Chapter 10

Danny carefully watched Vlad's reaction, and he was relieved to see that it didn't seem as if the man was refusing to tell him.

The man also looked slightly guilty and that was enough to make Danny worry, but not overly so, as he'd long ago noticed the little tells that Vlad exhibited when he truly messed up, "Well, just say it as it is…"

The man nodded, although he still looked a bit unsure as he spoke, "You've heard about the Ghost King?"

Danny frowned for a moment, "I think I've heard about him…though when I asked the ghost that mentioned it, they refused to say anything more."

Vlad nodded, "Understandable. Well, from what I've gathered, he was a tyrannical ruler who seemed to enjoy the pain of others until he was locked away. The thing is, some idiotic ghost decided to try and steal that power for themselves and they accidentally set him free, leaving him to rule the Ghost Zone once more."

Danny's eyes narrowed at this, "And does this ghost happen to go by the name of Plasmius?"

The affronted look on Vlad's face was enough to give him his answer as the man gaped at him in indignation, "If I wanted to rule over a bunch of imbecilic ghosts I would have done so a long time ago!"

Unfortunately, he sensed a 'but' in that sentence, "So who tried to steal it and why?"

Vlad sighed before he dragged his fingers through his hair, causing Danny to get slightly distracted as he wondered whether the man's hair felt as soft as it looked, but Vlad's words snapped his attention back to the man, only to notice the man blushing a bright red, "Well, I might have enlisted that specific ghost's help to try and get the ring. I thought that, even if you couldn't wear it, it would be enough to show you that I wasn't as evil as you thought. I was trying to fix the bad impression I realized I'd made when you found out about me, but then it backfired when the ghost tried to become the Ghost King instead."

Danny tried to push down any fuzzy feelings that Vlad's words had caused as he fixed him with a stare, "And what does this have to do with ghosts constantly trying to hunt me down?"

Vlad's gaze visibly hardened in anger, "The Fright Knight was called out and he proposed a contest of sorts to make a new guard for the Ghost King."

Danny slightly tilted his head, "I still don't see what that has to do with me."

The older halfa grimaced, "Your constant heroic antics have basically marked you as 'the one to beat' according to the ghosts so they are all trying to be the one that could say that they beat you."

Okay, so Danny wasn't happy about that at all and for a moment he debated on actually telling Vlad that, but the man looked so guilty and detached that it took a few moments for him to realize that Vlad actually expected him to fly into a rage even though the man had only tried to show him that he'd changed.

So instead he settled for a frown, "But if that is the case then why wouldn't they be after you as well?"

Vlad looked at him with a strange expression on his face, "Because they all think that I am simply another ghost that you've beaten?"

Danny gave a wry grin, "Oh…yeah. So I'm guessing it wouldn't help if I simply lost against someone because then they would be the ones that are targeted?"

The older man raised a brow, "I would love nothing more if you did something like that, but I also know that you wouldn't so I refused to let the idea fester in my mind. Our only other option would be to seal him again, although that would take a lot of planning, hence the reason I also arranged for you to stay over because it would keep you safe."

Danny nodded before a thought occurred to him, "Oh! I almost forgot…do you know why we were unable to drag in energy from the Ghost Zone during the attack?"

Vlad paused and frowned before he shook his head, "I don't, though I will be spending some time to find out."

Danny nodded, "I'll help with that if it's ok…"

He received an almost blinding smile in return, "I suppose that would be fine. I did mention to your principal that you were helping me with a very important project so that you can stay where I can keep an eye on you."

Danny playfully pouted, "You make it sound like I get stuck in dangerous situations all the time!"

This caused Vlad to laugh, "That may be because you actually manage to constantly get yourself stuck in the strangest situations, but don't worry, I will only be stalking you constantly from this point on until the threat is resolved."

Danny rolled his eyes in amusement before he held up his hand with a lightly clenched fist and his pinkie raised like a hook while trying to ignore the thundering of his heart in his chest, "Pinkie swear?"

For a moment he thought that Vlad was going to ignore it, but the man merely grinned and hooked his pinkie with his own, "Pinkie swear."

Both of them tried to ignore the relief of feeling the other's skin against theirs and Danny decided, in a moment of utter brave silliness, to pull the older man closer and throw his arms around Vlad's middle in a hug while burying his head in the man's chest in embarrassment.

A muffled, "Thank you," sounded out before he tried to pull away, only for Vlad's arms to momentarily tighten around him, "You're welcome…"

Neither of them bothered to look too closely at the fact that they stayed like that for quite a while afterward…at least until Vlad complained about the awkward angle, only to find that Danny was already fast asleep (not really, he was acting) and since Vlad couldn't free himself (he didn't even really try or go ghost), he laid them back and fell asleep like that until the next morning.