Chapter 6: Vladimir Dracula
- Fenton Works -
"Come on Dracy! Please can we fly with you again?" Ember pleaded.
"No blast it and stop asking! Sher gar! You humans get addicted to stuff far to easy." Draconum glowered at her.
"Sher gar? What does that mean?"
Draconum blinked. "Forgive me I still sometimes slip into my peoples language. It means 'by the gods' if you must know."
Danny shrugged. He never had thought about it before, but it made sense that Draconum's people didn't speak English. Danny almost kicked himself for not thinking of it before.
"So whats the language called?" He asked.
Draconum looked at him. "Its called the Imtor Sserhona, The Immortal Tongue. Its the same language that angels and demons speak."
Danny stared. "Angels?"
"I am not getting into that right now!" Draconum sighed, "I might explain it to you later but..."
Draconum's eyes suddenly went unfocused. With out warning he stood up and started heading for the door.
"Draconum?" Danny asked jogging to keep up with him. "What is it?"
"Trouble." Was the simple reply.
"What kind of..." Danny ghost sense went off. "Oh..."
"Who is it do you think?" Ember asked grabbing her guitar as they walked by it.
"I don't..."
"It's Vlad." Draconum said.
Danny stared at him. "Wait he is only half ghost! How can my sense pick him up? Come to think of it, how did it pick him up that first time?"
Draconum just shrugged as he transformed into his dragon form. "Another side effect of the soul binding I suppose. I can sense him just fine so it makes sense that you can too."
"Man..." Danny shrugged it off, "Well lets finish this up fast."
Draconum gave a low growl. "I don't think it will be so easy this time." They were outside now, "It feels like demonic energy not spectral."
"Demonic? So this is some kind of demon then?!" Ember asked aghast.
"Then how can it be Vlad?" Danny wondered.
"He wouldn't be the first in his family to be given demonic power. Far from it." Draconum answered quietly.
Draconum took off into the sky at a pace that the two ghosts could keep. Ember and Danny looked at each other. They didn't like the sound of this at all...
- Outside Amity Park -
Draconum touched down and looked around. A forest? Interesting place for a confrontation, but it would work to Vlad's advantage. Cover to hide and ambush from, plenty of room if he needed it. All in all not a bad strategic choice, though all the shadows in the area gave Draconum a very distinct advantage. Draconum growled, that didn't seem like the kind of mistake this man would make. Danny and Ember touched down a little behind him.
"Were is he?" Danny whispered.
'I don't know.' Draconum answered in his head.
'So is he here then?' Danny thought back.
'Yes.'
Danny looked around for any signs of their adversary.
"I was beginning to wonder if you were too afraid to fight me again, oh Lord of Shadows." Vlad asked melding out of the shadows near a tree.
Draconum growled. "So you did make a demon contract then and with a shadow demon no less. You are a fool to trust your soul to their kind."
"Come now Draconum is that any way to greet an old friend?" Vlad answered with a smirk.
Draconum just stared at him. Danny looked between the two.
"I hardly consider us friends, Vlad Masters and I hardly consider you old." Draconum responded coldly.
"Oh yes, this body I see is confusing you. I am afraid Vlad Masters is no longer with us."
Draconum's flaming eyes widened in sudden realization. Danny look at his ancient friend.
"Drac what does he mean?" He asked quietly.
Draconum didn't answer, instead he simply stared at Vlad with a look of utter hatred and loathing. Danny had never seen such anger in those burning eyes, not even when he was destroying an entire world. Draconum began stomping towards Vlad, every step cracking the ground beneath him and shaking nearby trees. Shadows began twisting around his body and they reared menacingly in Vlad's direction.
"You are not Vlad Master or Vlad Plasmius." He said it as a matter of fact not a question.
"No." Vlad responded just as matter of factly, "I see your perception is as good as ever my old enemy. Tell me though do you still know my name?"
Draconum swung a clawed hand at the man. Vlad barely managed to dodge out of the way in time to avoid getting shredded. Danny stared. The Vlad he knew could never have moved that fast.
"Yes, demon, I know your cursed name. You are Vladimir Dracula, also known as 'The Impaler' by men and 'Shadow Stalker' by demons. So you sink low enough to possess your own ancestor just to get revenge? I didn't even think you could be that pathetic."
Danny stared. 'Vladimir Dracula? As in Count Dracula the vampire?! This is so not good!'
'Be calm, hatchling. He is powerful, but not as strong as I am and we have him out numbered.'
"I see you are soul bound to that child there." Vlad pointed at Danny who couldn't help but flinch under the demon's gaze. "This should be very easy then. All I have to do to kill you is kill him."
"If you think you can beat all three of us alone then go ahead and try, demon." Draconum's words made of made ice seem warm.
Vlad shook his head and laughed. It was chilling and sounded not that different from Draconum's evil laugh. The only thing that really set it apart was the hint of madness in it. "I am no fool, Draconum. I am going to have enough trouble beating you alone, much less all three of you at once. That is why I brought some... friends to keep your human partners preoccupied."
Vlad clapped his hands and a pair of figures emerged from the shadows of the trees. Danny stared.
"SAM?! TUCKER?!" He shouted.
His two old friends just grinned at him. Their eyes pulsed with red light and their hands had what looked like claws instead of nails. Danny stared at them for another moment then turned back towards Vlad, pure rage consuming him.
"Oh dear it seems you have already met and here I was so hoping to make introductions." Vlad laughed insanely at his own cleverness.
"I'LL KILL YOU!!" Danny screamed and launched at him.
"Danny, stop!!" Ember shouted, but he didn't hear her.
Draconum grabbed him before he had moved two feet.
"Let me go damnit! What did you do to them?!" Danny yelled at Vlad.
'CONTROL YOURSELF!' Draconum's voice thundered in his mind. It felt like an explosion had gone off inside his head. It drowned out all his own thoughts with that one command.
He looked up at Draconum ready to fight his way free of his friends grip if necessary, but stopped dead when he saw the look on his dragon like face. Rage. Pure, unfiltered, and ancient. Draconum's fiery green eyes burned with such intensity Danny could literally feel the heat from them. His lips were pulled back in a animal like snarl displaying every last one of his razor like fangs. Green flames poured out of his mouth and down his jaw, burning holes into the ground were the fire landed. Shadows danced madly around them slashing trees and rocks and earth like they were paper.
Danny was angry, but his anger paled in comparison to that cold, heartless hatred.
'I need you and Ember to deal with those two.' Draconum said indicating Tucker and Sam.
'I can't kill them! They are my friends!'
'I didn't say kill them! I said deal with them! Knock them out, pin them down, kill them, break every bone in their body, I don't care just keep them busy long enough for me to finish Vlad off!"
Danny nodded. Draconum set him back down making sure he wouldn't attempt to charge Vlad again.
Danny began to turn away, then stopped. 'I won't stop you from killing him this time Drac, he deserves to die.'
'I wouldn't stop this time even if you asked me to.' Came Draconum's chilling reply.
Danny nodded again and walked back to Ember.
"Danny?" Ember said questioningly.
He glanced at her. "We have to keep Sam and Tucker busy long enough for Draconum to kill Vlad."
Ember swallowed. "Will it set them free of what ever is controlling them?"
Danny couldn't look at her now. "I don't know." If it didn't they would probably have to kill both of his old friends. Danny swallowed. He didn't know if he could do that.
'If it comes to that, you will do what you must do. If you don't then I will.'
'Only if it has to be done Draconum! Only if there is nothing else we can do!'
There was no reply.
"So Draconum how should we do this? Should we just charge at each other, powers blazing and clash like we did the last time?" Vlad asked.
"Or you can always hold still while I rip that body's heart out and send you back to whatever dark little corner of Hell you crawled out from." Draconum smiled wickedly.
Vlad took an involuntary step back. Then snarled and pointed at Danny. "So you would kill me in front of them? Even you aren't that heartless!"
"You don't know the meaning of heartless demon, but I would kill you in front of them because killing you is one of the greatest gifts I could ever give this world!"
"So it would seem. By the way, this necrosis you gave my ancestor... it was done with the Shadow Fang wasn't it? You tried to suck his soul into the darkness didn't you? Is that what you plain on doing to me? Sucking out my soul with a cursed blade and leaving me to suffer in shadow for all time?" Vlad asked with an insane smile.
"Hardly, you would enjoy that too much. I think the fires of Hell are were you truly belong. The only threat darkness has is the threat of insanity, but you are already as insane as they come, so I think demons ripping you apart every day would be a much better choice." Draconum's smile never left him, but Vlad's faltered.
"Very well... shall we begin this then?"
Danny tensed, he nudged Ember and pointed at Sam. She nodded and unstrapped her guitar.
Draconum's smiled faded. "Indeed. Just so you know, I am going to enjoy ripping you apart!"
All six combatants launched at each other...