Hiya! I know; it's been to long. Sorry. I have now finished writing this fic; I'm going to post a chapter a day or so for a while until it's all up. There's another 4 Chapters and an Epilogue after this. Things might get a little sappy and OOC, but hey - it's called FANfiction for a reason.
Enjoy~

Chapter 23: Into The Dark

The Doctor and River watched as the bullet hit home, striking Eyphah square in the chest. She stumbled backwards, but remained standing. "You'll have to do better than that," she hissed. Jack obliged, firing a second shot. It was another direct hit.

Eyphah fell to the ground, gasping. The crowd stopped, flickered, then faded from view, leaving purple clouds behind. The trio ran to her side, observing as her eyes flicked between normal and dark. When her eyes where normal she murmured "Thank you..."

She lay, dying, between them, when three figures stepped out of the clouds as the purple cleared. Jack leapt to his feet, gun raised at the figures. The leader raised their hands.

"Hey now, don't get feisty..." A woman's voice. She drew down her hood, and Jack found himself looking into alien eyes. Alien eyes in a face of human appearance.

Or at least, it looked human at first glance. But the skin was pale orange, lightening to yellow over the high cheekbones. Her lips stood red, whilst her hair, eyebrows and eyelashes were white. She blinked, cocking her head to one side. Her eyelids were vertical slits, and as her neck moved it bent like a snake's tail. She smiled.

"Captain Jack Harkness. Pleasure to meet you face to face. And your friends. The Doctor and his killer, the infamous River Song. Well met." She inclined her head to the pair.

River and the Doctor were at Eyphah's side. River held the girl's head in her lap, whilst the Doctor held one of her hands and offered her reassurance. River leaned over and kissed her forehead. When her blonde curls moved away, Eyphah lay completely still.

"Dead," Jack said softly. He glanced at the woman before him. "Whatever it was you wanted her for, it's pointless now."

The woman shrugged. "Wrong."

Jack stood his ground. "I shot her. Twice. With this gun." He raised the pistol. "No one can survive two direct shots to the heart except me."

The woman laughed chillingly. "And we have three hearts Harkness. Sadly, the carrier you see before you had only the one. Shame."

Jack squinted slightly. "Carrier? What do you mean by that?" The woman smiled. One of her companions supplied an answer for her. "Wait and see for yourself." They gestured in Jack's direction with a cloaked arm.

From behind him, Jack heard the Doctor and River gasp. He spun round to see what was happening.

Eyphah lay where she had been, but the two had moved away. Her skin was glowing, and tiny orbs of light were drifting from it. Streams of the glow were surrounding her, filling the air around her. She rose upwards slowly, standing at full height. And exploded with light.

"Is she... Regenerating?" Jack shouted past the storm of energy. The Doctor and River retreated to by him. They looked as shocked as he did. Then, something changed.

The normally golden glow was replaced by a flickering mess of black and white. And Eyphah let out a chilling shriek.