It was around midnight that Danny finally caved in sat up with a yawn. He knew he shouldn't have chugged all that water before bed. Tired and annoyed, he left the comfort of bed, making the trek towards the bathroom.
After his run in with Skulker and Vlad, Danny'd managed to wrestle the Box Ghost and Lunch Lady into the thermos before it got too late. Sam and Tucker handled the Box Ghost an hour later after he'd escaped by some joke of fate, and Danny had decided to call it a night.
He gave his homework a half effort, scribbling down some vague answers before turning in. He'd elected to ignore dinner lest the burritos make an appearance after all, but, feeling hungry, he'd filled his belly with several cups of water in an effort to hush it's grumbling.
Evidently, he should have stopped after the fifth. .
Happily, he found himself in front of the toilet soon enough. Walking in and attending to business, he woke up more when he realized peeing was stinging. Great. He couldn't remember the last time that had happened. He'd have to check food poisoning symptoms later.
After flushing and washing, he looked up at his reflection in the mirror. A sigh turned to a yawn as he scratched his head lazily. At least he wasn't queasy anymore. But man, he was not gonna trust those burritos again for a while. Who knew what experimental goop could have contaminated them while his mother cooked? Man, he probably should have asked if his parents or Jazz had felt sick earlier. He peered closer to the mirror, trying to see if he looked paler than normal.
His breathing was fogging up the mirror. Carelessly, he wiped it it away.
There was someone behind him.
Danny whirled around with a gasp, sending paper products flying, feeling a familiar chill too late. "Holy-!"
A mechanical hand latched around his windpipe, cutting him off. Danny made an offended squawking noise in response.
He saw Skulker's burning green eyes and malicious smile, even as several toilet paper rolls bounced off of his shoulders. "Got you, whelp," he cackled.
In response, Danny fumbled and grabbed the cleaning wand from on top of the toilet before bringing it to hit Skulker's head with a whack.
Skulker dropped him with a disgusted squawk of his own, and Danny had never felt more grateful for toilet products as he did in that moment. He sank through the floor in the distraction, melting down to the lab below.
He transformed, not a moment too soon, as a knife whistled past his ear, shattering a beaker on one of the lab tables below. Danny's head shot up, watching as the frowning ghost twirled a knife between and around his fingers deftly. "That was disgusting, ghost-child."
"What happened to no cheap shots?" Danny shot back, hands balling into fists. "What are you doing here, anyway?"
Skulker grinned toothily. "Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter, remember? We haven't had a good hunting match in a while. I need to sharpen my skills." He stopped twirling one of the blades and pointed it at the halfa. "And then, my blades, so I can skin you."
Danny groaned. "Dude, it's too late for this. Can't you let your prey sleep?"
"You were awake when I appeared," Skulker shot back.
"Wait- are you spying on me?"
"I'm watching my prey." Skulker corrected.
"That… That is so wrong." Danny said, disturbed. "Did you and Ember break up again or something? Is that why you've been showing up so much lately?"
Skulker coughed. "Er- this conversation has gone on for long enough, whelp! Now- don't hold still!"
Without another warning, the knife sailed towards the halfa, who dodged with a gulp.
He really didn't want to wake up his parents so they'd find their least-favorite ghost in their basement. He winced as another beaker shattered behind him. Maybe he could just shove the hunter into the portal?
Four knives and three more glasses later, Skulker frowned. "Come on, ghost child, fight back! You're sucking the fun out of this!"
Danny barely dodged another projectile. "Dude! Cool it with the knives!" He ducked towards the mechanic system, eyeing the ghost warily. "What are you, some kind of circus fanatic? Leave the knife throwing to the clowns." Irate, he deflected one of the blades with a deftly aimed ecto blast.
Skulker smirked, obviously pleased he'd gotten a response. "Oh, come on now, whelp. Don't pretend you're not an entertainer yourself, with all of your wretched jokes and one-liners."
Danny couldn't help it; he smiled at the quip, an idea coming to him. "Oh, come on, Skulker. You know you love them. Where would you be without my marvelous puns?"
Skulker rolled his eyes. "Paradise."
"Oh, man, that hurt. I'm wounded. Maybe we should all just take a breather from these cruel words and just…" He eyed Skulker almost sadistically, "... Chill?"
Skulker looked confused for a half second, before his eyes widened as Danny's eyes and hands glowed blue.
"Don't you dare-!"
Danny shot out a blast of ice, where it collided with Skulker and froze him against the wall. Before the ghost could break free, Danny shot towards the nearest thermos and sucked the hunter inside. After a moment of debate, he decided to let the menace dethaw in the thermos for a while before sending him back to the Ghost Zone. He looked around at the trashed lab and grimaced.
… He'd blame it on a ghost if they asked. After all, the glowing knives scattered about the room would be enough to keep his parents happily engaged with the destruction.
Ghost dealt with, he floated back up to his bedroom, tossed the thermos under the bed, and flopped onto the mattress carelessly, transforming as he bounced on the bedsprings. "Ugh," He groaned, relieved to finally be able to go back to bed.
He threw the covers over himself, retreating back into the dream world, completely forgetting about asking his family if they, too, had felt unwell.
...
Vlad swirled a glass of wine around mindlessly. He felt restless.
He had arrived at his home in Amity a few short hours ago, tired from a long day of work, ready to surrender to sleep. However, after laying down and staring up at the velvet canopy above him for an hour, he came to the understanding that despite his exhaustion, tonight would not grace him a wink.
Now, perched at a barstool and a book left untouched on the counter beside him, Vlad watched in defeat as the liquid red rose and stained the glass again… and again… and again.
Daniel.
Vlad sighed, putting the glass down with a clink. He rubbed a hand over his face tiredly, becoming aware that his leg had fallen asleep. He heard a soft purr beneath him; absentmindedly, he watched as his pet's tail flicked twice before deftly launching itself onto his lap. He felt old as she began to knead at his thighs with her claws.
That boy was infuriating.
He scratched behind the cat's ears in a resigned fashion. What else was new?
Maddie had moved on to pawing at the glass experimentally. Vlad moved it away. "You should be in bed." He told the cat.
The animal continued to try to knock the glass over. For some reason, Vlad had never felt more empathetic towards the creature. So stubborn.
Vlad let her play for a moment more before standing; the cat dropped down and away before strutting away, tail flicking.
He eyed the delicate white hairs now lining the base of the nearly-empty glass, before sighing and walking to the sink to dump it down the drain. It wasn't like he was going to drink it, anyways.
He turned on the faucet, watching the clear water wash away and dissipate the red. He dipped the glass under the stream, feeling his hands begin to go cold under the stream.
Daniel had acted very strangely today. He'd tried to be unphased by it, but Vlad couldn't ignore it anymore than he could attain sleep.
He was worried as to why the boy had seemed to double over in pain- that he wasn't pulling a stunt. No- risking his secret was far too off character for Daniel. Had one of his buffoonish father's inventions struck him earlier, and only now taking effect? Was he injured somehow, and hiding it so as not to appear weak? Heaven forbid, was it something halfa-related? Was Vlad in danger as well?
Vlad was wasting water.
He turned the sink off, set the glass down, and headed back to his room. He was pleasantly amused to find the cat waiting for him on his bed.
Well, at least he had the cat.