Phantoms of Amity Park
Chapter 10
Danny felt like he was going to vomit. Whatever had happen between Vlad and Anna last night, it was obvious that Vlad had taken his advice. The two were in front of him, flying very close together; exchanging glances that made him want to gag. He was only thankful his room had not been in the same hallway as theirs.
But one look at Anna made him hold back his childish tendencies. Anna's flying was only as he could describe as lighter, a huge smile plastered on her face. Her eyes seemed to sparkle as she looked over at Vlad. Even Vlad had been acting differently, almost… nicer. Not a single insult or unsavory comment made during breakfast that morning.
Well, perhaps one; informing him that he was going to start looking up the airing schedule for the next Packers game.
Anna had giggled. Apparently Vlad had filled her in on their conversation they had had before going to see her. Danny only scowled, but it was half-hearted. Anna looked genuinely happy for the first time since he'd met her. So did Vlad.
The flight seemed to take less time than it had yesterday. They were already passing the "Welcome to Amity Park" sign. Early afternoon, the city was buzzing with life. The pier in the distance was a alive with activity, ferris wheel spinning slowly, the roller coaster running it's carts filled with excited passengers up and down its many hills and loops. It was a usual Saturday, but Danny's was their first stop; checking on his mother and father was the priority.
The Ops Center came into view, large and looming over the other buildings; the smaller houses seeming to shrink away in its intense metal glare. Danny was about to heave a sigh of relief, until the rest of the house came into view. Danny would have screeched to a halt if he hadn't been flying. Vlad and Anna stopped at about the same time.
The entire left side of the house was like charcoal, black dust and chunks falling from the walls. Danny started flying down in a panic, but Vlad grabbed him. He turned to yell, to scream at the man. But before he could, Vlad pointed down at the street. Danny looked where he was pointing to see people gathered there, fire trucks and police cars lining the road. Among the people were his mother, father, and… sister talking to a police officer.
"Come on," Anna motioned to the alley across from the house.
They landed and changed back to their normal forms. Danny didn't wait till the others were ready; he took off towards his family. The street was blocked off, so there was no worry about traffic.
"Mom!" He yelled.
Maddie Fenton turned toward her son, her expression changed from worry to happiness. Danny ran into his mother and she hugged him.
"Oh Danny! I'm so glad you're okay. Thank goodness you were at Tucker's!" She said, hugging him so tight Danny felt like he couldn't breathe, but he didn't mind.
Danny managed to wiggle himself out of her hug after a few minutes, "Mom, what happened? What's Jaz doing here?"
"I had a long weekend from school, so I decided to come home," Jaz answered his questions as their mother opened her mouth; she noticed the panic in her brother's eyes. "What's the matter?"
Danny shook his head, "I'm just, glad everyone's okay."
Vlad and Anna had worked their way forward through the crowd. When they finally reached them, Vlad immediately started giving his condolences for the event and offered to cover the repairs for them. Maddie was suspicious, of course, but Vlad merely shook his head and insisted.
Anna's attention was somewhere else, however. Upon coming in closer proximity to the house, an unnerving feeling had washed over her; like something dark was watching her from one of the burned out windows, a darkness like what she had felt in the mausoleum. The demon was in the house, and Vlad and Danny couldn't tell. That, along with an even more unnerving question; where were Danny's friends?
"Um! Vlad… uh…" She rushed to Vlad's side, praying that her own panic was not as evident as Danny's had been. "Maybe you should take the Fenton's to your place for right now. They've had such a difficult time and need a place to stay until the repairs are finished and you have more than enough room."
All attention had moved to Anna. Vlad was looking into Anna's eyes. She tried to remain calm, tried not to hint that something was bothering her.
"Alright," He didn't sound convinced as he took out his phone and started dialing for a car.
"Anna," Danny went to her, beginning to whisper but was cut off.
"You and Vlad go take your family to his mansion and meet me back here later," she whispered as Vlad was on the phone.
"But…"
Anna smiled, "I'll be fine for a while, don't worry."
"Excuse me," Danny's mother had walked up to her. "I'm sorry, but have we met?"
Anna almost took a step back in surprise, "Oh! No, I'm sorry. I'm Anna Van Ratten, Mr. Master's secretary."
"Secretary… right," Maddie looked back at her old classmate, the suspicion still clear on her face, then looked back at the younger woman with a smile. "I'm sorry, you just look so familiar. I just can't place where I've seen your face before."
"The mirror…" Danny said under his breath.
"What was that dear?" Maddie asked as Anna elbowed him.
"Nothing! She's… uh… lived here for a few weeks. You probably just passed her on the street."
"That's probably it!" Maddie said and turned away as Jack called her over to where he was, still talking with one of the police officers.
"Nice cover," Anna said sarcastically.
"Nice elbow to the side," Danny rubbed his ribcage. "You weren't this violent before you slept with Vlad."
Anna elbowed him again.
It wasn't long after Vlad hung up his phone that two black cars showed up to the scene and the Fenton's piled inside them; he and Danny in one and the rest in the other.
Before it drove off, Vlad leaned out the window, "Anna, don't do anything reckless."
She just smiled, "How could I? I'm just standing here waiting for you two to get back. How much trouble can I get in doing that?"
Vlad still wasn't convinced, "Anna…"
She laughed, "You worry too much. Just go!"
Anna leaned down and placed a quick kiss on his lips before taking a step back. There was nothing else to be said. Vlad sat back and rolled up his window as the car drove away.
Danny looked up at the older man, "Will she really be okay?"
Vlad shook his head, "No. I saw the look on her face. We need to get back there as soon as possible."
"The demon…"
This time, Vlad nodded, "It's still in the house, and she's going in there without us."
ooooo
Anna watched as the cars drove away, doubting that she had fooled Vlad at all. She had to protect him, him and Danny. Anna turned to the half burned house. The dark presence she felt was still there, though now she could feel that its full attention was on her. She had to get inside, but there were too many people around out here for her to walk through the front door.
She returned to the alley from which they had first landed, made sure that she had not been followed and that no one was watching before changing into her ghost form. Becoming invisible, she flew over the heads of all the bystanders and emergency personnel to faze through the front door.
The investigation was wrapping up, teams of men in special heat protection suits packing up their boxes of gear and evidence. Anna waited until they all filed out of the house than waited still until the hordes of emergency vehicles started driving away and the pedestrians lost interest and started leaving.
She landed and reappeared in what would have been the living room of the Fenton home, now a gray and black husk of what it was. The floor made disconcerting crunches and groans under her feet as she walked. The dark presence seemed to be coming from all around her.
"Where are you?!" She called out. "I know you're here, I can feel you! Come out and face me!"
There was a noise from behind her, from under the staircase, and she whipped around. A figure appeared; a boy just barely Anna's height, about 16 years old, with very short black hair, blue eyes, and wearing a 18th century brown cotton suit. Anna took a step back then another, shaking her head in disbelief.
"What's the matter?" The boy asked with a kind smile. "You are acting very strange."
"N-no," Anna nearly lost her balance on a burnt coffee table. "You can't be…"
"Sister, don't be silly," The boy laughed and stretched his arms out wide. "Of course it is me! I have missed you so much. Come; give me a hug, Sister."
Anna caught herself taking a step forward, a fog starting to cover her mind. She cried out, clutching her ears and shutting her eyes tight, trying to shut out the voice of her baby brother.
"NO! You're not Devon! Shut up demon!"
The boy's smile fell, as did his arms; the tone he spoke with next was laced with something foreign and dark, "You are so cruel. Do you not want to be with Father and Mother again? With our brothers and sister?"
Anna looked up. The boy who looked like her brother was unbuttoning the jacket of his suit. There was a smirk on his face as he pulled back the clothing, revealing a revolting sight that made Anna throw her hands up to cover her mouth.
The boy's chest was bare, but transparent, like it had been composed of clear plastic. Instead of organs and blood, there were what looked like wisps of smoke swirling around inside. He looked down at his chest and poked at the skin. It gave with too much ease and a sound that made Anna want to be sick.
"Come on now, come out and say hello," he said.
After withdrawing his finger, the wisps inside his chest started to move more rapidly. Faces started appearing, floating past the window of skin, twisted in pain and anguish. Anna did fall backwards this time, shock and horror written on her face. She knew those faces; she'd grown up with them. It was her family; her father, mother, and all of her siblings. Suddenly, the demon was over her, the face of her little brother twisted, the smile unnatural, too wide eyes filled with madness.
"Do you not want to join them? Have you not spent too long alone in this world without them? Come now, they quite like it in there, you will like it too."
"No," Anna tried to back away, but no matter what distance she tried to put between them, he was always in her face.
"You need not worry; the others will join you soon. They will need to return soon enough and then my collection will be complete at last."
"I won't let you…"
"Get away with that? What makes you think you can? You are weak. You always have been weak. You were only able to save one member of your family. You could not save any of your siblings or your precious father. Your niece got away only because that man was there. If he had not been there, she would not have escaped my grasp and I would have had my vengeance sooner."
He grasped her jaw, his hand cold and clammy, the skin like leather, "But what does it matter now? Not only will I finally gain your soul, stronger than it originally was, but I will also have four more souls to gain. For that, I must thank you. Because of you, I will be much stronger. I was going to absorb you first, but now I have I much more… appealing situation in mind."
Anna couldn't move, frozen by fear. Tears were starting to leak from her eyes.
"I will save you for last, make you watch as I destroy or absorb everyone you have grown to love in this pathetic town until you are left with nothing again; First Daniel's idiotic little friends, then his family then himself. The reincarnation will be last. Him I will kill slowly and make you watch as his final breath leaves him again, just like before. You remember watching him die the first time; imagine how much it will hurt to watch him die all over again. You will be begging for death by the time I allow you to join the rest of your pathetic family within my body!"
Anna cried out, covering her ears again. She didn't want to listen, but the words tore through any defenses she may have put up over the years, tearing her apart from the inside.
"Anna!" A cry came out from somewhere.
There was the sound of someone hitting someone else than a crash and she felt herself being pulled back against someone. Anna opened her eyes, not realizing she had closed them. There was a hole in the wall across the room, a pile of charcoaled plaster marking where the demon had landed. Danny was in front of her in ghost form, face with an angry expression, hiding an obvious look of horror and disgust. Vlad was also there in ghost form; he was the one holding her, pressing her protectively against his chest.
"Sorry we're late," Danny said.
"No! You need to…!" Anna started, but Vlad interrupted her.
"We're not leaving, so don't even try. I only wish we had gotten here sooner so you didn't have to be in the same room with that thing for so long. You should have just waited for us to return like you said you would."
"I-I'm sorry," Anna said.
Vlad hugged her tight, comforting her.
"He's getting up!" Danny said suddenly.
The pile was shifting and opened, unveiling the boy shaped demon, now covered in black dust. There was rage now written on its face. It snarled like a wild animal.
"That was a mistake you will come to regret," It said.
"Mammon I take it?" Vlad asked. "You will be the one regretting your actions."
"Will I? That I highly doubt. You have not seen anything yet."
"First, where are Sam and Tucker?" Danny asked. "Mom and Dad hadn't seen them since yesterday. What'd you do with them?"
Mammon chuckled, pulling himself out of the pile and dusting himself off, "Safe, for now."
"Let them go and I promise I'll lessen your punches to the face by one," Danny said, maybe a little too arrogant.
Mammon started laughing, an unnerving sound, "You believe you have a chance? You are amusing."
"And you aren't?" Vlad asked. "What kind of demon looks like a child?"
Anna was pulling at his sleeve in panic, shaking her head. But it was too late, Mammon's laughter grew deeper, echoing around the burned out rooms around them.
"You think this is what I really look like?!" He said. "What fools! Why would I choose the form of her pathetic younger sibling? If you are truly dissatisfied, then I will show you what I truly look like."
Its skin started to bubble. Its body stretched, legs combining together into one limb; its torso inflating to an adult size. The clothes that the childlike form had been wearing tore and fell to the floor as it grew and morphed into something that should only exist in nightmares.
The creature it had transformed into had no legs, but a long, yellow snakelike, tail that started at the waist. It whipped and coiled across the floor, knocking debris and burnt furniture through walls with the force of its hits. From its waist to its neck, it seemed like a normal man. Sickly brownish skin was pulled too tight across its muscles. Sharp black spikes lined the way down its spine, its fingers ending in long sharp claws. Its head was truly horrifying. It was bald, ears long and pointed, two long black horns coming out of its forehead, eyes milky white with no sign of pupils, teeth that were sharp and pointed, and a long snakelike tongue that slithered out of its mouth when it opened.
"…Oh," Was the only thing that came out of Danny's mouth as he stumbled back to stand next to Vlad and Anna.
"Where is your arrogance now, hm? What is the matter boy?!"
Anna pulled herself from Vlad's grip with an almost audible gulp, Vlad's own fear making him hold her tight against him. She stood and stepped forward.
"You now? Don't make me laugh. Your legs can barely hold you, you are so scared. A moment ago I had you ready to submit and now you believe you are able to fight against me."
Anna gulped again; the words were still running through her head, the true and the untrue things that the demon had spoken, "I am afraid. I won't deny my fear. But if I ran now, I'd be giving up everything I've fought to get to, fought to protect. I can't do that; I can't let myself do that."
She clapped her hands together, summoning her weapon. She grasped it and held it ready.
"Either you die here or we both do. There will be no other options." Anna continued.
Mammon seemed amused, "The only options? We will see."
He brought forth his own weapon, but in a different manner; plunging his own hand deep into his own chest, the demon pulled out a similar weapon to Anna's own. It was a long, crooked stick with a large sharp bone arrowhead tied tight to the end.
"I would say this make us somewhat even," It was a blank statement, as if he said only to make her believe she had the upper hand.
Anna knew she had to be cautious. Ever since he took his actual form, the energy coming off of him was making her head feel like it was stuffed with cotton. They faced off; any moment one of them would strike.
Danny knelt next to Vlad, incessantly shaking his shoulder, saying that they had to do something. Vlad was sitting there, arm stretched out towards Anna. He wanted to grab her and pull her away, take her away from there and somewhere safe, where they could live and hide. But he knew this had to happen and he wasn't happy about it. He was just sitting there, like an idiot, waiting for the pin to drop.
And it did. Anna was first to attack. Danny stopped shaking the older man, attention drawn to what was happening. It became obvious that if Anna had been at full strength the night she had fought with Vlad, Vlad would have had a very painful and humiliating defeat.
Cotton mind aside, Anna calculated her moves to the best of her ability. Watching Mammon's entire form, which was not easy; his tail was a growing problem. She would swipe, he would dodge, and then that tail would come at her, each time from a different direction. As she could tell however, she was keeping him on his toes, not literally of course.
But there was a growing problem, she couldn't hit him! True, he wasn't landing any hits either. But she was changing her tactics with each new opening, just as she was trained. She was adapting to his annoying pattern of attack, which she would find to be her downfall. However, when she noticed, it was too late. Danny had noticed before her and cried out to warn her.
It seemed to happen in slow motion, to everybody. Anna dodged to the right, for another irritating downward tail swipe she thought was coming, but it never came. She never saw Mammon's weapon swing at her from the right, only felt the pain as it cut through layers of skin and muscle, helped by her momentum.
"Your own arrogance, my dear, is your downfall." Mammon said before withdrawing his weapon. "Toying with you is too much fun."
Anna cried out, her own weapon falling to the ground before disappearing. She clutched at her side, trying disparately to stop the bleeding. Her distraction was another mistake as Mammon's tail whipped around and collided with her left, careening her into the nonburnt portion of a wall. One of her arms hit it at an odd angle and her pain clouded mind could have sworn it heard something crack. She changed back to her normal form, her body sliding limply to the floor, where it lay in a heap, bleeding out. Her head had ended up laying in such a way that she saw the rest of the room.
Chaos was the only word applicable for what she saw unfold. Upon her hitting the wall, Vlad had quickly and clumsily gotten to his feet, Danny in tow, both rushing towards her. But they were stopped by another swipe of Mammon's tail, hitting them both in the stomachs and sending them flying backwards. They had hit the same wall Mammon had gone through earlier, but with much more force. Unconsciousness was immediate both changing back just as Anna had.