A/N: I'm late, I know, I'm sorry. Moved in with my boyfriend and life had been crazy since, but better late than never, right? Hopefully next week I'll update, too.

Also, shout out to bored411 for noticing my Sherlock reference from last chapter :)

"A drink, Miss?"

Eva looked at the bald man who offered her a glass, pausing on her way to the Dining Room.

"No, thank you," she said, resuming her walk.

"Please, Miss," the man said. "I must insist."

"And I must insist not," Eva retorted.

A hand grasped her shoulder and Eva shook it off, reaching out for her bow and preparing an arrow in one swift motion.

"I said, no," she told him. "Shouldn't you know what it means when a Lady refuses?"

"You are no Lady," he hissed at her.

"Got that one right," Eva said. "A Lady wouldn't shoot you. I will."

"Rumours of you reached even here," a new voice said and Eva turned her back to the wall, her bow trained at the Father for a moment before back at the other man. "The Queen's Ward, the All-Knower."

"I wouldn't go as far as to say an 'All-Knower'," Eva shrugged, though her bow didn't weaver. "A 'Most-Knower', maybe."

"You will come with us," the other man said.

"Yeah, I don't think so," Eva said. "What I think is that I'll go to the Dining Room, eat with the Queen, Sir Robert and the Doctor, and forget to mention Rose, Lady Isobel and most of the staff are chained in the basement."

"And if we disagree?" the Father asked.

"Then I'll shoot you both dead right now," Eva said simply, aiming her bow at his heart. "Would you really want to test my courage?"

The Father hesitated, and Eva knew she won.

"If I hear a hint of a mention about the people in the basement, I will shoot you, Sir Robert and the Doctor dead on the spot," he warned.

"Don't worry," Eva told him, taking down her bow and hiding it back into her robe. "I will have the pleasure of killing you later."

"Your companion begs an apology, Doctor," the Father said as he followed Eva into the Dining room. "Her clothing has somewhat delayed her."

"That's all right, save her a bit of ham," the Doctor said, looking at Eva as she sat – not next to him but to the Queen's left.

"The feral child could probably eat it raw," the Queen commented.

"Ha!" Captain Reynolds laughed nervously from his place at the Queen's right. "Very wise, ma'am! Very witty!"

Eva bit the inside of her cheek so that she won't burst into laughter at the absurdity of it all, and the Doctor looked at her with a soft smile.

"Slightly witty, perhaps," the Queen said dryly. "I know you rarely get the chance to dine with me, Captain, but don't get too excited. I shall contain my wit in case I do you further injury."

"Yes, ma'am," the Captain muttered. "Sorry, ma'am."

"Besides," Eva said, trying to steer the conversation away from the matter for Reynolds' sake, "We're all waiting on Sir Robert."

"Come, sir," the Doctor said, smiling. "You promised us a tale of nightmares."

"Indeed," the Queen nodded. "Since my husband's death, I find myself with more of a taste for supernatural fiction."

"You must miss him," the Doctor said, glancing at Eva's direction once more.

"Very much," the Queen said sombrely.

"But that's the charm of a ghost story, isn't it?" Eva asked her, and the Queen smiled sadly.

"Indeed," she said. "Not the scares and the chills, that's just for children, but the... hope of some contact with the great beyond. We all want some message from that place. It's the Creator's greatest mystery, that we're allowed no such consolation. The dead stay silent. And we must wait."

Eva looked at the Queen she learned to care for during the past months and decided to pull her out of her sad mood.

"Come, begin your tale, Sir Robert," she said. "There's a chill in the air, the wind is howling through the eaves. Tell us of monsters."

"The story goes back 300 years," Sir Robert started. "Every full moon, the howling rings through the valley. Next morning, livestock is found, ripped apart and... devoured."

"Tales like this just disguise the work of thieves," Captain Reynolds said. "Steal a sheep, blame a wolf, simple as that."

"But sometimes a child goes missing," Sir Robert said, his voice shaking. "Once in a generation, a boy will vanish from his homestead."

"Are there descriptions of the creature?" the Doctor questioned.

"Oh, yes, Doctor," Sir Robert said. "Drawings, and wood carvings. And it's not merely a wolf," he added. "It's more than that. This is a man who becomes an animal."

"A werewolf?" the Doctor asked as he leaned on the desk, interested by far more than he was up until now.

"My father didn't treat it as a story," Sir Robert went on and Eva glanced at the Father, reaching into her robe and grasping her bow. "He said it was fact. He even claimed to have communed with the beast, to have learned its purpose. I should have listened. His work was hindered. He made enemies. There's a monastery in the Glen of St Catherine. The Brethren opposed my father's investigations."

"Perhaps they thought his work ungodly," the Queen offered as the Father started muttering to himself.

"That's what I thought," Sir Robert said. "But now I wonder... what if they had a different reason for wanting the story kept quiet?" The Doctor glanced at the Father, seeing him looking through the window as he prayed.

"What if they turned from God and worshipped the wolf?" Eva added, knowing it was all that was needed for the Doctor to realize what Sir Robert was trying to tell them from the moment they walked through his doors.

"And what if they were with us right now?"

Captain Reynolds took out his gun, aiming it at the Father.

"What is the meaning of this?" the Queen questioned.

"Sorry, Your Majesty," Sir Robert said, his voice shaking. "They've got my wife."

"And Rose," Eva added, not looking at the Doctor. "They're in the basement right now." She swallowed hard before adding, "With the wolf."

The Doctor ran towards the doors, Sir Robert quick on his heel.

"I need you to get out of here, My Queen," Eva said through gritted teeth.

"Tell me, sir," the Captain said, moving to allow the Queen to pass behind him and towards Eva. "I demand to know your intention." The Father continued muttering. "What is it that you want?"

The Father turned around and looked at Captain Reynolds. "The throne," he stated before taking the gun out of the Captain's hands and knocking him unconscious.

"My Queen!" Eva called out. "Behind me!"

The Queen didn't move, instead looking at the Father.

"I take it, sir, that you halted my train, to bring me here," she stated.

"We've waited so long for one of your journeys to coincide with the Moon," the Father told her.

"Then you have waited in vain," Eva told him.

"The girl is right," the Queen said. "After six attempts on my life, I am hardly unprepared."

"Oh, I don't think so, woman," the Father said, stepping towards her.

Eva pulled out her bow and aimed it at him. "The correct form of address is 'Your Majesty'," she informed him before releasing the arrow that hit him in the heart. "I told you I'll get to kill you," she muttered before looking at the Queen. "My Queen, we need to get out."

EMH

Eva and the Queen ran away, stopping only to take the box that held the Koh-I-Noor before resuming their pace, Eva aiming her bow at any noise they heard.

"Your Majesty?" they heard Sir Robert calling. "Your Majesty!"

"Sir Robert?" the Queen asked, rushing towards him. "What's happening? We heard such terrible noises."

"Your Majesty, we've got to go," Sir Robert told her. "But what of Father Angelo, is he still here?"

"I took care of it," Eva said, raising her bow for him to see.

"Since when do you have a bow?" the Doctor asked.

"You were late," Eva told him. "I had to get along."

"I can see that," the Doctor said. "Queen Victoria's Ward, you have a bow and arrow, and any fool could see you are the one really in charge of her guard and not Captain Reynolds."

"Like I said," Eva shrugged. "Had to get along."

"Eva," the Doctor said, grabbing her arm as she made a move to walk past him. "How late was I?"

"Six months," Eva replied, shaking his hand off her. "You know, for a lord of time you're not very precise. My Queen," she added, looking back. "The front door is blocked and there are men outside ready to shoot us if we try the window."

"They want us to stay inside," the Doctor muttered.

"Do they know who I am?" the Queen questioned.

"Yes, that's why they want you to stay inside," Eva told her.

"The wolf's lined you up," Rose explained. "For... a biting."

"Now stop this talk," the Queen said. "There can't be an actual wolf."

Just then, the wolf howled and they all ran to the other room, watching as the door slowly broke.

"What do we do?" Rose questioned.

"We run," Eva said.

"Is that it?" Rose asked.

"Got any silver bullets?" Eva asked her.

"Not on me, no."

"There we are, we run," the Doctor said before turning to the Queen. "Your Majesty, as a Doctor I recommend a vigorous jog. Good for the health."

And with that he grabbed her hand and led her away, Rose and Sir Robert following with Eva in the back, bow at the ready.

"Come on! Come on!" the Doctor said when he saw her behind the rest of them, staying back to make sure she made it through one of the doors in time.

He held her hand as they ran, the wolf slowly gaining on them. Just as he launched at the two, ready to kill, a shot was fired and Eva raised her head to see Captain Reynolds holding a gun.

"I'll take this position and hold it," he said. "You keep moving, for God's sake. Your Majesty," he said, turning to the Queen. "I went to look for the property, it was taken. The chest was empty."

"I have it," the Queen said. "It's safe."

"Then remove yourself, ma'am," Reynolds told her, preparing to protect them.

"Captain," Eva said breathlessly. "It'll kill you."

"Then I'll be dead," Reynolds said. "Remain at her Majesty's side at all times, Miss, and do as you should. Doctor, you stand as Miss Eva's assistant. And you, Sir Robert," he said with undisguised disgust. "You're a traitor to the Crown."

"Bullets can't stop it," the Doctor warned.

"They'll buy you time," Reynolds told them. "Now run!"

Eva rushed forwards, grabbing the Queen's hand and pulling her into a close room. Behind them, the sound of bullets echoed in the corridor before there was a snarl and a scream, and it stopped.

Eva pushed aside all and every emotion she felt at the death of someone who had become close to her during the time she spent at the palace and moved on. She was here to save the Queen, first and foremost.

Anybody else she managed to save was nothing more than an added bonus.

EMH

"Barricade the door," the Doctor ordered and he, Sir Robert and Rose went straight to the task as Eva checked up on the Queen.

"This is the man you wished so hard would come?" the Queen questioned her. "He, the man of blasphemy and death?"

"He is the man that is going to save your life tonight," Eva told her.

"Is he?" the Queen questioned. "And who would save our souls?"

"Wait a minute, wait," the Doctor said, pausing as he looked at the door. "It's stopped." He leaned closer to the door, pressing his ear to it and Eva knew he was hearing the wolf growl quietly before retreating. "It's gone. Listen..."

Eva prepared her bow as she heard the wolf move around the room, stepping sideways so that the Queen was behind her at all times.

"Is this the only door?" the Doctor whispered.

"Yes, sir," Sir Robert said before calling out, "No!"

He and the Doctor ran and blocked the second door, stopping the wolf from coming in. The wolf crashed against it but then stopped, only sniffing, growling and hissing.

"I don't understand," Rose whispered. "What's stopping it?"

"Mistletoe," Eva replied. "The Brethren had to control him somehow."

"Tell you what, though," Rose muttered to the Doctor.

"What?" the Doctor asked, turning to look at her.

"Werewolf," Rose said, a smile jumping onto her face.

"I know!" the Doctor called happily before pulling her into a hug. "You all right?"

"I'm okay, yeah," she said.

"Eva?" the Doctor asked.

"Bit shaken," Eva replied.

"Not enough for a hug, apparently," the Queen said dryly.

"Your Majesty," Eva sighed, "With all due respect – and you know there is plenty to spare – I would very much appreciate it if we could keep my personal matters both personal and mine."

"I was only thinking about the fact that he seemed to have a Scottish accent earlier," the Queen told her.

"My Queen," Eva said. "Please."

"I'm sorry, ma'am." Their conversation was cut short by Sir Robert, who sat on a chair at the room's corner, his head in his hands. "It's all my fault. I should have sent you away."

"You tried," Eva told him. "You tried to suggest something was wrong."

"I thought you might notice," Sir Robert told the Doctor. "Was there nothing strange about my household staff?"

"They were bald, athletic," the Doctor noted. "Your wife's away, I thought you were happy."

"I tell you what, ma'am," Rose said. "I bet you're not amused now."

"Do you think this funny?" the Queen lashed out.

"No, I'm sorry," Rose said, ashamed.

"What, exactly," the Queen started. "I pray, tell me someone, please, what, exactly, is that creature?"

"You'd call it a werewolf," Eva told her.

"But it's more of a lupine wavelength 'haemovariform'," the Doctor completed.

"Should I trust you, sir?" the Queen questioned. "You, who change your voice so easily? What happened to your accent?" she asked.

"Oh, right," the Doctor started. "Sorry –"

"I'll not have it," the Queen declared. "No, sir, not you, not that thing, none of it. This is not my world."

"What about me?" Eva asked, making the Queen look at her. "Do you trust me?"

"I've only known you for six months," the Queen said.

"But do you trust me?" Eva pressed. "Do you trust me when I tell you that by the end of the night, you will be safe and the creature will be gone?"

The Queen looked at Eva evenly. "I do," she stated.

"Alright, then," Eva said, turning to look at the Doctor. "Mistletoe. In the walls."

"Mistletoe," the Doctor repeated, looking at the wall before licking it, much to everyone's disgust. "Viscum album. The oil of the mistletoe, it's been worked into the wood like a varnish. How clever was your dad?" he asked Sir Robert with a smile. "I love him! Powerful stuff, mistletoe, bursting with viscotoxins," he explained to the rest.

"And the wolf's allergic to it?" Rose asked.

"It thinks it is," Eva said. "Like I said, they had to control it somehow."

"Nevertheless, that creature won't give up," Sir Robert said. "And we still don't possess an actual weapon."

"Your father got all the brains," the Doctor told him.

"Being rude again," Rose told him.

"He meant that one," Eva informed her before turning to the shelves. "You want weapons? We're in a library."

"Books!" the Doctor declared. "Best weapons in the world. My Evie loves them, as well, but that's just an added bonus," he said with a wink at her direction and she smiled.

"Now, let me see," Eva said, looking through the different books until she found the big, brown one she was looking for and handing it to the Doctor, who had already put on his 'Brainy Specs'. "You'll find everything you need in here."

"Ooh!" the Doctor said, looking at the page Eva opened up for him. "Look what your old dad found. Something fell to Earth."

"A spaceship?" Rose asked.

"Shooting star," Sir Robert told her, before reading from the page. "'In the year of our Lord 1540, under the reign of King James V, an almighty fire did burn in the pit.' That's the Glen of Saint Catherine, by the monastery."

"That's 300 years ago," Rose said. "What's it been waiting for?"

"Only a single cell survived," Eva said. "Adapting slowly, down the generations, it survived, through the humans, host after host after host."

"Why does it want the throne?" Sir Robert asked.

"That's what it wants, it said so," Rose said. "The Empire of the Wolf."

"Imagine it," the Doctor muttered. "The Victorian age, accelerated – star ships and missiles fuelled by coal and driven by steam... leaving history devastated in its wake."

"Not on my watch," Eva growled.

"Sir Robert," the Queen started, "If I am to die here –"

"Don't say that, Your Majesty," Sir Robert quickly said.

"I would destroy myself, rather than let that creature infect me," the Queen said with disgust. "But that's no matter. I ask only that you might find some place of safekeeping for something far older and more precious than myself."

"Hardly time to worry about your valuables," the Doctor told her.

"Shut up," Eva told him.

"Thank you for your opinion, Doctor," the Queen bit out. "But there is nothing more valuable than this." She pulled out the diamond from her bag, causing the Doctor and Rose's eyes to widen.

"Oh, Your Majesty," the Doctor muttered, shocked.

"Is that the Koh-I-Noor?" Rose asked in disbelief.

"Oh, yes," the Queen replied. "The greatest diamond in the world. Given to me as the spoils of war. Perhaps its legend is now coming true. It is said that whoever owns it must surely die."

"That's true of anything, if you wait long enough," the Doctor commented, before reaching out towards her. "Can I?" The Queen hesitated before handing it over to him. "That is so beautiful."

"How much is that worth?" Rose asked.

"They say, the wages of the entire planet, for a whole week," the Doctor told her.

"Good job my mum's not here," Rose muttered. "She'd be fighting the wolf off with her bare hands for that thing."

"She'd win," the Doctor and Eva said together, glancing at each other with a small smile.

"Where is the wolf?" Sir Robert questioned. "I don't trust this silence."

"Why d'you travel with it?" the Doctor asked.

"My annual pilgrimage," the Queen explained. "I'm taking it to Hellier and Carew, the royal jewellers, at Hazlehead. The stone needs recutting."

"But it's perfect," Rose said.

"My late husband never thought so," the Queen told her.

"There's a fact," the Doctor said. "Prince Albert kept on having it cut down. Used to be 40% bigger than this. But he was never happy. Kept on cutting and cutting."

"He always said the shine was not quite right," the Queen said. "But he died with it still unfinished."

"Unfinished..." the Doctor muttered. "Oh, yes! There's a lot of unfinished business here. His father's research," he said, marking at Sir Robert, "And your husband, ma'am, he came here, and he sought the perfect diamond. Hold on, all these separate things, they're not separate at all, they're connected. My head!" he called out before stepping closer to the Queen. "This house, it's a trap for you, is that right?"

"Obviously," Eva snorted, though she wore a small smile, knowing the Doctor was catching on.

"You see, that's what the wolf intended," the Doctor said. "But what if there's a trap inside the trap?"

"Explain yourself, Doctor," the Queen demanded.

"What if his father and your husband weren't just telling each other stories?" the Doctor asked. "They dared to imagine all this was true. Laying the real trap, not for you, but for the wolf."

"Er... Doctor?" Eva asked, cutting off the Doctor's line of thought as they heard growling. "Now might be a good time to look up."

The Doctor's eyes widened as he saw the wolf walking on the ceiling's window. "Out! Out! Out!" he called out, pushing the rest of them towards the door. "Gotta get to the observatory!"

They ran out once more, Eva leading the way with her bow at the ready, prepared to shoot if needed. She turned around at the sound of a growl, seeing the wolf jump on Rose only for it to be attacked by burning water.

"Good shot!" the Doctor called, looking at Lady Isobel and the servants.

"It was mistletoe," Isobel breathed.

"Isobel..." Sir Robert said as Eva leaned down to dip the tips of her arrow into the mistletoe-water. When she stood up, she saw the two of them kissing before Sir Robert broke the kiss for long enough to tell her to get back downstairs, and Lady Isobel ran down with the maids.

"The observatory's this way," Sir Robert said, sending them running once more.

"No mistletoe here," the Doctor muttered when they reached the observatory. "Cause your father wanted the wolf inside. Is there any way of barricading this?"

"Do your work, and I'll defend it," Sir Robert said.

"If we could bind them shut..." the Doctor muttered.

"I said, I'll find you time, sir," Sir Robert told him sharply.

"Not on my watch," Eva said. "You are not dying here, sir."

"Eva," the Doctor started.

"My arrows have mistletoe on them," Eva said. "I'll hold him off longer."

"It'll kill you," Sir Robert said.

"My All-Knower has the habit of not staying dead for long," the Queen told him.

"She's not untouchable," the Doctor said.

"She's here with you," Eva cut him off. "And I have made my choice. My Queen," she said with a small bow. "It had truly been an honour."

"You are very brave, child," the Queen told her.

"Eva, don't," the Doctor all but begged.

"Doctor..." Eva sighed, pulling him into a short kiss. "I'm sorry, but we don't have time for this." She smiled sadly. "Until the next time."

"Eva, no!" the Doctor called, but Eva had already closed the doors behind her.

The wolf growled and snarled as it came closer and Eva readied her bow, prepared to shoot it as soon as it was within her sight.

"Why do I have the feeling I'm going to regret this?" she muttered just before she saw him appear and released the arrow.

It hit its mark, sending the wolf back for a moment before it charged forwards once more. Eva quickly set another arrow, and then another, each of them managing to buy a little more time both for her and the Doctor.

She didn't even notice her locket was glowing until it started pulling her away and let out a deep breath, knowing that a moment later and the wolf's jaws would have closed over her head.

The bow and arrows fell from her hand as she disappeared into a world of lights and sounds, losing consciousness as soon as she arrived.

EMH

"Is she dead?"

"Don't be silly, of course she isn't dead."

"She doesn't look like she's sleeping."

"That's because she isn't asleep. She's unconscious." There was a pause, and then, "Are you really set on going to Gallifrey?"

"Yes."

"Oh. I think she's starting to wake up." She heard a movement next to her and slowly opened her eyes. "Slowly, now," the Fourth Doctor told her. "I think that was a rough one for you."

"They're all rough," Eva muttered, allowing him to pull her into a standing position. "When am I?"

"The Doctor was just about to take me to Gallifrey," Adric told her, before looking at the Doctor. "That is where we're going, isn't it?"

"One of the questions I was just pondering," the Doctor told him. "There's bound to be an awful lot of fuss about Romana. Why she stayed in E-Space, official investigations, that sort of thing."

"The Time Lords won't approve?" Adric asked.

"What?" the Doctor asked, turning to look at him. "She has broken the cardinal rule of Gallifrey. She has become involved, and in a pretty permanent sort of way. I think that the three of us should let a few oceans flow under a few bridges before we head back home."

"So we don't get to go to Gallifrey?" Adric asked.

"Yes," the Doctor told him.

"Let me put another question to you," Eva told the two. "I have a place in mind that we could go to."

"Really?" the Doctor asked.

"Really," Eva nodded. "It's my home, and your home away from home."

"What is it?" Adric asked, looking between Eva's mysterious smirk and the Doctor's interested face.

"It's called Earth," Eva told him. "It's where I was born and where I grew up. And it's also where the Doctor always comes back to, eventually." She smiled at his direction before looking down at her dress, now half-torn and dirty. "Though perhaps I should change first."

"Go to your room," the Doctor told her. "We will be waiting for you here."

Eva smiled, standing on tip-toes to kiss his cheek before walking away, unaware to how shocked the simple action left the Time Lord and the teenager behind her.