Chapter 7: Demons
When you feel my heat
Look into my eyes
It's where my demons hide
"I still don't know what's going on." Jazz said, staring at the both of us, but mainly at Danny. "Why are you here; why didn't Mom and Dad recognize you?" She paused, looking at her brother with more scrutiny in her eyes; a confused expression dawned her face. "And, is that blood on your jeans?"
Danny put his hands up in front of him as if to ward off his panicked sister. "Whoa, one question at a time please."
Jazz crossed her arms, unfazed by Danny's attempt at humor, glaring at her brother. "Explain."
"In short," Danny looked at Jazz levelly, "Skulker attacked, Sam was there, he shot me with some gun thing- or I think it was a bazooka, you know Skulker and his guns, his many many gu-"
"I thought this was the short version," Jazz interrupted, giving her brother a knowing smile.
"Oh, right," Danny said, a small smile forming on his face. "Anyway, he used the Plasmius Maximus 2.0 on me. Hate that thing."
"2.0? He made a new version?" Jazz asked. Jazz's eyes widened, "That means that-"
"Yeah new and improved," Danny quickly interrupted whatever Jazz was about to say. "I'm guessing the effects will last longer."
Jazz narrowed her eyes at her little brother, but anyone could clearly see how worried she was. Although I didn't see exactly why. "And, I'm guessing you changed back in front of Sam, then our obsessive parents came to the rescue. Immediately after right?" Her voice hitched up at the end as if she was talking to a little kid, trying to get them to tell the truth.
"Yep, pretty much," Danny said cheekily, smile still in place.
Jazz rolled her eyes; then, she turned towards me. "Is that really what happened, or did this dweeb try to fight Skulker without his powers while injured?"
"Uh," I said, not really knowing what kind of answer Danny wanted me to give.
Apparently, that was answer enough. Jazz turned towards Danny, anger in her eyes, swiftly smacking the back of Danny's head. Danny let out a yelp. "You idiot, why didn't you run away? You know who must have been behind the attack if the Plasmius Maximus was used," Jazz all but screamed, still managing to keep her voice low enough so the Fentons wouldn't hear her.
"Hey!" Danny said, rubbing the back of his head where Jazz hit him. "I had the situation perfectly under control."
"Uh-huh." Jazz gave him a disbelieving look.
Danny only smiled at her, trying to look innocent.
Jazz's expression softened, melting into worry. "You seriously need to be more careful."
"I'm fine, Jazz," Danny reassured her with a wave of his hand, "besides, I had Sam and her killer backhand to protect me."
I rolled my eyes but chose not to address that comment, instead thinking of something else they said that was bothering me. "Jazz said somebody else was behind the attack. What does she mean by that?"
Jazz and Danny exchanged looks, both of them having various expressions of worry and anxiety, but Jazz looked more anxious while Danny looked more pissed off.
"We'll talk later, okay Jazz, not right now," Danny said.
"Just, please, next time try to have a little more self preservation," Jazz muttered, but both of us could hear her loud and clear.
Danny only heaved a sigh.
Jazz mirrored him. Both siblings looked solemnly at one another. I could tell this wasn't the first time they had this kind of argument.
"So, is somebody going to explain or are we going to just keeping standing here, staring at each other?" I said, letting some of my annoyance seep into my tone, I didn't like being left in the dark, especially with the information I had being so confusing already.
Danny looked at me, then back at Jazz.
Jazz just stared back him.
They seemed to be silently communicating with each other in some weird sibling way that an only child like myself couldn't understand.
Jazz nodded, her features set.
Danny smiled, looking over at me. "I will explain everything," he said. He looked around, as if noticing for the first time where we were. His expression became apprehensive. "But not here. It's not really the best place. How 'bout at my place?"
"Your place?" I asked, confusion in my voice.
Danny only smiled. "Come on."
He took my hand, leading me out of the front door, to the sidewalk.
I looked over to see Jazz on the other side of Danny, walking in time with her brother. She was giving him worried side glances every now and then. Either Danny was ignoring her or didn't notice, but knowing first hand how clueless he could be, it was probably the latter.
We continued walking down the sidewalks of Amity, hardly anybody was out. Only a couple of the town's citizens were spread out, going about their daily business, but all in all, the sidewalks were mostly clear of pedestrians.
I kept looking around me at the people, feeling as if they should be staring at us. The supposedly dead Fenton who had been talked about around the town was standing right here in front of them, and none of them knew. None of them barely glanced our way. It was chilling because I used to be one of them; I used to be ignorant of this whole other world that was going on right here in the town I lived.
"So, you have a place?" I asked, still trying to see how this happened. I tried to imagine the kind of house Danny would live in, but came up short, having a hard time picturing it.
I could feel his hand rise up, bringing mine with it, as he shrugged. "Yeah, Jazz helped me out. She was able to scrounge up some money to fix it up without our parents noticing."
"What do you mean not noticing?"
"We are not exactly poor," Jazz intervened. "Our parents work all around the world, wanted by all nations to help them with the ghost problems. They have a lot to spare and wouldn't notice a small dent being taken out, since they are already so busy with their ghost hunting and don't really take the time to manage the money."
I nodded; it made sense, after all, the Fentons had to be making a lot, considering how much in demand they were. "So this place, how did you find it. Did you buy a house or something?"
"Well, it's a house," Danny said, smiling to the point where he was almost laughing. "But, we didn't exactly buy it. It was being haunted by this ghost. Nobody went around it for years because of the haunted problem." Danny let out a chuckle. "Wasn't really much of a problem though. It was just the Box Ghost. Once we got him in the Ghost Zone, the house was free. Nobody wanted it, so Jazz and I decided it would be perfect for me, just to hide out there."
"We had to fix it up a bit though," Jazz said, wrinkling her nose, "the place was a mess."
"Why hide out? Why not just live with your parents?" I asked.
"Well," Danny said, giving me an uneasy look, "it's not really that simple. Even if they didn't notice my... condition, there are some other things stopping me."
"One of them being that you are supposed to be dead?" I asked, but it came out more as a statement. The story that circulated around the town for days after his "death" replayed over and over in my head: Daniel Fenton, age 13: Lab accident having something to do with ghosts, Cause of Death: electrocution, died in the hospital.
I saw his strong jaw tighten, the muscle becoming more defined. "Yeah, that's one of the things."
"We figured it would just be better if he laid low since the situation was already complicated enough and-" she stopped, hesitantly, seeming to pick the words she was about to say carefully, "a lot happened. Bringing Mom and Dad into it would have just been more stressful during that time."
"So you decided to keep them in the dark about all this," I said, trying to make sense out of why they would do that.
"Yep, pretty much," Danny said, the tension releasing from his jaw.
"Wait a minute," I said, looking at him questioningly. "How come they didn't recognize you? Thirteen is not that far away from seventeen."
He scratched the back of his neck, smiling. "I was a lot scrawnier back then."
"Not to mention shorter," Jazz commented, her hand extended-she had to get up to her tippie-toes to reach it- up to his hair to mess it up affectionately. "But still a bit scrawny," she teased.
"Hey!" he protested, batting away her hand playfully.
"It's your fault; I still have to remind you to eat."
"That's because it's kinda hard to fight ghosts and eat a sandwich all at once," he crossed his arms. "I know I'm talented but..." he paused, thinking. "Wait a minute, I'm gonna try that."
A devilish grin spread across his face.
"No," Jazz and I said at the same time, glaring at him.
Danny only smiled, not giving us any reassurance.
"It would be nice if you don't get yourself killed," Jazz said, flicking his head. "Little brother."
Danny rolled his eyes. "I've succeeded so far."
"Barely," Jazz quipped, crossing her arms, but a smile was playing on her lips as she looked at her brother with amusement in her deep blue eyes. In that instant, I could see the family resemblance, she was almost an exact replica of Maddie Fenton, the same soft bone structure and confident smile, the same fiery red hair, but it was much longer, drawn in a loose side braid with a couple strands hanging loose, framing her face. She was wearing a simple black long sleeve that hung tight to her frame, blue skinny jeans, cuffed at the bottom, and black ballet flats. A brown leather messenger bag was hanging across her body from one shoulder. She was more petite than Mrs. Fenton as well, not having the same curves as her mother, looking more lanky like Danny; but she was still just as pretty as Mrs. Fenton.
"Jazz, that really hurts," Danny said, pouting. "I like to think that I'm pretty good at staying alive. You're really bruising my ego here."
"I think you will get over it," Jazz said, knocking her elbow into Danny's arm playfully. "Besides, I'm pretty sure the big hero's ego is big enough to suffer a small blow."
"Only you can manage to compliment me and insult me in one sentence," Danny said, still pouting at his sister.
"That's what sisters are for," Jazz smiled.
I couldn't help but laugh at Danny's expression. "I think she got you there."
"True, but just wait until I tell you about everything, including the times Jazz tried to help me fight ghosts," Danny looked over at his sister, smiling menacingly at her.
"You are so annoying," Jazz all but growled, crossing her arms, and looking away from her brother's threatening stare.
"That's what brothers are for." Danny smiled.
"To drive their sisters insane?"
"I like to think I do my job pretty well," Danny said.
"You do it way to well," Jazz said, eyeing her brother. "One of these days you are going to make me go into cardiac arrest with all the stunts you pull."
I smiled, enjoying the banter between the two siblings. I looked up from them, to see we were at the entrance to the park. I raised an eyebrow at the sight. "Why are we here?"
Danny looked at me, a smile gracing his features. "The house is behind the woods dividing it from the park. It's the only real entrance, since everybody forgot about it."
I looked up at the huge sign in iron carving connected to the iron archway, indicating we were at the entrance to the park, the very place I had my first real conversation with Danny, when everything was so much simpler. It seemed like it was so much longer ago than just a week and couple a days.
"Well, I better turn back," Jazz said, breaking the momentary silence between the three of us. She looked up at Danny, giving him a soft smile. "You know how Mom and Dad are. Besides, I have a paper to work on."
"It's probably not due until a couple weeks," Danny said, giving his sister a knowing smile.
Jazz punched him lightly. "Not everybody procrastinates and works on a project last minute." She gave him a meaningful look, but Danny only rolled his eyes in reply.
Jazz hugged Danny, giving him a squeeze before letting him go. "Be careful, and I will see ya later, okay?"
Danny nodded. "I will."
Jazz looked over at me, smiling. She stuck her hand out towards me, "It was nice meeting you, Sam."
I took her hand, shaking it, a smile slowly growing on my face. "Nice meeting you too."
Jazz nodded before turning to walk away, giving us a wave as she began to round the corner back to her house.
Danny and I both waved back before turning towards the park, walking in the direction of the woods.
"I like her," I said, as we reached the outskirts of the woods, beginning to walk deeper into them.
"Yeah, she's pretty great even for an annoying, overprotective big sister." Danny said, but I could tell by his tone he was joking about the annoying part.
"So she was the one that helped you through all of this?"
"Yeah, pretty much," Danny said. He looked at me, seriously. "I really don't know where I would be without her. I might joke about how crappy of a ghost hunter she was in the beginning and how overprotective she can be, but really, she does a lot for me. And, I'm glad she knows everything; I wouldn't have been able to get through this without her."
I smiled at him. "I'm glad you did get through it. But, whatever that was, it seemed like a pretty big thing. Do you mind explaining to me now? How all this happened."
Danny's expression turned grim, he looked forward, then back at me, making a gesture in front of him. "Let's get inside first."
I looked in direction he was referring to, only to stop, staring at the huge house among the shrubbery and numerous trees. It was old fashioned looking, having a wrap around porch. The paint was peeling off and some of the wooding on the porch was cracked and damaged, but the structure of the two story house still looked pretty amazing.
I walked ahead, still staring at the house as it grew nearer, towering over me until I was on the porch, already at the front door. I looked down to see a clean rug in front of it, but that wasn't the thing that struck me as odd. In neat scripted print, the rug said, Home Sweet Home.
I looked over at Danny questioningly, who was standing right beside me.
H smiled goofily, scratching the back of his head, making strands of onyx stick up. "You have to admit it's pretty funny."
I rolled my eyes. "Hilarious."
"Yeah, Jazz didn't think it was that funny either," he sighed as if hurt by this.
He dug a key out of the front of his jeans pocket, and plunged it into the keyhole, turning it until a resounding lock was heard. He opened the door wide for me, allowing me to go in first.
I stepped into the house, not expecting the sight I saw at all. It just looked run down. It wasn't furnished, there were cracks in the walls and floorboards, even the huge stair case that was in front of us looked worn although some new pieces of wood were placed on an occasional step. There wasn't even any proper lighting. I was only able to see due to the light coming through the broken windows, streaming down, revealing just how torn the place looked.
"Yeah, I know what you're thinking," Danny said from behind me, taking my hand, "but I don't live down here. Upstairs is better."
He guided me up the stairs; only one lone door met us at the top. He twisted the knob, opening it.
An exact opposite sight greeted me, a complete contrast to what was downstairs. While the ground floor was dark and gloomy, his room was huge and open, no walls, no other doors, just openess. The light streaming from the clean, solid windows added a brightness to the room, making it look even more comfortable and inviting.
It looked as if all of the walls were broken down, making it into one big room, the only one upstairs. There were two doors off to the side, one of them being the one we came through. There was a kitchen on one side directly opposite from a living room area and on the other side of the room was set up as a bedroom.
It was definitely something I wasn't used to seeing, no walls hiding the rooms behind them, just honest space, showing every inch of what Danny lived in.
"I like it," I said with a smile.
He smiled back, taking me to the kitchen area. "Hey, are you hungry?" he asked as he walked over to the fridge. It had a single sink next to it with a small cabinet on the other side of it. A couple of drying dishes were on the countertop of it.
"Yeah," I said, my stomach growled, as if reminding me that I haven't eaten since lunch.
He got out two bottles of water, putting them on the small table in front of the little make-shift kitchen area. Two chairs were stationed at the table; I sat in one, watching Danny search his fridge.
I took the opportunity to get a good look around the huge room while he was busy. The other door I saw was probably a bathroom along side the door we came in.
The furniture was simple. On the opposite side of where I was sitting, there was a bed, big enough to easily fit at least two people; the blue comforter and white sheets tangled into one big mess, unmade; a black laptop was sitting on the end of the bed, closed. A single nightstand was beside the bed, with only a thermos and an alarm clock occupying it, iPod headphones were dangling out of the nightstand's drawer, which was slightly open. On the wall facing the bed stood a big, white wood chester-drawer set, some of the drawers open, overflowing with clothes that were neglected to be put away properly. Clothes and random books among other objects littered the floor around this area.
Across from the kitchen area was a small black couch, facing the TV on the table by the wall. The TV was a decent size but not overwhelmingly big. The couch looked almost brand new, showing barely any worn from being sat on. I guess Danny didn't really have a lot of leisure time.
Off to the side, the last part of the room, in the corner near the two doors was a washer and dryer with an overflowing hamper in front of them.
There weren't really any decorations or pictures on the walls or table tops, the normal things you would see in a house, stuff that symbolized the home was lived in. No, the room only showed that it was a means to an end, somewhere Danny could sleep, eat, and stay. But, it still looked like Danny, even in the small things like the littered clothes and tangled sheets.
I heard a thump as if something was hitting the table I was at. I looked down, seeing a bright red apple in front of me. Danny had a sheepish smile on his face, rubbing the back of his head. "This was all I could find, I know you're a vegetarian. I'm sorry; I really don't have a lot right now, just sandwich meat and some fruit. If you want, we could go grab something to eat."
I shook my head, smiling at the fact that he remembered I was a vegetarian. Usually, I had to remind people at least twice. "No, this is fine." I took the apple, taking a bite out of it.
He smiled back at me. Then, started taking the meat and pieces of bread, forming a sandwich on the napkin in front of him.
Once he was done, he plopped down on the chair across from me, taking a bite out of his sandwich. I noticed his movements were a little more careful then normal, but I chalked that up to the broken ribs and burn on his back.
"So, I guess I'm going to have to start explaining, huh?" he said, looking the most uneasy I've ever seen him before.
"It would make everything less confusing," I said, trying to sound casual about it.
Danny sighed, looking down at his half eaten sandwich. "Well, I really don't know where to start-
"How about the beginning," I interjected, smiling at him.
He rolled his eyes, but a smile was on his face. "I guess I'm just a bit hesitant to tell you; I mean it's kinda crazy, and I'd never told anybody before-well, except for Jazz but not nearly as much." He paused, now looking up at me. "But, after all this, with my parents and Skulker, I know I can trust you. I mean you kept my secret without even knowing what it was." His expression turned stormy as he looked at me with more intensity in his eyes. "The only thing is do you want to know everything? It's dangerous, and it's not the kind of life you want to get pulled into. You can back out now if you want to, and I wouldn't hold it against you at all. There's more to this than just putting the Box Ghost in the thermos."
I glared at him. "You really think I will back out? Danny, this might be a shocker, but I care about you, and there is no way I'm going to just leave you. So stop with the dramatic staring and hero complex and tell me what happened."
Danny smirked, but it soon fell; his expression grew unreadable, almost detached. "Okay, so the beginning." He confirmed, the muscle in his jaw constricting as he worked to find the right words. "Well, I guess it all started with the Fenton Portal, the one you saw in the lab. When it was first being built, I was thirteen at the time, but you already knew that. They built the portal to the Ghost Zone; it was a whole big deal because it was mainly meant to control the amount of ghosts that were coming into our world and to provide somewhere to dispose of them since ghosts are nearly impossible to destroy-too many resources were needed.
"After almost 6 months working on it, the portal was ready to be turned on, but when my parents did, nothing happened." Danny frowned, a tinge of sadness in his eyes. "I still remember the look on their faces, everything they were working for, all that research, and nothing. Nothing happened. So, the day after, I decided to take a look in it. It was mostly out of curiosity but I guess some part of me wanted to see if I could fix it. So a walked in, I must have pressed something, but the next thing I knew, the whole machine was turning on and I was inside of it. All I really remember was being in pain and then somehow waking up outside of the ghost portal with my parents looking down at me, looking worried out of their minds."
I looked at him, shocked. "How did you? You were inside of that thing?" I stopped, thinking of the green vortex I saw within the portal. "That means the whole Ghost Zone was practically..." I trailed off, not being able to finish what I was thinking. It was just too terrible to imagine, let alone say.
"Was electrocuted into me," Danny finished. "It didn't feel too good." He paused, looking me in the eyes. "The accident made me half ghost. Half human, half ghost. The ectoplasm from the accident must have changed my DNA somehow, making me like this."
"So you can turn from human to ghost and back?" I asked, still trying to understand.
"Yep," Danny said. "Although my ghost form still shows signs of being half human. Just like how I can use some of my powers when I'm human, when I'm a ghost, I still need to breathe, still have a heart beat-little things that a lot of people wouldn't notice if they didn't get too close."
"That's why I saw ectoplasm in your blood when you changed and the other way around when you were a ghost." I deducted.
He nodded.
"So what happened after the accident?"
He looked at me with a hesitant expression. I couldn't help but feel a twinge of sympathy. After all, he was talking about how his life practically fell apart, but that didn't stop me from saying what I was about to say next. "You promised to tell me."
My voice was gentle. It was all I could do to help ease him into this. But, I had to know. I had to know what he went through. I didn't want him to be a mystery anymore, a boy filled with secrets. I wanted to know his secrets because if I did then maybe I would truly know him.
He sighed, looking to the side so he didn't have to look at my eyes. There was a long silence; right when I thought he wasn't going to talk, he spoke. "I... When the accident happened, my parents took me to the hospital because I had a couple of burns on me, and I guess they were scared. I was electrocuted after all," he paused. I could see the tension working in his jaw. "When I was in the hospital, Vlad Masters was the first to see me, even before the doctors... I don't know how, but he did. Somebody on the inside must have told him. He saw that I was like him-what the accident did to me-I was half ghost." He barred his teeth, eyes narrowing just a bit. "He took me, telling my parents and the town that I was dead. He took me to his house and told me he was my new f-father. He wanted to make me exactly like him."
"What did you do?" I asked, not being able to help myself.
He smiled bitterly, "Naturally, I didn't cooperate at all. He was pissed, and let's just say most of the time I spent there wasn't pleasant." He looked directly at me, holding me with his icy blue gaze, having the same affect on me as his unearthly green stare. "He kept me captive for a year. I couldn't control my powers for a good two months of that time, so escaping wasn't even an option in the beginning. I couldn't even function properly. When I started get some control my powers, that's when he locked me up, making sure I couldn't use my powers to get away."
He stopped, looking down, but then back at me, searching my face for something. "I should probably just tell you the whole story because I know what you're going to ask next." He grinned but the light in his eyes dimmed fast as his voice became grim. "I realized the only way I could get out was to stop fighting him. To cooperate. It took him a while to even accept that I wanted to be his son," he grimaced momentarily; I'm assuming he didn't like to even refer to himself in such a way with Vlad, even if he was pretending. "But, he did eventually until that night... He wanted me to do something I just couldn't do."
I drew closer to him, gripping his fisted hand, trying to smooth it out. "What did he want you to do?"
He looked directly in my eyes, with a solemn, pained expression. "He wanted me to kill my dad," he choked out. "He said it would be the official way to renounce him. I refused but this time when he tried to...-I was able to fight back. I got out thanks to dumb luck."
He shook his head as if he was reprimanding himself. "I was barely alive when Jazz found me."
I couldn't even process for a second. There were so many things... Vlad Masters, the town mayor, was half ghost along with Danny. And, he...kidnapped Danny. I couldn't even put into words what I felt at that moment: anger, sadness, sympathy. I was angry that Vlad would do something so terrible to him, especially to someone as good as Danny. I know I only knew him for a short time, but I knew him well enough to say that he definitely didn't deserve that at all. Not anybody, especially Danny. I was sad because I didn't like seeing him this way, so distraught. This was the first time ever that I really saw the raw pain Danny was feeling; it was clear this was hard for him, to be torn from his family for so long, to not even have any friends to support him. He's been so alone... And, that's when my sympathy kicked in. I wanted to take away the pain; I wanted him to know that he had somebody supporting him. After all he did, he deserved to at least have more than one person there for him.
And, then, that's when I felt the complete awe. He was half ghost. I already saw the transformation, but now that it had an actual identification, a name, it was even more unbelievable. He was human too. He was given ghost powers; and instead of following Vlad, he chose to protect us, the world. I'm pretty sure I'm talking to the bravest and purest person I'd ever met.
I couldn't even say anything; all I could do was just stare.
He seemed to take my silence in a different way. He adverted his eyes down, looking at the wood floors, wearing an expression of shame. "Look, I know what you are thinking, and I understand. This is a lot, and now, I put you in danger too. I'm sorry. And I'm sorry I'm like," he looked down at himself disgustedly, gesturing toward himself, "this."
He then looked at me pleadingly. "But, please, you can't tell anybody. I promise to leave you alone, to never bother you or put you in danger ever again."
It took me a minute to process what he was saying. Did he actually think that I never wanted to see him again? Did he really think that him being different would repel me so strongly?
I looked at him. His breathtaking, crystal blue eyes were staring back at me. There was such a deep pain within them, showing everything that he went through; but they were still beautiful. I couldn't take my eyes off of him; they still held me the way they did when I was staring at his other eyes.
Before I knew it, or even thought about it, my body was crushing against his, grabbing his jaw so that I could kiss him. I kissed him, my lips melding around his, into his with more passion than I ever felt. I gripped his jaw harder, bringing him into me. I wanted to feel him against me, to feel his strong body, to be aware of him; but most of all, I wanted him. I just wanted him.
He put his arms around me, gripping my back with a strong intensity. He pulled me in, deepening the kiss, his tongue dancing with mine. My other hand raked through his hair, indadvertedly gripping it.
He pulled me deeper into his hold until I could feel his defined chest against my breasts, making the butterflies in my stomach grow until they spread across my body, sending shivers of pleasure and desire throughout me.
We soon had to part due to lack of air, but we remained in our positions, bare centimeters apart, staring into each other's eyes, the only sound was our heavy breathing coming from our heaving chests.
Finally, he said, "I don't understand. You still want to be with me even after..." He trailed off, looking at me hesitantly, the same pained loneliness returning to his eyes.
"Why would that make a difference?" I breathed. Then, a slow smile grew on my face. "It just makes you even more amazing."
His eyes brightened, making his icy blue orbs melt into warm, liquid sea blue. He took hold of my face, giving me another long, seductive kiss.
My smile grew when he finished. Peering up at him, I said, "Besides, you can't get rid of me that easily. You're stuck with me."
He smirked at me, "I think I'm more than okay with that."
A sharp ringing tone caught both of our attention; I felt the buzz of my phone in my front jeans pocket. Standing, I took out the phone, looking at the screen. "It's a text from Tuck," I quickly opened it. "It says, are we still meeting up?"
I looked down at Danny, who was still sitting comfortably on the chair, leaning back with one long leg tucked underneath and the other extended out, smiling up at me. "Are we?" I asked.
His expression dampened, the smile disappearing. He put both hands on his head, raking his hair back in a stressed gesture. "I wish, but we can't. I can't go ghost."
"Because of that thing the ghost used on you?"
"The Plasmius Maximus. It cancels out my powers for three hours, making me completely human, but I'm guessing since it's the 2.0 version it is longer, probably doubled that time." He paused with a quizzical expression on his face. "You know, in a weird way, I guess it's kinda lucky that it was used on me; I don't think I would have been able to step foot in my parents' house without some alarm or invention going off." He rolled his eyes, acting as if it was more of an annoyance than a threat.
I nodded, not really thinking about the last comment but of what the ghost said, about how it would be easier to deal with him after he used the device. He also said something about the man who made it, and how Skulker was going to take him. "So the ghost vultures and Skulker, why did they want to take you?"
Danny winced, but I could see the corners of his mouth become strained as his eyes narrowed. "Vlad Masters, also known as Vlad Plasmius."
"He was behind that?" I asked, not realizing that Vlad was still pursuing Danny even after all these years.
"Yep," Danny confirmed, "he is usually behind most of the attacks in Amity Park; he has a lot of ghost minions. I've been able to ruin his plans so far, but they've always been close calls. Vlad has twenty years of experience as a halfa over me, and it doesn't help that he has more resources and knowledge too."
"Knowledge?"
Danny shrugged. "The ghostly kind. He knows more about being a halfa; I'm still figuring out a lot of stuff. Also, knows more about the Ghost Zone in general, along with the ghosts in it."
"The more I hear about this guy, the more I really don't like him," I said coolly but I couldn't stop the building anger I was feeling from showing in my voice.
He smirked at me, eyes becoming alight. Right when he was about to say something, my phone rang again. It was another message from Tucker; this time the message just said: Sam?
I rolled my eyes but began to reply. "I'm just going to tell him that you had a ghost fight and stopped by to tell me you won't be able to tonight. Is that okay?"
"Yeah, and say we can probably hang out tomorrow," Danny said from behind me.
I looked up from my phone to see him peering over my shoulder from where I was standing.
I cut my eyes at him, smirking. "Aw, you miss your little friend?"
"Well," he said, grasping both my upper arms and spinning me around so I was facing him, making me have to look directly up at him to see his face, "I don't really have a lot of friends, I'm sure you've noticed, so I probably should treat the ones I have right. I heard frequent appearances is one of the requirements."
"Well I think you're doing a pretty good job with me," I smiled.
He smiled back confidently. "Sam, we both know you're not exactly one of my friends."
"Yeah," I said. "I just wanted to hear you say it."
"You know, I'm pretty sure that's manipulation," he said with a cheeky smirk on his face. Not seeming to mind the 'manipulation' at all.
"Hm, I can think up of some other ways to manipulate you," I said, looking at his lips, then back at his blue eyes, which were staring at me. I could feel his gaze on me the whole time as if it was a presence.
"You really are an evil mastermind." He tried to pull off a frightened look, but it was more comical than convincing.
I grinned, parting from his hands. "Come on, little hero," I said, walking backwards towards his bed, looking at him the whole time, trying to look menacing, "follow me if you dare."
A/N: Yay! I finished the chapter! Well, hope you guys like it, oh and in the last chapter, I wanted to correct something. I wrote that his eyes glowed green when Vlad was mentioned but I just realized that his eyes can't glow green because the Plasmius Maximus was used on him. So, yeah, I need to fix that mistake haha.
