Elise woke up and ventured out of her room. Where was her father and Amy? Just as she was about to go looking for them, they came through the doors with a man following them.

It was Amy's boyfriend.

What was his name again? Roger? Reggie?

The Doctor walked up to the small Timelord. "Elise! What are you doing? You're supposed to stay in your room until I come and get you", he scolded her.

Her bottom lip quivered as her eyes went wide.

The Doctor sighed and picked her up.

"Told you", Amy sang.

"Shut-up", the Doctor muttered.

"Um, who is she?" Rory asked Amy.

"The Doctor's sort-of daughter. Elise, you remember Rory?"

The Doctor handed Elise to Amy as he went down below the platform to work on the TARDIS.

"Umm, hello?" Rory said to Elise.

Elise just smiled and waved.

"She doesn't really speak. She's trying to, aren't you?" Amy said.

Elise nodded.

"But she's what? 4 or 5? She should be speaking by now", Rory said.

Elise, ashamed, hid her face in Amy's red hair.

Amy rubbed her back to comfort her as she glared at her fiancé.

"What?" he asked. He hadn't meant to upset the little girl.

"Oh, the life out there, it dazzles. I mean, it blinds you to the things that are important. I've seen it devour relationships and plans".

The rotor sparked and let out smoke.

"It's meant to do that", the Doctor told them, "Because for one person to have seen all that, to taste the glory and then go back, it will tear you apart. So, I'm sending you somewhere, together".

"Whoa. What, like a date?" Amy asked.

The Doctor put his goggles away and made his way to the platform. "Anywhere you want. Any time you want. One condition. It has to be amazing. The Moulin Rouge in 1890. The first Olympic Games. Think of it as a wedding present, because it's either this or tokens. It's a lot to take in, isn't it? Tiny box, huge room inside. What's that about? Let me explain".

"It's another dimension", Rory said.

"It's basically another dimens...What?"

"After what happened with Prisoner Zero, I've been reading up on all the latest scientific theories. FTL travel, parallel universes".

"I like the bit when someone says it's bigger on the inside. I always look forward to that".

"So, this date", Amy said, breaking up a fight she had feeling was about to start, "I'm kind of done with running down corridors. What do you think, Rory?"

The Doctor pulled a lever. "How about somewhere romantic?"

When they landed, Amy helped Elise into her new harness and they left the TARDIS. They stepped out into a busy marketplace.

"Venice!" the Doctor said, throwing his arms out, "Venezia. La Serenissima. Impossible city. Preposterous city. Founded by refugees running from Attila the Hun. It was just a collection of little wooden huts in the middle of the marsh, but became one of the most powerful cities in the world".

The Doctor continued to rant as they walked. "Constantly being invaded, constantly flooding, constantly just beautiful. Ah, you got to love Venice. So many people did. Byron, Napoleon, Casanova. Ooo, that reminds me". The Doctor checked his watch. "1580. That's all right. Casanova doesn't get born for a hundred and forty five years. Don't want to run into him. I owe him a chicken".

"You owe Casanova a chicken?" Rory asked him.

"Long story. We had a bet".

A man stepped into their pathway and stopped them. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Papers, if you please. Proof of residency, current bill of medical inspection".

The Doctor pulled out his psychic paper and held it up. "There you go, fellow. All to your satisfaction, I think you'll find".

The inspector snatched the psychic paper from his hand. "I am so sorry, your Holiness. I didn't realize".

The Doctor made a cross sign over his chest. "No worries. You were just doing your job. Sorry, what exactly is your job?"

"Checking for aliens. Visitors from foreign lands what might bring the plague with them".

"Oh, that's nice. See where you bring me? The plague", Amy said, hitting the Doctor on the arm.

"Don't worry, Viscountess. No, we're under quarantine here. No one comes in, no one goes out, and all because of the grace and wisdom of our patron, Signora Rosanna Calvierri", the inspector told them.

"How interesting. I heard the plague died out years ago", the Doctor said.

"Not out there. No, Signora Calvierri has seen it with her own eyes. Streets are piled high with bodies, she said".

"Did she now?"

Rory took the psychic paper from the Inspector. "Er, according to this, I am your eunuch", he told Amy.

"Oh yeah. I'll explain later", she said, hurrying after the Doctor and Elise.

They came to a stop and watched a procession of girls in white dresses and veils from across the canal.

A man ran up to them. He went through the girls yelling, "Isabella!"

One of the girls knocked him down and they quickly left.

Now that was odd.

Since this was meant to be Amy and Rory's date, the Doctor decided to leave them and find out what was going on. Amy didn't want to run through corridors? Fine. He'd do it himself, with Elise of course.

The Doctor and Elise waited in an alleyway not far from the canal. When the man walked by, the Doctor popped out. "Who are those girls?" he asked him.

"I thought everyone knew about the Calvierri school".

"My first day here. It's okay. Parents do all sorts of things to get their children into good schools. They move house, they change religion. So why are you trying to get her out?"

"Something happens in there. Something magical, something evil. My own daughter didn't recognize me. And the girl who pushed me away, her face, like an animal".

The Doctor through an arm over the man's shoulder and said, "I think it's time I met this Signora Calvierri".

Guido ran up to the gates of the school yelling, "You have my daughter. Isabella!"

The distraction allowed the Doctor and Elise to sneak around to the water gate and get in that way.

The Doctor had tried to leave Elise with Guido, but she screamed when he tried to hand her over. Maybe Wilf was right. Maybe she was too attached to him.

They made their way down a stone staircase into a basement. There was a mirror on the wall and the Doctor walked up to it.

"Hello, handsome", he said, adjusting his bowtie.

Elise rolled her eyes.

"Who are you?" a chorus of voices asked.

The Doctor spun around and saw five girls standing there. He looked at them and then back at the mirror.

They had no reflections.

"How are you doing that? I am loving it. You're like Houdini, only five slightly scary girls, and he was shorter. Will be shorter. I'm rambling".

"I'll ask you again, signor. Who are you?"

"Why don't you check this out?" He pulled out a black wallet and showed them. The girls just stared at it until he flipped it around. He groaned, realizing it wasn't his psychic paper. "Library card. Of course, it's with....He's...I need a spare. Pale, creepy girls who don't like sunlight and can't be seen in...Ha. Am I thinking what I think I'm thinking? But the city. Why shut down the city? Unless..."

"Leave now, signor, or we shall call for the Steward, if you are lucky". The girls' teeth turned into needles and Elise whimpered in the Doctor's ear.

They started to come towards them, hissing.

"Tell me the whole plan!"

The girls continued to advance on them.

"One day that will work", he muttered, "Listen, I would love to stay here. This whole thing. I'm thrilled. Oh, this is Christmas". The Doctor turned and ran for the stairs.

Night had fallen.

"Doctor!" Amy yelled, running towards them.

"Elise and I just met some vampires".

"We just saw a vampire".

"And creepy girls and everything".

"Vampires".

The two jumped up and down with excitement, jostling Elise.

She whined and tapped the back of the Doctor's head with her forehead, letting him know she didn't appreciate it.

The Doctor stopped jumping as Rory finally caught up.

"We think we just saw a vampire", Rory said.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. Amy was just telling me", the Doctor told him.

"Yeah, yeah. The Doctor and Elise actually went to their house", Amy said.

"Oh. Right. Well..."

"Okay. So, first we need to get back in there somehow", the Doctor said.

"What?" Rory asked.

"How do we do that?" Amy asked.

"Back in where?"

"Come and meet me and Elise's new friend", the Doctor told them.

Elise sat in the Doctor's lap as they came up with a plan.

Guido had a map of Venice laying out on the table. "As you saw, there's no clear way in. The House of Calvierri is like a fortress. But there's a tunnel underneath it, with a ladder and shaft that leads up into the house. I tried to get in once myself, but I hit a trapdoor", Guido said.

"You need someone on the inside", Amy told them.

"No", the Doctor said.

"You don't even know what I was going to say".

"Er, that we pretend you're an applicant for the school to get you inside, and tonight you come down and open the trapdoor to let us in".

"Oh. So you do know what I was going to say".

"Are you insane?" Rory asked her.

"We don't have another option".

"He said no, Amy. Listen to him".

"There is another option", Guido told them. He pointed to the barrels behind where Rory was sitting. "I work at the Arsenale. We build the warships for the navy".

The Doctor set Elise down on the table and walked over to the barrels, sniffing them. "Gunpowder. Most people just nick stationery from where they work. Look, I have a thing about guns and huge quantities of explosive".

Rory got up and moved away from the gunpowder only to bump into a dead rabbit hanging near the fireplace.

"What do you suggest, then? We wait until they turn her into an animal?" Guido asked.

"I'll be there three, four hours, tops", Amy told the Doctor.

He considered it for a second, admiring her bravery before he shut the idea down. "No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It can't keep happening like this. This is how they go". The Doctor sat down on Guido's bed and rubbed his face with his hand. "But I have to know. We go together, say you're my daughter".

"What? Don't listen to him", Rory told her.

"Your daughter? You look about nine". He barely looked old enough to claim Elise was his daughter and she looked like him.

"Brother, then".

"Too weird. Fiancé".

"I'm not having him run around telling people he's your fiancé", Rory said.

"No. No, you're right", Amy said, finally agreeing with him on something.

"Thank you".

"I mean, they've already seen the Doctor. You should do it".

"Me?"

"Yeah. You can be my brother".

"Why is him being your brother weird, but with me, it's okay?"

"Actually, I thought you were her fiancé", Guido said, gesturing to the Doctor.

"Yeah, that's not helping".

"This whole thing is mental!" Rory told Amy, "They're vampires, for God's sake".

"We hope", the Doctor said.

"So if they're not vampires?" Amy asked.

"Makes you wonder what could be so bad it doesn't actually mind us thinking it's a vampire..."