The Vampires of Venice - Part Four

"Do they look, I don't know, normal?" I asked Isabella, lifting my hair to reveal two fresh bite marks. They had been throbbing ever since I woke up and it was starting to worry me a bit.

"They look just like mine did when I was bitten. Are yours sore as well?" Isabella said.

"Yeah."

"So were mine. Don't worry."

"Okay."

The Doctor had chosen to stay behind at the Calvierri House and do a bit of lurking in hope of gaining some answers. Judging by the time of his return, he didn't have to go snooping for too long. He seemed slightly agitated, but not as much as he did in the actual episode. As soon as he entered the main room of Guido's house, he tossed my sonic screwdriver to me.

"Leave that thing lying around again, and I just might confiscate it," he said, waving his finger at me.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought being ambushed would give me a bit of leeway," I retorted.

"But we're in the 1500s, Ginny. You've got to be careful with the tech you leave lying around. Understand?"

"Yes, Dad," I grumbled. Just because I was the youngest on the TARDIS didn't mean he had to treat me like I was freaking four years old. He chuckled.

"How's the bite?" he asked, pulling out his own sonic screwdriver.

"It's a real pain in the neck, now that you ask."

"I can imagine. Could you move your hair to the other side of your neck?"

I did, and for a moment, the Doctor did absolutely nothing.

"Having trouble finding the marks?" I asked. No reply. "Doc? Is everything all right?"

I looked around and saw that everyone was wearing a shocked expression on his or her face. Even Isabella seemed thoroughly surprised.

"Guys, you're freaking me out. What's wrong with my neck?!"

"Ginny, don't panic, but the bite may have triggered a jumpstart in the conversion process," the Doctor said, "You've, well, you've got fish scales on the side of your neck."

After a few short seconds of silence, I wailed, "WHAT?! AM I GONNA TURN INTO A SPACE SHRIMP?!"

"I thought I told you not to panic!" He placed a hand on my mouth, "But, no, you aren't going to become a space shrimp. On my way back from the House, I picked up a few vials of anti-venom from the TARDIS. There's a catch though."

"I don't care if the catch is vivid hallucinations of spiders with the face of Patrick Stump! Just get me right in the neck again," I said through his hand.

"Right in the teeth too," Thomas added.

"What?"

"You're growing fangs, Ginny."

Yeah, I screamed about that.

"Okay then! No time to lose. Ginny, don't make any sudden movements for a bit. I've got to be very precise with where the anti-venom is injected," the Doctor said, simultaneously tilting my head at a rather uncomfortable angle.

Suddenly, a cool sensation began to flow through my whole body. As strange as this might sound, I could actually feel the scales disappear and the fangs retract into their normal teeth shapes. Was this the catch, just a slight chill? It didn't seem like too much for the Doctor to fuss about.

"How are you feeling, Parks?" the Doctor asked, pulling out yet another syringe of the anti-venom; it must've been for Isabella.

"Well, Doc, now that you ask," I started, but that's as much normal speech I could get out of my mouth. Well, I say normal speech, but I really mean normal speech with my voice.

"Oh god," I whispered, hands covering my throat, "Did that stuff give me a freaking Adam's Apple or something? I sound like a man!"

"Not just any man," Thomas said, looking as though on the verge of fangirling, "You sound kinda like Patrick Stump."

I just had to envision him with a spider's body, didn't I? At least my conscience sounded like normal me.

"That was the catch I was trying to tell you about. Your vocal chords are going to be a bit messed up for a few hours. And also that there was a minor sedative in the mix, so you might want to make yourself comfortable somewhere," the Doctor advised.

I groaned, "Oh, come on! Haven't I passed out enough for the day?"

"Apparently not. Sorry. There's a bed on the other side of that door. I'll wake you if anything happens."

"All right." I stood up slowly and shuffled towards the door he was pointing to, "Hey, Thomas."

"Yeah?" my friend asked.

"If my voice is still Stumped up when we're through here, do you wanna have a jam session in the TARDIS?"

"Dude, yes! That would be awesome!"

"Great. Now, time to have that nap."

I pretty much flopped onto the bed as soon as it was in my sights, not even bothering with pulling the blankets over me.

I suppose the side effects could've been worse. I mean, I could've gotten the Doctor's dancing skills, so having the voice of Fall Out Boy's singer was sounding like a much better alternative the more I thought about it.

My thoughts must've continued even after I dozed off because I found myself having a really vivid dream about Pete Wentz telling Patrick that I had replaced him, and then Patrick went all crazy like he did in the Youngblood Chronicles and started chasing me all over the concert venue. Then, when Patrick had me cornered, hook hand raised and all, Thomas came out of nowhere with an electric guitar and strummed the Stump into a wall. I think he might've said something along the lines of "Don't mess with my girl," but I couldn't remember how he worded it. But, just as he was about to pull me in for a kiss, I was being haphazardly shaken awake.

"Up and at 'em, Parks! We've got some space shrimp company," the Doctor said as he pulled me to my feet.

Needless to say that any sluggishness I felt a few minutes ago was completely gone, and I didn't need to be told to run twice. I'm still not ashamed to say that I actually pushed the Doctor out of the way and jumped down half the flight of stairs. Granted, I collided with Thomas' back, but still, I was sort of antsy. Can you really blame a girl for being so?

Guido and the Doctor were a few feet behind me, and knowing fully well what could happen, I grabbed for Guido's arm and pulled until he was well out of the doorway.

"There are better times to be a noble man, Guido. This is not one of those times," I said, whipping out my sonic and raising it in the air.

Point and think, right? I thought, pressing down on the activation button. A high-pitched frequency began to emit from the screwdriver, causing everyone but the Doctor to cover his or her ears.

"What do you think you're doing? You're gonna draw them out!" Thomas shouted.

"That's the point!" I replied.

"You're completely mad, Ginny!" Amy exclaimed.

"Oh, tell me something I don't know!"

"You're sterilizing the whole batch of them so they can't repopulate," the Doctor exclaimed, "Oh, that's clever!"

Thank you telepathic screwdriver.

All of a sudden, the door broke down and gave way to several eel-faced and crab-bodied aliens with rather viciously bared fangs.

"Okay, you sterilized the batch. Now what?!" Rory asked frantically.

"Now, we need live bait," I said, then broke into a run straight for the canals, a cacophony of worried shouts and calls echoing behind me. I had a thing in mind, yes, but I was completely screwed if it didn't work.

As I ran through the back alleyways, I cleared my mind of everything except the TARDIS Telepathic Circuits. I had to make an emergency call.

Erm, Old Girl? I'm kind of in the middle of a death sentence right now unless you decide to Vworp Vworp on over here and save my stupid American hide! That would be great!

The canals were coming up fast; I didn't think about it. The Saturnynes were gaining on me; I didn't think about them either. All I thought about was getting the heck out of here.

And then I fell into the water.

The Saturnynes followed shortly after in an organized death dive for dinner. Only trouble was that dinner was dematerializing right before their eyes. I glanced down at my underwater-blurred hand and saw that it was growing more and more translucent, and when I looked around me, the canal was starting to evanesce and be replaced by the console room's interior.

Once everything became completely opaque, I slid down onto the glass floor and began rocking back and forth.

Holy crap. That just happened. Oh, god. I feel like I'm gonna be sick. Did that really just happen? I thought while I rocked.

Something whirred to life on the console and a pair of holographic ankle-boots stood in front of me.

"Sending a message to the Doctor's screwdriver would be recommended, Miss Parks. He's very worried," the TARDIS interface said, using the Doctor's voice.

"Oh, right! Thanks for reminding me!" I said, hurrying to the console and stopping suddenly, "Um, how do you send messages?"

"I have already activated the device to do so. All you need to say is 'Record message now'."

"Um, okay," I cleared my throat, "Uh, record message now."

Something dinged in the background.

"Hey, Doctor? I'm okay. I'm on the TARDIS, and I think I might just sit the rest of Venice out. Tell everyone else I'm fine, and let me know when you've saved the world. See you in a bit!" I paused for a moment and looked at the holographic Doctor, "Now what?"

"Say 'Send message now'."

"Thanks. Send message now."

"Your message has been sent to the Doctor's screwdriver."

The interface vanished, leaving only the sound of the parking breaks to resonate through the control room.

The next few minutes seemed to pass by at an unbearably slow race. I risked a peek outside, which resulted in getting even more wet than I was when I arrived. So, the world had not been saved yet. Great.

It actually got to the point where I started to test out my Stumped out voice on a few songs. I had gotten halfway through "Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes," when I heard an uproar of cheers on the other side of the TARDIS doors.

Well, time to get lectured on being reckless, I thought, Might as well brace myself.

I'll admit it, my plan was pretty stupid and could've been executed better, but if the Doctor could do it, then why couldn't I?

Because you're human, a voice in the back of my head said, and truth be told, it had a perfectly valid point. Humans couldn't regenerate.

There were excited voices right outside the door.

"Stay. With us. Please. Just for a bit. I want you to stay, and I'm sure Ginny would want Thomas to stay too," Amy said.

"Fine with me!" the Doctor beamed.

I could hear Thomas scoff a bit in sheer surprise.

"Yeah? Yes, we would like that," Rory said happily.

"Nice one!" Amy cheered, "I will pop the kettle on," the door opened a crack, and I dove out of sight, "Hey, Ginny, look at this! We've got our spaceship and our boys! My work here is done."

When Amy first caught sight of me, I wasn't able to register her facial expression because I was thrown into a bone-crushing hug.

"You scared me more than that Fazbear thing, you crazy redhead," she exclaimed.

"Look who's talking about crazy redheads," I wheezed, "I'd say I'm sorry, but I can't really breathe!"

Thankfully, she ended the hug and let my lungs recover for only a brief moment.

Unfortunately, the Doctor wasn't quite as merciful with his hug. Rory and Thomas had to literally pry him off of me because I was starting to feel light-headed.

"We're having a talk about your recklessness later, young lady!" he said, waggling a finger at me as he set the TARDIS into dematerialization.

"Yes, sir," I moaned, smirking a bit.

I then turned to the Williams brothers.

"Welcome to Team TARDIS. Good luck finding the bathroom."