Danny Phantom: Vampire Heart
Chapter seven: Truth in a dream
She was there, in that fiery cocoon. Whispering, pleading to Danny. Why couldn't he move, why couldn't he help her, and what did she want? The room wasn't hot or cold, it was neither. He shivered yet seemed to be sweating, perhaps it was both rather than neither, or perhaps it was just a dead place. A dead place with two dead souls screaming out to the universe yet unheard by the many ears that walked the Earth. "Danny… Danny… Free me…" She quietly spoke as the dancing flames grew higher and higher, hotter and hotter. "Danny… DANNY! HELP ME! SAVE ME!" she began screaming, demanding "You don't have to do this! DANNY!" He couldn't move nor could he speak. His muscles refused to obey him and his voice was trapped within him. Suddenly, the fire seemed to explode, leaving nothing but darkness behind. An echo was heard, "The holy child will die, and darkness shall be reborn..." then silence. Nothingness, until he awoke.
"S-Sam…" He groaned, sitting up and holding his head. Must be the after effects of whatever she had shot at him, poisoned him with. He was no longer by Vlad in the living room; no… he was in a different room. Dimly lit and dark, but just light enough for Danny to be able to make out his surroundings. He was in a bed, a soft warm bed. The room was a nice temperature making his current situation a little more soothing. Beside the bed was a lamp, but he didn't need to turn it on, he could see the sunlight seeping through the curtains. Raising to his feet he unsteadily moved towards the window, pulling open the curtains and, after taking a quick glance at the scenery, turned to inspect the room. Nothing was especially interesting; just a bed and a side-table along with a glass of water and beside it a couple of painkillers. There was a chair with his coat draped over the back and his shoes below it, along with a pile of his clothes. He saw a reflection of himself in the mirror, all he was wearing was the black vest top and his trousers. "Vlad…" he spoke aloud. This man had certainly taken good care of the boy, and had always wanted a half-ghost son, so what reason would he have for blowing it? Danny had always in truth wanted a father who cared about him, and not just his human half; a father who knew what he was going through because they had in fact gone through it too; a father who he knew wouldn't kill him just because of his ghost half, a father like Vlad. Danny wasn't about to just discard his family and forget they ever existed, he just couldn't do that, it wasn't right. Although he had always been afraid of becoming a victim of their hatred towards any and all ghosts, he still loved them… But maybe trusting his new 'guardian' would be better, for the time being anyway. Then again, on the other hand he always swore that he would never join Vlad, after all this man is… or was his enemy.
"But the Vlad from the future regretted being evil." said a soft, familiar voice.
"…Mom?" Danny whispered, looking teary-eyed at the woman before him.
"Hush, sweetie," she replied, eying her son. "How are you coping?" … silence… "Not in a talkative mood are we? That's fine honey. Let's get to the real reason I'm here. Clockwork sent me, and has told me everything; and it's my job to tell you. Samantha was granted back her life by God and new false-memories under strict terms that she doesn't interfere with his plans for you – strict terms that she doesn't know about, not yet anyway, as I speak she is being visited by in effect, an Angel. She thinks she's been a vampire hunter her entire life, but if I'm not mistaken, part of her still remembers you. You musn't kill her, even if it's your own undoing..."
"Onto Vlad; you need to trust him. I know this might sound a tad ridiculous to you right now, but you and he are alike in more ways than you think. You're both half-ghost hybrids, you've both lost everyone you ever cared about, you're both lonely. Trust me; he's on your side." She stopped talking, and raised a finger, wiping away a stray tear that was falling down Danny's cheeks. Suddenly, a dark shadow loomed behind Maddie, and embraced her and the entire room. What had she been talking about, and what the hell was happening? The only sound that could be heard was Danny's unsteady breathing, no longer than a moment later came a bloodcurdling scream.
Danny woke up.
Sitting up, he gasped, finding himself on a hard, wooden floor. He was outside, on some sort of decking. Slowly standing up he observed his surroundings. Trees, a wooden house, and in the far away distance was Vlad's mansion. It all seemed quite peaceful, until a boy walked through Danny and into the house. Wasting no time to question what had just happened, he followed the boy through the door. The house was nice and cosy inside; crackling fire, the welcoming scent of something cooking, everything seemed nice - that is everything but the man sitting on the rocking-chair infront of the fire, reading a newspaper and smoking his pipe.
"Vladimir! What happened to your face?!" he growled. Danny edged towards the boy, and for the first time saw his face. Down one side was a huge, purple bruise. It wasn't a new wound however; it looked like it had been there for at least a day or so. Despite the obvious facial wound, the resemblance to Vlad was unquestionable – this had to be a younger version of him… or something like that.
"Father, you did this last night, remember?" he said quietly, nervously twiddling his thumbs.
"HOW DARE YOU ACCUSE ME OF SUCH A THING!" the man bellowed, standing up and grabbing Vlad firmly by the arm, dragging him up the stairs. "You little rat. Worthless rodent, your no son of mine…" the insults went on, and as Danny was about to follow, he couldn't help but notice the countless empty bottles of cider beside the old man's chair. He pursued them up the stairs and to a tall doorway. With his spare hand, the man reached into his pocket and pulled out a rusty iron key. After unlocking the door, he threw Vlad in with a lot of force and locked the door behind him. He walked past Danny mumbling hateful things about his son, and reeking of alcohol. Danny watched him walk down the stairs, before he tried to get in the room, but it was no use. The door was locked and for some reason he couldn't make his ghost powers work. He placed an ear on the door, listening quietly for Vlad, and heard nothing but quiet whimpering.
Danny woke up… again.
He was back next to Vlad, who was placing a told flannel on the boy's head. "About time you woke up, you have a bad fever…"
"W-what…?" This time he was defiantly awake, the pain was back as well as the sick feeling and the intense pain on his neck. There was a woman picking up a brief case and walking towards Vlad, she had grey greasy hair scraped back into a tight ponytail, she looked around sixty and to say the least, looked like she'd lead a long, hard life. She handed him a bottle of pills.
"Thank you." The man said, receiving but a murmur for a reply. With that, she left, leaving Vlad and Danny alone.
"How are you feeling? You look dreadful."
"I feel it..."
"Well… I'm going to sleep for a while since I've been up all night; the doctor left you some painkillers and there's a glass of water on the table. If you need anything – feel free to annoy the butler." He said, walking towards the door.
"Vlad, why are you doing all this for me?"
"Because Daniel…. You're all I have left of Maddie."
--------
Danny stood up, feeling a little tipsy but soon got his balance. Looking around he saw his jacket draped over the edge of the sofa and his shoes on the floor. It was almost dawn and the sun would rise soon, so if he wanted to go out, he had to do it sooner rather than later. Wasting no time, he put his shoes on and tried to leave the mansion. Surprisingly enough, the door was unlocked. Stepping out he drew a breath of fresh air, before looking into the distance, and sure enough, he saw a small, wooden house. In a flash of light, he had transformed into Danny Phantom and was on his way down to the house.
What he found was more or less what he had been expecting. The place was run, he observed the house. It was just as it was in the dream… the cider bottles were still there, the furniture, everything. The only difference was the thick layer of dust and the obvious negligence of the house. He transformed back, his ghost form seemed to be using a lot of energy – energy he didn't have much of. Up the stairs, along the corridor, he found the door he was searching for. On the floor infront of the door was the iron key, even rustier than he had remembered it. Picking it up, he slowly turned the key and opened the door. It creaked awfully as he walked in. The room was plain and cream, probably once yellow. There was a mattress in the corner, Danny walked over and opened the window to let in a little light, and was horrified when he turned around.
The wall was covered in blood stains and cracks, along with carvings and drawings of scary little monsters. What stood out most was the plea which looked like it was carved by a nail or something; 'Help me', beside a handprint made from blood. Wondering up to the print, Danny slowly placed his hand upon it. A sort of electric shock bolted through his body, and when he opened his eyes, he saw the teenage Vlad being pushed into the room, only this time, the old man from before followed him.
"You need to be taught a lesson you do, savage boy!" he yelled and lashed out at Vlad, hitting him square in the face so hard that he fell stumbled back. He quickly scrambled up and edged to the back of the room, quivering in fright from the abusive man before him. "You're such a coward, you disgust me!" he growled, slowly getting closer and closer to the boy. "Goodnight kid." He growled, before raising his fist.
"NO!" Danny yelled, jumping between the man and Vlad. "Stay away from him!" He wasn't quite aware of what had come over him, but seeing that defenceless boy get tortured by his drunken excuse of a father. The man looked down into Danny's eyes, before grabbing his own side, wincing in pain and gasping for air. From all the commotion, a woman came rushing upstairs.
"Mr. Masters?" She said, peering around the door, "Good Lord, what's happening to him? I think he's having a heart attack, go call a doctor Vladimir, quick!" She screamed. She was wearing a black maid's dress, with a white apron – which was now smeared with the blood which the man was coughing up.
The boy didn't move. He just stood there watching his father suffer, and by the looks of it didn't care.
Then he stopped coughing up blood, he stopped groaning in pain, the light left his eyes and he was gone.
Vlad walked down the stairs of his mansion to check on Danny.
"Daniel?" He said, looking around only to see that the boy was gone. He sighed loudly. "I know he wouldn't stay…" But as he turned to leave the room, he noticed Danny's coat was still there; he would never have left it behind.
Danny remained standing still as a statue with his hand firmly against the wall as though stuck in that position and he did not notice the strange, dark figure materialise beside him.
"How strange; you clearly have evil in you as I can feel for myself that it practically reeks from you; yet you still feel emotion beyond lust and desire… You feel compassion and love, hate and anger, its all there. Just like Vladimir…" He was stopped by a sudden crash; Vlad shattered the window as he flew through it. "…speak of the devil. I was just speaking to… or at Daniel here; he can't hear us. However, I'm overwhelmed by curiosity, by how two pathetic creatures such as your selves, who are neither fully human nor ghost, can hold onto their emotions and more importantly free will. Normally my children obey my every wish."
"What have you done to him?"
"Me? Nothing; He's looking into your past, not mine." Dracula said smugly. Vlad returned his focus to Danny, who remained trance-like for just a moment, before suddenly stumbling back. breathing heavily he surveyed his aching hand, to find that it was covered in blood, yet there was no injury.
"m-my hands, they're stained with blood..." he looked up at the older half ghost, "You're father's blood..."
"That's right Daniel, you're a murderer, and don't ever forget it." Vlad's face was one of utter confusion. What were thye talking about? What did his heartless father have to do with anything at all?
"SHUT UP! This is all your fault!" The boy screamed, attacking the Count, without his ghost powers. Punch after punch was miss after miss, until Dracula grabbed his throat firmly.
"Danny... Danny... Why must you rebel against me? Can't you see how evil the humans are, how selfish each one is? We, like ghosts, are hunted by humans... the age of the vampire came and passed, to which I lost my first love..." Dracula whispered, loosening his grip on the boy's neck, bearing a sorrowful frown. "Damn God, he shall not win this time, so here is the deal, boy, there is a girl. This girl is a messenger of God and is under the inflluence that I brought her back from the grave, she must be killed... before she kills us."
"Who is
this girl?"
"You know who, you dream of her."
Dracula dissapeared.
