Vlad PoV
Ah, Daniel's little blush was just the most adorable thing I had ever seen. I hoped to be seeing that color on his face more often in the future.
I couldn't help but smile as I fed him a cut of a juicy steak. Purposefully, I put it at an odd angle and the result was a small dribble of juice that ran down his chin. He scrunched up his face in the most endearing way and was about to ruin the effect by wiping his chin on his shoulder before I stopped him. I took a napkin and gently dabbed the mess up, hardly suppressing a laugh as his cheeks flooded with more color. I planned to have a lot of fun with this.
I stabbed a few noodles and rolled them onto the fork and held it out to Daniel, waiting. He paused.
"Vlad I can't reach that." He said in a small flat voice.
"Sure you can," I encouraged, "Just stretch."
He didn't look at me, but I could practically feel the waves of irritation rolling off of him. He didn't move.
"I know your still hungry." I said. His stomached growled at the perfect time.
Scowling, he reached out and practically inhaled the noodles as fast as he could, still blushing intensely. I couldn't help but chuckle a little at him.
I returned the fork to the noodles and repeated the action, holding the noodles out just a tiny bit farther. Daniel's pause was shorter this time, and he continued to take the food from me. Ah, I do so love to win.
After he finished up the noodles, I decided to really have fun.
"No."
"Oh come now Daniel. It's not any different than a fork."
"Bull. It's totally different and you know it."
"Well I can't very well use a fork for grapes."
"Then use a spoon."
"Were out of spoons."
"Then use a damn ladle!"
I scowled, sincerely disliking his use of such profane words. His lips were much to gentle for such harsh language.
"Watch your language Daniel."
He glared at me and I instantly knew by the look in his eyes that he planned on getting back at me for all this in anyway possible, starting with-
"Fuck you."
I promptly smacked him across the face, successfully destroying any and all dignity he had left. He glared at me hatefully, one cheek redder than the other. I decided to ignore it and return to my previous goals. I held out the grape to him.
He turned his head away.
I sighed. He was ruining my fun.
"How about I make a deal with you." I asked.
He was quickly interested, as I knew he would be.
"What kind of deal?" he asked, suspicion in his voice.
"I'll grant you a one minute phone call to either Mrs. Manson or Mr. Foley if you eat whatever I ask right now." I didn't see the harm in him telling his friends about his situation. Either way all three of them, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz, would come to my door eventually and the memory fabricators were more than ready. Might as well let Daniel think he was getting a treat.
Daniel stared ahead, thinking.
"One minute?"
"Mmhmm."
"And I can say whatever I want?"
"Yup."
"You swear?"
"I swear."
"...fine."
Good lord, sometimes Daniel was just too easy. I smiled.
"Then open up."
I should definitely do this more often. At first, the boy tried as hard as he could to not touch me at all, but I certainly wasn't having any of that, so held the grapes sideways leaving him no choice but to have my fingers in his mouth to some degree. He'd occasionally look at me suspiciously, but I was a master at hiding my emotions. So while it seemed as though I was absentmindedly holding the grapes in a different fashion on the outside, I was indeed going ballistic whenever his lips made contact with my skin.
Eventually, I moved on to bits of fluffy biscuits with small spreads of butter on them. I 'accidentally' got a smudge of butter on the corner of Daniel's mouth and had to wipe it away with my thumb. He didn't like that very much, but after the first time he tried to lick the butter off and instead licked my thumb, he kept to himself and didn't complain.
At the end, I got a little daring. I expected Daniel to instantly refuse, but he actually didn't put up much of a fight, much to my immense pleasure. I had dipped my finger in a small cup of melted chocolate that was on the tray and held it out to him expectantly, appearing completely nonchalant.
Daniel had stared at my chocolate covered finger for the longest time before coming to a decision. Either the phone call was really high on his priority list or he really liked chocolate, but either way he hesitantly leaned forward and slowly put my finger in his mouth, gently sucking and licking the chocolate off.
Jesus, I thought I would give myself away instantly. Thanking to the high heavens for my cool demeanor, I allowed myself to spiral away into a spin of pleasure, focusing on he feel of Daniel's tongue against my flesh in a different setting. One where it was dark and quiet and we were surrounded by soft pillows and Daniel was much more than shirtless-
"Vwaad?" Daniel muttered through the finger in his mouth.
"Hmm?" I grudgingly forced myself to come back to reality, looking mournfully at the retreating vision that I wanted so badly to happen soon.
"Vwaad." he said, a little louder.
Oh. Opps.
"Sorry Daniel, I must have been daydreaming a bit." I tried to sound flippant about it, but he looked at me suspiciously. Well wasn't he the perceptive one.
Danny sat back in his chair, oddly sheepish. I warred with myself for a moment, teetering, but my naughtier side won out. I dipped my finger in the chocolate again, and he had to respond for round two.
A couple fingers of chocolate and a glass of milk later and Daniel was trailing behind me like a lost puppy down a winding hall.
"Soooo, I get to call my friends now?" he asked hopefully.
"One of them." I corrected.
He was silent.
"Don't you have a phone, in like, every room?" he asked.
"The one your going to use can't be traced. I'm sure they'll guess you'll be at my castle home anyway, but it's not the only home I have after all and I've always been one for precaution." I explained to him, mumbling in an after thought, "Granted, you'll probably just tell them anyways."
"Duh."
We walked in silence for a minute before he spoke up again.
"Will my call get to be private?"
"Of course not, can't have you plotting against me while I'm not listening, now can I?"
Honestly, I wouldn't even be the tiniest bit worried if Daniel tried to collaborate an escape plan while I wasn't listening, but why waste the time to foil him and his friends pathetic plans when there was so much more we could do.
We walked into a room that was near the back of the house. It was almost bare save but a few simple art pieces and a large sofa. There was a simple, plain phone on the end-table next to the couch and Danny was there faster than I could say 'Jack's an idiot.'
I heard him punch in the numbers excitedly and I sat next to him leisurely.
"Sam?"
Of course, the goth girl. I knew he'd call her.
"Danny? Danny! Where are you? Are you okay? Everyone's been worried sick!"
She continued to spasm on the phone and Danny smiled, seeming to calm down at just the sound of her voice. I couldn't help but feel the tinniest bit miffed at that.
"I'm fine Sam, listen," He cut her off before she could ask anymore questions, "I've only got a minute to talk, literally. I'm at Vlad's place-"
"I knew it! Jazz has been trying to convince your parents to go up there. Their worried sick about you Danny, everyone is!"
"Yeah." He looked so depressed that I had the urge to comfort him, but I'm not sure it would mean too much coming from the man that's causing his misery.
"I'm at his castle in Wisconsin and I don't think he has any intention of letting me go soon."
Oh, you have no idea Daniel.
"Look, this is gonna sound weird, but I don't want you guys getting hurt and-"
"Oh no, don't even try to pull that one. We've fought plenty of ghosts with you before. We're not going to just leave you with him."
"Please Sam, I don't want any of you getting hurt. I'll be fine."
I found this blind statement amusing and laughed darkly, Daniel gave me a slightly fearful slightly apprehensive glance.
"I don't think he has any intention to kill me."
Kill your innocence maybe, but no Daniel, not you.
"Like that's any reason to stay away! I'm sorry Danny, but I'm not going to abandon you like that and neither is Tucker or Jazz. Were coming to get you out of there no matter what."
"I can take care of this myself, I don't wanna worry about your all's safety and escape. I promise you, I'll be just-"
And minutes up, time to say good-bye. I pressed my finger down on the call end button and smirked at Daniel's angry face.
"Would it have killed you to at least let me finish my sentence. Now she's gonna worry even more." Daniel scowled at me.
"That's not my problem, is it?" I replied smugly, "You had your minute, now it's back up to prison."
Danny looked crestfallen.
"But I just got out of there for the first time in six days. Can't I stay out a bit longer?" he pleaded.
I snorted in laughter.
"And do what? Take care of trying to escape? Not likely."
I stood up and transformed into Plasmius. Danny scrambled to jump off the couch, but I easily grabbed him and held him tight against me so he couldn't squirm free. Well, that and he was still shirtless.
Danny tried half heartedly to get free, but I carried him up through the ceiling and through the floors. We appeared in another spare room, the moldy mess gone and the room as immaculate as usual. I changed back into my human form and laid him on the bed. He practically jumped out of my arms.
"Would you stop carrying me around like that?" he snapped, avoiding my eyes, a light blush on his cheeks.
"I could drag you around by your hair if you prefer." I shrugged and he glared at me, but didn't come back with a retort.
"That's what I thought, now get some rest. I know your tired and you need to give your body time to digest all that food." I ordered.
He glared at me again, but got under the covers with no complaint. He must of actually been tired. I couldn't help but smile. He huffed angrily and buried his face in the pillow, promptly turning his back to me. I shook my head, still smiling. Sometimes his temper could be the cutest thing when it wasn't ripping apart my furniture.
"Good night Daniel." I said softly as I exited the room, shutting the lights off behind me.