A.N. Wasn't sure where I was going with this but once again I think it works, maybe you just think I'm waffling. However I enjoy attempting to show a characters mind-set in different situations; it's challenging and interesting. Perhaps I'm just a psychology freak, but whatever. This was meant to be a big fight scene but it didn't pan out that way, I think it was just too soon in the story for a kick ass fight. And as this is meant to be my debut magnum opus so I wanted it to be extensive and of course, perfect.

Now, this was where I was going to add info on Vladdies staff, but it turned out so long that I added it as another story. It my handy guide to all things ghostly. Read and tell me what you think!

Disclaimer; I don't own Danny Phantom; however any original characters are the sole property of my slightly warped mind. Enjoy!

What Unusual halflives we lead

Chapter 5: Trouble is come again

Danny watched as Vlad's ostentatious limo vanished from sight before he floated down through the roof and back into his room, he morphed back into his human half and threw himself onto his bed. Despite the fact that there were clothes and papers littered atop the covers he curled himself into a foetal position. With glassy eyes he stared at the opposing wall, it wasn't particularly interesting and there was nothing different about it from the 3 other walls but that didn't stop him from staring. He just couldn't help replaying that strange conversation in his mind. What on earth had Vlad done that was so terrible that caused him to warn Danny? The man must be in some serious shit, he decided.

That wasn't really what bothered him, he didn't care about Vlad's wellbeing, the man had put him in some serious shit…but then what was Vlad doing here anyway? Was he warning him? Or was it another one of his evil schemes? He just couldn't figure the man out and he wasn't likely to, either. A small part of him, a voice that never really left him alone, repeatedly told him that he should care…that he did care…and that he wanted to trust Vlad. But the man was one seriously crazed up fruit loop. How could you trust someone that had tried to kill you? That wanted to get rid of your father by any means necessary, and marry your mother. The man had serious issues! And he could hold a grudge like no one Danny knew. Vlad had hated his father for 20 years! 20 years! He couldn't imagine not talking to Tucker for 20 days straight, let alone plotting to kill him for 20 years.

Should he have blamed Sam and Tuck for his accident…he never would have dreamed of doing such a thing…he made his choice to go into the Fenton Portal. But then…his conscience echoed; his situation had been different from Vlad's'. His powers were down to his own curiosity…his own actions…Vlad's were down to a miscalculation…his dad's miscalculation. So he supposed…that Vlad did have some kind of distorted right to hold a grudge. But it wasn't like Vlad hated his own ghost powers, didn't he view them as a gift, as something that made him better than mere humans…so did he really hate Jack for that alone? Vlad was one of the most powerful ghosts in the zone, as much as it pained Danny to admit it, it was true. If the two were somehow to be locked together in a fight to the death…Danny knew he would have no hope of winning, not that he wouldn't put up a fight, but still. He didn't have the luxury of 20 years of practice; he hadn't even had 2 years!

"Danny," Jazz whispered as she rapped slowly on his bedroom door and his train of thought crashed into a rock. She peered inside and, seeing him sprawled on his bed, but clearly awake she entered and closed the door behind her. "What happened? What did mom and dad say?"

"Nothing…" Danny replied sadly, "as usual, but…I had a chat with Vlad…" he stated and it must have seemed quite random to his sister. Her eyes widened and her brow was raised in confusion as she sat on the edge of his bed, rearranging papers and clothes to make some space.

"Vlad," she repeated, locking her eyes with his, "what did he do to you Danny…I know you're already hurt, so show me what he…"

"He…didn't do…anything…to me he just…it was weird, Jazz. I don't get it, why did he come all the way here if not to beat me up? What is with him, seriously? Why can't things ever be easy?"

"I don't know any of that, Danny, maybe you should tell me what happened,"

"We just…talked…err…I may have said some stupid things I probably shouldn't have but…he said he thinks the Skulker that's been attacking me is a fake and the real one is locked up somewhere."

"Skulker? Really, ha sure,"

"That's what I said," Danny nodded, sitting up and crossing his legs he continued, "He said…" he wondered whether or not he should tell Jazz about Vlad's cryptic warning. It would only worry her and his sister had her own problems to worry about; she was working hard for her college exams, and that was no ride in the park. And she had taken it upon herself when she returned to the house to keep all of their parents inventions away from Danny, now that was a full time occupation if ever there was one, but it was one that he disapproved off. He could look after himself, he would look after himself; it wasn't that he distrusted his sister, but he cared about her. And that, according to Vlad was Danny's major weakness; caring for others made you weak and vulnerable and you would only end up getting the both of you killed. But it was Vlad he didn't trust…it was Vlad he couldn't trust and therefore he said to his sister; "…nothing Jazz…it was just weird…it's just another one of his crazy fruit loopy schemes…"

"Alright, if you say so…now show me that wound," she ordered, "I don't miss a thing, Danny, and you're not the world's best liar."

It was those words that reverberated in his mind, it made his eyes blank out and his sister stared at him like he was possessed. "Danny," she lightly shook his shoulder and he came too.

"Sorry, Jazz, little spacy…"

"You need rest, so let me look at that," she indicated at his chest as she carefully lifted his shirt, "and you can…" she trailed of as the wound became visible. "Are you sure…Vlad didn't do anything…are you hiding something from me…"

"What, no, why would I…" Danny began to defend himself, trying desperately not to panic, but realised that Jazz still hadn't looked up from his wound. "What's up with…?" he found himself unable to complete his own sentence as he too noticed the state of his midriff.

In his defence he hadn't had time to look at it since last night…or rather early that morning after it had been made…and it had been about 3 am when he had finally drifted off. Skulker had hit him pretty hard in that fight, more so than usually, and here was the proof. Initially the wound was small and red, now it resembled black mould and had spread to the middle of his ribcage. Something was definitely wrong. This had never happened before…not once, not with a single one of the wound's he'd ever had before, and Danny had had a lot of them to choose from.

It sent a chill down Jazz's spine just looking at it, and she didn't have a clue where to start on…what was she supposed to do? Clean it…how? Bandage it…why? It wasn't a wound exactly; it wasn't scabbing over like a wound should do. Neither of them had any idea what to do. "It doesn't matter…" Danny decided, "Just leave it, it's fine."

"You need to find out what this is…it can't be anything good," his sister said with a worried expression.

"Mm-hmm," Danny nodded sleepily, "first thing in the morning. I'll get up before mom and dad and sneak into the lab…no problem," he yawned the sleep deprivation, stress and confusion now taking its toll. With no idea what they were dealing with Jazz nodded and cleared the rest of his bed so that he could sleep peacefully she pulled the covers over him and flicked off the light switch.

She hoped her brother would be alright. But she was smart, she knew Danny had his limits and if he wasn't careful he just end up getting himself killed. He never did think ahead. He'd gotten better, of course, but he still had a long way to go. He could figure the science stuff out easily enough; they both could having been raised by two scientists for parents. But she forced all the problems aside as she noticed Danny staring to fall asleep.

"'Night, Danny," she whispered, and left the room in darkness.

That night Danny's dreams were plagued by fear. He dreamt of a huge black creature, a figureless shadow, it destroyed the sun and covered the world in darkness. It flew through him, delivering a pain he'd never known before. It felt cold and hot at the same time, light and dark overtaking him, water and fire, night and day, sun and moon, it kept repeating itself, over and over and over. It seemed he was alone in his nightmare; he couldn't see his mother or his father, his sister or his friends, or even any ghosts to wither help him or even to laugh at him and his pathetic situation. He tried to wake up, but it was no use, he thought just then that he heard a deep voice that was laughing, laughing at his powerlessness, at his inability to do anything right…it continued to echo in his mind. He had to wake up…

Jumping awake and breathing hard Danny couldn't help noticing that, as he'd intended he'd woken early; he never did get much sleep anymore and was always up around 4 in the morning, if he didn't get out of bed he never fell back to sleep. Danny supposed that it came with having plenty of things to have nightmares about; it gave his mind plenty of material to throw back at him without the need for his imagination when it came to his dreams. Cursing his sadistic mind he floated down through his floor and into the lab to begin yet another fantastic day. Yay.

Pushing his stranger than usual dream from his mind he grabbed a clean pair of tweezers and lightly pulled off a small part of the mould that was slowly engulfing his chest. He had never had to do this before, he mused, most of his wounds would have healed by now, but this was different. Although how it was different he didn't yet know, but he intended to find out.

Danny had gotten pretty good at science. In the past year he had been monitoring his own DNA and looking for variations. He hadn't learnt any new powers in that time but he was anxious to learn if it changed when he did. Like when he got full control of his ice powers, with Frostbites help, he and his friends had noticed that his body temperature had lowered by almost 8 degrees Celsius. But he still wasn't able to compare changes in his DNA. He had already filled a whole folder on his laptop on the differences between his previous human DNA, courtesy of Tucker's hacking skills, and his current hybrid state. Maybe he was just being paranoid, but it never hurt to be prepared.

Looking at the substance under a microscope Danny discovered he had good reasons for his paranoia. Using his green energy to surround the bookshelf in the all but impenetrable Fenton Weapons Vault a thick tome entitled 'Recognising microscopic entities for the bored proletariat' floated through it and landed silently on the table. Jazz had suggested that it would be a good idea to keep her old science books in there, as they would be protected from the inevitable explosions from experiments and Danny would be able to use them in secret. It had been a good idea; he had to admit Jazz had her moments…she just had more of them than a lot of people.

Along with the usual dead bacteria and immune cells, although his now had a greenish tint to them in either form, he found several things he didn't recognise and he was sure they weren't supposed to be there. So he gazed down through the lens and picked out the individual platelets that made up the scab, but nothing came to him about the rest of it. He picked up the tome and flicked through its pages, as he did so he had begun to subconsciously float about the room, it helped him think. Each page of the hard-backed volume was worn and torn but it held images and information on every kind of bacteria, mould and germ imaginable. Danny couldn't imagine what he would have done without its inestimable services recently. He didn't have any money to buy a newer version so Jazz's dated one had had to do. Even though she had offered to get one herself and give it to him as a birthday present as an excuse he wasn't having any of it, neither of them had money to waste.

It seemed that his parent's financial situation had worsened recently. He and Jazz had warned them but their mom and dad but they had invested in a Ghost Hunting academy in Washington but the venture had plummeted. So now they were on an even tighter budget, Danny had offered to get a part-time job to help, even though he knew it would have done little to improve their situation. And a few months ago he had done just that. He was working weekends at the local supermarket, it hadn't been glamorous or exiting stacking shelves or working tills but he had been making some money. It had been tough of course, what with school, ghost fights and a job, but he had managed it. Until one Sunday night, he had been just about to clock out for the night when…of course the sudden attacks had started. Skulker had ruined his first paid job and Danny had been left with a broken arm and the sack. How the managers had thought to blame him was beyond Danny but it didn't make much difference, he had been on part-time minimum wage anyway.

Because of this he had been refraining from doing anything that involved spending extra money if he could avoid it. He frequented the library's more often for school work when he got the chance, the books he used for his classes now had been a gift from Sam, that had been nice for him, but it still embarrassed him for some reason. He tried to stop his parents buying their usual unnecessary broken toasters and irons that they used in their experiments. His success was of mixed results. He'd never been a pig when it came to food even before his ghost powers but he'd been relying on his ghostly energy even more now. If he didn't need to eat much what was the point? Jazz hadn't agreed with him but she couldn't force feed him, especially when he'd just fly through her and stay out all night in the skies.

As he continued to drift round the room, he walked on the walls and was stood on the ceiling when a nagging voice in his head told him he wasn't going to find what he was looking for in a dated volume of human bacteria's. Grumbling at why things in his life had to be so complicated, he hooked the microscope up to his laptop and printed of the image of his findings and cleaned up. He burnt the sample using his ecto-energy, and put back the book and microscope with a mental note to visit the Ghost Writers library. Because Danny was a ghost he had a natural library card despite the fact that it had taken the Writer several weeks to leave him alone with the books after his last experience; he now visited often and had learnt just as much from ghost books as he had human books. He folded up the piece of paper and flew into the bathroom for a long calming shower before anyone woke up.

Once Vlad returned to the land of the living, or in his case the half living, he noticed that he was no longer at the Fenton's…or in his limo…or even in a hospital…so where was he? His world at the moment was comprised of warmth and softness; it was a good world in which he was tempted to prolong his stay for as long as possible. But as usual mistress bad luck had other ideas, and he let out a small moan of repressed agony as awareness made its slow return. With considerable effort he willed his eyes open and was met with darkness and silence. Years of waking up in a similar fashion had taught him that his was either one of 2 things. It was possibly a good thing; he may have been in so much pain that his body refused to co-operate and shut down and part of him would always be thankful as he would feel no pain.

Or it was a very, very bad thing; having no awareness could mean death, even if one was in pain at least if you were awake you had a chance of survival, however he concluded that he was in fact alive. As his eyes easily adjusted to the darkness he was able to recognise his bedroom in his Amity Park manor house, being the mayor did have its perks. (Besides annoying the crap out of Daniel and his silly friends.)

He still preferred his Wisconsin home, after all a manor house was a step down from a castle. But this place wasn't too shabby; he had chosen the best wing in the place and the best bedroom of course for yours truly. In daylight it was resplendent in its opulence with its twin royal colours of ruby reds and glowing gold, but the thick draperies hid the room from the world and shrouded its magnificence in shadow.

After concluding from the both silence and his ghostly senses that there was no-one else, alive or dead in the room with him he made the move to get out of his bed. However comfortable he was he couldn't afford another power nap, so he tossed aside the edge of his thick earthy eiderdown and welcomed the sudden cool air. Slowly swinging his legs over the mattress, he noted that his shoes had been removed as he staggered into his ensuite bathroom. He turned on the lights and was met with a soft ambience illuminating his protesting senses. Perhaps he had been pushing his luck in ignoring ghost-given medical advice after all, especially when the ghost in question had over 700 years of experience. Oh well, C'est la vie.

Observing his reflection in one of the rounded mirrors on the walls he let out a disappointed sigh; his eyes were tired and drained, clearly in protest of his recent activities. And the prominent shadows beneath them were not to be ignored. His 5'o clock shadow also screamed at him, as perfection was his art he was not amused with his hair in a similar state of disarray. Perhaps he was due a haircut as well. It would have to wait he decided as he carefully unbuttoned his shirt and took stock of his injuries. His shoulders had bruised up quite nicely; a collection of vivid blues, purples and blacks coloured his usually immaculate pale skin littered with angry red scars on his arms and chest. After years of being a considered an infectious disease he had come to take pride in his appearance and what he saw now angered him.

And as the memories of his little outing returned he supposed that his stubbornness had clearly affected his healing abilities, but Daniel hadn't even listened to him, he shouldn't have bothered. The boy had been warned and Vlad had been ignored, but had the situation been reversed he probably wouldn't have believed Daniel either. So he couldn't really blame him, could he? Lacking his usual grace he moved about the room turned the ostentatious golden taps and waited for the bath to fill up with hot steaming water.

It was a beautiful, almost Grecian style room, with soft lighting, lush green plants, and marble surfaces with the walls almost covered in mirrors he was able to glimpse the state of his back as well, and it was not pleasant. And he doubted highly that Daniel's simple attack had done that much damage to him. As the water continued to rise he took out several lavish towels, only the best of Egyptian cotton of course, placing one on the floor and the other on the counter beside the sink. After removing the remainder of his clothes, he was forced to lower himself slowly into the water, ignoring the searing agony from his wounds and concentrating instead on the simmering vapour of steam rising from the blistering water.

After a calming lengthy soak, he was left to dry himself off and hastily picked out some clean clothes from his substantial wardrobe. Dressing him-self as best as he could with his aching arms he then promptly made his way down the wide staircase that lead to his main sitting room grasping the dark wooden handrail the whole way down. As usual he passed no one on his journey and the house filled him with a sense of isolation as his footsteps echoed around him. He guessed that all of his staff were sensibly giving him his space…or they were hiding in his 'secret' lab messing with his inventions. As he had discovered, much to his misfortune Spectrals retained an avid curiosity that often cost him and his treasured laboratory dearly.

"Oh, cheese logs…" he cursed noticing that the hidden door disguised as a bookcase was ajar. He descended the darkened staircase and paused, as a familar warm sense of danger and alertness quickly over took his senses. But he was quickly able to discern that he was in little danger, as he stood silently watching the ghosts.

All of the seven Spectrals he employed had long since dropped the image of humanity and floated as green wispy ghosts with little to show for their individuality other than their voices and their eyes.

"I wonder what this thingy does…" a kind sounding female voice said with child-like curiosity. The speaker floated above one of the many work surfaces littered with half-finished inventions and papers. The room was a simple rectangular shape and in the centre of the far wall was Vlad's own Ghost Portal, locked of course with a reinforced metal door which combined human and ghostly materials. The walls to his left held a long continual row of worktops, cupboards and shelves made of both wood and metal.

"Mr Masters…err…" Vlad could easily recognise the voice of the Spectral who acted as his official driver and unofficial mother hen; Byron. The Spectral was the first he'd ever met and his chosen name was a private joke.

Vlad had been reading a book of Lord Byron's poetry in the hospital late at night several months after the college accident when a newly formed Spectral fell through the ceiling. Vlad felt a strange feeling of sudden warmth run through his veins and swore as a red puff of smoke escaped from his mouth, he thought he was learning to control that thing...it annoyed him and he had quickly noticed tat hit only appeared when other ghosts ran into him.

In confusion it gazed up at the bed and into the eyes of the only other being in the room, it had tilted its head in pure fear. Vlad had only sighed and ignored the warnings his body had given out upon the silent entrance of this…ghost. He had already grown used to people, and things looking at him in fear so this came as no surprise. But then the ghost had got up from the floor and hovered over to the bed and its occupant. "L…lo…lord…By…ron…" it read slowly, "that…seems…I can't…Ohhhh…" the ghost had cried and Vlad had sighed.

He had since learnt that what had fallen into his hospital room had been a new Spectral and typical of its species it remembered nothing about its former life as a human. Perhaps he had been a patient at the same time as Vlad, but he never did find that out. After he had left the hospital Vlad had travelled from state to state, hostel to hostel until his sights had settled firmly on the business world. Whilst living in the slums he had made his first million, or rather stole his first million and much to shock and dismay of his new associates took up a large castle in Madison, Wisconsin. There he was able to live in splendid isolation whilst his ghost powers grew and his hatred for Jack increased.

A year after the accident he had stumbled on a group of creatures as he had been flying through his new ghost portal into the zone. They were exactly like what he had seen in his hospital room before as cowered from him on a floating rock. One of them tentatively floated up to him and he was tempted to just leave them there to get eaten or absorbed by a stronger ghost when he recognised the voice. "I know you…don't I?" it had asked him, "…you look…different…."

That had been when one of the most shocking things in his life had happened; a huge bestial ghost had rampaged past them, and Vlad, still a novice at his ghost powers, had been hit its powerful blast. He had tumbled through the zone and had morphed into his human half in agony. Thinking he was done for good the green glowing ghosts fired consecutive blasts at the beast, stunning it they took the human and flew away, deep into the Ghost Zone into an empty cave made of grey and purple rock. "What are you?" The same voice asked him when he awoke and Vlad returned the question. "We don't know…" had been the reply and they had followed him home, marvelled at his portal and made themselves at home.

It had taken Vlad several weeks but he discovered what the creatures were and had told them, subsequently they had then offered to stay with him. Despite his protests had that he didn't need anyone or anything they remained. Although to be fair they did pull their weight, and he barely had to pay them anything...not with money of course. Each one of them had formed personalities and given names to each other, Byron of course after the book Vlad had been reading in hospital.

"So," Vlad began with a coy smile, "Would you care to explain what you are doing in my lab?" he was leaning casually on the doorframe and the ghosts instantly gaped at him with open mouths. They all dropped whatever they had been holding and floated to the ground taking on their human forms, stuttering and sharing worried looks with each other.

"Well…that is err…" Byron began, "we…er…" he stuttered and shook in fear at the thought of angering his employer. They had been on the recieving end of Vladimir Master's temper before and it was not a good place to be; dead or alive.

Vlad only glanced down at the broken bottles and inventions that lay on the floor with a look of irritation and disbelief, he merely sighed then vacated the lab in favour of the huge dark sitting room. The Spectrals followed him despite knowing that their master probably wanted peace and quiet.

Vlad took his usual high backed cushioned chair closeted to the vast stone fireplace carved in typical Victorian style. The house itself was old and the rooms were a reflection of that. This was decorated in light Edwardian style with its walls red half way up and white at the top and on the ceiling. A mirror lay about the mantle of the fire and there were plants and marble statues that added a Grecian ambience to the room.

His ghostly staff of seven sat round him as his white cat Maddie jumped into his lap, and Marion, one of his maids lit the fire using her ghost energy, the logs in the grate ignited with a ghostly glow. (*1)

This ghost took on the human appearance of a middle aged woman with greying brown hair in a messy bun, took on the position of 'self-appointed head maid' in his house and had done for a long time. Wearing a common enough uniform dress she and the other two maids worked in military-like perfection to keep his house spotless, dustless and grime-less, his clothes were always cleaned and his work papers were always in order. Alothea, who took on the role of both maid and ghostly nurse, was the most recent addition to Vlad's staff but with over 700 years' experience on medical knowledge she was invaluable. She had an open, kind face and could win the trust of any man, or woman with her honest green eyed gaze. Elyn was a rarely heard voice of reason; and both she and Alothea were petite and pixie like in the extreme in their human forms. They sat together entangled on the same cushioned chair like twin sisters.

Their exact opposites sat on a sofa beside them; his cook Harry, who often demanded to be called 'Horatio Nelson', had an egotistical nature in every sense of the word. His cooking was his art and if you crossed him you'd know it in the morning, as he was a tall beefy man with huge muscles and an unforgiving exterior. One who knew this best was the self-appointed sous chef Louis, so called only as it irked him to no end and his chosen name of 'Napoleon Bonaparte' was a source of much amusement and an incredulous cook. In appearance he was Harry's polar opposite, thin and scrawny, they argued constantly and he spoke only with an abominable French accent. Vlad had tried numerous times to cure himself of this affliction, he spoke fluent French and found Louis' pronunciation the worst he'd ever had to hear, but in the end it was hopeless. Louis had stayed and so had The Accent.

The last member of his staff was also not to be outdone in strangeness; maybe it was a common trait of Spectrals, give them the opportunity to discover a personality and they drive you mad with it. Larson, as he had been dubbed was his gardener, a young man in his ever-present overalls with kleptomaniac tendencies that were drawn to anything he thought would add to his aesthetics of a respectable garden. Vlad couldn't complain though, his gardens in Wisconsin had won numerous awards and prizes for their beauty over the years, all of which were stashed away in Larson's room under the bed that he had no need of except as a hiding place.

"Nothing good?" Alothea asked, breaking Vlad's musings and concentration.

"No," he answered stoically, "Did you learn anything?" Whilst he had been away that day he had tasked his staff with running through his surveillance tapes to discover anything they could about the monster that had paid them an unexpected visit over a week ago. And now he was hoping for answers, the entire east wing had been reduced to rubble by it and with no explanation it had annoyed Vlad greatly. Of course it had been quickly fixed overnight by the Spectrals, who over the years had gleaned a lot of unorthodox practice of fixing buildings after severe ghost attacks.

"No, sir," Marion replied, "we can tell you little that you don't already know."

"It didn't leave us anything to go on," Elyn added, "We can't track its signature and most of the cameras were destroyed."

"I think it's fair to say it's not stupid," Alothea began, "It knew where the cameras were and took them out before it attacked us and then went for you, it knew we wouldn't be much of a treat but on the off chance that we'd go for help it got rid of the possibility. I think it's a Spirit…a Governing Spirit" she added after the confused looks from the cooks. (*2)

"Not funny, Ally," Louis shot back, "you don't joke about zat kind of thing, eet iz not right."

"I'm not joking, I really…"

"I agree," Vlad said effectively silencing what would have turned into a shouting match but his aching head wasn't quite up for that yet.

"Then we are in trouble," Marion said sadly as she shook her head. When Ally had first suggested it they all denied it on the grounds that it was impossible, unthinkable…but now the horrifying reality had set in.

"Yes, we are," Vlad agreed quietly, "yes, we are..."

A.N. Another cliffie. Dun dun dun….actually I left it like this cuz I'm sort of stuck and now I have to revise so…Ta!

(*1) Get it? 'Maid' Marion LOL, I tried to make each of the names have some sort of irony to either their job or their personality, as you can see they won't be too subtle, I don't have the time or the patience to think of anything else and I think it's funny.

(*2) Have to have read my other short story of Understanding the Ghost Zone in 7 easy lessons for this to make more sense, as I have explained all my fruit-loopyness in this, okay? I will probably also explain it in a later chapter.