Chapter 8
Danny finally stopped running to lean heavily on a nearby streetlight, his breath coming in short, steady gasps. His limbs were shaking and cold breath was billowing in front of his face. For once it wasn't his ghost sense. "Sam was right, winter is coming." He thought.
His sensitive hearing picked up nearby footsteps. He looked up; groups of nearby pedestrians were staring at him. He stared back in surprise, watching them like a deer does before its hit by a car. One pulled out a cell phone
Jumping into the nearby bushes, he changed into Phantom and flew invisibly from the scene. He needed a place to hide and figure things out. People tend to get scared and destroy things that they don't understand. Is that what will happen to him? They still don't know that he's Danny Fenton, nor would he let them know. Danny flipped over and glared accusingly up to the sky; "This is the moon's fault." He thought accusingly, "I didn't lose it until Tucker opened that window. Clouds are covering it now, but what's going happen when they drift off again? My sanity is limited." He realized grimly.
Suddenly fatigue hit him. Days of lying in bed at the hospital weren't helping with his endurance; Danny felt himself gradually sinking lower and lower to the ground. "I have to land soon." He descended as slowly as possible toward the outer border of Amity Park, trying to stay airborne as long as possible. Finally, he tumbled altogether on the pavement behind a short, grimy building.
Danny sat up and looked himself over warily, as a ghost werewolf; his fur had turned black, leaving a cluster of white hair on his head. Besides that he still looked like his human wolf half. Changing back, he huddled against some rotting crates.
The smell of alcoholic beverages stung his nostrils; silhouettes of people could be seen through the draped windows. Along with loud, exited voices. "I'm outside a tavern?" he thought, closing his eyes and covering his sensitive ears against the noise. "Why does my head hurt? Gah, my face is burning; I think the fevers coming back,"
Then he noticed something, a hole. A gaping tear in the wall leading under the tavern. "That could work for the night." He thought, squeezing through it, grimacing as a shard of glass cut into the pad of his hand. Ignoring it, he found a clearing near the middle of the space and curled up. Without thinking, he began to lick the palm of his hand where it had been torn by the glass.
"What am I going to do with myself? By tomorrow the world be on the lookout for a wolf boy, thanks to some big mouthed pedestrians, I'm a danger to my family and friends, I have nowhere to go, and for Pete's sake I'm a werewolf in a hospital gown!." Danny stopped licking his palm and sniffed; he suddenly felt the urge to cry, let out all the grief and shock of what happened. He wasn't the hero of Amity Park anymore; he was a monster, feared and misunderstood by the people he had once sought to protect.
Danny couldn't help it. His breathing quickened and tears fell to the dirt floor of his shelter. The sound of shattering glass sounded from above, followed by loud swearing. Sticky clear fluid seeped through the floorboards and dripped on his head. Danny didn't care; flicking his ears, he curled up tighter and hugged his tail. It was going to be a long night, but eventually he just cried himself silently into an exhausted sleep.
A long ways off in the ghost zone, Lunai leapt onto the floating mass of land well known and feared by all ghosts, Skulker's Lair. She took a deep breath, the smell of death lingered from every hollow canyon to every blade of grass here. But she scented something else too. Wolves. Her pack.
Creeping into the shelter of the nearby reeds, a plan began to form in her mind. The hunter was bound to be around here somewhere. Lunai needed him out of the way but at the same time she needed to be careful, it would be just like Skulker to want another rare animal pelt to add to his collection.
Just as that thought occurred to her, the sound of a cocking gun sounded from behind. "I knew you would come crawling back here for your pack." "You won't win that easily Skulker." She growled back, not bothering to face him. Then, turning intangible she phased into the ground. The hunter turned around in time to see the wolf speeding toward the forest.
Cursing silently, he took to the air and followed. Lunai tore through the undergrowth, dodging trees and leaping over bushes. She could hear Skulker above her, time was running out fast. Lunai scanned the earth beneath her pounding paws, she knew what she needed, finding one was the obstacle though. A red blast of energy skimmed her whiskers. Time was really running out now.
Finally, a metal item stuck out slightly from the bracken. Lunai skidded to an abrupt halt and hid next to it, careful not to bump the thing. Skulker landed where she just was, searching for the wolf. She crouched down and picked up the object. A concealed dart whistled out of the nearby tree branches, hitting the hunter square in the chest. "Darn it!" The tranquilizer was working quickly, his movements finally slowed to a stop and he fell over.
Lunai stepped out of her hiding spot, a smug grin on her face. "Still getting caught in your own traps Skulker?" She taunted, pulling a ring of keys from his belt. "I'll be back for you later." She told him in a dangerous tone before trotting off.
Freeing her pack took a great deal of time. The keys kept slipping out of the locks and falling to the ground, mixing with the other keys so Lunai would have to look for the right one again. Hours later, the wolves were free. "Stupid opposable thumbs," she muttered, while her family brushed affectionately against her pelt. Lunai sprung onto a boulder. There was no need to summon her pack; they were already paying close attention. "Our friend Skulker is in the forest out there." She pointed with her muzzle. "I want you to remove the coward within that armor and bring him back home, don't kill him yet, we could have some fun with the whelp first." She said, stealing his catch phrase with an evil smile.
The pack howled a battle cry and charged off in the direction of the trees. Lunai readied herself to follow them, but before she could move, an unpleasantly familiar voice sounded from behind. "Stealing my employees now, are you?" The wolf felt the fur rise along her spine. Vlad.
She swung around. There he was; floating there with his arms crossed a leather object in one hand. Lunai snarled and leapt, the halfa held out what he was holding, it was a muzzle. She went straight into it. The wolf landed in surprise, a chain lash was attached to it, Vlad was holding on to the other end. He jerked the leash closer, taking Lunai with it.
"Daniel's a werewolf thanks to you." She flattened her ears and glowered at him. "An unwanted wolf will not be my problem," he recited what she had once said, pulling her even closer than before. "I'll make it your problem," he growled softly. Lunai's expression changed to an extremely calm one, Vlad didn't seem to notice. "Now the boy's running around alone in winter with a fever, he'll be dead within a few days! I told you to kill Jack, not Daniel! You'd better find him!"
Suddenly the wolf lifted her paws over her head and slipped the muzzle off, then she turned on him and pinned him down, pressing her powers into him to keep the halfa from turning intangible.
"You're a fool Vlad, cheap human restraints won't hold me back, I'm smarter than that," "So what are you going to do, bite me?" he replied bravely. Lunai bared her teeth "Listen here Plasmius, you're a pathetic man. You wanted to kill Jack because he was the reason you were put in the hospital all those years, and then he married the woman you love. You have nothing to live for, so you spend all of your time plotting revenge, but when Daniel came along there was hope, the half-ghost son who might love and understand you. When he turned you down for Jack you were crushed. But you still believed that one day; he might come back and accept you." Vlad struggled to get away, Lunai pressed harder.
"Because you have no life, you're making others suffer for it, destroying families to get what you want, that's sick. I almost lost my pack thanks to you! I said not to send me on a full moon, but did you listen? This is your fault, you can't trust anyone but yourself! No, I'm not going to bite you, as a werewolf you'll just ruin more lives. Nor will I kill you, the last thing I need is you running around this place all the time as a full ghost. Sure you've hurt Daniel, but you really do care deep down, don't you? That's why you want me now, to find him? So you can come and save the day? What would you do with yourself if he did die? You will lose even more than you thought possible. But at the same time, it will teach you to NEVER mess with me, or my pack again. I will make sure the child is killed and you will have no one to blame but yourself." Then she released him and sprinted off to find Danny.