Chapter 9
Danny woke up the next morning covered in filth and grime. Inhaling sharply, he sat up to stretch but instead, hit his head on the low ceiling of the shelter. "Ow." He thought quietly, running a now human hand through his matted hair, only to pull back and find the sticky substance that was dripping from the ceiling last night."That's just disgusting."
Stepping outside, he looked at the sky, it was faintly showing signs if darkening. "How long was I asleep?" Suddenly, the ground lurched from under him. Danny had to lean against the wall of the tavern, his head was throbbing again.
He looked up as a car whizzed by the building. "What am I doing? I can't stay out here; people will start to get suspicious when they see a teenager with a cast wandering around in a hospital gown."
"Hey!" He jumped in surprise at the booming voice. A tough looking figure had approached without him noticing. "What are you doing behind my shop?" He cowered slightly under the person's intrusive glare. Danny's gaze wandered over the man's tattooed arms, which seemed perfectly capable enough to snap a teenage boy in half. He tried his best to pull off an innocent smile. It wasn't going very well. Finally Danny gave up and took off running.
Vlad Masters paced restlessly in his mansion. Things definitely were not turning out as planned. Instead of having expert help on finding the boy, he had set a ruthless killer after him. Vlad wouldn't be able to find him in time; that was out of the question. He sighed and sat down on the couch, trying to clear his thoughts. A half opened newspaper rested on the coffee table next to him. It showed a Danny's smiling face; along with a ridiculously long article on how he mysteriously went missing. Vlad looked away; he was burning with something he hadn't felt in a very long time. Guilt.
One of his many cats prodded his hand with its nose. He lifted it up into his lap and scratched it lovingly behind the ears. "What is Daniel doing right now?" he thought. Was he scared? Sad, maybe? The boy never really expressed any emotion around him, besides hate, that is. Vlad's expression saddened even more as he imagined Danny crouching alone in an alleyway somewhere, trying to block out the winter's cold winds. "Not to mention he has a fever." He told himself bitterly.
"How did Daniel get a fever? He looked perfectly fine when I interrogated him the other night," Vlad was asking the cat now. It just continued to purr. He held it up, Maddie flashed across the cat's collar tag.
Maddie. The name brought back so many memories.
It caused him to look over at the old college photo on his mantle. The good days, when Jack was someone he called a friend, before the accident that ruined his life. Next to that, was a picture of Danny and Jazz. Originally the photo had contained the entire Fenton family but Vlad couldn't bear to see Jack and Maddie together in the same picture like that, so he had cut them out, leaving the two siblings.
Vlad stroked the cat thoughtfully, "Daniel and Jasmine, they did get along pretty well, despite their occasional bickering. But what brother and sister don't argue once in a while?" A sudden idea crossed his mind. "I'll bet Jazz is feeling pretty upset about what happened to Danny. This just could be the help that I've been looking for..."
Once Danny felt he had put enough distance between himself and the tavern, he dared to stop running. The moment he stopped the dizziness came back, this time worse than ever. Moaning softly, Danny fell to his knees holding his head.
After a while the pain resided and he looked up. Thick tree trunks rose from the ground every few yards, below them, the ground was littered with dead leaves. "So these are the woods that border Amity Park." He thought silently. "I guess I should find out where I am exactly."
With that, he changed into Phantom and flew upward over the trees. Danny scanned the area. The sky was getting really dark now. Town could distantly be seen off to the north. "Well, where do I-!!!!" Danny's thoughts were cut off by the sharp pain again. He momentarily blacked out and fell back into the trees.
"Ow, I hurt…….." Danny slowly opened his eyes to find himself entangled in the branches, sharp twigs jabbing here and there. He phased out and floated to the ground. "Okay, flying isn't going to work." He feebly slid down against the tree. The sky was almost completely dark now. Danny watched his hands blankly as fur grew its way around his fingers.
A chattering squirrel distracted him from his thoughts. Danny let out a low, dog-like whine. Immediately his mind split into a two sided argument. "No, don't even think about it, you still have more dignity than that." "But it looks like it could pass for food... I am part wolf now anyway, don't wolves eat squirrels?" "It's sick and WRONG" Danny looked away. His stomach growled, reminding him of how hungry he was. He glanced back up at the squirrel. "It can't hurt to try..."
Vlad Plasmius floated invisibly in front of the window to Jazz's room. She was in there, along with the two teens that usually tagged along with Danny wherever he went. They were talking, Jazz was holding a newspaper. Vlad took a deep breath; he had to do this. There was no turning back now. "Come on Vlad, just swallow your pride for now, do it for the boy."Grimacing, he phased into the room, becoming visible.
The kids jumped in surprise at the halfa's sudden appearance. Jazz rolled up the paper and held it like a weapon. "Now really children, there's no need to get violent." Vlad said, holding her arm back. "What do you want fruitloop?" she snarled. "FOR THE LAST TIME, I AM NOT A-"he paused sighed hastily, regaining his temper. Releasing her wrist, he said, "Look, I know you' re all probably devastated about what happened," Vlad dodged a punch from Tucker, "but believe me, I can help." "You? Help?" Sam said in disbelief, "This is all your fault! You and your stupid plots! You didn't even stop after he was hospitalized! That wasn't enough? Is that why you went and gave Danny a fever too?" "What are you talking about child?" "You know what! The antidote!" Vlad suddenly understood what she was saying. Now he felt guiltier than ever.
Jazz didn't miss the look on his face. She motioned for Tucker and Sam to come closer. The kids huddled together in hushed conversation, stopping to glance at him every once in a while. Vlad crossed his arms moodily. "How rude can they get?" he thought.
Finally they broke up. Jazz stepped forward, "Okay Vlad, we'll give you a chance, but what can you do to help?" I can help find him of course! But the situation might be more serious than you kids realize." Jazz raised her eyebrows at this. "Let's say…. There was someone after Danny and they wanted to…. I don't know…. Finish what they've done?" "Vlad, WHAT did you do?" "It wasn't my fault!" the kids looked doubtful at that. "Look I'll explain what happened."……
"You jerk!" Sam shouted a few minutes later. Vlad looked offended yet stung at the same time. Jazz stepped between them. "So can you start searching tonight?" she asked, changing the subject. "As soon as possible." He replied, relieved that at least one of them trusted him. "Good, now it said in the paper that a wolf human was spotted southward, near the border of Amity Park, you know by the hospital." She gave him a look. "That's awfully close to my house." He murmured. "Exactly." Jazz replied.
Back in the woods, Danny ran a dog-like tongue along his whiskers. The remains of a squirrel were scattered across the ground. "Sam's never going to forgive me for that." He thought, imagining how his vegetarian friend would react if she knew he had just eaten such an adorable little rodent. A black scorch mark showed on the tree trunk where he had blasted the poor thing with an ecto-blast.
Danny yawned, "I should turn in, I feel the headache coming back." A cold breeze ruffled his fur. He pressed against the tree and swept his tail in close. Thin flakes of snow started to fall. "Dang, its cold……."