Purple Vortex [II]

Tooth & Claw Pt2:

Galaxy was wearing a black and white long-sleeved period dress that had a red bow on her hip. "How do I look?" She asked him as she walked up to him and closed his mouth since it had dropped at the sight of her. "Beautiful, as always." He told her smiling and she found herself blushing a bit, "Shall we?" He asked putting an arm out. "We shall." She linked her arm with her own and they two walked toward the dining room.

"Your companion begs an apology, Doctor. Her clothing has somewhat delayed her." A man said when he saw the two enter the room. "Oh, that's all right. Save her a wee bit of ham." The Doctor said as he pulled out a chair for Galaxy which had her smiling at him as he took a seat beside her. "The feral child could probably eat it raw," Victoria noted. "Very wise, Ma'am. Very witty." Reynolds agreed laughing a bit. "Slight witty, perhaps. I know you rarely get the chance to dine with me, Captain, but don't get too excited. I shall contain my wit in case I do you further injury."

"Yes, Ma'am. Sorry, Ma'am." "Besides, we're all waiting on Sir Robert. Come, sir. You promised us a tale of nightmares." The Doctor said as he looked at Robert. "indeed. Since my husband's death, I find myself with more of a taste for supernatural fiction." Victoria said. "You must really miss him." Galaxy said, she could understand how she felt, she did for the years she spent on Earth after getting stranded.

"Very much. All, completely. And that's the charm of a ghost story, isn't it? Not the scares and chills, that's just for children, but the hope of some contact with the great beyond. We all want some message from that place. It's the Creator's greatest mystery that we're allowed no such consolation. The dead stay silent, and we must wait. Come. Begin your tale, Sir Robert. There's a chill in the air. The wind is howling through the eaves. Tell us of monsters."

"The story goes back 300 hundred years. Every full moon, the howling rings through the valley. The next morning, livestock is found ripped apart and devoured." Robert began his tale. "Tales live that just disguise the work of thieves. Steal a sheep and blame a wolf, simple as that." Reynolds scoffed. "But sometimes a child goes missing. Once in a generation, a boy will vanish from his homestead."

"Are there any descriptions of said creature?" Galaxy asked him curiously. "Oh, yes. Drawings and woodcarvings. And it's not merely a wolf. It's more than that. This is a man who becomes an animal." Robert explained and that had both the time lords interest. "A werewolf?" The Doctor asked. "My father didn't treat it as a story. He said it was a fact. He even claimed to have communed with the beast, to have learned its purpose. I should have listened. His work was hindered. He made enemies. There's a monastery in the Glen of Saint Catherine. The Brethren opposed my father's investigations."

"Perhaps they thought his work ungodly," Victoria suggested while Galaxy eyed the man that had told her and the Doctor about Rose being late and was able to pick up chanting coming from him. "That's what I thought. But now I wonder. What if they had a different reason for wanting the story kept quiet? What if they turned from God and worshipped the wolf?" Robert asked. "And what if they were with us right now?" Galaxy asked and the others saw her staring at the man.

"What is the meaning of this?" Victoria asked. "Explain yourself, Sir Robert!" Reynolds ordered. "What's happening?" "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, they've got my wife," Robert told her and Galaxy and the Doctor realised they also had Rose. "Where's Rose? Where is she?" The Doctor shouted to the man but he just kept chanting, "Come on." He said before running out the room with Robert and Galaxy close behind.

Robert guided the two down a corridor and to a door to the cellar which the Doctor kicked down before he and Galaxy ran in. "Where the hell have you two been?" Rose asked as Galaxy helped her up before looking at what the Doctor was which at the now transformed werewolf.

"Oh, that's beautiful." The Doctor whispered as he looked at it and Galaxy would agree, if there weren't people in danger. "Come on, get. Get out!" Robert ordered his staff right as the werewolf broke from its cage. "Out! Out! Out! Out! Out! Out! Out! Out!" The Doctor shouted as he pushed the people out of the room.

Galaxy groaned a bit when she saw the Doctor still looking at the werewolf with admiration and pulled him out the way when the werewolf threw a piece of the cage at him before pushing out the room, she quickly saw another piece get thrown and she looked at it before it suddenly got thrown in a different direction.

She ran out of the room and locked the door with her sonic key and sighed slightly while closing her eyes before she ran down the corridor and caught up with the Doctor and Rose with the wolf's howl echoing throughout the house.

The three soon made it to the gun room where the steward was handing the guns to the men. "Arms, and you five. Ready, everyone? Take the girls. Get them out through the kitchen." The Steward ordered. "I can't leave you. What will you do?" Isobel asked her husband. "I must defend her Majesty. Now, don't think of me, just go." "All of you, at my side. Come on!" Isobel ordered the women before they went out of the room.

"I could be any form of light modulated species triggered by specific wavelengths. Did it say what it wanted?" The Doctor asked Rose as Galaxy removed the shackles from her wrists with her sonic. "The Queen, the Crown, the throne - you name it," Rose told them right as a crash of something bursting through some wood reached them. The Doctor left Rose and Galaxy to investigate and ended up seeing the werewolf at the other end of the passageway before he ran back in and grabbed Rose and Galaxy and pulled them away from the door.

"Fire! Fire!" The Steward ordered and the men started shooting at the werewolf making it flee back through the door. "All right, you men. We should retreat upstairs. Come with me." The Doctor said once they had stopped shooting. "I'll not retreat. The battle's done. There's no creature on God's Earth that could survive an assault."

"I'm telling you, come upstairs!" "And I'm telling you, sir, I will sleep well tonight with that thing's hide upon my wall." The Steward said before stepping toward the doorway of the corridor before looking back into the room, "It must have crawled away to die." He said before he was suddenly lifted up to the ceiling. "There's nothing we can do!" The Doctor told them before he, Galaxy and Rose retreated upstairs with Robert following them while the men stayed behind and the sounds of snarling and tearing flesh slowly got quieter the further away the four got.