Ch. 3 : A Wolf Among the Lambs.
Thank you so much for the reviews, It made my day and made me that much more motivated to upload the next chapter for you! It really makes me happy knowing people care enough to say something about my stories!
Also, Danny probably WILL freak out when he sees the Internet. He's an overactive little witch, isn't he? Hah..
Without further adieu…
wWW Amity Park 5:36pm WWw
Phantom, or shall we say 'Danny' had been following a these wretched teens for a good hour now. In that time, he had been asked a variety of questions going from 'how old are you' to 'if you were trapped on a deserted island and could only bring one thing, what would it be?' Needless to say Danny was quite annoyed by the time they reached something called the 'Nasty Burger. He briefly wondered why anyone would go there for nourishment with a title like that.
Sam had continued to show her suspicion of him, making him worry his cover may be blown sooner rather than later. Still, he would bite his lip and sheepishly rub the back of his neck when answering a question he didn't know. He was positive this girl knew he was different.
Her companion, Tucker, still as oblivious as ever to Phantom's alias, continued to chat with him about this game called 'DOOM' or whatever. He wonders when the boy will realize that he has absolutely no idea what that contraption he's playing it on is, or anything about the game.
The place they had arrived at presented its title in bold lettering, Phantom freaking out for a moment because there were no torches lighting it, but he quickly recovered when he saw the Goth's stare. It was a greasy, disgusting place, with messy floors, terrible decorating, and the smell made him want to puke. The teens he was with thought nothing of it as they sat at a booth all together. The oblivious one went to order food after having a brief argument with the girl on the 'purposes of meat'. Danny only agreed with Tucker because as a child he wasn't one for eating vegetables himself.
This earned him an angry huff from the girl named Sam and a pat on the back from the other. Silence kept them both awkwardly looking around the restaurant until the other came back with their food and began eating. He gave a sigh of relief when Sam began making conversation.
"So, Danny.. You're new so I guess you wouldn't know, but there's a festival that happens later tonight that lasts until dawn. Do you know what it's about? OOH. Better yet, do you know what Amity Park is known for?" She casually chewed on the end of a carrot in between her sentences and looked over at him.
"Uh...Uhm well. I would have to say paranormal." Danny nodded his head at her, carefully biting his lip and praying that he didn't say anything too suspicious.
"Ah! Cool dude, you got it right! We're known for our witches! Kinda like Salem was. See, back in the sixteen hundreds, there was this powerful witch named Pha-" The techno geek was quickly silenced with a slap on the arm from the vegan.
"Hey! I'll handle this. I TOLD you that story, remember? Anyway, Danny, there was a powerful witch that had claimed our town as its feeding ground back in the early sixteen hundreds. He started out small, killing off one or two townsfolk every month, but then one night, he killed off all of the children of Amity Park. I personally think it was to do some powerful, powerful magic, but that's just me. Anyway, one of the hunters of the village had secretly followed the children into the forest where the witch had led them and found the witch and the poor bodies of the children. So he gathered the other townspeople and captured the witch before he could escape, and then hanged him."
'Oh, please.' Phantom thought to himself. 'There wasn't a CAPTURE. I indefinitely let them kill me.' Phantom also noticed that the girl had avoided saying his name aloud unlike her friend who had almost. He mentally smirked at the girl's secrecy. So she suspected him of THAT, eh? Well, he'll just have to confirm her suspicions later tonight when drains them all.
"But that's not all. Before the witch died, he made a spell, a spell that will allow him to walk free alive and well on this day and year. The townsfolk weren't sure if this was true or not but those were the witch's last words before he went-" She made a squishing sound with her mouth and quickly cocked her head to the side, implying a broken neck.
Danny subconsciously rubbed at the base of his neck where his bruises were and looked at them both, feigning fear. "S-So….He's going come back and drain everyone t-tonight?"
"Yeah, bad timing on your part dude. First time in town and a witch is going to come in and drain you dry. Yeesh, sorry about that. But, hey, that's Amity Park for yah. See, I've always been told the story ..but it wasn't until tonight that I learned that he was coming back tonight. Our parents and textbooks tend to leave that little detail out, you know? To keep everyone from panicking and junk. So really, the only reason I know is because Sam found this old book in the library written by a hunter from that time and showed me the story. "
Phantom blinked, and looked over at the girl across the booth. "Who...Uhm Who was the author of said book?" He questioned.
The goth smiled tightly and looked over at him. "You know, I just CANNOT remember. Oh well. Too bad, Danny. Looks like you won't find out, huh?" She placed a finger on her pouted lips and hid a cocky smile. So, she was mocking him. A dangerous game to play with an all powerful witch from a different time period.
The girl was brave, Phantom will give her that.
But bravery can also be a fool's game. If she was to toy with him, then so he will her!
Danny cautiously picked at his food, looking at the layers of different items he wasn't particularly sure of, and sighed. "Well, I assume that's just too bad. Oh! But I'm a bit confuddled at the moment, since it was written by a hunter from the town, are there any hunters still around today?"
The beret wearing teen immediately stopped chowing down on his burger to answer him, not even bothering to swallow, much to the disgust of the other two at the table. "MHM. That would be the Fenton's. They're the only hunters left in our town, their family's been hunting witches for centuries! Pretty neat, huh?" And so, at Danny's nod, he continued his disgusting, greasy morsel.
Sam only chuckled nervously from her friend's statement and Phantom gave her an amused smile. 'Nice try, girl. But I always get what I want. ' Phantom stopped mid thought when he registered what had just been said. He almost sounded like...HIM.
Danny gave a brief thankful smile and stood from the table. "Thank you, you wouldn't happen to know where these Fenton's live?" He trailed off, choosing to look out the window. "They're ...well. I'm ..INTERESTED in their work…" He sounded like he was trying to convince himself, not just them.
The witch cringed when he saw both of the teens faces scrunch up in confusion and he rubbed at his arms. When he saw the darker teen had wolfed down his burger, Phantom used a fork to push his own untouched sandwich over to him. He wasn't about to eat that greasy thing, and hopefully it will distract one of them.
Just as he had suspected, the other male instantly trained his eyes to the burger laid out in front of him and began to pack it down. Phantom grimaced only a bit and looked to Sam, tilting his ever so innocent head. "So, do they live nearby, perhaps somewhere not a ways off, Hm?"
The goth blinked at his word choice then nodded her head. A sly smile spread across her pale face and Phantom couldn't help but dread its meaning. "Uh huh. They live just down the block. We'll show them to you...won't we, Tuck?" She quickly elbowed the pig next to her and shot him a tight smile.
Thankfully, the boy got the message and quickly swallowed his mouthful of mush. He smiled over at Danny, laughing a bit. "Yeah,, sure. We'll take you to meet them now if you want…"
Phantom felt himself grow ten shades paler.
wwWWww Fenton Works 7:12pm wwWWww
He was wrong. So wrong for wanting to come here. If Danny thought that the glowing sign at the restaurant was extreme, he was SADLY misguided. This family feels the need to blast their name down passerby's throats and blind them with the brightness.
'Maybe a show of wealth.' Phantom thought dryly, though a bit of fear shown through his feigned annoyance.
With no hesitation whatsoever, Sam abruptly knocked on the door, effectively snapping Phantom out of his thoughts with a jolt.
The dark teen beside him failed to hide a laugh. "Dude, jumpy." Phantom was so close to turning that boy into a fish for his late dinner it wasn't even funny. Maybe a trout.
The door immediately opened and a woman with auburn hair and amethyst eyes smiled unsuredly at them. Her appearance sent an unwanted jab at Phantom's heart and he tried not to show any outward emotion from the woman's appearance. That hair color, the eyes… That kind smile Phantom distinctly remembered his own mother doing when he was hu-
With a harsh bite of his lower lip, Phantom let out a barely audible grunt. He can't think of things such as that now. He needed to drain the town, as HE wants him to. It was another thing, the lanky teen had been secretly wondering about. Would HE even still be around? It had been nearly four hundred years since his own death, so what exactly had become of the other? The young witch let out an involuntary shudder at the thoughts plaguing his mind at the moment.
Thankfully, he was kick started out of his thoughts when the older woman let out a small, but pleased giggle. He looked up at her from the bottom of the stairs. Phantom had yet to figure out how the other two had went about climbing them, never mind the fact that all the other humans had been doing this naturally for years.
She gave a small smile in his direction. So kind, Phantom's heart skipped a beat. She slowly beckoned him with a finger, and the witch felt inclined to obey her. But what on earth was he thinking?! This was a witch hunter, for goodness sakes! And Phantom was , if he wished to toot his own horn, one of the most well-known, most powerful witches out there!
Did this woman remind him so much of his late mother that he couldn't even process that he had just somehow made it up the stairs and onto her concreted porch with no problem? Of course, Phantom hated the way this human had power over him. She was similar to Sam in that way, he guessed. That calculating gaze that just makes the witch feel on edge, but he couldn't let them get to him.
He must remain focused on the task presented to him.
Because HE maybe watching.
"Danny? DANNY! EARTH TO DANNY, HELLLLLLOOOO!" Phantom scowled when he was yet again jolted out of his thoughts by the increasingly annoying tech-fish boy. He swears he's going to be the first one he drains tonight, if not his dinner. And since when did he say they could call him DANNY? He hadn't even noticed until now.
With an apprehensive look, he glanced over at the boy who had unnecessarily yelled in his ear. He used all the willpower he had to not glare at the boy, let alone turn him into something quiet. "Y-y...Ahem. Yes?" He grimaced at his own voice crack and looked between the three before him, curiously.
The soon-to-be-fish-boy chuckled and gave Daniel a pat on the back before speaking. "Thought we lost you there, dude. Anyway this here is Mrs Fenton. Her and her husband are one of the oldest hunter families that have remained in Amity Park. So, there's no better place for you to go than here for all of your "witchy" probs." He grinned excitedly and looped an arm around the irritated boy's shoulders.
"Ah, yes. I see. Tell me, Mrs Fenton. Your husband's name wouldn't happen to be Jackson Fenton, would it?" Phantom silently prayed to whatever God that would listen that this wasn't the people he was thinking of.
She gave him a small nod, probably wondering where he was going with this. "Hmm? Oh, yes. Yes, he is, sweetie. Why? Do you need him for something?" She looked happy that someone seemed to know of their family from outside of Amity, but she also looked a bit cautious. Phantom would have to be careful later on around her.
He gave an uneasy smile and nodded his head at the middle aged woman. "Yes, I am very….shall we say..INTERESTED in your family's work regarding witches. " Phantom mentally slapped himself for the way he was speaking. Cognitive influences are not something he enjoyed being pushed into his subconscious.
"Really? Well, sweetie, tell me, what's your name?" She looked down at him kindly, seemingly interested in his own say.
Phantom blinked at the question, never really thinking he'd never get as far as he had come. He expected hunters to be at every end, attempting to expose him as a witch to the people of Amity, instead, there seemed to be a distinct lack of hunters in the whole town.
Phantom mentally smirked.
"Daniel." He replied curtly. He gave her a brief flash of a smile, and her response was a raised eyebrow.
"And….your LAST name, dear?" She smiled down at him, playfully. Her voice soft but her gaze held suspicion.
Damn.
Phantom immediately panicked. He didn't think he'd get this far ahead, really. His last name! Goodness, what was his last name?! He couldn't very well use his REAL one, especially not in front of this woman. He felt a bead of sweat roll down his cheek.
"Uh...My name? You want to know my name? Well...uh it's Uhm " Phantom cursed himself because the only name he could come up with was..
"M- Masters.. My name is Daniel Masters.." He grit out, not looking at the woman until she let out a small gasp and quickly ushered them all inside.
"Vlad! Vlad, come here quick!" Maddie shouted down to the hall until she heard his curt footsteps heading towards them and ushered him to the seat beside her on the couch. Phantom felt his stomach drop at the name, and his heart stopped dead in his chest when he saw the man.
Despite the physical changes the resemblance was undeniable. The cold eyes, jawline, nose shape, even the body build. It all led Phantom back to one man.
"Plasmius." Danny muttered, eyes wide as he stared at the man. Despite himself, Phantom didn't care about the slip of tongue, he only cared about the literal root of all evil sitting beside the older woman. She seemed so comfortable around him too! None of them had any idea!
Vlad immediately looked startled and leaned back to look at the lanky teen standing at the doorway. "Hm? Oh dear boy, have we met? My, I remember these two teens from their trouble at the Amity Food Administration benefit this summer. But you… Dare I say, I haven't seen you around." He gave Danny a small, strained smile and enter laced his hands together on his lap.
Sam looked over at Danny with a raised eyebrow. So not even Vlad-fruitloop-Masters didn't know who this kid was? Even more mysteries to add to the brew. A pun, she was sure Phantom could appreciate. He was known for them, after all, his book was full of nothing but puns.
Phantom resisted the urge to gut him and instead decided to give a tight smile back. Plasmius didn't seem to know who he was, and that's good, Phantom could definitely use that to his advantage later on. Madeline instantly pulled him over to the vacant seat to her right and patted his shoulder, mentally noting how boney it felt.
"This is Daniel MASTERS, Mr. Masters. He's new in town. He came in for a visit today, isn't that neat? " Sam gave a small smile, flashing Danny a small smirk in amusement when noticing he sweat dropped. Maybe that name wasn't such a good idea, what from the look Plasmi- Vlad was giving him.
"Really Now? Well, hello child. It's nice to...meet you. " With a quick uneasy glance at Danny, Vlad turned to Maddie and grinned. "Maddie, would you care if I stole Daniel away for a bit? It will only take a minute…" His eyes darted to Phantom's own and dismissed the glare thrown his way.
"Not at all, Vlad. In fact-"
"Splendid, well come along, Daniel. I believe we have MUCH to discuss. " Danny was beckoned down the stairs into the lab where the large steel door was shut behind him. Instantly he felt a strong grip wrapped tightly around his throat. Phantom gagged as his windpipe was nearly crushed when Vlad picked up his lanky form and brought it close to him. "So, my dear, dead little badger, what pleasure do I owe this reunion?" He smirked at the struggling boy. FUUUUUU- Rated T, Phantom. He knew who he was after all.
Phantom struggled to bring in air, it made Vlad loosen his grip, if only slightly. He greedily sucked in air, choosing to ignore the satisfied smirk that etched across the other's face. That is, until Vlad noticed the deep bruises that ran along Phantoms neck. Too big to be from his hands and too wide to be his grip Plasmius thought to himself.
Vlad seemed perplexed by the dark purple bruises that wound themselves around the smaller's lanky neck. "So THAT'S what happened to you…" He muttered softly to himself. "...That ignorant OAF! After ALL these years of searching for you, your remains, SOMETHING, your father decides it'd be a good idea to BURY you?! Why? You're a witch, evil! You KILLED his child! So why…." He trailed off, dropping Phantom to the ground in the process, not even caring when the boy instantly started to dry heave on the floor.
"He….hah...He's more h-honorable than you'll EVER be, Plasmius!" Phantom panted, a small bead of sweat rolling down his face as he sat on his hands and knees, glaring at the taller man in front of him. "Of COURSE he buried me!"
Vlad turned and glowered down at the teen. He gave a swift kick to the boy's stomach, laughing a bit from his cry of pain. "Oh? Then why did he HANG you, dear boy?" He sneered when Phantom stood up, shakily. He frowned and gave him a harder kick. "-And it's VLAD Masters here, boy."
Phantom felt his anger, from years of buildup, swell until his face turned red and his eye's reverted back to their emerald green, strands of his white hair leaking through his disguise. He pointed at Vlad. "Because of you! Everything that's ever been wrong with my life was because of you! " He gave the ground a hard stomp, some of the lab tables shaking.
The older man raised an eyebrow at the display. "Really, my boy? You're going to stomp your foot at me? Are you going to start tugging on my shirt sleeve again, pouting until you get your way?" He chided with a slight chuckle rumbling through his chest.
Phantom growled and lunged at Vlad, eyes burning and hands alight with magic. Unfortunately, Vlad gave a mocking sneer and sidestepped out of harm's way. What. An. INFURIATING. Man. Phantom continued to strike out at the billionaire, his attacks becoming more careless and erratic, as his grunts became more animalistic and crazy.
Vlad kept on laughing as he dodged the teen's attacks. Eventually, he grew tired of the display and with a wave of his hand, knocked the boy back onto the floor a ways back. Enjoying the hurt sketched across his eyes as he landed on his back and skid.
A knock on the door was heard. "Vlad? Vlad! You two have been in there an awful long time? Is everything alright?" Maddie asked from the other side of the lab door. Vlad instantly turned to the door after placing his boot on Phantom's throat and put some pressure on it to keep him quiet. The boy let out a few strangled gasps and he clawed at his foot, but otherwise he was silent.
"Ah, yes, Maddie-dear. Just finishing up. We'll be out in a moment…" Only when he heard her move away from the door did he lean down and pull the lanky teen up by his hair. "Now then, DANIEL. Are you going to continue acting a fool, or are you going to calm down and be reasonable? Come back to my side, son. You won't go hungry anymore. I KNOW that's what resulted in you draining this bloody town those 400 years ago. " He let Phantom go, watching him as he used a table to steady himself and glared up at Vlad, eyes turning back to their guise.
"Nonsense! I drained this town from my own power, not due to desperation!" Phantom responded hotly, folding his arms and pouting up at the older male.
Plasmius raised a brow and smirked. "Oh, come off it, child. We both know you were starving. You think I didn't notice your rapid aging? For goodness sakes, Daniel, you were only twenty and you looked like you were eighty! You're supposed to reap souls so your body doesn't die." He shook his head as he scolded the boy.
"Well, maybe I wanted to die. Maybe the thought of having to damn those as you have damned me was so repulsive that I felt if I tried to live on FEEDING on innocent souls, I'd be condemning myself along with them.." Phantom glowered at the taller man and rubbed at his dirt covered arms.
Vlad looked a bit taken back by the confession, and he placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, ignoring the flinch as he did. "Oh, Daniel…" He gave an almost kind smile, until his grip tightened on his shoulder. "Your soul was damned after the second I dipped it in hellfire." He responded to the teen, his eyes flashing red, his expression cruel.
"You…." Tears gathered in crystal blue eyes as he bit his lip to hold back a sob. With years of pent up frustration and confusion, Danny gave a swift punch to Vlad's jaw, so quick even he didn't see it coming to dodge it. "Go to hell, demon! " He growled out, pointing at him.
Walking towards the door, rubbing at his quickly bruising jaw, he smiled in Phantom's direction and beckoned him to follow. "Come along now, Daniel. It's time we head back. After all… It's best you remember, if you're calling me a demon, then what exactly does that make you?..." He chuckled and opened the lab door. "Come along now. I'm sure we'll have a LONG time to talk more.." He walked out the door leaving Phantom alone in the quiet laboratory.
He stood there in the center, a determined look crossing his face as he stared intently at the backside of Plasmius. With a growl he narrowed his eyes at the other.
"Not if I have anything to say about it."
WWW
So is Phantom a good guy or a bad guy?
Is Sam going to find out about Phantom?
Will Tucker ever stop being a total nerd?
WELL YOU'RE NOT GONNA FIND OUT IN THE NEXT CHAPPIE BECAUSE IT'S GOING TO BE BACKSTORY! HAHAGA*HACK. COUGH. CHOKE*
Also! If you're wondering why Phantom has his own book, but Vlad doesn't, that comes into play later on, so don't worry about it!
Ahem. See you guys next time! -ShadTastic.
