Story disclaimer: I own none of the following. Many of the references in this story are owed to the writers and the rest of the team(s) involved in the creation and production of Torchwood and Doctor Who. Without them, this story would not be possible. My character Teya owns me. I am making no money from this or any of my other fics posted on this site.

Scene Nine – Cardiff, 1985

The three Doctors gazed down at the body, at a loss as to the cause of death. Rumours of vampyres were already spreading throughout the staff; they would not be helped by this latest addition to the morgue. Over the last year, more and more bodies were turning up drained of blood, yet with no marks or wounds to suggest how they had lost so much blood. With this particular case, the only scar on the body was a cut to the wrist approximately an inch in length. An old scar, nothing but a thin white line, long healed. Baffled, they put the body on ice. Two hours later, they were visited by two men in sharp suits. When asked who they were, they replied simply "Torchwood."

Jack Harkness, on assignment to Torchwood London, was aware of the many bodies that were piling up in Torchwood's morgue, but they were far from his mind as he strolled nonchalantly through Hyde Park. Jack was on the up in life at that time, feeling flush and enjoying living through the variety of life that was the eighties. A few hard-core kids were hanging out, challenging one another with the volume of their boom-boxes, or ghetto-blasters or whatever they called them nowadays. Some people were walking dogs, or, like him, just enjoying life on a cool winter's day, and Jack, their unknown protector, loved just watching them all. He never noticed his shadow, following him wherever he went, stopping when he did. Too wrapped up in the packs of people and stench of raging hormones, he was completely oblivious until she threw her arms around him, gluing herself to his back. He pushed his assailant off so violently that she fell to the ground with a cry, then spinning round with hand already reaching for his gun before he even set eyes on her.

"Teya!"

"Jack." Pouting, she stood up, brushing herself down. He'd stopped dead in a comical position, hand inside his coat at belt height, one foot forward, and an expression that was half killer and half delight. She had to laugh as he stumbled forward to clasp her in his arms. "You need your ears syringing, Jack, a herd of elephants could've taken you by surprise!"

He held her close, not deigning to reply to her sarcasm, genuinely pleased to see her again. This wasn't the first time she had surprised him like this, catching up with him and throwing herself on him... in more than one sense of the phrase. She was as strong as ever, giving him a bear hug that crushed the air from his lungs. When he pushed her to arms length, his eyes roamed her hungrily, trying to drink in every new detail of her. Every time he saw her, her black hair was shorter, her sleek bob well out of fashion for the current time period, but her yellow eyes still burnt with an inner fire that Jack always found arousing. She was smiling at him as she asked "I thought you were in Cardiff. What brings you to London?"

"Work." He shrugged gently. "What happened to Paris? Madrid? Rome?"

"Change of scene." She too shrugged off his questioning, as always accepting that he had no interest in talking about his life, instead reaching up as she had the first time, running her hands through his hair and kissing him. Those that had stopped to stare at the pair now mostly turned aside with smiles. And Jack, far more interested in making something other than small talk, simply took her hands and led her out of Hyde Park to his flat and his bed.

Jack left her sleeping, as he always did, eager for her to wake up to a fresh meal... at least as fresh as he could get hold of. Simple enough raid on the local blood bank, his Torchwood fake IDs allowing him to "confiscate" enough samples for "analysis". In a few days time he would send a fake report from his office in Torchwood. He chose carefully, avoiding blood group B and anything rhesus positive. Teya always claimed that any blood from either category left her wired for hours. Having never sampled human blood, and with no particular wish to, Jack simply took her word for it.

Collecting a more appetizing meal for him was no problem, a few rapid stops to the local stores and he had enough to keep them both for a couple of days. Set to return to his flat and his lover, Jack had a beaming smile on his face. But even in his good mood, Jack was aware of someone following him. No stealthy Everlarth was this, whoever this was; he wanted Jack to know he was there. When Jack glanced back, a man in a smart suit stopped, beckoned to him. Jack, unwilling to approach, let the Torchwood operative come to him instead.

"I've come with a warning, Captain."

"From who?"

"You know who. Hand her over, or Torchwood will be forced to kill her."

"What? I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Your vampyre girlfriend." The agent looked about him. "You know she's dangerous, Captain, you're almost sure yourself that she is responsible for the deaths that accompanied her arrival in London. Now we have evidence to prove it."

"Evidence...?" Jack, about to defend Teya, faltered. "What evidence?"

"There was Everlarth blood and DNA found at the scene of many of the deaths, even on the bodies." The Torchwood agent folded his arms and smiled grimly. "Make it easy for us, Jack, because we won't ask you again. If you don't hand her over to us, she will die, and you will lose your position in Torchwood."

"Which means death for both of us..." Jack sighed, unsure of whether this man was aware of his uniqueness. He did not fear death, with good reason, but he did fear the effects of the latest experimental drug – Ret-con – which could steal half or more of his memory. To be immortal and not remember it, or all the things he had done... Jack needed Torchwood, for reasons that were his own, but more to the point, Jack feared for Teya, for though she was long lived, no way she was immortal... Jack left the Torchwood agent without another word, the weight of this decision weighing upon him...