Notes: So I had a very busy week, which meant I could barely find time to write. The school was acting up again, this time targeting my daughter by giving her a written warning for wetting her hair during a hot sports day, but that means that instead of her schooling being included in my salary, they are just going to simply take away half of my salary and use it on whatever they want even though it says on the payslip that I am practically paying for it anyway. So now we want to start homeschooling her for now, but that also means I must find a different job because we wouldn't be able to pay rent never mind buy food and pay for her schooling with the tip they pay me.

On a more positive note, our dojo attended the Eastern Cape Karate tournament and I was actually able to experience a fight for the first time in my life, though the woman I fought against was a few belts above me and therefore really liked kicking and punching in the face while we were told to NOT touch the face and NOT to kick…so I got my ass handed to me seeing as we only had 3 weeks of Kumite (fighting) training but the whole experience was amazing so I am definitely going to train harder and go again next time

Chapter 4

Vlad glanced at the young man beside him in the car and he couldn't help but feel pleased with himself at how things had turned out. What was going to be a long, boring night, suddenly seemed promising and it would conveniently allow him to take care of a few other annoyances if Danny made an appearance with him.

He knew that Danny was being bullied at school and although he loathed the thought of being called an uncle rather than something closer, the title would ensure that people thought twice before acting, and if that didn't work…well...Plasmius would be delighted to teach them why it was a bad idea to act above their station.

His thoughts turned somber as he remembered the previous night. His bugs had been planted at the facility to ensure that anyone with a connection to the place met their demise as soon as they tried to retrieve some of the information. Luckily he'd already programmed them to ensure that Danny, and to his irritation Danny's friends, wouldn't be targeted by the bugs, which is lately one of the main reasons he collected his DNA, or he was sure that the young halfa wouldn't have survived the amount of venom he'd placed in their stingers.

The bugs had merely alerted him to the young man's appearance at the facility and he'd rushed there as fast as he could to try and stop the younger halfa from entering the rooms that he hadn't managed to clear out yet as he'd still been busy trying to catalog each threat while he could, but Danny's discovery of the place forced him to destroy it before the young halfa could somehow get himself hurt or captured in something that Vlad couldn't get him out of.

He gritted his teeth and his knuckles became white on the steering wheel at the thought of the scientists getting their hands on Danny. It had been way too close for comfort a few months ago and if it hadn't been for Clockwork's warning…

"Uhm, Vlad? Is everything ok?"

The unexpected question jolted him from his thoughts and the car swerved dangerously before he expertly righted it again, scowling at himself for not paying attention to his surroundings. The silence next to him had him glancing to the side, only to see Danny sitting awkwardly close to the door as if Vlad was about to turn into a raving beast at any moment.

The thought had him mentally chuckling even though the sound seemed quite hollow and he forced himself to relax as he reminded himself that Danny still saw them as enemies, "Just a few annoyances that need to be taken care of, nothing more."

The answering look of alarm on the young halfa's face confused him for a moment, but then he remembered Danny's friends and chuckled, "Annoyances much greater than your friends, Daniel. At the moment the schemes that the three of you come up with are at the bottom of my list. Unless…you want me to start hunting them down? Your friend Sam looks like she would be into something akin to a vampire attack…"

Vlad grinned unrepentantly at the glare he received, purposefully allowing his ghostly fangs to flash twice, at least until something dark flashed over Danny's expression for a second and Vlad had to blink slightly as he tried to decipher it, but couldn't.

Vlad turned his attention back to the road and his expression became more serious, "Calm down, I won't do anything to your friends. My goal has only ever been you."

Vlad flinched slightly at the way it sounded, but for some reason, he only seemed to gain Danny's attention instead of a full rant and being called all sorts of undesirable names, so he cautiously continued, "I had never met anyone else like me, in fact, I thought I was the only one until I learned about you. I honestly thought you were a ghost until that fight. I can't say that I would have gone easier on you if I had known, but, knowing that there was someone like me made me act with more caution than I initially did, as well as more recklessness when it comes to getting you to join me."

$$$$Danny Fenton & Vlad Masters$$$$

Danny didn't know what to say to that, but he remembered how it felt to suddenly realize what he'd been turned into. He gazed down at his hands. Before Sam and Tucker found out he'd mostly taken his anger out on the ghosts he fought because it had been their existence that led to it, but as any boy his age at the time, it had also been 'cool' to suddenly have his very own superpowers.

Now that he was older though, there were a lot of questions he had about how it is going to influence his life ahead. Looking at Vlad, even though the man was well into his 50s already, he still looked like he was in his mid to late thirties, which could only have been caused by being half ghost.

A thought occurred to Danny and he froze before turning, "What if we stop aging after a certain time?"

Vlad froze as well, but then a pitying expression crossed his face as he glanced at Danny before turning his attention back to the road, "Unfortunately it seems we do, Little Badger…I haven't aged at all since I turned 35. It had been one of the reasons for my excitement when I discovered you because of the thought of spending an eternity alone…well…you've seen how it can change people from those movies your Goth friend likes to watch. People weren't meant to live an eternity and even ghosts wither after a certain time but with our two halves looping back on each other, 'killing' us every time we "go ghost" as you put it, and then with our human halves being 'reborn' from the ghost, we are essentially repeating the cycle every time we change."

Danny felt all the blood drain from his face at the words. Sure, the idea of being able to live for so long sounded awesome at first, but he was going to watch his parents, his sister, and his friends die while he stayed whatever age he…no…his accident had been different than Vlad's so maybe he wouldn't stop aging.

Vlad seemed to sense the direction his thoughts went as his shoulders slumped in relief, but the man merely shook his head, "I analyzed your DNA, Daniel, it is slowly but surely halting your aging process and by my estimation, you will stop aging at 25."

Danny didn't have any time to react to that statement because Vlad brought the car to a stop and Danny's eyes widened as he saw the masses of cars parked outside the building.

He nervously eyed Vlad as he got out of the car, surely the man wasn't serious. He subtly tested his powers and found to his surprise and relief that they had returned, but then Vlad opened his door for him and held out a hand, "Come on, Daniel. Your friends are here so you might as well join them. I can take the three of you home afterward…if you want to continue this conversation that is."

Danny internally sighed but then nodded and allowed Vlad to help him out of the car even though he seethed about it afterward because he wasn't a bloody woman damn it!

He then followed Vlad to the door of the building and the man seemed to seamlessly merge with his clone that had been standing in the doorway as if surveying the party while getting a breath of fresh air.

Danny hated to admit it to himself, but he was quite impressed with the natural way that Vlad seemed to use his powers even when around other people, but he got sidetracked as his two friends showed up, wide-eyed and worried while glancing at Vlad and Danny only now realized that the man was suddenly standing behind him with a hand on his back. When had the man gone from standing in front of me to behind me?

He rolled his eyes and then shook his head at his friends before mouthing 'Just go with it for now'. His friends, already intimately aware of the strange things that seemed to happen to Danny, simply nodded, but they continued to keep a sharp eye on the pair as Vlad dragged Danny around the room to introduce him.

Danny was simply happy there was no dancing involved as he was sure that Vlad would find some excuse to drag him onto the dance floor, but true to his word Vlad merely mingled before excusing himself, citing that he had to get his 'nephew' and his friends to bed, much to the enthusiasm of Sam's parents as they suddenly seemed to look at Daniel in a new light and Sam was quick to get them all moving before her parents proposed that she and Danny get engaged or something.

Tucker and Danny laughed at her expense as they left the building, but Danny was confused to find that Vlad looked anything but amused. Instead, it looked like he was about to go back and turn Sam's parents into ecto-goo so he hooked his arm into the man's and practically dragged him to the car.

Not that the man offered much resistance and Danny looked up to find that the man was looking at their linked arms in shock. Danny quickly moved to let go, just in case the man was freaking out about the spectacle it would be if people saw, but the man tightened his arm to stop him, which led Danny to a much different conclusion as he suddenly felt what Vlad must have felt.

His ghost core was humming and he felt it even though his ghost core shouldn't be active at the moment.