Title: Hungry Heart, Part Two of Four

Author: Emma

Characters: Canonical Torchwood Three members… sort of.

Rating: Some chapters definitely not safe for work.

Disclaimer: Oh, please. If I owned them, would I let some of those idiots write the scripts? And if I were making any money off them, would I be where they could find me?

Summary: The team races to save Ianto’s life… and his soul
Author's note: According to my Welsh lexicon, achlesyddion means "protectors".

            “It’s six-thirty in the bloody morning, Gwen. Trying to impress the boss or something?”

            “And a cheery bollocks to you, Owen. Rhys had to take one of the lorries to York. I drove him to work so he didn’t have to leave his car in their lot. Not the greatest neighbourhood, that isn’t.” She pointed to the lounge. “Got some pastries on the way in. Help yourself.”

            “Coffee?” whined the doctor.

            “You’re on your own there. Ianto isn’t in yet.”

            ‘That’s weird. He’s usually here by the time I get in.”

            “Everyone’s entitled to oversleeping once in a while,” Gwen said absently as she scanned through what seemed to Owen like digitized microfilm. “Make yourself some instant to tide you over until he gets here.”

            Owen made a face. “No, thanks. I’ll just grab some juice in a minute.” A pastry on one hand and some files in the other, he came to stand behind Gwen. “Still looking into the Ed Morgan thing?”

            She kept her eyes on the screen. “He kept telling me he knew I would come back for him someday. He must have thought I was one of his victims. There was nothing in the police reports, so I’ve been looking at local papers from places he lived in.”

            “Don’t let it obsess you, yeah? It’s hard enough to deal with the present…”

            The alarm sounded as the cog door rolled open. “Good morning, everyone.”

            “Hey, Tosh. Pastries on the coffee table, but no coffee. Ianto isn’t in yet.”

            “That’s odd. He’s always here before I get in.”

            “Tosh?” Jack appeared at the door to his office. “I’ve been trying to reach Ianto and he’s not answering his phone. Could you trace him please?”

            “Give me a minute to boot up.” Tosh’s hands flew over her keyboard. “He’s disabled the chip, Jack. That’s not like Ianto.”

            “Aren’t we making too much of this?” Gwen asked hesitantly. The last thing she wanted was to get Ianto into trouble with Jack. “He probably went out with… friends or something and…”

            The look in Jack’s face silenced her. “Out with it, Gwen.” He came downstairs to stand right in front of her.  “Gwen, trust me on this. If you know something, you need to tell me. Now.”

            She forced it all out in a rush. “It’s just that… last week, when I came out of Tom Flanagan’s house, Ianto was talking to a girl, well, hugging a girl. When I asked him about her, he said she had just been asking directions. I was going to tease him a little, but he looked so unhappy that I just didn’t. By the time we got back here he was his usual self, so I forgot about it. So maybe he just has a girl…”

            “What did she look like?” Jack interrupted.

            “Very pretty. Dark skinned, with long braids.”

            “Tosh, open an audio link to Mainframe.” When she nodded to him, he continued. “Mainframe, file, vampires, document, De Cussac, Elaine, subdoc Jones, Ianto.” He ignored Gwen’s gasp. “Image, Lisa Hallett.”

            A girl’s photo filled the monitors. “Is this her, Gwen?”

            “Yes. And don’t ask if I’m sure. That’s the girl I saw.”

            “That is Lisa Hallett. She and Ianto grew up together and everyone knew they would get married as soon as they were old enough. On the evening of Lisa’s sixteenth birthday, they went to a party at a friend’s house. Afterwards they decided to walk home. It was only four or five blocks, what could happen?” Jack took a deep breath. “They were abducted by a band of rogue vampires mastered by one Elaine de Cussac.”

            “Oh, Mother.” Gwen gasped. “I remember that. They never published the names. The girl was killed but the boy managed to escape.”

            “Ianto’s medical files had some information. They kept him for six weeks. They bled him to the point of death every few days and then force-fed him to bulk him back up.” Owen said. “He still has a tendency to aenemia and only eats when he absolutely has to.”

            “Dear God.” Tosh was twisting her hands together. “Ianto, oh Ianto. How did he get away?”

            Jack was silent for a quite a while. “All right. If Lisa has been Turned, and she’s come for Ianto, her Master can’t be too far behind. You will need to know, but before I tell you I will require from each of you a vow of silence. The kind that causes real pain if you break it.” He waited until they had all recited the ancient words. “Ianto’s family is very unusual. His mother is a Celtic Christian, a talented empath. His father is a descendant of the oldest unbroken Druid line in Wales.”

            “The Achlesyddion?” Gwen whispered. "Ianto is Achlesydd?”

            “Yes. He showed talent from the time he was a baby. The highest performing clairempath ever tested by the Episcopal Court. Actually, the second of only two.”

            “That’s a new one on me.” Owen broke in. “Clairempath?”

            “I’m not surprised. It crops up maybe once in two hundred years. Ianto could feel emotions from anything even remotely sentient, natural or supernatural. But was more than that. His talent extended into a kind of complete perception. The Judges thought it had to do with his father’s tradition. The Achlesyddion deal in ecosystems. To Ianto’s mind, each being was an ecosystem and he could understand it whole.”

            “And that changed after… what happened to him?” Gwen asked.

            “During. He told the Judges that during one of the … feeding sessions… he felt something tear inside his mind and he fainted. When he came to, he realized that he could not only read others’emotions, he could… change them. Plant suggestions. Alter their perceptions.”

            “Cerridwen bless us and protect us. Ianto’s a dark empath?”

            Jack nodded. “In full control of his faculties. The only reason he’s allowed out and about is because he’s under geis.”

            “To whom?”

            “Mother Katherine. She’s one of the few strong enough.”

            “All right. So what happened after he escaped?”

            “He led the police and the exorcists to the nest. It was destroyed completely but Elaine de Cussac managed to escape.”

            “Jack,” Toshiko said. “What about Ianto’s family? Would she go after them?”

            “Toss me your cell phone, would you?” He dialed a number quickly. “Rhiannon? Yes, it’s Jack. I’m sorry to wake you, but you need to get everyone to sanctuary immediately. Elaine de Cussac may be back in town…. No, he’s not here, but someone will call you as soon as they can… Yes, of course I promise but get the kids safe for now, ok? I’m sending Andy over to keep you company.” He disconnected and dialed another number. “Andy? I need you at Rhiannon Crandell’s house. Yes, Ianto’s sister. Elaine de Cussac is back in Cardiff… Yes, thanks.”

            He gave the phone back to Tosh. “Thank you. I was concentrating a little too hard on Ianto.”

            She smiled gently but knowingly at him. He smiled back. “Mynx. Now, we need to find Ianto and Lisa before we tackle Elaine.”

            “Oh, I can do that.”

            “How? The chip isn’t working…”

            “Like this.” She tapped one key on her panel and they could all hear a hum as the Hub’s speakers came to life. “Ianto, would you come out now? Please?”

            They stared at her as if she had taken leave of her senses, but the sound of footsteps on the catwalk make them all look up.

            “I’m sorry, Jack. I’m sorry. But I couldn’t think of anywhere else to go.”