CHAPTER 59

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PREDATOR OF THE ANGELS

Several Weeping Angels appeared in the streets of Paris and began to slowly march towards the Louvre Museum under the cover of darkness. They kept to the alleyways at first so that no one could see them and then slowly moved forward a little at a time in those rare moments when no one was looking after they finally reached a point where they could no longer hide from human eyes.

They were all here to rescue one of their own who had been trapped here in this city for far too long after having been buried for several millennia already on top of that. They hadn't counted on someone already lying in wait for them though.

As a matter of fact, they had been waiting for Angels of all kinds in this very spot for hundreds of years and had been using the emaciated Angel in the museum as bait in order to draw them here. The Angels soon found out exactly why it was that the Angel in the museum had never tried to escape as several of these predators descended upon them and drained the life force from them in a matter of moments.

The Angels immediately crumbled to dust and left no trace at all of their existence as the beings who had killed them quickly returned to their perches on top of buildings throughout the city. There they began to wait again for the next batch of Angels to come along.

For now though their hunger had been fully sated, and the only sign that they had ever eaten anything at all was a slight belching sound that the people of Paris had long ago learned to ignore. No one had ever found a cause for it after all so it must have just been an auditory hallucination of some sort. It was just another one of those unexplained mysteries like the Bermuda Triangle.

It wouldn't stay that way forever though. This time they had been seen. This time they were about to be truly investigated at last.

Rose and the Bad Wolves were in the middle of traveling to Dorothy's home in Perivale in Donna's TARDIS when they received a phone call. Donna immediately went to answer it as Rose said with an amused grin, "I see that unlike some people you actually answer your phone."

"I'm really surprised that he answered when Martha called him home about that ATMOS business. It was just because he wanted to make sure that she was doing alright after her run-in with the Master. That dumbo actually thinks that we'll all fall apart without him," Donna said grinning as she picked up the phone.

Rose couldn't help but wonder if what Donna had just said was the literal truth about what the Doctor had been feeling at the time. She did have access to all of his memories just before the Metacrisis had happened after all so she would know if anyone would. Rose immediately made a mental note to ask her a few questions sometime about certain things just out of curiosity.

For now though, her attention was immediately diverted by what Donna was saying on the phone as she said, "Whoa! Calm down. Can you repeat that again? You were talking so fast that I didn't get all of that."

Donna immediately turned the speakerphone on so that everyone could hear as the voice on the other end, a young woman who sounded like she was in her early 20s, said in an emotional voice, "I said that I just saw these statues that looked like angels being torn apart by a bunch of other statues. They looked just like the gargoyles that you see on the tops of so many buildings around here. I know it sounds crazy, but this really happened. I know it did. It has to have happened or I'm losing my mind."

Donna gave Rose a questioning look as she asked the woman on the phone, "How did you get this number? Do you know someone in UNIT?"

"UNIT? No, I don't even know what that is. I was given this number by a woman with red hair who stuttered a lot. She was very nice but a little strange. Now that I think about it she almost seemed to know that something was going to happen because she told me to call you if I ever saw anything that I couldn't explain," The woman said.

Donna stiffened as she immediately recognized her future daughter Lauren from this description. What was she up to?

"Can you tell me your name and where to find you? I need to come and talk to you as soon as possible," Donna said.

The other woman hesitated so Donna quickly said, "It's okay. I won't tell anyone else or cause you any trouble if that's what you're worried about. I just want to investigate what you just saw and find out what it was. That is what you want me to do, isn't it?"

After a few more seconds of indecision, the woman finally said, "Yeah, it is. I need to know if what I just saw is real or not. My name is Kallista. Kallista Gold. Right now I'm in Paris, France, and I've been vacationing here for the last few days. I saw this happen whatever it is right outside of the Louvre a few hours ago when I was coming home from a party late last night. I know what you're going to say, but I was not drunk. I didn't drink anything, and I'm not crazy. At least I really hope not. That's what I need you to find out. Will you please come and help me? Please? I've been so upset about what I saw that I can't think straight."

Donna began to immediately feel sympathetic toward this woman who was obviously very frightened so without even asking anyone else she automatically said, "Of course we'll come, Gold Girl. Just give us your exact location, and we'll get there as soon as we can."

Kallista did so and then Donna hung up on her promising yet again to be there just as soon as she could. It was only after she did so that she realized that she hadn't cleared any of this with any of the rest of the team or with Rose who was supposed to be her acting superior at the moment.

The expression on Donna's face must have said it all because Rose immediately smiled at her sweetly as she said, "Don't worry about it, Donna. I'm not going to fire you. I wouldn't dare."

"Thanks, Flower Girl. I won't do that again I promise. She just sounded so scared that my heart went out to her," Donna admitted.

"I already told you before. This is your team, and it's your call on what they do, Donna. I'm not Martha so I don't feel right about telling you lot what to do anyway. I know I wouldn't want someone new to just come in and start barking out orders if I were you. I think things have been going just fine as they are so I'm not changing a thing I promise. You're in charge all the way, Donna," Rose said.

"Then what do we need you here for, Captain Flower Power?" Donna asked with a grin as she began to relax.

"It's because UNIT wanted someone around to keep you in line I expect. They definitely picked the wrong person, didn't they?" Rose said laughing.

"I don't think so. I think they knew exactly what they were doing. I meant what I said, Rose. I won't take a case without clearing it with you again," Donna said seriously.

"It's alright, Donna. Really. I was going to suggest that you do it anyway. It sounds like the Weeping Angels just got completely trashed by someone, and I'd like to learn who and why. Maybe I can recruit them since Jenny always seems to have such a problem with them mucking about in her life," Rose said with a wink.

"Do you really think that it was the Angels?" Donna asked skeptically.

"Who else could it be? I'm just dying to find out what really happened to them," Rose said.

"Hello! Does anyone care what we think? No one's asked us if we'd like to take the case or not," Ileana said.

"Yeah, that's right. We have feelings too you know," Michelle said.

Donna looked at them funny as she said, "So you don't want to take the case then?"

"Of course. She sounds like she really needs help. That is what I came here for is to help people in order to make up for my past," Lilith said.

"We all want to. We just wanted to be asked. That's all. You hurt our feelings by not even consulting us. How would you like it if we did something like that without consulting you about it first? No, really. Would you really kill someone if they promised a spot on the team to somebody without asking you first?" Emmy asked nervously.

Rose laughed as Donna said with a frown, "Okay, Emmy. Out with it. Who did you tell that they could be on the team?"

"I, uh, promised my mum that she could have one of the open spots on the group. She was really pressuring me, and I didn't want to let her down. She wants to come on adventures with me and 'join on in the fun' as she put it," Emmy said.

Donna smiled as she said, "Oh, well that's fine then. I was actually going to ask Calliope to join myself."

"Really? I wish you had told me that. I was terrified all night that you were going to make me have to go through all of the rest of my regenerations when I told you. I'm . . . I'm just so relieved. You have no idea," Emmy said as she let out a huge sigh.

"See? I told you it would be okay. Donna's a pushover compared to my two mothers. Now they would have actually killed you if you had done that to them," Lilith said.

"I don't doubt it," Emmy said shuddering.

"Pushover?! Oi! I am in no way a pushover!" Donna shouted.

"Okay, okay. I take it back. I didn't mean that in a bad way. We're still friends, right? Oh, I really hope so," Lilith said as she backed away from Donna with a look of fear on her face.

"Dumbo," Donna said with a growl.

"Don't get so bent out of shape, mate. You just terrified a Carrionite who can manipulate reality on a whim, Donna. There's no way that anyone who isn't a nutter can call you a pushover. She just meant that you're a lot easier to get along with than her mums. I'd call that a compliment," Rose said.

"Sorry, Witch Girl. Don't worry. We're good," Donna said smiling at Lilith.

"Now you see why Rose is really here. To keep her in check not us," Ileana whispered to Michelle who tried not to laugh.

"I heard that!" Donna shouted.

"Why should I care? I'm already dead. What more can you do to me?" Ileana said as she stuck her tongue out at her.

"Keep mouthing off, Fang Girl, and you might just find out," Donna said with an evil grin on her face.

Ileana shuddered slightly and moved behind Michelle who waved at Donna nervously. Donna nodded with approval as she said, "Now that's more like it."

Tori just watched all of this in silent fascination. She found herself smiling more and more as she did so. She was really beginning to like these people. She had been afraid of fitting in at first, but now she was beginning to think that she was going to like it here. For now though, she was content to not speak and simply stay in the background.

That would change soon however. Once she got to know her new teammates, she would finally start to open up to them at last. She just hoped that they could accept her for who she was once she did. It would be nice to have a friend.

The TARDIS finally landed after several more minutes, and Dorothy immediately ran inside as she said, "Let's go, Donna. I need to go right now before I decide to blow Alex up."

"What's wrong, Dorothy?" Rose asked with concern.

"Nothing, Mum. I'm okay. So what mess have you gotten us into this time, Donna?" Dorothy said as she tried to change the subject.

Donna immediately dematerialized the TARDIS and headed for Paris as she said, "I think you'd better answer your mum, Dorothy. What's wrong?"

"It's Alex. He's been acting really weird lately. He just keeps treating me like dirt and saying all kinds of hateful, nasty things to me. He also keeps making up excuses to stay gone all the time. I hardly ever see him anymore, and when I do see him all we do is fight. He doesn't even kiss me anymore. He hasn't kissed me in weeks. I think he hates me," Dorothy said as she struggled to maintain her composure.

Rose immediately hugged Dorothy as she said, "It's going to be okay, Dorothy. I'll talk to him. Maybe I can talk some sense into him."

"You don't even know him though. Not this version of him anyway. It's future you that knows him. You've never even met the older one. You only know the younger version of him. You don't even know what he's like now," Dorothy said.

"I have a feeling that I'm about to find out," Rose said as her eyes began to glow gold.

"Uh oh. She's mad," Amanda whispered to Katherine.

"I know. I pity that poor man when she comes to talk to him. He'd better not cross her if he wants to stay in one piece," Katherine agreed.

"Mum, I don't want you to get involved, okay? I don't know what's going on but I'll fix it. Me. Not you," Dorothy said firmly.

Rose hesitated but finally said, "Alright. If you want my help though, I'll always be here for you."

"Thanks," Dorothy said smiling.

Rose had to admit that it was odd seeing a younger and older version of Dorothy on a regular basis. She felt a bit awkward sometimes around the older version because she already knew her whole future but couldn't tell her. She supposed that was how the Doctor and the others sometimes felt around her though so it was almost like some kind of karmic payback of a sort she supposed.

"When did this start, Dorothy? Do you know why he's acting like this?" Donna asked.

"It just started a few weeks ago like I said. I don't know why. He just seemed to change almost overnight. That morning when I left to go with you on a case he was fine, and then when I came back he was Dark Alex all of a sudden. He's been that way ever since. I just can't figure it out. That's why I took some time off from being with all of you. I was trying to save our marriage. I just don't think that I can though. I really don't," Dorothy said sadly.

"Dorothy, let me talk to him," Rose said.

"No, let me talk to him. I'll straighten him out for you," Donna said in anger.

"No. You'll disintegrate him, Mum, and you'll strangle him with you bare hands, Donna. Believe me when I say that he'll push all of your buttons and make you want to kill him," Dorothy warned.

"I don't disintegrate people," Rose complained.

"Yeah, yeah! Tell it to the Daleks, Flower Girl. You're right, Dorothy. I'll treat him to my special kick that I use to knock down doors with if he keeps bothering you. I've used it on more than a few mashers in my day so I won't hesitate to use it on him. You can tell him that I said so too," Donna said.

Dorothy smiled for the first time since she had entered the TARDIS as she said, "Thanks, Donna. I appreciate it. I think I'll just keep trying to handle things on my own though. So what's going on?"

Donna started to fill Dorothy on in the Wolves' new case as Rose tuned them both out and looked at her daughter with worried eyes. She was her future self's daughter technically, but she still felt like her own Dorothy despite that. She couldn't help but want to fix things for her and make them better despite her insistence on staying out of it.

She began to wonder about the timing of Alex's sudden change and the emergence of this new mysterious person who was out to help the vampires. Was it really a coincidence?

Despite what Dorothy wanted, Rose was going to have to pay Alex a visit soon. She had to know exactly what was going on with him just in case he was being possessed somehow. The fact that Dorothy was so upset had absolutely nothing to do with it whatsoever.

Rose smiled. Even she didn't believe that.

The TARDIS soon landed just outside of Kallista's hotel, and a young brunette just stood there staring at them in shock as they exited it. They assumed that this was Kallista.

"Gold Girl, is that you?" Donna asked as she waved her hand in front of Kallista's face.

"It's you, the woman on the phone. You mean you're real? I'm not going insane?" Kallista asked in an extremely upset voice.

"No, of course not. I'm Donna Noble and this is my team. Yes, we really did just appear out of thin air. It's not all in your head. I don't think that the other weird thing that you saw is either if that makes you feel any better," Donna said.

"It does, yeah," Kallista said with a small smile.

Rose stared at Kallista as she kept having a feeling of something being very familiar about her. It was almost as if she knew her from somewhere even though she was sure that she had never met her in her life. She wondered if Kallista could be yet another hidden Time Lord.

She quickly checked her biology with her enhanced senses and found no signs of that though. Rose could detect even a hidden Time Lord if she looked at them closely enough so that wasn't it. What was it about this woman then? As far as she could tell, she looked completely normal.

"Do I know you?" Kallista suddenly asked Rose breaking her out of her train of thought.

"No, I don't think so. You do seem to be very familiar to me though, and I don't know why because I've never met you before," Rose admitted.

"That's weird. You seem really familiar to me too, but I know I've never seen you either. At least I don't think I have," Kallista said looking troubled.

Donna looked at them both oddly as she said, "Maybe you both went to school together. It doesn't matter right now. We need to get to the bottom of the living gargoyles problem. I actually have seen a living gargoyle before believe it or not, Gold Girl. It was brought to life by aliens. I wonder if the Daemons have a real mad on for the Weeping Angels, Rose. Do you think that could be it?"

"I doubt it. This sounds like something different to me. Why don't we go look at some of the gargoyles around here up close and see if we can find out what's bringing them to life?" Rose suggested.

"That sounds like a plan, Captain Tyler," Donna said with a grin.

"Oh, don't call me that please," Rose said wincing.

"Why not, Lady Arkytior?" A familiar voice said.

They turned to see Calliope standing there with Joan Redfern and John Smith. Calliope immediately rushed to hug both Rose and Donna even as Rose said, "Please don't call me that again. You know I hate big fancy titles. I'm just Rose."

"How did you know that we were even going to be here, Gran?" Donna asked in surprise.

Calliope smiled at Donna calling her that as she said, "Koschei told me."

"And how exactly did Koschei know where we were?" Donna asked in a furious voice.

"How do you think? He bugged your TARDIS. What can I say? Apparently he has trust issues. Still it comes in pretty useful when I have to find out where someone is. Koschei usually knows everything," Calliope said.

"He's going to know what my fist feels like too the next time I see him. No one listens in on my private conversations," Donna said enraged.

"Don't worry. I'll find it and destroy it for you, Donna. I've gotten really good at knowing where he hides them. He's certainly hidden them enough in my TARDIS and the Doctor's," Rose said.

"He even bugs his own sister. What a louse," Donna said in disbelief.

Rose frowned at her but said nothing. She didn't want to get into a fight about this especially with Joan here.

Speaking of which, what was she doing here anyway?

As if being able to read Rose's mind, Joan said apologetically, "John just took me to visit his mother, and she took us with her in her TARDIS to see all of you. She didn't exactly tell us where we were going. She just brought us here. I hope we aren't intruding."

"That's okay, Joan. I don't mind you or John being here so don't worry about that. So he took you to meet his mother, eh? Does this mean what I hope it means?" Donna asked hopefully.

"Well, we have become quite close," Joan said as she smiled at John.

"Oh, please. They're absolutely crazy over each other. It's just like her and Donald all over again," Calliope said.

Then she frowned as she said, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

"It's okay, Mum. This time is going to be different. I'm not falling for anyone but Joan. I can promise that," John said.

"That's right. Donald is in the past now and what happened then doesn't bother me anymore. He's happy now with River, and I'm glad for him. I'm also glad to have a second chance by having John here with me now. Thank you so much for that, Michelle. I can never thank you enough," Joan said.

"No thanks are necessary, Joan. After all of the pain that I put you through by taking the original away from you, giving another John back to you is the very least that I could do," Michelle said in a sad voice.

Joan walked over to her and said in a low voice, "Stop it, Michelle. You're a good person now and not even remotely the same as you were anymore in any way. There's no reason to keep feeling so guilty about the past now. Let it go."

"Those are my feelings exactly. Let yourself enjoy your life for a change and marry Mark too while you're at it," Ileana said.

"Lana!" Michelle said as her face turned red in embarrassment.

"Well, someone's got to be your mum so it might as well be me," Ileana said unashamed.

Kallista cleared her throat as she said, "I don't mean to be rude, but I would really like to know what it was that I saw. Can we go check the gargoyles now?"

"Gargoyles?" Calliope asked.

After Donna explained what Kallista had seen along with a description about exactly what gargoyles were, Calliope said, "I remember an old nursery tale that I used to hear when I was a Time Tot about what you humans call gargoyles. It said that they were the predators that fed on the Weeping Angels and that they were the things that even the Angels feared. It then went on to say the standard warning about if we weren't good little children that they would come after us too in our sleep. My people didn't even really have a name for them. They just called them The Unnamed. I never thought that they actually existed though. So you've actually seen one then? That's amazing."

"I saw them destroying some Angels last night. Are you saying that they're aliens? Does that mean you're all aliens too?" Kallista asked in shock.

"Not all of us. Just some of us are. We're friendly aliens though I promise," Rose said as she smiled at her warmly.

"No, the only one of our race who ever tried to take over the world was the Master. He's all better now though," Calliope said.

"The jury's still out on that one, Gran," Donna said.

Kallista shook her head in disbelief as she said, "This just keeps getting crazier and crazier."

"It'll be okay. Right now your head is spinning, but you'll soon get used to it. Believe me I know," Rose said in a comforting voice.

"Rose, were there gargoyles on those rooftops surrounding us before?" Donna asked as she suddenly noticed several of them on top of all of the buildings in the area now.

"No, there weren't," Rose said in alarm.

"That's them! That's what I saw!" Kallista said in alarm.

"What is going on here? Where did they come from?" Donna asked.

"I think we may be close to finding out," Ileana said as she pointed up at the sky.

A whole army of gargoyles was now descending on them from up above as they screamed what almost sounded like a war cry. The gargoyles had found an even greater meal than the Weeping Angels in the assembled Time Lords and especially in the one who was even greater than a Time Lord. They would now have a true feast for the first time in ages as they fed on real Time Lords at last instead of only on transformed ones like the Angels. Finally they had found a real meal!

Meanwhile in the Louvre, the management had found that they had lost yet another security guard. They had just seemed to vanish into thin air. That seemed to happen from time to time. They never had figured out quite why. That was just something about this place that made people just quit out of the blue at times.

The statue called the Venus de Milo knew the real truth though. She had been hungry last night and had to feed. One day she would find a way out of here and past the gargoyles. Until then though, she would have to make due with killing a random human here and there that had no family and wouldn't be missed if they suddenly disappeared. Such a diet kept her alive but only just barely. She couldn't even regrow her missing arms that had been broken off of her when the ship that she had been on had crashed on Earth centuries ago.

She knew that she would be trapped here forever if something didn't change. Fortunately for her though she could feel the presence of Time Lords and another who was something more in the area. She began to feel a sense of relief for the first time in ages. Maybe once the gargoyles fed on them, they would forget about her for a while. Then she could quietly sneak away at last.

Maybe soon she would finally have a chance to be free.

Next: It's the Bad Wolves versus the gargoyles in a fight to the death. Which side will win and what will happen to the losers? Will the Weeping Angel in the museum go free and if it does what will happen to one of the world's greatest art treasures? Also what is this presence greater than a Time Lord that both the gargoyles and the Angel are sensing? Are they talking about Rose, Tori, or someone or something else? For that matter, why do Rose and Kallista find each other so familiar anyway? There are questions galore to be answered next time.