Chapter 33:

Vlad POV-

"How dare that little brat!" I shouted, after watching the newscast. They had slandered my name. Of course, with the public as easily manipulated as they are, my reputation would soon be restored, but, even still, the nerve of that girl! Not only that, but, and I'm not sure how this could have happened, I underestimated Mr. Stark as well.

I changed into my ghost form, ready to go a wreak havoc on the press conference right now, maybe even force her to expose herself.

Then I paused. 'What better way to torture her, than to let her sweat it out a little longer,' I thought. Floating back to the floor I changed back to human form.

"Yes," I said, "I'll wait. I'll bide my time, at least for a few more days. And during that time, she won't be able to sleep or eat or think without constantly being on her guard. Then, I'll strike when Mr. Stark's publicity cannot assist her, when no one can assist her. Now, the only problem here, is Daniel. I suppose he cannot be here forever, but he will be checking up on her. Perhaps I should get him and his friends out of the way first, then despite the intervention of Iron Man they will be outnumbered when I return to strike again."

Dani POV-

Through the rest of the weekend, there was an uneasy tension over the house. As the saying goes, it was quiet, too quiet. And, with my bedroom still in disrepair, I bunked with Sam yesterday night and tonight. Sam was more than happy (well in her own Goth way) to let me stay in her bed. Ghost, on the other hand, she was not so thrilled about, and he had to sleep on the floor.

Even still, I didn't sleep, convinced Vlad would abduct me in my sleep and either hold me for ransom, or melt me into goop. I tossed and turned, struggling to get comfortable, until Sam rolled over and gave me her well-practiced Goth glare, and, at that, I remained still trying not to even twitch until I heard her breathing become slower and deeper.

Then, I carefully edged out of bed. I plucked Sam's spector deflector off of the chair in the corner of the room, putting it on myself along with a purple blanket, and walked out into the dark house.

With all these days being cooped up in the house or at school, I felt a little stir-crazy, and I desperately wanted to go flying in the cool night air. Of course, I knew that was a bad idea and I wasn't going to, but it didn't help me from staring out the large back windows of the house over the ocean in longing.

"Couldn't sleep either, huh?" I heard a voice and whipped around to see Tony step out of the shadows in the kitchen, with, surprise, surprise, a drink in his hand.

"Why are you standing in the dark?" I asked, arching an eyebrow, although I doubt he could see it in the dim light.

Tony shrugged taking another drink and moving to sit on the couch.

"I find that I haven't slept nearly as much since you came here," he said in a joking manner, but it still made me feel a little guilty as I sat next to him.

"Sorry," I mumbled quietly.

He shook his head, "I don't regret it…mostly because a lot of it was my own fault. Prying into your nonexistent files, that is. Come to think of it, a lot has changed, this is my first drink since dinner the other day, I think that's some kind of record."

I smiled a little, looking out the windows and watching the slow-moving lights of a cruise ship carrying drifting by.

Tony sighed, "Come on, it's late and you have school tomorrow," he told me, standing up and motioning for me to follow.

I rolled my eyes, not like I'd be able to focus in school tomorrow anyway, but I followed him anyway. Instead of leading me towards Sam's room, or even to his room, I realized that we were walking toward the lab. Confused, but a little intrigued, I said nothing but continued to follow.

"Here," Tony said when we finally got into the lab, and he pulled out a cot (from God knows where) and set it in a darker corner of the lab, "I always find it easier to sleep down here," he said.

"Wait…where are you going to sleep?" I asked, he shook his head.

"Don't worry about me, I have some stuff to get done," he replied sitting at his desk. I opened my mouth to protest, but I suddenly noticed how tired I was, and curled up on the little cot, falling asleep much more quickly than I thought I could.

The next morning, Jarvis woke Tony and I up. I sat up after, happy to have slept through the night to see Tony waking up too, from what looked like a very uncomfortable position in his chair. I laughed.

"Thanks, Tony," I called as I ran upstairs to get ready for school. After a good restful sleep, I was feeling refreshed. I threw on a purple pair of skinny jeans, a gray tank top, and a purple and gray cable-knit sweater over, along with a pair of gray high tops. With a light amount of eyeliner and a dusting of lavender eye shadow,

When I came out of my room, Tony was on the couch, looking like he was about to nod off into his coffee, which is probably why he hadn't noticed Tucker disassembling the toaster. The Danny stumbled out of the hallway leading to the guestrooms, his hair sticking up at funny angles.

Then Pepper opened the front door, looked around at the chaos, sighing deeply, and then looked at me.

"Ready to go?" she asked.

…

"And you're sure?" I asked for the tenth time as Pepper continued to drag me to the front door to leave.

"Yes, Danielle. Keep the Fenton Phones on you, and we'll be there if you need us," Danny assured me. Finally, I accepted, and went outside to get into Pepper's car to take me to school.

Once we got there, I was no longer only a target for Vlad. Everybody else's eyes were trained on me. I guess they must have seen the news.

Issa immediately ran up to me, giving me one of those, 'I'm-glad-you're-alive' hugs.

"I'm glad you're alive!" she exclaimed, "Why didn't you call me for the big showdown with your dad!? I could have helped!"

"I didn't want you to get involved and get hurt," I shrugged. It was a half-truth. That was definitely part of the reason, but the other part is that her aim sucks so bad, she probably would have been more of a hindrance than a help. "Next, time," I promised halfheartedly.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. What?! Next time? I thought it was over?" she questioned, I shook my head.

"Do you honestly think he wouldn't retaliate after what we showed about him at the press conference, yeah, no," I told her.

Suddenly Zeke came up to us. "Dani, are you okay? I saw the press conference and, wow, I didn't know…about your dad…I mean…" he stammered and I held up a hand to tell him to stop talking.

"It's okay Zeke, nobody did. It was a secret," I said.

"But why? Why not go to the police immediately?" he asked.

"Who do you honestly think they would have believed? The 'supposed daughter' that nobody had heard of, or the powerful millionaire," I arched an eyebrow at him and he pursed his lips like he was trying and failing to come up with a good argument.

"I still think they might have believed you. It's not like you told people that Vlad was an alien who abducted you, right?" he asked, trying to make it funny.

'Well, you're like a forth right,' I thought, but then the bell rang, sending us our separate ways for the day.

The rest of the day was no different. I had people coming up to me all day asking about Vlad, or giving me looks of sympathy for my situation. Even Scarlett, looked at me with…and maybe I'm wrong, but it seemed almost like…guilt. On top of the students and faculty giving me their looks, I had the nagging sensation throughout the day that something else was watching me. And although my ghost sense had not gone off and I couldn't pinpoint exactly where the paranormal stare was coming from, I know that I had not been imagining it. I shook it off, staring at the clock, wishing the hours would tick by faster.

I was relieved when the school day had finally ended, just so I could get into Pepper's car and go home.