• Originally published in "Doorway to Heaven"
• The team visits a planet that reminds them of Halloween. And then the real trouble starts....
• PG [HC]

"I do not like this place."

Jack O'Neill stopped at the foot of the ramp and glanced back at Teal'c, who stood unmoving in front of the event horizon, his staff weapon planted beside him, his knuckles tight around it. Eyes narrowed, the Jaffa scanned the gloomy landscape before him, and a muscle bunched in his jaw.

Daniel Jackson, who had plunged down the ramp like a kid at the beach, jerked to a halt and flicked a questioning look at Teal'c. "The M.A.L.P. didn't show any signs of life here in spite of those buildings." He gestured at a towering structure that looked like a gothic castle perched on a promontory just beyond the clearing where the Stargate stood. There was a village this side of the castle just beyond the cleared space, but no one moved among the buildings. The grass in the clearing around the Stargate was long and weedy, and the wind that wailed eerily through the trees told a tale of desolation. That would have been reassuring if there wasn't a well-traveled track from the village to the DVD, around it, and up the ramp. Someone came here. Someone who might be hiding and watching to see what SG-1 did next.

"I think we forgot our Trick-or-Treat costumes," said Sam Carter. She studied the scenery. "Look at this place! Are you sure we haven't found our way to Halloween world?"

"So you're saying we shouldn't have shown up so late in the day?" Jack had to admit she had a point. The atmosphere on the planet was almost consciously spooky. Far in the east, a large natural satellite was rising. Two-thirds the size of Earth's moon, it looked almost as red as blood. Carter would say the effect was caused by a trick of the atmosphere or something to do with the chemical composition of the satellite, but Jack sided with Teal'c this time around. He couldn't say he thought much of P3X 772, either.

As they watched something flew overhead, crossing the face of the planet's moon. It looked uncomfortably like a bat. At least it wasn't a witch on a broom. O'Neill half expected a black cat to race across their path or a ghost to drift over, wailing and wringing ectoplasmic hands.

"Somebody comes here." Daniel pointed at the track through the weeds. Someone lives here. Look at that place. The architecture looks awfully medieval--Earth medieval, that is." He waved his hand at the deserted village. "The castle especially."

"It would make a great cover for a gothic novel." Carter raised her eyes to the sky. "It's nearly sundown."

"Then we just have time for a quick reconnaissance of the village," O'Neill decided. "See if there's any signs of recent habitation. Hold it, Daniel," he instructed, catching Jackson's arm to restrain him. This wasn't the kind of place to encourage Daniel's eager explorations. "Stick with the team. There could be trouble hiding in there."

"We've got hours of M.A.L.P. film, Colonel," Carter reminded him. "No evidence of people the whole time. Birds here and there, and a few small animals, but no people."

"Maybe they went on vacation," Daniel offered, but his face was thoughtful.

"Be ready for trouble, kiddies," O'Neill instructed. "I've got the feeling we're being watched."

Teal'c shifted his grip on his staff weapon and aimed it before them as they crossed the clearing and entered the village. O'Neill and Sam readied their weapons and even Daniel, who had been taking a quick catch-up course on the use of modern weaponry since he joined SG-1, tightened his grip on his own.

A narrow street ran down between two rows of houses and opened out into an informal town square. They stopped in the clearing and surveyed the houses. Some of them were several stories high, roughly built with slight slanting angles. They didn't look that alien, O'Neill thought. They might not have been out of place on Earth. Relatively modern Earth at that. Maybe somewhere in Central Europe...

"Daniel, what can you tell us about the architecture?" he asked.

"Some of it almost looks Tudor," Daniel replied, his video camera busy capturing it all before the light went. "See, the half-timbers. There's a difference to it, but I'm not an architectural specialist, not for a period this late. If it were Egyptian or Babylonian, I could pin it down. But it definitely looks Earth-based. I think there have got to be ships that made raids on Earth after the Stargate was buried in Egypt and the Antarctic gate frozen over."

"Any guess on where these people came from?" Jack persisted.

"Not without a more detailed study. You can tell the homes were built with people about the size of humans in mind. Well, I'm not so sure about those," he added, gesturing across the square to a couple of buildings with very tall doors.

"Maybe the Goa'uld recruited from the NBA," said O'Neill with a grin.

"Or the Masai," put in Carter. "But there doesn't seem to be anyone here. No evidence of energy or modern technology, either." She waved a hand at a collection of unlit torches mounted on poles that surrounded the square.

Teal'c went to examine one. "These have been in use recently, O'Neill," he exclaimed. "As recently as last night."

"Then maybe it isn't that nobody's here. Maybe they hide when the gate opens, the way the Byrsa did," Daniel offered. "If the Goa'uld come here regularly to harvest hosts, they might go to ground when the gate starts to activate."

"But then why live so close to the Stargate?" asked Sam.

"Maybe they go further away," said Daniel. "The M.A.L.P. came through first. They had plenty of time to see it and react to it. Maybe they have hidden rooms under the houses or a concealed village a few miles away."

"Well, check out a few of the buildings," Jack urged. "The sun's about to go down. We need to set up camp before it gets dark."

"Maybe the people here are nocturnal," Daniel came up with another theory. "Maybe they only come out at night." He grinned wickedly and gestured around the atmospheric twilight. "To drink your blood," he parodied Bela Lugosi.

"Halloween World," agreed Sam with a smile.

They poked their heads into a few of the buildings but while they seemed tidy and in recent use, no one was home. O'Neill worked his way along one side of the clearing toward a large building that might be a village hall or a religious center or maybe where the folks got together for square dancing, for all he knew. The setting of the sun stopped him before he could reach it and he retreated to the center of the clearing to rendezvous with the others. It would be dark soon and he wanted to set up camp before dark. Carter could take techie readings, and maybe the locals would return soon. They probably had an hour to secure the position.

It was Daniel who gave the alarm twenty minutes later. "Jack?"

The wary note in his voice made O'Neill's head come up and his hand go for his MP-5. "What do you see?"

"Look." Daniel waved a hand at the castle, then at the houses around the square. Flickering lights now shone in the windows and, outlined against them, were shapes, people, watching them.

"Where did they come from?" Carter asked. "No one was here when we looked. This doesn't make sense, Colonel."

O'Neill didn't like it. "Maybe they sneaked in the back. They're sure not hiding now."

"They are coming, O'Neill." Teal'c gestured with his staff weapon toward the castle. A tall, lean man in a black cloak strode down the path toward the village. He seemed completely human, but there was something eerie and otherworldly about him. He didn't appear to fear the strangers; nothing about his long-legged stride or his self-possession spoke of a need to hide at the activation of the Stargate. He didn't even carry an obvious weapon. A lot of self-confidence. O'Neill watched him uneasily.

The people in the houses watched him, too, and timed their emergence to match his arrival in the clearing. Then they erupted from the houses and fell in behind the man who was evidently their leader.

SG-1 stooped, staring in disbelief at their first sight of the villagers.

Some of them looked completely human but others might have passes for trolls or dwarves from Grimm's Fairy Tales. One of them was a huge hulking man of nearly eight feet tall with long, danging arms. They all dressed in the style Jack called 'early peasant', with rough tunics and leggings and boots, or sandals that laced all the way up the leg. All but the leader, who seemed to be more elegantly clad beneath the flowing black cape that dangled from his shoulders. Silver frogs in the shape of stylized flowers secured it at his neck. Nobility to their commoners.

"Talk about taking a fashion risk," O'Neill muttered under his breath.

"Maybe something in the chemical composition of the air or the soil evokes mutations," Carter returned hastily. There wasn't time to say more before the leader reached them.

"Welcome," he said. "It has been so long since we have had visitors. We have grown somewhat insular and did not risk coming out earlier." As he spoke, a weedy looking man who could give Kareem Abdul Jabbar a run for his money in the height department went around lighting the torches to illuminate the square.

"You have come through the Circle?" The leader asked. In the torchlight, he proved to be a handsome man in his middle forties, or at least he'd appear that age on Earth. His hair was raven-black with two stylish white wings at the temples, and his features were virtually unlined. Eyes of such a light brown that they almost appeared golden studied SG-1 measuringly but didn't reveal his opinion of them.

"Yes, we have come from far away," Daniel put in hastily.

"Perhaps from another world?" The leader arched a pointy eyebrow at Daniel. "Do not be deceived by the simplicity of our settlement. We are not fools and we are not ignorant. We know of the Goa'uld." He pointed at Teal'c. "That one with you is Jaffa." His people understood what that meant. O'Neill had noticed them unobtrusively shifting to give Teal'c a wide berth.

"I no longer serve the Goa'uld," Teal'c informed them.

"Perhaps, perhaps not. I am Stefan."

Overhead, lightning flashed and thunder blasted. Weird. Out of a clear sky? What kind of atmospheric conditions did they have on this planet, anyway? O'Neill shot a questioning glance at Carter, who shook her head to indicate she didn't understand it, either.

"Hey, Stefan," Jack said by way of greeting. Another lightning flash. "Is there a storm coming?"

"Of course not," Stefan soothed, but he made no attempt to explain the trick weather. "If you are not Goa'uld, then perhaps that means you have come to help us with our...little problem. Shall we retire to my home? We have much to discuss."

"What kind of problem?" Daniel asked.

"We will discuss that comfortably over wine," Stefan soothed. "Your possessions will be safe here. My people are not thieves. We have our own possessions and feel no need to appropriate yours."

It would have been rude to gather up everything and tote it with them. As long as they had their weapons and the remote to send SG-1's code when they were ready to go home, O'Neill decided he could risk it. Besides, it wouldn't do to insult the guy, not with all his subjects hovering. They might not look armed, but maybe there were more of them lurking in the houses with weapons trained on the team. Some of them were big enough to slam dunk Teal'c without breaking into a sweat. Daniel gave him a hasty, encouraging nod. So Jack spread his hands and agreed.

"Be careful of them, Stefan," called an anonymous voice from the crowd.

Another burst of thunder. Weird. Jack was starting to see a pattern there. He didn't get it--and he didn't like it. They could be heading into a major trap.

They walked up the hill to the drawbridge that led across a dry moat. Jack paused as Stefan led the way in. As soon as the man had vanished inside, O'Neill raised his head and said in a testing whisper, "Stefan."

Another flash of lightning and a clash of thunder. Too much of a coincidence for him. He couldn't understand how it was done. This Stefan had to be a great showman--or something else.

The castle held the faded splendors of a set for a Wagnerian opera, lots of grey stone walls, opulent tapestries that hung crooked with age, pulled threads in the stitching, sagging red velvet curtains, and heavy sofas with red plush upholstery worn smooth by too many years use. Coats of arms hung on the walls, and paintings so old the battlefield scenes and portraits were nearly hidden under centuries of grime. Yet the floors were clean, the furniture dusted, and the candles in the high chandelier in the room where Stefan led them made the glass sparkle.

"I am glad you have come, Gentlemen--and Lady. Please to be seated. Do you prefer red wine or white?" He snapped his fingers and a little character who would make a great Igor in any production of Frankenstein scurried into the room holding a tray with four glasses and two bottles. Igor went around the room allowing the choice to the guests. When they had their wine--and Jack hoped like crazy it wasn't poisoned--Igor took off again.

"You're not drinking with us?" he asked.

"Alas, no. I have a slight health condition which does not permit me to imbibe. You will find it an excellent vintage," he said. "We have had it since we came here. There are no vineyards on this world."

"You know you came from another world?" Daniel asked, intrigued. He still held his glass of white wine, too fascinated by his surroundings to drink it.

"Of course we did, perhaps the same world as you, for you look human. We were brought here by the Goa'uld long ago, perhaps three hundred years ago. They have not troubled us for over a century." He waved a dismissive hand. "We are, of course, cautious. When the Circle came to life my people hid. You were studied from afar. The Jaffa made us uneasy but none of the rest of you were Goa'uld, so we ventured to greet you. Tell me why you have come."

"We're peaceful explorers," Daniel said quickly. "We travel through the...Circle in hopes of advancing our knowledge and finding allies against the Goa'uld. We mean you no harm; our weapons are purely defensive, although we are all trained in their use. I'm Daniel Jackson, this is Jack O'Neill, and Samantha Carter and this is Teal'c."

"The Jaffa." He inclined his head at Teal'c, who nodded back. "Perhaps the universe beyond the Circle changes. No explorers have come before. But you are an answer to our prayers."

"In what way, sir?" Carter asked. She sipped her wine and her eyes lit up in delight. "This is excellent," she added.

"I am glad it pleases you. Perhaps I can enjoy it vicariously through your pleasure, lovely lady."

Carter smiled at him. Jack bridled. He didn't buy the line for a second.

"You said we could help you?" Daniel prompted.

"Yes. You see that, while we live in peace here in our tranquil existence, there is a danger out there." He waved his hand in the direction away from the Stargate. "In the forest. We do not have powerful weapons such as yours. Should the enemy attack us, we ask that you help to defend us. Such tools as pitchforks and axes are little use against those beings we face."

"Beings?" Daniel's head came up at that particular word. "What kind of beings? Indigenous life-forms. Aliens?"

"Perhaps. We know of them because there were such in our homeland, long ago. They are the drinkers of blood, the takers of life, the givers of cold immortality. They are vampires."

"Oh, for crying out loud," Jack exploded. "You're saying vampires live in your back woods?"

"What is a vampire?" Teal'c asked. "Do you speak of the mor'tan?"

"Mor'tan? Mor'tan?" Daniel sounded out the word. "That could mean 'drinker of blood'."

"It does," Teal'c replied. "But such beings are creatures of legend, not of reality."

"You can't mean real vampires exist here?" Carter asked skeptically.

"This causes you disbelief? Are you not from the homeworld, Earth? Do you not know of the vampires in my homeland?"

"You come from Earth?" Carter asked quickly.

"We come from Rumania originally. From a portion which is known as Transylvania. Do you know of it?"

"We know of it," Daniel agreed. "We also know of vampires but we thought them a myth. Are you saying real vampires live on this planet?"

Stefan inclined his head. "They seek to destroy us and take our settlement. In the name of our common humanity, I ask you to help us to drive them out of the woods and to destroy them. When the Goa'uld brought us here, we thought ourselves safe from the age-old curse, but it was not to be. They will destroy us. Already they steal our young and destroy the solitary as we work in our fields. Help us. Why else would you come at our moment of extreme need?"

"Are they from this world, or from Earth? Did they come with you when the Goa'uld brought you here?" asked Daniel. O'Neill grimaced. There weren't really any vampires in Transylvania, were there? This was too strange to buy into.

"We found them here, dwelling in the forest, lurking in the shadows of the night and we recognized them for what they were. We will destroy them to preserve our safety and protect our young."

"I'm sorry, sir, but it's not our policy to intervene in local squabbles," Jack said hastily.

"If they are indigenous to this planet, they have as much right to be here as you do," Sam put in. "I know they must be dangerous, but it isn't our place to join you in a battle."

"I can offer you great rewards. Much gold." Stefan snapped his fingers again and Igor scurried back. "Show them the gold," Stefan ordered.

"Yes, master." Geez, the guy even sounded a little like Peter Lorre. He went to the paneling on one side of the fireplace and stabbed his finger into a button on the carving. A drawer at floor level slid out and the little man dragged forth an iron-bound chest. When he opened the lid, golden coins and diamond necklaces sparkled in the candle light. It must be worth a king's ransom. Jack could feel his whole team coming to attention at the sight of it. There were always temptations at the sight of great wealth. Not that it would do them any good.

"I'm sorry," O'Neill said. "We wouldn't be allowed to take it."

As they stared at the gold, a little girl edged into the room. She looked a few years older than Charlie--or the age he'd been when he...died. Stefan's daughter? Her clothing matched the peasant garb in the village rather than Stefan's silk cloak. She had golden hair and wide, nervous eyes, and she edged over to Daniel's chair and gazed up at him admiringly. "Hello," she whispered.

"Hello there." Daniel smiled at her. "I'm Daniel. Who are you?"

"Arda." The name came out in a whisper. Her face lit up at his smile. Old Danny had a way with the ladies, all right, even the very young ones. She ducked down beside the chair when Stefan turned. If he noticed her, he didn't seem alarmed at her presence and he made no attempt to send her away.

"I admire your high mindedness, Jack O'Neill. However, would your rules at least allow you to make a foray into the forest with us? If we can show you the danger, perhaps you might appeal to those in authority over you. We are humans like you and our need is desperate."

"Maybe we could do that, Jack," Daniel suggested sympathetically, sneaking a smile at Arda. She gazed back adoringly. "Then we could report back. If the danger is too great here, maybe these people could be relocated."

"This has become our home," Stefan said. "We would choose to stay here." He had not spoken to the little girl, but now he nodded in her direction and she bowed her head and crept away. Maybe it was her bedtime. In the doorway, she paused and gazed once more at Daniel. We're talking a major crush here, Jack thought.

"A mission of surveillance would not violate our purpose," Teal'c offered. "Should we wait for morning?" He set his wineglass, untouched, on the table beside him.

"No, for the vampires shun the daylight," Stefan explained. "We would never find their hidden resting place. I have often sought it myself and have never discovered it. Come. We will take torches and go into the forest. You will bring your weapons."

"Would our guns hurt vampires?" Daniel asked. Did he buy into it or was he humoring the guy? O'Neill wasn't sure. "Don't we need silver bullets or a stake to drive through their hearts or something?"

"Mythology is not the answer. From the tools you carry, I suspect your science is in advance of ours. Perhaps you even possess the means to convert a vampire to humanity."

"Maybe he's right, Jack," Daniel said. "We did find a means of helping the Touched, remember? Maybe we could do that here. He said they'd had children stolen. I think we could at least see what the situation is." That was Daniel, softhearted to the max.

But if these so-called vampires were the real thing, and Jack wasn't ready to concede that yet, an MP-5 might not stop them. He wasn't sure about a staff weapon or a zat gun, either. Still there was safety in numbers. It was worth an investigation. So he nodded. "We'll see what's out there, but we can't promise that there's anything we can do about it."

"If we could get a sample tissue or blood culture, we could take it back and allow Dr. Frasier to study it," Carter suggested. "We've done that before."

"Okay, campers, let's pack it up and go see the vampires," Jack said with a grimace. Halloween Planet? You bet. Next thing you knew, there'd be werewolves and ghosts and they'd have to send for the Ghostbusters. This was too weird. He didn't like it a bit.

****

Accompanied by Stefan and two men armed with torches and swords, they went into the forest. Although the light had not entirely faded from the sky and the moonlight was bright, the effect among the trees was eerie. Daniel couldn't help gazing around in disbelief. Vampires? Was this a trick? Was Jack right to be so wary? Was Stefan conning them? Of course he had enough people to overwhelm them, but the M.A.L.P. and the team's weapons would suggest that SG-1 had powerful back-up. If Stefan and his people wanted to pull anything, they might also cover it up so that if more people came from Earth they could claim innocence. If no more came, then they'd be home free.

The forest was not quite earth-like. The leaves on the trees were long and feathery with wispy trailing ends that had to be brushed aside as they walked. Some of them were as big as placemats. In the light of the torches and SG-1's flashlights, the bark was much more grey than brown and a lot smoother than most trees back on earth. Nocturnal animals about the size of rabbits and as timid with huge eyes and floppy ears fled before them and owl-like birds called in the trees. Once or twice, Daniel's flashlight surprised a wary small creature and its eyes glowed red in the beam before it darted away.

Jack watched the ground for footprints, his head held in a listening attitude. He was on full alert mode. Nothing could sneak up on him. Daniel had quickly come to realize what a good officer Jack was. He watched his back, all their backs. He didn't give ground in a threat, and the team's safety and the mission took priority. Daniel had learned very quickly to trust him utterly.

Sam was fascinated by everything she saw; the flora and fauna, the constellations that wheeled overhead, the possibility of a blood-drinking tribe in the forest. She didn't let the buzzword 'vampire' rule out the possibility of danger. Just because vampires were myths on Earth didn't mean this world didn't have something that approximated the legends enough that a settlement from Transylvania would have automatically transferred the name to a local threat.

Teal'c fell into step with Daniel. "Daniel Jackson, I have read of vampires in books of the Tau'ri, but I understood them to be fictional."

"They are, on Earth," Daniel replied. "At least I have never met one. There are medical conditions that may have been the basis of some of the legends, though. Have you ever encountered any vampires other than this mor'tan legend on any of the worlds you visited?"

"I have not. The mor'tan are an invention to frighten children, no more. Nor, I think, have the Goa'uld discovered such beings, unless they maintained secrecy about such a find."

"Why would they do that?"

"Perhaps to utilize such beings against other civilizations. Perhaps because they feared such beings and would prefer not to admit it. They claim to be gods. To admit fear would be to diminish their status. However, it is my belief that such creatures are not known to them. I have heard many legends. Some of them, as the Tok'ra, have proven real. Others have shown no basis in fact."

"Okay, then, could there be stranded Goa'uld here? Would the locals think the simbiont comparable?"

"They seem aware of the Goa'uld. However, an alien life form might possess qualities which match the legends with which these people were raised. I do not know."

"Did you see that, sir?" Carter waved a hand upward.

"What did you see?" Jack's gun came up.

"Something moved up there. A lot of movement, sir."

Jack's eyes narrowed. "Where."

"There, sir." She pointed and Daniel saw what she saw, a fluttering movement in the treetops. Birds? No, the angle of the wings was wrong, and the heads were set low between the wings. Not birds, then. At least not earth birds.

"Bats," he said involuntarily.

"Bats." Jack's breath exploded outward. "Just bats, Carter. You're getting nervous. All this talk of vampires--"

"Uh, Jack?" Daniel cut in as the bats started down at them. "Bats? Maybe they're vampire bats."

"Ya think?" Jack asked with scorn, then his gun came up as the shapes dropped down at them--and mutated into huge winged creatures. Vampires? They looked exactly like something out of a bad Hollywood horror film.

Jack started firing as the first one dove for him. More of them swarmed down at Tea'c. They evaded the blasts from the Jaffa's staff weapon and yanked it from his grip.

Carter ducked away from two of them, and Daniel realized too late that one was coming for him. It grabbed him from behind and jumped on his back. He had a horrible fear that it meant to sink fangs into his neck and he struggled against it and tugged at its arms to pull it free.

"No!" came a desperate cry and Arda emerged from a clump of bushes and ran at the vampire that fought with Daniel. With an agility he would never have expected, she jumped up on the vampire's back between its wings and started beating it with her fists. "Let him go. Let him go."

"Get to safety, Arda," Daniel cried. Why wasn't Stefan protecting her? Where was Stefan? Hiding while SG-1 took the brunt of the attack? Didn't he care about his little girl? Daniel wiggled free of the vampire and caught Arda in his arms. "Run to safety, I'll distract him."

She gazed at him a second, with wide, worshipful eyes, then she fled into the trees.

Before he could struggle to his feet, Daniel saw Jack go down under the weight of two of the vampires, watched Sam roll onto her back and kick one of them hard in the stomach and send it flying, saw Teal'c grab two of them and bash their heads together. Then he felt something digging in his pack and he whirled to find a vampire holding a grenade. As Daniel watched in disbelief, the creature pulled its plug and flung it to the ground. It flashed through Daniel's mind like lightning that the vampire had an idea what the grenade was.

"Grenade!" Jack yelled. How could he even see what was going on way over there buried under two of the vampires? Daniel jumped backward and whirled to run. He had taken three steps when the explosion picked him up and flung him face down on the ground. Something whacked him hard on the back of the head. Pain exploded in his skull and the last thing he remembered before consciousness deserted him was the sound of running feet, the feel of soft fingers on his face, and a little girl's unhappy voice crying, "Don't be dead. Please, don't be dead."

Then the darkness took him and he knew no more.

*****

Jack O'Neill groaned and opened his eyes. Patches of fog drifted in front of him, blurring his vision, and the moon, directly overhead, shot down a beam of near-blinding red light that made him squeeze his eyes tightly shut. He wasn't fully functional yet. "Whoever turned on the drums in my head is gonna pay for this..." he muttered. His voice trailed off as memory hit. The vampires. The grenade. Shit. "Daniel?" he called, raising his voice carefully. "Teal'c? Carter?"

"Yessir." Sam Carter popped up out of the mist about six feet away and then sat there clutching her head in her hands. "Grenade, Colonel," she said. "Are you hurt?"

"Except for this heavy metal band behind my eyes, I don't think so. Daniel! Teal'c!"

Carter looked around wildly, her brow wrinkling when they didn't respond. "Where are they, Colonel?"

"I don't know, but finding them is our first priority." He jumped to his feet and gave her a hand up. She didn't have any obvious wounds, thank goodness. But she didn't have a weapon any longer, either.

"You needn't hurry," purred an ominous voice directly behind him.

He spun around so fast he was momentarily dizzy. There, perched on a rock, sat one of the vampires who had attacked them. His wings were folded in behind his shoulders, and his upper lip was curled to reveal a pair of fangs Christopher Lee would have killed for. "You're not going anywhere."

"We have to find our teammates," Jack insisted. "And if you think you're gonna stop us--"

"Your friends are the prisoners of the other vampires," the being on the rock informed them. "We could not bring them with us. Some of my people were injured in the explosion, as well."

As well? As well as Jack and Carter? Or were Daniel and Teal'c hurt worse? Daniel had been awfully close to the grenade. O'Neill didn't think the explosion would have killed him, but Daniel had been too close. Who knew what freak of the blast could-- And then Count Drac's words registered fully.

"Other vampires? What is this, a blood-sucking convention? What other vampires?"

"Did you not recognize Stefan for what he was?" the vampire demanded. Lightning flashed. What was it with that name, anyway? "Oh yes, he and his people are vampires, as well. Once we were one with them and lived with them in harmony, but then they decided that only they should have access to the Stargate. Yes, they use it. They go forth into the galaxy and find new victims and drink their blood. We did not wish to do so. To call attention to ourselves would bring the Goa'uld down upon us after many years of freedom from them. So Stefan and his faction exiled us from the village and now we dwell here in the forest. We would live at peace even with them, but they come into our domain and attack us."

"They said you attacked them," Carter pointed out. She shared a doubtful glance with the Colonel.

She had a good point. For all O'Neill knew, they fought each other fiercely for control of the Stargate. The one thing he could guarantee was that neither side would tell him the truth. They had their own agendas. Mind-boggling enough to think they had come through the Stargate and encountered vampires. Worse to find themselves in the middle of a vampiric power struggle with half the team missing. He lowered his voice. "Did you see what happened to Teal'c and Daniel?" he asked.

She shook her head then winced slightly and rubbed her temples. "No, sir, I was unconscious. I don't think we were out very long, though. My head is clear, and I'm not dizzy."

"You were stunned only moments," the vampire said, although Jack doubted it was meant as reassurance. "In that time Stefan's people made off with your two colleagues." Again the thunder at Stefan's name. Lovely.

"We want to get our friends back," O'Neill told the vampire.

"Then perhaps you would not be averse to helping me? We want to take the village. We want to close the Circle forever."

That seemed like a really great idea, so long as it closed with SG-1 on the other side of it, safe on Earth. "So if we go with you and help you in your power struggle, you'll send us home before you close it?" he bartered. Getting into a shooting war when he didn't even have a sidearm seemed like a really bad idea, but maybe their weapons were hidden nearby. Drac had said some of his people had been hurt when the grenade went off, so evidently vampires weren't immune to hand grenades. Of course had only Mr. Fangs' word for that. Jack reached around for his backpack. It was gone.

"It's not as if you kiddies left us any weapons to fight with," he pointed out.

"If you agree to assist us, you will be armed at the last minute."

"Excuse me," Sam said to the vampire. Maybe she figured if they were prisoners it wouldn't hurt to be polite. Jack had about had it with this clown, but if it worked, he'd go with it.

"Yes?" Old Drac looked amused.

"We don't know how our weapons would harm vampires," she said. "All we know are legends from earth about a stake through the heart and garlic and religious symbols proving effective."

"Old wives' tales," the vampire scoffed. "Except the stake through the heart which would kill anyone."

"Even the 'undead'?" Jack asked facetiously. "How about we just keep everybody outside until the sun comes up and see what happens?"

He could have sworn Count Drac went pale, although it was difficult to be sure by the blood-red moonlight. Maybe an idea there, although the night was awfully young for a stall like that. He doubted it was this planet's equivalent of midnight, although who was to say that the vampires hadn't kept them unconscious longer for their own nasty purposes. Jack had a sudden urge to feel his neck for puncture wounds. Instead, he scrutinized Carter, who didn't seem to have any. It wasn't as if he felt weak from blood loss, either. Come to think of it, what did these clowns drink? Each other's blood? The blood of animals? They must have some sanguinary habits or Old Drac wouldn't have talked of going through the Stargate in search of victims.

"You will assist us before dawn or all four of you will die," the vampire insisted. "We have allies in the village who will enjoy the blood of your companions before dawn, if they help Stefan and his friends."

Jack waited for the inevitable bolt of lightning. He wasn't disappointed. You'd think this guy would want to avoid speaking Stefan's name.

This time the flash revealed clouds banking in from the west. Goodie. On top of everything else, now it might really rain. They had to get away from this guy--who wasn't alone; Jack could sense movement within the trees and he was sure it was just more vamps waiting to pounce and guzzle down his blood and Carter's. To make it worse, Stefan was an obvious fraud and he and his people had Daniel and Teal'c...unless this character was lying about that, too, and had already dined on them. Jack winced.

Okay, so the only thing to do was get back to town. "We can't assist you without weapons," he bargained. Anything to give them an edge. Maybe the SGC didn't automatically equip the teams with silver bullets. Jack would put in a requisition for them to become standard as soon as they got back home.

"Your weapons will be returned to you at the last minute. When Stefan--" Lightning flash. "--attacks, you will turn your weapons upon him and his people in self-protection. We are not fools."

We'll see about that, Jack thought, but he was smart enough to keep the opinion to himself.

He positioned himself with Carter and waited. The other vampires emerged from the trees. Dozens of them. Sweet. If they were lucky, the vampires would fight each other and allow SG-1 to make for the Stargate.

He sneaked a hand into an inner pocket. The remote device to signal the base was gone. Ducky. He'd have to hope it came back with all their other equipment or that Daniel and Teal'c were better prepared. Wherever you are, guys, hang on, he thought to his absent team members. We're coming to get you.

*****

At first, the only thing Daniel Jackson knew was pain, a blinding headache that made him reluctant to open his eyes. He knew it would only get worse if he did. Secondary were the aches and pains that suggested his whole body was one big bruise. This was not fun, not fun at all.

Cautiously, he slitted one eye open. There was light, but it was flickering torch light, not electricity and not the flashlights the team carried or the spotlight for their camp. That wasn't good. He tried to remember what happened and he had a fleeting memory of Jack going down under a couple of vampires, a massive explosion, a child's voice... Everything faded after that and he couldn't remember more.

Where was he now? Why did he feel like he wanted to go somewhere and throw up? And where was the rest of SG-1? He listened hard. He could hear breathing close at hand. One person. Was it one of his team? Where were the others?

"Jack?" he ventured faintly.

"Daniel Jackson, you are conscious?"

"Teal'c?" He risked opening both eyes. Turning his head sent a burst of pain exploding through him. He made a faint whimpering sound before he could stop himself, and grabbed for his head.

"Do not move, Daniel Jackson." Teal'c bent forward into his angle of vision. "I believe you have sustained a concussion."

"What about you?" he asked. His fingers gripped his head to keep it from falling off. Teal'c was a little fuzzy around the edges but he looked alert.

"I, too, sustained such an injury but already my symbiont heals me. You were closer to the blast concussion than I."

"Where are we?" Daniel knew it was a cliche, but this wasn't the forest and he wanted to know. "What happened?"

"The vampires of the forest attacked us. I believe they have captured Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter."

"They're prisoners?" Daniel sat up abruptly, then had to clutch his head again. He held it tenderly and waited for it to stop spinning. This was no time for a stupid concussion, not if Jack and Sam were in trouble and needed rescue.

"I assume so. From the room in which we awakened, I assume we have been returned to the castle. I have not seen Stefan."

The thunder was muffled by the castle's thick stone walls, but it was there.

"What makes it thunder when we say his name?" Daniel asked whimsically. "That can't be a natural phenomenon." The pain in his head eased slightly, although it didn't go away, and he ventured to study their surroundings. He and Teal'c were side by side on a huge bed, maybe one made for someone like that giant from the clearing. Three of the walls were stone, one of which held a window right up near the ceiling, a window fitted with prison bars. Its opposite wall held the door, a metal-ribbed one with a barred window in it to match the outside window. The fourth wall was covered with a floor-to-ceiling mirror. Maybe Stefan used it to see if his 'guests' were vampires or not before he imprisoned them. Wasn't a vampire supposed to have no reflection? Or was that just an old wives' tale? Were the winged beings in the forest actual vampires or simply indigenous people for whom wings and fangs were natural. Humans from Transylvania would be certain to assume that they were vampires. Trapped on a strange world, they would relate to things from home, even unpleasant myths.

The theory made so much sense that Daniel was fast on his way to believing it and even wishing a little reluctantly that he could write a paper on the subject. Cognitive constancy, they called it, the conversion of the unfamiliar to the familiar, the denial of things too far outside one's realm of experience.

But that was stupid. Jack and Sam were missing, and whether the attackers in the forest were native to the planet or genuine Transylvanian Dracula-types didn't matter. What did was that his friends were in danger.

The door swung open with an eerie creak, and Stefan appeared. "You are recovered. That is good."

"Where are our friends?" Teal'c demanded.

"I am sorry, but your friends are the prisoners of the vampires." Stefan came to stand beside the bed, gazing down at Daniel from his great height. He really did resemble Christopher Lee.

"Prisoners of the vampires?" What are you doing about it?"

"We are planning. Now, you will help us rescue your friends."

Daniel exchanged a glance with Teal'c. They had to free Jack and Sam even if it meant a battle with the vampires in the woods. But Daniel had a bad feeling about it. He rubbed his aching head, wishing it would ease up so he could think better. He let his eyes move past Stefan, toward the mirror, then he stiffened in disbelief. There he sat looking battered and in pain and, behind him, Teal'c, a scrape across his forehead beside his tattoo, but, of Stefan, there was no reflection. He didn't cast an image.

Daniel felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Stefan had to be a vampire, too. Maybe everybody on the planet was.

He wasn't subtle enough. Well, Jack could have told him that, he realized as Stefan suddenly jumped at him, grabbed him by the front of his jacket, and lifted him right off the bed. The sudden movement sent a swooping, lurching sensation through Daniel's stomach and he wondered what Stefan would do if his prisoner suddenly barfed on him, but he swallowed hastily and controlled the impulse. It wouldn't help.

"You seem to take an inordinate interest in that mirror," Stefan snarled. "Now why is that?"

"No reflection, you only came out at night," Daniel said before he could help himself.

"A pity for you that you are so observant." Stefan flung him down on the bed. "Enjoy your imprisonment. It will not last long. Not tonight, perhaps, but tomorrow night, my people will wish to feed. Soon, you will be one of us." He eyed Teal'c. "Not, of course, the Jaffa. We have another fate for him."

With a campy swirl of his cape, he spun on his heels and marched out the door. Daniel heard the sound of a key turning in the lock, sealing them into their prison.

"It is a pity you let him observe your suspicions, Daniel Jackson," Teal'l murmured. "I did not realize a vampire did not reflect in a mirror. How is this possible?"

Daniel lay back against the pillow, wondering if his head would explode. "I don't really know. I'd have thought the whole vampire mythos was fictional until we saw those bats transform out in the forest. This is crazy. We have to get out of here."

"Indeed. O'Neill and Major Carter need our assistance." He pushed himself up and went to test the door. "It is extremely solid. I do not believe that the two of us could force it open unless we find something to use as leverage."

"Hssst."

Daniel turned in the direction of the unexpected sound and spotted Arda crouching at the barred window. When she saw him look up at her, she beamed. "You are not dead."

"Arda, can you get us out of here?" he asked her hopefully.

Her face fell. "I can't. I am Stefan's servant. He will...punish me."

"I thought you were his daughter."

She shook her head vehemently. "No. I do not even come from this planet. He brought me back with him when his people raided my world. I come from beyond the Chapa-ai."

"Why did he bring you here?" asked Teal'c.

"Because his kind can bear no young." She bowed her head in terror. "They raise other people's young--until they are old enough to be adults. With females, when the bleeding begins. Then they..." She hid her face in her hands. "They turn us into beings like them."

"They bite you and drink your blood?"

She sobbed once, then she collected herself. "Yes. It...changes us. We become as they are, cold and hard, and burning with the hunger for blood. I have seen friends, months older than I, turn on me with contempt, once they have made the changeover. Soon, it will be my turn."

"Teal'c, when we leave here, we have to take the children with us. How many of you are there, Arda?" He stood up carefully, holding his head between his hands. He could feel the color leave his face.

"You are hurt," she cried.

"It's just a headache," Daniel soothed, although he was pretty sure Frasier would clap him in the infirmary the minute they got home. If they got home...

Arda gazed at him with all the concern and awe of a young teen who has just spotted Leonardo DeCapprio. Then her face warmed. "I will unlock your door," she promised. "But you must be very careful, very quiet."

"Arda. Do you know where our weapons are kept?" Teal'c asked the girl before she could hurry away.

"They lie with your supplies in the square. Stefan means to examine them later tonight. Then he will use them, when next he raids another world."

"If we can reach our weapons, Daniel Jackson, we may be able to rescue O'Neill and Major Carter."

"We'll have to try," agreed Daniel. He wasn't sure he was up to rescuing anyone. "Arda, where are the other children?"

"They are scattered all through the village. Before dawn each day, they are locked away, in these dungeons." She pointed past them. "With the other prisoners." Before they could ask who the other prisoners were, she disappeared.

"Do you believe she will attempt to rescue us?" asked Teal'c. He took a couple of turns around the room, loosening up his muscles.

"I think she'll try. We have to take her with us when we leave here," Daniel insisted. "We can't let those kids turn into vampires." He let Teal'c steady him until he found his balance.

"Can you function, Daniel Jackson?"

"I can do what I have to do," he vowed. How could he fail to try when Jack and Sam were in danger and that child was risking her life to save him. "I won't hold you back."

It seemed to take forever for Arda to arrive at the door, and Daniel was afraid she had been caught. His lower lip between his teeth to fight the throbbing in his skull, he made himself walk up and down the cell over and over again while Teal'c stood guard at the door and tried to see out the small, barred window.

"I think she's been caught," Daniel groaned at last. He put one hand flat on the wall, leaned his weight on it, and closed his eyes.

Just then the key turned slowly in the lock. "Open it slowly, for it makes a noise," came Arda's whisper. "Hurry. They did not feel a need to guard the door. But they may return. This way."

Teal'c's arm came around Daniel's waist to steady him and he leaned with relief against the big Jaffa. When the door opened, Arda stood beaming at them, then she flung herself at Daniel and hugged him. "I am glad you are not dead. You are the first person since I came here who has been kind to me." She let him go at once and beckoned urgently. "This way."

They emerged into a worn stone passageway that held a series of barred doors. Daniel didn't trust Stefan as far as he could throw the Stargate. It was possible Sam and Jack were locked up here, too. He crossed the hall and peered into the first cell he came to. Then he jerked back in astonishment. Seven Jaffa sat or dozed in the shadowy room on long, wooden benches. Nothing so fancy as beds in there. Perhaps Stefan had intended to deceive them as long as possible by giving them a more comfortably furnished cell.

They must have sensed Daniel's movement because they came to their feet with the same trained efficiency as Teal'c. "Jaffa," Daniel said to Teal'c and moved aside to let his companion question them.

They saw him and a variety of conflicting emotions ran across their faces.

"Why are you here?" Teal'c demanded. "What System Lord do you serve?"

"We serve Heru'er," one of them replied. He stepped up to the door so that Teal'c could read the symbol of the tattoo on his forehead. "You are in the service of Apophis. What brings you to this world?"

"Exploration," Daniel said hastily. "You are prisoners of the vampires?"

"The mor'tan?" the Jaffa had apparently designated himself as the group's spokesman. "Such a creature should not be, but these exist. They cannot drink the blood of a Jaffa, however. It makes them ill."

"How did you come to be here?"

"They made a raid on a world where we were searching for hosts for the Goa'uld," the man replied. "They took us by surprise." He did not enjoy admitting that. "They had devices that jammed our staff weapons. Lord Heru'er was not present to crush them." He frowned at Teal'c. Daniel suspected that he had recognized Teal'c but did not wish to say so for fear of losing an opportunity to be free.

Arda tugged at Daniel's arm. "Please, come quickly. You must leave this place. I will take you to your weapons."

"No, Arda, we'll find them," Daniel decided. "You go and collect the children. We'll take all of you through the Gate with us when we go. Hide near the Gate and wait for us. Don't let anyone see you." Better not to mention Stefan by name and call down an alarm from the sky.

"I won't," she promised. She paused long enough to hug Daniel again and to press the cell key into his hand and then fled. He watched her go, hoping he was not sending her into danger.

"Free us and we will assist you to fight the mor'tan," urged the lead Jaffa."

Teal'c exchanged a quick glance with Daniel. Neither of them wanted to release the Jaffa, who might do more harm than good to SG-1. But Daniel was injured and Teal'c unarmed, and one Jaffa could not take on a tribe of vampires--or two tribes. At best, the other Jaffa could distract Stefan and his people. At worst, they could capture Daniel and Teal'c and prevent a rescue of Jack and Sam, assuming they were still alive. Daniel had been trying not to think of the possibility that they were dead but, once admitted to his consciousness, the idea wouldn't go away.

"I know you," the Jaffa in the cell said. "You are Teal'c, the traitor. That does not concern us, now. You rebelled against Apophis, the sworn enemy of our Lord Heru'er. Ordinarily we would capture you for the reward offered, but our survival is more urgent than that. Had you betrayed Lord Heru'er, we would break free and slay you, and take him your body. But if you free us, you will have the same chance we have. I offer my oath on that, on the name of Heru'er."

"Do you believe that?" Daniel asked Teal'c.

The big Jaffa studied the leader in the cell, then he inclined his head. "I do. At least until we defeat the vampires. After that, I suspect it will be every Jaffa for himself."

The man in the cell bowed his head as Teal'c had done. "Agreed," he said.

Daniel held out the key to Teal'c. The last thing he wanted was to release imprisoned Jaffa, but he was pretty sure he couldn't fight without falling over. At least he could open the Stargate when the time came. He was well enough for that.

Teal'c turned the key in the lock, then moved to check other cells. They proved empty. Maybe that was where the children were sealed during the daylight hours. With Heru'er's Jaffa trailing behind them, Teal'c led the way upward, ducking into shadows when someone moved ahead of them. He put out an arm to hold Daniel back, and the other Jaffa fell in behind them, pressed up against a wall. Stefan's servant 'Igor' moved across the hallway without spotting them. Once he was gone, Teal'c advanced again and, this time, he led them safely to an outside doorway. They blended into the night and started down the slope toward the village and the Stargate.

Wherever the villagers were, they did not attempt to halt Daniel and Teal'c. Perhaps they had gone into the forest to engage the enemy vampires in battle. Maybe they were lurking in their homes. There was certainly no sign of them.

Worse, there was no sign of the freed Jaffa, either. They had vanished into the darkness. "Hurry, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c urged. "We must reach our weapons before they do."

SG-1's supplies appeared untouched and it took moments for the two of them to arm themselves. Teal'c passed Daniel an MP-5 and a zat gun, grabbed up his staff weapon and a second zat. A remote to signal the SGC lay here with their supplies. Daniel slid it into his pocket with relief.

Carefully, Teal'c concealed the rest of the team's weapons in the shadows. There was no sign of Arda or any of the other children, no sign of the freed Jaffa, no sign of Stefan and his people. The village looked deserted, abandoned, but Daniel didn't believe it was as harmless as it appeared. He could almost feel the eyes of hidden vampires upon him. If only his head would stop throbbing so painfully, if only he could think.

If only Jack and Sam were here...

Teal'c motioned him to take shelter beneath a thick, smooth-barked tree. The feathery leaves hung nearly to the ground around it, offering illusory shelter. Pressed up against the trunk, Daniel felt only marginally safer. He wanted to go out and look for Jack and Sam, but he had no idea where to look and he wasn't sure he could even make it as far as the Stargate, let alone attempt a reconnaissance mission. His forehead pressed against the cool bark of the tree, he shivered slightly. The night was cold. Through the leaves he could see the blood-red moon hanging, fat and sullen, overhead. The night was still. Even the cricket-like insects and the pseudo-owls had gone silent.

Something was about to happen.

*****

"It's a trap," O'Neill muttered to Carter. "It's got to be a trap. Look at that place. Nobody stirring. They're hiding, waiting to draw us in."

The head vampire, whose people had called him Nikolai, put up a hand to halt his people. "I sense them," he told O'Neill contemptuously. "I am aware of them. They wait. The time has come for us to crush them and to take back the Circle." He passed over a weapon. It looked like a double crossbow, with twin quarrels mounted in it. "My people will watch you," Nikolai threatened. "If you use the bow against one of us, you will be attacked and drained of blood. The draining will not kill you; no, it will make you one of us. Your precious humanity will leave you, and you will become cold and hungry. This female? She is valuable to you? Not a lover, perhaps. But one of your team. You will cease to care. You will drink her blood and enjoy it."

"Let's pass on that." Jack let his voice fill with scorn. He caught Carter's eye and arched an eyebrow at her before he checked out the crossbow. She returned an understanding gaze. They had to play this out--at least they were moving in the direction of the Stargate--and, hopefully, Daniel and Teal'c.

A long time ago, O'Neill had been a pretty decent archer, but he hadn't touched a bow for more years than he liked to think about. This one was an efficient killing machine. A crank to one end armed the bow, and twin triggers could be fired at the same moment or separately. One of the vampires fastened a quiver along the Colonel's forearm-- "For easy use," offered the anonymous vampire. His fangs glistened in the reddish moonlight, creating an eerie facsimile of dripping blood. O'Neill refused to give him the satisfaction of shuddering.

He caught Carter's eye as she accepted a crossbow. Some of the vampires were female, but only longer hair and slightly smaller stature gave them away, for the flowing cloaks all the vampires wore concealed bodily features and created a joint anonymity. You'd think the cloaks would make it hard to use the bows, but perhaps the vampires had other means of attacking their foes. Did they drink each other's blood? Nasty thought. The cloaks were fitted to allow their wings freedom. Smart tailor.

They came down the path past the castle and entered the seemingly deserted village. O'Neill had been military too long to believe for a second that it really was deserted. It felt more than ever like a trap. The sensation of eyes upon him grew stronger with each step. "Keep your eyes open, Carter," he whispered. "This place is gonna go up any second."

"I know, Colonel. I can feel it."

With wild screeches, Stefan's vampires erupted from cottages all around the square. Somewhere in the middle of the churning attack, a cry of warning rang out in a familiar voice. Daniel. Jack sucked in a relieved breath even as he found a tree to put against his back and raised the crossbow to defend himself.

"Stay down, Daniel," he hollered in the general direction of the cry. He couldn't see Daniel, but he could see Teal'c, partly concealed behind the team's supplies. He held his staff weapon at ready. Finally! Something was going right.

The two groups of vampires fell upon each other in a mutual hatred that might as well have been cried aloud or thundered through the sky. The clouds he'd spotted earlier filled the western sky, a few leading edges stabbing long fingers toward the red moon. O'Neill loosed a bolt or two in the general direction of the fighting in case Nikolai or his people were watching, but he gave a quick nod at Carter, gesturing her toward the supplies as he thrust two new arrows into his bow. If the vampires got caught up in their fight, maybe SG-1 could slip away to the Stargate and leave them to it. They'd have to leave their equipment, too, and he didn't like that, but they wouldn't have time to bring it with them. Maybe they could destroy it and the resultant explosion could provide a distraction for them to get away.

He started to work his way toward Teal'c, who hovered protectively in the vicinity of a trailing tree. All around him, vampires fought each other, one on one, man to man, hand to hand, and he had to duck this way and that to avoid each pair of fighters. The night rang with their furious shouts and growls of rage.

Shadows drifted off to the far end of the street, small, purposeful shadows, moving directly for the Stargate. That was bad. Putting on a burst of speed, he fetched up against the pile of supplies. "Teal'c. Somebody's heading for the Stargate."

"They are kidnapped children, O'Neill," the Jaffa explained hastily. "The vampires drink their blood as they mature. Daniel Jackson promised to help them escape this place."

Jack craned his neck to look. "Where is Daniel?"

"Here, Jack." The voice held a thread of pain that O'Neill didn't like at all.

Carter joined him, crossbow at ready, but lowered it to take an MP-5 from Teal'c.

"No, keep the crossbow," Daniel cautioned. "It'll be more effective against the vampires." He was concealed in the shadows of the nearest tree. Jack darted over, lifted aside a few trailing branches, and studied him.

"You okay, Daniel?"

"Other than this...headache." Daniel grimaced, lines of pain running from the corners of his mouth. Then he held up the signaling device and produced a weary but triumphant grin. "Can we get to the Gate?"

"You bet we can," O'Neill muttered. He held up the crossbow. "You think this thing will be any good?"

Daniel nodded and then looked as if he regretted the motion. "I don't know if the guns will work against them, but the arrows are made of wood. If you hit a vampire with one, it should destroy him. It'd be like staking him."

"Ya think?" He measured the fighting vampires with his eyes. Some of them were moving closer. They wouldn't want SG-1 to escape. It might even give them enough of a common purpose to break off their fight and come after the team from Earth. Then he studied Daniel's slumped pose. They had to get him back through the gate. "Okay, we're out of here." He nodded at the pile of supplies. "Teal'c, find a grenade. We'll have to leave all this behind, and I don't want it to help them. We'll destroy it. If the vampires are susceptible to grenades, maybe we can take a few of them out that way."

Teal'c patted a pocket of his vest reassuringly. "I have one, O'Neill."

"Need a hand, Danny?" the Colonel offered and took hold of Jackson's arm.

"I can make it." In spite of his claim, Daniel let O'Neill support him. He didn't look like he could make it. He looked groggy and less than steady on his feet and his weight pulled at Jack's arm. But he drew his mouth tight with determination.

"They didn't do any gnawing on your neck, did they?" O'Neill worried. He put out a hand and tried to pull back the younger man's collar to see.

Daniel fended him off with a reassuring grin. "No, the grenade gave me a concussion, that's all. No bites. I'll be all right once we're safe." He used the tree trunk to push himself upright. Jack let him because they'd need to move fast, but he resolved not to get more than a step or two away from Daniel all the way to the Gate, in case he collapsed.

That was when the situation got worse. Armed with spears and crossbows, a new bunch of fighters emerged from the narrow street furthest from the Stargate and charged at the vampires.

Jaffa.

"Where the heck did they come from?"

"They were in the dungeons next to us," Daniel explained, as Jack steered him away from the supplies and started moving them in the direction of the Stargate. "We let them out."

Jack paused to stare at him in disbelief. "You let them out? I hate to point it out to you, but they're the bad guys here."

"Some of the 'bad guys'," Teal'c interjected. "The vampires cannot drink their blood, O'Neill."

"We thought we could get away while they went for revenge. They're really hot to stop these guys." Daniel leaned against O'Neill's shoulder, holding onto consciousness with his last strength.

"Let them be our rear guard, sir," Carter said. "We need to get Daniel back through the Stargate to Dr. Frasier and bring those children with us."

Once they were far enough from the supplies to be safe, O'Neill pulled the pin and flung the grenade, then they ran, the Colonel and Teal'c on either side of Daniel, holding him up. A few seconds later, their supplies burst into a satisfactory explosion that had the effect of halting the vampire battles long enough for Stefan and Co. to turn to study what had happened. SG-1 didn't wait to see what they would do. At a dead run they made their way down the street and burst out of the village. O'Neill accepted the remote Daniel held out to him while Carter raced for the DHD to punch in the code for Earth.

Gasping for breath, Daniel leaned against the edge of the DHD. "Arda?" he called.

"H-here." Her voice quaked with fear. The whole team jerked to attention as she emerged from the underbrush, the other children in a loose circle behind her. One of the Jaffa stood at her back, the blade of his knife pressed against her exposed throat.

"You did not think we would allow you to escape," he spoke, his voice full of malice. "My companions fight the mor'tan, but I came here to prevent your departure. I will kill this child without hesitation. I will take the others back with me to serve as hosts, and I will take you, Teal'c, the Traitor, and claim the reward for you as my own."

Daniel pushed himself as upright as possible and stood without support. It was at moments like this that O'Neill was proudest of his friend because Daniel faced the Jaffa without fear. "I don't think you can," he said.

"And why is that?" Scorn glittered in the Jaffa's eyes.

Carter kept on punching in the codes for Earth, but she hadn't lowered the crossbow she clutched in her other hand.

"Because these children have a chance to be free," Daniel said. "I will not let you destroy them."

"They fear my kind," the Jaffa said smugly. He pressed the knife tighter to Arda's throat and thin beads of blood sprang up where it bit. She flinched and didn't speak, but her gaze lingered on Daniel's face, and pure trust shone in her eyes.

The Stargate ka-whooshed open in a glittering burst of light and the children exclaimed among themselves and shifted uneasily in the darkness. The Jaffa's hand remained rock-steady on the knife hilt.

"To go with you is to surrender their souls to the Goa'uld," Daniel said. He was so close to collapsing that it was all O'Neill could do not to grab him up and sweep him through the Stargate. He edged up beside Daniel and got an arm around him to keep him from falling over. If only he knew what Daniel was going for here. His friend's purpose was so strong O'Neill knew he had to let him run with it, but he hoped it wouldn't take much longer.

Up in the village, the sound of battle grew louder, then, when the vampires realized the Gate was activated, they howled with rage and started to rush down toward it, united for the moment in a fixed purpose.

"We're running out of time," Jack cautioned through clenched teeth.

"To stay is to surrender their souls to the vampires," Daniel continued. His eyes roved over the children, some two dozen of them ranging in age from maybe five years old to near puberty. "The only freedom is there." He nodded to the Stargate.

Arda's eyes had never left Daniel's face. Suddenly, her trust blazed into full awareness, and she cried, "NOW!"

The children swarmed the Jaffa in a vast huddle, legs beating as they rushed for him, and flung him down to the dirt. The oldest boy struck away the Jaffa's hand and caused the knife to go flying, and the others buried him in a flurry of tiny fists to beat him into submission. Arda wiggled free of the pile and hurried to Daniel. "Help them," she urged.

The Jaffa surged up, trailing small bodies. He flung them away from him with as much effort as a human might wave away flies. They struggled up again, shaky and dazed, and moved toward the gate. One small body landed with a sickening thud and didn't move again, a tow-headed boy around eight or nine years old.

Mouth curled with triumph, the Jaffa lifted a hand that held a zat gun and aimed it right at Daniel.

Jack didn't even have to think about it. He shot the Jaffa with both barrels of the crossbow, full in the chest. For an instant, the Jaffa stood, staring down at the arrows that protruded from his chest, then the zat gun slid out of his loosened grip and he fell backward without a sound.

"Go! Go!" O'Neill hollered, and waved his team toward the gate.

The children mobbed Daniel, surrounded him and held him up, and Arda took his hand. With Teal'c and O'Neill standing guard to fend off the approaching vampires, Carter led the way through the gate, Daniel and the children right behind her. The children didn't even hesitate. Their faces were alight with relief and joy.

O'Neill took three urgent steps toward the small, still body, then he saw the awkward angle of the child's neck and his dulled, staring eyes and he knew the boy couldn't be saved this side of a sarcophagus. His gut twisted sickeningly and his fingers tightened so fiercely around the crossbow he still clutched that it shattered in his hand. For an instant, the image blurred away from this poor lost child into Charlie as Jack and Sara rushed in and found him, then blurred back again. He muttered, "Shit, no," under his breath.

"O'Neill! There is no time."

Teal'c's shout shook him out of the bitter memories. No time to bring the body back with them, but the boy was dead and could suffer no more. He flung the useless crossbow free and turned his back on the child he could not save. He and Teal'c raced up the ramp together and leaped through the event horizon, a dozen steps ahead of the leading edge of vampires.

The second he was through, facing armed troops, he raised his head to the control center overhead where General Hammond was watching and hollered, "Close the iris!" in perfect unison with Carter.

It dopplered shut behind them just in time. For a few seconds, muted thuds impacted against it. O'Neill hoped the Jaffa were in there, as well as some of the vampires. The Gate room troops waited, weapons at ready. As the impacts stopped, the troops lowered their guns and the children shrank against Carter and Daniel. Arda still clung to Daniel's hand.

The Gate closed and the iris opened.

O'Neill fought his way through the army of children to Daniel's side. "You still with us, Danny boy?"

"Barely," Daniel replied and pitched forward unconscious into Jack's arms.

*****

"Concussion," Dr. Frasier reported an hour later to the rest of SG-1, who had lingered in the infirmary. "He was struck on the back of the head when the grenade blew up. I don't find any evidence of skull fracture. He should be fine, and he wouldn't have passed out like that if he'd been able to stay in bed instead of running around the planet fighting vampires." She arched an eyebrow at the three of them. "Vampires? General Hammond half-suspects you're pulling his leg."

"Genuine fanged, blood-drinking Transylvanian vampires, Doc, I kid you not." O'Neill craned his neck to get a look past her at Daniel, who lay, pale and interesting, on one of the infirmary beds. His eyes seemed to be open; he turned his head carefully and smiled in their direction. One hand lifted in a wave. His mouth twisted with discomfort--he was probably queasy as well as aching--but his eyes were focused and aware. Jack's stomach finally decided it wasn't ulcer time, after all. "Can we talk to him?"

"Not yet. Give him a chance to rest. After your debriefing. Besides, I have to finish examining those poor kids and I can't do that with the lot of you cluttering up my infirmary."

"And we were due at the briefing five minutes ago, Colonel," Carter reminded him. "General Hammond's a patient man but not that patient."

Teal'c raised his voice. "We shall return, Daniel Jackson."

"Yeah, get some rest, Danny, we'll be back." Daniel smiled. They left him in Frasier's good hands and hurried off to the briefing.

*****

"Vampires, Col. O'Neill? You can't have been serious. Actual blood-drinking vampires?"

"With honking big fangs and all, sir," O'Neill returned. "I vote we name that one Halloween Planet and never go back."

"You say that they claim they were brought to that world from Transylvania by the Goa'uld?"

"That's what Stefan claimed." Jack paused, cocked his head, and waited. No thunder. Wonderful. He'd been getting a little tired of the special effects. "Daniel said they must have been brought by ship, that they were taken too late to have used the Egyptian Stargate, since there wasn't a Transylvania that long ago. Besides, how would they even know about Transylvania if not?"

Hammond shook his head. "I refuse to believe that Rumania is populated by vampires, Col. O'Neill."

"So do we, General," Carter said quickly. "I've gone over it with Dr. Frasier. We didn't have time to collect cultures and tissue samples but we do have the M.A.L.P. findings to consider. It's possible that an element in the planet's atmosphere or soil composition altered their biology the way the Touched and Untouched divided on their planet. Whether there were actual vampires in Transylvania or not wouldn't matter if something like that happened. They would have the legend behind them as grounds for a belief that was what they had become. They would assume the behavior they had been conditioned to expect of the undead."

"Arda reported that they were unable to have children," Teal'c explained.

Carter nodded. "Their bodily composition must have altered over the generations and eventually caused sterility. That was why they went out into the galaxy through the Stargate, not only to seek victims for their blood thirst but to find children to propagate their species. Apparently the condition was readily contagious through the biting process. Perhaps transmitted through the exchange of bodily fluids, as AIDS can be transmitted."

"Vampire AIDS. I don't like it. That's what they had in mind for us, sir," O'Neill added. "A little hickey on the neck and we'd turn into the blood-guzzling undead. Not my idea of a swell time."

"Nor any of ours, Colonel." Hammond frowned. "What of the Jaffa you found there?"

"They could have been overpowered by sheer numbers and imprisoned again, or they could have dialed out and got away. They were in the service of our old buddy Heru'er. Really swell guys. Apparently the vampires captured them on a raid. Maybe they brought them back to P3X 772 as insurance against the Goa'uld." He hoped they hadn't made it away, not after the one of them had threatened Arda like that and had killed the little blond child without hesitation. The sight of the boy's broken body didn't want to leave O'Neill's imagination. He tended to get fussy about the way kids were treated and that one reminded him too much-- No, don't go there. He was glad Daniel had found out about them and helped them to escape.

"Are those children actually from other worlds?" Hammond asked. "And if there is something in the planet's composition that turned the original settlers into vampires, what guarantee do we have that you didn't just bring back a plague to unleash on Earth, either from the children or yourselves.?"

"Dr. Frasier's people are running tests to check that possibility, sir," Carter said. "I thought of that and so did she. She took samples of all of us while we were waiting about Daniel. According to what Arda told Daniel, the children would have to reach puberty before they could be converted. Whether the virus or whatever it might be is dormant in their systems or not will require additional testing. If it's not, we should be able to allow them to go home. It may need to be transmitted to them through the blood drinking." She shivered involuntarily at the thought. "We didn't eat any local produce there. We drank wine, but Stefan said it had been brought from Earth. The bottles certainly looked old enough."

"As for the children, where is their home, Major Carter? Do we have any way of knowing."

She spread her hands. "Sir, we don't know for all of them. Several of the older children know the DHD codes for their homeworlds but none of the younger ones do. I've gone over it quickly with Arda and two of the oldest boys. They come from three separate worlds, two of which are not on the Abydos cartouche. Arda's world is on it but it's one we haven't visited yet. We can take her home. She insists that the children who can't find their own homes are welcome on hers. She said that only she and two older ones who have since become vampires were taken from her planet. She believes her people, who love and value children, would take in any who wish to go. The two boys wish to return to their own homeworlds but the others will go with Arda."

"I'll take that under advisement, Major. If they prove uncontaminated, we'll send them through. It would also enable us to form diplomatic relations with those worlds."

"So what about Stefan and all his little Dracula friends?" Jack asked. "I don't think they were close enough to see the codes for Earth on the DHD, just to run through the gate after us." He remembered the thuds against the iris when they had returned home and smiled at the possibility that one of them might have been Stefan.

"That could also have been the Jaffa," put in Teal'c.

"There has been no attempt to dial Earth since then," Hammond announced. "At this point, we'll avoid P3X 772. We have no reason to return there."

"If I ever see it again, it'll be waaay too soon," O'Neill concurred.

*****

"None of the children appear to have the vampire virus," Dr. Frasier said several hours later. "At least I have been unable to find anything in their systems that would be analogous to such a potential condition, although it could be dormant. When we return them home, we will warn the people there of the remote possibility and they can be monitored. All three planets evidently have a technology adequate to run such tests. Except for slight undernourishment and an unnatural pallor that probably is the result of never being allowed out in the daylight, the children seem quite healthy. I'll run additional tests until the time comes to send them home." She smiled at the impatient members of SG-1. "Go ahead and see Daniel now. He's awake, and he has one visitor already."

Jack led the way in and found Daniel slightly propped up in bed, still a little pale with a tendency to wince at loud noises. He had acquired two mild black eyes that made him resemble an amiable raccoon. Arda stood at his bedside, her small hand enfolded in his.

"Whoa, Daniel. Who have you been duking it out with?" Jack stood back to regard him in amusement.

Daniel grinned. "Janet says it's from being hit on the back of the head. Apparently my brain bounced around inside my skull a bit and this is the result."

"Thank you for that graphic description," Jack countered wryly. "So, is it back in its normal place now?"

"Yes, and not enjoying it very much."

"You have a little headache?" Sam asked sympathetically.

"Oh yes, the way the San Francisco earthquake was mild seismic disturbance. Or the way the Great Pyramid at Giza is a little shack. Or--"

"We get the picture," Jack said hastily, struggling not to smile. Daniel wouldn't sound like that if he were really miserable. As long as he was all right, Jack was satisfied.

"Arda told me she'll be able to go home soon," Daniel added. His eyes sought out Jack for confirmation.

O'Neill nodded. "Once Janet's tests are over. Last thing we want is to make whole new planets of Stefans."

The whole team waited, listening. Not a trace of a thunder clap.

"Dr. Frasier thinks we can go home tomorrow." The little girl glowed with delight. "I have been a captive two years. I hope my parents remember me."

Daniel tightened his grip on her hand. "They couldn't forget you, sweetheart. Nobody could."

She bowed her head over their clasped fingers and pressed a kiss onto the back of his hand. "Nobody could forget you either. I love you." Then she pulled her hand free and darted off to join the other children.

Daniel's face turned vivid red. Enjoying the spectacle, Jack couldn't help smiling. "Going for them a little young, aren't you, Daniel?"

"She just needed someone to be kind to her," he returned. "I don't think Stefan ever was. He was incapable of it."

"I feel good about getting those children out of there," Carter said. "That was nice work, Daniel."

A wicked grin crept across Daniel's face. "Fangs a lot, Sam."

Jack groaned and rolled his eyes. "Can I kill him now?" he demanded.

"I shall assist you, O'Neill." Teal'c's face was completely deadpan but his eyes sparkled with humor.

Daniel put up his hands to fend off the mock attack, and the whole team, even Teal'c, laughed.

*****

When Sam and Teal'c went about their business, Jack lingered a minute. "You really okay?" he asked awkwardly.

Daniel sobered up instantly. "I'm fine, just a headache. Janet says I'll be out of here first thing in the morning. What about you?"

"Well, Doc says Teal'c had a concussion, too, but Junior took care of it." He gestured vaguely in the direction of his gut. "Sam and I were further away. We were probably only stunned for a minute or two, just long enough for old Stefan and his buddies to snatch you and Teal'c and take off. We're fine."

Daniel surveyed him. He was concentrating so hard that it superceded the pain in his eyes. "No, I meant you, Jack."

"Just ducky."

Daniel must have heard the warning to back off in those light words, but Jack should have remembered who he was talking to. Jackson tended to rush in where angels feared to tread. "I meant that boy," he said softly, and Jack realized the child's death had affected him, too. "I convinced those kids to jump the Jaffa, Jack. I psyched them into it. It was the only thing I could do, but--he died." For a moment, his eyes lowered and a muscle worked in his jaw. "I tell myself that we got the rest of them out of there, and at least that child won't be a vampire now. But it's not enough."

"You did what you could. It's a miracle we got those kids out of there at all."

"And then I remembered," Daniel said. He didn't lift his eyes. "I remembered P3X 562 and the crystalline entity. And I realized the boy looked a little like--"

Daniel didn't. Instead he raised his gaze to Jack's face. His eyes were very sincere and very blue. "It wasn't your fault, either, Jack," he insisted. "There's no way it could have been your fault." And Jack could hear an echo in there that Daniel didn't say. Either time.

Yeah, I could. I could have made sure Charlie couldn't get my gun. But that was over and done with and he'd learned to live with it. Most of the time it was tucked away deep inside where it only hurt when he dragged it out of his memory. He could forget--until something reminded him. Like the crystalline entity assuming Charlie's form, dead child on P3X 772.

His feelings must have been vivid on his face. Abruptly, Daniel stretched out his hand and curled his fingers around O'Neill's wrist. He didn't mention Charlie or try to defend their actions on P3X 772, where neither of them had screwed up. It was the Jaffa who had killed the child, and they would both come to accept that in time. Wonderful thing, time. Instead, Daniel simply said, "It's okay." It was getting to the point where they could say things without words, and both of them would understand. Jack understood, this time, too, and a warmth spread through him. He couldn't help but regret the child's death. He knew it bugged Carter, too, and Teal'c, who had a son of his own, would feel it but would repress it behind a wall of Jaffa stoicism. They had to count the victory: the team had survived, they had rescued two dozen kids and meant to reunite as many as them as they could with parents who had given them up for dead long ago.

Daniel proved he was getting on just fine with their own particular brand of ESP. "Jack, to Arda's parents, and to the others, we made a miracle on that planet. That's what has to matter."

"Can it, for you?" O'Neill asked.

Daniel hesitated. He would feel bad about what had happened for a long time. Then his face lightened. "Yes, when I remember the look on Arda's face just now." His finger tightened convulsively on Jack's wrist before he let go. "For you?"

O'Neill looked down at Daniel's earnest face and realized how close they had come to turning into the undead. Daniel was mending, and SG-1 was intact. "Okay, yeah, you got me," he agreed, lightening his tone.

"Ja-ack?"

He caught Daniel's eye and answered without words. He would be all right, too. As all right as it was possible to be. Daniel's muscles eased.

"Just so long as you forget about any more bad vampire jokes," O'Neill ragged his friend. "After all, I'm the smartass on this team."

INSERT AUTHOR'S NOTE

© INSERT DATE IT WAS WRITTEN The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-I, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.