A/N: I have updated this last chapter fixing some storyline portions that sounded incorrect to me. Its hasn't been changed a whole lot but enough to make it easier to read. Cemel Dosce is the sequel.

… .LV. …

Switched

Part 11

By Lady Valmar

Rose shook off the impact and looked over. The Wraith was on top of her body and it looked like it was going to…bite her neck? She stumbled to her feet looking around for Sheppard's gun. She had to get to it that was the only way she'd be able to help him. She had taken mandatory basic training on the 9 mil but she wasn't sure how good of a shot she was. Still it was better than nothing right?

She couldn't see where the gun was but she did see some kind of orb looking object lying near the Wraith. It was small but it looked like glass. It was glowing slightly. It would probably hurt if she bashed the Wraith in the head with it. Well she wasn't Jackie Chan but hell she could smash a object on somebodies head.

She blinked that was exactly what she could do. She got Sheppard's body up and stumbled to the orb just as she picked it up she could have sworn she felt warmth and a electric shock. That was never a good sign but she didn't have time to ponder whether it was a bomb or some kind of mind altering device, now just wasn't the time for her imagination to run wild.

Momentarily confused, Rose shook Sheppard's head and blinked rapidly. Hopefully the Wraith was distracted. She reeled back and slammed the orb down into the Wraith's head, shattering it into pieces. It seemed to do the trick, stunning the Wraith so she could kick the Wraith off her body. It took two attempts and finally Sheppard managed to scramble away from it.

The shattered orb had left glass stuck in Sheppard's hand but it was a small price to pay for her losing her own body and Sheppard too. There wasn't much she could do but at least the thing wasn't choking her bodies' neck anymore. The last she needed was to get stuck in Sheppard's body for the rest of her life. Just the thought was enough to get her looking for the gun while Sheppard grabbed for a small soldering tool because it was the only other thing that was available for him to use on such short notice.

Before either of them could reach the gun or aim at the Wraith it recovered from the impact and knocked his body again into the wall before it made another attempt to reach the device. There was no way in hell Rose was going to allow it to take the device.

It was her and Sheppard's only chance to get back to their own bodies. She made a grab for a box of tools before the thing could reach the device and she lugged the box at the Wraith. It hit its side and despite not having much of a dent in his projectory the lovely box had chosen to open.

Many different metal tools, including a hammer, fell out cascading down to the floor and hitting several parts of the Wraith on impact. The hammer, comically, had chosen the Wraith's foot as its final impact to the ground. It did the trick and the Wraith howled in agony. Sheppard found the gun before the Wraith could recover and shot off several rounds, nailing it in the torso.

The Wraith seemed like the first shot was far more painful than they'd seen other Wraith react as. It turned and Sheppard shot the last of the clip into it. It looked down at its chest before bolting out of the room. Both of them traded looks before Sheppard took off in her body after the thing, trying to reload with a new clip. He'd put it in Rose's pant pocket as he made chase after the wraith.

At one point the Wraith pulled up one of the dead plants that the botany department hadn't gotten to yet and tossed it at Sheppard. He'd luckily missed and Sheppard continued his pursuit. Whatever the hell this thing was he wasn't going to let it leave. He heard the sound of Ronon's gun go off as it whirled past him traveling towards the Wraith. "Ronon!"

Ronon shot off three more blasts and they all hit but it seemed to not even phase the Wraith. By the time Sheppard had loaded the clip after having avoided several plants they were all on a balcony overlooking Atlantis. "What the hell is this thing?" Sheppard shouted at Ronon as they skidded to a stop in front of it.

Ronon leveled his gun with the Wraith. "I don't know I didn't ask!"

If that didn't sound like a joke Sheppard wasn't sure what one was. "Funny." It turned and hissed at Sheppard. He aimed the gun and shot it until the clip was empty. It looked very weak, hopefully this was it but it was still standing. He could hear footsteps echoing. Hopefully that was backup on its way.

It grinned. "Ue detra." Then it howled.

Both Sheppard and Ronon winced and backed up a little. "What the hell are you!"

It laughed. "Whet ue Lamirn." The last word it strung out a little bit.

The footsteps grew closer in the background. "What the hell is that?" Sheppard said.

"Atlanteans puea humon." Then it pressed a button on its chest. Both Sheppard and Ronon exchanged glances.

"Uh oh," said Sheppard.

It laughed again and behind it materialized a modified Wraith dart outside the balcony. Sheppard said modified in his report later because it was black not purple and it had what could only be described as a red scorpion tale. As both Sheppard and Ronon looked on shocked, the Wraith climbed the railing and jumped into the open pilot's seat of the ship before they could stop it.

Ronon fired more rounds off but it didn't seem to do a bit of good at all. Behind them something flew into the ship following the Wraith and Sheppard looked behind him. It was Major Lorne with a remote detonator. He pressed it just as the ship cleared Atlantis's highest tower.

It exploded in a shower of sparks, metal, organic flesh and other materials. "Lorne!"

"You alright sir?"

Sheppard glared. "Good job Lorne."

"Why thank you sir."

Sheppard brushed off Rose's pants just as the power came back on. "How did you know…?"

"Ronon radioed said the thing was headed to Rodney's lab."

"I thought the radios were out."

"They were but they came back up after some tinkering."

He nodded before they walked back to the lab where his body was getting up again. "Oh man that really hurts…"

"Rose?"

"Sheppard…what the hell was that thing?"

"I don't know…"

Major Lorne shrugged. "It looked like it was it on something earlier when it tackled a security team."

"What it looked like was a vampire," Rose said. Ronon and Sheppard exchanged glances.

"Vampire?" Ronon said confused.

Rose made Sheppard's face blush. "Oh um…it drinks blood. Has fangs. Um…"

Sheppard sighed in exasperation. "Think of a fruit being drained of all its juice except it would be blood. At least with vampires you just you get some cool theratrics like Underworld. I still haven't seen the second movie Underworld: Evolution."

Ronon's eyebrows rose. "I have no idea what your talking about but these vampires…do they exist in your galaxy?"

Rose shook her head. "No, its just a myth but I guess that means if you haven't heard of them then…"

Lorne shook his head. "I don't know what it was but I have to admit it looked kind of like a Wraith that was a vampire if that makes any sense."

"Great now we have vampires to contend with? If you ask me it sounds more like a bad joke." A voice said outside the doors to Rodney's lab. It was Rodney in Radek's body and he was being checked out by one of the medical team.

"Ouch watch where your poking!" Rodney grouched.

Sheppard shook Rose's head. "Well Rodney that bad joke nearly snapped your neck so I wouldn't put it past this galaxy to have something like that."

Rose moved Sheppard's body over to the device. "Well I think it wanted this." She pointed Sheppard's index finger at the device.

Sheppard nodded Rose's head again. "I think so too."

Just as they turned Radek's body moved into the room. "What happened?"

"Radek a little late isn't it?" Rodney said sarcastically.

Radek only frowned before turning back to the device.

"Um a vampire Wraith tried to jack the device. You okay?" Rose said.

She noticed Sheppard raise Rose's eyebrows a little and frown. She suspected that the rumor he liked to name things and got upset when he couldn't wasn't a rumor at all.

Radek nodded Rodney's head. "I've been worse."

They stood around for a few moments as Elizabeth radioed and they explained what had happened.

Rose crossed Sheppard's arms and winced. "I think I got glass stuck in your hand…ouch…now it decides to hurt…"

Sheppard made Rose's face frown. "Rodney is the device ready?"

"Oh yea…let me just check on it to make sure it's not damaged. Hopefully the energy spike that Radek picked up didn't damage anything."

Just as he checked the connections Elizabeth showed up. "Okay it's ready."

Rose went over and put Sheppard's hand on it. "I don't know about you but I just want to be back in my own body already."

Sheppard nodded Rose's head before stepping over to touch the handle. Instead of flying back into the wall this time, the light was minimal and he blinked.

"Thank god!" Rose looked down at her hands before looking back up. "It worked!"

Sheppard nodded. "I'm going to need to get this glass out of my hand."

Elizabeth looked around before radioing Carson. "Carson we need a medical team down here."

Then turning to Rodney's body she asked, "Wait a minute…Rodney you said some kind of energy surge occurred? I mean Radek."

Radek smiled then nodded Rodney's head. "Yes the ship that was detected on scanners before the power went out had some kind of..."

"Yes yes...an emp on board or a Wraith err...Vampire Wraith equivalent," Rodney added slowly brushing off the medic's hands.

"Should he even be standing?" Elizabeth asked.

The medic shook his head. "I tried telling him that but he won't listen."

Just as Beckett arrived with three more medics and a stretcher, Rodney appeared to be having a staring contest with the medic. Rose breathed in and looked at her hands. "Well whatever that thing was I just hope that was the only one."

Ronon checked his gun as Sheppard and Lorne exchanged glances without saying anything.

Rodney checked the machine before looking up."Time to change bodies."

"Right and I get stuck with concussion."

Radek made his way over to the device and touched it, returning them to their own bodies.

Rose rolled over on her side; apparently being able to walk didn't mean she was going to get out of staying in the infirmary over night. Dr. Weir, Dr. Beckett, Sheppard's team mates and Major Lorne were all in the infirmary.

Lorne, Rodney and Ronon had all been checked out. Radek had to stay for his concussion but everybody else was here mostly to discuss what had happened.

"What was that orb?"

Rose sat up. "It looked like some kind of Wiccan ritual item. I wasn't sure if it was meant to be a distraction or if it was a miniature emp. I just don't know."

"Could we please stop calling it 'Wiccan ritual' item?" Rodney said crossing his arms and rolling his eyes.

Elizabeth rubbed her temple. "Just the thought of the damage it could have done near the device."

Sheppard looked over from the infirmary bed. "It's disturbing." Rose gave Sheppard a poignant stare.

"No offense but I like my body and being stuck as a woman for the rest of my life well…I'd really rather not."

Radek put his glasses back on after the nurse had finished checking on his head wound. "Did you say orb?"

Rose blinked. "Um yea it made Sheppard's body tingle and it felt warm."

"Tingle?" Lorne said. Everybody chose to stare at Rose.

Rodney snorted and looked discreetly away.

"Rose what do you mean by tingle?" Sheppard asked.

Rose narrowed her eyes at Rodney. "For those dirty minded no...it was not some sexual experience trust me," At sexual experience everybody shifted uncomfortably in the room. "It just felt weird. Like his body was being exposed to ultra violet waves or something like that."

Sheppard rolled his eyes. "I wasn't referring to that. Why didn't you say something sooner?"

Rose said slight guilty. "Well I didn't think it was important at the time although it did seem odd…"

Elizabeth looked worried. "Carson did it do anything to Sheppard?"

Carson came forward with the results from the scan. "Not to worry I ran scans on everybody including the Colonel. As far as I can tell it had no effects so far but I'd like to keep Radek, Sheppard and Rose for an extra day to make sure that it didn't do anything more than that."

"So why did it want the body switching device anyways?" Rose asked out loud.

Rodney shrugged. "Its possible it may have wanted to switch bodies or that it had a similar device that got destroyed and it somehow got stuck in a Wraith. Although what the it was inside of the Wraith is a questionable debate. In any case the better question is how did it find Atlantis?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "It seems odd, Rodney I want this device checked out thoroughly and then sent back to the SGC."

"But…"

"I want to make sure no further complications come from it." She stressed complications.

"Major Lorne did you see the Vampire Wraith's eyes and fangs?" Rose asked Lorne.

"I did…"

Rose grinned. "See the name fits…Vampire Wraith."

Sheppard added. "We can name it later. By the way did we find out what Whet Lamirn means?" Sheppard said, looking back down at his palm pilot.

"Huh?" Rodney said.

"It said that. I was wondering what it meant."

Rodney made a face. "Who knows?"

Ronon shrugged. "Whatever it was, its dead now."

"I was just thinking...maybe its possible that the beacon placed on the device, if there is one, linked up to the…Wraith's ship," Rodney said.

"That was a weird ship," Lorne said agreeing.

"Looked like it had some kind of advanced shield and cloaking device in addition to the emp, perhaps." Rodney said. "Its a shame you blew it up."

Lorne made a frown. "If I hadn't it would have gotten away and with it the location of Atlantis."

Elizabeth crossed her arms. "Let's just hope there aren't more of them."

They all exchanged worried glances again.

A few days later…

Sheppard sat up in bed and blinked. He felt so nauseated, it must have been the aspirin he took before bed, they were probably making his stomach curl. He got up and went to the restroom and filled a cup, he had, full of water.

As he turned off the faucet he looked up into the mirror the bruises on his face were beginning to fade. He reached up to touch a bruise and recoiled. His eyes suddenly changed color for a second.

John blinked and peered into his eyes checking for what he thought he'd seen. Nah it couldn't have been anything could it? He was probably just tired but on the safe side he might go see Carson later. He really hoped the orb wasn't responsible if it was, it had pretty much disappeared once it had shattered.

As he sat down on his bed with the glass of water, he took another sip before setting it on his bedside table.

"Hello John."

He looked up. "What the…?"

It was another version of himself except his irises were blue and he had fangs. Sheppard reached for his gun and aimed it at the other him.

"Relax, your just dreaming."

"That doesn't make this any less weird."

"Yes and while you are dreaming...I'm very real…consider me your conscious."

Sheppard frowned. "So my conscious has fangs and neon blue eyes?"

"I am the real you, the part of you, you didn't even know existed. You've just awakened."

"Right…"

"We are Lamirn. The orb altered a sleeping gene in you."

Sheppard cocked his gun. "That sounds ridiculous. So if you are a dream then I guess it won't matter if I shoot you."

His other self put a hand out. "John...John," the other self said shaking his head then smiling. "Yea it is true, I can't be killed. I'm a part of you but why would you want to do that? The best way I can explain is your just becoming aware of the active gene."

Sheppard shot off two rounds and watched the other Sheppard look down. "We've got a lot of work to do." Wisps of smoke formed from the bullet holes and the bullets seemed to be absorbed into his body.

"Oh really?" John said still aiming his gun.

"Yes well actually you've got a lot of work to do."

"So why are you here if you're me?"

"I guess this is your mind's way of coping with new information after all you're not a full Lamirn. But I think you will find, in time that life is going to be a hell of lot different for you John."

"Dream or not..." Sheppard said without finishing and emptied the clip into his other self. Each time a bullet passed through it absorbed into his other self's body, leaving only wisps of smoke.

The other Sheppard shrugged. "Satisfied? I told you John."

Sheppard looking a little deflated lowered the gun, unsure of what to do next. "See you later perhaps."

Sheppard blinked. "Wait…'

The sound of his alarm woke him up. John sat up straight in bed and looked to the spot where his dream had taken place. He swallowed some spit before scrubbing a hand over his face.

"Weird."

As he checked his watch he realized he had little time to dwell on his dream, he had to get ready they were going to a world where a supposedly famous medicine man resided.

It sounded more like a hoax than anything else.