Chapter 6

Montana's Office

"What do you mean that there is something evil in my tower?" asked Montana, sitting in his desk chair.

"Montana," said the Doctor, sitting across from the Doctor, "Trust me. I know evil when I sense it. I am nearly twenty-three hundred years old."

"Yes, Alistair did say you were some kind of alien."

"Some kind of alien? I am a Time Lord," scowled the Doctor.

Montana smiled and told the Doctor, "He also said that you had a habit of getting all high and mighty on him."

The Doctor conceded to that and said, "He is right about that part, but I am a Time Lord. It comes with the territory."

"Back to the point," said Montana, "What is this evil that you say I have in my tower?"

"Ancient," said the Doctor, spinning a small decorative globe on Montana's desk, "An ancient evil. I wasn't able to really read it until I was in close proximity to it. I've only felt this kind of evil once before. It was when I was in a region called E-Space. With that I have a terrible sensation that this is one of the most ancient and evil beings in the universe. A creature that will never die and never age. It's immortal, but it has never regenerated because I can't smell or feel any form of post-regenerative essence."

"That means absolutely nothing to me," said Montana, "And please stop spinning my globe."

The Doctor stopped and put his hand down on his lap. "It may mean nothing to you, but it does mean something to me and it's a very, very bad something. Now, have you hired anyone recently?"

"Actually yes, about six months ago, right after that crater that came and then vanished," answered Montana, "His name's Tesla Howard, a brilliant scientist, but a little lacking in social skills. He does, however, is able to change quite fast."

"A chameleon personality," noted the Doctor.

"Now that you say that, he is," replied Montana, "And Dr. Howard is working on my brainchild project."

"Which is?" asked the Doctor.

"Need to know, but from your own description of that evil, this is not what you are looking for," Montana thought for a minute and told the Doctor, "He does have his own project though. I let him do his own project as long as he did mine and got it done on time. I trust all my employees and don't ask what they are doing."

"Maybe you should have with Tesla Howard," said the Doctor.

"Now that you say that, I didn't plan on hiring him because he seemed strange, but I suddenly changed my mind at the last minute and took him aboard. My friend, Paul Scypher, asked me why, but I didn't know why I did it. I just did."

"Who's Paul Scypher?" asked the Doctor.

"A friend of mine," answered Montana, "We built the company together, but he insisted on it being named after me. He's my equal in the company. I've known him since high school and I know that he is not who you are hunting."

"I already know that," said the Doctor, "I'd like to speak with this Tesla Howard as soon as I can."

"Of course," said Montana.

Tesla's Lab

Alex woke up, her vision cloudy and head throbbing. She looked around, but everything was blurry. She was relieved in the fact she could control her own body again and that there was not an outside force controlling her like a remote control toy. She realized she was sitting down in a leather chair like those in a dentist or doctor's office. Doctor! Where was he? She tried the get up but couldn't. Her arms, legs, and torso strapped down onto the chair.

"What?" asked Alex. She looked around and her vision cleared. She saw a man in a lab coat working on something, "Who are you?"

The man turned around and looked at Alex. His face was malevolent, but blank at the same time. Alex noticed he reminded her of the Doctor. All that complexity on one person's face. She had only seen that on the Doctor's face.

The Doctor. She should have listened to the Doctor. If she had, she wouldn't be here. She would be up on the top floor waiting for the Doctor to get out of the office. Sure it would be boring, but she wouldn't be here. Then it hit her, she was a wizard, but she couldn't get to her wand, but she couldn't think of any spells to use.

"Human trial number 3," said Tesla.

"What are you?" asked Alex.

"Oh, humans are so more talkative than the monkeys," stated Tesla with no emotion in his voice.

"What are you!" snapped Alex.

"You're a little aggressive aren't you? I did take over your body so it's the least I could do," said Tesla, "I'm a Vampire."

"I've met vampires before and you are nothing like them."

Tesla took incredible offense to that, slamming his hands on Alex's arm and got in her face, "They are NOTHING like ME! Those so called vampires are nothing. They are and pathetic!"

Tesla backed off and stood up straight again. "I am a True Vampire from the planet Quadesia. I was infected with the V-Strain when I was a child. V-Strain, named after the Vampire Class of Quadesia, the working class. No one knows where the V-Strain came from but there was one species immune to the V-Strain and if I am right, I have just overcame that immunity and that's what I am testing on you."

"Why did you take my body over and not the Doctor's or Harper's?" asked Alex.

"Out of you and the female you call Harper, you have the dominant personality and she has the submissive. She will listen to you and follow you. Okay, I though she'd follow you. Her will to survive overpowered her need to stay by you. As for the Doctor, his mind is shielded which suggests he is not human like myself. And to not have his mind subjected to mine means he is a very powerful alien in his own right, but that's not important."

"Why are you doing this?" asked Alex.

"To bring back my people," said Tesla, putting the IV into Alex's arm.

"Owe!" snapped Alex, "Where did your people go?"

"They're dead. The Gallifreans killed then after the War for Time and then they hunted down my people like animals. Now for you."

"Why do you need me?" asked Alex, cringing.

"I'm going to convert every little ape on this backwater rock to be Human Vampires and help reestablish the Great Vampire Empire across Creation. I need make sure that the Gallifrean immunity is not a factor anymore. That's why I need you. I need to see if the human body can hold both the V-Strain and Gallifrean blood at the same time," explained Tesla, taking the needle and injecting it into the IV.

Alex watched as the V-Strain was flowing into her body. When it went into her body, it burned with a fire incredibly painful. She lost her grip on reality and passed out again.

Montana's Office Floor

The elevator doors opened and Harper ran out of towards the doors of Montana's office. She slammed through them and the Doctor jumped up and Montana stood up. She ran to the Doctor and hugged him.

Doctor looked over at Montana and said quietly, "Why do you they always hug me when they seem me?"

Montana shrugged.

"Doctor, it's Alex," said Harper, releasing the Doctor.

"Where is she?"

"Floor 76."

"What! I told you not to go anywhere!"

"I know, but she wasn't herself," said Harper, "Something was controlling her."

The Doctor turned to Montana and asked him, "What's on floor 76?"

"That the primary science floor," said Montana. A realization of horror came on his face, "That's Tesla Howard's floor!"

"Dr. Tesla Howard," said Harper, "That was the name of the door that Alex went into and tried to force me to go into."

"It looks like you might be right, Doctor," said Montana.

"I usually am, yeah!" said the Doctor, walking out of the office towards the elevator with Harper and Montana behind him. The Doctor went into the elevator and turned around, "No, you two are not going."

"Why?" asked Montana, "This is my tower."

"Yes, but if what Harper said is correct, that Alex's mind was taken over. My mind is the only one in this entire tower that cannot be overpowered, no matter how powerful the other mind is," said the Doctor. He took out his sonic screwdriver and pressed it towards the control panel. The floor 76 button lit up and the Doctor stepped back and the doors shut between him and the other two.

Floor 76

The Doctor stepped out the elevator and ran towards the door labeled Dr. Tesla Howard. He shoulder rushed the door and it smashed opened. He saw Alex unconscious, strapped to a chair and an IV was connected to her. The Doctor ran over towards Alex and took out the IV. He unstrapped her from the chair. He saw that the air around the injection site and noticed that it was swollen and fiery hot. Alex's breathing was heavy and the Doctor felt her face. She was just as hot as she was on her arm.

The Doctor leant over to pick up Alex, but was stabbed from behind with a needle. He felt the sting and heat as what was in the needle went into him. He swung around and elbowed Tesla in the face. Tesla fell backwards and went into strike again when he saw smoke coming from the Doctor's back.

His eyes widened in fear and he said, "Gallifrean."

"Vampire," the Doctor snarled.

Tesla ran passed the Doctor, deeper into his lab. The Doctor right on his tail. Tesla ran towards the window and smashed through it, falling towards the street. Tesla bared his teeth as he was falling. He smashed into the concrete down below, landing on his feet. Glass landing all around him seconds later. People around ran and watched as they saw Tesla stand up straight and bare a mouth full of fangs and a face of a monster. He shook his head and ran off into the crowded streets of New York City.

The Doctor nearly followed him out the window but caught himself as he looked 76 floors down towards the busy New York street below. He stepped back into the building and walked back towards Alex. His right shoulder hurting. It was where that Vampire injected him with something.

He walked in and saw Alex was awake, but barely. She was crying and she walked over to the Doctor, hugging him, "Doctor, it hurts. I'm burning. It feels like my body's changing."

"Oh no," said the Doctor, realizing what was injected into him and pumped into Alex, "V-Strain."

The Doctor felt dead weight in his arms. Alex had passed out again.

"It's time to get you home, Alex." The Doctor picked Alex up in his arms and made his way out of Tesla Howard's lab. The Doctor's right shoulder started to swell and smoke just a little.