Disclaimer: Don't own DP.
Thanks to Chrysanthemum9484, Invader Johnny, ZoneRobotnik, and Dp-Marvel94 for reviewing last time!
Shot Summary: It's Halloween in Amity Park, and Dan Phantom attacks, only to be derailed by…Valerie's costume? Rated: T
Content Warnings: N/A
Deliverance
Shot 82: This Is Halloween
For years, Amity Park did not celebrate Halloween. The ongoing attacks from the vengeful ghost Dan Phantom, along with the nightmare-inducing state of the wastelands, dampened general tastes for the ghostly and macabre.
But now…
"Are you sure this looks okay for the party?" Valerie asked. She stood before a long mirror, tilting her head at her own reflection. Her long ringlet curls streamed perfectly coiffed against her bare shoulders. The bright lights of Paulina's room illuminated the red glitter of Valerie's hip-hugging dress and the low plunge of the sweetheart line across her chest. She uneasily pushed up the material, her scarred fingers brushing against the thick diamond necklace that hung in a droplet against her cleavage. In her mouth, she kept brushing her tongue against prosthetic fangs, which elongated her canines in a way that reminded her of how Dan Phantom's own fangs poked out against full lips, which was a dangerous thought.
A dead-looking French maid was still tying the lace strings of Valerie's black corset. "Oh, you're a superhot vampire," Paulina said, waggling her perfectly sculpted eyebrows. "All the guys won't be able to look away."
In the mirror, Paulina's beautiful face carried fake but tasteful fake blood painted at the corner of her lips. She pulled away, leaning over the makeup table, and in doing so, her incredibly short skirt lifted, revealing white lace booty shorts covering the bare minimum of her toned backend.
Valerie huffed in a weary amusement. "I think they'll have a harder time looking away from you." In her mouth, she kept brushing her tongue against prosthetic fangs, which elongated her canines in a way that reminded her of how Dan Phantom's own fangs poked out against full lips, which was a dangerous thought.
Paulina searched through her bag, her actions prim and proper. "I fully intend to make Dash pick up everything for me, at least while we're at the party. The costume is for him, mostly later."
"So you're trying to make him…work for it?"
"You know I appreciate a hardworking man," she said, pulling up a small box with a great mischief. "Now, I got this makeup special to give you that extra otherworldly look."
Valerie dared to lean forward in curiosity as Paulina opened the makeup box, revealing eyeliner and deep red eyeshadow. For a moment, she flashed back to her fourteenth birthday party—the last time she had been surrounded by friends and expensive clothing, doing makeup to the tune of the latest pop music.
Paulina and several others had scrambled for a birthday invite, desperate for access to the latest makeup palettes from the most luxurious brands.
And now…
Her throat tightened at the sight of the cheap, glittery eyeshadow. A sign that Amity Park was slowly, steadily rising back from apocalyptic limitations.
"If Phantom ruins this tonight," she breathed, reaching out in desperate want for finery, allowing an old lust for materialism to overtake her, "I'm gonna kill him."
"Uh, chica? He's a ghost."
Valerie lifted an eyeshadow applicator to her dark skin, streaking the red glitter over her eyelid. "He might be a ghost, but I can still end him a second time." Phantom had a peculiar habit of acting human, for all his great power and unnatural appearance.
The eyeshadow reminded her of the color of his eyes, and she batted the thought away, along with the foreboding pound of her heart. It was not good to appreciate Dan's handsomeness, which increased with every odd flicker of humanity in his face.
Paulina grabbed for fake eyelashes. "If he takes one look at you tonight, then you will end him."
She planted her elbow against the mirror to steady herself, a tick of self-consciousness tightening the line of her shoulders. Her eyes blinked with red contacts. "I just don't wanna tear my dress or break my heels to fight him," she murmured to herself.
"Oh, honey." Paulina's voice lilted up with great deviousness. "I don't think he'd mind if you tore your dress."
The main city square gleamed with bright orange lights streaming from building to building overhead, and classic Halloween music drifted in the air, echoing down several blocks. Children trick or treated from door to door while adults mingled in the square with tall glasses of alcohol.
Valerie hung back by the spiked punch bowl, leaning against a stone wall as she preened under the attention of several men. When she laughed, her blood-red lips split to reveal pearly fangs. "Of course," she was saying, half-lit. "Phantom doesn't take up all my time; a girl's gotta have fun, right?"
A handsome man leaned his elbow on the stone wall, quirking a sharp brow from beneath his musketeer hat. "I'd like to have some fun with you," he murmured.
She giggled in a way that she knew would grate on Dan's nerves, feeling dangerous and sexy and entirely on top of the world instead of lonely and exhausted. She reached out with her long, silk gloves to stroke the man's chin. He had a goatee that reminded her of Dan's. "Only if you can keep up with me," she said.
"Ooh," called a few surrounding men and women, raising their glasses in a decadent slosh of wine.
In the haze of joy, Valerie missed the internal beep from the nanoparticles swarming in her sluggish blood.
Administrator alert, beeped into her mind. Administrator alert.
Ectoplasmic signature rising.
Signature identified: Dan Phantom.
Valerie blinked, the joy of the glitter and lights and attention fading against the activated scroll of code in the back of her eye. She lowered her glass of wine just as a great white light sparked in the sky beyond the Shield, overtaking the moon.
Her full lips dropped open, and she inhaled.
The light slammed against the Shield, sparking in a supersonic blast that shook the buildings below. Lamps and decorations flickered on and off as adults and children alike dropped down, crying out. The Halloween tunes cut out in a screech.
Wine glasses and little plastic pumpkins full of wrapped candies crashed to the ground as the alarms sounded.
"Oh, shit," Valerie breathed out, eyes widening. "Oh, shit."
Another strong blast battered the Shield.
Administrator alert.
One of the main Shield towers flickered off. The lampposts flared red with a rotating flash, and safety pods activated in the street.
Dan Phantom slammed hard into the cobblestone walkway beyond the weakened Shield, splintering the earth in a quake. His white hair flickered in a swirl about his shoulders, the ragged edges of his cape flaring behind him like wings before settling back against him.
He sniffed as he readjusted one of his black gloves, wine eyes sliding to the humans running for cover. "Such fear," he preened in delight, "from all you who dress as the dead and yet have no tolerance for the real thing." And then he planted his hand against Shield.
It sparked against him, repelling his power. But he pushed through with a grimace, his fingers puncturing the thin barrier.
Valerie ran forward, heart pounding—her previous potential date nowhere to be found. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit." The movements tore her tight dress up to her thigh, but the alcohol in her system distorted the response of the nanoparticles of her battle suit.
A few panels of armor surged up beneath her skin in a sluggish way.
In the background, Dash—wearing a zombie costume of a dead football player—pulled a half-frightened, half-intrigued Paulina closer, pulling a blaster from his hidden side holster. "Time to go," he said, voice tight.
Paulina lightly resisted him, attempting to see beyond the square's statues to where Dan was breaking in. "Hold on," she called back. "I wanna see what he's gonna do."
Dash sputtered at her. "He's gonna try to kill everyone, that's what. And I'm not losing you."
Paulina turned back at him, her big blue eyes widening. "Oh," she said happily, "I love you too." And then she patted his cheek. "Now hide me behind that popcorn stand so I can see what Phantom does when he sees Valerie in her dress. I have three bets and a wager on my favorite hair curler that he'll melt."
Valerie's half-armored hands reached out to Dan's. "No, you don't," she cried in fury. "Don't you dare come in here, you sick—"
Dan grabbed onto her wrist in a deadlock. His long fingers were cool and firm, and he yanked her beyond the Shield.
She yelped in surprise, stumbling through the cold filaments of the Shield only to find herself backed against the trunk of a tree. The air wheezed out of her, the world spinning from the corset tied around her and the alcohol blurring her senses.
Dan grabbed onto her shoulders, planting her back firmly.
The material of his gloves slid against bare skin. And it was then, with her chest heaving from her run, that the powerful ghost faltered. His hands slacked as his red eyes roved over her, lowering to the bright bling of her diamond necklace and the exceptionally feminine curve of her breasts.
"You're not in your turtle shell," he accused, voice halted in consternation.
On instinct, she grabbed for the low line of her dress, face flaming up. "What are you doing?" she retorted. "And what the hell was that—a new power?"
The ghost ignored her, inspecting her with even greater interest. "Your eyes are red like mine, no doubt from contacts." She held still, breath ragged as he leaned in, his gloved thumb brushing across her full lower lip. The action was slow and soft, as if she were glass. "And you have fangs, like mine."
His touch sparked a strange fizzle down her spine. She swallowed hard, fighting to control her maddening heartbeat.
Her battle suit was still not responding. He could shoot her dead.
Instead, Dan eyed her in a playfulness. "You are a vampire on this night," he said. "How strange to discover that you partake in festivities with the insects who worship you. When did Amity Park get resources to manufacture false teeth?"
Valerie's gaze narrowed, the moon slipping behind thick clouds above them. "I'll bite you with them," she warned.
His mouth split, revealing sharp, real fangs of his own. He still held her chin, and his touch remained firm but without threat. "Oh, Valerie. Go ahead and try it—but you should know that ghosts are impervious to the wiles of a fellow undead. And I would like it, besides."
She did not pull away from him, heart still pounding, eyes wide.
His fingers slid from her, almost reluctantly. Her chin angled on instinct to catch the last vestige of his touch. "But you make for a beautiful vampire, even if you are subdued by alcohol."
It was not the first time they had touched without malice, or the first time he had complimented her.
A part of her heart preened in want for it.
Valerie's attempts to call her battle suit grew half-hearted as Dan's own energy relaxed around her, his eyes no longer carrying the threat of imminent destruction. "You made me drop my glass," she said. In her fury, she poked his chest hard. "And I lost a hot date because of you, thanks a lot."
Dan's moods always careened between extremes, such that his face lit with both mischief and disgust. "A date with one of the humans here?" He leaned in his voice a vibration against her ear. "Be careful while you're drinking, for many covet you."
His fingers slid in the barest touch against her hip.
She searched his face and said, voice wavering, "How would you know?"
The ghost brushed his nose against her ringlet curls, inhaling her scent and the intoxicating scent of wine before pulling away. "As a superior being, my hearing is excellent, and so I know all the secrets the insects whisper to each other in the town square." He pouted. "Including that you are a rather popular wet-dream."
Valerie's jaw dropped, and she made a noise of indignation. "Oh, so that's what this is about? You attacked tonight because another guy talked to me?"
His pout hardened into a glare, and he bared a fang at her. "No. In fact, it was the awful sound of music and laughter. All the voices echoing in a grating barrage." He waved a hand at the wavering Shield. "If you wish to entertain yourself soaked in sin and surrounded by a guffawing harem, that is your choice, but take care not to awaken the dead."
"Oh." She straightened her shoulders, face hot as she glared back at him. "Oh, excuse me? Do you mean that you attacked my town and nearly tore down the Shield over a noise complaint?"
He said, his voice an annoyed boom, "I'd like to submit a formal report, in fact."
Over the past years, Dan had taken to sleeping for extended times—as a means of disconnecting from himself and passing time between his tantrums over the continued existence of the human race. It meant that Amity Park and satellite cities would go weeks without an attack while he slept in one of his many hidden lairs across the planet or in the Ghost Zone.
Valerie surged forward, managing a harsh laugh of consternation. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me. I've got 10,000 people cowering in fear on a holiday because of you. Don't be such a grinch."
The powerful ghost crossed his arms. "The Grinch is a character from Christmas cartoons, not Halloween. And he furthermore joined them in their festivities, whereas I do not seek such."
Valerie mirrored his posture, quirking an eyebrow. "The Grinch originally wanted to end the party, and look where that got him."
Dan leaned forward, and his nose nearly brushed against her own. "Perhaps, but you would never allow me into Amity Park."
Her breath puffed against his. A small ache slipped through her at the closeness—the deep, intimate curiosity between them. "I wouldn't," she agreed.
He blinked, a strange flicker of emotion darting across his face. He pulled away airily. "And so the Grinch sleeps in the wastelands. Now the world is quiet, and you are not afflicted with the attentions of the unworthy. They will only disappoint you, as humans do."
She turned to Amity Park, its once-merry streets abandoned, the sirens having turned off with the re-stabilization of the Shield. The orange lights strung between buildings had flickered back on. "Why do you hate Amity Park so much?" she asked. "What did it do to you, that you can't let anyone here even have fun?"
Dan, like all ghosts, grew defensive at any mention of his deepest obsessions. The joy in his eyes drained as he stepped back, the edges of his cape hissing about him. "What does it matter to you? You would defend your home to your last breath, regardless of its sordid secrets."
"And what sordid secrets are those?" she demanded, voice straining. "It's just a Halloween party. We weren't even expanding territory, which is usually the noise that brings you knocking."
His breath—an all-too-human remnant within him—hitched. "I hate it when Amity Park expands, and I hate that this city distorts the horizon at all."
Valerie stepped forward, silently snapping out her fangs, which reduced the dangerous edge about her and enhanced her terrible humanness. When she glanced up, her red-contact eyes were deep and open. "But it's not really me you want to hurt, or else I'd be already be dead tonight."
Dan held her gaze as he huffed, still unsettled. "You're hardly a worthy opponent without your protective shell. It would be far too easy to snap your neck."
"It's something about the people thriving here," she said. "That's what really bothers you, isn't it? Because when we're weak or unhappy, you don't care to attack."
The ghost backed away again, face shadowing. He bared a fang in warning. "You tread dangerous ground. Go back to your harem of men and drip more wine upon yourself in your revelries, for I can tolerate your excesses far better than your miserable attempts to analyze me."
A tense silence remained between them as the Halloween music restarted, wafting back over the air. In the open wastelands, the cool October air ruffled against Valerie's ringlet curls and her torn skirt. "You ruined the mood," she said, voice petulant and quiet as she crossed her arms. "And my dress. And it won't be the same."
"Good," he retorted. "Especially regarding the state of your dress." His eyes lowered to the slit up the side seam, revealing a shadow of Valerie's long leg. He looked away, a strange surge of a green blush upon his cheeks. "You will be self-conscious in front of your harem and will not carry on as you were."
Without preamble, she readjusted the sweetheart neckline of her dress in front of him, eyeing his blush. "I worked really hard to look this good, you know," she pouted. "And now I don't have a date anymore because you ran them all off."
The powerful ghost huffed. "What do you want me to do about it?"
Valerie snapped her fangs back in with a click. "Well," she said, voice turning with a petulance, "I suppose I could make do with you."
He turned to her, eyes wide as his flush deepened to the tips of his elfin ears. "What?"
She reached out with her gloved fingers, daring to touch his chest. Dan was solid, with corded muscle pliant and cool beneath her touch. She leaned in with a sultry tease. "But you'd have to take me somewhere nice, since you ruined the party here."
"The alcohol has corrupted your thoughts," Dan said, voice halted as he clasped his fingers over hers. "You would never truly desire me of your own free will."
His touch left a tingle upon her skin, and she swallowed hard before she managed a weak glare. "Don't tell me what to think," she retorted.
Neither pulled away.
His fingers—having crushed entire civilizations—ticked against hers, caressing down her gloved knuckles, curious of her lines without armor. "You would desire a man's attention so desperately, that you would accept it from me?"
Valerie's expression faltered, even as she held his gaze. "In case you haven't noticed," she said, voice wavering, "it's always just us in the end."
Around them, both the windswept wastelands and Amity Park remained empty. No one had followed Valerie in hopes to help her, instead choosing to huddle belowground for safety.
No ghost had dared to wander Dan's territories either.
His hand slid from hers to grasp her chin. "My steadfast companion," he murmured. "Is that why you wear fake fangs and appear to me defenseless in a risqué dress—because you knew I would attack, and this is some new wile to seduce me away from destruction?"
"Don't flatter yourself," she deadpanned, raising a sculpted eyebrow. "I don't need a skimpy dress to do that."
It fell silent between them as his fingers slid down her jaw, along her pulsing carotid artery. Her human heart pounded hard—in fear, in arousal, neither knew. "No, you do not." He leaned in, pressing his cool forehead against hers. The action sparked goosebumps over her skin as his white hair slipped against her cheeks. "You are the sole reason this city still stands, and my sole relief from the anger that moves me."
The confession hung softly between them before he pulled away, a serious overcoming him. "But your dress is not flight-worthy to take you somewhere nice."
Valerie made a strangled noise and looked down, face heating. "I know."
His mouth stretched wide with mischief. "So, you want to be exposed with me, then?"
"It was a joke," she retorted. He reached for her, and she nimbly recoiled away, giving him a look. "Don't you dare. Don't even dare."
He laughed, and it carried a merry, bell-like quality to it. "Oh, what a hypocrite you are." The next thing she knew, his presence a stark cold against her skin. He added in her ear, "Very well, I demand a sacrifice of Milky Ways for staying my hand. Leave them by this tree before midnight, and I will not attack again until after the Day of the Dead."
And then Dan dematerialized into a wisp, the air about her heated back to a pleasant fall wind, leaving her alone in the wastelands by the Shield.
Valerie deadpanned to the sky, eyebrows flying up, "Milky Way candy bars? Are you serious?" The wind carried her voice along, echoing it across buildings and trees, but she did not know whether Dan or anyone else could hear it.
She looked down at herself with a sigh before a strangled laugh escaped her. In the moonlight, her diamond necklace glittered along with her as she tossed her windblown curls over her bare shoulder. "Only because I don't wanna rip my dress any more than I have to," she said. "Your costume for Halloween sucks, by the way."
Still no response.
In time, Valerie walked back through the cold Shield, the shreds of her skirt fluttering against bare legs, but with great thankfulness that by some miracle, her heels hadn't broken in her run. As she entered the town square, she found the wine coolers tipped over on a table, and she grabbed one, screwing off the top to down a good portion.
The Shield was mostly a lie. She knew now that Phantom could weaken it and tear it down, and likely was in some way watching as she sat down on the steps of the town square by herself.
And then with a whimsical air, she grabbed onto a half-empty bag of Milky Ways and unwrapped one.
She bit into it with her fangs, her blood red lips stretching with mischief.
She'd set the bag outside by the trees. Eventually.
A/N: Happy Halloween 2023, everyone! I wrote this during lunch breaks at work in a blur, lol, after some friends challenged me to do some Dark Gray Halloween content with Valerie in a lowcut dress. It's a bit shorter than other recent writings, but I hope it's at least a little something to help celebrate the holiday! I don't think there's very many Dark Gray fans remaining on this website, but I'm planning to continue updating here even as I work later this year to get Deliverance up on AO3 for concurrent postings. Still have lots of ideas to write for the disaster couple!
In the meantime, I hope you all have a happy holiday if you celebrate and that you're staying safe and healthy!
Please review and let me know what you think! Thank you!