention immediately. But the Doctor was focussed solely upon Chris' Master, who had yet to speak. Yet to even move a muscle.

He was simply stood there, leaning against the wall. Just staring at them …

"Are you serious?" he questioned at last, the silence becoming almost unbearable.

"Deadly," the Doctor confirmed, nodding sharply.

"How could you even think I would consider granting such a thing?" he demanded, an eerie calmness overlaying his words at he continued to defiantly stare the Doctor down.

The Doctor, being the Doctor, met his challenge ten-fold, refusing to even blink as he spoke.

"You want an alliance. You want us to go up against the greatest Evil this side of the Galaxy. You want Good to work alongside Evil. For that, there's gotta be a pretty huge pay-packet awaiting us at the end. You know what's going on. You know who we're up against. You know how Rose and I were dragged into this. You know who healed me after my near-brush with wolf-Rose. You know how the Master is involved with all of this. And you know who's recently reopened a Mind Link with me. You have the answers we need to end this, once and for all. But you can't do it by yourselves, otherwise you'd have disposed of this threat already. You need us. We won't work for free."

The Doctor fell silent, his final sentence lingering almost mockingly in the air, before fading away into stillness.

After a moment's pause, the Demon finally tore its gaze from the Doctor's. He turned away, his infuriated expression landing on Chris, who tactfully remained immobile, staring at the floor.

Just waiting. Silently praying …

"It seems I have no choice."

The Doctor smothered a widely triumphant grin with immense difficulty. Harry was less composed, unable to control and keep in his great sigh of relief as he turned to smile at Chris.

Chris, unable to believe his ears, blinked and finally looked up, his expression a mirror of shock and amazement, hope, and a hint of pessimism to believe that freedom could soon well be in his reach, blazing within his intensely blue eyes. The Demon's hard glare was all he needed to know that it was true.

His Master was furious, but resigned.

Dare he say it, the Doctor had done it.

He was free …

"We need this Alliance, Doctor," the Demon declared, harshly, turning back to the Doctor. "This threat must be eliminated, for both our Worlds' sakes. Voldemort must be stopped. His plans must be thwarted before it is too late. And if the only way we can make this Alliance is to end our sacrifices … then so be it. I cannot deny that it is a fair exchange, when considering what it is that your side will be sacrificing. You and Harry especially, Doctor. This is going to cost the two of you dearly. However, if it is to become fact that we no longer trade witches and wizards, we need another source of magic to make up for it. We need their magic, Doctor."

The Doctor nodded, gravely.

"Understood," he remarked, sincerely. "Perfectly understandable, and I am sure that once this is all finished, we can come to an arrangement suitable to everyone."

The Demon nodded, vaguely.

"We have no time for this, right now. There is work to be done, Doctor. Do we have an accord, or not?"

The Doctor frowned, considering the Demon's face quickly, before nodding firmly. "Yes," he murmured, a little surprised by how quickly the negotiating had been resolved. But the Demon was right; there was no time to dwell on that.

But Harry narrowed his eyes in suspicion, suddenly feeling a faint sense of trepidation. The Demon had agreed to their request far too quickly … Were they really that desperate? …

"What's your name?"

The Doctor's curious voice cut through Harry's worries like a knife through melted butter, and he looked up, suddenly curious himself.

"Oh, I have so many names that it's hard to keep track. But, to make things easier, you can call me Death. That is, after all, who you were so eager to meet, was it not?" the Demon asked, a wide smirk spreading across his thin, scarlet lips, as his mood lightened considerably.

Harry's blood suddenly ran cold through his veins. His mouth agape, he took a shaky step backwards reflexively, staring at the robed, red-eyed Demon standing feet from them, his mind racing. The Doctor was staring, too, but he had apparently handled the news a lot better than Harry had. He was wearing a look that suggested to Harry that he'd suspected as much, from the beginning.

But Harry hadn't. He hadn't even considered it.

Death …

The one Demon they'd been tracking down had apparently been tracking them down, too.

Chris' Master … was the Head of the Underworld? And they'd just formed an Alliance with him.

They'd just made a Deal with Death.

Well, there it is. I'm not going to play sunshine and daises and pretend to expect to update quickly, 'cause I already know I'm going to find it difficult making time to write. As much as I hate to admit to that! No, you guys deserve better. So in the meantime, I just want to thank all of you for your amazing patience! Seriously, this story would be nothing without you wonderful, wonderful readers and reviewers!

Thank you so, so much!
And please pray for me. Maybe God will be kind, and give me a day off.

Maybe …

Please review, though. I still want to know what you guys think!

Huge hugs,
xXx MissHaunted MoonLight xXx