CHAPTER 74

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

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Author's Note: The first part of this chapter begins just before the Matriarch altered the Guardian Who universe.

REWRITING THE RULES

"I can feel the nature of this reality changing already, boys, and I really don't feel like being altered along with it when it does. So keep Ginger and her flunkies over there away from me until I find what I'm looking for, okay?" Vampire Clara said to the vampires with her.

"I am not her flunky. I'm nobody's flunky," Ileana protested.

"I'm sorry. What was that? I couldn't hear a word that you said, Shorty, due to the fact of me being so much taller than you," Vampire Clara said with an evil grin.

"I bet you're really enjoying that alright after starting out life as a munchkin," Donna said with a chuckle.

The Vampire Clara looked at her in surprise at first and then her face immediately became twisted in anger as she said, "Oh, you're going to pay for that one, Ginger. Be sure and make her death extra painful, boys."

Almost as if they were obeying some silent mental command, most of the vampires with the giant Clara now rushed toward Donna and made her their main target.

"Oh, that's just great. Now they're all looking at me like I'm a bloody smorgasbord," Donna said as she used her Vortex Laptop to quickly create a force field around herself just before the massive crowd of bloodthirsty creatures reached her.

"I wonder if this will teach her not to make any more cheeky comments about people in the future," Emmy asked as she began to attack several of the vampires around Donna with a quickly made stake that she fashioned from the rubble of Masada.

"I sincerely doubt it. She just wouldn't be Donna if she didn't," Ileana replied with a grin as she picked one of the vampires up and used it like a bowling ball to strike down several others.

"You do realize that if those vampires weren't between you and Donna right now she'd probably slap you senseless for a comment like that," Martha said as she used a laser to disintegrate several vampires at once.

"I know. That's what's so great about it. I can get away with anything now. I feel so free," Ileana said happily.

"Lana, I think that you may actually be getting weirder and weirder," Martha said as she shook her head at her.

"I know that she is but I like her like that. You may not have noticed, Martha, but most of us on this team are pretty weird ourselves," Calliope said in an almost proud tone as she used a staser on its maximum setting to quickly burn out the heart of every vampire directly in her line of sight killing them instantly.

"Oh, I definitely noticed alright. Just because I used to travel with your son doesn't mean that I'm suddenly completely mad now. My mother might disagree with that statement though," Martha said with a wry grin.

"I can't imagine why. Everyone tangles with vampires and aliens on a regular basis after all. It's perfectly normal," Calliope said with a chuckle.

"No, that's just a normal day in your life, Mother Calliope," Lilith said with a snicker as she recited an incantation that teleported a dozen vampires close to her right into the sun.

Calliope smiled at her as she said, "Good one. You're getting to be more and more like your sister all of the time."

"Thank you," Emmy said proudly.

"That wasn't a compliment," Calliope said with a grin.

"It was in my book. Lilith could do much worse than to have me as a role model," Emmy said as she winked at Lilith.

"She could definitely do much better too," Donna said making Emmy shoot her a dirty look and causing Lilith to laugh at her.

She really wished that she had become a part of this family a lot sooner. She couldn't help but find herself wondering what she would have been like if only her life could have been completely different right from the start.

"Nothing seems to faze them for long. They're actually holding their own against a small army of vamps. Who are these girls?" Vampire Clara said in a voice filled with both curiosity and admiration.

"Stop wasting time with the locals, Miss Oswald. Stay on target. We're counting on you to find the artifact before it's too late. The Matriarch is already starting to alter reality even as we speak," A man's voice said to Vampire Clara over an enormous comlink on her wrist.

"Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing," Vampire Clara said in a wistful voice.

"I know what you're thinking but the odds are that you wouldn't be returned to your human form when the change comes, Miss Oswald. You'd more likely be completely erased instead since you're only an echo of the original. Therefore you really need to find the artifact and bring it to us quickly before that happens," The man's voice ordered in an impatient tone.

"I love how you sound so concerned about me when you say that, Pirate Boy," Vampire Clara said with a frown.

"Why should I? You're a cold remorseless killer and the only reason that we sent you is because you could control this world's vampires with your abilities as a Great Vampire. We needed you to use them as a distraction to keep the defenders of Masada busy while you searched for the artifact," The man said.

"I'm not remorseless. Not completely. If I was, do you think that I'd even be helping you at all? You'd better stick to your side of the bargain when I do return, Pirate Boy. I want my timestream altered so that I never became like this in the first place. Got it?" Vampire Clara said.

"The Brethren always keeps their side of a bargain, Miss Oswald. You just make sure to keep yours if you ever want a normal life. Find that artifact," The man said in an authoritative tone before signing off.

"What artifact would that be exactly, Soufflé Vamp?" Donna suddenly asked from behind Vampire Clara.

"How do you know about me and soufflés? Who are you? How do you know me? Tell me!" Vampire Clara said in a furious voice as she suddenly shrunk down to normal size and grabbed Donna by the throat.

"I know the real Clara that's how. The one who would never do anything like this especially to a pregnant woman," Donna said as she gasped for air.

"Yeah, well she never had to sacrifice herself to the King of the Great Vampires in order to save her precious Doctor did she? I let that thing drain me dry and turn me into a monster just like him in order to save the Doctor, a man who never even knew that I existed in the first place," Vampire Clara said in an emotional voice.

Donna noticed that she had slightly loosened her hold on her throat as she had been talking to her and wondered if maybe she wasn't as completely inhuman as she had thought at first. Or maybe it was just that she was starting to feel sorrier for her the longer that she listened to her.

"What does finding this artifact, whatever it is, have to do with any of that, Soufflé Vamp?" Donna asked.

"It will protect my new friends from what's to come, and they'll make sure that none of this ever happened to me as a result. They'll completely rewrite my timestream so that I don't become a vampire this time. That means that I won't have ever done any of the horrible things that I've done. Do you understand why I'm doing this now? They can give me my life back again, and the best thing about it is that I won't even remember any of it ever having happened in the first place. To have a clear conscience again is worth any price, Ginger," Vampire Clara said in a sad voice.

"They're lying to you. The Web of Time is already in bad enough shape, Soufflé Vamp. If they do something like that, then they're liable to do more harm than good. They're not about to risk that," Donna said.

"No, they can do it alright, Ginger. The Brethren will do anything . . . for a price," Vampire Clara said.

"The who?" Donna asked curiously.

"I don't have time to explain. The Matriarch's just about to completely rewrite history at any moment so I need to find the Eye of Weyland immediately before it's too late. It was created to protect anyone who holds it from having their timestream altered no matter what happens to the rest of reality. The Brethren want it, Ginger, and they're going to get it no matter what I have to do in order to give it to them," Vampire Clara said as she looked at Donna with enormous regret in her eyes.

"The Matriarch's going to do what?! You have to let me go so that I can stop her," Donna protested in an alarmed voice.

"It's too late for that now which is why I need you out of the way so that I can still save myself. I'm sorry about this, Ginger. I really am," Vampire Clara said in a mournful voice as she revealed her fangs and began to move her mouth towards Donna's throat.

"Baloney, Vamp Clara. If you were really as basically good as you're trying to act like you are, you wouldn't be trying to kill my friend in the first place," Ileana said as she suddenly grabbed the vampire from behind and quickly bit her herself first.

Vampire Clara could immediately feel her strength being rapidly diminished as she said, "Don't! I need to find the Eye. It was my last chance to be human. My last chance to . . ."

"Shut up. You lost any chance at sympathy that you could have ever gotten from me when you tried to kill my friend," Ileana interrupted her in a hard voice as she continued to drain her blood.

"Please. Let me find the Eye. Please let me undo all of the terrible things that I've done," Vampire Clara pleaded in a weak voice with her eyes filled with tears.

Ileana's eyes softened and she released the vampire as she said, "Go. Do it before I change my mind."

"Thank you," Vampire Clara said with a look of infinite gratitude as she slowly walked away from Ileana and proceeded further into the ruins of Masada.

"Why did you do that?" Donna asked curiously.

Ileana looked at her with great sadness for a moment as she said, "Maybe because I wish someone could have done that for me sometimes."

Donna knew then exactly how much being a vampire, even one who had never harmed a living person, truly bothered Ileana. She kept her despair so well hidden all of the time that this was the first time that Donna had ever truly seen it, and it immediately made her feel terrible for her.

Donna hugged her as she said, "I'm sorry, Lana."

"It's okay. At least thanks to Rose I don't have an urge to attack people. Even draining other vampires still bothers me though because I could have easily become them. Any one of them could have been me," Ileana said in a voice filled with sorrow.

"I understand how you feel but I can't help but wonder if you just delivered that Eye, whatever it is, into the wrong hands, Lana. I have no idea who this Brethren bunch is, but they definitely don't sound like the good guys to me," Donna said.

"She said the Eye could only keep someone's timestream unchanged, Donna. I don't really see the harm in that," Ileana said.

"Well, we could certainly have used it if what Souffle Vamp told me is true. She said that the Matriarch is going to remake the universe," Donna said.

Ileana groaned as she said, "Now you tell me."

Meanwhile Vampire Clara after several frantic moments of searching for it had finally come upon the Eye of Weyland in the very area that the Brethren had told her that it would be. It seemed that the vampire hunters who had found Weyland's Shield had also found the Eye, a powerful amulet, along with it and had buried both objects in separate parts of the foundation for the future Masada.

The Vampire Clara now smiled in triumph as she said into her comlink, "I have it, Pirate Boy. Now transmat me out of here quickly if you want to save us all from the Matriarch's magic whammy in time."

"Don't worry, Miss Oswald. I have every intention in safeguarding our own timestreams," The man who she had been talking to earlier said.

Suddenly the Eye disappeared right out of Vampire Clara's hands causing her to shout in surprise, "What are you doing?"

"I said that I would safeguard our timestreams. Not yours," The man said.

"You lied to me!" Vampire Clara screeched in despair.

"Yes, of course. What else did you expect? You know for a vampire you're far too trusting. Look on the bright side though. In a moment, you'll probably have never existed to be betrayed in the first place. Good bye, Miss Oswald," The man said before he ended communications.

"No, no, no. Please don't let it end like this. Please!" Vampire Clara said in despair just before a blinding white light enveloped her and she along with everything else in the universe suddenly faded completely out of existence.

The Present

"What do you mean that Lilith is your sister, Stick Man? She was born a Carrionite to completely different parents. You mean that the Matriarch can really change things that much?" Clara asked in surprise.

"The power of the Bad Wolf can do almost anything, Clara, even alter an individual's entire history. There are consequences for such massive changes to the Web of Time however especially changes of the level that the Matriarch made. That on top of the alterations to the laws of the universe that Missy made weeks ago is the very reason that we now have only twelve hours left before the Web is completely torn apart by what Evil You has done," The Doctor explained to his friend as they stood together outside of Amy Pond's house in Leadworth.

"And that's why we have to find Lilith so that she can undo the changes to the universe's laws because that's preventing me from returning everything to normal. I'm trying to fix a universe that I really don't understand anymore, yeah? So I really hope that Lilith will since she's used to manipulating reality with words, and Donna told me that she had been very close to finding a way to fix the laws back," Rose explained.

"If Lilith doesn't even remember being a Carrionite though, then she probably isn't going to remember all of her work to fix things either," Clara pointed out.

"Those memories should still be there though deep down in her mind. We just have to find a way to unlock them somehow before it's too late," Rose said in a hopeful tone.

"I'm sure that I can find a way to do it. I'm . . . very persuasive when I want to be," Koschei said with a grin.

"Yes, but Lilith has a very strong mind so I'm not so sure that your little parlor tricks are going to be that effective this time, Koschei. Anything's possible though I suppose," The Doctor said dismissively.

"Parlor tricks?" Koschei said in an offended tone.

"Just ignore him, Kosch. He's just being his usual rude and not ginger self," Rose said with a grin.

"Yes, and it's that same arrogant attitude that made me always want to kill him with so much glee in the past," Koschei said with a frown.

"I'm arrogant? You could write a book on the subject. In fact, you probably already have I'm sure. Something filled with tips on world domination no doubt," The Doctor said with a snort.

Before Koschei could make a witty comeback to the Doctor, Clara interrupted them both and said, "Oi! We're wasting time here. Right now we need to save the universe. Then you two can go back to making cheap shots at one another that show exactly how petty and childish that you both really are later. Come along, boys. Let's get to the TARDIS."

Clara pointed to Koschei's TARDIS as she gave both Time Lords a stern look that showed that she meant business. Both men sighed and reluctantly did as they were told as Clara smiled.

"Good work, Shorty. I taught you well," Amy whispered in Clara's ear.

"You? You didn't teach me anything, Red. It's just pure raw talent. I've always been able to control the Old Man after all. I have to admit that I wasn't sure if Laughing Boy would listen too though. I guess I'm even better than I thought," Clara said smugly.

"Now she could write the book on arrogance," Amy said with a frown.

"Shut up," Clara said as Rose shook her head at both of them and smiled.

Sometimes even little Lily and Michael acted more mature than those two did whenever they got around one another she mused.

Soon everyone that had remembered the truth about this new reality of the Matriarch's was on their way to find Lilith in Koschei's TARDIS. Moments later the ship materialized in the middle of Wilfred and Elizabeth Mott's house in Chiswick. That was where Lilith was most likely to be after all since she had lived there even before reality changed so it only made sense to search for her there first.

As it turned out, they had gotten lucky on their first try.

As soon as the Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS, Lilith immediately hugged him and kissed his cheek. He stiffened as always at such close intimate contact as Lilith laughed at him.

"You know this new incarnation of yours really amuses me, Theta. The last version of you used to hug me all the time, but this you always looks like I'm going to stop your hearts in fear if I so much as look at you," Lilith said happily.

"Stop messing around with Theta, Lil. Only I can do that," Emmy said with a chuckle.

"Why? Is it in your contract or something?" Lilith asked as she playfully stuck her tongue out at her.

"Yes, it is actually. It's called the little sister contract. Selene told me all about it," Amy said with a grin.

"She broke the sacred oath of all little sisters everywhere then and must be dealt with accordingly," Emmy said with a fake serious look that quickly became a mischievous grin.

"Do you promise?" Amy joked.

"Red, enough with the wisecracks already! We have to tell them what we came here for," Clara said as she rolled her eyes at her.

"I was trying to ease my way into it, okay? It's not every day that you tell someone that their entire life isn't what they think it is," Amy said.

"Actually . . ." The Doctor started to say.

"Yeah, yeah. You do it all the time. That's beside the point though. No one normal does it every day," Amy interrupted.

"You're normal?" Clara asked with a grin.

"Says Miss I'm Nine Hundred Years Old and Have Echoes Scattered Across the Entire Universe," Amy shot back.

"And how old are you again?" Clara asked.

"Don't even go there, Shorty," Amy said in a threatening tone.

"Rose, what is this about? What did you all come here to tell us?" Lilith asked in a worried voice as the two friends continued to bicker in the background behind her.

Rose sighed because she knew that deep down Lilith knew exactly why or she never would have asked that question.

"They're fighting because neither one of them has the heart to bring it up to you, Lil. You see the Matriarch altered reality on a massive scale, and now no one can fix it back until the laws of the universe are returned to normal first. That's why we came here. We need you to do that for us since . . ." Rose said before hesitating.

"Since what? Finish what you were going to say," Lilith encouraged her with an anxious look on her face.

"Blimey! This is harder than I thought that it was going to be," Rose admitted.

She didn't want to break Lilith's heart because she knew that this definitely would.

"I'll do it. It's my fault that all of this is happening anyway," The Matriarch now said with a sigh as she got in-between the two women.

"What is she doing with you?" Lilith asked as she eyed the dark version of Clara suspiciously.

"I've lost my mojo lately thanks to the rapid disintegration of the Web so I can't do anything to hurt you if that's what you're worried about, Witch Girl," The Matriarch said.

"Witch Girl?" Lilith asked in confusion.

The Matriarch sighed as she said, "I'm just going to have to spell it all out to you at once, aren't I?"

"Oi! Take it easy on her. This is going to be very hard for her to take, yeah?" Rose warned.

The Matriarch nodded and said, "Of course. I'm not completely insensitive, Blondie."

Then she immediately turned to Lilith and said, "You're not a Time Lady and you never were. In the proper timeline before I changed it, you were a Carrionite who was adopted into the family by the Doctor's mother. You're not really his sister and you never were, okay? So get to remembering how to do your little incantations and use them to save the universe already."

Lilith looked at her in complete shock as Rose said with disapproval, "Way to go on being sensitive."

"Hey, we don't have time to hold her hand, Blondie. You all had your chance to be nicey nicey about it and you botched it," The Matriarch said with no concern whatsoever.

"I – I don't believe you. I'm a Time Lady. I've always been a Time Lady. And I am his sister. I remember when he was born. I was there," Lilith protested.

"Lilith, what is it? What have these dumbos said to you?" Donna asked as she came into the room with a concerned look on her face.

Donna immediately got into the Matriarch's face as she said, "What are you doing here anyway? Since when did you start recruiting evil Claras, Petal Girl?"

"I wanted to help since it's my fault that the universe is about to be destroyed. Lilith is the one who can fix it now so she needs to get to it as quickly as possible. We only have about eleven hours and thirty minutes left before everything goes boom," The Matriarch said.

"It won't go boom. More like it will just fade away in a single instant and be replaced with something else," The Doctor said.

"Whatever, Skeleton Man. The point is that we're all going to die unless Witch Girl says her magic cure all and helps save us all," The Matriarch said as she rolled her eyes at him.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know any magic anything and I'm not a Carrionite," Lilith protested in tears.

Rose exchanged a sad look with the Doctor now because they both realized that it was Lilith's dream come true to actually be related to the family that she had come to love so much. It was tearing her apart to find out the truth about herself.

There was nothing that they could do though. They had to have the knowledge of a Carrionite now or they were all doomed.

"Is she really telling the truth?" Donna asked the Doctor.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. There are many things that have been changed in this new world of the Matriarch's that aren't the way that they were in the true reality. In the original universe, Ileana was never completely cured of her vampirism as she was in this reality, Martha Jones never married the John Smith version of me that Michelle created instead of Joan Redfern, my mother never married Wilf a year after your human grandmother died, your mother Sylvia was never adopted by my mother and turned into a Time Lady shortly after that marriage, you were never secretly half Time Lady all along from birth, and . . . Lilith was never my biological sister," The Doctor admitted.

"What? How could all of that be wrong though? It just all seems so right," Donna said in confusion.

"Of course it does to you because your mind has adapted to this new reality. Deep down you know that it's all wrong though, don't you? Just as Lilith does," The Doctor said.

Lilith began to openly sob now which immediately caused Emmy to say, "Hey! It doesn't matter to me even if that is true, Lil. You're still my sister and you always will be."

Lilith looked at her gratefully as she said, "I know and I love you for that more than you'll ever know."

"So you accept the truth now?" The Doctor asked.

"Yes. I accept that I wasn't born a Time Lady. I'm still your sister though, Theta Sigma, and I will be even after things are changed back. So it's my job to save you isn't it? Since you can't save yourself this time apparently," Lilith said as she gave him a brief smile despite the wrenching pain that she felt in her hearts.

The Doctor gave her an indignant look in response that immediately made her genuinely laugh despite her pain as she said, "Now it's time for me to fulfill the older sister contract and protect all of you."

She then immediately began to recite the incantation that she had been preparing in the other reality to fix the damage to the laws of the universe. She crossed her fingers as she did so because she still wasn't a hundred percent sure that it would work or not. Otherwise she would have already used it long before the Matriarch had altered reality.

Luckily for everyone, however, it was indeed the right set of words said in the right way at the right time. Lilith smiled as she could immediately sense that she had gotten it right as soon as she had finished speaking.

Clara could sense it as well as now that the laws of the universe had been fixed she suddenly felt her connection to the Vortex return at full strength once more. She began to glow with power as she smiled with renewed hope once again.

"You did it, Lil!" Clara said happily.

"Why are my powers still not working then?" The Matriarch said in confusion.

The Doctor started to speak but said nothing. If he was right, it was already too late to do anything about it anyway. They certainly didn't need a frightened Matriarch suddenly turning on them now at this critical point in time.

"Well, Blondie? Can you fix the damage that the Matriarch did to the Web now?" Clara asked.

Rose smiled as she said, "Already working on it. It's going to take a while though. Like I said before, it's not like I can do it with a snap of my fingers. She changed too much too quickly."

"How long is this going to take? Are you going to be able to fix it all in time?" Amy asked with concern.

"Yeah, I should be able to with plenty of time left over. At least I should as long as there are no further . . ." Rose started to say.

"Problems? Is that what you were going to say, Bad Wolf?" The Trickster's disembodied voice said from all around them.

That was when the Trickster, who had been doing his best all along to stop Rose from saving the universe since he wanted it to be destroyed due to Rose changing its timeline in favor of Order over Chaos, suddenly appeared and attacked Rose from behind with a blast of energy that immediately knocked her out cold. He then instantly teleported away with her before the others could so much as lift a finger to stop him.

"Always glad to help," The Trickster's disembodied mocking voice said after he left.

"Well, what are we going to do, Spaceman? We'll never find her in time now. He could have taken her anywhere," Donna said in a worried voice.

"Maybe we won't but I'm sure that I know who will. It's time to find the grown-up version of Melody, Amy. Only River Song can find Rose in time to save the universe now," The Doctor said.

TO BE CONTINUED IN THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF RIVER SONG CHAPTER 51.

Next: It's the 75th chapter of this story and we're celebrating with Donna finally having Lauren at last. Will the Doctor be there as Donna wants? In the words of Donna, he'd better be if he wants to continue breathing. So the answer is yes. He won't just be there to see the baby though. The Doctor has a mission for the Wolves of his own that involves both the Vampire Clara and the mysterious group called The Brethren.

As for what happens next in this storyline, it will continue in The Further Adventures of River Song Chapter 51 and then will have its grand finale (along with the final fate of the Matriarch) in Chapter 18 of The Thief of Time. If you don't follow the rest of my Guardian Who stories though, don't worry. You'll find out all about what happened right here next time.