Chapter Six
Cass woke up, immediately notching her body was burning with warmth even before she registered the pain left over from her body healing after the fight earlier. She really shouldn't have allowed herself to get cornered like that – especially not with people from her past – but it had the desired effect of taking her mind from her heat at that moment, as well as probably keeping any other wolves away from her and the Doctor while they were there.
It was while she was lay on her side, doing her best to ignore the warm burning under her skin, when she realised there was someone sitting on the end of the bed behind her. Someone who's two hearts made a thumping drumbeat.
She lifted her head long enough to look over her shoulder at the Doctor. He had an elbow resting on end frame, holding his face and messing one side of his silver hair, but otherwise he was most certainly and defiantly asleep.
Cass turned and crawled towards him in the bed. She was aware of her actions that it was the heat taking over and yet she was not struggling against her reaction to a male simply because she'd never seen the Doctor sleeping before. She did however stop before she touched him and settled for inspecting his face instead.
Would she mind so much if she made a move on the Doctor? She thought. Probably not. Maybe he wasn't the youngest and attractive man she had ever met, but he was a good man – even if he had quite a prominent dark streak. Despite his insulting teasing, despite the darkness she could see behind his ice blue eyes, the Doctor was a remarkable man. Underneath his cold exterior he had shown himself to be caring and a little soft hearted… it was quite endearing.
Cass suddenly became aware that blue eyes were watching her. She leaned away from his slowly, blushing. He looked rather amused.
"You must have been thinking hard about something. You were staring at me for a full three minutes." He told her softly. "How are you feeling?"
"Warm." She replied truthfully. "Very, very hot. Is there a heater in here or something?" she tugged at the collar of her nightdress. "No of course not, past not future."
"You healed very quickly. Strax was a little disappointed he did not get to play nursemaid… he likes that role far too much."
Cass grinned thinking of the potato man. Then she frowned remembering how he'd told the Doctor she was likely to bleed out. "He called me a dog." She said grumpily.
"If you bite him later I promise to remove all his weapons."
"And that is why your my best friend." She laughed, then smiled. "Seriously Doctor, I should probably tell you that you're literally all I have now."
"What?" the Doctor asked warily, eyes wide. He didn't want to get his hopes up after Vastra's little chat with him earlier, but it was hard not to.
"I'm a wolf, we're supposed to run in a pack. I never felt a pack tie to U.N.I.T probably because they didn't trust me. But with you, I feel that. You're my pack now, and pack is family." Cass confessed with a sigh. If felt good to admit it out loud.
"I-I'm flattered?" he frowned.
Cass smiled at his uncertain confusion. "It just means that if anyone else tries to kick your ass, I'm going to kick theirs first. And that applies to anyone else you consider a friend – so I'd happily protect Jenny and her gang out there."
The Doctor smiled at that "I think they'd like to hear that."
"I think they already did – they're outside the door."
Cass and the Doctor both hear the sound of heavy footsteps shuffling away. Probably Strax had been lurking to make sure the Doctor was not in trouble when Cass awoke.
Cass inhaled slowly. The Doctors scent surrounded her like a blanket. She leaned forward a bit, catching herself just in time. "Mm, you should probably go before I do something stupid."
He frowned, having momentarily forgotten Cass's condition. "Something stupid?" he asked, turning towards her more.
He seemed to realise what she meant when their noses brushed together slightly.
He placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her away gently. Cass was a little disappointed, though ultimately thankful he did. "Not that it wouldn't be nice Cass, but your only doing this because of your body." He said as he pushed her further away.
"It'd be great I'll have you know." Cass replied with a wink, but she otherwise leaned back into the bed the rest of the way herself. She bolted back upright almost as soon as she'd leaned back with a sudden "Oh!" She clapped her hands together suddenly. "Vastra said that the bodies turned up without their spleen and hearts right?"
"Yes, why?"
"I remember this."
"Remember- what?" The Doctor frowned suddenly. "Cass please do not tell me we are about to interfere with your own timeline."
"It's not interfering if I remember it happening is it?" Cass crossed her arms with confidence. "It's why I stopped Strax killing those men back in that alley, because they were some of the first wolf shifters to get sick in my pack."
"Cass that's not the point, we could accidentally mess something up."
"We will have to be extra careful then wont we?" Cass grinned and winked. "Anyway I remember out pack having some trouble with a Dhampir. Ever heard of one?"
"No. But I feel like it's going to be something from your supernatural world."
"Anyway, Dhampir's tend to travel as packs too. They usually have a deep self-hatred because they aren't accepted by Vampires and if humans knew what they were they'd slaughter them. Spite for being the outcasts of the supernatural kind of led them to attack everyone and everything that is not a Dhampir. They don't have to feed on blood as often as a Vampire does – but when they do they drink a lot more, so they usually take the organs holding the most blood: such as the heart and spleen."
"You're a walking guide book on this stuff aren't you?"
"Says the 2000 year old encyclopaedia that thought it was fun to describe the process in which dust-bunnies where made."
"We should go tell Vastra about your suspicions."
Cass started to get out of the bed as he stood. "Do you think she'll believe me? She doesn't seem to trust me at all."
"She doesn't trust easy. And that fact your canine and she's reptilian may have some factors."
"Well that's a bit species-ist."
OoO
Later saw the group in the woods, hunting for the Dampier's lair. Cass had wanted to go with the Doctor – a memory of the TARDIS telling her to 'protect him' echoing in her mind – but Vastra had insisted that Strax and the Doctor should tale the left side while she, Jenny and Cass took the right. Cass had a suspicion why Vastra was keen to get her away from the Doctor, and she wasn't wrong.
"So Cassidy. What are your intentions behind traveling with the Doctor?"
"Madame…" Jenny hissed with a frown.
"It's okay Jenny, I expected this." Cass said not sounding at all interested in the situation as she sniffed at a sudden breeze and pointed to their left a bit. "I smell blood in that direction. Anyway, my intention was just to travel. But people keep telling me to protect him, so I guess that's what I'm here to do now."
"And who are these people that tell you to protect the Doctor? He usually does not care for people who do not think him capable of handling himself."
"Well, Im not sure he knows I was asked to protect him. But he does know I considering him pack – which to me is closer than family – so I'll protect him to the death if he needs it. As for who, at first it was just Captain Jack Harkness, he pretty much introduced the Doctor and I after I helped them stop some giant spider attack in London. After him was…" Cass paused.
"Yes?" Vastra prompted. She was looking quite fresh and at home in the forest – not a bead of sweat on her reptilian face, though that was probably normal for her species, while Cass and Jenny where continuously brushing their hair from their damp faces.
Cass bit her lip before she looked over her shoulder at Vastra and Jenny. "Is it normal for the TARDIS to be able to speak to me? Because when I mentioned it, the Doctor seemed very startled."
Vastra and Jenny exchanged equally surprised and a tad alarmed looks. "The TARDIS asked you to protect the Doctor?" Jenny asked.
"Yeah. When he got captured by some jerk with a moustache that planned to have him executed and added to a collection of 'last' things."
"I do not think the TARDIS has really bothered to communicate so directly before." Vastra said, now looking at Cass with curiosity rather than suspicion.
"The Doctor reckoned it was because my mind is half animal it might be more open to telepathic communication."
"If anything having half a canine mind and half a humans would make you a lot harder for telepathic communication to work on you."
"Maybe the TARDIS just liked that I was a challenge then." Cass smiled "You know compared to the 'pudding brains' of humans as the Doctor calls them."
"I resent that." Jenny looked back the wolf and lizard lady.
"I didn't call you a pudding brain, the Doctor did, I –"Cass froze suddenly.
"Cass?" Jenny turned to look at her, frowning.
"Well, this is a great disappointment for us both." Vastra said looking equally as wary as Cass.
"What?"
"We were so busy talking, we didn't notice we were being surrounded until it was too late…" Cass growled a bit, looking into the shadows cast by a cluster of tree's until a pale looking gentlemen with purple slit eyes walked out.
"Your just in time ladies, the games are about to start and we already captured your male cohorts." He said.
Cass snarled, a canine sound in a human throat. "We will not participate in your blood sport, and nor will the Doctor… Strax would quite happily kill you all without needing convincing."
The Dhampir laughed as the others surrounding them came out, grabbing the three of them. Vastra hissed, flicking her serpents tongue at her attackers.
"Oh don't worry, there is more than one way to bait a wolf."
OoO
A long trek, a couple of threats from both sides, and a trip through what only be described as a villainous lair, saw the three women being shoved into a cage where the Doctor and Strax where already sitting on the dirt floor looking strangely cheerful.
"You better not be laughing at us." Cass said, squinting in the half light as she saw a twitch in the Doctors lips when he saw her fall over a rock.
"Of course I'm not laughing. I lost a bet with Strax – I said you wouldn't be caught too." He said, giving her a disappointed look.
"So sorry to disappoint" Vastra glared at the pair.
"Well Cass, you know about these Dampier's. What do you expect will happen next?" Jenny asked, shuffling along the dirt floor to rather calmly take a seat beside Strax. Actually they all looked pretty calm.
Cass tried to lean against the cage bars, but hissed when her skin burned on contact. "Cass?" someone asked.
"Silver. Some myths about werewolves are true." Cass's voice was on edge with a permanent canine growl as she began to pace. "The Dampier that brought us here said they were getting ready for the 'games'. Unfortunately they very much like to pit other supernatural's against each other, usually shifters and vampires. If they think you guys are human you should be safe from the games, they're probably keeping you for food. Vastra and Jenny are probably safe – Vastra's a reptile, her blood is poisonous to them, and if Jenny's been sharing Vastra's blood like I assume she has then she'll be safe too."
"And what about you Cass?" the Doctor asked.
Cass looked away and shrugged. "I'm wolf. They'll probably try to bait me into fighting."
"Will you do it?" Jenny asked after a pause.
"I might not have a choice." Cass sighed, sitting further away from the group and feeling very much like an outsider. "We have until nightfall anyway."
"What happens at nightfall?"
"This place gets filled with supernatural's keen on making a bet on the winner of a fight. Sometimes they even auction off the winning fighters." She sounded bitter and still wasn't looking at them.
"How do you know so much about this dog?" Strax asked, voice gruff and commanding still. Cass was too worried and anxious to be annoyed by his dog remark.
Cass looked at them, eyes meeting the Doctors as a moment of understanding passed between them. His eyes darkened and entire shade, eyebrows twitched into a frown and his mouth became a grim line. He was furious before she'd even started talking. "I've lived a long time Strax, and for most of that I was a stupid teenager, untrained and unable to defend herself. They caught me for the games pretty early on – and when I won they sold me to the highest bidder." Cass pulled down the side of her trousers, showing a deep red burn mark in the shape of a star. "They branded us with silver pokers like cattle." She snarled, sounding more canine than human.
She sighed finally, hiding her mark again, and looking away from them. "You guys should be safe if they think you're human."
Cass turned away from them completely then, deep in thought, she figured she made it obvious she didn't want to talk anymore. She didn't even notice when someone came closer until a hand covered hers and she looked up into the Doctors still angry face. But she was willing to accept his comforting gesture. She moved her hand in his until their fingers entwined, neither looking at the other.
The gesture was not missed by Vastra and her gang.