"The baby bat
Screamed out in fright,
'Turn on the dark,
I'm afraid of the light.'"
― Shel Silverstein

-xxx-

Chapter Eight: Batty

In a normal vampiric transformation, there were fangs, and there was venom.

On top of that, there was also either death or an exchange of blood.

But the venom was the constant. To create a full vampire, there was always that life-changing venom, which came directly from the bite.

And against all odds, Danny Fenton had never been bitten.

Aragon's coven tried, sure. They scraped at him, they lunged at him, they went in for that all-important bite to seal the deal. But something – a simple suit, virtually untested tech – stopped them.

Danny Fenton had ingested vampiric blood without a trace of vampiric venom. By all accounts, his circumstances made him one-of-a-kind.

He was about to figure out exactly what that meant.

-xxx-

What happened next was just as unfathomable as the thought of moving something via physical "shadows," instead of through normal means. Seriously, though: Danny still wasn't sure what he believed. The physics of it all – especially coming from two scientist parents, albeit in very different disciplines – baffled Danny. More than that, he just couldn't accept that it was possible. Shadows weren't tangible: they were simply an absence of light.

Right?

The thing was, Danny was reeling from the recent missed call from his mom, blinking up at him from his still-shattered phone screen. And that was truthfully more distracting than the whole concept of impossibly-substantial shadows. What Danny wanted, more than anything, was to go back to the way things were before now – before he'd seen or done a thing that defied physics.

Danny would've given anything for a time machine to take him back to that very morning, before he'd ever left the V.E.V. Instead of choosing to traipse around the woods with his family, he would've simply stayed inside his parents' obnoxiously-sized vehicle, feigning tiredness or fear of exploding Fenton weapons. Instead of being attacked by revenants in a random clearing, he would've relished in some much-needed relaxation in the vehicle's sweet, sweet air conditioning. Someone else would have been assigned Cooler Duty (Jazz), and Danny could've continued on believing that his parents were obsessed with fictional creatures.

All he wanted was to just continue hoping that he was dreaming or hallucinating. He really did not want to conceive of a reality in which he could never see his parents, friends, or Jazz again. Because that was where his current "worst case scenario" mindset had taken him.

Danny had regretted things in his life before now, of course, but he'd never, ever, felt such a longing for a chance at a true redo.

Absentmindedly, Danny pictured showing up at Tucker's house in the dead of night, unannounced, and confessing to his best friend that he was now a… vampire. An actual, mythical vampire. Danny then envisioned Tuck's immediate disbelief, followed by fear. Danny knew it would take a lot of convincing for the science-minded Tuck to accept the existence of the supernatural. And even if Tuck believed him, he'd undoubtedly hate Danny. Vampires drank blood. They were dead. There was a reason that vampires were detested throughout the centuries, in so many major myths and legends. And Tuck was smart.

Speaking of legends, one that had been nagging at the back of Danny's mind was the whole bat thing. Specifically, the whole turning-into-a-bat thing.

Part of Danny wanted to dismiss that whole concept outright due to the ridiculousness factor, but then he remembered that, apparently, vampires couldn't see their reflections. Now that was seriously absurd. (Even though he guessed that – as Nat had hinted – there was some sort of science-based, light refraction mumbo jumbo that made it a bit more digestible.)

Regardless, Danny decided to reserve judgment until he knew more.

"Err…Danny?" Cal interrupted his jumbled, increasingly troubled thoughts. "Do you know that human saying, about the elephant in the parlor?"

Danny couldn't help it: he snorted before he immediately tried to cover up the fact that he'd done so. "You mean, 'the elephant in the room'? Yeah, Cal, I've heard of it," Danny paired his response with a reassuring smile. (He really did feel bad about the whole snorting thing.) As he had earlier, he was steadfastly ignoring the use of the word "human" like it was something alien, though. He still couldn't think of himself as anything other than human; the whole idea of being anything else was too overwhelming.

"Alright, well, good. Then, uh, Danny… I would like to speak about the elephant in the parlo—err, room. The elephant in the room." Cal paused for a moment, as if rearranging his train of thought. "You might not realize this, but you have just done something that is incredibly, incredibly rare. And, truth be told, we need to discuss it. You clearly have an important gift."

Not for the first time, Cal imparted so much solemnity into his last words that Danny almost wanted to laugh (or snort… again). He reigned in that impulse, however. He sensed now – after several interactions with Cal – that the older vampire was just that serious, genuinely. Cal clearly respected a lot of things that Danny would've, at one point in time, wanted to scoff at or ignore, in another life. If, you know, he was still normal.

-xxx-

Back in Lestat Park, a tech-savvy fourteen-year-old boy paced up and down the length of his bedroom for the 53rd time – not that he was counting.

For as long as Tucker Foley could remember, his best friend had been Daniel "Danny" Fenton, and they shared everything… including their mutual preference for the nickname "Danny."

Danny was an unbelievably loyal friend. He'd never mess with Tuck just for the sport of it. They were both absurdly chill: they just enjoyed stupid video games, the menu at the Nasty Burger, and each other's non-judgmental company. Danny's inherent goodness was one of the many reasons why Tuck had instantly pegged Danny as his best friend, years and years ago.

So, what Danny was doing right now? This whole "ghosting" thing? Well, that was entirely unlike his best friend. In fact, it was scarily, and disturbingly, unlike him. Which was why Tucker kept pacing… 54, 55, 56…

"Tucker Maurice Foley! You're going to wear a line into the nice wood floor of your bedroom! Whaton earth has gotten into you!" Angela Foley, just home from her shift at the hospital, shouted up the stairs. Tucker winced.

"Sorry, mom!" He responded automatically, before stopping abruptly in his tracks. After re-orienting himself, he wandered over to his desk chair and computer. He flopped down into his chair, not even bothering to log onto his desktop and pull up Doomed. It simply wasn't worth it. He was too distracted right now.

Something was going on: he could feel it. Like an itch he needed to scratch, Tuck pulled out his PDA to check it again. Surely at some point, there'd be a text from Danny on there, and he could finally relax.

Candidly, Tuck didn't know why he was so worked up; something just felt wrong, somehow. Tucker felt an inexplicable need to save Danny from something… even though logically, he knew that Danny was just on vacation with his family. There were a ton of valid reasons for Danny being M.I.A. Hell, it was probably just unreliable cell service.

And yet, Tuck was compelled to finally do something he vowed he would never, ever do.

Call Jazz.

-xxx-

Jazz was shocked when her phone started ringing.It was almost 6:00 p.m., and she was trying to ignore her rumbling stomach.

She was trying to ignore a lot of things, actually.

Jazz felt that, if she acknowledged her panic fully, she'd shut down. She couldn't let that happen. Not yet. It had been seven hours, and there was still no sign of her little brother, apart from some broken twigs and visible footprints. Jazz was more than a little frazzled. She could read about psychology to her heart's content – and often did – but nothing in her textbooks had prepared her for the reality of a potential personal tragedy.

At least since it was smack-dab in the middle of August, the sun was still shining. Jazz refused to consider what they'd all decide to do once the sun went down. Her parents were slightly ahead of her in their searching. Jack and Maddie Fenton were attempting to spread out a bit, to hopefully find a more concrete sign of their son, Danny. They had all promised not to wander too much, however.

Despite her musings, Jazz's ringtone continued, softly:

"…The blues they send to meet me
Won't defeat me, it won't be long
'Till happiness steps up to greet me…"

The girl let out an exasperated sigh. She felt the urge to at least see who was trying to contact her. Though Jazz would hate to admit it, curiosity was eating away at her thoughts right now. The teen knew she didn't have a ton of friends – none of which would call her out of the blue for a recreational chat, anyway. She had so-called "friends" that she'd study with during the school year, sure, but that was about it. During the summer, those same "friends" seemed to forget that she existed.

Jazz honestly tried to convince herself that she didn't care, though. That was partially why she threw herself into her schoolwork so thoroughly: high school friends statistically wouldn't last, but academic records were forever. One day in the future, she'd be a world-famous psychologist, and her former "study buddies," Allison and Brenda (ugh), would be a distant memory.

"…Raindrops keep falling on my head
But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turning red
Crying's not for me…"

Jazz was snapped out of her revenge-via-success fantasy by her favorite song. Right, she thought. Grab your phone from your stupid pocket. Jeez, get it together, she scolded herself.

As soon as she glanced at her phone screen, she registered an unfamiliar sight. Uh, hold up… why is Tucker calling me? She could vaguely remember giving him her number a year or so ago, and cringed a bit in embarrassment as she realized that this was the first time he'd ever tried to contact her. Although, she reflected, that might have something to do with the fact that she'd insisted he could call her anytime to discuss his (very apparent) self-esteem and bullying issues. She didn't understand why neither he nor Danny felt like they could open up to her, truthfully, since it wasn't like she would tell anyone… but that was beside the point.

"Err, hello there," Jazz tried to sound buttoned-up and business-like as she answered the incoming call, hoping to quell the trembling in her voice.

"Is this Jazz? This is Jazz, right? Um, I'm pretty sure I chose the right contact. I mean, I did check…" Tucker, clearly anxious, trailed off softly, as he probably realized he was rambling. A classic sign of low self-esteem, Jazz noted, longing for one of her notebooks to jot down some observations.

"Tucker, yes," she sighed deeply. "This is Jazz."

"Oh. Huh. Good. So uh…is Danny there?" Tucker thought he'd opt for a tone of casual lightness at first. I mean, he considered, there is a chance that something could be wrong with my tech and that's why I haven't gotten any texts… Nah, that's crazy. He couldn't realistically believe that. Not with his airtight calculations, and not with his state-of-the-art PDA. Clarice was too good for plebeian errors. It had to be something else.

"Tucker. If this is a social call, then I really can't talk right now," Jazz couldn't believe she was saying that, especially if Tucker happened to be extending an olive branch during a precarious time of teenage need. "I'm a little… busy," Jazz grimaced at her own noticeable pause.

"Jazz." And with that, it was Tucker's turn to take a weighted breath. "I, uh… there's not, like, an easy way to say this?" Tuck knew that his nervousness was resulting in a whole lot of unintentional questions. "But, um, you see… Okay, so Danny and I talk, like, all the time, right? And usually, if something's going on, he tells me. Right away. And I don't want to sound like a super-involved friend or whatever… But, uh, I just feel like him not answering me for pretty much a whole day is very, uh, unlike Danny." Tuck cut himself off abruptly, sort of wishing that he hadn't said all of that. He really hoped he didn't come across as strange, or obsessive, or weird. Then again, Jazz herself is a little weird, Tuck considered. Normally, he wouldn't really care, actually. This time, however, he felt a strong need to investigate what was happening, to figure out what was really going on with his best friend in the world.

"Oh, well. Shit." Jazz said as several nearby mountains collapsed with the sheer hypocrisy of her swearing. "Uh, I mean, crap! Crap!" Jazz pressed her forehead into her palm, shocked that she was so emotional that she couldn't even control herself on a call with her baby brother's friend.

Jazz regained her composure momentarily as she admitted, "Tucker, I can't believe I'm saying this… but, Danny's been missing for hours. Pretty much seven hours, actually. If you have any ideas, then, well, I'm all ears."

-xxx-

Danny tried to get the conversation back on track. "Uh… is this, like, a good rare or a bad rare?" Danny probed tentatively.

"Danny. It's absolutely good. Actually, it's more than good," Nat jumped in.

Meanwhile, as Nat started talking animatedly about his supposed, special "shadow powers," and as Tucker and Jazz began plotting over the phone, the fluttering activity above Danny heightened.

No longer simply background noise, Danny could hear clicks that he assumed were calls of echolocation. Then he could see them: a cloud of bats, approaching the nearly-barren clearing where he rested. Danny couldn't deny it: he was seriously freaking out as the swarm edged closer and closer.

The majority of the bats stopped descending at a point, however, and hovered a good distance above Danny, watching with an uncanny, humanlike intelligence.

Then, one bat detached itself from the horde. The large mammal swooped down before hovering above the open area where Danny, Nat, Cal, and Dora had been talking. Finally, that same, independent-minded bat landed directly on Danny's chest.

Danny literally had to bite back a screen. As it was, he scuttled backward on his rock slab like he'd been electrocuted. (Yes, he did somewhat-fondly consider it to be "his" rock slab, at this point.)

First of all, the animal was huge. Second of all, it was incredibly scary-looking. A spike jutted up from where its nose evidently was, like a weirdly demonic unicorn horn. Its face was longer than he thought a bat's skull should be, and its eyes were dark and beetle-like.

Hello… friend, a soft, purring voice suddenly violated the inside of Danny's mind. The teen had zero idea what was happening, but he knew immediately that he hated it. He needed a time out from this existence and this reality: stat.

"That's it! I can't take this anymore! I'm done!" Danny screeched.

Alarmed by the noise and by Danny's frantic movement, the once-brave bat shot upward, drifting a bit above Danny and looking – for all intents and purposes – actually confused. Danny didn't know much about bats, but he didn't initially categorize them as exceptionally smart… never mind emotionally expressive.

"Whoa," Nat breathed.

"Did he… Do you think he heard the beast? In his mind?" Cal asked in a hushed tone, just as Dora muttered half with reverence, half with contempt, "Well, you can't deny it: he certainly is full of surprises."

-xxx-

Author's Note: I know it's been a hot minute. I'm really sorry about that! Life happened, to be honest. Plus, I ended up getting excited about a few future scenes (specifically, Sam and Tuck finding out), and stubbornly chose to flesh those out instead. Anyway, in other news: I just love October! Happy Spooky Season!

So, fun fact about Jazz's ringtone: "Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head" is not only a mood-based song that I imagine Jazz would love, but is also featured in one of my favorite movies, Spider-Man 2. Danny reminds me (and many others, I think) of Peter Parker, so I'm already guilty of throwing in some Spider-Man nuggets here and there. There have been two noticeable ones so far! But, this will be the last time that I call it out haha – from now on, fellow Spidey fans will have to uncover them for yourselves. Mwahaha.

Next time: a lot of answers! I promise! But I did have to end this chapter here because…reasons. Important reasons.