Fic: Red Rain (5/5)
Title: Red Rain
Author: juliejordan
Rating: R
Spoilers: Through to and including "Doomsday"
Summary: The Tenth Doctor and Rose find themselves in a Wild West town in 1800s California where young women are being turned into monsters and a cataclysmic event threatens the security of the entire planet. Can they put things right again before it's too late?
Author Notes: This story was written for the wendymr's and dark_aegis Rose Tyler Ficathon. I wrote this fic for grace61, who wanted any Doctor including Nine or Ten, romance but within a plot and no heavy angst. Special thanks to brienze for being such an incredible beta reader. This is a Ten/Rose tale set in a slightly AU where Rose remains with the Doctor in her own world after events of the episode "Doomsday", and contains some graphic scenes of a sexual nature. This is the final chapter. Thanks to all who have read and reviewed.
Chapter One: One Day Out West
Chapter Two: Story Time
Chapter Three: The Hunting Party
Chapter Four: Vampire Slayers
Chapter Five
Intervention
The Doctor put a steadying hand on Rose’s chest as she tried to sit up. He sat on the floor, leaning against the bar and held Rose against him, cushioning her head on his lap.
They were back in the saloon. After Rose had been knocked out, he’d found himself forced to retreat. He’d managed to scoop her up and had successfully made a run for it, fleeing back into the bar and locking them in. Unless invited, the vampires were unable to enter Margaret’s house.
“My head,” she groaned, raising a hand to the back of her head and wincing.
“Watch yourself. He hit you pretty hard.”
“Frances…they -”
“Took her. I know. I’d hoped that wouldn’t happen,” he sighed. It had been going so well, too. All according to plan, until those other vampires had appeared.
“Why do they want her? They took her blood when they first made her into a vampire, didn’t they?” asked Rose.
“They did, but they can still use her body. The blood is used to cast the spell that’s needed to bring about the red rain. Once Gheab comes, he’d gladly eat the bodies of the girls, too. The vampires are just trying to keep him happy, really. That’s why they’re holding the other girls. They plan to feast on them in celebration once their God descends,” the Doctor told her, remembering what he’d read in the book back in the TARDIS.
Rose shuddered. “Well even if the girls are vampires already, we can’t let that happen, can we? We should save them.”
“I think most of them are beyond saving. Frances might even be…if she gets to drink human blood - and they’ll probably force some down her to have her nice and tasty for when Gheab comes - there’ll be no turning back for her. She’ll lose that last bit of goodness she’s clinging onto. She’ll become just another vampire, with no conscience at all.”
“But we’ve gotta try, haven’t we? We need to stop that ritual in any case,” said Rose.
“Only after you rest. That was a nasty knock; I’m not taking any chances with you. Anyway, it’s nearly daylight. The town is safe…for now.”
“What about Margaret? We’ve got to let her out of that cellar some time,” Rose pointed out.
They’d have to, yes, he agreed. He wasn’t looking forward to that, knowing that she’d be more than a little angry at them, but they couldn’t keep her down there forever and she deserved to be told of Frances’ fate.
“And the ritual? That’s only two days away. They could still easily get the two more girls they need,” reasoned Rose.
“I don’t think the plan of just slaying the vampires to stop them getting more girls is going to work. There’s too many to stop them that way. We need to find a counter-spell that will stop the ritual. After I’ve let Margaret out, we’ll come to the TARDIS again and we won’t leave until we’ve found the answers we need. I just hope we can find them in time.”
“What happens if we don’t?” asked Rose.
“The Earth is doomed for all eternity.”
“Right. So no pressure at all, then.”
* * * *
They freed Margaret from the cellar and, after receiving a lecture that rivalled the one they’d got from Queen Victoria, went back to the TARDIS to do more research.
The Doctor had countless books and Rose knew it would be literally impossible to scan them all in just two days, even if they worked every single moment from now until then.
Still, she tried. She scanned so many books that the text soon became blurred as she pored over the pages, and she wished she’d never see another book again.
“What happens if we do find the spell?” she inquired hours after they’d started their search.
“We go as close to their lair as we can without being seen and I’ll perform the incantation. I’m just hoping it won’t be a spell that’ll need a lot of ingredients. We’re cutting it close enough as it is.”
“But there IS a spell?” she checked.
“All rituals can be stopped. It’s just a matter of knowing how,” he replied. After his encounter with the Beast, the Doctor had studied up on demons in case he ever faced one again and had become well educated on the subject of mythology. During these studies, the Doctor had unearthed some very interesting discoveries. Accounts of Hellmouth’s and magic and all sorts of other things he’d previously not believed in looked like they could actually exist.
“I’m starting to wish we’d gone to Salem after all. Even with their paranoia, it can’t be worse than this.”
But Rose knew they didn’t have enough time for chatter, so she focused her full attention on the books again.
* * * *
They stayed in the TARDIS library for nearly the whole two days.
Rose fell asleep several times, not meaning to, but needing it, due to her human status.
The Doctor didn’t berate her for it or try to deprive her. It wasn’t her fault and couldn’t be helped.
But now there was only a matter of hours left, and even he was beginning to doubt they’d find it. He had so many books, and they’d not even looked through a quarter of them. Time, and hope, were running out.
Fast.
“Doctor!”
He had been lost in some ancient Egyptian book when Rose called to him excitedly.
“In here! It mentions ‘red rain’!”
He hurried to her side and she moved slightly so that he could read the text. He scanned it, his hope growing with each word. This was it! They’d actually found it. Amazing!
“Rose! You…you know what you are?” he smiled at her “You’re a bloody genius!”
He kissed her on the forehead in celebration and she laughed.
“I found it? In time?” she clearly couldn’t believe it.
“And luckily this is just a word spell - no ingredients required. Seems like luck’s on our side, for the moment,” he said “Well, let’s not stand here all day - we need to get to that graveyard.”
He picked up the book and tucked it under his arm and together they finally left the TARDIS.
* * * *
The minute Rose stepped outside again; she could sense something was wrong. There was a feeling in the atmosphere that she couldn’t explain.
She looked up. The sky was blackening. Night was coming fast. In just minutes it would be dark completely and the moon would be at its fullest.
They began journeying to the lair when a loud clap of thunder sounded above their heads. Flashes of lightning followed - big flashes of fork lightning that lit up the town, momentarily illuminating it in a silver glow.
“The ritual! They’re starting!”
“Couldn’t it just be a regular storm?”
“On tonight of all nights? I wouldn’t bet on it.”
He grabbed her hand and they ran as fast as they could towards the cemetery.
The vampires were above ground. Several of them. At least two dozen. And the bodies of the missing girls were tied to huge stakes that were stuck into the ground. The vampires had formed a circle in front of the staked girls and one stood in the middle, his hands raised as he chanted loudly.
“And as the Heavens open above our heads the rain will turn to blood as I offer the great Gheab thirteen female virgins of the human species…”
More lightning allowed Rose a better look and she saw that Frances was tied to one of the stakes.
“Stop them!” she yelled to the Doctor, the thunder so loud she had to shout to be heard.
Not wasting anymore time, the Doctor read from the book he carried, using the torch function on the sonic screwdriver to see the text. He read quickly, though still every word was clearly pronounced. She knew he couldn’t mess it up, otherwise…
The thunder and lightning were almost constant now, and rain pelted down from the thick storm clouds. Normal rain at first, but it quickly changed.
“Doctor! It’s blood! It’s raining blood - we’re too late!” she panicked as it soaked her, dirtying her clothes, skin and hair.
A roar screamed out from over their heads. Not thunder, a different kind of roar.
A demon’s roar.
“Gheab! He comes!” exclaimed the spell-casting vampire.
The Doctor kept reading, even faster.
The ground suddenly began to shake beneath their feet and there was another awful roar, though this time it sounded pained, angry.
The black demonic shape that had started to form just above them writhed and twisted, howling in rage as it was sucked back to where-ever it had come from. The rain turned from blood back to its usual form and then stopped altogether, and the storm ended as the clouds evaporated like magic.
“Nooooooo!” the vampire screamed in rage, and Rose gulped as they all turned to face her and the Doctor.
“Kill them,” the vampire ordered simply, pointing a finger at the time travellers.
“Rose? Run.”
He took her hand and pulled, forcing her to move. Running at top speed, they left the cemetery grounds and hurried to the TARDIS as fast as they could. The vampires chased after them like an angry village mob.
They were chased through the town. Past the shops, through the main street…
“We’re not gonna make it!” Rose shrieked after turning her head and seeing how close the vampires were to them. There was no way they could out run -
The TARDIS!
All of a sudden there it was, right where they left it. If they could just reach it -
The feeling of a hand on her shoulder caused Rose to scream in shock as she felt herself getting grabbed from behind. One of the vampires had yanked her backwards and now held her tightly, his arm locked around her neck in a near death grip.
“Doctor,” she managed a strangled cry. It was becoming hard to breathe.
“You ruined the ritual. You halted the coming of Gheab for a whole thousand years,” he snarled in her ear.
“Release her!”
If Rose could have looked around, she would have, the sound of Frances’ voice causing everyone to pause.
“Why?” asked the male vampire, genuinely curious “What’s it to you? She’s just another human. She hates you, like she hates us.”
“No!” protested Frances “She tried to help me. Now I must return the favour before I become filled completely with hate and evil like you!”
“Frances,” gasped Rose “How did you get free?”
“It seems the ropes were tied poorly on one of us. As the Gheab was coming, Bessie used the distraction to free herself, then all of us. We pretended we were still captive, but as soon as you all started to run, so did we.”
The vampire holding Rose turned himself and Rose away from the Doctor, and Rose saw that thirteen girls, including Frances, had joined them. Like Frances, the other young women all wore the face of a demon, but it was clear to see whose side they were on.
“Release her,” Frances repeated her order. Rose was amazed at how confident the other girl appeared. There almost wasn’t a trace of the timid little thing she’d first met.
When the vampire hesitated, Frances pulled something from the pocket of the apron she wore over her dress.
A stake.
“Where did you get that?” Rose’s eyes widened.
“It’s the stake the Doctor gave to me. I never lost it. As they dragged me off, I managed to slip it into my apron pocket without them noticing. I thought I may need it later,” she explained, a mischief in her voice that Rose had never heard before.
“Well aren’t you a tricky little thing,” sneered the vampire holding Rose “But one stake won’t save you, or your friends.”
“No,” agreed Frances “It’ll take more than just me, I’m sure you’re right.”
But she still drilled the stake through his heart. The targeted vampire turned to dust, and Rose was freed.
“Run!” Frances told them “We’ll handle the rest.”
“But there’s too many!” the Doctor said, and Rose realised what was going to happen.
“Frances, you can’t. You and the girls will all be -”
“It will be better than being forced to spend an eternity like this. Please. Run. And don’t look back.”
Rose looked at the Doctor with uncertainty, but he took her hand.
“I’m sorry, Frances,” he apologised “If -”
“There is no other way. Please, just go,” she instructed.
The Doctor nodded, gave her and the other girl’s one final look of gratitude, and then turned away, pulling Rose with him.
As they ran for the safety of the TARDIS, Rose could hear growls and screams behind her and could smell the stench of the undead as they ripped each other to pieces.
* * * *
The Doctor looked down at the girl in his lap as he sat on the soft bed, holding her in his arms as the time ship drifted aimlessly in space, Blue River already long behind them.
She was asleep. Probably dreaming. Maybe having nightmares. Bad dreams were no stranger to Rose Tyler either, not after some of their more hair-raising adventures. Like this one.
Though she’d survive. She was strong. If she wasn’t, she wouldn’t have lasted so long with him.
Another trip, another close call. He’d nearly lost her again. If it hadn’t been for Frances, for those girls. Those brave, brave girls…
But Rose was safe. If it was up to him, she always would be. He needed her. He loved her. He’d loved his other companions but not in this way. Never in this way. What he had with Rose…it was new. Different.
Special.
And if he could have his wish granted, it would last forever.
(THE END)
Author: juliejordan
Rating: R
Spoilers: Through to and including "Doomsday"
Summary: The Tenth Doctor and Rose find themselves in a Wild West town in 1800s California where young women are being turned into monsters and a cataclysmic event threatens the security of the entire planet. Can they put things right again before it's too late?
Author Notes: This story was written for the wendymr's and dark_aegis Rose Tyler Ficathon. I wrote this fic for grace61, who wanted any Doctor including Nine or Ten, romance but within a plot and no heavy angst. Special thanks to brienze for being such an incredible beta reader. This is a Ten/Rose tale set in a slightly AU where Rose remains with the Doctor in her own world after events of the episode "Doomsday", and contains some graphic scenes of a sexual nature. This is the final chapter. Thanks to all who have read and reviewed.
Chapter One: One Day Out West
Chapter Two: Story Time
Chapter Three: The Hunting Party
Chapter Four: Vampire Slayers
Chapter Five
Intervention
The Doctor put a steadying hand on Rose’s chest as she tried to sit up. He sat on the floor, leaning against the bar and held Rose against him, cushioning her head on his lap.
They were back in the saloon. After Rose had been knocked out, he’d found himself forced to retreat. He’d managed to scoop her up and had successfully made a run for it, fleeing back into the bar and locking them in. Unless invited, the vampires were unable to enter Margaret’s house.
“My head,” she groaned, raising a hand to the back of her head and wincing.
“Watch yourself. He hit you pretty hard.”
“Frances…they -”
“Took her. I know. I’d hoped that wouldn’t happen,” he sighed. It had been going so well, too. All according to plan, until those other vampires had appeared.
“Why do they want her? They took her blood when they first made her into a vampire, didn’t they?” asked Rose.
“They did, but they can still use her body. The blood is used to cast the spell that’s needed to bring about the red rain. Once Gheab comes, he’d gladly eat the bodies of the girls, too. The vampires are just trying to keep him happy, really. That’s why they’re holding the other girls. They plan to feast on them in celebration once their God descends,” the Doctor told her, remembering what he’d read in the book back in the TARDIS.
Rose shuddered. “Well even if the girls are vampires already, we can’t let that happen, can we? We should save them.”
“I think most of them are beyond saving. Frances might even be…if she gets to drink human blood - and they’ll probably force some down her to have her nice and tasty for when Gheab comes - there’ll be no turning back for her. She’ll lose that last bit of goodness she’s clinging onto. She’ll become just another vampire, with no conscience at all.”
“But we’ve gotta try, haven’t we? We need to stop that ritual in any case,” said Rose.
“Only after you rest. That was a nasty knock; I’m not taking any chances with you. Anyway, it’s nearly daylight. The town is safe…for now.”
“What about Margaret? We’ve got to let her out of that cellar some time,” Rose pointed out.
They’d have to, yes, he agreed. He wasn’t looking forward to that, knowing that she’d be more than a little angry at them, but they couldn’t keep her down there forever and she deserved to be told of Frances’ fate.
“And the ritual? That’s only two days away. They could still easily get the two more girls they need,” reasoned Rose.
“I don’t think the plan of just slaying the vampires to stop them getting more girls is going to work. There’s too many to stop them that way. We need to find a counter-spell that will stop the ritual. After I’ve let Margaret out, we’ll come to the TARDIS again and we won’t leave until we’ve found the answers we need. I just hope we can find them in time.”
“What happens if we don’t?” asked Rose.
“The Earth is doomed for all eternity.”
“Right. So no pressure at all, then.”
* * * *
They freed Margaret from the cellar and, after receiving a lecture that rivalled the one they’d got from Queen Victoria, went back to the TARDIS to do more research.
The Doctor had countless books and Rose knew it would be literally impossible to scan them all in just two days, even if they worked every single moment from now until then.
Still, she tried. She scanned so many books that the text soon became blurred as she pored over the pages, and she wished she’d never see another book again.
“What happens if we do find the spell?” she inquired hours after they’d started their search.
“We go as close to their lair as we can without being seen and I’ll perform the incantation. I’m just hoping it won’t be a spell that’ll need a lot of ingredients. We’re cutting it close enough as it is.”
“But there IS a spell?” she checked.
“All rituals can be stopped. It’s just a matter of knowing how,” he replied. After his encounter with the Beast, the Doctor had studied up on demons in case he ever faced one again and had become well educated on the subject of mythology. During these studies, the Doctor had unearthed some very interesting discoveries. Accounts of Hellmouth’s and magic and all sorts of other things he’d previously not believed in looked like they could actually exist.
“I’m starting to wish we’d gone to Salem after all. Even with their paranoia, it can’t be worse than this.”
But Rose knew they didn’t have enough time for chatter, so she focused her full attention on the books again.
* * * *
They stayed in the TARDIS library for nearly the whole two days.
Rose fell asleep several times, not meaning to, but needing it, due to her human status.
The Doctor didn’t berate her for it or try to deprive her. It wasn’t her fault and couldn’t be helped.
But now there was only a matter of hours left, and even he was beginning to doubt they’d find it. He had so many books, and they’d not even looked through a quarter of them. Time, and hope, were running out.
Fast.
“Doctor!”
He had been lost in some ancient Egyptian book when Rose called to him excitedly.
“In here! It mentions ‘red rain’!”
He hurried to her side and she moved slightly so that he could read the text. He scanned it, his hope growing with each word. This was it! They’d actually found it. Amazing!
“Rose! You…you know what you are?” he smiled at her “You’re a bloody genius!”
He kissed her on the forehead in celebration and she laughed.
“I found it? In time?” she clearly couldn’t believe it.
“And luckily this is just a word spell - no ingredients required. Seems like luck’s on our side, for the moment,” he said “Well, let’s not stand here all day - we need to get to that graveyard.”
He picked up the book and tucked it under his arm and together they finally left the TARDIS.
* * * *
The minute Rose stepped outside again; she could sense something was wrong. There was a feeling in the atmosphere that she couldn’t explain.
She looked up. The sky was blackening. Night was coming fast. In just minutes it would be dark completely and the moon would be at its fullest.
They began journeying to the lair when a loud clap of thunder sounded above their heads. Flashes of lightning followed - big flashes of fork lightning that lit up the town, momentarily illuminating it in a silver glow.
“The ritual! They’re starting!”
“Couldn’t it just be a regular storm?”
“On tonight of all nights? I wouldn’t bet on it.”
He grabbed her hand and they ran as fast as they could towards the cemetery.
The vampires were above ground. Several of them. At least two dozen. And the bodies of the missing girls were tied to huge stakes that were stuck into the ground. The vampires had formed a circle in front of the staked girls and one stood in the middle, his hands raised as he chanted loudly.
“And as the Heavens open above our heads the rain will turn to blood as I offer the great Gheab thirteen female virgins of the human species…”
More lightning allowed Rose a better look and she saw that Frances was tied to one of the stakes.
“Stop them!” she yelled to the Doctor, the thunder so loud she had to shout to be heard.
Not wasting anymore time, the Doctor read from the book he carried, using the torch function on the sonic screwdriver to see the text. He read quickly, though still every word was clearly pronounced. She knew he couldn’t mess it up, otherwise…
The thunder and lightning were almost constant now, and rain pelted down from the thick storm clouds. Normal rain at first, but it quickly changed.
“Doctor! It’s blood! It’s raining blood - we’re too late!” she panicked as it soaked her, dirtying her clothes, skin and hair.
A roar screamed out from over their heads. Not thunder, a different kind of roar.
A demon’s roar.
“Gheab! He comes!” exclaimed the spell-casting vampire.
The Doctor kept reading, even faster.
The ground suddenly began to shake beneath their feet and there was another awful roar, though this time it sounded pained, angry.
The black demonic shape that had started to form just above them writhed and twisted, howling in rage as it was sucked back to where-ever it had come from. The rain turned from blood back to its usual form and then stopped altogether, and the storm ended as the clouds evaporated like magic.
“Nooooooo!” the vampire screamed in rage, and Rose gulped as they all turned to face her and the Doctor.
“Kill them,” the vampire ordered simply, pointing a finger at the time travellers.
“Rose? Run.”
He took her hand and pulled, forcing her to move. Running at top speed, they left the cemetery grounds and hurried to the TARDIS as fast as they could. The vampires chased after them like an angry village mob.
They were chased through the town. Past the shops, through the main street…
“We’re not gonna make it!” Rose shrieked after turning her head and seeing how close the vampires were to them. There was no way they could out run -
The TARDIS!
All of a sudden there it was, right where they left it. If they could just reach it -
The feeling of a hand on her shoulder caused Rose to scream in shock as she felt herself getting grabbed from behind. One of the vampires had yanked her backwards and now held her tightly, his arm locked around her neck in a near death grip.
“Doctor,” she managed a strangled cry. It was becoming hard to breathe.
“You ruined the ritual. You halted the coming of Gheab for a whole thousand years,” he snarled in her ear.
“Release her!”
If Rose could have looked around, she would have, the sound of Frances’ voice causing everyone to pause.
“Why?” asked the male vampire, genuinely curious “What’s it to you? She’s just another human. She hates you, like she hates us.”
“No!” protested Frances “She tried to help me. Now I must return the favour before I become filled completely with hate and evil like you!”
“Frances,” gasped Rose “How did you get free?”
“It seems the ropes were tied poorly on one of us. As the Gheab was coming, Bessie used the distraction to free herself, then all of us. We pretended we were still captive, but as soon as you all started to run, so did we.”
The vampire holding Rose turned himself and Rose away from the Doctor, and Rose saw that thirteen girls, including Frances, had joined them. Like Frances, the other young women all wore the face of a demon, but it was clear to see whose side they were on.
“Release her,” Frances repeated her order. Rose was amazed at how confident the other girl appeared. There almost wasn’t a trace of the timid little thing she’d first met.
When the vampire hesitated, Frances pulled something from the pocket of the apron she wore over her dress.
A stake.
“Where did you get that?” Rose’s eyes widened.
“It’s the stake the Doctor gave to me. I never lost it. As they dragged me off, I managed to slip it into my apron pocket without them noticing. I thought I may need it later,” she explained, a mischief in her voice that Rose had never heard before.
“Well aren’t you a tricky little thing,” sneered the vampire holding Rose “But one stake won’t save you, or your friends.”
“No,” agreed Frances “It’ll take more than just me, I’m sure you’re right.”
But she still drilled the stake through his heart. The targeted vampire turned to dust, and Rose was freed.
“Run!” Frances told them “We’ll handle the rest.”
“But there’s too many!” the Doctor said, and Rose realised what was going to happen.
“Frances, you can’t. You and the girls will all be -”
“It will be better than being forced to spend an eternity like this. Please. Run. And don’t look back.”
Rose looked at the Doctor with uncertainty, but he took her hand.
“I’m sorry, Frances,” he apologised “If -”
“There is no other way. Please, just go,” she instructed.
The Doctor nodded, gave her and the other girl’s one final look of gratitude, and then turned away, pulling Rose with him.
As they ran for the safety of the TARDIS, Rose could hear growls and screams behind her and could smell the stench of the undead as they ripped each other to pieces.
* * * *
The Doctor looked down at the girl in his lap as he sat on the soft bed, holding her in his arms as the time ship drifted aimlessly in space, Blue River already long behind them.
She was asleep. Probably dreaming. Maybe having nightmares. Bad dreams were no stranger to Rose Tyler either, not after some of their more hair-raising adventures. Like this one.
Though she’d survive. She was strong. If she wasn’t, she wouldn’t have lasted so long with him.
Another trip, another close call. He’d nearly lost her again. If it hadn’t been for Frances, for those girls. Those brave, brave girls…
But Rose was safe. If it was up to him, she always would be. He needed her. He loved her. He’d loved his other companions but not in this way. Never in this way. What he had with Rose…it was new. Different.
Special.
And if he could have his wish granted, it would last forever.
(THE END)