Chapter 13

Hello Ianto

That cold, eerie voice caused the mug in Ianto's hand to slip, and land with a smash on the floor. The voice was the same as before, but the figure standing before him was different. Still the same jet black hair, but longer and flowing free. And she was as pale as snow, dressed in dark clothes apart from the blood red scarf hanging loosely around her neck. Instantly he looked away and began to back towards the door, looking anywhere but at her eyes. Those hideously dark eyes...

Why do you run Ianto? I only want to play... bmyo fedr ouin seht, bmyo fedr ouin tnaysc...

"S-stop it. Just leave us alone" His back reached the solid wood of the door behind him, and his hand fumbled for the door handle.

But don't you want to play? It won't hurt for long...

She was walking towards him, following his every move with her darkened eyes. His questing fingers finally gripped the icy cold handle. The temperature in the room seemed to have dropped by a number of degrees all of a sudden. His fingers turned numb at the touch of the metal as he tried to turn the handle to open the door. It refused to budge. He pulled frantically at the door, the fear rising behind his eyes.

"Help me!" The scream escaped his lips without any conscious input from his paralysed mind, and his eyes squeezed themselves shut so tight that he saw phantom flashes of light behind his eyelids. "Gods please someone help!"

Something seemed to force his eyes to open once more. He caught a glimpse of those dark, hellish eyes and the pale features surrounding them. Then the whole world seemed to tip him forwards, and he was falling...falling...into darkness...

Jack glanced out of the window at the rest of the crew, in time to see Ianto disappearing into the kitchen. He smiled, shaking his head slightly. Everyone had their own ways of dealing with awkward situations. Ianto's way was to make constant mugs of coffee for the rest of the team. He looked down at them again. Something about the scene bothered him for a moment, but he dismissed it, turning his attention back to the document in his hand.

It was old and slightly damaged around the edge. This was one of the files he had managed to salvage from the wreckage of Torchwood one in London. It dated back to the 18th century, and contained information about a chain of strange deaths and the possible events that lead up to them. Some of them were clearly just everyday illnesses that had yet to be discovered at the time. But a large number were also clearly not natural. People spoke of seeing a stranger, dressed in extraordinary clothing, with eyes blacker than hell, wondering the streets and keeping to the shadows. This stranger took many different shapes: male, female, old, young...any combination of features possible. Only the eyes and the dark clothing remained the same. Whoever saw this figure soon started reporting hallucinatory symptoms, seeing weird creatures and shapes where no one else could, and hearing voices only they could hear. Finally each victim was found, lying as if dead, eyes wide and staring. Some it seemed came out of this comatose state, only to find their mind taken and their sanity in shreds. These poor people ended up becoming terrified of everything, and eventually dying, either by their own hand or by the merciful hand of those closest.

Jack shuddered slightly as he read the stories. He had overlooked this document before because of its overall strangeness and almost implausibility. But now, after seeing Rhys and hearing what the other team members had seen...now it actually seemed like the same being that had been present back then had returned, looking for more victims. But why had it chosen them? There was the whole of Cardiff open to it, for that matter the whole country, the world even! But it was specifically targeting the Torchwood team and those around them.

Jack flicked to the end of the document, trying to find out how the creature had been got rid of before. The document only ended with a warning. "Don't look into its eyes. Whatever you do, don't look in the eyes. They are the gateway to its power"

He looked back down at his team. Something was definitely bothering him about the scene before him. He scanned it slowly, taking in all of the details. Gwen was still just visible in Owens lab area, her fingers entwined with her fiancés. Tosh and Owen had now finished their conversation, and Tosh was now back at her desk, her slim fingers clicking away on her numerous computer keyboards and screens. Owen was finishing tidying up the mess left in his work space. He could see no sign of Ianto, but he assumed he was still in the kitchen making coffee. His eyes moved to the closed kitchen door...

Jack was down the stairs in a flash and running towards the kitchen. Both Owen and Tosh looked up startled as he tore passed, and even Gwen managed to drag her gaze away from her fiancé for a second.

"Jack, whats..." Toshiko started, before Jack began hammering at the kitchen door, attempting to turn the handle.
"Ianto! Ianto can you hear me?" he shouted, wrenching at the handle as hard as he could. By this time the others had joined him.

"What is going on?" Toshiko asked in a worried voice.

"Ianto never shuts the door when he's making coffee. It makes it harder for him to carry the mugs out again. Something shut it behind him."

"You mean..?"

"I think that thing is in there with him." He kicked the door in frustration, shouting Ianto's name again.

Toshiko reached out and touched the wood. It was icy cold. A childish giggle suddenly echoed around the Hub, making the group spin around in shock. Nothing was to be seen, but a sudden whispering seemed to surround them all. Only Jack could understand the frozen words whispered into his ear.

'Now Jack Harkness...Now your favourite friend is mine forever. Sweet dreams'