BLOOD SACRIFICE

Chapter Four

The Countess glared at Dorottya while she stood in front of her mistress. The Countess was lying in her bed in her sleeping quarters and her servant was at the head of the bed.

“I believe I sent you to fetch me another girl. Yet, you returned empty handed. What’s wrong? Couldn’t you find any?” the Countess said.

Dorottya swallowed hard.

“I did find one, mistress. I was bringing her back to the castle, but I was foiled by a man and a woman.”

The Countess sat up straighter.

“What man and woman? Who are they?”

“I don’t know, mistress. I’ve never seen them before. They ran up to me and snatched the girl from my hands. When I tried to fight back, the man grabbed me by the neck and lifted me off the ground. For a moment, I thought he was going to kill me.”

“What do they look like?”

“The man was tall, thin, and pale. Very pale, as if he’s never seen the sun, and his hair was short and black as ebony. The woman was younger and shorter than him, with blonde hair.”

“How old was this woman?” the Countess said with interest.

“Very young, couldn’t be older than early twenties.”

The Countess considered that.

“Do you think that this woman…”

“I’m not sure, mistress. I’m not sure if the woman is a virgin or not.” Dorottya finished for her.

“But she’s just reached a marriageable age, would you say?”

“Perhaps. Perhaps the man is her husband.”

“Perhaps…”

The Countess stared off into space while Dorottya waited patiently.

“This man and woman interfered in our work,” she said. “Virgin or not, this child should replace the woman that she stole from me. I’m sure that her youth alone will be enough to rejuvenate my skin. I want you to take the other ladies and scour the village and the countryside for them, when you find them, bring them both to me, alive. I want both of them to suffer before they die so they will know not to interfere in my business again.”

“Yes, mistress.”

Dorottya bowed and left the room. The Countess leaned her head back on her plush pillow, let out a contented sigh and fell back to sleep.

The Doctor and Rose neared the outskirts of the village.

“OKAY, WE’RE LEAVING NOW! EVERYONE CAN RELAX!” the Doctor screamed at the village.

He grinned when Rose turned a bright shade of red.

“What? I don’t want the authorities coming after us because they think we haven’t left yet,” the Doctor said. “I wanna let them know the evil gypsy scum has left their fair city.”

Rose took his hand and pulled him along the dirt road that led away from the town.

“Come along, loudmouth, before we end up in the bleedin’ stocks,” she said.

“Rose, Rose, wait!”

Rose sighed when the Doctor jerked his hand out of her grasp. He ran back into the village and ran back to her. Then, with a goofy grin on his face, did it again and again and again.”

“What are you doing?” Rose said.

“Pushing our luck?”

“Get over here, you loon.”

The Doctor sniggered.

“Ah, come on, stand with me just inside the city limits and when they come to arrest us, we can run over here and taunt them because we’re out of their village.”

“Come along, Doctor.”

“Then, we can run back in and stick our tongues out at the uptight gits and run back out again.”

“Come along, Doctor.”

“Then we can just jump back and forth over the city limits a million times and laugh at their confusion.”

“Goodbye, Doctor.”

The Doctor frowned when he noticed Rose walking away from him. Sighing, he stuck his hands in his pockets.

“Ooooooooooh, you’re no fun anymore,” he said, following her.

Rose sighed. They had been walking down the dirt road for about twenty minutes now and she was contemplating muzzling the Doctor’s mouth.

“63 BOTTLES OF BLOOD ON THE WALL, 63 BOTTLES OF BLOOD, TAKE ONE DOWN, PASS IT AROUND, 62 BOTTLES OF BLOOD ON THE WALL. 62 BOTTLES OF BLOOD ON THE WALL, 62 BOTTLES OF BLOOD, TAKE ONE DOWN, PASS IT…Rose, where are you going?” he said, when he noticed her running away.

“I’M GOING TO GO FIND A MENTAL INSTITUTION AND CHECK IN BECAUSE I’M GOING INSANE FROM YOUR SINGING!” she said.

She gasped when the Doctor grabbed her from behind, stopping her in her tracks.

“Oh no, you don’t. I’m gonna make sure you can’t run anywhere.”

She gasped when the Doctor soared upward into the air.

“Doctor, what are you doing?”

“Enjoying the view with my best girl.”

Rose looked around at him.

“Oh yeah, and this will really go over big with the superstitious Hungarians,” she said to him. “Bad enough they thought of us as gypsies without them finding out you’re a vampire too.”

“Nah, I’m way too clever for them. The moment I spot someone, I’ll just zoom up into the clouds, and if they do spot me…well, like I said, I do feel a bit peckish at the moment.”

“Yeah, and that’ll go over big too. Finding a completely drained corpse lying in the middle of the road. No, they’ll never suspect it was the two weird strangers that passed through their village. Not in a million bleedin’ years.”

“Rose, dear, sarcasm just doesn’t become you. Just letting you know that so you can correct the problem in future. Besides, if you’re so worried about villagers, there’s one simple solution to that problem.”

“Flying back down to the ground?”

“Nope, other way!”

Rose gasped when he soared up higher into the air. She gripped his arms and held on for dear life while the Doctor whistled cheerfully in her ear. They went up several thousand feet and then stopped.

“There ya go. A bird’s eye view of the countryside,” the Doctor said, “and look, there’s the castle about a mile or so away. Blimey, I should have thought of this in the first place.”

“Doctor,” Rose said, stiff as a board. “Please don’t drop me.”

The Doctor frowned when he noticed her trembling. Deftly, he spun her around in his arms and held her close to his body.

“Better?”

“Much,” Rose said, throwing her arms around his neck.

“Sorry, I was so excited about flying that I forgot to make sure you were secure before I took off.”

“S’alright, just as long as you don’t drop me.”

“You mean like this?”

Rose screamed when he opened his arms. He quickly grabbed her body and giggled when Rose shot him a dirty look.

“Sorry, couldn’t resist,” he said.

Rose rolled her eyes. She tightened her arms around his neck while he flew up into the clouds. She stared down at the ground below while the Doctor made a beeline towards the castle.

Back                         Home                              Doctor Who Main Page                          Next