Chapter 08

"Tucker!" Danny resisted the urge to scream when his friend finally picked up the phone. He tried Sam first, but she didn't answer. That fact made his mouth purse in mild frustration. "It's feels like forever since I got to talk to you guys."

Tucker chuckled. "I see you finally got your phone back. Man, it's been so weird not hanging out with you. I keep looking for you in the cafeteria then remembering, oh yeah! You're not here anymore." His frown could be heard in his voice.

"I know." Danny sighed as he walked along under the night sky. "I've moved around a lot, but this has been the hardest move. I miss you guys so much." He paused in his walking as he chewed on his lower lip. "Has Sam figured out anything?"

"She's still researching it, but I think it's time we just give up. Unless she finds someone that knows more about magic, I doubt we're going to figure out exactly what she did. I don't think Sam even really knows what she's looking for. She was pretty frantic that night, casting spells like crazy. I think we should just be thankful that it worked somehow." Tucker fell silent for a moment. "You're in a graveyard, aren't you?"

Danny winced and almost feared his friend could somehow see him. With a tired sigh, he answered, "Yeah." He rubbed at the back of his neck as his mouth pulled into a frown. Even before the incident, he always felt drawn to graveyards when he needed to clear his head, or simply escape from his parents. It wasn't the wisest decision since the supernatural sometimes lurked in graveyards. He couldn't count how many times he ran into a vampire because he was stupidly wandering around in a cemetery. "Don't worry. I remembered to carry a stake with me."

"Oh, well, as long as you have a stake," Tucker said sarcastically, and Danny could see him rolling his eyes in his mind. "Just watch your back, dude."

"Yeah, yeah." Danny glanced about, seeing nothing but rows of gravestones and some mausoleums dotting the area. Toward the back of the graveyard was a line of trees, marking the start of a thick forest. "Anyway, I don't think there's much in the way of supernatural here. I haven't run into anything yet."

"Sam keeps trying to get me to go hunting with her, but it's just not the same without you. You were the one with all the information. I was just tech support. I don't have the knowledge or fight ability that you and Sam have." Tucker sighed.

"Hey, you got us out of more than a few scrapes. And please try to keep Sam out of trouble. You know she can't help but go looking for it." Danny shook his head, thinking back on all the trouble they got into because Sam got a great idea.

"Yeah, she does have that habit." Tucker chuckled lightly. "So made any new friends there?"

"Tucker, I feel like I've been warped to an alternate world or something." Danny laughed as he hugged his free arm around his waist. "Like the hottest girl in school is actually talking to me and treating me like a friend and wanting to eat lunch with me."

"Dude! I so have to visit you sometime because I'm totally not believing you."

"I don't even believe me. And there's this guy-"

"I'm not Sam. I don't want to hear about your crushes."

"Tucker, this guy though!" Danny sighed, hanging his head. "He fits my dream guy, you know. But-"

"You haven't started cutting again, have you?" Tucker demanded in a firm tone that suggested he would find some way to make it from Wisconsin to Amity Park to slap him.

"I promised I wouldn't. Even though sometimes I wake up with such a severe panic attack that cutting seems like the only answer." He closed his eyes, taking deep breaths to push away that old urge that would come over him. "Although, I'm a bit worried about the guy that sits next to me in chemistry. He has a lot of bandages on his arms. I think he might be cutting." Danny chewed on his thumbnail. "But it's not like I can just walk up to him and ask about it. We're not exactly friends. And what if I'm wrong? I don't want him thinking I'm some weirdo."

"People are going to think that anyway with your parents." Tucker laughed as Danny grumbled. "But if the kid is cutting, it might be better to talk to him about it. You know what it's like. You might be able to help him."

Frowning, Danny remained silent for some time. "I'm really messed up, aren't I?" His voice was soft, almost a whisper.

"You had something terrible happen to you. I'd be surprised if you weren't messed up. Heck, I'm a little messed up, and I haven't experienced anything nearly as bad as you."

That gained a small smile from Danny. "Do you think you and Sam might be able to make a trip down here?" He liked getting to hang out with and talk to Dash and Paulina, but he still really missed Sam and Tucker. He wanted to be able to see them again, not simply talking on the phone.

"I've talked with Sam about it. We might be able to convince our parents, but I don't think they'll let us any time soon."

Danny scratched a hand through his hair. He really hoped that they might be able to come to Amity Park soon, but with school still going on, he should have known that wouldn't be possible.

"I'm surprised you haven't had any supernatural run ins yet." Tucker laughed. "You were always such a magnet for the supernatural. I don't think I believe that there's absolutely nothing supernatural there."

"Well, the whole point of this move was because my parents heard that this place had lots of supernatural beings lurking here. But if they are here, they're really good at hiding. Which is weird." Danny frowned at that realization. "Most of my past encounters tell me that they're vicious beings. There have been a few where they haven't immediately tried to attack me. But I can't imagine a whole town of well behaved supernatural beings." He laughed at that idea. "That would be pretty crazy, but maybe I'd actually fit in with them better than at a normal school."

"So your parents are still clueless?"

"As always, and I plan to keep it that way."

"Nothing new in terms of abilities?"

Danny dropped his gaze to the ground. His bare toes curled into the dirt as frost gathered on the blades of grass around him. "Not really. Just the same stuff we figured out before I left."

"Damn. I thought you would get to develop some cool powers or something."

Danny continued walking, the frozen grass crunching under his feet. "I think I'm happy not developing any weird powers. I just wanted to be normal." He pinched at his nose. That statement played on repeat in his head, and he couldn't recall how many times he said it now. "I was hoping Sam might find out something about this and figure out a way to reverse it. Or at least, make me normal again."

"I really don't think that's happening for you, dude." Tucker's voice was tinged with sadness. "I know that's harsh to say, but you have to realize it's true. You both should be happy that there wasn't any kind of backlash or high price to pay for using that magic. Because I'm pretty sure something like that doesn't usually happen without a cost."

"Tucker, saying something like that really doesn't help. What if that spell brought something dark and horrible into the world? I don't want that on my head." Even that simple thought made Danny shiver with fear. He didn't want to think about some evil running around the world all because of him.

"But if it exists, it's better to know about it and figure out how to stop it rather than having it creep up on you without warning."

Danny froze when he heard a rustling from the forest that he was unconsciously walking closer to. "Great," he grumbled, glaring sourly at the dark forest. "You say something like that, and I hear weird noises. Now you have me all freaked out that something creepy is lurking around waiting to attack me."

"Oh, come on!" Tucker laughed, loud and hard at Danny's comment. "There's always something lurking in wait to attack you. Because, dude, you're seriously a magnet for trouble."

"Not making me feel better. Look. I'm going to hang up now. If there's something there, I can't really talk and fight for my life at the same time."

"Be careful, Danny. I don't want to get a call hearing you got mauled by some mysterious beast."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll talk to you later." Danny hung up the phone and slipped it into his pocket. He swallowed thickly as he wiped sweaty palms on his jeans. Part of him wanted to simply turn around and run for his life, never discovering what was making that noise in the forest. But the other part of them, the part that tended to win out on situations like this one, wanted to move closer and figure out what was lurking in the forest.

Danny reached the back fence of the graveyard. It wasn't very tall, and he easily scaled over the wrought iron fence. He listened closely, but the rustling noise stopped. Silence reigned the night until he heard the heavy breathing nearby. He rushed toward the noise, dodging past trees. When he reached the source of the breathing, he skidded to a halt in front of another man. A growl rumbled through the man as he leaned against a tree with a hand pressed to his side.

"Oh god, Wulf," Danny whispered, crouching down beside him. "What happened?"

Green eyes snapped toward him, and Wulf growled louder, nose wrinkling as teeth were bared.

"I'm trying to help!" Danny snapped. After facing plenty of scary supernatural beings, having a man growl at him wasn't exactly terrifying. He tugged Wulf's hand away to examine the wound better. Wulf growled, weaker this time, but Danny ignored it. The wound in Wulf's lower abdomen looked serious, but it was the blinking device he could see buried in all the blood that made Danny pale. "Crap. It's a tracker."

As if to prove his point, the crashing sounds of two people wandering the forest reached their ears. Danny's heart stopped, knowing exactly who would appear around the tree if they stayed here for too much longer. When he left his home earlier that evening, Danny thought his parents were still down in the basement. He didn't realize his parents left to go on a nightly hunt. He slapped a hand over Wulf's mouth to muffle the sound as he dug his fingers into the wound. Wulf howled against his hand, his body twitching and thrashing while Danny ripped out the tracker. He prayed the noise was muffled enough that his parents couldn't hear it. Once the tracker was free, Danny shot to his feet and turned. He launched the tracker through the air as far away from them as he could. With any luck that would buy them some time to get away.

"Come on, Wulf." Danny grabbed one of Wulf's arms and pulled it around his shoulders. "We have to get out of here. Fast." He hauled Wulf to his feet, struggling with the man's heavier weight.

"They're too close," Wulf grunted, wincing with pain as he held a hand to his wound.

"Yeah, well, lucky for us, they aren't exactly the brightest hunters in the world." Danny really wanted to believe that he could get through his senior year without anyone learning about his parents being hunters, but clearly his parents refused to allow that to ever happen.

The crashing from his parents moved away from them, following the tracker. His parents weren't exactly stealthy either, another reason they never managed to catch anything they hunted. As long as they kept moving away from his parents, they could escape without being noticed. Danny helped Wulf limp out of the forest and past the graveyard. And I thought for once I would be able to escape all this supernatural craziness, he thought, glancing at Wulf and worrying about the paleness of his complexion. He was losing a lot of blood from the wound.

"Where do you live?" Danny was glad for the late hour. Hardly anyone was around to take notice of them, which was good because he wasn't sure what to tell anyone if they questioned Wulf's injury.

Wulf cringed, taking deep breaths. "Not there." He shook his head and pointed down a street. He offered directions on where to take him, but Danny grew more worried the farther they walked. Wulf wasn't looking too good, but he desperately needed to get his wound looked at. The threat of his parents tracking them still loomed over them. By now, his parents probably found the tracker to discover that their prey escaped. Cars passed every now and then, but no one stopped to check on them or even give a second look at them.

When they reached a small, two story house, Danny pounded on the front door. He didn't know why Wulf wanted to come here of all places, but if they could get help from whomever lived here, Danny couldn't argue. The man was leaning heavily on him, his head bowed and his breath short and ragged. It took only a moment for the door to open. When he looked up to see who answered, Danny gulped nervously at the man.

"Mr. Lancer!" Danny's eyes darted around, and he wondered if they came to the wrong house. Why would they be at Lancer's house?

"Get in," Lancer ordered, stepping aside to allow Danny to carry Wulf into his home. Once they were inside, Lancer closed the door. "Bring him into the kitchen." He led the way with Danny struggling to drag Wulf along with him.

"You're not freaking out about this?" Danny asked cautiously. Once in the kitchen, Lancer helped him lift Wulf onto the table. They got the shirt off Wulf, tossing the bloody piece of clothing into the sink. The sight and metallic smell of blood made Danny's stomach churn, and he buried his nose in the crook of one elbow.

"I'm fairly used to having to help with things like this," Lancer explained as he leaned close to examine the injury. Beneath the blood, thick dark veins spread outward from the wound. "Grab me the bottle with the purple stuff from the drawer."

Danny didn't hesitate to yank open the drawer. There were tons of bottles inside the drawer filled with all sorts of things that Danny only vaguely recognized. Not wasting any more time, Danny grabbed the bottle Lancer required. He hurriedly shoved the bottle into the man's hand. Lancer twisted the cap off and dumped a small portion of the ground up purple powder into the cap. After a mumbled word, the purple powder in the cap sparked, a small flame burning and sending up a thin plume of violet hued smoke. Danny jumped when he saw that, eyes widening as he gaped at his teacher. Lancer dumped the burning powder into Wulf's wound then rubbed it into the wound as Wulf screamed. His body started to thrash, but Danny jumped into action, holding down his arms as best as he could. Wulf was a lot stronger to him. After several moments, Wulf calmed down as his eyes rolled back and slipped shut.

"What is that? What did you do? Is he okay?" Danny released his hold on Wulf, his arms aching after the poor attempt to keep the man from hurting himself or them with all his thrashing.

"He was being poisoned. I cured him." Lancer recapped the bottle and placed it back in his drawer. He turned and gave Danny a good look over before he retrieved a first aid kit. "You should wash up."

Danny glanced down at the blood on his hands and shirt. Then he snapped his gaze back to Lancer. "You," he pointed a finger at his teacher while Lancer cleaned up Wulf's wound and started wrapping it with bandages. "You're a witch."

"Very perceptive." Lancer wore a tiny smirk. "Masters might need to take back his comment about you."

Danny pressed the heels of his palms against his forehead as he paced the kitchen. "Why couldn't this just be a normal town?" He dropped his hands and stared at Lancer. "I just wanted a normal life."

Lancer finished tying off the bandages then stepped over to Danny. His eyes glanced over Danny's body, making the young man squirm. "You are anything but normal." The comment made Danny swallow nervously. "Wash up. I'll alter some clean clothes for you to wear." Lancer stepped out of the kitchen, leaving Danny alone with the unconscious Wulf.

With a tired sigh, Danny walked over to the sink. His eyes fell onto the bloody shirt there. Then he looked at his hands, covered in Wulf's blood. Visions, memories, flashed in his mind. Everything hit him at once. He leaned over the sink, heaving vomit into the metal basin until there was nothing left in his stomach. When he finished, Danny slid down onto his knees and pressed his head against the cabinet door.

"Do you even realize how annoying it is to clean up blood?" Lancer asked as he returned to the kitchen.

Danny turned to stare at his teacher. "Can you fix me?" He could hear the plea in his voice and knew he probably looked really pathetic to the man.

Lancer frowned gravely as he crouched down beside him. "No." The simple answer felt like a knife driving through Danny's body. "I don't even know what was done to you."

"I don't really know either." Danny turned around to lean his back against the cabinet under the sink. He buried his head in his knees. Lancer placed a hand on Danny's head, the touch offering only a little comfort to him.