Taking Over Me
Summary: With Sam gone, Danny has enough to deal with. At the same time he runs into the first ghost he can't beat, and that's Danny Phantom.
Rating: PG-13 for mature themes and language.
Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom, Butch Hartman does. I do not own Taking Over Me, Evanescence does.
Chapter Eleven
I believe in you.
"I'm going to meet Tucker!" Danny called down to his parents. He forced his voice to stay neutral. He shifted the duffel bag strap higher up on his shoulder as he grabbed a Mountain Dew out of the fridge door.
"What time I'll you be home?" His mom called.
"Around ten tomorrow morning," Danny said loudly, over his shoulder. "We're camping out by the park so don't call his house if you need us."
"Have fun! Call us if you see a ghost!"
Danny rolled his eyes, "Sure, Dad!" Relief washed over him. They had bought it. He felt a little guilty about lying to them, but every time he had had to lie to them over the past year or so, less guilt came. Danny wasn't sure whether that made it easier or harder for him to do it. He slipped quietly out the front door, making sure he had his house key. He leapt of the steps already leaving later than he should be. He darted around to the alley that lead back to the shed. With just a brief thought about it he felt the change that he was getting so accustomed to. His heart and lungs stopped and the piercing cold that always accompanied it crept over him. The only thing that was different was instead of the normal bright green his eyes shone up a deep glowing crimson, giving the fifteen-year-old a virtually demonic look. Taking a deep breath, Danny Phantom went invisible and took off toward Wisconsin.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Danny sat at the edge of Vlad's lab just staring at the other man as he flipped through an old journal from when similar things had happened to him. Being a science major had resulted in the financial tycoon keeping meticulous records of all he went through. But Danny didn't have much longer. He was facing a five-hour fly home in the morning and he hadn't gotten here till almost nine o'clock. It was now well past midnight and Vlad hadn't said more than three curt sentences to him. Danny took a deep breath and sighed, causing the older man to glance just briefly in his direction.
He glanced over at vials full of different colored substances and a beaker of slowly simmering blue liquid over a Bunsen burner. The further into his high school years he got, the less he was sure of what he wanted to do with his life. He was starting to realize there was virtually no way he would ever become an astronaut now. He sighed. He guessed not knowing wasn't bad. Tucker knew but Sam didn't. Of course she had known up until this summer, when things had changed, but he guessed the same could be said of him.
He wondered if that's why he had felt so much closer to Sam than Tucker had lately. Suddenly, someone else knew how it felt to have the rest of your life change in an instant. It was as if they shared a secret that Tucker would never understand. But he could tell it was grating against Tuckers nerves. He had been slightly closer to Tucker than Sam. Just because in Junior High, it had suddenly become a big deal to have a best friend that was a girl. Danny gave his head a little shake, bangs falling into his vision. He needed a haircut, he noted to himself.
"Are you done yet?" He bit out, sounding a little snippier than he had intended to.
Vlad didn't even look. "I'll be done when I'm done."
Danny glared agitatedly in the grown man's direction. "I don't get what my dad ever saw in you."
Masters looked up, a sort of possessed look about him. "It wasn't what your father saw in me. It was what I saw in him."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
An evil laugh drifted across the room, not the type associated with TV villains but the bitter laugh of someone who's seen too much. "Your like every other teen on this planet. Has it ever occurred to you, son, that your parents had lives before you were born?" Danny just threw the older man a how-stupid-do-I-look glance before going back to staring at the beaker on the Bunsen Burner. "Your father was an moron with too much money from his parents on his hands and nothing to do with it. He entered college with your mother on his arm and no cares in the world."
"My dad isn't an idiot!"
"Your grandfather gave University of Wisconsin a huge amount of money," Vlad cut him off. "That is the only reason that imbecile you consider a father made it into anywhere."
Danny glared at the older man, his eyes becoming steely. He told himself it wasn't true but for some reason it made sense. He had seen his father's old report cards. He wasn't an overly bright student that was for sure. And when Jazz had taken the ACTs last year, his dad had congratulated her saying she had done much better than him and she had only scored in the mid twenties.
A grin slid slowly across the other halfa's face. "This is just too rich. It's never occurred to you before, has it?" He chuckled and Danny felt anger churn in his gut. "Don't you ever wonder how your parents had the finances to keep you in that nice, big house on a business where they hardly ever make a profit. Your grandpa gave him a good deal of money thinking your dad would realize it was a dream and move on. But then suddenly, your parents had a daughter with a son on the way and your mother made a breakthrough in mapping out the genetic structure of ectoplasm. Change the way paranormal science was looked at; made them enough money to set them for years."
Danny interjected. "See! They do know what they're doing! You're just jealous!"
He didn't continue. Something in the billionaire's face made him pause. It was sort of a knowing look as if he could see the future, see something that greatly contradicted everything Danny had just said. But all that came out of his mouth was "We shall see."
Danny swallowed. "That doesn't answer why I'm here."
The older man got up off his stool and walked slowly around the table. The phrase 'stalking your prey' popped into Danny's mind, but he suppressed it along with the subsequent mental image. Vlad got right in front of him and grabbed Danny by the chin. He forced the fifteen-year-old to look up into the other ghost hybrid's eyes. Danny almost shuddered at all the hidden things in that gaze but what bothered him the most was the pensive look, as if Masters was staring into his very soal. A slow smile curved the other man's lips, reminiscent of the look a cobra has right before it attacks. "Kill her," he whispered.
Blue eyes went wide. "What," he asked hoarsely.
"Kill her," the older man leered. "Kill Samantha like I tried to kill your mother."
Yay. The other half of this conversation is going up tonight so I know I'm not giving you really long time to review. I apologize! Forgive me. Now wait long enough before killing me so I can thank my reviewers. A big yay for: gothmiko, Wind Cat, YAY!!!, The Good Girl, audi katia, Mr. Delmont, Spice Of Life, sYnergY's Duality, Blossoming Orange Rose, q.t a.k.a spice, Kagome51, autumngold, Osparrow, Medisti, cheerin4danny, WormmonABC, MayB, Silverflare07, GMGirl, The Fuzy Llama, Ryo's destiny, Sakura Scout, Hwoarangsguardie, Mrs. Granger-Weasley, RavenForever, RainbowSerenity, CoLdPLaYeR813, Moody Maud, and Jessi. :)
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