CHAPTER 64

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LILY WRIGHT AND THE BAT GOD

Things had been going just fine during Jenny's first week on the job. She had more than lived up to my expectations of her and was doing wonderfully. She really had become beloved by the students as well. They had all taken to her very quickly and many of them recommended her to me highly and let me know that they thought that she was doing a very good job especially for this only being her first week.

Things were going a little too well though. It was almost like an ordinary week. I knew that the other shoe was about to drop sooner or later because there was one immutable law of the universe concerning me. It was one that had never, ever changed in all of the millennia of my existence.

Lily Wright, Persephone, Sekhmet, or whatever you want to call me can never, ever have an ordinary life in any way, shape, or form.

Who would want to anyway? Ordinary is boring.

Yes, it's just so boring. That's why I want it so much sometimes. I would love to be bored every once in a while.

An ordinary life is something that I've always wanted to have and never have been allowed to not since the day that my family was taken from me as a little girl. I guess I'll just have to settle for stealing every piece of ordinary that I can find and treasuring it for as long as I can get it for instead.

I'm glad that at least Rose got to know that kind of life even if it wouldn't last. At least she got to experience what I've always looked for even if I never will.

The other shoe fell at the end of the first week that Jenny was on the job as several of our students started missing class. I was concerned enough about this, but when I found out that no one had seen a trace of them anywhere I soon realized that this was more than just a sick day or the girls playing hooky. I knew then that something was wrong, and that my life was intruding on theirs once again.

"I think that this is more like the Doctor's kind of problem," Jenny admitted to me.

"Who needs him? I was doing this kind of thing long before he was ever born. I can handle this myself. I wouldn't reject a little assistance by someone else if it were offered though. Would you care to help me investigate later on?" I asked her with a wry smile.

"I'd love to, Miss," Jenny said enthusiastically.

We didn't have long to wait because the day was almost over when it first came to our attention that no one had seen any of our missing girls lately. It still seemed like an eternity before the school day was through with though. I could hardly wait to try and find out what was going on.

As soon as I could, I went back to my TARDIS and started using its sensors to search for alien life signs in the nearby area. Jenny meanwhile had gone back home for a while and agreed to meet with me later outside of the school.

"You have another problem to solve, don't you? I guess that means that you won't have the time to devote to getting Omega out of my head," Holly said as she tried not to sound angry or impatient. I could still sense those emotions in her voice though even though she tried her best to hide them.

"Some of the girls have been mysteriously disappeared lately, and no one knows what's happened to them. It just seems to be getting worse and worse every day too. I'm sorry, Holly, but this really is more important at the moment," I said.

Holly's eyes widened as she said, "I'm sorry. I didn't know. Yes, I agree that you should help them first. I didn't mean to sound like I'm whining. I just feel like I'm losing my identity the longer that I have him in my mind. I have all of this knowledge in my mind now that is just so alien to me and yet I can actually understand it. The worse thing is that I have these memories that aren't mine and more and more I'm finding it hard to distinguish them from my own. I remember you, Lily. I actually remember what you were like when you were young and on your very first incarnation. I remember how Omega used to think of you as a friend. He was even in love with you once. Did you ever know that?"

"No, I didn't. It doesn't really surprise me though. He always kept his feelings secret from everyone even me, and I was the one who was the closest to him of anyone. I know that it's hard, Holly. You won't become Omega though. I know you won't. You're strong and I know that you can hold out long enough to stay yourself until I can find a way to free you," I said to her in an encouraging voice.

"I'm trying, Sekhmet. I'm really trying. I . . . Do you see? I just called you Sekhmet! I've never done that. It's him. He's influencing my thoughts. Sometimes I even find myself hating you for no reason and wanting to . . . I don't want to hurt you. If I ever try anything, promise me that you won't hold back," Holly said.

"It'll be okay, Holly. I promise," I said to her as I kissed her forehead.

We both turned to see Skaren standing there with an extremely worried look on his face. Apparently, he had heard the whole thing. He was terrified now of something happening to Holly.

"Please don't kill her even if she does lose her battle with him. Promise me that you won't kill her!" Skaren pleaded.

"I would never do that," I said to him.

"You might have to," Holly said.

"No, I'll find another way," I said in an angry voice.

"If you have to, it's okay," Holly said.

"No, it's not," Skaren said as he looked at me to agree with him.

"It's not going to happen, Skaren. I promise," I said to him.

"Don't make promises that you can't keep, Sekhmet of Ravenscliff," Holly said in a voice that I knew wasn't hers.

"Leave her alone, Omega. I swear that I will destroy you if you hurt her in any way. She is an honorary member of my family and is under my full protection. Do you hear me?" I challenged him.

Holly laughed just like Omega would and then her face changed back to normal once more as she said, "He's gone for now."

Skaren embraced her and kissed her tenderly as he said, "You're going to be okay. I won't let him hurt you."

"You won't be able to stop him," Holly said.

"Then it's a good thing that you have more than one of me here to help you then," Violet said as she came into the room smiling at her.

"You're going to work on a way to help her too then?" I asked my clone with a feeling of relief.

"Of course. I might as well make myself feel useful for once. You're too busy with the missing girls to do anything right now so I'm on the job. Just think of it as having your effectiveness suddenly doubled," Violet said.

"Thank you," I said as I hugged her in appreciation.

Let me tell you that it's very odd to interact with someone who is an exact copy of you even if she doesn't have the same outward appearance anymore since I regenerated. We both still have our awkward moments together even after being around one another for almost two years now. This hug was one of those awkward moments.

"She's become my friend now too even though I'm not as close to her as you are yet," Violet said as she quickly pulled away and immediately felt self-conscious.

We don't hate each other so don't get the wrong impression. It's just weird to constantly be reminded that you're not as unique as you think you are anymore. I knew that she felt out of place and useless most of the time despite my best efforts at trying to prevent that feeling, but that she stayed with me because she wanted to help me.

She had told me once that she felt an obligation to be there if I ever needed her when I was in a situation that I couldn't handle by myself like when my mind was lost in the past for a while. This was definitely another one of those moments.

"Don't worry. Go take on the mystery of the missing girls, and I'll help Holly while you're away. I can at least keep the thought of a solution to the problem on the forefront of my mind and then give my thoughts to you when you return if nothing else," Violet said.

"Thank you, Vi," I said again as she smiled at me.

Then I used the TARDIS's sensors to quickly locate a Vortex energy signature in the area. I immediately ruled out that it was Rose or one of her family as none of their signatures matched it. Who or what could it possibly be?

"A Vortex energy signature?! Interesting. Well, have fun!" Violet said happily.

"I will. At least I've pinpointed the signature's location. I should be able to find this being in no time. I'm sure that it's no coincidence that they've shown up at the same time as my girls have started disappearing. You know that there are many creatures who live in the Vortex. It could be any of them and so many of them are far from friendly to humans," I said.

"Go get them, Lily. I'll be alright. Don't worry," Holly said as she tried to smile at me.

I could see Aishwana out of the corner of my eye looking like she felt terrible about the whole thing, and I smiled for a moment as I saw Allison put her arm around her. I could always count on my Ally.

I soon left to get onto the mysterious being's trail as I took a handheld Vortex energy detector that I had quickly whipped up on the spot out of some spare parts for the TARDIS with me. I first saw the signature as coming from a rundown area of the city that most people stayed away from especially at night, and my handheld detector showed me that that hadn't changed even as I met up with Jenny again outside of Oxford.

"I know where we can look for the person or thing that's been attacking the girls. Are you ready to go?" I asked.

"Are you sure that they've been attacked? Does that mean that they might be dead?" Jenny said as she became upset.

"I hope not. I think that this being might have been attacking them to get my attention so maybe he's kept them alive as bait to draw me in," I said.

"So you think that this is all about you? Isn't that just a little bit self-centered of you?" Jenny pointed out with a grin.

"Come on, Jenny. He's attacking only the girls in my class and no one else's, and I'm the only Time Lady with infinite regenerations around. If you put two and two together, then it must always equal four except when it doesn't. Those are always cases of a mass tampering with the laws of the universe though. This isn't one of those times thankfully. This time it really does equal four and so my theory makes absolute sense. For once," I said with a mad look on my face.

I love making people think that I'm crazier than I actually am. Or maybe I really am that crazy, and I'm just fooling myself.

Jenny looked at me oddly before finally saying, "Whatever you say, Miss."

"Please call me Lily, Jenny. I want us to be friends. Friends don't call each other Miss, do they?" I said in an annoyed voice.

"I suppose not. Alright, Miss Lily, you lead the way," Jenny said with a mischievous grin on her face.

"I guess that'll have to be good enough for now. At least you're using my name anyway," I said with a sigh.

As soon as we started toward the location of the Vortex being though, I could see on my device that it had now started towards us as well. It was starting to rapidly move in our direction almost as if it had sensed us looking for it and was coming to meet us first. I shuddered at the thought of that. I had been hoping to catch it by surprise, but it looked like that option was being lost now.

I also saw something else. It had incredible power. It was actually registering off of the scale of my device just like Rose and her family always did when I had used things like this before in the past to measure their energy output. If this being was anywhere near as powerful as Rose, I wasn't sure if even I could stop it or not in a head on confrontation.

This was bad.

"Is something wrong, Miss Lily?" Jenny asked as she could sense me tensing up beside her.

"No, nothing. It's just so boring looking for this thing. That's all. Why don't you go back home, and I'll let you know if I need you, Jenny? I don't think that you want to waste your time here anymore. I really don't think that I'm going to find this being tonight after all," I lied.

I didn't want anything to happen to her so I was lying as badly as the Doctor for once in order to get her to leave. I wasn't proud of that, but I felt that I had to in order to save her life. I would never forgive myself if Jenny died while helping me, and I knew that Vastra would never forgive me either.

"You're trying to protect me, aren't you?" Jenny asked in a touched voice.

"No, whatever makes you say that," I lied again and inwardly winced. I hate lying. I'm a very honest person most of the time or at least I try to be anyway.

"You don't have to do that, Miss Lily. I'm used to being in danger and I've survived many terrible things in my time. I'm a lot tougher than I look. I'm much more than just a pretty face," Jenny said with a warm smile.

"I'll agree with that. The face isn't bad to look at either though. Even for a human. I could look at it forever," Madame Vastra said as she suddenly appeared out of the shadows with a veil over her own face.

"You always say such sweet things," Jenny said as she embraced her.

"The boy is my friend, and I agree that he is much tougher than his small form suggests. We have been through much together in our time," Strax said as he too came out of the shadows looking ready for battle.

Jenny had obviously told them where she was going, and they had followed us. They were very good. I was surprised that I never even noticed them. I usually detected anyone that followed me no matter how quiet they were. Then again maybe my subconscious mind did notice but disregarded them because they were friends.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not a boy, Mr. Strax? I'm a girl!" Jenny said in a pleasant enough voice but it had just enough irritation in it to suggest to anyone that she wasn't pleased with being called by the wrong gender.

"Oh, yes. I always get confused about that. All humans look alike to me, and we have no females on Sontar," Strax said.

It was amazing how Jenny did that. She could sound sweet and angry at the same time without skipping a beat. It would let you know that she was angry without her even having to raise her voice. I would love to learn how to do that myself. I think that I looked sweet in the rear view mirror a long, long time ago though. Robin, of course, would disagree.

Thinking of Robin made me feel even more guilt, and I already felt guilty enough about bringing Jenny and the others into this. I hadn't even told him where I was going or anything about this. I was actually arrogant enough to think that I could take this thing down and make it back before he missed me. I made a resolution to myself to never do that again in the future.

If I survived that is.

Suddenly my Vortex energy detector went off and started buzzing in warning. The being was almost right on top of us!

The Vortex being swooped down out of the sky on giant wings and dive bombed us before we even realized what was happening. Luckily we all managed to get out of its way before it could attack any of us.

I caught a brief glimpse of it before it flew off again, and I could see that it was a giant humanoid bat. It was definitely male from what little that I saw of him, and he looked very determined. He was not going to give up trying to destroy us without a fight I could tell.

The bat creature immediately returned and hovered in the air a few feet in front of us with a wicked smile on his face. "I sense great power in you. I've sensed it from miles away for several days now, and it intrigues me. Who are you?" he said addressing me.

"My name's Lily. I'm here to find my missing students. You have them, don't you? Who are you and what have you done with them? I'd better like the answer to that last question too or it's going to be too bad for you," I said sounding more confident than I felt.

"You hide your identity as much as you hide your fear. I can sense your deception in both cases. It doesn't matter though. Sooner or later, I will find out who you are; and I will know the secret of your power. In answer to your first question, I am Camazotz. I was once worshipped by the Mayans as a bat god. They imprisoned me long ago because I posed such a threat to their world that I was about to destroy it. Then I was released by accident and destroyed by a group led by a woman who looked very much like you do. She must be a relative of yours. I would very much like to find out just how she is related to you. She had incredible power as well, but it was very different from yours. As for the girls, they still live. When I returned from death and reformed inside of the Vortex, I was greatly weakened. I had to drain the girls of their life energy by drinking small portions of their blood in order to replenish myself and regain my full strength. I have kept them alive though in order to keep using them for their energy whenever I grow hungry. It doesn't do to needlessly waste a good food supply," Camazotz said with a heartless laugh.

"I know you. My Jenny told me about you. She said that you died. Your body disintegrated into dust," I said.*

"So she is a family member of yours. I am a creature of the Vortex. Sooner or later no matter what happens to me what is left of me will always return to it and reform there. I can never truly die as long as the Vortex exists. I am a part of it," Camazotz said.

I briefly wondered if that applied to Rose and her family as well as I said, "You're going to give me my girls back and leave this place now or I'll make sure that you return to the Vortex faster than you ever have in your life."

"Yes, I can feel the fire in your soul. Excellent. This should be a most interesting battle. I look forward to testing you in battle. I sense a challenge worthy of even me," Camazotz said eagerly.

"I will also challenge you, bat creature. I will crush you in the name of the glorious Sontaran Empire!" Strax shouted.

"Insect! You are not even worthy to gaze upon me. I am a god. Only a fellow god such as the lovely Lily should even be permitted around one such as I," Camazotz said in a voice filled with pride.

"He's very full of himself, isn't he?" Jenny commented.

"Yes, he is. He will soon find out that while we may not be gods we're no one to take lightly either. I have fought a few 'gods' in my time and beaten them all," Vastra said with pride of her own in her voice.

"I will now crush him even more soundly than ever. He has insulted my honor as a Sontaran! Let him join the hated Moonites on my enemies' list!" Strax shouted.

"I think that you made them mad, Cammy. That's too bad for you. You've also made me mad, and that's downright deadly. Tell me where my girls are now if you want to live through the night. You see I'm going to make sure that you don't reform if you die this time. I'm one of the most intelligent Time Lords in a billion years of Gallifreyan history so I'm certain that I can do it if anyone can. I wouldn't test me if I were you," I threatened.

"I know who you are now. You are a legend spoken of in whispers throughout the universe for ages. Sekhmet, the greatest warrior in history! I look forward to this now more than ever. I will have the secret of your immortality, Great One, and then I will have your head," Camazotz said as he laughed with joy.

Did I mention that I really hate bats? That goes double for me now. Triple even.

I did take comfort in one thing though. Camazotz, despite his overinflated ego, was nothing more than an oversized vampire, and if there one thing that I was good at it was vampire hunting.

It was time for me to polish up my skills. I idly wondered if I still had my stake handy in my belt. He might not be a traditional vampire, but I was willing to bet that a stake would still kill him just as dead.

Well, what do you know? I do have my stake with me.

It's on now, Bat Boy!

*See Time and Space Chapters 19 and 20.

Next: Lily, Jenny, Vastra, and Strax take on Camazotz together as they try to destroy him once and for all and rescue the students. Can Camazotz ever be destroyed forever though? Lily's certainly going to try. Meanwhile Violet is having problems of her own as Holly shows more and more signs of weakening against the mental onslaught of Omega. Can she save her or is it already too late?