I'm really sorry that I haven't updated in a while, but I've had a lot going on. Well, I've finally finished this chapter and I hope you all like it. Thanks for all of the encouragement that I've seen from all of you reading. Thanks. Hopefully I'll post the next chapter sooner. Again, I'd love to hear what you guys think. Hope you enjoy.
Chapter 3: A Shout in the Dark
Clara could feel more and more creatures converging behind the man, somehow it was more frightening not to see them. She pictured hundreds upon hundreds standing there, their backs arched like hunting cats ready to attack. The only thing worse, Clara thought, would be if she could actually see the hunters.
As if these creatures were mind readers too, a light suddenly shown from behind the man. The closer it came, the more the fear welled up inside Clara. Finally, the light bearer appeared. He was shorter than the other man, with dark hair. They should not have looked alike, yet both of their skins were so pale and their features so stone-like and sharp that it seemed as if they must be brothers. The shorter one held an old-fashioned lantern, illuminating himself, the first man and the twenty odd others congregated behind them.
Suddenly Clara realized, the Doctor had taken her hand. She looked up at him, but he had not taken his eyes off of the creatures. He gently placed the sonic screwdriver, now off, in her hand. "Doctor?" She asked, she didn't understand. He closed her hand around it. She knew he meant for her to have it and deep down she knew why, but she wouldn't let that thought form in her head, it was too terrible a thought.
"It's going to be all right Clara." The Doctor said reassuringly. "Just do what I say when the time comes."
Clara had always listened to the Doctor's instructions before, but after seeing him so terrified she wondered if perhaps they were both out of their depth. Looking at him, she could see a quiver in his jaw line, an anxious tick to arm, but also a determination in his eyes. It was the determination not to be beaten, she realized, and also the determination to get her out unharmed.
The fair haired man stared back into the Doctor's eyes, he didn't blink and Clara wondered if vampires needed to blink. He didn't seem threatened by the Doctor, like Clara had seen other enemies get, instead he looked exhilarated. It was as if he could already smell the chase, the hunt. That was when Clara realized that standing in front of them were the world's greatest hunters, their strength and ferocity unmatched. Looking the lanky man in the bowtie up and down, she wondered how he would get them out of this mess.
Suddenly, the atmosphere changed. The pressure had reached its peak and now everything was going to explode, quickly. An unseen message seemed to have been sent to the entire pack of vampires; they were all in sync like a hunting party.
The torch bearer who'd just appeared licked his pale lips with an equally pale tongue. "Run now, Clara!" The Doctor yelled and all hell broke loose.
Clara broke out in a sprint in the opposite direction. She expected to hear the Doctor's clacking footsteps next to her as she ran, but all she heard were her own feet against the pavement. She turned around as she ran and saw the Doctor still facing, just feet away from, the vampire pack. "Doctor!" She cried, her feet still carrying her away from him.
"Just run Clara!" He yelled back to her without taking his eyes off of the menacing vampires. She could hear a quiver in his voice; he was afraid and suddenly so was she.
"Just ru-"The Doctor never got a chance to finish. His cries were stifled by the pouncing of the twenty-odd vampires. Several landed on top of his lanky body, covering him and pinning him to the ground. The others formed a tight circle around him, preventing any chance of escape.
Clara wanted to turn back, she wanted to run through that circle of vampires and pull them off of him. She wanted to save the Doctor. But she couldn't. She was afraid. She could feel the fear spreading through her. It was icy and it stung, mostly, she thought, because she knew it was keeping her from saving him. Instinct had taken over, fight or flight, and Clara had chosen flight. She ran with all the power in her, as the light grew dimmer as she got farther and farther away from the Doctor.
Soon, the light had gone completely and Clara found herself running in the near pitch blackness. Her legs ached with pain, she wanted to stop, to sit down and give up and she was about to when a voice called to her from the dark. "Turn here. Now!"
Clara did as she was told. Perhaps it was the fear making her mind work illogically, but she did as the bodiless voice commanded, she turned right just as it said now. She was taken down a dark corridor and kept running, barely able to see three feet in front of her. Her heart felt like it was going to beat right out of her chest and she noticed how she could almost feel her blood flowing faster through her veins.
She continued running in the dark, not sure where to stop. The voice didn't call out again, but Clara could hear the clacking of feet intermittently behind her. When it felt like she'd been running for ages, Clara stopped. She felt her way to a wall, for it was now pitch black, and leaned against it her breaths ragged as she gasped for air. Her adrenaline was still in full force and she could feel her head pounding.
She turned as a light suddenly appeared out of the darkness. Holding a small flashlight was a small girl coming from the direction that Clara had just run from. The girl was shorter than Clara by a good few inches and she had light brown hair along with red tinted eyes. Her skin was as pale as a ghost.
"You…" Clara panted. "… you told me to turn down here."
The girl nodded. "Yes. I did." Her voice was soft and kind, like a child's, yet there was an undertone to it that unnerved Clara.
"But why?" Clara asked, having finally caught her breath. "You… you're one of them." Clara could feel herself start to shake, whether it was with fear or anger she couldn't tell.
"Yes." The girl looked at her sadly, her red-tinted eyes glistening sorrowfully at Clara. Clara almost felt bad for the girl, but then she remembered all of the vampires pouncing on the Doctor. "I'm a vampire. But I'm not like the others. I promise."
"Why should I believe you?" Clara asked coldly.
"Why would I lead you down here? Why would I leave you to safety.?"
"Who says I'm safe? You could have just led me to a trap!" Clara cried angrily.
The girl sighed and shown her light up at a patch on the ceiling. There were the bunches of garlic hung just as Clara had seen them before. They separated Clara and the vampire girl. "See." The girl said. "You are safe, I can't even reach you."
"Thank you." The words slipped out of Clara's mouth. "But why would you help me?"
The girl didn't miss a beat with her answer. "I feel bad for you."
"You feel bad? For me?" Clara was taken aback by this.
The girl nodded her head. "Yes. You and him. Welden will tear you two to pieces. I hate Welden. I won't let that happen."
"The stringy blonde haired bloke?" Clara asked, remembering his too chiseled face and his fierce hunter eyes.
She nodded. Her eyes were distant, deep in memories. "I still don't understand." Clara said, hoping to draw the girl back to the present.
"I hate Welden. He's a monster. I know you think I am one, too, but he really is. He let my brother die." The girl had clasped her fists tight, as if she was imagining ringing the blonde vampire's neck. "It was at least ten years ago, I've lost track now and even these memories are becoming foggy, but I remember enough. He used my brother as bait."
"For what?" Clara asked although she already knew the answer.
"For humans." The girl clenched her teeth in silent fury. "He sent him up to lead those humans down here. They followed him, but before we could attack them, they attacked my brother. They burned him till he was just a pile of ashes. Welden stood there and did nothing, then when all of the humans were distracted, thinking that they'd killed the only vampire there, Welden and everyone attacked them. But not me. I just ran to my brothers ashes. When it was all over, all of the humans had been torn apart. I can't even explain to you how happy I am that none of them made it through to our stage."
"I'm so sorry." Was all Clara could think to say. They stood just a few feet apart, yet utterly divided in silence. Neither could meet each other's eyes. "Why didn't they come after me?"
"What would they want a human for, when they've got a time lord?" She looked Clara right in the eye and said. "I've heard that if you think of the most fantastic tasting thing imaginable then that still doesn't match the taste of time lord blood."
Clara was appalled. "So they only want him so they can taste his blood? It's, what, a delicacy?"
"No," The girl sighed. ", I wish that was it. Time lord blood is also rejuvenating to our old bodies, they have to last us a long time."
"You don't look so beaten up."
"No, but I'm not very old. Fifty at most, I think, I've sort of lost track. But that's what I mean, memories and the mind, it clears the mind and refreshes it so that we can remember so much from our past."
Clara was biting her lip, holding back a question. She wanted to ask it, but she was afraid of the answer. Still, she knew that she had to ask. "Will he become a vampire?"
The girl nodded. "Yes, assuming they don't get into a mad frenzy and rip him to shreds."
Clara gasped involuntarily at the thought of the Doctor ripped to shreds. The girl saw Clara's anxiety and her hard expression turned softer, she seemed to understand how Clara felt. "But, there's a way to fix him."
"What?" Clara was surprised. "I thought that once you became a vampire there was no going back."
"Well, not for the old ones, but newly made vampires haven't fully transformed yet. There's still a way of turning them back." The girl said.
"How?" The girl hesitated to answer Clara. "Tell me." Clara ordered. "Tell me, because I have to save him. He needs my help, he's saved me so many times before, he's shown me wonderful, unimaginable things and now he needs me. And I WILL save him. So, you have to tell me."
The girl smiled. It was an odd smile, somewhere in between warmth and insincerity, but Clara thought that it only came across like this, because of the coldness of the small girl. It was unsettling, Clara had decided, to see such a young, almost pretty girl who should be youthful and bouncing with energy, this way, so cold, calculating and yet also so feral.
"I understand." The girl answered as warmly as she could. "My name's Amber. Sit down, I've got a lot to tell you."