Chapter 26

Father Issues.

The night was long, cold, and the moon shone brightly in the sky, making the place oddly beautiful.

The Doctor and Stoker were standing outside the guesthouse, the Doctor looking up at the abbey with his spyglass.

Raven watched longingly. She wanted to go to the Doctor, she wasn't having fun, she wanted to be with her toy. But she couldn't leave Marya. Why couldn't she leave Marya? She didn't know.

Using her mind Raven projected her consciousness over to the Doctor to hear what he was saying.

"Dash it all, shouldn't we contact the local constabulary?" Stoker asked as he gazed up at the abbey.

"And explain to them that my friend has been abducted by a pack of hungry vampires?" There was sarcasm in the Doctors voice, "I'm sure they'll only be too happy to help."

"No, but we adjust the truth, tell them that she's being held against her will." Stoker explained and coughed, "Tell them its a cult, or even a ripper like Jack back in London."

"What do you expect the police to do exactly? Break into the abbey screaming 'Oi, evening all. But you super strong, vampiric creatures with supernatural powers are under arrest and will be retained at her majesties pleasure'?"

"Well, when you phrase it like that." Stoker stroked his beard.

Funny, Raven thought, the Doctor was complaining about how she was being too obvious to Stoker about his future works before, and yet the Doctor was practically living the story of Dracula in front of him. Her toy was such an adorable hypocrite.

The Doctor was looking directly at her, and cheerfully gave her a wave. Raven cocked her head to one side and raised her hand in greeting, then motioned with her finger for the Doctor to come to her. She wanted her toy, now.

The Doctor tried sending telepathic messages to her. Raven couldn't hear them but she could feel them bouncing against her consciousness, it tickled.

"I think we should discuss our plans in private." The Doctor said turning around on the grass and strolled towards the TARDIS, Stoker following. He inserted the key in the lock. But before opening it he turned to Stoker and said firmly. "Now, you mustn't breathe a word of this to anyone. Understand? Anyone. Do not speak of it, do not write of it. It's all very hush, hush, you see."

Stoker looked around the box. "What exactly is a Police Public Call Box?"

"Ah... You'll find out. London won't get its first Telephone Kiosk for 13 years." The Doctor opened the door.

"Telephone Kiosk? You mean like those new things in the states? Telephones in boxes?" Stoker asked as the Doctor stepped inside.

"Similar. You know the first was made in Berlin in 1881 but you had to buy a ticket." The Doctors voice sounded like it was receding into the small space.

"Doctor? Good grief. Where did you go?" Stoker said as he watched the Doctors form vanish into the black void between the TARDIS exterior and interior. Gingerly he stepped inside too.

"Good heavens!" He cried. Then the doors closed and Raven could no longer hear them. She just watched the blue box sitting there. Her toy was back in its box. She wanted the box, the box was his home. The box was her home.

"RAVEN! Come here!" Marya hissed. She was awake.

Raven tore her gaze away from the box and approached Marya, the other two looking like ghostly spectres next to her.

"Tell me," Marya said as she gazed into Raven soul again, "Do you love the Doctor?" Raven didn't know how to answer that, so just said simply. "He is my toy."

"But do you love him?" Marya asked again. Something in her mind just wouldn't connect those words together. "Do you love your 'toy'?" she asked instead.

"Yes, I love my toy, I want to play with my toy." Raven said happily.

"And you will." Marya said, "But do you fight? Does the Doctor make you angry?"

"He..." Raven hesitated, "...displeases me, makes me sad, makes me angry."

"Good," Marya said slowly. "Do you love your father?" Raven felt a wave of nausea and fear grip her.

"My father, is..." she hesitated "...no, my father is..." she hesitated again, "...my father hurts. My father is... death."

"Listen to me, and believe." Marya said gazing even deeper into Ravens mind, "The Doctor is your father, in disguise."

"I wish he was my father." Raven said lazily until she realised what Marya actually meant. "The Doctor... in disguise... no, that is not right." Raven rejected. "The Doctor is... nice."

"Listen and believe me." Marya said, "Time Lords can change their appearance, yes?"

"Regeneration." Raven murmured.

"One of his past selves was your biological father." Marya tried to force the point.

"That is not right. I have seen his other faces." Raven rejected the implanted memory again.

"Have you seen all of them? All..." Marya paused, Raven felt something rummaging in her mind. "Nine of him?"

"There are only eight Doctors." Raven countered.

"Did you know he had one before?" Marya said.

"That is a lie. There are no more. I have been in his head, I can sense the presence of eight people in one. He can't hide them from me." Raven felt some clarity start to come back to her mind, as if there was a gap in the fog and she could see Marya for what she was. But it was as if something waved a hand in front of her and pulled the fog back over her brain.

"It is true."

"Liar." Raven insisted.

"Listen and believe me." Marya said, "I am your 'friend' and I only want what is best for you."

"You... want what is best for me..." Raven droned.

"The Doctor makes you angry and sad, your father makes you angry and sad. They are one and the same. The Doctor tricked you." Raven knew for a fact that was a total lie, all of it. But she felt it being forced into her brain. She found that she didn't want to displease Marya. She felt like she'd found her 'family' and she didn't want to be ejected from it. "The Doctor is your father."

"The Doctor... is Trigon." She accepted. Marya actually retreated at the name.

"Yes, believe my words. The Doctor is... your father; and we will help you destroy him." Marya said.

"I will destroy him..."

Marya broke contact and left Raven in an hypnotic state. She could hear what went on around her, but her brain did not process it. It was now like events washed over her while her brain was in standby.

"I see now why she fears her father. Now those emotions will be aimed at the Doctor." Marya laughed, and said to Barry and James as Marya played with a strand of Ravens hair. "The human mind can be so easy to manipulate to your bidding. If you know how."

She turned back to her two minions. "Barry, go to the Doctor and give him an ultimatum. Tell him we will turn his friend into a vampire if he does not come to us." Barry agreed and walked away, back down the steps into Whitby town.

Marya turned to Raven and removed her spell. Raven still felt like she was in a dream, and it was pleasant. It still felt wrong, like it wasn't reality, but she liked it this way.

"Come, we must prepare." and Marya strolled away with James and Raven walking side by side behind her.

Raven still felt something struggling inside her head. Why couldn't it just be still and be happy? She was happy... wasn't she?

"Do... you like me... James?" Raven asked.

"No." He said dully. Raven felt sad.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because you are a posh lass, and all posh lasses are horrid." James said sharply back to her.

"You felt what you did was... justified?" Raven asked, why was she asking these questions? It was the thing moving through the fog in her mind. Why wouldn't it stay still? It would spoil this pleasant little family. But James said he didn't like her. Did any of them?

"After everything I've been through in my life? Yes. It's justified." James said firmly, "Treated like dirt. Kicked around. Looked down on. Now its my turn to be on top. My turn to hurt people. Like they hurt me." But James didn't just hurt them, he killed them.

"But don't you want to be at peace?" Raven asked.

"No. I want revenge."

"But, you got your revenge." Raven said back.

"I want revenge against everyone else who'd treat me like dirt!" James insisted.

"I wouldn't have treated you like dirt."

"You pushed past me and ignored me!" James sounded like there was a hint of anger.

"I'm like that with everyone, everybody. You're nothing special, nor lesser than anyone else." James looked like he was about to hit her.

"What are you doing?" Marya shouted, grabbing James and stopped him.

"She's questioning." James said and Marya looked at her, deep into her soul.

Marya groaned, "She's broken free and she's trying to re-assert some control." and with a wave of Marya's hand the struggling in her brain stopped, she was totally pacified now. "I can sense someone in the abbey, come James, let us feed and regain our strength for what is to come."

The three now walked in silence. Raven felt like her mind was in a straight jacket now, unable to even think. But she decided one thing before she lost control.

She hated James, she hated Marya, she hated the Children of the Night. But she couldn't break away from them.

Where is her toy? She longed for it so badly now, but she couldn't remember what her toy even was.

Where is my toy? Where is my toy? I WANT my toy!

You can't have it, they won't let you have it.

When they entered the ruins of the abbey they'd found a couple who'd gone within to have a quick fling. They were kissing when the three arrived. Marya forced Raven to keep them held down while Marya and James fed on them. Raven felt like she should feel something as all the blood was drained from their bodies and their life force died. When she dropped them they were a pair of husk like rag-dolls, and Marya made Raven fling them out the window like rubbish.

Barry had now returned. He told Marya that he'd relayed the message to the Doctor, and he'd be coming soon.

"Are we really going to turn this girl into a Vampire?" Barry asked in disgust, aware Raven could not process these words. They were entering her mind, but she couldn't think about them.

"No. We can't, nor can we kill her." Marya said, taking Ravens jaw in her hand and squeezing it, making Raven look at her. "She's a 'handshake' like me, the demon who fathered her will have some protection against her dying before her time." and she flung Ravens face back. "That's why I stayed in hiding all these years, feasting on nothing but flat cattle up and down the country and the odd stray human. I had no such protection. But my 'purpose' is gone, my heritage destroyed. So I don't need to hide anymore."

"Then what are we going to do with her?" Barry asked.

"Ah, she is powerful, and useful." Marya smiled and giggled, "If we keep persuading her our enemies are also her own, then she can be a useful weapon to us. I've made her emotionally dependant on us. We can gladly clothe her, feed her, give her what she needs, and if she ever refuses to follow our line we threaten to throw her out into a cold and 'hostile' world. At least she'll believe the world is hostile once I'm done with her." She pinched Raven's chin and gently lifted it up. "Humans are so easy to manipulate if you instill 'fear' in just the right areas." and she pressed down on Raven's nose to bring her head back down and level.

Raven felt cold and empty now and she wasn't aware why.

"Where is my toy?" she asked, tears were starting to well in her eyes, "Where is my toy, I WANT my toy!"

"Shut up!" Marya said fixing Raven with a stare that stopped all emotion. The Vampire groaned. "We'll need to keep a close eye on her. Once we've dealt with the Doctor."

There was a loud screech and a familiar noise filled the air. Raven watched as among the rubble, a wavy, green and purple mist appeared to be floating in mid air, the colours of the Time Vortex. A wheezy groan sounded, like some kind of engine was coming down. A bright, blue light flashed with the wheezy groan as a dark form of a Police Box materialised where it had not existed before, it all stopped with a 'ka-chud'.

Raven had never seen what the TARDIS looked like when it entered and left reality.

The TARDIS?!

"My home..." Raven said taking a step forward. "I want to go to my home..."

"STOP!" Marya said, holding her hand up, and Raven obeyed.

The trio gathered around the TARDIS and waited for the Doctor to come out.

"Come out, Doctor!" Marya cried, "Come out, or I'll kill Raven."

But the door didn't open, the Doctor wasn't coming out.

With their attention on the TARDIS Raven heard someone come up behind her and whisper into her ear.

"Zagreus sits inside your head." She felt a pressure on her mind from outside as she was prompted to finish it.

"Zagreus lives among the dead." She said.

"Zagreus sees you in your bed." The voice said, she liked the sound of the voice. It was so soft and musical.

"And eats you when you're sleeping." She finished.

"Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb. Mary had a little lamb, it's fleece was white as snow." The voice said.

"Everywhere that Mary went that lamb was sure to go." She finished, the more she spoke the more the fog in her mind seemed to clear.

"Humpty, dumpty sat on a wall,..." and the voice retreated away from her. No, come back, please!

"...Humpty dumpty had a great fall. All the kings horses and all the kings men, couldn't put humpty together again." The fog cleared further.

"What did she say?" James asked, "She just spoke!"

"It's just submerged thoughts her surface mind is trying to express in ways I've limited." Marya turned back to the TARDIS and hammered on it. "Open up and come out."

"And if I do, you'll kill me?" The Doctor's voice said, echoing from the TARDIS.

"Not yet." Marya said, "We need a Time Lords knowledge to operate your machine."

"What for?" The Doctor asked.

"I'm going to use it to rip open a portal to the Yssgaroth home dimension, so we can flood in." Marya said smiling. "And feed."

"Ah, so it's not just my safety that is in danger, but that of the whole universe." The Doctor summarised. "Then I've decided, I'm not coming out."

"We will kill your companion!" Marya threatened

"If its the choice between her or the universe then there is no competition." the Doctor said, "Bye, bye, Rae-Rae. I will miss you." and the TARDIS engines started up again. No, please, don't go!

"NO! Raven, stop him!" Marya commanded, and Raven held up her hands and cast the TARDIS in a dark bubble. She then began playing with the outer TARDIS shell, stretching it, and bending it. The TARDIS screamed into the ether as Raven did this, its cries battered against the fog in her mind. She felt herself shivering at the sound of its pain, but it was stopping the TARDIS from taking off. Only when the TARDIS stopped making the wheezy-groan did Raven stop and the TARDIS snapped back into shape.

"When Raven wakes up she's going to be very annoyed you've been playing with her mind." The Doctor said through the TARDIS, "I've felt her wrath before. In fact, one second, where did I leave those strepsils?"

Marya's face was contorted into an angular, vicious face of anger as she glided towards Raven, parted her cloak and reached down her corset to fish for her broach.

Mine are still bigger. Came a voice through the fog in Raven's mind. What did that mean?

Marya pulled the broach out, and pulled the TARDIS key from under it, and Marya dropped the broach on the floor, discarding it. Ravens eyes followed it as it lay on the floor. That is mine! I want it back!

"You forget Doctor, I have a key to your ship. If you won't come out. I'll go in there after you!" and she opened the door and stepped inside, the outer door slamming shut again before James nor Barry could enter. James pressed on the door. But it was locked again. They hammered on the door but the TARDIS refused them entry.

"Don't do that." said a voice coolly from behind Raven, "You'll scratch the paintwork."

Barry and James spun around and a look of surprise passed their faces. "DOCTOR?!" James shouted "How?!" He advanced, but something made him stop.

"I was never in the TARDIS." The Doctor explained. "I pre-set the coordinates and made the TARDIS take off on a solo journey. I then spoke into 'this.'" Though Raven couldn't see she guessed the Doctor lifted something up to his mouth and spoke. His voice sounded like it came from the TARDIS. "To make you think I was inside."

Stoker then appeared around her, brandishing some kind of rifle.

"This is loaded with silver shot." He said, "So don't move, you blaggards!" In his trouser belt he also had what looked like a polished, silver blade of some kind.

The Doctor then appeared holding his silver pocket watch and some kind of silver bladed dagger, which he was holding across himself in a defensive posture.

James and Barry retreated. "He's out here!" He cried banging on the TARDIS. "The Doctor is out here!"

"I'm afraid she can't hear you now." The Doctor said, pocketing his little device. "Unless she figures out which control is the scanner she can't hear anything outside." The Doctor then turned towards Raven and took her by the arm.

"Father?" Raven asked like an innocent child as she saw his thin face. She tilted her head to one side and asked again. "Father?"

"Father?" the Doctor questioned, "Better than 'toy' I suppose. No, it's the Doctor. Come on, lets get you away."

Her eyes began to glow brightly and her face contorted into a mask of rage. "Father!" she spat.

"No, Raven. I'm your friend!" The Doctor said, holding her arm firmly.

Raven blasted the Doctor off his feet and across the room with her powers. Her boots impacted the ground loudly as she approached him, her head lowered and her shoulders raised up, her arms wide, her fingers splayed like claws. Eyes blank and glowing, her face twisted into one of utter hatred.

"Father! I hate you!" she said "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!" and she leapt at him like a vicious beast.

To Be Continued...

Authors notes: Uh oh... the Doctors in trouble now. :P

I've technically got chapter 27 written up already, but I think it needs a little polish. Depending on how long it is, it might deal with some dark subjects. I'll let you know at the start of chapter 27 it is does. So stay tuned. ;)

As always, thank you to you guys who keep on reading and writing reviews and feedback, you guys are awesome. :D