InpingebatMature

The Doctor stumbled to his feet, his hands dripping blood onto the floor. His impact through the window had sliced his palms open. "Hah," He hissed in a gasp of pain.
 
He shook little red droplets to the floor, his slender fingers trembling. Through the window behind him came Amy, trying not to cut herself as well on the jagged edges of the stained glass window. The Doctor hurried to help her, hands outstretched. Then he remembered he was bleeding and drew back.
 
"What is your problem today? You can't quit hurting yourself!" Amy scolded, crunching over the shards of glass to him. He shifted back and forth from one foot to the other. Crunch, crunch, crunch. "This is a winery," He noticed, eyeing the racks of wine bottles. Some of them looked older than the Doctor. The liquid inside them had solidified into some kind of amber. "No," Amy told him. He was like a little kid sizing up an expensive toy in a shop. She had been with him once at a party involving a banana daiquiri - it had not ended well for Amy. Ninety percent of the contents of the Doctor's drink had ended up on her favorite shirt. She was not about to repeat that incident. She took hold of the sleeve of his now tattered jacket and pulled him away from the racks of wine. "Come on raggedy, let's go find your kid,"

 

 

Malik crept onto the balcony, his highly attuned senses hunting his prey. "Where are you?" He growled. Yellow eyes pierced the gloom, claws scratching at the stone floor.

An almost human giggle broke the tense moment. If a wolf could smile - Malik certainly managed to pull it off without looking like he was baring his teeth. He bunched up the muscles in his haunches, wagging his tail in the air, "Come 'ere you!" A tiny wolf pup bounced out into the open, his tongue lolling onto his chin, "Haha!" Malik tackled his pup, playfully tossing him into the air, "Hey, put me down!" The wolf child cried, clawing the air with his tiny toes. Malik's laughter was deep. It resonated through the walls of the castle, shaking small stones from their lodgings. It was those very stones that had landed in the Doctor's hair far below them. Unbeknownst to father and son, Amy and the Doctor were making their way towards the soon-to-be-broken stained glass window.

"What are you two up to?" Deja, Malik's mate, padded out onto the balcony. She removed her son from Malik's claws with her teeth, carrying the pup by the scruff of his neck. "But mum, I don't want to go to bed!" He paddled his feet in the air, attempting to gain purchase on sheer nothingness. "Hush now," She mumbled past the bundle of fur in her mouth. Nodding her head in Malik's direction, she left, carrying the squirming pup with her. Malik sighed. Things weren't always this way. Once, they had lived peacefully in the woods of this planet. Now they were enslaved, made to do the Wolf's bidding. There were so many humans he had slain. The blood of many innocents was on his claws.

The transformation from man to wolf was considered natural here, not a curse like it was on Earth. He glanced up at the moon which shone down upon him, holding him there in his wolf body for all eternity. The Wolf had made day and night the same, soldifying him in this form. Now, his existence truely was a curse. He opened his mouth and released the sorrow in his heart. The howl was carried on the wind and the moon cried in sympathy. Malik slumped to the ground. He placed his mighty head on his massive paws and - abruptly - fell asleep.

 

Amy and the Doctor ducked into a side passage as a small wolf wandered past. The Doctor had pulled Amy aside, covering her mouth with his hand to prevent from screaming. She know licked his palm. "Ew, Amy that's disgusting," He wiped the saliva on his jacket. She simply grinned and continued down the hall through the darkness. "Well. I didn't want you covering my mouth," She argued, peering down the passage the wolf had dissapeared down. She couldn't see it, so she moved on. "Yes, but you were about to scream!" He countered.

"Was not,"

"Were too,"

Something warm and wet breathed on the back of Amy's neck.

"Get down!"

A figure burst out of the darkness, two pistols in her hands. The Doctor yelped and ducked, dragging Amy with him. Five shots rang out, explosions of blinding light illuminating the scene. For a fraction of a second, Amy could see her - black hair flying about wildly, a snarl on her lips.

The thing behind them whimpered and collapsed in a bloodied heap. The Doctor peered past his floppy bangs at the creature.

"You're welcome," The stranger said, holstering her weapons. "You didn't have to kill it," Amy cried, gesturing to the now thoroughly dead werewolf. The Doctor was still covering his head with his hands, looking quite lost. She glanced at him and sighed, "Some great last of the Time Lords you are!"

"Amy?"

"Rory!"

Amy, momentarily distracted at the sound of her husband's voice, felt her way past the girl towards Rory. "Thank god. We thought you'd been eaten," Lily piped up, joining the family group hug. The Doctor, bewildered, backed up - his foot crunched the muzzle of the dead werewolf. "Yuck," He muttered, side-stepping away from the corpse. "Is that the other Sere?" Amy asked, finally putting all the pieces together. "Yeah," Rory said, distracting her once more by pulling her in for a kiss. "Really?" Lily groaned, turning away. Sere crossed her arms, shaking her head. "My sentiments exactly," The Doctor commented. It was nice to finally have someone who agreed with him about how unnecessarily revolting it was for the Ponds/Williams to pause and kiss all the time. Of course, if River had been there...it would have been an entirely different story. "Come on, we don't have all day," Sere ordered, taking off down the passage the small wolf had disappeared down. "That way's no good. A wolf went that way," Amy trailed off, watching as both the Doctor and Lily followed her. Sere paused, looking back to the couple who were still clinging to one another. "That didn't stop Little Red Riding Hood,"

The door to Sere's cell was flung open. Instead of Malik, there was only the two small werewolves. She had decided that they were twins, seeing that their appearances were very similar. One wolf barked to the other, who responded with a low whine. The first wolf nodded, and lurched forward, grabbing Sere's arm. The second wolf followed suit, grabbing her other arm. Barely able to move, the Time Lady was drug from her cell into the torchlight. The flames danced on the walls, flickering shadows creating patterns against her pale skin. Somewhere, a drum was beating. Sere strained to locate the source of the insistent drum beat.

One two three four.

One two three four.

She realized that it was her own hearts she heard, throbbing in her eardrums. Sere vaguely recalled from the vast wealth of information in her mind that the Master had been plagued by such a drumbeat. She wondered then, if he had always been afraid. For it was fear now that made her hearts beat so heavily.

The rough stones scraped the skin from her shins as they dragged her into the throne room. The woman held a silver goblet in her hand. It gleamed in the firelight. "Tonight, we make history," She announced to the small gathering of wolves on the outskirts of the room. She held the goblet up for them to see. It was the object of their attention, the centerpiece of the spectacle.

"Tonight, the Doctor shall fall,"