Hello guys!
Sorry for the awfully short filler that last chapter was… I hope this makes up for it... Pretty please, don't be mad at me!
Sooooo... Ehm... Am I forgiven? *chuckles sheepishly*
Thanks to my wonderful reviewers! We have already passed 50 reviews! I'M SO HAPEEEEE! BTW, by chapter 26, I want at least 100 reviews, got it? *glares menacingly then grins* I love you, angelluver92, piequeenthegreat, IsistheWolf1 and Jimmie130! You guys are the best! *throws cookies*
I haven't posted this chapter before because I've just be out of the island I live in for two weeks (extended to one more week). BUT NOW I'M BACK! Keep the reviews coming, they make me happy... and as everyone knows:
HAPPY AUTORESS = HAPPY MUSE = MORE CHAPPIES FOR YOU!
Enough babbling.
On with the fic!
Never Mess With A Girl's Heart
Evil, Evil Girl
Sam's lip curled into a sneer, baring her teeth at the blonde decaying cheerleader.
"Seriously, Danny, anybody would think you had a better taste in girlfriends..." She smirked at his glare. "Which means you shouldn't date a zombie, since it's most likely to eat your brain and stuff."
They all rolled their eyes, stifling the smiles that threatened to show.
"You know..." Sam mused, continuing her line of thought, "I think I rather prefer them like that. At least, we don't have to her their annoying high-pitched voices. I swear, they almost destroyed my eardrums last time I was near enough to hear them."
Danny raised his eyebrows at her, shooting his zombie-fied girlfriend a look before chuckling.
"Since I'm sure Star won't remember this if she ever goes back to normal, I've gotta' say that you're right."
Sam's grin could rival the Cheshire's Cat.
"I love being right."
As well as you love a certain someone.
Damn! Her angelic side just had to intervene, isn't it? Oh, dear. She absolutely hated when she had a three-side conversation with herself... It was exhausting to verbally fight her angelic and her demonic sides.
Shut up. You know I don't love him anymore.
She could just sense her inner angel's smirk.
Yes, you do.
No, I don't. I'm only doing this because of my mission.
Liar.
Am not!
Are too!
Am not!
Are too!
Am no-Oh, forget it! Just shut up!
Whatever. Just look out for those zombies – they're getting awfully close.
With a start, she noticed that her annoying (HEY!) inner angel was right. Damn.
She could hold her own in a battle against a few brainless zombies, but her friends couldn't. First of all, they'd probably feel guilty about attacking humans (no matter their current state of zombie-ness), and second, their means of fighting wouldn't even affect the cheerleaders - she had seen some of them losing an arm or a leg when they were attacking the inhabitants, and not be bothered in the least.
That, and she couldn't really bring herself to care if Star suffered a long, agonizing death by blood loss caused by lost limbs... That is, if she ever got back to normal.
Which Sam hoped she wouldn't. Get back to normal, that is.
And then she could have Danny all to herself. That is, if she wasn't sure Danny would like seeing a fellow human (and girlfriend) dying like that very much. Such a shame.
Oh, sorry. Didn't you say that you only were doing this to accomplish your mission? I didn't realize you wanted him, too.
Damn her inner angel. She could sense sarcasm dripping from every word.
You know you love me. After all, I'm the one who voices all the thoughts you have about him that you don't want to have. Ya' know, like an ANGEL, who always tells the TRUTH!
I DON'T HAVE THOUGHTS ABOUT HIM!
Whatever you say, dearie. Whatever you say.
Why, you lit-GAH! Forget it! Just shut up already!
She didn't resist when the zombies grabbed her and her friends. It would only originate questions about her strength and power that she really didn't want to answer.
So that was how they were all led to the cemetery.
Such a cliché-d place. Really.
The place had an eerie feeling – despair, pain and misery, but it still was a mysteriously beautiful place.
Dark crosses and fallen ivory angels were everywhere, decorating the cement tombs with their sinister grace, their figures casting shadows around the place. The grass was somewhat burned, still recovering from the effects of the summer fires that had destroyed most of the cemetery, burning the most frail structures to the ground. The people of Amity Park had tried to recover most of it, but they couldn't help but be freaked out by the mysterious occurrences that happened constantly in that isolated place. Disappearances, murders, rapes... Basically everything foul and evil happened in that place. No surprise that they could join a bunch of zombie cheerleaders to the already huge amount of strange events.
Sneering at the zombies that had brought them here, she observed the place with more accuracy, she willed her demonic senses to catch tiny details that humans wouldn't ever notice. Her sharpened intuition at full blast, Sam instantly felt the familiar gestures that the awakening of her senses always brought her – her muscles stiffening, her eyes narrowing, her vision and hearing sharpening by a million times – every single thing was felt with such awareness one would have thought to be impossible.
She felt it before anyone else did. The dirt was rumbling under them, as if something was moving from the depths of the earth towards the surface to meet them. The other three teenagers hadn't noticed it yet; if they had, they would be a lot more worried than they were now – in that moment, their only worry was that they were being captured by zombie cheerleaders. Sam guessed that they would probably panic once they noticed the ground was moving.
Hah, there was it. It had formed a slight V-shape on the ground, barely noticeable, directed towards an opened tomb. The raven-haired girl only hoped that they wouldn't have to enter it. Not only it would diminish their hopes of escape, but it would also be more difficult to move and fight – and it would damage their nails terribly! Shock! Horror!
Haha. Kidding.
Like she actually cared about that... Well, only slightly. The thought of wandering around with broken and dirty nails was absolutely terrifying!
Hah. Caught you again.
Seriously, you're so easy to fool, my dear reader...
Back to the tomb, now Danny had noticed the moving budge on the earth too, and was warning the others about it. Sam, although she had already known about it, made no move to acknowledge that fact and acted surprised and somewhat scared, for the plan's sake. Alieshya, however, wasn't fooled, and narrowed her eyes at the demon princess, as if daring her to indicate her seduce-and-destroy plans to the halfa in question.
The mermaid's attention, however, was quickly diverted towards the moaning and roaring muffled sounds that were coming from the opened tomb.
Then, three things happened at the same time.
The tomb exploded.
Sam launched herself to the air.
And one teenager girl, along with an army of zombies, emerged from the grave's ruins.
Paulina smirked at them, motioning to the zombies under her command to bring the prisoners forward.
The dust had already started to settle down by the time Danny and the others snapped out of their shock, although none of them noticed the absence of one demon princess. There was too much silence in the graveyard; the only sounds heard were the breathing and the heartbeat of Alieshya, Danny, Tucker and Paulina. The Latino girl's smirk turned into a sneer.
"Ssstill ssspeechlesss, Phantom boy? I would have thought you were a sssmarter opponent, but I guesss I wasss wrong."
That snapped them out of it – it wasn't Paulina's voice. It was deeper, probably male, and it... well, it hissed.
"Ssseemsss like you will be easssier to kill, hm? ATTA-omph!"
That was all the possessed girl had time to say before a very pissed half-demon girl toppled on top of her, successfully sending her to the ground.
Sam was on her feet again before one second had passed, a cocky smirk on her face.
"Not so high and mighty now, are you? Last time I checked, the ground was quite dirty... But then again, I suppose that's were you belong, right?"
Polishing her nails on her fake-leather tube top, the raven-haired girl glided gracefully between the zombies who, because of the lack of brains, let themselves stay quiet in their places, stupidly staring at them.
"Anyone has some salt?" She asked, inspecting her fingernails in a nonchalant way.
They stared.
She sighed.
"Seriously, does nobody see any old horror movies anymore? Like, hello, zombies-and-salt-make-them-melt?"
They shook their heads no. She hit her forehead, groaning.
"Do you know A THING about zombies AT ALL?"
Head shake.
Groan.
"When everything goes back to normal, I'm going to tie you to a chair while watching old horror movies... Maybe that way you'll learn something useful." She remarked, turning her attention back towards the brainless cheerleaders.
And right on time, because as soon as she turned, the zombies lunged at her.
Nails scratching at her face, hair being pulled to expose her neck, legs and arms being kicked and pulled and scratched and tore and...
By this time, Sam had already regained her composure and was fed up with her attackers. With a quick flick-like motion, she brushed the zombies off, an unnatural growl escaping her throat. Teeth bared, hands clawed, predatory posture, they were in for a fight.
Her vision swam in red, and the zombies would be dead(er) and tore apart already if she hadn't remembered the other teenagers who didn't know her secret.
"MOVE, IDIOTS!" She screeched when one decadent limb almost split her head in two.
Cursing under her breath, she threw her unworthy opponents (who were still on the floor where she had thrown them on) a lethal glare before joining the other members of the Supernatural League (Tucker's techno-geek-iness counting as supernatural) in the middle of the graveyard.
Sam's eyes narrowed to slits when she saw Paulina's demon-like smirk. The possessed Latino mock-clapped at her performance, giving the zombies time to stand up, moaning all the while.
"Nissse performanssse, dearie! Let'sss sssee if your little friendsss can defend themssselvesss asss well asss you can!"
They all stiffened. Then, with a flash of light, Danny Phantom stood in the place of his human counterpart, regardless of Alieshya's stare.
"Bring it on."
With an inhuman screech, Possessed-Paulina (PP for short) commanded her minions to attack.
Figures that she would be the one between all the cheerleaders to maintain an almost-flawless skin.
Tucker and Alieshya, arming themselves with some metal tubes that rested near them, protected each others' backs, standing near one another all the times, since none of them had much fighting skills. Danny entertained himself while shooting ectoplasm out of his hands, making the zombies fall in groups of five or six each.
I wasn't aware we had so many cheerleaders in Casper High...
And they weren't all from their school. Uniforms of different colours and schools contrasted against the red of the Casper High's Ravens, more decaying cheerleaders appearing as soon as the others fell.
This isn't going to end anytime soon... Unless...
Sam's eye caught PP's body, still amidst all that confusion, observing it with unmasked maniacal glee.
"Hullo there, demon."
Sam threw a punch a her, which caught her unguarded.
"Happy to see me?"
PP stood slowly, observing Sam's posture. Her face contorted in an unnatural grin.
"Elektra, how lovely to ssee you!" The demon inside Paulina hissed in disdain. "How isss your plan going, hm? You ssseem to.. How to sssay it? Get along nisssely with the ghossst boy. Ssstarting to doubt yourssself?"
Sam sneered at her.
"Like Hell."
In a millisecond, PP was on the floor again, quivering in pain.
"Whoops. Guess I have more strength than I thought. Wanna' see exactly how strong I am?"
"Bitsssh!"
Sam smirked deviously.
"I know I am."
Punch. Kick. Jab.
Sam's smug smile transformed into an alarmed expression when she felt decaying fingers close around her throat.
Paulina's possessed body was still on the ground, and nobody was behind her. Her hands searched the arm connected to the hand that squeezed her throat, only to find that there wasn't one. The putrefying hand was separated from the rest of the limb, which made it harder to make it free its grip.
Her breath was starting to fail. She couldn't breathe. Her lungs still had quite some oxygen, due to her supernatural genes, but if she didn't free herself from the constricting pressure on her throat, she would probably pass out from the lack of air.
It wouldn't budge. Now she was starting to feel an odd sensation on her chest, and it wasn't from her inability to breathe. It strangely felt like... Panic? Oh no, no, no. She couldn't start panicking now. Not now!
Her legs gave up and Sam fell to the ground, eyes prickling, hands clawing desperately at the appendage that was slowly weakening her.
The flesh was ripped under her hands; her nails pulled the muscle apart. It didn't work – the bones were squeezing by themselves, even without anything to link them.
Her lungs were burning; the amount of oxygen she had left wouldn't last her much longer. She had enough air for fifteen seconds, max.
Where were the others? Certainly someone would have seen her and come to help her, right? She tried to loosen the grip of the meatless fingers on her throat. No avail.
12 seconds.
One quick look around proved that none of them could come and help her. Alieshya and Tucker were against the tomb of someone called Aisling B. Summers (R.I.P. – Thou shall be innocent of every sin - 1750-1843), and fighting for their lives; Danny was stuck in the middle of a circle of zombies, unable to take flight or become intangible due to the supernatural grip of the brainless cheerleaders, bruises and wounds already marring his skin; and she, herself, wasn't much better than them. PP still sat on the floor, observing everything with an expression of utter delight.
9 seconds.
Little black points were dancing in her vision. The demon princess twisted the fingers in the opposite direction with all the strength she still had.
5 seconds.
Her whole chest was on fire, her eyes were already closed, but she still fought – she wouldn't give up. Not now, not ever.
Agonizingly slowly in her point of view, she broke each bone, one by one.
1 second.
The pressure in her throat was bearable now. Along with her relieved sigh, the so much needed oxygen finally entered her sore throat and lungs, leaving a path of fire .
With a disgusted expression, she finally threw what was left of the hand to the ground, stomping on it with all the might a combat boot is capable of.
Feeling dizzy, she sat still for awhile. When her vision stopped swimming, she stood up, searching for the little demon that had caused them so much trouble. She was in for a beating, never mind that it was Paulina's body to get hurt.
"Listen here, demon – if you ever, ever come back here without express orders from someone from the royal line, I will kick your ass to a bloody pulp, got it? GOT IT?" Sam growled, her hands around the possessed girl's neck.
Even writhing in pain, the demon still managed to look devious.
"Oh, but it wasss an order from the royalty, prinsssesss."
And with those parting words, it was gone, leaving Sam with Paulina's limp body in her arms. She delicately put it down on the ground, knowing that it would hurt all over when she woke up from her state of unconsciousness.
It was the silence that made her look around.
All the cheerleaders were back to their original states: human, with two arms and two legs, and... Well, ok, not so original states. Their make-ups were awful, their perfectly manicured nails were all dirtied and chipped, their hairs were a mess... They would have a fit when they woke up.
Star was already awake, though. Danny had reverted back to normal and Star threw a quick smirk at Sam before she engaged Danny in a ferocious kiss.
With an heavy heart full of pain, jealousy and betrayal, she ran away from the sight, doing her best to ignore the returning feelings and her friends' knowing and pitying eyes.
Nobody noticed the single tear that ran down her face, which blossomed into a beautiful and living crystal flower when it reached the ground.
Long chapter, huh? I think it was the longest 'til now.
Well guys, I must leave now! REVIEW!
Luv u guys!
Auf Wiedersehen,
GoThYk SyA