Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

Note (11/29/2017): I shocked myself when I wrote that super long chapter for The Grimoire but hey, sleep deprivation makes you do weird things! I've unfortunately been sick since Thanksgiving (no thanks to my co-workers, bless their little hearts though, getting me sick in the first place but when I came home early after going to work still sick on Monday, I didn't want to re-give this nasty bug to them either so I've been stuck at home sick. I'm finally starting to get better though) but I guess SOMETHING good came out of all of it. Really, I probably could have easily kept going on to write several more chapters but the story ended up longer then I expected it to anyway so in this case I decided to split it up. The last story was mostly about Owen and Vlad warming up to each other and Owen receiving the rest of his powers. This time it'll be about overcoming their struggles and as an apt phrase, fight off their inner demons, aka move on from what happened in their respective pasts. Compared to Owen, Vlad's got it easy since he only has one lifetime to worry about! Owen has who knows how many and then there are those ghosts who know exactly who he is that are going to try and take advantage of Owen's inexperience as we just saw Nocturne do in the final chapter of The Grimoire. Since this story has grown so huge I want to see if I can pull off a trilogy simply because even in the sequel there will be very little to do with Lilith although we are going to see more in the way of her underhanded tricks and demon underlings coming after them now that Owen has achieved full necromancer status. At any rate, welcome to the very first chapter of Ravenheart! Enjoy!

~Chapter 1~

A Beautiful Lie; A Terrible Truth

He wasn't sure how, but Vlad knew something was terribly wrong. So once he led Danny to the room Dani was in to let them hash things out, he hastily excused himself to go check on Owen. He'd left the boy alone for too long as it is. But rather then actually going to his room, in order to avoid any more emotional outbursts if Owen was still awake at this terribly early hour of the morning, Vlad decided to go to the security tapes. And yes, he did have a camera installed in Owen's room as well but Vlad swore he would ONLY check those recordings in emergencies and any unrelated footage was set to automatically be deleted. Ah the wonders of technology. Though now wasn't the time for Vlad to pat himself on the back for inventing such a thing.

While realistically he should have enabled the voice recording as well Vlad didn't want to completely invade Owen's privacy and he was confident about being a rather skilled lip reader anyway thanks to his line of work in the real world. You'd be surprised what people thought they could get away with muttering under their breath when they thought no one could hear what they were saying. Even without his ghost hearing Vlad could read lips just as easily as an open book, in SEVERAL different languages. Still, when he saw what was on the recent video, Vlad berated himself for not enabling the voice recordings after all!

At first everything seemed normal, although Owen was obviously still restless and at first was pacing around the room like a cornered animal before giving up and climbing into bed to punch his pillow a few times only to be reminded that something hard was behind it that did not make the impact any softer. Shaking his hand and wincing, Owen removed the offending object which of course was The Grimoire which he stared at for a good long while as if deciding something then turned around to start reading it. That look on his face meant Owen was plotting something, Vlad could tell, which only set him more on edge. Just what was Owen trying to accomplish?

Fearing the worst, Vlad glanced at the time stamp before continuing to watch Owen intently read The Grimoire and switch pages every so often to double check something. A bead of sweat tickled down his brow as Vlad watched with a mixture of dread and curiosity about what exactly Owen was planning to do that required such concentration. What he saw happen next made Vlad knock his chair over from standing up so quickly, gripping his desk so hard that it threatened to break and groaned in protest...

The first thing to alert Vlad that whatever Owen was doing was serious was the fact that while supporting The Grimoire in one arm so he could read it, he summoned a blue flame to his hand and looked as though he was about to perform some sort of ritual. He had certainly left himself enough room for it too as a circle of flame similar to the one Owen created around the demoness to banish her appeared moments later after he changed into his necromancer form. That's when it dawned on Vlad what Owen was doing. The fool was trying to summon a ghost! And Vlad had no doubt he knew which ghost it was, but, he was still trapped in the thermos somewhere in the Ghost Zone as far as they knew so Vlad allowed himself to relax a bit. Surely this ritual had failed so right about now Owen was probably fast asleep after exhausting his powers like that, for which Vlad was very grateful.

Pausing the video, Vlad pulled his chair up and put it back into place before sitting down again and releasing the breath he'd unconsciously been holding in this whole time. There was still some time left before the video was over so Vlad decided he should watch the rest of it just to be sure that everything was alright and his fears were unfounded. After all, none of his alarms had gone off and they could now detect necroenergy as well as demonic energy so there shouldn't be anything to be concerned about.

Or so he thought.

Vlad had become so confident that whatever Owen was trying to do would surely fail that when a figure appeared out of the circle his chair was once again knocked to the floor with a loud clatter. He saw Owen fall to his knees but he otherwise seemed alright and the unknown specter made no move to attack him, he just looked at the boy contemplatively. That ghost, he looked familiar so after hastily pausing the video again Vlad instructed his computer to cross analyze the ghost before them with his records and other ghost lore files to see if there was a match.

"Analysis complete. Search results indicate that the ghost in this image goes by the name of Nocturne, the Ghost of Sleep. He is an Ancient Class ghost of unknown origin. His powers are as follows. Standard ghost powers: intangibility, invisibility, flight, teleportation, regeneration, ghost ray, size change based on his energy absorption intake, superhuman strength, and pyrokinesis. Unique attributes: sleep manipulation, dream energy absorption which acts as his primary source of power, omniscience to dreams and the subconscious, sleep inducement, and lastly the summoning of ghostly underlings known as "Sleepwalkers." Known encounters with this ghost: zero. Power level: unknown. Threat ranking: undetermined. Classification: ancient/unique class. Current allegiance: undetermined. Origin: unknown," the computer voice informed him, though it was now a standard female voice rather then specifically Maddie's anymore since as Owen pointed out before that using the voice of Danny's mom was very creepy.

"Computer, did the security system pick up ANY energy readings besides Owen's when this Nocturne appeared?" Vlad asked, still shaking in anticipation and fearing that this ghost had been yet another demon-controlled trap set up for Owen.

After a moment, the computer buzzed and responded, "Negative. All systems indicate that no unidentified ghosts have entered the perimeter, although there was a temporal disturbance in the specified location indicating that a ghost portal was opened in that area."

Vlad blinked, thinking that surely he must have heard wrong. "I'm sorry. Would you kindly repeat that?"

"All systems indicate that no unidentified ghosts have entered the perimeter, though records show that there was a temporal disturbance indicating that a ghost portal was opened in that area," the computer repeated, simplifying the phrase after repeating it a second time.

"Impossible," Vlad gaped, staring at the circle Owen created with a whole new sense of respect and awe of what the boy had managed to accomplish with his power alone. "Computer, compare the readings of this portal to the one he created to banish the demoness that infiltrated my castle."

Various readings appeared on the various screens around him but even at first glance Vlad could see how much the algorithms matched up. To confirm his findings, the computer gave him the results, "Analysis complete. After cross referencing both energy signatures, a match has been confirmed. Both necroenergy circles act as naturally created portals, one leading to the Ghost Zone, the other to an unspecified location. The portal from the current algorithm readings leads to the Ghost Zone and in addition it also creates its own temporary space to confine any otherworldly entity found within to prevent any dangerous ones from attacking the creator of said portal. The previous portal was also reinforced with a force-field created by necroenergy, though the readings show that the recent portal's barrier was noticeably weaker by over 75%."

"No," Vlad gasped, returning to the video, begging that the computer was wrong about this. "No no no, please. Tell me Owen is still safe in his room. He has to be! I just got him back!" Feeling a rising panic, Vlad sent a duplicate straight to Owen's room while he finished the video.

It looked like Owen managed to recompose himself if only for a short time to talk to the ghost in front of him. Good. At least Owen still knew better then to show weakness to a ghost he'd only just met, especially one that could either be a potential ally or enemy based entirely on how he carried himself. Vlad could tell he was at his limit though and showing disturbing signs of fatigue. Before long, Owen swayed dizzily and was forced to sit down on the edge of his bed so as not to collapse again outright in front of Nocturne. Considering Owen had just created a portal out of thin air without any assistance or much sleep, it was a miracle he managed to completely form it at all in his condition.

Unfortunately, it was obvious that Nocturne sensed his weakness and was quick to exploit it when it dawned on him who his summoner was. Vlad recognized the power hungry glint in his red eyes as he carefully manipulated the situation and began breaking down the barrier keeping him confined without much effort while keeping Owen preoccupied with whatever he was telling the boy. Owen seemed to catch onto something being amiss though as he stood up again despite his weariness and confronted the ghost with a stern look on his face. Then he recovered The Grimoire from the floor to check something judging by the new expression on his face when Nocturne spoke again, presumably introducing himself at last.

Even Vlad noticed the sudden change in the air as a fine blue vapor began leaking out of the barrier into the room, skillfully hidden by the already blue glow of the flaming circle Nocturne was confined within. He was exerting his power without lifting a finger and Owen was already starting to succumb to their effects, his eyelids drooping and his eyes clouding over. After that, Nocturne pointed in the direction of Dani's room and Vlad could tell Owen was about to lose consciousness any second now. Hopefully though the barrier would hold and then-

Vlad had been staring so intently at the screen that he didn't notice his own duplicate return until it waved a hand in front of his face. Whirling around, Vlad almost attacked it for daring to interrupt him when it dawned on him that he'd nearly attacked himself for no good reason. Well now that would have been embarrassing on so many levels. Still, the forlorn look on his duplicates face only confirmed his worse fear. Now, he had to see for himself what it had discovered before watching the last bit of footage which had undoubtedly finished playing while Vlad was preoccupied with his duplicate.

Reabsorbing it, Vlad processed its memories and frowned. Owen's room was empty aside from the remaining portal but that could mean anything. Perhaps Owen managed to send Nocturne back after all and was coming to confess to him the extremely foolish thing he'd done so they could figure out how to close the portal again. There was any number of possibilities Vlad could consider besides the obvious one. But Vlad kept denying it with all his heart because, damn it if he failed to foresee this too then all of his carefully placed precautions clearly hadn't been enough to protect his beloved son-to-be! He failed him again. And Vlad would have to resort to begging Daniel for his help yet again even in the midst of the whole dying clone dilemma...

Rewinding the video, Vlad resumed where he left off and his blood went cold when he saw Nocturne effortlessly glide out of the circle to loom over Owen, raising one of his clawed hands over his head and dusting him with a fine sparkling powder that Vlad could only assume was quite literally dream dust. The effects were almost immediate as Owen's eyes fluttered shut and he fell into Nocturne's welcoming embrace. That alone alarmed Vlad but his shock only deepened when Nocturne's power literally seeped into Owen's necromancer form, changing its appearance so that his previously white hair was a pale shade of purple like Nocturne's horns and his arms and legs adopted the same starry-skied appearance.

It was quite beautiful on him really, and had the situation not been so dire Vlad would appreciate this new twist on his form. However, the fact that Owen's form had physically changed could only mean that he was weak enough for even a ghost to effect him with their powers and take control. But what could Nocturne possibly gain by putting Owen to sleep? He wouldn't be able to use his powers like that. Unless, was Nocturne planning to hand him over to someone else? Or was Nocturne merely a cover and it was Azrael up to no good again?

Either way, the last few seconds of the video confirmed that Owen had indeed been carried into that portal, which mean he had to reach that portal before it closed again since it would be the closest one to wherever he'd been taken. Taking a moment to write down a hasty note to leave for Danny, Vlad shouted for his vultures and ordered them to deliver the message before he shot like an arrow directly to Owen's room, diving head first into the portal seconds before it flickered out of existence...