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With the flick of his wrist Vlad Plasmius tossed the limp, smoking body of that pesky ghost boy through the closed door and out into the hallway. How dare that goody-two-shoes idiot follow his prey from Amity Park? What, were the Fentons haunted and just too stupid to realize it? He wouldn't put it past Jack but surely Maddie would be at least that observant.
Hmmph. Although she was unobservant enough to turn down the better man, wasn't she?
Vlad gave a tired smirk into the darkness. No matter. Tomorrow all his long months of planning would bear fruit and finally he would have the lovely Maddie at his side, a rare songbird in a world of hounds. He phased through the door to finish off this pesky little...
He stopped dead in his tracks as he saw a white ring flash around the ghost boy's waist.
Oh my god...
Vlad watched in amazement as those rings swept up and down the boy's battered frame, replacing the black hazmat suit and white gloves with flannel pajamas and bare feet. White hair turned black, framing soft features not yet ravaged by puberty. He was...
"The ghost boy is Jack's son?" he demanded.
There was no answer from the silent hallway. Instead he found his mind allowing itself to feel something he'd lost twenty years ago. Something he'd long ago given up hope of ever feeling again.
I... I'm not alone...
Plasmius gave over to Masters as he shifted forms. "Well, what do you know..." he said. Wonder, joy, hysterical laughter all warred in his voice under a veneer of ironic amusement. He scooped the boy up into his arms and held him bridal-style. He couldn't stop himself from laying his head on the boy's skinny chest. Glee rushed through him as he heard the steady thump of a heartbeat, the slow rush of air into and out of lungs, the almost imperceptible rushing hum of a ghostly core.
Vlad changed back to Plasmius, the better to fly without waking such a precious creature. He flew off to his bedroom, barely perceptible laughter giving him a demented grin.
He was about to lay Daniel onto silk and satin before he remembered where the boy was supposed to be sleeping. "Right," he said to no one before swooping off again to a sparsely furnished little guest room. As soon as his plans succeeded he was definitely going to be giving the boy better quarters. He deserved better. Young Daniel deserved everything Vlad himself was never able to have in his first years as a hybrid: security, safety, luxury, and of course the guidance he'd need to learn to control himself and his powers without putting lives, sanity, and secrecy in danger. Vlad could give Daniel that. He would keep the boy, yes, keep him.
Keep him so neither of them would ever have to be alone. Yes, never alone again...
The demented grin was back as Vlad burst into the boy's empty room. He tore the covers back and set Daniel on the bed, arranging him into a comfortable position. He laid his head down on the boy's chest once again to listen to that wonderful miracle, that human heart beating in harmony with a ghostly core. He kissed the boy's forehead and pulled the sheets over him as though he slept on the coroner's slab.
"Good night, little badger," Vlad whispered. And yet he couldn't turn away and leave. This was still so new, so total, such a completely new development that he couldn't turn away. What if this was another dream? What if it wasn't real? What if he was too hard disciplining the boy and he died?
Plasmius turned back to Masters. Vlad had the feeling that his ghost half was unwilling to put up with such idiotic questioning. Fate had brought the boy here. That's all there was to it. Fate herself had given this beautiful jewel to him, this precious hybrid, this sole voice in a world of tweeting birds and barking dogs. He would not let it get away.
"I will keep you," he whispered.
"No...." came the moan from under the covers.
At first Vlad bristled. How dare he refuse... Then he realized the boy might just be dreaming. The figure under the covers started thrashing. A nightmare then. Vlad stepped back into the doorway but still couldn't bring himself to leave.
"No... No, no... No! Get away!" Danny screamed himself awake and tore the covers off of him. He looked around the room, expecting to still find himself at the mercy of that terrifyingly powerful ghost with the hateful red eyes...
How? "Huh? Where am I? What happened?" How did I get back here?
Vlad took a deep breath and stepped out from underneath the doorway. "I was going to ask you the same question, young man," he said. He allowed himself to approach to the foot of the bed, knowing that if he got any closer he'd have to listen to the boy's chest again and wouldn't that be awkward to explain.
That was some dream... Danny searched his mind for some sort of excuse, something to explain away the screaming. "I..." Think, man, think! "...must have been worn out from the long car trip." That'll work. Please fall for it... "I-I'll be okay in the morning. I'm sorry for the scare."
Vlad couldn't help but smile at the excuse the boy came up with. Such potential... "Oh what's a little scare between friends, son, hmm? Sleep tight, little badger." He dragged himself out of the room as Daniel gave a nervous little smile and curled up to go back to sleep.
The door closed softly behind him. "Yes, sleep tight," he purred to the darkness.
Let Daniel sleep. Vlad would not see his bed again tonight. The reunion was tomorrow and he needed to revise his plans. He would keep the boy for his very own. He would make sure that Daniel never had to face the world knowing he was utterly alone.
Daniel would never know what it was like to be a single voice among the tittering of birds and the baying of hounds. Vlad would make sure of it.