Author note: Apologies for the lack of updates but real life has been dragging me down. Enjoy!
Four
"This isn't yours!" Aderyn's mouth shouted at the man advancing on her. His grey coat flapped behind him as he drew near, unperturbed.
"Get out of her!" he yelled.
"Never," came the reply, forced through Aderyn's lips. "She is ours."
The ethereal source of light behind the American man whipped out, tendrils of illumination catching at his feet and forcing him to the ground.
"Jack!" the other man shouted.
"Stay back, I said!" Jack cried at him. "Don't you dare let it touch you!"
Jack lunged forward, disentangling himself from the strands of light to catch at Aderyn's feet, making her fall. The hard jolt as she hit the ground cleared her head for an infinitesimal second.
"Help me," Aderyn pleaded.
The man, Jack, shimmied across the ground to hold her head, check her pulse. "Hey, sweetheart, what's your name?"
She could barely reply, the Light was taking over again. "Aderyn," she whispered. The searing white groped back up her throat, stealing her voice and her mind.
"My name's Jack," Jack said. "We're going to do all we can to get this thing out, understand?"
Aderyn couldn't respond. Sight and sound reached her in the mental prison the Light had constructed, but there was no way out, no way to plead.
"We have her," the Light in Aderyn's mind said through her mouth. "And by this body we will have you all."
"I'm going to stop you, you let her go!"
Aderyn's face smiled sweetly, then the tendrils from before wrapped around Jack's elbows and dragged him backward across the forest floor.
Aderyn fought so very hard to stop the Light from making her body stand. She pushed and pulled and screamed and tore, but could only watch helpless as her foot lashed out at Jack's head, knocking him unconscious.
"Jack!" the other man cried again. Aderyn's head turned toward the sound, catching sight of the man's silhouette behind the SUV. For a long second, the Light pondered taking the young man as well... but no, the female was a perfect host. They needed no other, not just yet. The Light raised Aderyn's arms, beckoning at the tendrils.
"Come," the Light murmured. "We shall leave this place of wood and water."
-T-
"Aderyn? Aderyn, can you hear me?"
Aderyn's eyelids blinked sluggishly, but she didn't reply. What had happened to her?! The Light, stealing her body and making its heinous plans... she'd been trapped. A prisoner in her own skin. Her body, stretched out on the coffee shop floor and streaked with sweat and vomit, shuddered as she remembered.
"Jack, where's that light coming from?"
"Oh shit."
-T-
"Aderyn? Adie, can you hear me?"
Nathan, she thought. Oh please, not Nate. Don't let this take him too.
"Hello Nate," the Light said, taking the name from Aderyn's pleas. "Sorry, had a lot on my mind."
Nathan lifted his arms, smiling sweetly and beckoning her forward. "Quite right too, my dear wife-to-be."
Wife, the Light noted. What strange relationships you humans lead, so exclusive!
Touch him and I'll kill you, Aderyn returned.
The Light moved her body forward, settling into Nathan's offered embrace. Aderyn seethed in her prison. So warm, thought the Light. He's so full of life it almost seems a pity to put our plans in motion.
Aderyn could not stop the spark of hope rising. You'll stop, then? she thought at the Light.
The Light laughed and said, We did say 'almost'.
-T-
"Ianto, we need to get her out of here," Jack said, gathering the limp Aderyn in his arms. Her shallow breaths and fluttering eyelids did not bode well, nor did the faint glow beginning to seep from her skin.
"I'll help—"
"No!"
Ianto flinched.
"No, I'm sorry, Yan. I told you before, if it touches you, it'll spread."
Ianto lifted the hatch on the counter, letting Jack and his load through. They manoeuvred their way through the chairs and tables to reach the shop door. Ianto held it open for Jack, saying, "But not you?"
"51st century physiology, I guess." Jack lay Aderyn across the back seat of the SUV, pulling a few of the seat belts across to stop her from falling off. "Or maybe it's the whole 'I can't die' thing."
Ianto snorted. "That could be a deciding factor, yes."
-T-
Tuesday night. The Light made love to Nathan with Aderyn's body while Aderyn, still imprisoned, shrieked and riled, cursed and cried, begged and sobbed.
-T-
"She's moaning, Jack."
Jack turned his head for one moment to look at Aderyn on the backseat, noting the way she thrashed. He was glad he'd put the seatbelts around her. "She saying any clear words?"
Ianto undid his own seatbelt and leant back, making himself close enough to hear yet ensuring no skin contact was made. He stared at Aderyn's twitching mouth with an expression of confused concern. "She's saying 'no' over and over, mixed in with multiple 'stop's and I think I just heard a 'please don't'."
Jack's eyes darkened as he looked out at the road before them.
-T-
Wednesday morning. The Light kissed Nathan goodbye with Aderyn's lips and went to explore. Picking over Aderyn's still struggling mind, it found words and places significant to its purpose.
Turnmill Nuclear Power Station.
Perfect.
What are you going to do? Aderyn demanded.
Adoring the control it had, the Light said out loud, "We need energy to survive. Your body catalyses enough for one initial host, but it will not be enough to sustain our species."
What the hell are you talking about?
"Silence, little prisoner. Sit back and enjoy the ride."
-T-
Aderyn found her mouth and groaned. Light danced and seared across her vision and she could feel the rumble of en engine beneath her. "What's going on?" she gasped.
"Don't you worry," Jack told her. "We'll get you sorted soon enough, just sit back and relax. It'll be over soon."
"The Light hurts," croaked Aderyn, "it hurts so much— ah!"
Ianto turned around in his seat. "We know it does, Aderyn. Just hold tight."
The two men exchanged a dark look while Aderyn continued to writh on the back seat. They didn't like to lie, but what alternative did they have?