[TW: violence, sexual situations, strong language, graphic imagery]
.:.
Hex Kittens
| Amity Park University Cafeteria – 6:15 P.M. |
The week after Penelope Boyle-Slyman's dead body had been discovered was one marked with considerably less mass panic than Danny would have expected a slashed-up, deceased sorority girl found on campus to cause. Of course, the party at Zeta house had ended as soon as the cops had shown up after Valerie dialed 9-1-1. Everyone had been instructed to evacuate the mansion, which had severely bummed the scores of people gathered in the presidential chamber to ogle Penelope's corpse. The other members of the late Penelope's cabinet had been made to exit in utter despair, Jennifer being the most vocal in her mourning, her shrieks of sadness as deafening as a banshee's wail. Caitlin's passed-out body had also been transported into a paramedic van to be driven to the hospital. The following day, Dean Boyle-Slyman had sent out a very pithy missive expressing his "deep sadness" at his daughter's "passing" and advice for the whole Amity U student body to "be vigilant and consult the Office of Student Affairs for counseling services."
Danny thought he seemed laughably unaffected by the fact that his only child had been slaughtered in cold blood. Moreover, there was now a rumor going around that the dead body had mysteriously disappeared from the morgue. Caitlin was currently languishing in police custody, adamant in her assertion that she had been framed. It had been assessed that her blood alcohol content had been .26 % the night the killing had occurred. The press had blown up around the event, but there were few articles that could supply generous detail about the arrested girl. However, the current slew of gossip at Amity conveyed that Caitlin remembered nothing of the grisly hour except blacking out in the backyard and coming to in the head Zeta's executive suite holding the alleged murder weapon. The shallow majority of Amity U were thoroughly convinced that she was a psychotic killer who had finally snapped under her tyrannical leader's reign, and Zeta wouldn't be having any more sick parties for the rest of the fall. Or maybe at least until midterms. Danny had scouted the area in and around the mansion unseen as soon as everyone was made to leave. Tucker and Sam, upset by the chilling find, had also dismissed themselves, which had left Valerie and the rest of the Zetas—including a comatose but less-tanked looking Paulina—standing grief-stricken outside the house. Despite looking everywhere he could, Danny had not detected any ghostly presence. He was sure his ghost sense had gone off before they had discovered the body, but if there had been a spirit inside it was no longer there.
In the seven days that had passed, Danny and Valerie had barely spoken. She had only communicated with him in their chemistry class, but it had been strictly about covalent bonds and oxidation—no mention of what had happened at the mansion. Danny had initially asked her if she was all right at the beginning of last Monday's class (after sending her some texts over the weekend which she hadn't replied to), but Valerie had only nodded stiffly and coldly acknowledged his offer to talk things out if needed. Sam had departed for Germany at the beginning of the week, making him promise to keep her updated on the situation at Amity U regularly, leaving him with conflicted romantic sentiments and feeling like he had neither a grip on his superhero duties or his love life.
"Are you gonna eat that mac and cheese?" Tucker asked, pointing at the mushy yellow pasta in the corner square of his lunch tray. Danny pushed the entire meal over to his friend. Despite agreeing to get dinner with Tucker at the cafeteria that night, he didn't have much of an appetite.
"Yo man, you all right?" he asked, scooping macaroni into his mouth.
Danny leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. "No, I'm not all right. I can't stop thinking about Penelope's dead body."
His friend gave him a repulsed look. "You know dude, I know she was hot, but that's like… necrophilia. But hey, I won't judge your kinks."
"I'm not thinking about it because I'm attracted to it!" Danny snapped. "I'm thinking about how she died."
"What's there to think about?" asked Tucker. "That crazy Caitlin chick slit her throat and then got creative with the knife."
"I mean, that's what everyone at school is saying," Danny said. "but there hasn't been a trial yet, so it's not like she's been convicted. She's still being held by the police."
"It's way too soon for a trial," Tucker remarked, mouth full. "trust me, that girl is going to jail for murder in the first."
"She said she didn't do it."
"And you believe her?" his friend questioned, swallowing.
"Look, I told you that my ghost sense went off before Val and I found her dead in her room," Danny said.
Tucker rolled his eyes. "Danny, we've been over this."
"She could have been possessed," he argued. "Seriously, think about it: my ghost sense went off before we found Caitlin in the room holding the knife. And then again when we were in the room. The ghost might have lingered for a bit after it exited her body, and then disappeared."
"You haven't detected any suspicious ghost activity anywhere on this campus for days," Tucker replied. "plus, everyone knows that out of all the Zeta chairs, Penelope treated Caitlin like crap the most. Girl was clinically depressed. She had the perfect motive for murder."
"You can't always blame these things on mental illness, Tucker," admonished Danny, "it's wrong. Also, what is up with the Dean not making more of a deal out of this?"
Tucker shrugged. "I told you, they probably weren't close."
"She was his daughter," said Danny. "she literally probably saw him every other day."
"Well, I don't know!" Tucker exclaimed. "If you wanna snoop some more, then snoop."
"I intend to," he said. "and I think that I'll require your technical know-how in assistance."
"What?" Tucker asked. "In what way?"
Danny stroked his chin. "Not sure yet, but I'm gonna need all the help I can get to figure this thing out."
"Whatever you say, dude." Having finished Danny's mac and cheese, Tucker moved onto his untouched slice of pot roast.
"Tuck?" inquired Danny.
"What?"
"You think Val is still mad at me?"
"Well," Tucker said matter-of-factly, "you did moan Sam's name while you and Valerie were doing it. I think she'll be angry for a while."
Danny closed his eyes, vexed by the incorrect statement. "I did not moan Sam's name," he said. "and we were not doing it."
Tucker took a gulp of his soda. "I mean, if I were you, I would just lie and say I did do it with her. 'Cus like, she's ridiculously fine. Have you seen her abs?"
Smirking, Danny replied smugly. "Yes. Up close. I've felt them too." He then dodged a punch from his friend.
"You just said you didn't smash!" Tucker said.
"I didn't," he insisted, grinning. "we just made out on her bed. Then I…ruined it by accidentally telling her I was thinking of Sam." As he finished his explanation, his gleeful expression disappeared and he was back to sulking.
"Man, you shoulda been smarter than that," Tucker said, shaking his head.
"I know, I know," Danny whined. "but I was thinking of how weird it was that Sam basically gave me the green light to get with Valerie. She volunteered to babysit a drunk sorority girl so I could go hang out with another sorority girl, who she happens to hate."
"I think 'hate' is a strong word," reasoned Tucker. "I mean, they seemed to have been finding common ground when they were talking in the bathroom. I swear dude, they coulda been one Zeta Phi-trashing comment away from kissing. I think that's primarily what causes chicks to make out at parties: bitching about other chicks they don't like."
It was Danny's turn to throw a punch, which Tucker didn't dodge.
"Woah, what was that for?" griped Tucker.
"I don't think being in a fraternity is good for you," Danny chastised.
"Oh please," he shrugged the comment off. "Like the Gamma Rho Brotherhood of Mathematical Engineering is as bad as any of the other dumb jock-filled fraternities at this university."
"Just because you guys aren't popular doesn't mean you're not just as bad," the other contested judiciously.
"Hey, I thought we were talking about you, Mr. Two-Girlfriends."
"I'm Mr. Zero Girlfriends," Danny said sadly. "and I'm gonna stay that way until I make things right with Valerie. I just wish she would talk to me about something other than chemistry. Anything. I wouldn't even mind her trying to blast my ass as Danny Phantom, but I haven't seen the Red Huntress doing her usual rounds around the city at all this past week."
"Her sorority president was just murdered," rationalized Tucker. "maybe's she's kind of freaked out and hasn't been in the mood."
"No, I know her," Danny said. "something like this would just motivate her to up her ghost hunting. Maybe she's just doing it on the D-L. Plus, it's not like she liked Penelope all that much."
"How do you know?"
"She told me she was a racist bitch," he answered. "right before we started making out."
"Wow, y'all really having heart-to-heart conversations now."
"Shut up, Tucker."
"Hey chill out," Tucker conciliated, "I'm just kidding. Anyway, I believe her. Zeta Phi's legacy has included frequent accusations of racism. Their crappy reputation is probably why people aren't really too sad about Penelope getting killed. And quite honestly, that sorority probably has a history of internal problems too. I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't the first instance of sister-on-sister violence."
Danny pondered his words. "Yeah…"
"But dude," he said. "I suggest you take a break from thinking about dead sorority girls to work out your still obvious feelings for Sam."
Guiltily, Danny avoided his knowing stare. "It's not like I wanna get back together with her. Things are just confusing right now. I just don't know if she's completely okay with me and Valerie, not that that's going so well now."
"Maybe you guys can talk it out tonight," suggested Tucker. "aren't you scheduled to Skype?"
Danny nodded. "At midnight. It'll be seven a.m. in Munich. Sam evidently has to get up early tomorrow to catch a train and says she'll make time to talk to me before she leaves. She's taking a weekend trip to Salzburg with some friends."
"She's the only person you'd stay up until twelve to Skype."
"Hey, it's not that late," said Danny. "Besides, its Friday."
"Correction then," he retorted. "she's the only one you'd spend a Friday night Skyping."
Danny let his mind wander. "I wonder what Valerie's doing tonight…"
Tucker gazed at him skeptically. "What? You thinking of taking her out on a date tonight and then blurting 'oh I just remembered I have to video call Sam' in the middle of it?"
He was not amused.
"Okay, okay," Tucker soothed, suppressing laughter. "I'm done. For real though, you should really try smoothing things over with Valerie. It'll probably be way harder than catching any ghost, but I'm telling you, underneath that tough exterior lies a warm, adoring girl. Just someone waiting for a certain guy to push all the right buttons...a skinny-thick wifey type—who could also beat you up in two seconds flat. But she probably really loves to cook or something."
"You think?" Danny asked, contemplating the alluring description.
"Yeah, why not?" said Tucker encouragingly. "But seriously, try not to say Sam's name again."
Sighing, Danny buried his face in his hands. "Why did I say that? Why am I so bad at handling this?"
Tucker only shrugged again, replying "Iunno." Danny moved forward to place his arms on the table, dolefully resting his chin on top of them as he watched Tucker finish his meal.
| Frankenfurter Conservatory Rooftop – 10:00 PM |
Valerie surveyed the large area of the university campus before her, thinking that it looked menacing enough at night to have tens of ghosts who regularly loomed around its various dark twists and turns; setting out to find one specific ghost had her questioning where to start. Other than that, the buildings at Amity U were an architectural nightmare: a contrasting mix of shabby pre-war brick and characterless, concrete modernist rectangles that bordered on inhumanely totalitarian. A vicious revenge-hungry spirit of a dead sorority girl, or any ghost in general, stalking around within its walls would not be the most aesthetically atrocious thing about it.
She would not be deterred. She was going to track down the ghost of Felicity Joann Nixon, because it was what had turned Caitlin Fowler into a murderer. Valerie had to be honest; she didn't really care for the girl and she certainly wasn't in deep mourning for the vile person she had killed, but she knew that nothing was going to be solved by Caitlin's arrest. It had been seven days since Penelope's corpse had been discovered, and after a hefty amount of studying, Valerie speculated that what she originally thought was a weak, overdramatic attempt at spooking the pledges was the only thing that could explain the weirdness surrounding the death. Caitlin was no killer, and Valerie felt as if the madness was just beginning. That being said, she was feeling game for things to get a little mad. Valerie envisioned those still in residence at Zeta house in her mind. There were of course six pledges including her and Paulina, and then the cabinet members: Jennifer – the new Zeta president – with her irritatingly high ponytails and seemingly enormous lung capacity, Holly with her penchant for floral rompers and spitting in people's pumpkin spice lattes, and Gretchen, with her relentless worship of Jennifer Lawrence and anal bleaching. Any one of them could have been mistaken for a psychopath. However, she had a feeling that the true, unearthly perpetrator, i.e. Felicity Jo, was hiding out in a miserable hole somewhere at Amity U, plotting her next move. And Valerie was going to hunt her down before she struck again.
Valerie stood on top of the conservatory building, dressed in her full-body ghost hunting outfit which clung to her body like a second skin. Tinted a deep, dark red by which people knew her moniker—or at least she wished they did—the adaptable material felt amazing molded onto her muscled form. Valerie stretched her arms wide, twisting left to right in a couple preparatory stretches before she pulled down her spectroscope goggles. She hadn't been contracted to exterminate a ghost in the city for weeks, and hunting for sport had taken a backseat to all her new academic priorities and hell week as a Zeta pledge, but now she knew it was time for the Red Huntress to make her campus debut. Restless and overflowing with an accustomed zeal, Valerie brought her fingers to the black choker around her neck, touching the cross charm that hung at its center.
"Evening," a disembodied voice called out to her with familiar arrogance. "Isn't this a pleasant surprise? I was beginning to think that sorority girls had no time to slay ghosts."
Even under all that spandex, her flesh managed to bloom with goose bumps.
"Get lost," Valerie said, feigning annoyance. "I don't have time to play with you tonight."
"Aww." A humanoid form faded into view, suspended in the air to her right. As it became more opaque, she laid her bored eyes on a feathery white, almost vaporously textured head of hair, a high-cheek boned, waxy pallor not much darker in hue, and ashen flesh that contrasted with the black bodysuit which smoothly gloved the figure's body. "You realize I've been floating here for like three minutes, right?" he asked, green eyes luminescent with conceit.
"Yes," she responded curtly. "I just didn't care. Now shoo, will you?"
He glided towards her. "Aren't you gonna follow that up with a few ghost-zapping arrows?"
"I might if you keep bothering me."
Danny folded his arms and assumed a straightforward tone. "Look, Red," he said, "I know you think a ghost caused the murder of your Zeta house president, and you're out to track it down."
"How do you even know I'm in a sorority?" asked Valerie. "Have you been spying on me or something? Creep."
Furrowing his brows in mild irritation, he disregarded the remark. "Valerie—"
"Don't," she she shushed him. "say my name. What if someone hears you and learns who the Red Huntress really is?"
When she heard him chuckle, Valerie was amply miffed. "What are you laughing at?" she hissed.
"Sorry," he apologized rather insincerely. "it's just cute that you think you have a secret identity to protect from the public. As if the Red Huntress is a household name or something."
"I do," she seethed. "and it is. Well, I mean, it's getting there. You're just lucky you don't have a secret identity I could hold over you."
"Speaking of knowing secret identities," Danny tsk'ed, "I don't think your father would be too pleased with you poking your nose into mysterious homicides that reek of supernatural causes. I'm surprised he's still letting you stay at that mansion. I might just have to pass along knowledge of his daughter's prospective sleuthing."
Unintimidated by his threat, Valerie scoffed. "Boy please," she told him. "my daddy already knows that I can take care of myself. You should know he's been aware of my side-job as a ghost hunter for years now. And he doesn't trust you, anyway. Need I remind you that you're the reason he lost his job and I had to take up ghost hunting to help support our family all those years ago? Snitching on me would be pointless."
"Maybe," he said shiftily, masking the pang of guilt he felt at what she had said, "or maybe it could actually make him consider the fact that this hunt is what's pointless, since it's not technically a 'job.' No one hired you to do it. His little girl's just walking into a death trap for no reason. But really, even if you were getting paid for it, I still don't think he'd let you get involved."
She gave him a sour expression. "Why do you even care so much?"
"Well," answered Danny, "I only care because you've got everything all wrong, and frankly it would pain me to see you embarrass yourself by embarking on this wild, potentially hugely dangerous, goose chase."
"Excuse me?" Valerie inquired, doubtful. "What makes you say that?"
"The ghost isn't floating around in its ethereal form. You might be right about it framing Caitlin, but that's only because it possessed her," Danny explained like he was dropping a bomb, "And now it's possessed someone else."
She snorted. He crossed his arms, failing to see what was funny about his clearly accurate and groundbreaking analysis.
"Um, thanks for the tip," Valerie said haughtily. "but I've already ruled that lead out."
Danny blinked. "What?"
"For your information, ghost boy," she said, accessing a concealed compartment in her suit, which he was slightly impressed wasn't too tight to have functioning pockets, "I consulted some very reliable online sources about the nature of ghost possession, and what I found didn't really stack up with the situation." Valerie took out her iPhone. Pulling up her internet browser, she began scrolling.
He sighed. "Valerie, I don't think—"
"After Googling it," she persisted boldly, "I came across the website of 'The Spiritual Research Foundation,' and they happen to have a very detailed guide to the symptoms of the malignant spirit-affected…"
"Oh my God."
"Foul breath, chapped lips, oily skin with rashes, a sticky layer of slime formed on the face and body of the possessed individual," Valerie listed each trait off smoothly. "recurring miscarriages, stillbirths—there's more, but honestly I can say that none of these things are at all apparent in anyone at the Zeta house. I mean, they have impeccable dental hygiene and their skin is all still flawless—overly-spray tanned—but flawless. And, I can safely report that there has been a whopping zero number of miscarriages among both the remaining chairs and pledges. Thus, the ghost has to be hiding out in some horribly furnished dark corner at this college…or maybe in the greater Amity Park area…but I'd put my money on the college."
She gave him a self-satisfied smile. He was holding his forehead.
"Valerie," he scolded. "you can't just google 'ghost possession' and click on the first link you see!"
"Yeah well," she protested. "I also checked Wikipedia, and it said—"
"No, no," Danny interrupted. "just stop, okay? Ghost possession is serious business. You have to understand that detecting a ghost that has possessed a human is extremely difficult, even with advanced technology. It's definitely not as simple as checking if a person's lips are moisturized!"
"Ohhhh okay," Valerie said with a sarcastic wave of her hand. "then if you know so much about this crap, why don't you enlighten me, Phantom?"
"Wait okay, first of all," he said bemusedly. "I want to know why you think the ghost would automatically possess one of your sisters. Host-thirsty ghosts prey on weak-willed, emotionally debilitated people—that could literally be any girl at this university. Or guy. What makes you believe that the ghost is so closely related to Zeta?"
"Uh, hello? Did you not read the description of the body in the news?" Valerie answered as if it was the most elementary thing in the world. "It had the letters 'KPZ' carved into it. The ghost made one Zeta chair kill another Zeta chair, who was the freakin' president of Zeta house, and then carve the sorority's initials into the dead bitch's body!"
Danny quirked a curious eyebrow at her. "Yeah, but you must've had more of a theory behind thinking that the ghost would have then possessed one of the other sorority sisters specifically. Like it would have done it in accordance to an agenda or something."
She paused. Danny continued watching her expectantly. Turning her nose up, she succinctly responded: "I'm sick of talking to you. You're annoying."
"Valerie," his tone was deathly serious. "you know something. Tell me."
Valerie glared at him. "Why should I? I could fry your ghost butt without breaking a sweat. We're enemies, remember?"
He hovered less than two feet in front of her. "We've just come across a common goal."
"Hmph." She ignored him and put away her mobile device. Wordlessly, Valerie bent over to pick up her crossbow, which had been sitting on the rooftop next to her, and began loading it with arrows from the ammunition pack she had strapped to her back.
"Protecting the people of Amity Park from dangerous ghosts is my responsibility," Danny stated.
"Hunting ghosts is my thing too, obviously," said Valerie. "and I happen to think I do it way better than you."
"Oh yeah," he disparaged. "judging from how you gained all your expertise on ghost possession from a two-second web search, I'd say you have a certified Ph.D. in the subject."
"Shut up, Phantom."
Danny slumped. Exhausted from bantering, he tried to sound at his most genuine when he spoke next. "Valerie," he said. "You seem to know the context of this ghost's situation. I have a thorough comprehension of ghost behavior. We both want to figure out what the heck is going on. We could help each other."
She bit her lip, twirling an arrow in her hand. It obliterated her pride to fiddle nervously under his gaze like this, chewing on those words that just had to make so much damn sense. After almost half a minute, she breathed a heavy sigh and placed her crossbow in the sling hanging from her arm.
"Fine," she yielded, sliding her weapon behind her. Valerie started playing coyly with one of her long braids. She pushed up her goggles momentarily so he could see her doe-eyed expression. Slowly, her lips pursed in that way he liked, in the way they did when he knew she was contented with something. Danny drew closer, smiling and feeling exulted that he had successfully persuaded her.
"But don't think this means you can boss me around," she added abruptly, jabbing a finger into his chest, affectively halting his movement.
"Hey don't worry," he acceded, more suggestively than usual, "I won't. In fact, I'd be okay with you bossing me around."
"Hmm," Valerie purred pensively. "Okay then…" Despite bringing chills with him wherever he went, Danny felt the air between them had grown quite warm.
Twisting a plait of thick black hair around her finger, she said, voice barely above a whisper, "I'll tell you everything."
| Bates Hall – 11:05 P.M. |
Being made intangible was something that generated contrasting sensations. It made one feel weightless, and yet there was still a distinct center of gravity within the body. Phasing through walls, for those who did not do it regularly, caused a giddiness in the pit of one's stomach and the barrier or object that was being phased through to feel like a smooth rush of water. For a split second, it passed around the person as if they were sealed wholly in thick poly sheeting. Valerie could feel the liquid-y force of the barely-there, subdued pressure around her, but there was also the force of moving forward so quickly, and then suddenly she was on the other side, tangible again. Perhaps the giddy feeling was also in part due to how she had been holding Danny's hand through the process.
Yanking herself out of his grip, she enabled the flashlight built into to her goggles and began looking around the room. Dean Boyle-Slyman's office was a mess. She and Danny began to meander about, careful not to disturb any dilapidated stacks of papers or books. His steps were diffident; it wasn't as though he had never broken into an authority figure's office for the sake of heroic investigation before, but he was feeling a little uneasy about their course of action for this particular case. Other than that, he was also still unnerved by the origin story Valerie had told him about the ghost of Felicity Joann Nixon, and how sorority girls could be so murderously coldblooded.
"And you're sure this is a good place to start?" he asked. "Why not look into the archives or records at Zeta house?"
"You already told me that we were gonna have zero luck in finding her actual ghost floating around somewhere on campus, so I figure there's no point in doing that. And I told you, I already looked through all the stored documents at the mansion on past sisters," Valerie replied, beginning to root around in Slyman's desk drawers. "the only thing I found related to Felicity's death was the coroner's report. It just stated exactly what Penelope said people were told: that Felicity got drunk and fell off her bedroom balcony."
"You didn't look through her personal file or anything?"
"I did. I found nothing except a basic profile listing her date of birth, high school, parents' names, stuff like that. Her application wasn't there."
"All of those are still things you could have looked into," Danny pointed out offhandedly. "most likely without breaking the law."
She gave him a tart smile. "Gee, thanks for the idea, Phantom," Valerie said. "but I'm more interested in finding out the truth about what happened that night at Zeta house twelve years ago."
Looking nonchalant, he replied, "Which you think you will find out here."
"Yes," she confirmed. "If I can just find—ahh!" After unsuccessfully digging through the bottom drawer, her gaze had flitted up to the back corner of the office, where the right curtain of a window partially shrouded something oblong and rectangular. Shutting the drawer, Valerie went towards the object, pushed the long curtain aside, and revealed a file cabinet. Danny followed, only slightly more committed to her plan.
"Also, boy scout," Valerie said, pulling open its top drawer. "you're helping me break the law."
"And you don't know how gravely ashamed I am currently feeling about it."
Stopping briefly, she gave him a piqued glance. "Was that a pun?"
Danny paused, unblinking in the bright light emanating from her goggles, registering how he had punned without realizing it. Nice one, he inwardly congratulated himself. Exteriorly, his face remained impassive. "Just find the file already."
"I don't need you to tell me what to do," she spat, returning to her search. His ghostly figure loomed next to hers.
"You told me you've been researching all week," he commented. "it didn't occur to you to do this earlier? Or literally do anything other than stalking your sisters to make sure slime wasn't oozing from their faces?"
Valerie frowned as she flicked through each tab. "Um, I can't walk through walls like you can, idiot. And I don't know if you realize this, but I'm a college student who also happens to be pledging the sorority from hell. I have other priorities to attend to in addition to hunting vengeful ghosts and regularly checking if a dead baby hasn't shown up in one of our fancyass toilets."
"Okay, I already said that website is totally unreliable," he told her with a roll of his glowing eyes. "and I would think that all Greek life activities would have been put on hold after the Zeta president was found with her throat slashed out in her bedroom."
"Yeah well," Valerie replied. "Zetas seem to get over things rather quickly. Jennifer MacDougal, once the second-sister-in-command, has assumed the position of president now that Penelope's gone. She might have been devastated last Friday night, but the next morning we still had our Saturday hot yoga session, which for pledges, meant doing the downward-facing dog in a tiny, hundred-and-five-degree room which could barely fit all of us."
"Man, your scholarship must be pretty frickin' good for you to endure being a Zeta."
Valerie, about to pull open the second drawer, stopped again to give him a peculiar stare. "How do you know I have a scholarship?"
Danny froze. "Um," he tried not to stutter. "that seems like the only reason you would put yourself through such torture."
Her eyes stayed locked onto him for a good two or three seconds before she went back to digging with a cautious turn of her head. He breathed an internal sigh of relief.
"I'm also putting up with this complete ass at school," she muttered, more to herself than him.
"Oh," Danny said apprehensively. "guy problems?"
He watched her jaw become taut as she ground her teeth together, no doubt thinking of him. Well, the other him—the bumbling dolt who couldn't even kiss a girl without completely turning it into a disaster, and who she had no idea was the him standing next to her.
"It's amazing how thoughtless and insensitive boys can be," Valerie said, her voice carrying anger but also a tinge of hurt.
"I didn't know you had a boyfriend," Danny said, sad upon hearing her first mention of the fiasco that had occurred at the mansion (that hadn't involved a dead body) last Friday. Though, he was somewhat impressed with himself for effortlessly playing dumb about her personal life to throw off any lingering suspicions blurting out the scholarship comment might have imparted.
"I don't," she said in a clipped tone. "just an idiot who tries to ask me out to fill the void left by his ex-girlfriend."
He felt like he had just been stabbed. Shaking it off, he was consumed by a robust stroke of confidence. "Dude sounds super lame," Danny remarked casually, strangely feeling like he was actually talking about a different person whom he didn't know, "if I wanted to ask you out, I'd make sure to give you my entirely undivided attention." He didn't know why he said that. He didn't know why he hadn't just tried to innocently rationalize his other's self's actions so she would maybe be a little less pissed off at him.
Valerie was beginning to think joining forces with Danny Phantom would not be worth it, since he kept interrupting her concentration like this. She looked towards him again, tossing a long braid over her shoulder. "Aha, look, Phantom," she said plainly. "I admit that you're sort of mysterious and charismatic in an if-Beetlejuice-and-Peter-Pan-had-a-demon-spawn sort of way, but I don't think I could actually go out with someone like you. I mean, I hunt your kind."
"You're not hunting me right now," he said, voice turning to a whisper against her ear as she resumed snooping. "and come on, you've obviously been flirting with me every time we've fought in the past few weeks."
Valerie's whole body began to tingle. She cleared her throat, swiftly pulling a thin manila folder out of the drawer below and swiping it in his direction, which forced some distance between their previously close forms.
"I found it," she said, completely ignoring the words he had said prior. Mildly disappointed, he reservedly accepted the file from her hand. The tab read "Zeta Phi Zeta House Party – 2003."
"Damn, we're getting into some ancient history," he quipped, noting the date.
"Come on, open it."
By the illumination of her flashlight, he did as Valerie ordered, opening the folder to find a single document, a small slip of paper, and a plastic bag that appeared to hold some type of withered plant and salt. "What the heck?" he inquired.
"What, what?" Valerie hurried to his side and glanced at the contents. "Is that…the symbol for Pisces? Oh my God, what if Felicity Jo is a Pisces? That would make so much sense! Yeah, they totally always get everyone to think they're total pushovers before snapping and going bat shit crazy!"
Danny glared at her as she animatedly pointed to the slip of paper. "Valerie, that's not an astrological sign. It's some type of rune," he corrected. "also, I'm a Pisces."
She merely stared back at him, unflinching. "I stand by my statement."
"Anyway," Danny said. "there appears to be three names written on this document… 'Montgomery,' 'Berkowitz,' and 'Spelling.'"
He picked up the slip of paper and examined it in the light. The symbol was composed of four main lines. Three were drawn side by side, with the left and right being curved away from each other like reversed parentheses, and the center having a teardrop shape at its end while the fourth connected all of them.
"I'm not sure what this means," he said, scrutinizing the rune, "but it must have something to do with dark magic. Maybe the type used for summoning ghosts."
"Hold up," Valerie said. "Are you implying that Dean Slyman could have summoned the ghost of Felicity?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. Anything's possible."
"But he's Penelope's dad!" she said incredulously. "why would he want to summon a demonic spirit to murder his own daughter?"
"I mean," Danny said, remembering Tucker's words. "maybe they weren't close."
"Okay, you're terrible," Valerie reproached him in disbelief.
"I'm just saying that this pretty strongly points to him having something to do with this. He hasn't exactly been wallowing in deep sorrow over his daughter's death," Danny defended. "and what is up with this plastic bag full of weeds and salt?"
"Maybe he likes to smoke, ugh who knows?" she said, taking out her phone. "Let's just snap a picture of these names and the symbol."
Valerie opened her camera and took a photo of the mysterious document and not-Pisces sign. As she was putting her device away, her ears perked up to the sound of footsteps approaching from the hallway. Danny also became tense with alarm.
"Oh, shit," she swore, giving him a frantic look. "we have to put this stuff back!"
He nodded. Danny closed the folder and rushed to return it to the file cabinet. Valerie shut the drawer and disabled her light, after which he swiftly grabbed her wrist.
"What are you doing?" she whispered sharply.
"Making us invisible," he replied, pulling her into the corner.
The footsteps became louder until they heard the door unlocking, Danny rendering them unseen. He hoped their visitor was only the night janitor. They watched the door open and saw the lights switch on, and in walk a large, cheerless man with large jowls and a cruel stare. He was dressed in an austere brown suit. Crap, not the janitor, Danny thought. Behind him tailed a young woman with ginger hair and freckles, whom Valerie recognized as a student named Bethany Hammond from her statistics class.
"Umm, Dean Slyman?" Bethany inquired nervously. He walked up to his desk and turned to face her, leaning on it while he glowered at the girl.
"That's Dean Boyle-Slyman," he said in a low voice. She bowed.
"I'm sorry," she said. "Dean Boyle-Slyman, why did we have to leave your house? I really like it there."
"You know why, Ms. Hammond," he replied absentmindedly, looking at one of his silver cufflinks.
Bethany sulked, "I really don't like doing this."
"I would think you like being on academic probation even less."
Valerie covered her mouth with her free hand to suppress the sound of shock that was ready to escape. Danny was also horrorstricken, feeling an urge to make them visible again so he could intervene and prevent whatever was about to happen. They looked on as Dean Slyman reached over to retrieve the ruler sticking out from his desk organizer. Danny's grip on Valerie's wrist tightened.
Bethany shuffled her feet, looking at the floor. "Dean, I know that d-deep down, you're probably actually really bummed about your daughter getting murdered. I mean she was like super pretty and almost had no fat on her body. Maybe instead of doing this, y-you'd rather talk about—"
"Stop talking," he said, not letting her utter another feebly sympathetic word. "just come to me." At his command, Bethany looked totally dispirited, but she obeyed nevertheless. Valerie was nibbling on the inside of her cheek so intensely that she thought she might taste blood. She and Danny watched Dean Slyman hand Bethany the ruler, which she timidly accepted. "I don't understand why you can't just have sex with me after wine and dinner like a normal older man," Bethany grumbled. He ignored her complaint. To their surprise, he shifted around so that his back was turned to her, and then bent over the scattered desktop. Bethany raised the ruler.
"Um, okay," she said. "here I go…"
"Say your lines."
She swallowed hard. Valerie wanted to punch herself to make sure she wasn't imagining the scene before her. Bethany sighed. "You've been a bad boy, Mr. Boyle-Slyman."
Not able to restrain herself, Valerie made a sound—not out of revulsion, but out of hilarity. Danny gave her a harsh, rebuking tug. The Dean quickly pushed himself up from his submissive position.
"What was that?" he snapped.
"What was what?" Bethany asked, clueless.
"I heard a sound," Dean Slyman said, face becoming steely. Well, steelier. With that, he removed himself from the desk and walked around towards the corner in which Valerie and Danny were standing as if frozen in place. Panicking, Valerie rapidly began to yank on Danny's arm. The Dean was approaching fast, his darkened silhouette menacing as it drew near. Danny wasted no time in pressing backwards into the neighboring wall, and soon Valerie felt giddy again. They phased seamlessly out of the office and found themselves suspended in the chilly night air. Worried that he might catch sight of them in the window, Danny began moving them away from Bates Hall. He flew Valerie across the sky and down behind the Falcon Gymnasium. Once they were grounded again, and relieved that they were no longer able to see Dean Slyman and Bethany about to engage in goodness knows what, he let go of her hand, which had been shaking.
"Okay," Danny said, still reeling from shock. "what the f—"
"She's in my statistics class!" bemoaned Valerie in disgust. "Like, literally yesterday we were talking about standard deviations and box models, and now I find out that all this time I've been sitting next to someone who's been playing dominatrix to the flippin' Dean?"
He watched, deadpan as she squealed her "ew's" and acted generally distraught at what they had just witnessed.
"Are you good?" Danny asked after she had freaked out for about six seconds. She nodded hastily, finally regaining her composure.
"Now," he said. "we need to find out more about the names and symbol we saw in that file."
"Okay, but I told you before," Valerie responded. "if you're sure the ghost isn't hiding out anywhere on campus, and positive that I can't rely on those symptoms I read about online—"
"I am."
"—then I'm pretty sure that it's still in the body of one of the Zetas."
Unable to follow her logic, he asked, "Tell me again how you're so sure of that?"
"Well," she said. "If Felicity was murdered by her sorority chairs, what better way to seek revenge on Zeta in the present day than to possess the current cabinet members and make them kill each other off one by one?"
"That is pure, weak conjecture," assessed Danny. "you still can't prove that its not in the body of virtually anyone else on this campus. Or heck, even the entire city. Plus, what's your explanation for Dean Slyman summoning a vengeful spirit with that weird symbol we found? He could be the one possessed by Felicity. As we just saw, the guy is already clearly disturbed."
"I don't know, all right?" Valerie said, agitated by his superior sense of judgment, "I mean fine, the ghost could be anyone here, but its much easier to narrow people down by beginning with the Zeta's, isn't it? We have to start somewhere. Listen, I'm telling you…" She held her palms out for dramatic effect.
"The ghost of a docile college girl who was murdered by her sorority sisters returns to seek revenge, killing the current president, then kills the one who takes her place, until there's none of the original cabinet left. I mean, Caitlin would be last in line to get the presidency. The plan's got style. And irony. Ghosts like irony."
Danny tapped his chin. "True. But in case you forgot, after possessing one Zeta and making her kill another, the ghost left the killer's body and she got sent to jail. What was the point of having that happen if its goal was to utilize Caitlin for murder?"
Shrugging, Valerie replied, "I don't know. Maybe Felicity didn't want inhabit Caitlin's body anymore because she was too much of a weakling. Girl is like ninety pounds and has no backbone. The ghost coulda left to find a stronger person to possess—someone whose self-esteem and morale was juuust low enough to be prime for possession, but also wasn't such a full-on little bitch."
He was not convinced. "Valerie."
"My theory isn't free of holes, okay!" she said. "But you've got no other leads."
"I just found like five leads in that folder."
"Fine then," she shot back. "if we combine the names and weirdass symbol with my clever speculations, I have a strong hunch that we'd really be on to something. Call it woman's intuition."
Valerie was giving him her most self-assured smile. Even though he wasn't sure of what to make of her "strong hunch," he had to admit her expression was cute.
"Ugh, whatever, I guess I'll just go along with it for now," he conceded to her, trying to act more annoyed than he really was. Pleased at his acquiescence, she stood, hands on her hips, basking in her own ego.
"Just one thing," he said. "if the ghost plans to kill the next president, doesn't that mean that Jennifer girl is the next victim?"
"Yep," she said.
"Then shouldn't you guys, I don't know, be guarding her at all times?"
With yet another glorious flip of a braid, Valerie tilted her head to the side. "I mean, I've been monitoring stuff at the house for a week. Nothing's happened yet. And I told Jennifer my concerns and she just laughed in my face. Loudly. It was kind of like screeching."
"When ghosts kill," Danny said worryingly. "each death is usually worse than the last."
"Eh," Valerie replied. "I don't really like that hoe, anyway."
Just then, Danny and Valerie both jolted at the sound of distant shouting. It began as a muffled sound coming from inside the gym, but quickly increased in volume. Loudening into a terrifying, unhinged roar, it drew closer to the doors they were standing next to, along with an amplifying wave of heat. There was a violent thud against the doors, and subsequent pounding from behind. "Help!" a male voice screamed. "Someone, help me!"
Looking down, Danny saw that the doors had been changed shut. He gasped, shooting an ectobeam at the chains so that the doors could open. They jumped aside as something burst forth with a scorching flash of bright light and then whizzed past them.
"What is that?" yelled Valerie. Then, someone else appeared in the doorway. She was startled to see that it was one of the attendees of last Friday's party at Zeta house—Kyle, the guy Paulina had been flirting with while drunk.
"It's Brad! Brad's on fire!" Kyle shouted.
"Help!" The tall figure dashed out into the courtyard, manic as his whole body blazed brightly, engulfed with flames.
"Oh, damn it!" Danny had already taken off flying after him. The burning Brad was running in the direction of the stone fountain, but collapsed before he could reach it. Danny blasted cryokinetic energy at him, icing Brad over to extinguish the fire. Reaching his unmoving form, he landed and flipped the body over to look at its severely disfigured face. Valerie and Kyle quickly caught up to them.
"Holy shit," Valerie said, looking down at Brad in horror.
"Oh my god," wept Kyle. "he's dead. My homie Brad is friggin' dead!"
Heart racing, Danny stood up at once, turning to the other boy. "Kyle, call 9-1-1."
Kyle hurriedly took out his phone, but not before frenziedly informing Danny. "The killer's still in there! In the gym!"
Danny and Valerie exchanged glances. Grabbing her hand, he immediately flew them back towards the gym, entering it. Inside, they were stunned to see the entire pool filled with fire and rapidly spreading outwards. Wasting no time, he leapt into the air and generated a massive ice beam with both his hands, effectively putting it out and causing the whole pool area to be immersed with steam. As it subsided, Valerie watched as Danny floated back to the floor, looking immensely drained. She noticed a charred object sitting beside him. Bending over, Valerie picked the item up and held it in her hand, identifying it as the remains of a firecracker. She looked up, seeing the black railing of the second floor of the gym, and a hooded figure standing behind it. It wore a theatrical mask, one half painted pastel pink and the other pastel blue, with smiling lips the color of crimson.
"There, there, it's the ghost!" she exclaimed. Danny turned towards where she was gesturing, but Valerie had already fired four electric arrows at the rogue. It ran, narrowly avoiding them, and disappearing into the shadows.
"We need to go after it!" he said, though still wary. Suddenly, an upbeat melody started playing, echoing in the large space of the gymnasium. Danny blinked and looked over to Valerie, who seemed to be the source of the sound.
"Is that…" he asked. "Beyoncé?"
Valerie produced her phone. Danny stared at her. "Really?"
"It's Paulina!" she said, looking down at the device. Answering the call, she began to speak. "P, I can't talk right—"
"You have to get to the house, now!" came Paulina's hushed, frantic voice. "It's the ghost of Felicity Jo! She's here and she's gonna kill us! We've tried to call both the campus security and the police, but for some reason none of our phones are able to get calls through to them!"
"What?" Valerie said, filling with dread, "Where in the house are you calling from?"
"The basement," she said, holding back a sob. "The rest of the pledges are with me—omigod, would you shut up, Mallory? If you keep on hyperventilating the ghost will find us!"
"Paulina?"
"Va…" Paulina began to say her name, but trailed off. "I need you. President MacDougal's here with us, but she doesn't know what to do. I don't know where Holly or Gretchen are…oh my God, they could be dead already, omigod, omigod!"
"Keep cool, Paulina," Valerie said, "I know it's hard, but be strong! I'll be there soon, please just hold on, Paulina!"
Hurry! We're terrified!"
She could hear her crying. There was a click and then the dial tone. Valerie put her phone away, giving Danny a grim look. "We've got to get to Zeta house. The ghost is there."
"What?" asked Danny, confused. "We just saw the ghost! It's upstairs somewhere!"
"No," she said. "I just talked to Paulina. The ghost is at the mansion, and if we're not there soon, everyone is going to die!"
Appearing torn, Danny gazed into Valerie's eyes. "I don't think I can fly very fast the way I am now."
"Then I'll drive." With that, she reached into her pack and pulled out a thick, two-foot-long slab bearing panels of circuitry. Dropping it to the floor, he saw it expand. Within seconds it had transformed into a sleek rocket sled big enough to support, fortunately in this case, a pair of riders. She stepped on board, pulling him on with her. Her stance was solidified in place by holders that materialized around her feet. She wrapped his arms around her waist and he gulped when she said, "Hold on tight."
| Zeta Phi Zeta Mansion – 12:23 A.M. |
When Valerie and Danny had flown over the crowd amassed around the courtyard fountain, he had been glad to see that some security officers had shown up to calm down students panicking over Brad's seared corpse. Unfortunately, upon arriving at the Zeta's mansion, the two of them had found that the situation was nowhere near resolved. The front door was wide open, and the inside looked chaotic. Furniture was overturned and glass bowls once filled with gourmet bubblegum-flavored jellybeans had been dumped onto the carpet. If that wasn't enough, there also happened to be "ZETA WHORES WILL DIE" written on the living room wall in blood; it heavily clashed with the pink décor. However, they saw no ghost, or possessed killer, in sight.
The first thing they had done was go down to the basement, which was a sharp contrast to the rest of the mansion. It was an unfinished, grungy room. The five pledges and Jen had all squeezed into the crawl space and shut the door. After she had knocked and assured them that she wasn't the killer using a voice-changer, or being forced by the killer to draw them out so they could meet their gruesome demises, Paulina had opened the door and they had all wriggled out with great joy.
"Thank you so much for coming to save us Mr. Phantom!" Paulina gushed, throwing her arms around Danny once they had returned to the living area. He awkwardly patted her back. At this point, Valerie thought that to be the typical response to one of Paulina's hugs. Annoyed, she coughed. "Um, I was the one you called," she said. "And I flew 'Mr. Phantom' over to the house because he was too tired to fly himself."
"I was tired because I had just used all my power to put out a huge fire!" he retorted.
"There was a fire?" asked Paulina, becoming panicked again.
"Yes," Valerie said, sidling next to her and whispering. "And that douche that you threw up on last Friday got burned alive."
"What?"
"Will you shut up?" Jen yapped, silencing Paulina. "Look, moron, I don't care about any stupid fire or the fact that you seem to have this hideously dressed Catwoman-knockoff and her partner on speed dial—there is a freaking ghost in this house, and it's trying to kill me! So why don't you two Ghostbusters stop being useless and catch it!" Jen started to bawl, tears running down her bronzed cheeks. "Unlike Penelope, I'm way too beautiful to die!"
Ignoring her insults, though slightly vindicated that Jen was now clearly overwrought about everything Valerie had previously warned her about, she narrowed her eyes. "Wait a minute," she said. "Paulina, you said you didn't know where Holly or Gretchen were, right?"
Paulina nodded. One pledge named Ella, a strawberry blonde in mauve leggings, spoke. "They're at their boyfriends' places for tonight."
"Or so they said," Valerie commented darkly. She looked at Danny. "One of them could be possessed by Felicity."
"Oh my God," Jen sniffed. "I bet it's Gretchen! You know what people say—you can't ever trust a bitch named Gretchen!"
"No one says that," Danny jibed.
Jen gave him a dirty look. "Yes they do, you ghost freak."
"Ugh, can we please focus?" asked Valerie, rubbing her temple. "Paulina, before you girls went down to hide in the basement, what happened?"
Her friend shivered, remembering the events that had transpired. "The pledges and I were coming back from hanging out at Theta Chi because some of the guys there were getting super pushy, and we found President MacDougal screaming in the living room. She was staring at the message written in blood on the wall." Paulina motioned towards the red capital letters above them. "Then," she continued. "the lights started flickering and we smelled this awful smell, and then—"
"And then we saw the ghost at the top of the stairs!" Jen finished, apparently unable to stand someone other than her talking for so long. "It came for us with a spear!"
"A spear?" inquired Valerie.
"Yes, a freaking spear!" Jen snarled. "But like, it was kind of dumb because it practically fell down the stairs. Then I threw a bowl of jelly beans at its boobs, which it totally didn't see coming. I think the mask it was wearing was obscuring its vision or something."
"And then we ran downstairs!" said Mallory. The rest of the pledges nodded briskly.
"Don't interrupt me, bitch," snapped the Zeta president. Mallory hid behind Paulina in fear.
"It was wearing a mask," Valerie questioned, "that was half pink and half blue with red lips?"
"Uh, yeah," Jen said. "Zeta colors, obviously. Because it's the freaking ghost of Felicity Jo back to take revenge on ZPZ! And I'm next!" She resumed her crying.
Danny felt a headache coming on as she sobbed. What's worse, his ghost sense hadn't gone off since they had entered the mansion, so he had no idea where to look for any shadowy masked figure that may or may have not still been on the premises. "Okay, just calm down," he said. "Think hard guys. Where in the house do you think Felicity's ghost could have gone to?"
"There!" screamed Ella, pointing. Everyone looked up to see the perpetually smiling, pink-and-blue visage of the rogue in question standing in the entrance of hallway on the other side of the room, cloaked in black.
"It's Gretchen!" Jen shrieked. "Kill that bitch! Kill her now! Before she gets me, please!"
The figure pulled something out of its cloak. Valerie's eyes widened when it brandished a medium photon blaster—one of her own ghost hunting weapons.
"It has one of my guns!" she yelled. Danny had already soared into midair. The figure began shooting fluorescent rays of violent, being pushed back by the force of the kick. The beams went every which way, Danny dodging the ones that managed to stray in his direction, and ricocheted off the windows, rebounding destructively into the walls around all of them. Valerie and the other girls ducked behind the sofa to avoid falling debris.
"What the heck?" Danny said, wondering if this ghost's aim really was that terrible, or perhaps if it was Gretchen or whoever under the mask that was such a bad shot and Felicity had taken on too much of their traits already. Recovering, the figure ran towards the girls. Danny's hand lit up with ectoplasmic energy. Watching him, Valerie stood up quickly and threw her crossbow aside. He cast a beam in the ghost's direction, but Valerie ran forward and tackled the rogue to the ground, making him miss and knocking the gun from its hand. She was overwhelmed with a rancid odor.
"Red, what the hell did you do that for?" he asked angrily.
"Urghh," she said, wrestling with the ghost. "ugghh—if Felicity really is possessing Gretchen, then—mmfh—you—mfh—can't just fry her body with an ectobeam!"
"Ohh, so when I attack the ghost, it's wrong," he proclaimed in exasperation. "but when you shoot it with arrows, it's A-okay!"
Valerie continued to grapple with the figure, struggling to reach for its mask. "I—ergh—just need—mfh—to know who you are for sure!"
"Stop trying to freaking pin it into submission, John Cena!" ordered Jen shrilly, standing up. "Just kill it with your special ghost-exterminating powers already! Er, I mean kill it again! I don't care if you disfigure Gretchen in the process—she already has a bad nose job!"
She and the pledges watched Valerie and the rogue writhe and roll around on the floor. Danny was sweating profusely. He actually wanted to remedy the situation in a way similar to Jen's suggestion—though he would try his hardest not to fatally harm the innocent girl's body—but he couldn't a get a clear shot in with Valerie in such close proximity to the ghost.
"Ooph!" Valerie was propelled backward. Triumphant, she saw that the mask was in her right hand. However, when her gaze shifted over to the left one, she screamed.
"Holy shit," Danny breathed. Jen and the pledges joined their sister in screaming, their voices in unison piercing his eardrums. Valerie's fingers were gripped around the rogue's wrist, which was attached to its severed, pasty arm, exhibiting ripped, decaying tendons and muscles. Frightened beyond belief, she tossed the arm as far away from her as she could. Valerie looked up to see the identity of the figure, which was on its knees, and found herself staring into the colorless, sallow face of Penelope Boyle-Slyman.
"Oh my GOD! It's Penelope!" screamed Jen. "Penelope's come back to life to kill me for saying I was prettier than her! I didn't mean it, Madame President, I promise! You're even skinnier than before!"
"Even though she's dead," one of the pledges cried hysterically, "she still looks great!"
The risen ex-President opened her mouth, a miserably incoherent, guttural noise coming forth along with a gust of rotten breath.
"She's been reanimated with dark magic!" Danny yelled down to Valerie. "That's why she was acting so dumb! Zombies are idiots!"
Valerie watched Penelope's corpse clumsily get to her feet and begin to stalk towards her. With her remaining arm, she pulled something foot-long, silver, and pointed out from her cloak.
"It's the spear!" exclaimed Jen.
"Watch out, Huntress!" warned Paulina.
Thinking she was going to throw it at her, Valerie was ready to tackle her again, but was surprised when she saw Penelope raise it in the direction of someone else. Thinking fast, Valerie ran back towards the sofa, the projectile hurling at the overturned piece of furniture, and the Zeta House President frozen with fear behind it as it darted straight for her. Valerie jumped across, shielding the head sister with her own body and catching the projectile in her shoulder. Falling onto the carpet and tumbling into a crouching position, Valerie did not delay in rising again, pulling the small javelin from where it had been lodged. Sprinting at Penelope, she knocked her back onto the ground and proceeded to stab her in the center of her decomposing forehead with the "spear," or as she came to realize as—a knitting needle.
"And you better stay dead," she said, out of breath as she fell back onto her backside, wiping splattered blood from her face. "bitch."
Danny lowered himself to the ground beside her. Jen and the pledges cheered as they rushed to surround Valerie, Paulina kneeling to embrace her.
"Ouch," said Valerie, wincing. "Paulina, you're squeezing too hard."
"¡Ay Dios mío!" she said, "That was amazing, Huntress."
"I have, like, never seen anything as awesome as what you just did!" Ella gushed.
"You're amazing, Red Huntress!" added Mallory. Valerie reveled in hearing her full title spoken with such admiration.
"Ew, you're all bloody," Jen remarked rudely, breaking the string of compliments and instantly dampening the mood. Paulina gave her venomous glare.
"Why don't you act more grateful, puta?" she said. "She just saved your life."
"Yeah," Valerie laughed, holding up the zombie-slaying weapon. "from this 'spear.'"
Jen put her hands on her hips indignantly. "Hey, it looked like a spear to me, okay?" she said, face softening as she looked at Valerie's punctured shoulder. "Um…yeah. Thanks for that, though."
Danny crossed his arms at her, visibly showing contempt for her weak attempt at gratitude.
"Um," offer Jen lamely in consolation. "Your outfit isn't actually that hideous."
"Gee, thanks for the apology," said Valerie dully as Danny bent down to tend to her injury. He saw that its bleeding had already minimized, most likely due to the dynamic and healing nature of Valerie's suit.
"Please, I'm just being nice" Jen scoffed. "It's not an apology. I apologize for nothing."
It was amazing how much suspicion a well-articulated alibi from your bestie could deflect. Paulina, in contrast to most people's opinions of her, had long been Valerie's right-hand woman when it came to coming up with excuses for her many absences. Although, it helped that the denizens of Amity Park were largely unconcerned with the secret identity of the Red Huntress, which was something she would never admit to stupid dumb jerkface Danny Phantom. And it also helped that the residents of Zeta house, besides her and Paulina, weren't very smart. However, Valerie still liked to keep that information under wraps. Once she had bid the Zeta's and Danny farewell after he had patched her up, the Red Huntress had "left" the mansion and reappeared at Zeta House about fifteen minutes later as the very surprised, very normal and forgettable college student, Valerie Gray, dressed in civilian clothing. Of course, Jen had immediately began interrogating her with questions—suspicious that she might have been involved with sicking a zombie on her—but Paulina had provided a firm defense for her friend, insisting that Valerie had been at the library. "You can even call the reference desk lady," she had fabricated. "Valerie works for her as an aide." But everyone knew that Jen would do no such thing because she could never care about anything enough to call a librarian, and the Zeta president had promptly dropped the subject and returned her suspicions to Gretchen and Holly. Valerie was also considering them with suspicion now, albeit in a less vindictive way.
On another note, she was fairly proud that the material her dark-red bodysuit consisted of was not only stylish (despite what certain head Zeta's might think) but also incredibly tough. It was called "hyperdexterous" spandex for a reason. Not only was it ultra-aerodynamic, but it pretty much endured all sorts of physical feats Valerie executed in battle, and also helped diminish the severity of wounds she acquired. Of course, when something hurt like a mother it hurt like a mother, but that was usually when she had been really banged up; small injuries like a knitting needling in her shoulder could be treated rather easily. The pain had been dull from the start—and she didn't even have to take any sweet meds for that to happen—and the damage was small because of how her suit's material had defended her. Danny had also given her some minor freeze-healing treatment and bandaged her nicely. She had hid the affliction under a pink and blue Zeta Phi Zeta sweater when she had showed back up at the mansion.
When Valerie had inconspicuously retrieved the photon blaster that the zombie had dropped and deposited it in her backpack, she was unnerved by questions of how it had been able to get its hands on something from her arsenal. Moreover, both she and Danny had come to the distressing conclusion that the Zeta's phones had all been messed with it, whether through hacking or hexing, and that was why they hadn't been able to call for police assistance or campus security. Valerie's phone, however, was able to get through to the cops. They had once again shown up to Zeta house to take away the same, now further mutilated, dead body, along with its severed arm. Danny had tried to explain the technicalities of the whole "zombie" situation to them, but they just told him the force would take his word for it like always. Campus security had also been present, and their parting advice was for the girls to put the entire mansion on lockdown for the night. This meant that they would have to switch their house security system to its most extreme setting, which apparently protected against home invaders of both the living and un-living persuasion. Dubious of the quality of said security system, Danny had elected to stay in the mansion over night so he could make sure nothing or no one, was getting in that house. He was positive that he had sensed no ethereal ghost activity from within the house before they had entered lockdown mode, but after everything they had been through that night, he felt nervous just leaving the Zeta's by themselves.
Jen had initially been furious at the thought of a "paleass ghost creep" guarding them until sun-up, but Valerie had promised her that he could be trusted and would sleep on the kitchen counter away from all the bedrooms, much to Danny's displeasure. Since none of the girls cooked, it was a vacant space they could afford to offer up for the night. After a moment's consideration, Jen had grudgingly given her permission. So now Danny sat alone on the countertop, next to an unused cutting board and a stack of wine coasters with phrases written in pink cursive like "When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading." A fuzzy yellow blanket decorated with daisies lay across his knees. He looked at the oven clock. It was 2:45 A.M. Cursing to himself, he remembered that he had completely forgotten about his promise to Skype Sam at midnight. Sighing, he hoped that putting out pool fires and battling undead sorority girls was a good excuse for forgetfulness.
Valerie appeared in the entryway, wearing a black tank top and some ruffled pajama shorts. She had just taken a shower. Her hair was free of its dual-braids and splayed around her face in semi-kinky curls.
"Hey there," she said, ambling over with a smile. "you look cozy."
"Ha," he replied, leaning back on his hands. "how's the shoulder?"
"Fine," Valerie said. "thanks again for that impromptu cryo therapy."
"No prob…I take it everyone is asleep?"
She shook her head, opening a cupboard to retrieve a glass. "One isn't. Jen's in the downstairs bath taking a botanical herbal bubble bath," replied Valerie. "she said it was the only thing that would help soothe her nerves. And she refuses to use the upstairs bathroom now because she swears it still reeks of Paulina's throw-up." Getting a carton of milk from the fridge, she added, "my girl sorta had a rough night last weekend."
He looked at her thoughtfully. "She sorta had a rough night this weekend too," he said.
"That's definitely true. But I'd say puking her brains out was probably worse, honestly."
"Good thing you were here to save her and everyone else, Red Huntress."
"Stop," she said, lightly hitting him in the arm. He took it willingly, relishing in the playful tone of her voice. After pouring herself a drink, she sat next to him on the counter. She took a sip and then sighed. "Wow, I can't believe I'm having a glass of milk in my pajamas while sitting next to my archenemy," Valerie said. "who happens to still be in full costume with a fuzzy yellow blanket in his lap."
Danny shrugged. "Stranger things have happened." He watched her adorably wipe the white mustache from her upper lip.
"I guess," she said, looking uncharacteristically bashful. "you're feeling better, right?"
"Better from what?"
She nervously twiddled with one of her black ringlets. "You were really tired after you put out that fire. I was wondering if you're feeling better now…I'm sorry I didn't ask earlier, I was just so worried about Paulina and the others, and then we had to fight that zombie—"
"Valerie," Danny said in a calming voice. "It's fine. I'm fine. Don't worry about it."
Their gazes met. "Okay. I'm glad," she said. "It was pretty amazing though—the way you put out that fire."
His ego brimmed at the rare compliment, but Danny just replied coolly. "Oh you know, that was just standard hero stuff."
"Uh huh," she said. "and I guess even big shot heroes aren't above snuggling up in a plush Vera Bradley throw cover." Valerie looked curiously at the blanket over his knees, asking, "does that even work? I mean, aren't ghosts like permanently cold or something?"
He stroked the yellow material, saying, "I mean, it's still really soft."
Valerie laughed. "You're ridiculous."
Danny enjoyed the musical sound of her laughter, seeing her take another sip of milk before placing the glass away from her on the countertop.
"Valerie," he said, turning solemn, "before the police took Penelope's body away, I examined it and confirmed my suspicions. It's definitely witchcraft that was used to animate her corpse. And we found that rune and bag of herbs in Dean Slyman's office—I have no doubt that he has something to do with all of this. I mean, I don't know about what happened with the masked figure we saw at the pool, but that's just another unanswered—"
"Phantom, Phantom," she cut in with a wave of her hand, "chill, okay? It's like three a.m. We've had a really long night, and whatever new developments that have arisen can be discussed tomorrow. All right?"
"But Val—"
"We saw the Dean about to get ruler-spanked by a coed," Valerie said, hazel-green eyes boring into him. "then a swimmer douchebag run out into the courtyard lit up like a roman candle. I killed a zombie tonight, Phantom. I plunged a knitting needle into its forehead."
Danny stared at her, mesmerized. "Yeah…"
"Shit got, so crazy," she said, her face so close that he could see, as if in hyper definition, the smooth texture of her umber skin, which even in the dim lighting was radiant with warm clay undertones. Valerie's cheeks were flushed in retrospective wonder at the events of the past few hours, feeling high as she stared into Danny's penetrating eyes. They were shining the brightest green she had seen all night. Danny and Valerie both listened to the analog clock hung on the wall, that no one knew how to read, tick agonizingly slow as he closed the space between them.
Kissing Danny Phantom was not like kissing Danny Fenton, for myriad reasons. Danny Fenton, for one, did not initiate a kiss. Danny Phantom, however, not only made the first move, but kissed so powerfully that Valerie was thrust onto her back by the electrifying spark of his lips. Where as she had felt like the one controlling everything with Danny Fenton, she now felt like putty in Danny Phantom's hands, her whole body enveloped in hot and cold sensations. She felt the familiar weightless feeling of walking through walls as his lips trailed down to her neck, except this time the feeling was vastly augmented. It made her fingers and toes curl with an almost maddening elation. No longer did she feel like the leader, the one calling the shots; it was wonderful and frightening.
He felt her squirming within his grasp on her wrists. Danny had them pinned down on either side of her head. Breaking away, he said, breathlessly, "Oh, man."
Completely dazed, Valerie could only say, "Wow."
His face erupted into embarrassment and concern at what he had done. "God, Valerie, I didn't mean to—I'm so sorry! I just, I just lost control!" He tried to pull away, but she instinctively threw her arms around his neck.
"No, wait!" she said. He looked down, confused, as she shyly contemplated her response.
"You're like," she said, voice impossibly girlish. "a really good kisser."
Speechless, he stared at her for a moment, unable to process just how potent his lips had felt to her. Then, gradually, his concern morphed into smug gratification.
"Oh yeah?" he said, lowering himself back to her jaw. Her head was spinning. If it had been that morning, she would have reviled at the thought of Danny Phantom making such a move on her, regardless of how sexually-charged their recent fights had been—she had even told him earlier that evening that she couldn't ever date him because of their respective statuses as ghost hunter and ghost. However, all the chaos they had experienced together had evidently changed her mindset.
"You know," she said sultrily, "I've always wondered if this suit you wear is actually part of your body."
"I can generate it at will," he replied. "and un-generate parts of it. It's pretty dope."
Furthermore, if she was being honest with herself, kissing him had been an amazing way to let out her frustrations about the other Danny, the one who had so shamelessly disrespected her last weekend. Who could imagine the resulting, mind-blowing effect if only she knew that the two guys were one in the same? Danny's mind was also a cyclone of thoughts, in which which he tried to funnel and juxtapose his self-esteem rocketing back up from loserdom with the perturbed understanding that Valerie still believed Danny Phantom to be totally different from Danny Fenton. Had she really forgotten about his civilian self so easily? If he was really that worried, he didn't know why he kept kissing her.
"Mmm," he said between pecks on her cheek. "don't you have a guy you're seeing or something?"
She ran her hands up and down his strong chest. "No," she said, and half of him was crushed at her answer. "You were right: I have been flirting with you for a while. I want you. Now."
Hearing the words "You were right" and "I want you" had his ego on a cosmic level. While one part of him felt crestfallen, another part of him was swelling with a beastly pride, which made him feel amazingly dangerous. He smirked against her ear, and licentious desire consumed her at the sound of his velvety words: "You ever gone to third base with a ghost before?"
Valerie didn't care about her crush on Danny Fenton. She didn't care about how much it had hurt to hear him say Sam's name after they had made out on her bed. She didn't care about all the texts he had sent her or the weakass "I'm here if you wanna talk" he had given her the Monday after the last nightmarish weekend at Zeta house. And she didn't care that Danny Phantom was her nemesis or arch rival or whatever; she just cared about doing crazy things during these crazy times. Danny Phantom didn't seem to care about anything besides his body on top of hers, the fuzzy yellow blanket sandwiched between them. He figured that later, he'd be more astounded at the fact that she had managed to curve him and let him get it at the same time.
"Hold on."
Danny felt her firm hands push him off her. Glancing at her questioningly, he was about to ask what was wrong when she said: "I have to pee."
He chuckled. "Okay."
"Why don't you try un-generating some of that suit while I'm gone," she said, winking. With that, Valerie hopped off the counter and trotted out into the hallway, leaving him very turned-on in her wake. An impish buoyancy in her step, she found herself wickedly anticipating how his torso, without the cover of his black suit, would feel against hers. She theorized it might feel like searing, white heat similar to what she thought radiated from his lustrously translucent hair. But it would be exponentially more intense, overriding her senses with ice and fire and everything she presently wanted from him. He too was aching to feel her curves and sculpted muscle beneath his own flexing brawn, her teeth around his bottom lip and her deep aura of craving; together they would collide in colors, spirits, and, holy f#%& it would be some inconceivably hot kitchen sex, like damn, thought Danny. They were drooling over each other in tandem despite being temporarily apart during her potty break.
Valerie approached the bathroom door at the end of the corridor, immediately peeved to see light under it.
"This girl is seriously still taking a bath?" she whispered to herself. As she came closer, she began to feel the carpet under her feet dampen. When she was standing in front of the door, she realized the delicate Berber was entirely soaked. Valerie knocked on the door tentatively.
"Prez?" she inquired, rapping against the wood again. When there was no answer, she jiggled the knob, finding that the door was unlocked. Opening it, Valerie saw that the bathroom had been flooded with water, dispersed with glittery suds, which was still pouring out from the freestanding, cast iron enameled tub. Inside the tub lay Jennifer MacDougal, asphyxiated to death with a lacy demi-cup bra around her neck. And, just like her precedent, the letters "K P Z" had been carved into her chest.
Valerie screamed.
On the bathroom mirror, spelled out in blood, was the phrase "TOLD YOU SO."
A/N: Hope you enjoyed the second chapter/episode ^_^ I guess I lied; this one is even longer than the last! And yes, I've taken some creative liberties with the Red Huntress's costume design, along with Danny Phantom's! I was inspired to write this after seeing some tumblr fanart of them in different styles, and kept those in mind as I was devising this story. Sigh...I would be ecstatic if any of my humble fics ever received a fan illustration. For now, I would love LOVE more reviews! Thanks to the lovely people who dropped me a line on my last update and previous fics in general-it really motivates me to keep writing fanfic!
-pb
