Echidna looked the man sitting by her side. He was tall, thin to the point of gauntness. His eyes were calculating and hard, yet she could sense unknown depths in them. She could sense intelligence and a mind that was not to be reckoned with.

She smiled a little.

Sherlock Holmes noticed her smile and his eyes narrowed. But he did not speak.

It was a challenge. On her territory.

Despite herself, Echidna was impressed. And very amused.

How many centuries had it been since someone last challenged her?

"What do you wish to asssk?"

Holmes turned towards the wall. "Questions. Everything about beings such as you. Any information is valuable to me."

"Why asssk me? Marfusussss can answer you equally."

He gave her a glance from the corner of his eyes. "I suspect he will not know what I need as well as you do."

She allowed herself a tiny smile. As she had suspected. A worthy opponent.

"Very well."

"We were three sisterssss. I do not know who was the oldest, or youngesssst. We were one and yet single."

Holmes interrupted. "Three? Are you a separate species then?"

Echidna's lips quirked up. "Not that I know of. There were only usss three, and no more."

"You do not know of your parents?"

"The earth wassss our mother and the sky our father. We had them and each other. We needed no more."

"How long ago was this?"

Echidna laughed."Aeonssss ago, child. I am old enough to have known far anscestorsss of yoursss and yet I will outlive you by far." She chuckled again. "Humansss are a delicate speciesss."

"You are several centuries old?" To her surprise, there was only a slight skepticism in the tone. Perhaps he was learning to accept this world.

"Oh yesss. And far older."

Holmes was silent. She continued.

"Asss I said, the earth fed usss and the sky watered ussss. We lived where both united, at the hollow of life. And we watched humanssss from afar, earth's playthingssss. They were amusing. And ssso vulnerable." The picture was clear in her mind, the vast open plains, the high mountains, the pinpricks of life on them, humans and cattle.

"My sisterssss and I spent our life there. And it came our notice that several humansss no longer matched our observationssss." She spread her arms. "The sort you find here."

"They had started to appear from that long ago."

"Yessss."

"Why?"

"How will I know the answer to that, child?" She shrugged. "They were the earth'sss playthingssss."

Holmes's eyes darkened. But he did not speak.

"The othersss chased them away. Humansss, it seemed, cannot accept thossse different from them. They chased them and killed them." Her voice was sad. "Many times over."

"My sisytersss could not stand this. I was lesser, how do you sssay it, outgoing, yesss, outgoing then them. They went to help the humansss. And they were killed too."

There was silence. Holmes spoke finally. "Forgive me, " he said, "I did not wish to intervene on a personal grief."

"Happened many yearsss ago. The pain hasss ceased. They returned to the earth, after all. But I was now alone. And I had understood how vulnerable I was, after seeing my sistersss death."

"So you hid yourself?"

"For centuriesss. In a dark cave. Storiessss were written about me. About a monssster who could turn people to stone by looking into their eyes. About the Lord of all monsters." She smiled then. "I chose the lattersss name. It seemed much more suitable. And, besidesss, I did not like humansss much now." After a pause, she added. "I still do not."

"Why have you come out now?"

"Now? I came out agesss ago. More of changes humansss were appearing. I did not make my sistersss mistake . I did not rush to save them blindly. I….collected them. Slowly carefully, year after year, imbibing them with my blood. Making them-"

"Immortal?" Holmes's voice was sharp.

The concept amused her. "Immortal? I don't think ssso. I don't know. But they will endure."

"Therefore, some of these people here are-"

"-more than a few centuriessss old as well. Not assss old as me, but not too old either."

"And him? The man who took Watson?"

"Ah yes. Victor. The Massster'sss minion."

"Who is the Master?"

"Patience!" His impatice amused her even more. Humans were such a bundle of emotions. She sometimes wondered how they could not explode with so many inside their head. "He is a…separate thing."

"What do you mean?"

"Humanssss are not the only onesss who change. Animalssss change asss well. Monkeysss, dogsss, catsss, rodentsss." Her smile widened. "Especially rodents."

"Whatever do you mean?" Anger was thinly veiled in those eyes.

Echidna smiled. " I refer, of course, to the Great Rat of Sumatra, which is currently in the Mastersss possession."

A/N: I did warn you this was going to turn into a fantasy combination sci fi fic. So put those rotten tomatoes away! *ducks*