R&R Please!

Chapter 10 (Jack): A fool thinks himself to be wise

Special thanks to the greatest Beta Reader ever, Fiddlehoffer!

Announcement:

I have a new story in mind:

Fourteen-year-old Danny Fenton is living a good life. He's dating Sam, no one powerful is currently trying to kill him, Vlad's not here. But when his powerful, quarrelsome twin children (Daniella and Manny Phantom) from another dimension show up, Danny realizes that he'd take Plasmius over this any day. Crossover with Grim Tales:Afterbirth.

Who thinks that this is a good idea? :3

"You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm."
― Colette

I stood there awkwardly, wondering if I should break the silence. The children had gone to sleep nearly an hour ago, so I'd followed Vlad into what had to be the largest study I'd ever seen. Other than glancing up from the stack of papers in his hands when I had entered, he had been ignoring me ever since.

"Danny seems happy," I began.

"What are you really here for, Jack?" he said after rubbing his eyes.

"I wanted to check up on Danny." I answered.

"Really." he said.

"Of course." My brow furrowed in confusion, wondering why on Earth he thought I'd lie.

"You're not here to take him back?" Vlad asked. I blinked. He elaborated, "Take him back to Maddie. Raise him as 'your own'. Or..."—his eyes narrowed—"Perhaps that isn't your intention after all. Perhaps you want to experiment on him. See what makes a human-ghost hybrid tick—"

"No!" I cried out, horrified. "No, I'd never do that to Danny. Or you, for that matter. You know I would never— "

I cut myself off, suddenly remembering that I'd technically killed the man before me and he'd have no reason to take me at my word. Vlad, however, didn't seem to notice, and had relaxed marginally, leaning back in his chair. "Then what did you want?" Vlad said.

"I told you, I'm just here to check up on him." Exasperation worked its way into my voice. When had he become so paranoid?

"And...? You don't want to know if I have any intention of returning him in seven months?" he prompted.

"Er..." Now that he mentioned it. "Do you?"

He shrugged. "It would certainly make things more manageable around here. The two of them are a menace."

That wasn't an answer, but I already had another question in mind. "Who's Danielle's mother?"

"What do you-" A look of bewilderment crossed his face. "Oh, you think she's—that isn't it at all. The girl is the result of a scientific experiment."

"What?"

Vlad had a mixture of frustration and a deer-caught-in-headlights look on his face. It was the expression on one's face when one has said something he hadn't meant to say. The thing was, this wasn't the first time he'd made that face.

Now that I thought about it, Vlad had been acting odd since the moment I came. He had said things that were uncharacteristic of him, he'd been more paranoid than usual (or perhaps he was just worse at hiding his paranoia than he usually was), he slipped up often and said or did something he probably shouldn't have, and his temper was a lot shorter than I remembered it.

I suppose the cause of all this could be simply either his exhaustion or pain, which was plainly visible. Once I'd gotten a good look at him, I noticed that his injuries were much worse than I'd originally thought; bruises in yellow and black smattered across his skin—all along his upper body, if the way he kept flinching was any indication—and he was favoring his left side enough for me to recognize the signs of broken ribs. I even thought I saw the red velvet couch tinted a darker red after Vlad left it.

I realized that Vlad was talking again. "...pied and mixed the DNA, creating Danielle."

"A clone?" I exclaimed, shocked.

A flicker of irritation and…maybe even guilt appeared in his eyes. "Yes, yes. The girl is a clone. Now you know. Spare me your moralistic opinions, Jack, because I'm not going to destabilize her—"

"That's incredible," I said, awed.

Vlad's jaw dropped. "What?"

"How did you do it?" I asked my words coming fast. "You used Danny's DNA, obviously, but how did you manage to integrate the ectoplasmic DNA into a clone? And how did you manage to create one in the first place—did you mimic the conditions of a human womb?"

Vlad stared at me like I had grown two heads, blinking only after long periods.

His answers were halted and reluctant, but I was too excited to care.

As I made my way to the door, I reflected on the previous night. My conversation with Vlad had been amazing, better than any other we had had since the accident. I still felt guilty, and it had still been awkward, but it was progress.

I nearly bumped into a maid who was carrying a large frozen turkey. I steadied her, barely managing to catch the dead bird in my other hand. "Careful there."

To my surprise, the young girl looked utterly terrified. I knew I was a big man, but people generally didn't look like I was going to kill them.

Kill...

For the first time, I noticed the girl's slightly translucent form, how cold her arm was even through my glove, how I could literally see right through her...

She was a ghost. And I was a ghost hunter.

"Ah. So..." I began awkwardly. I had never tried talking to a ghost before—unless you counted Vlad and Danny (and possibly Danielle), which I didn't. The maid was still rooted to the spot, looking terrified. "What's the turkey for?"

"Th-th-the m-master i-is hosting a Th-thanksgiv-ving p-party." she stuttered.

"Oh, I see." I felt a little hurt that I hadn't been invited. "Err..when?"

"Th-th-three—"

"Three days from now?"

The maid nodded frantically.

"Jack, I would appreciate it if you stopped terrorizing my staff, useless though they are."

I blinked at Vlad. Where had he come from? Meanwhile, the girl phased out of my grip and disappeared into thin air with a terrified squeak. I stared at the place she had just been occupying.

Vlad clucked his tongue in irritation. "As I said, useless. Now, do you remember the way to the door or do you need to be escorted?"

My best friend practically kicked me out after that, but I didn't mind. I started up my van and grinned.

The Masters would be in for such a surprise when Maddie and I showed up on Thanksgiving.

RnR!

To the readers of the old version; the next chapter will be entirely new! :P