Author's Note: So I've been getting into my head way too much about this story, I think, but I'm going to try not to do that anymore. (Like, I have so many ideas, but I tend to psych myself out when I'm putting down details to paper – err, to my laptop as it were... oh well.) Anyway, onto this week's super-extra-short bonus weekend chapter, as promised!

Chapter Five: Shadows

As Danny's phone clattered against the stone ground, he could feel his scream reverberate against the glittering granite walls.

Danny gazed around fleetingly, alarmed at the way his scream continued to echo. He was reminded of The Lord of the Rings – which his dad watched with him despite the non-scientific, fantastical nature of the series – and the caverns of the Mines of Moria. The area around him felt ancient, powerful… and like it had something ageless and primordial hidden in its depths.

Everything seemed way too real, too. He could also hear sounds of "life" way beyond Nat, Cal, and Dora (feet shuffling, voices murmuring), and even imagined the sounds of thin-membraned wings up above – bats, Danny recognized with his weird sixth sense – darting amongst the shadows.

"Why is he so upset?" Dora yelled sharply.

Her question was followed by Cal's frantic response, "I am not sure, Dora!"

"I think he must've seen something," Nat recovered from her own distress long enough to reason, in a far more hushed tone, fortunately.

But frankly, Danny was sick of them talking about him like he wasn't there. He had enough to process as it was. Emotionally beaten, he pressed his fingers to his temples forcefully, muttering, "Please. Just tell me what's going on, for once. That's all I'm asking."

"Danny, I can help – just, calm down," Nat murmured. When Danny nodded, conveying that he was, in fact, calm, she resumed speaking.

"Aragon and one of his, ah, more frightening knights gave you wounds you couldn't have hoped to survive as a human. Their claw marks were all over your face, your hands," Nat shuddered in a lower voice. "It was bad, Danny. So much of your skin was torn apart. I had a choice and I… I gave you some of my blood, to try to help you. You might, uh, remember that?" Nat looked shamefaced.

Weirdly, Danny felt like he was about to sob as he listened to Nat speak, but he squeezed his eyes tightly instead (his patented defense mechanism, of course), flat-out refusing to do so.

Nat waited, as if expecting Danny to cry or possibly meet her eyes in anger. When Danny didn't do either – when he didn't even nod in acknowledgment – Nat decided to continue.

"It's… it's never been done like this before, Danny, but I had reason to believe it would save you," Nat admitted. "I know you'll probably hate me for it. But, you have to understand, I… I just had to save you," Nat echoed, her voice sounding both far away and exceptionally desperate.

Danny vaguely remembered her saying something similar in his fading, hazy memories.

"So, what happened to me?" Danny's voice sounded tinny and hollow, even to himself. He was sure that he had an idea, but he needed it spelled out for him all the same.

"Mostly, you've been following a normal transformation into a… vampire." Nat's voice was small, pained. "Danny, please understand. I felt like I had no other choice." She finished breathlessly. Danny had almost expected her to say something like that. But instead of getting lost in his half-formed memories, after a beat, he latched onto a single word like a lifeline.

"Mostly?" Danny asked, trying not to let the raw sounds of hope bleed into his question.

"A few of your reactions are perplexing us," Cal confessed in his trademark dated way.

"Did you… see yourself, in that human device?" Dora asked inquisitively, grateful for Cal's opening.

"I guess? Kind off. I looked really, um, fuzzy, though," Danny acknowledged with a bit of confusion as he thought back to the unnatural sight reflected through his phone's camera app.

"Aha! Perfect example!" Cal exclaimed. Until that moment, Danny thought people only uttered 'aha' in bad, B-level action movies. When Danny couldn't help but respond with an expression like, 'This guy is nuts,' Nat rescued him again, luckily.

"He means, it's a good example of the 'mostly' part of… this. None of us can see our own reflection, at all, actually. The fact that you can – even somewhat – is a bit baffling." Nat concluded, in a somewhat wistful tone.

Danny chuckled. "To be honest, I would've guessed that was one myth that was totally fake," he admitted, almost smiling.

"I remember thinking the same," Nat met Danny's eyes head-on, her own dancing mirthfully. "But, actually… well, the whole thing has something to do with light perception and our ability to manipulate shadows," she explained as she shook her head. "Remind us to introduce you to Orlok sometime. He's the expert on the theory of it, and he's one of our oldest scholars here in Patala."

-xxx-

"Uh, so wait… did you just say you have the 'ability to control shadows'? That's a thing?" Danny felt as though a million facts were being hurtled at him all at once, like tomatoes being thrown at a sub-par comedy act, and only a few 'fruits' seemed to stick to the metaphysical wall behind him.

"What is the most common myth that you've heard about vampires? That the sun burns them, yes?" Cal probed candidly.

"Yeah, I guess. Or that they sparkle." Danny supposed without thinking, with a slight shudder. He was very much hoping that statement was incredibly wrong.

Cal ignored that. "Well, the sun does harm us. Fortunately, there are many among us who possess strong shadow-bending abilities. This can allow for some, uh, daylight travels," Cal clarified.

"Shadow-bending? What do you mean?" Danny wondered, any previous fear forgotten in lieu of genuine curiosity.

"Dora, would you care to demonstrate?" Cal requested calmly.

Dora nodded seriously, blinking as she glanced at Danny. All at once, she exhaled sharply, and her burgundy eyes squinted in concentration. After a moment, all of the shadows in the underground cavern seemed to coalesce around her. It was almost like Dora didn't quite exist anymore – she had faded into the background of her surroundings, and all that existed where she had once stood was ethereal darkness – perhaps, briefly, in the slightest shape of a maiden.

Danny, for his part, was stunned. "My parents had no idea about this," he blurted, dazed.

The shadowy shape that resembled a woman, Dora, shuddered before returning to her more regular form. Shadows and light bended and refracted before a more typical, human-like shape solidified once again.

"And that is shadow-bending," Dora confirmed with a self-assured nod.