The Vampires of Venice - Part Two

At this point I had three choices. Well, I should say we had three choices, as I had apparently enlisted Thomas as my companion. Oh, geez. I really am becoming a younger version of the Doctor, aren't I? First it's the timey wimey foreknowledge, and now I've got a companion. Next thing you know I'll have a different dress sense after each birthday I have. I'm rambling, aren't I?

Anyways, choices. We could attempt to find and regroup with the Doctor, follow Amy and Rory as third and fourth wheels on their date, or go on our own path. Honestly, all three of them sounded quite appealing, but at the same time, I didn't want to disturb any events. After what happened with the Weeping Angel and my ankle, I had grown slightly reserved when it came to making alterations to episodes.

In the end, I managed to convince Thomas to walk with me through Venice. It took reminding him that I had Amy's number on my phone, but hey, it's not like that's a ton of persuasion, you know?

Our strolling brought us to a series of rooftop corridors, some left open to the warm Venetian sun, and others in which the only way to see was by the torches on the walls.

"So, how do you know Fall Out Boy is going to get back together in a few years?" Thomas asked me, "They just announced the hiatus a few months ago."

I laughed slightly, "You don't forget things easily, do you?"

"Do I look like the kind of guy who would brush off one of his favorite bands getting back together?"

"Nope."

"All right then. So confess, Jenny."

"It's Ginny."

"Oh, sorry."

I giggled, "It's fine."

Oh, gosh, where should I start? I don't want to confuse him too much, I thought. It took a few moments to get the right words together, but soon enough, I began my backstory. At least, I think I can call it a backstory.

"Have you ever had a book or movie that you really liked? And I'm not talking a casual like. I mean hardcore obsession. Your life now revolves around this thing."

"Yeah. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Stay with me, Williams. So, keeping that in mind, have you ever wanted to be a character in the world that book or movie takes place in? For example, and I don't even know if you read DC or Marvel comics, so just bear with me. Anyways, for example, you might've wanted to be a part of the Avengers, or Justice League. You wanted to go to Hogwarts or visit Camp Half Blood. You longed to ride in the back of the Impala with Team Free Will, or maybe even become a Pokemon Master."

By the time I had finished my little monologue, Thomas had a daydreaming air around him. I had to snap him out of it in order to get him to nod his head as an answer.

I smiled slightly, "Well, that's what happened to me."

I waited for him to tell me I was mental, but he never did.

I continued my story, "Before I started traveling with the Doctor, he was nothing more than a fictional character for me to look up to. All of this stuff about the TARDIS and time travel was part of a TV show called Doctor Who, and it was my favorite show ever. I wrote stories about it, drew pictures, and I even got to meet some of the actors from the show. Then, this happened." I gestured all around me, "I got swallowed by a crack between universes and ended up right in the middle of the TARDIS. And that's pretty much it."

Thomas didn't say anything for a few minutes, and it was starting to worry me. Perhaps I caused his head to short circuit? Or maybe he was trying to figure out how to tell Rory I needed to be carted off to the Psych Ward.

It turns out he wasn't contemplating either of these things.

"That's really cool, but you still haven't explained the thing about Fall Out Boy," he said.

I couldn't help but break into a fit of laughter. Here I was, giving my backstory of crossing between universes, and there he is, curious about the reforming of a rock band from the early 2000s.

"You okay, Jenny?" he shook his head, "No wait, Ginny? Sorry."

"It's okay," I wheezed, finally starting to catch my breath from the attack of humor, "And to answer your question, I'm from 2013, not 2010. I'm three years ahead of you."

"So that means, this year you would be...?"

"Not even born. We're in 1580. I won't be born for another 418 or so years, and neither will you."

Thomas laughed, "How old does that make you? If you aren't born for another 418 years. I'm terrible at math."

"Sixteen, going on seventeen. And I'm pretty suckish at it too."

"Ah, a theatre geek as well?"

"Maybe."

"What's your favorite musical?"

"Hands down, it's Phantom of the Opera. I've seen the movie version so many times. I've got it memorized by heart. What about you?"

"Probably Roger's and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!. My dad took Rory to see it at West End in '98, and they bought the DVD copy when it came out so I could see it."

"He got to see that one live? I'm so jealous!"

"Me too! I was just a baby when it was on, but I saw the DVD when I was maybe seven. My dad told me I used to walk around with a cowboy hat on and sing 'Oh What A Beautiful Mornin' as loud as I could. It drove Rory mad whenever he had Amy over to study for stuff."

"I can imagine it would."

We walked down a stairway giggling to ourselves when a young woman came up to us with a basket.

"Flowers for the young couple?" she asked.

It was at that moment precisely that both Thomas and I felt extremely awkward.

"Oh we're not together," I said.

"We're just friends," he said.

"Oh. My apologies," the woman said, then strolled on past us. When she was a fair distance off, we both looked at each other awkwardly.

"It's the 1500s. The idea of a boy and a girl being less than a couple isn't even a consideration for most people," I said quickly.

"Sure, let's go with that," he agreed, and we walked on.

It wasn't long before I saw a familiar flash of red hair, and this time I decided to have a bit of fun.

"Viscountess! Doeth mine eyes deceiveth me, or doeth they fall upon thy eunuch preparing to produceth a portrait from a bawbling device of electronic nature?" I called to Amy and Rory.

Thomas began to play along much to my joy.

"Thine eyes deceiveth thou not, fair lady. They art quite truthful," he said.

"What is this, Shakespeare in the Canals?" Rory asked, before turning back to Amy, holding his cameraphone up as she made a funny face. However, he could not take the picture before a bloodcurdling scream erupted close by. We hurried to figure out what happened, and were met by Sir Pompous Hat drinking the Flower Woman's blood from her neck.

"Hey! Cut it out!" I yelled, ready to pick a stone up to throw at him, but my yelling had been enough. The vampire's head shot up, eyes glancing at Amy and me, before he brought up his cape, hissing as he power-walked past us.

Rory, kicking into Nurse Mode, rushed to the unconscious woman, Thomas following in suit. Amy, ever the Doctor's companion, ran after the Renaissance vampire, and I couldn't help but run after her. I could hear Rory and Thomas shouting after us, but I didn't listen. In fact, I didn't slow down either. Amy had only just managed to throw her arm out to catch me, else I would have fallen into the canal.

"Thanks for that," I said.

"No problem. Where did that guy go?" Amy asked.

"He must've swum away."

"We should go find the Doctor. He'll want to know about a vampire in this place."

"Who wouldn't?"

One running montage later, we were back at the balcony across from the Calvierri School, only the Doctor was there before us and we ended up running right into him.

"I just saw some vampires!" he said excitedly.

"We just saw a vampire!" Amy said in almost the exact same tone. After that any conversation was really hard to understand. Both of them talked over each other at rapid speeds. I was able to understand what they were saying when the Doctor spoke a bit louder than he was.

"And creepy girls and everything!"

"Vampires."

"In Venice!"

From there the pair of them began to bounce up and down like to girls who just found out one of them had a date or something. I know this from experience. Finally managing to catch up, Rory and Thomas skidded to a halt, catching their breath before saying anything.

"We think we just saw a vampire," Rory gasped, still trying to get his lungs filled with air.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. Amy was just telling me," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, yeah. The Doctor actually went to their house," Amy added.

"Oh, so that's what all the excited chatter was about," I said, "Okay, just wanted to know."

"We need to get back in there somehow," the Doctor said.

"How do we do that?" Amy asked.

"Back in where?" Thomas asked.

"The Calvierri School," I told him, "Was that girl okay?"

"Yeah, she'll be fine. Did you see where the vampire went?"

"We lost him at the canal. He must be a really good swimmer."

"Either that or he can walk on water."

"Well come on you two! Time's ticking!" the Doctor shouted at us. He had gotten a good distance away, Amy and Rory on either side of him.

"My gosh they're fast," I said.

"No kidding," Thomas replied, starting to jog up to them, me following close behind.

After a bit of walking, we found ourselves in the house of the man who was yelling at the Calvierri School earlier that day. He introduced himself as Guido, and clarified that Isabella was his daughter and he wanted to get her out of the School. Once everyone had made themselves comfortable, Guido unrolled a vellum map of the city onto the table.

"As you saw, there's no clear way in. The House of Calvierri is like a fortress," Guido said, "But there's a tunnel underneath it, with a ladder and shaft that leads up into the house. I tried to get in once myself, but I hit a trapdoor."

"You need someone on the inside," Amy said, but was quickly silenced by a no from the Doctor, "You don't even know what I was going to say."

"Er, that we pretend you and Ginny are both applicants for the school to get you both inside, and tonight one of you comes down and opens the trapdoor while the other smuggles Isabella out of the school," he said.

"Okay, why am I involved? I'm trying to distance myself from any conflict," I said.

"That's what you tried to do with the Daleks and how did that end for you?"

"Okay. Touche. I was thinking of going with Amy, but it's only because I know what's going to happen! I can keep us out of the way of guards and plot a safe route to get Isabella out!"

"Are you insane?" Rory asked me.

"A little bit, but that's besides the point."

"No, the point is that I won't allow it. You can't go putting yourself in danger every time we go somewhere," the Doctor said.

"That was the same argument you used on the Byzantium!" then in a similar tone of voice as him, "How did that end for you?"

The room fell silent for a moment as I sat down on a bench next to Thomas. I'd gone a bit too far.

"There is another option," Guido said, breaking the silence and pointing to the barrels Rory was sitting in front of, "I work at the Arsenale. We build the warships for the Navy."

The Doctor walked over and sniffed one of the barrels.

"Gunpowder. Most people just nick stationery from where they work," he said, all the while Rory looked very worried and anxious as he edged off of the barrels and over to the fireplace, "Look, I have a thing about guns and large quantities of explosive."

Guido slammed his hands against the table impatiently, "What do you suggest then? We wait until they turn her into an animal?"

Amy gave the Doctor a persuading look, and I followed suit.

"I'll," Amy looked over at me and corrected herself, "We'll be there three, four hours, tops."

"I'll get the trapdoor while Amy helps Isabella," I said, "If she's being converted she'll most likely shy away in the sun. If we go into daybreak she'll need something to cover her in the escape."

I could see Thomas shake his head slightly out of the corner of my eye. The Doctor was about to crack a smile when he caught himself.

"No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It can't keep happening like this. This is how they go," he said, sitting on the same bench as Thomas as me, making for a somewhat tight squeeze, "But I have to know. We all go together, say you're my daughters."

"What? Don't listen to him," Rory pleaded.

"Your daughter? You look about nine," Amy said.

"Brother, then," the Doctor said.

"Too weird. Fiance."

"Okay, that is where I draw the line. Amy, you're engaged! It wouldn't be right to run around with another man and claim he's your fiance instead!" I said.

"Thank you, Jenny," Rory said.

"Ginny," I corrected.

"Sorry."

"It's fine."

"You know what, Ginny? You're right," Amy said.

I must've looked really confused, "I am?"

"Yeah, they've already seen the Doctor. Rory and Thomas should do it."

"Whoa, what?" Thomas said.

"Yeah, you're good at acting. You could fool the Calvierris easily. Both of you could be our brothers." She messed with Rory's hair a bit.

"That's not flying with me, Amy. You are Rory's fiancee, not his sister."

"Oh all right, but you and Thomas have to play as boyfriend and girlfriend in return!"

I looked over at Thomas, "Are you okay with that?"

He stood up and joined us, "As long as you know I'm acting."

"I will."

"This whole thing is mental!" Rory said, "They're vampires, for God's sake."

"We hope," the Doctor chimed in.

"So if they're not vampires?" Amy asked hesitantly.

"Makes you wonder what could be so bad it doesn't actually mind us thinking it's a vampire."