Oscar swore violently, turning to The Doctor, who was staring disbelievingly at his daughter. "What the fuck are you talking about, girl? You killed him! I..." Oscar trailed off, fighting to contain himself. "Oh, if only you could see yourself now, boy." Oscar span round, sending a powerful jet of water at the man standing there. "Annd... stop," Zerral grinned, flicking his wrist casually and letting the water fall to the ground as ice. "Zerral Brown. Last time I saw you, you were dead. Changed a bit, haven't you? How'd that happen?" The Doctor wondered, frowning at the man's new appearance. Rather than the middle aged man he remembered, Zerral had taken on a whole new appearence, becoming younger and thinner. His hair was now short and blond; his eyes grey and hard. He grinned. "The same way it happened to you, Time Lord." "What do you mean, the same way it happened to him?" Oscar growled. Zerral sent him a dangerous smile. "When you and those pathetic friends of yours left Grand Staff, it collapsed around me. But someone found my body. Someone you know quite well, I think. Goes by the name of 'Vampyre'." He grinned widely at the Time Lord's reaction, moving to the pillar after pushing Oscar out of the way. "Oh yes," he continued, running a finger down the side of her face. Oscar's face contorted with rage. Vamp. His Sapphire, and he dared touch her? "She's been watching you closely, my Vampyre. She'd been looking for a human to experiment on, but she didn't want to stop watching your child's progress as a Vampyre." It was obvious how blatantly he was ignoring Oscar. "When I awoke, I had a new body and she was standing over me, smiling triumphantly." The Doctor stood completely still, his brain working overtime to process it all. Zerral waited, looking up only when it clicked in The Doctor's brain. "Impossible..." "Oh, not impossible, Theta. Haven't you realised by now that nothing's impossible?" Heads turned as the Vampyre herself stepped out of the shadows. She sent a fleeting smile to Oscar before facing The Doctor. She pulled up her sleeve, showing him an ugly scar running down the length of her forearm. "D'you like it? I sacrificed some of my DNA to bring this one back. Extracted it and merged it with his." "But that is literally impossible. Humans can't handle Time Lord biology!" "I didn't completely change him! I merely granted him the ability to regenerate dead cells. It's like having nanogenes that change physical appearance, think of the potential!" The Doctor could see the excitement building in her. "Oh, Saxi... What have you done?" "She's given me the gift of immortality, Doctor, something I have craved for so long!" Zerral stated triumphantly. "Immortality isn't always a gift, dad." Oscar growled. "And what about Vamp?" The Doctor asked, a hidden threat in the words, "Was she part of your experiment?" The Vampyre shrugged, walking over to the girl. "Zerral wanted revenge and I wanted information. I wanted to see the bond between Kalka'shar and lifemate in action and, seeing as you wouldn't let me dissect them, I had to find another way to perform the experiment. You can't condemn me for wanting to learn!" She paused for a minute, staring curiously at Oscar like a baby seeing its belly button for the first time. "I wonder..." she mumbled, before jabbing a fist into Vamp's already broken ribs. The effect was instantaneous. Vamp jerked upright where before she had been limp and lifeless. A strangled scream forced its way past the blood in her throat, and tears left bloody tracks down her face. Oscar fell to his knees at the same moment, his cry mingling with hers. The Doctor winced slightly and steadied Oscar, sending a 'you've just crossed the line' glare at Saxi, who was smiling; intrigued and gleeful at the results of her 'test'. Zerral merely looked on, an evil glint in his eyes. "Brilliant!" The Vampyre laughed when the screaming had stopped, "It seems the closer you are, the more intense the bond becomes! Oh, but how? How is it even possible to be naturally linked so closely to a person?" Oscar snarled at her, forcing himself to his feet. "That's all you want to know?" "Well yes!" Saxi replied, "If I can find out how the bond comes about, I could work on replicating, even improving the effects!" "Then why the fuck didn't you ask nicely?" The Vampyre blinked. "You know?" Oscar sighed, "I have an idea what causes it. I'm still not sure how, but it might help." " Well, come on then!" she sighed at Oscar's uncooperative glare. "Please then. I need this information! You don't understand, I live to discover things like this!" Oscar gestured to Vamp. "Let her go, first." "O-of course," Saxi sighed, unchaining the girl and handing her gently to Oscar. He knelt down, resting her on the floor and shamelessly tearing his shirt off, sending a small burst of water to dampen it, and using it to clean her wounds. "Will she be okay?" The Vampyre had melted into the shadows again, and her voice lacked its usual smug confidence. "I don't know yet, damn it!" Oscar yelled, stroking Vamp's head with one hand and cleaning her with the other. "I'm... I'm sorry." "Sorry?" Oscar growled, "SORRY? You fucking put me through hell. You put my girl through worse, and you're sorry?" The Vampyre paused, struggling with herself. "Yes... I'm sorry. Can I... Is there any way I can help?" " Fucking off would be nice." Zerral snarled, his patience breaking. " Your emotions are a weakness! How can a person lower himself to such depths because of a simple experiment?" The Doctor turned to the man, anger burning in his eyes. "I think we'd all appreciate it if you shut up. Because you're starting to sound like a Cyberman, and we don't want Cybermen here." Zerral made a small 'pah' noise, striding over to where his son was kneeling. He threw Oscar out of the way. "What are you doing?" Saxi asked tentatively. "I'm doing what any man would do when unburdened by emotion..." he growled back, reaching for Vamp's throat. "N-no, Zerral, no, that's not what we agreed, you said you wouldn't kill anyone! Please, don't!" Oscar launched himself onto Zerral, pinning him to the ground. "You lay a finger on her and I'll see to it you don't have time to regenerate," he threatened. "I find it difficult to believe such a pathetic creature came from me!" Zerral sneered, rolling so that his son was underneath him. "Yeah, well I guess I'm more of my mother's son," Oscar retorted, rolling again. "You killed your mother! Even as a child you were a murderous s'wit! Your mother would be so disappointed." Oscar paused in disbelief. "You slimy bastard. You slimy fucking toad!" Zerral smirked at the reaction. "I'd rather that than the murderer of my own mother." "Shut up. Just shut the fuck up." "Afraid to face the tr-?" Oscar's outraged cry cut him off, accentuated by a hard punch to the jaw. Then another. Then several more. "You." Punch. "Fucking." Punch. "BASTARD!" Punch, punch, punch, pu-. "Oscar!" The Doctor jumped forward, dragging the infuriated man off of his father. "LET GO! I'LL FUCKING KILL THE PIECE OF SHIT!" "She's dead because of you!" Zerral continued. Saxi looked on, unsure of what to do. "No, Zerral, please, this has gone far enough, you've had your revenge, can't we just-?" "I DIDN'T KILL HER, I DIDN'T!" Oscar cried over her. "Of course you didn't," The Doctor reassured, wrestling to keep him back, "You were a child, Oscar, she was sick from the minute you were born, it wasn't your fault! He knows he's hit a nerve, he's trying to break you. Don't let him win!" "I could've been a normal kid! Every fucking person I met wanted to fuck me or kill me, and where the fuck was he through all that? He was off kissin' his own arse!" "I know, and I'm sorry, I really am, but you mustn't let him beat you!" The Doctor sighed, "I know what it's like, I really do, but think about what good came of it! You went through all that, you were so young, but then you met her! Vamp! Remember what you said to me? You couldn't imagine life without her." He moved Oscar's head round to face Vamp. She was curled up on the floor, shaking with the sobs that now shook him. She looked up at him, the only emotions in her eyes being love and pity. "Look at her, Oscar. Out of every bad thing that happens, something good comes of it, and you got her. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise." Oscar stared at her a minute longer, then grunted, shrugging out of The Doctor's grip and kneeling beside her again. The Doctor smiled briefly, before turning to Zerral. "I think you'd better leave before I really lose my temper." Saxi took a breath and faced Zerral also. "He's right. You've done enough. I never wanted any of this. I just wanted to learn, I didn't want anyone to die, and I didn't want you to hurt them this badly. Just go."