Traipsing through the back of the church had been more uneventful than Alf had expected. There were no Kuang-Shi to be found, all of them, no doubt taking care of things in the main hall. Part of Alf felt guilty for leaving the Doctor against such odds, but a bigger part of her accepted that Nick was much more important to her.

Only one thing of any interest had occurred during her search of the rear of the building. It was something that she had never experienced before. It felt like time was slowing down around her. She had no idea why she had felt it, but she was without a doubt that she had. It had only lasted mere moments, but it was long enough to register as solid fact to her.

Now she came to an ornately carved door, hanging off its hinges. As far as Alf was concerned it was a sign to look further.

She entered the brightly-lit room and came to a stop. Next to the door was a crumpled figure that Alf knew quite well. She crouched down and shook Bradley, attempting to rouse him, but he was firmly unconscious. Blood trickled from a wound on his head. Alf felt no pity for him; she never would.

Further into the room was another figure lying on the floor. Alf walked over to it, and noticed it was the naked boy that had been on the altar. The same boy that Bradley had taken away with him. Alf leaned down and turned the boy over, and almost fell back in shock. The boy’s face was melted away, leaving only a gaping hole full of blood and gore. Alf gagged and lifted her hand to her mouth. It was then that she noticed a substance like mercury squirming on her palm. She shook it off and looked at the naked body again. All over the skin the mercury like substance rippled. It was liquid time, just like the thing that had been in the lava lamp.

As she watched the liquid time evaporated. Alf shook her head, wondering what had been going on. She glanced beyond the dead body and noticed something else. Several something else’s, in fact. Little metallic components lay on the floor, caked in blood. Although she did not know exactly what they were, Alf did know that they were the implants that had once been in Nick’s legs.

‘Nick?’ she called out.

‘He’s gone,’ a weak voice answered.

Alf turned around in time to see Bradley painfully drag himself into a sitting position. Alf got to her own feet and began walking towards him. ‘What have you done with Nick, you bastard?’

Bradley coughed and spat out blood. ‘Nothing. This is what he did to me.’

Alf almost smiled, glad that Bradley had started receiving some of his own medicine, but she stopped as concern clouded her mind. How could Nick do such a thing?

As if reading her mind, Bradley said; ‘He went all god on me. Did you know your husband could be so powerful?’

Alf felt her heart sink. She knew about the Millennium People, and how Nick was not really human. Deep inside she had always feared that one day Nick would grow beyond such mortal needs once more. She looked away from Bradley and carried on walking, out of the room, doing her best to hold back the tears.

He’s gone and left me.




A door at the rear of the old church building opened and Nick staggered out. His eyes were bloodshot, and he staggered like a drunk. He held onto the gaping wound in his neck, trying to squeeze the hole closed. He was having little joy. Liquid time and blood mingling together seeped through the gaps in his fingers and dribbled down his hand.

Inside his mind a new voice was trying to speak to him. It was not the voice of the gestalt entity known as the Millennium People (and that had been a joy to hear once again after so long of hearing only his own voice), but a darker voice. Something insidious. Nick could not make out any words, but the meaning behind the voice was plain.

It was a coup!

Liquid time, direct from Ashgotoroth himself, was spreading through Nick’s veins. He tried to draw on all the powers of the Millennium People in an attempt to remove the liquid time, but it was running rampant, rewriting the human body’s genetic structure. Infusing the mortal form with a vestige of Ashgotoroth.

‘No!’ Nick cried out. ‘Not like this!’

It had been so long since he had had the powers of the Millennium People to call on, so long since the Dommervoy Loci had first made him human, and he was so out of touch. He tried to focus his energies, just like he had done so easily when he had re-clothed himself, but nothing was happening. He could still feel the liquid time surging through him.

There was only one thing he could do. Give up the body before it was too late. Before he was engulfed by the new personality that came with the liquid time. The entity that wanted to possess both his body and mind.

He dropped to his knees and lifted his head to the sky. ‘Alf! I’m so sorry!’ he screamed as the darkness surrounded him.

His body collapsed onto the wet ground and for several moments he lay there unmoving. Eventually a hand moved, fingers clenching. The palms lay flat on the ground and with a fluid ease he rose to his feet. He stood there, looking around, his eyebrows knitted together tightly, his jaw set firm. He eyes glowed red, a small flame burning within.

‘Better,’ he said, his voice cold and hard.




The Doctor was frowning. Simon glanced from the road ahead to the Doctor. ‘I’m sure Alf will be fine,’ he said, although in truth he had no idea.

The Doctor nodded. ‘Oh yes. Alf is a survivor. But it’s not her I was worrying about. It’s why Bradley was poring liquid time into the body of that boy. What was he up to?’

‘Liquid time?’

‘It doesn’t matter.’ The Doctor waved it aside, and his face lightened. ‘What were you doing in the church anyway?’

‘Oh. Someone handed me some leaflet about the cult. Got a little curious, so along I went. I have heard lots about the cult, but never bothered looking in before. Not really my scene, you see.’ Simon flicked the indicator and turned the car around a corner. ‘But, hey, for once I decided to check it out. I had a few hours free, so I thought why not, eh?’

‘Mmm.’

‘I still can’t believe I sat through that ceremony. Maybe I thought it was some trick, that geezer cutting into that kid.’ Simon shook his head, doing his best to rationalise his actions.

‘It was no trick. As for why you stayed to watch. The mental power of the Kuang-Shi was holding you there. I managed to break the influence, fortunately.’

‘But vampires? Who would have thought that?’

‘I would,’ the Doctor said simply. He turned to look in the wing mirror on his door, and frowned.

‘Yeah. How did you know?’

The Doctor ignored the question, and pointed at the wing mirror. ‘Someone is signalling us to pull over.’

Simon looked into the rear view mirror. ‘Oh. Hang on, that looks like a UNIT car.’ Without another word Simon pulled his car over and turned off the engine. Once the car had come to a stop the Doctor immediately got out and walked over to the UNIT car. Simon did not want to miss anything, so he got out as well.

‘Just the people,’ the Doctor enthused, raising his sodden hat, as a door in the UNIT car opened. A young man dressed in UNIT uniform stepped out of the car. ‘I want to see Brigadier Kowlard, I have some serious things to discuss with him.’

The UNIT soldier opened the back door of the car and indicated. ‘Inside, sir. Brigadier Kowlard will want to have a word with you, too.’ The Doctor shrugged and got into the car. The soldier turned to Simon. ‘You, too.’

‘Mind if I lock my car first?’ Simon was not too sure about all of this.

‘No need. I’ll drive your car. Inside now.’

Simon looked back at his car, weighing up his options, and came to realise he did not really have any. Silently he handed his car keys over and got into the UNIT car. He sat beside the Doctor, who was smiling broadly. Simon just hoped the Doctor knew what he was doing.