They had landed behind a hill near a beautiful little countryside village. After climbing the hill to get a look at it, the Doctor had rushed her back inside the Tardis and insisted she change into something more befitting of the 1800s; lest they end up banished like the last time they were in this period.

After changing into an older version of his brown pinstripes and converse, and managing to get Rose into a maroon dress that blended in, they went to check the place out.

=-=-=

Rose was used to hearing the Doctor speak Gallifreyan frome time to time. Ever since he'd regenerated he'd occasionally lapse into his native tongue when he was mad, surprised, or just answering a question while distracted. He'd tried to teach it to her but it hadn't gone too well. She'd learned to recognise the language when she heard it, she just had no idea what it meant. So when the Doctor suddenly stopped short and said something in Gallifreyan, Rose was more interested in what had caused it than what he'd said.

"...ex jxak!!" he blurted when he noticed the paper on the street.

"What's wrong Doctor?" she asked him as he picked it up to get a better look.

"Rose... We're in Romania." he told her, staring at the paper.

Rose couldn't think of why that would be a bad thing... till she looked at the paper. "TRANSYLVANIA?!" The Doctor nodded. "You've GOT to be joking!!" He shook his head mutely. "You mean to tell me that we're gonna hafta deal with VAMPI-mph!!" the time lord quickly put a hand over her mouth and pulled them into a side street.

"Shush! I don't think it's a good idea to be shouting that!" he whispered in her ear urgently.

Pulling his hand away, she querried, "Why not?"

He pointed past her at the market. "Because," he explained, "they look scared enough already."

"You mean... there might actally be vampires here?!"

Again he nodded.

"Great. First Werewolves, now Vampires! I just hope you don't get us banished again!" she giggled.

=-=-=

They walked around silently for about an hour, just observing. The people did indeed seem to be living in fear; but of what, they weren't sure. The two stopped for lunch at a pub not far from the square and discussed what they should do next.

"So" questioned the Doctor, taking a bite of his food. "What do you suggest we do?"

Rose swallowed a bite. "Why do you keep asking me?"

"Because, if your going to be travelling with me for a while, your going to need to be a good companion. And a good companion can think for herself." The Doctor took a sip of his banana daquiri, carrying a banana was always a good idea, and continued. "I'm... training you." he said with a smirk.

She smirked back. "Okay... 'teacher'... I think we should-" she stopped when they heard a woman scream. "I think we should go see who's screaming and why!" she stated excitedly and stood up.

"A plus!" he grinned, going along with the 'teacher' comment. They both ran out the door. The Doctor ran back in a second later, grabbed his drink and ran back out. A second after that, Rose ran in, dropped a few gold pieces onto the table, she'd found them in her dress' pocket earlier, and followed him out.

=-=-=

They followed the scream about a block before coming upon a growing crowd of villagers. In the center of the crowd, a young woman stood over the body of a dead man.

Rose gasped when she saw it. "Oh my-... Doctor.... that man's ghost white!"

"I can see that, Rose." He loved to mess with her. She had a bad habit of stating the obvious, and he was hoping to break her of it. "Excuse me, I'm a Doctor." he told the crowd, and knealt by the body. "Nurse..?" Rose stepped closer and joined him. "What do you think killed him, Rose?"

"I was about to ask you that..."

"If you want to be my companion..." he repeated part of what he'd said earlier. She got the point.

"Well.." she thought. "He's so pale.... he looks almost like that woman we saw on Wacom Station... the one who died of..." she gasped and checked his neck. "...bite marks.." she muttered before remembering that she was the focus of a crowd, and hoped they hadn't heard her. The Doctor and her shared a look and she stood up. "Okay, there's nothing to see here. Go home." she tried her best Brit Cop Crowd Control immitation. It seemed to work, since people began walking away. I can't believe that worked. she thought.

"Well Rose?" he turned to her. "What does your Companion's Intuition tell you?"

"It tells me this man died of massive blood loss."

"Very good! And, being where we are, I'd guess it was.... a Vampire!!" He said that last bit with his best 'Vampire' accent, making his companion giggle.

"Alright 'Vlad', you take uptown, I'll take downtown?"

=-=-=

"I'm telling you, it's HIM! He's back from the grave!!"

"Calm down, ma'am. I really don't think it's a 400 year old, blood-sucking murderer." the Doctor trid to calm her down. That was the sixth person he'd heard this from. Always the same basic story. A bloody murderer from long ago, a bunch of bodies with no blood and puncture wounds on their neck, and a creepy old villa on a hill that is supposed to be haunted.

The Doctor sighed. "Thank you for your time, ma'am."

=-=-=

"What kind of lights?" she asked the man.

"I don't know! It was brighter than any torch, and it shone in just one direction! And the strangest sound! Like thunder; only it was a clear night!!"

"....and is there anything else you can tell me?"

=-=-=

"Your kidding!?"

"Nope!" They had met at the Tardis to have tea and compare results. "I'm totally serious!" he sipped his tea and continued. "They really believe it's Vlad the Impaler, returned from the dead!"

"Dracula?!" Rose laughed. "They honestly believe it's Dracula doing all this?!"

"Yup! And according to the date on that paper I saw, it's exactly 400 years since he died!"

"That's just silly. It can't be him!" but the Doctor tutted at her.

"Now Rose, how can you say that after meeting the Gelth?"

"Hmm.... I see your point..." she sipped her tea and thought a minute. "Then what do YOU think it is?"

"I dunno." he took another sip and suddenly thought of something. "Mm! What did you find?"

"Oh! Your gonna love it! Apparently, they saw lights in a graveyard and strange noises like thunder."

"Think it was just grave robbers?"

"Don't think so." the Tyler girl poured herself some more tea. "It sounds more like what a mate of mine described when she claimed she saw aliens." Sip.

"So... your group says aliens and mine says vampires...."

She chuckled. "I wonder if it isn't aliens pretending to be vampires to scare the town?"

He thought a second, then shook his head. "Naah. Nothing to be gained from it."

"Well, If I were an alien, I'd think that would be the best practical joke ever." she grinned widely.

"Alien pranksters?"

"Sure! Why not?"

"......good point."

And they both laughed.

=-=-=

Rose screamed, and smacked the Doctor, who started giggling. "You cut that out!!! It's bad enough you had to drag me to a supposedly-haunted old mansion, quit trying to scare me!" she stomped her foot for emphasis. "And the next time you start howling out of the blue like that, I'm gonna smack ya one!"

"Oh! But you should have seen your face!!" He was having trouble standing he was laughing so hard.

Rose crossed her arms and pouted. "I hope you have a heart attack."

He stopped laughing for a second. "Kinda anti-climactic isn't it, dying of a boring old heart attack in a town with aliens and vampires?"

"Well, I guess, a bit..." she cracked a grin. "I guess I should add that to my list of 'Most Interesting Ways For A Time Lord To Regenerate: Anti-climactic Death-by-heart attack!'" They shared a laugh over that, then continued walking.

=-=-=

"Okay. Creepy foyer: check. Next we check..."

"The creepy sitting room?" Rose offered.

"Creepy sitting room it is!! C'mon Miss Tyler!" He pulled her to the larghe double doors and opened them with a creak. "Oooh.... spooky... After you!"

"Not a chance." She refused to get in front of the Doctor when he was in this kind of mood.

"...suit yourself."

The room was pitch black and the floor creaked as soon as he stepped on it.

"Oh no! I'm SO not going in there, in the dark, with you!"

The Doctor smiled at her and lit a nearby torch with his screwdriver. "Better?"

"Much."

They proceeded to examine the rest of the mansion. All that was left now, was the basement.

"Creepy old house: Check. Time for the creepy basement!"

Rose groaned. "How can you possibly be this excited about a dusty old basement?"

He looked confused. "How can you NOT?"

She rolled her eyes and opened the door. The Doctor was instantly rushing in and looking around.

"Find anything?" she asked after a minute of trying to keep up with his rushing around the room.

He stopped and looked at her like she was stupid. "Rose! It's right HERE!!!" he gestured to the room. "It's plain as day!!"

She looked around. Aside from a bit of chemistry equipment, it looked like a plain old basement. "I'm sorry Doctor... What is it I'm looking at?"

He huffed a bit and bent down to touch the concrete floor. "What do you see here, Rose?"

She wondered if this was a trick question. "Uh.... concrete."

He resisted the urge to do a facepalm and sighed instead. He wiped his finger across the floor and showed it to her.

".......umm..."

"Rose!! What do you see on my finger?!" he asked.

"....nothing."

He gestured to the cement floor. "And what's on the floor?"

She stared at him. "Get on with it..."

"Nothing!! There's absolutely nothing on this floor!!"

Rose felt like one of them was totally stupid. She wasn't sure it was him though. "....so?"

He groaned in frustration. "Rose?! WHY is there nothing on the floor?"

She paused. "Umm.... because.... they didn't have anything to store in their basement?"

"This room is different from all the others. How?" He had that look. That look that said 'I-know-something-you-don't-know'.

She looked around carefully this time, thinking aloud. "Lessee... the other rooms had carpet... aaand.... they had furniture...." she looked to him everytime she said something, looking for any hint that she was getting close. "Theeeey.... they were creepy...."

He shook his head again and glanced at the ceiling.

"The ceiling..?" She looked at it. What did the ceiling hafta do with....

The Doctor could tell she'd figured it out.

"There aren't any spiderwebs!!" She smiled when he started clapping. "Infact, it's totally spotless in here!!"

"Bravo! Molto Bene, Rose Tyler!!" He cheered for her.

"But why would it be dirty up there and not down here.... unless... unless someone had been down here!!" they said the last bit together.

"Bingo! Next stop, The cemetary!!" and he walked out of the room happily.

Ugh Rose thought. Creepy mansion, now a cemetary. Why can't I ever get a haunted shopping mall!? she mentally complained, following after him.