Goth Cereal Continues

by CallMeInsidious

Summary:

After the events of 'and so we band together', Vlad finds himself the proud godparent of FOUR teenagers. He's never been happier. The teens have never been more weirded out. Chaos and shenanigans will continue to ensue.

Notes:

I wanted more Goth Cereal and so here we are. I have no regrets.

Chapter 1

 

 

Vlad pulled his car up to the curb in front of FentonWorks and controlled his instinctive shudder at the sheer amount of ambient plasma in the air. He really needed to show Daniel how to lock that damned portal down.

Vlad stared at the steering wheel until a text chimed softly on his phone.

Jasmine: Ready?

No, he was most decidedly not ready, but it needed to be done regardless. Vlad took several deep, supposedly calming breaths, and exited the car. He was wearing a suit today because not only was the familiarity comforting, but it also felt like armor. And Vlad knew he was going to be sorely in need of armor as this conversation progressed.

He moved up the steps of FentonWorks and politely knocked on the door. After what felt like an eternity but was an objective two minutes, the door swung open.

“Hello Madeline, how lovely to see you again,” Vlad immediately greeted.

He could see the tightness in the woman’s stance. The absolute reluctance, nay repugnance, of being in his presence.

“Vlad,” she said shortly.

He almost faltered then and there, but Jasmine’s encouraging thumbs up from behind her mother gave him just enough courage to begin.

“I came to apologize to you,” Vlad began. “I have been holding on to some…a lot of bitterness from the past. Bitterness which I took out on you and Jack. I have wasted everyone’s time not dealing with my issues like an adult, and I have…Madeline, I have stopped treating you like a person,” he admitted softly. “I’m sorry. I made you into an object to get back at Jack and that will stop now.”

Maddie stared at him. Shocked perhaps. Confused as well? He could hardly blame her. The him of a year ago could never have even thought such things much less said them. What was it the kids said? Progress ftw?

Maddie continued to stare at him, and Vlad’s stance tightened as her face slowly darkened with anger. He deserved that. He knew that. He would listen to what she had to say regardless of how much it would cost him personally.

“What do you want from this, Vlad?” Maddie said finally.

Vlad stopped himself from reaching out, knowing that wouldn’t be taken well here. He clasped his hands together in front of him, carefully keeping his grip light and easy despite wanting to drive nails into his own skin from the distrust and disgust radiating from her.

“It’s an apology, Maddie,” Vlad said slowly. “I needed to, well, I needed to say it. I don’t need anything else except that.”
“So if I told you never to come back here again would you leave?” Maddie asked, crossing her hands over her chest.

Vlad’s core sent a shock of pain through his body so strong his skin paled in reaction, and he wobbled. Jasmine made an abortive move toward him, but he waved her back. Maddie paused and glanced back, only then seeming to realize they had an observer.

“Uncle Vlad-”
“I’m fine, Jasmine. Just…fine,” Vlad assured the teen quickly. He took another steadying breath and met Maddie’s furious eyes. “That is a discussion to be had between you and Jack, Maddie. I’ll abide by whatever you two decide. It’s a request you have every right to make.”

Maddie gazed at him for another long moment before abruptly nodding and walking back into the house. Jazz hesitated, looking from one adult to the other.

“Go, Jasmine,” Vlad said softly. “I’ll see you later this week. And thank you for helping me with this.”
“Vlad, you look terrible,” she said, still not moving.
“It’s just my core, Jasmine. I’ll be fine.”
“That’s not as encouraging as you think it is,” the young woman said dryly. “It’s the equivalent of a human saying ‘it’s just my heart that stopped beating for a few moments’.”

Vlad couldn’t help the brief smile that crossed his face.

“It’s not quite the equivalent, but I see your meaning. I will be fine, let's say.”

He paused as his phone vibrated. He tugged it out then looked back at Jasmine.

“It’s Samantha.”
“Good,” Jazz said, relief obvious in her eyes. “Go home, Uncle Vlad.”
“Yes Jasmine. Thank you again.”

The young woman shook her head but stepped inside the house and closed the door. Vlad pressed the phone to his ear as he carefully negotiated the steps down to his car.

“Samantha,” he said warmly.
“Vlad, what the fuck happened,” Sam demanded.
“I’m fine,” he assured as he unlocked the car.
“Don’t bullshit me,” the teen warned. “Your core let out the equivalent of an air raid siren. I had to run out of class with a Danny level excuse to call.”
“Samantha, you can go back to class, I’m fine,” Vlad quickly assured as he scooted into the car and closed the door behind him.
“Right sure as soon as you tell me what happened.”

Vlad sighed as he started the car but briefly explained his planned encounter with Maddie. The teen was silent on the other end for a few moments.

“I’m proud of you,” she said at last. “Also you’re lucky she didn’t kick your ass.”
“I’m aware and also aware it would be deserved. Now, you really should get back to class.”
“I’m coming over later,” Sam warned.
“And I’ll be more than happy to see you,” Vlad said genuinely. “I’ll be at home for the rest of the day.”

He felt a ripple of worry from the teen. She knew his schedule and that he tended to stay later at the office unless it was the weekend.

“I’m fine,” he reminded. “I knew this wouldn’t be an easy conversation so I gave myself the afternoon off. I cleared it with Mrs. Caine beforehand.”
“Only because you didn’t want to get yelled at. That woman is terrifying,” Sam muttered.
“Just so. Now go, Samantha.”
“See you later, Vlad.”

The teen hung up and Vlad tossed the phone into the passenger seat before letting his head fall back against the seat. He sat there for a good ten minutes before his breathing was steady enough to drive again, and he slowly drove away from FentonWorks, wondering if it would be the last time he would see it.

~~~

That same afternoon found Vlad and three of his teens gathered in the gold and green packer’s den inside his mansion, watching old replays together. Well, Vlad was watching them. The teens were roasting each other and him when he bothered to pay attention.

He sat on the right side of the couch while Sam sat in the middle between him and Danny. This was the seating arrangement that seemed to cause the least amount of arguments between both halfas. Tucker was currently occupied with Vlad’s hair as he stood behind the couch and carefully braided through the silver hair. The teen had a copious amount of experience braiding his younger siblings hair and had promised to try a new style for Vlad for his first ‘Casual Friday’ at the office.

To say that Vlad was nervous about it would be an understatement.

You already apologized to Madeline and cut what is likely the final ties between you, Vlad scolded himself mentally. Casual Friday should be incredibly easy in comparison.

“Vlad? Hey Vlad? Hey Fruitloop?!”

Vlad slowly tore his attention away from the tv at Sam’s call.

“You ready for tomorrow?” she asked again.
“I beg your pardon?”

She and Danny rolled their eyes together. It would have been cute that the little couple was so in sync if they didn’t use it to constantly annoy everyone around them.

“I told you he wasn’t listening,” Danny said. “Put football on the tv and he pays zero attention to anything else.”
“I thought only Tucker was that bad,” Vlad said mildly.
“I am not!” the other teen protested.
“You are,” Danny and Sam said together.

Vlad just sighed and paused the replay.

“What is it, Samantha?”
“Are you ready for casual friday tomorrow,” she sighed back.
“That would depend on Mr. Foley’s work, I’m sure.”
“If you would stop moving around, it would be easier,” Tucker sassed back.

Vlad returned his head to the correct position with a sigh, but he was smiling as he did so.

“Yes, I am. You’ve already seen the outfit, Samantha.”
“I just wanted to double check. Make sure today didn’t put off the plan.”
“Today? What about today?” Danny asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” Sam told him. “Stay in your lane.”

The teen grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. Sam rolled her eyes and leaned in, pecking his lips. Tucker and Vlad pretended not to notice Danny’s sudden flush of embarrassment.

After the semi-disastrous band concert, Samantha had been pestering Vlad about wearing his new clothes out of the house. Vlad drew the line at the punk rock clothes leaving his house unless he was in disguise. He did, however, compromise with a casual jean and dress shirt combo for Friday. Just to try.

“Done,” Tucker announced.

Before Vlad could get up to check a mirror, Danny created an ice mirror for him. Vlad turned his head slowly from one side to the other. Tucker had pulled the top third into a thick braid about halfway down his head. Below that, a series of small braids blended with the rest of Vlad’s hair, laying free on his shoulders..

“I like it,” Vlad said, smiling at the teen in the mirror. “Thank you, Tucker.”
“Erm, uh, n-no problem,” Tucker all but squeaked in response.

Everyone politely ignored the way he got tongue-tied whenever the older halfa complimented him. Everyone except for Sam, who snickered audibly. This inevitably led to another argument between the two which Vlad ignored, leaning closer to Danny.

“Your elemental powers are coming along nicely,” he said, gesturing to the mirror as Danny reabsorbed it.
“It’s easier to do when it’s calm like this,” the teen said, shrugging a little. “It’s harder when plasma bolts are coming at my head.”
“We could practice if you like? This Friday after school?” Vlad offered only for Tucker to shriek in dismay, interrupting his argument with Sam.
“No! Your hair!!!”
“We could practice Friday after school,” Vlad corrected, amused.
“I…could find that amenable,” Danny said slowly.

Amendable? Tucker and Sam mouthed as one.

Vlad had to fight a sudden urge to laugh which he knew Samantha felt because she smirked at him.

“Then I will meet you in the training room. I have a meeting until 5 so I could order in if you wish?”

It was still a tricky balance between himself and Danny. Vlad understood why, of course. But he had been trying to show his commitment to this new, better relationship between them by letting the younger halfa call more of the shots when they met. Where they met. How often. Etc. It had been difficult at first, giving up that control, but now Vlad found it much easier to offer.

“Could we get Nasty Burgers?” Danny asked hopefully.
“I’d planned on eating real food, actually,” Vlad grimaced.

Danny rolled his eyes skyward.

“It is real food.”
“No, it’s not,” Vlad and Sam said together.

She held out her hand for a hi-five, and Vlad reluctantly hit it with his own.

“This is still so weird to watch,” Tucker muttered, moving to sandwich himself next to Danny at the end of the couch.
“Trust me, I am well aware of the oddity,” Vlad said with a sigh.
“I’m a joy and a delight,” Sam insisted.
“I’ve yet to see it, Miss Manson.”
“I find you cute clothes and help you with your makeup?”
“Much more accurate.”

Sam leaned her head against Vlad’s shoulder as she twined her fingers with Danny’s.

 

Chapter 2

 

 

Vlad took one last look in the mirror then forced himself to turn away. It wasn’t going to get any better (or worse) staring at his reflection.

He grabbed his briefcase, slung the strap over one shoulder, then teleported down to the garage, suddenly wanting to get this over with. The drive was nearly unbearable with every idiot weaving in and out of lanes and Vlad hitting every possible red light in existence. The lights weren’t the only thing that was red by the time he finally pulled into his reserved spot at work.

Vlad had to close his eyes and breath deeply a few times before they returned to their normal vivid blue. Right. He could do this. Absolutely nothing to it…

His body refused to get out of the car.

Vlad cursed and let his head fall back against the seat. He could teleport home and change quickly. Or just turn around and drive away. He could take a sick day. Or say he’d been in an accident. Or-

“No,” he growled, fingers squeezing hard enough into the steering wheel to leave indents. “Fuck, Vladimir, get out of the damn car.”

He shoved open the SUV door and stepped out, snagging his briefcase before slamming it shut again. The whole car rocked at the force of it, but Vlad couldn’t find it in himself to care right now. He walked into the mayor’s office, giving the briefest of nods to security before walking through. He carefully did not look at anyone on the way, and thankfully nobody flagged him down.

Only when he made it to the safety of the mayoral suite did he relax slightly. He was okay. He’d made it and no one had said anything. Now he just had to get through the rest of the morning.

Just one more obstacle before he could gain the safety of his office.

Mrs. Caine’s desk sat to one side of the small room, the last gatekeeper to the mayor’s inner sanctum. Should he just teleport? Pretend he’d slipped in earlier?

No, don’t be stupid. He wasn’t going to cause issues for his second identity just because he was a fucking coward.

Vlad took another steadying breath before straightening and walking straight toward his door. He used the excuse of grabbing his keys to avoid looking directly at the secretary as he passed.

“Sir,” came the whiplash of a voice.

Vlad froze.

“Sir,” she repeated. “You can’t just walk in here. You need an appointment to meet with Mayor Masters.”

Vlad blinked. Was she trying to be funny? Slowly he turned and stared at her only for Mrs. Caine to stare right back.

Besides the casually messy braids Tucker had created for him yesterday, Vlad was wearing a blue dress shirt that perfectly matched his eyes paired with a very casual light suede suitcoat. Add to that his designer jeans with a dark wash, and he thought he blended in fairly well with most of the well-dressed younger employees. But now Mrs. Caine was staring at him like he had a hole in his head, and Vlad began to spiral again.

Ancients, was it too much? He knew his look was different, but Vlad hadn’t expected his secretary not to even recognize him?! Fuck, he was in his 40s. He shouldn’t be wearing any of this shit and-

“You look nice, sir,” Mrs. Caine said abruptly.
“I-I…thank you.”
“Here’s your schedule for the day,” she continued without pause, handing over the paper without even blinking at the matte black nail polish on Vlad’s hand.
“Thank you for your work as always, Mrs. Caine,” Vlad said, a bit more steadily.
“Of course, sir. I’ll let you know when your 10:00 arrives.”

Vlad nodded and headed back into his office. He settled behind his desk, sliding the laptop out of its case and setting it down. Then he stared at the open screen, unable to dispel the manic grin on his face.

Mrs. Caine, the dragon of the mayor’s office, had approved his outfit! Her approval might seem like a small thing in the grand scheme of life, but Vlad couldn’t help but admire her sharp intelligence, exacting organization, and rapier sharp wit she wielded with no holds barred. If she thought he looked like a…a fruitloop she would have said it to his face.

Vlad almost ran a hand through his hair only to stop just before he could mess up Tucker’s carefully made braids. He needed to calm the fuck down. Honestly, he was over 40 years old. He needed to get a handle on himself.

Vlad took another deep breath then input the password for his computer and began to read through his emails, pretending not to smile to himself as he did so.

~~~

Sam nearly got in trouble in two different classes because of the stupidly smug expression that kept sneaking its way onto her face. She’d felt Vlad’s anxiety early that morning as he’d gone into work, but sometime between getting there and his first meeting, he’d suddenly become happy and relaxed again.

“What is up with you?” Tucker asked during lunch.
“What’d you mean?” she asked before biting into a veggie burger.
“In class. Every time I turn around, you look like you’ve just burned down Nasty Burger or something.”

Sam rolled her eyes.

“It’s not that. Vlad’s just enjoying casual friday a lot.”
“...I still say it’s weird you guys can feel each other’s emotions,” Tucker insisted.
“Just the strong ones,” Sam corrected before taking another bite.

Danny grumped at his across from her, and Sam gave him a comforting little kick under the table.

“Hey!” the younger halfa complained.
“Hey yourself. You know it’s just because you’re still getting a handle on your powers, right? Vlad’s got, like, a hundred years on you.”
“Gee, thanks Sam.”
“He did say he’d help you practice when it starts getting stronger,” Tucker reminded. “At least you’re able to know where we are now.”
“Mostly because you panic and get overwhelmed by ghosts,” Sam smirked at him.
“I do not!”
“You so do-”
“Why does he even care?” Danny interrupted the argument.
“Who?” Tucker asked.
“Care about what?” Sam added.
“Fruitloop! I don’t really get the big deal. He’s just wearing jeans and shit.”

When the other two stared at him, Danny threw his hands up.

“What? I’m just asking?”
“Boys are so dumb,” Sam sighed.
“Hey! Don’t lump me in with him,” Tucker protested. “I get it!”
“Get what?!” Danny demanded.

Sam sighed and rolled her eyes. How to explain this to a straight white boy?

“Dude, it’s a culture thing,” Tucker put in before she could decide. “Vlad’s like, so rich, and you don’t see guys like that being gay you know?”
“Bi,” Sam reminded.
“Right that. Just look around, Danny. If Dash came out as bi or pan or whatever have you, the whole fucking school would be in an uproar. But if you or Sam came out then-”
“Or you?” Sam asked sweetly, batting her eyelashes at him.

She smirked when Tucker suddenly got all nervous.

“N-no but I’m n-not anyway! If you or Sam came out, everyone would be like ‘okay whatever weirdo’ because you’re already weird.”
“Thanks,” Danny said dryly.
“He’s got a point though,” Sam said, with another affectionate kick.
“We have got to talk about that kicking, Sam,” Danny complained.

She grinned smugly across the table at him.

“So basically Vlad went in knowing people are going to have opinions about how he dresses and who he should or shouldn’t be dating,” Sam continued. “He was nervous about it and now he’s not.”
“What? Vlad wasn’t nervous,” Danny scoffed.

Sam rolled her eyes while Tucker shook his head.

“What?!”
“You have suuuuuuuch blinders on when it comes to Vlad,” Tucker sighed.
“I can’t help that my-” Danny hastily looked around then lowered his voice to a whisper “-that my arch nemesis is some kind of all knowing stupidly confident megalomaniac!"
“Ex-arch nemesis,” Sam reminded.
“And clearly not all knowing cuz he didn’t known about you when you were first, you know,” Tucker pointed out.
“Zapped into existence?” Sam said dryly.
“Ugh, you both know what I mean!” Danny sighed.
“Nah, you’re just biased because he used to kick your ass on a weekly basis,” Sam insisted.
“Saaaaaaaaaml”
“Still will,” Tucker put in smugly. “Since you two are sparring today.”

Danny groaned and let his head flop onto the table as he pushed his lunch tray back.

“Don’t remind me. I’ve gotten my ass kicked enough already, haven’t I?”
“Nope. I’m looking forward to this now that we know he’s not gonna kill you,” Tucker said, smiling.

Danny’s head popped back up, and he glared at his friend.

“Who’s side are you on?!”
“The winning side, obviously,” Tucker said before stealing the rest of the fries off Danny’s tray.

 

Notes:

Anxious Vlad is such a mood.

Chapter 4

Notes:

To all the brave parents, guardians, relatives, friends, etc who have to brave American school carline on a weekly basis, I salute you!

 

 

Vlad took off from work at Dalvco that Friday in order to pick up all three teens from school. He was glad, too, because the line to pick them up was insanely long.

Maybe I should just fly them next time, Vlad considered as he sat in the line, impatiently drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

Finally, he reached the front of the line, and the kids piled into the vehicle. Or tried to, at least. Danny and Tucker caused a pile up at the front passenger seat, both trying to get in the open door until Sam shoved them both out of the way and climbed smugly in next to Vlad. The boys grumbled at her but climbed into the back seat together.

Vlad watched the teen antics with amusement. He honestly wouldn’t have thought Danny would want to sit up front with him, but apparently the allure of the shotgun seat was greater than Vlad’s own deterrent. Who knew?

“So,” Sam said buckled in, “had a good day, huh?”

Vlad stared at her for a moment, confused, before a wave of red washed over his pale face.

“Fuck, I forgot you’d be able to sense that, Samantha,” he sighed, rubbing a hand over his face.
“Whoa whoa, Fruitloop, are you blushing?” Danny demanded, leaning forward from the back.

 

Vlad growed in his direction, eyes flashing a warning red.

“Wow, a guy can’t even ask a question around here,” Danny muttered, sitting back in his chair.
“No, you can’t,” Vlad agreed.
“But I can because I’m the favorite,” Sam said smugly.
“I’m actually leaning towards Tucker today,” Vlad said as he checked to make sure the boys had buckled in before pulling back into the line of cars around the school.

Surely there was some more efficient way of doing this than causing a traffic jam each time the kids were picked up and dropped off at school?

“Kiss ass,” Danny accused his friend.
“I didn’t even do anything!”
“Children, don’t make me turn this car around,” Vlad warned.
“Yes dad,” Sam mocked.

Danny stiffened at her words, but Vlad just rolled his eyes at the sass.

She and Vlad chatted most of the way home, Tucker often throwing his two cents in as well, until they pulled into Vlad’s mansion.

“Homework first,” Vlad reminded as the teens poured out of the vehicle.
“Aw, really Vlad? It’s Friday!” Danny immediately protested.
“And if you finish it now, you won’t have to worry about it for the rest of the weekend,” Vlad shot back as he also climbed out of the SUV.
“Fucking Fruitloop,” Danny muttered.

Vlad decided to ignore the insult and simply followed the stampede to the kitchen where Sam was already pulling food out of the fridge. Vlad grabbed his own snack and left them to it, trusting them to clean up after themselves as he headed up to his study.

When he said he’d taken off work early, what that actually meant was he took his work home. Vlad wrote a few inconvenient emails he’d been putting off then made all phone calls to his Dalvco managers, mostly to remind people that yes they needed to listen to him and no they could not do whatever the hell they wanted without proper authorization.

It was clear that he would need to show up to the national headquarters in Wisconsin soon and put the fear of himself in some of them once more. That or he could simply terminate a few as a lesson for the rest. There were always those further down the line who like the opportunity to-

Vlad paused mid-phone call pace when a familiar floppy black head phased through his office door.

“Just a moment, Justine,” Vlad said before muting the phone. “Yes Daniel?”
“We’re all done, Fruitloop.”

Vlad thought for a moment.

“Give me twenty more minutes and I’ll be down in the training room. I’d take the time to warm up before I get down there if I were you.”
“I think you mean chill out,” Danny smirked.
“Yes, yes, whatever pun you prefer, Daniel,” Vlad sighed and shooed him back out with a hand before returning to his call.

Twenty minutes later, Vlad floated through the training room doors to find Samantha and Tucker sitting against the wall watching Danny juggle ice balls.

“I see we have an audience,” Vlad said neutrally.

He would have preferred to do this privately, knowing how both his and Daniel's temper often went overboard during their previous fights. Vlad was going to try to do better today, but he knew himself well enough to know it would be difficult. Especially if Daniel was stubbornly trying to impress his friends.

“I’m just here to watch him get his ass kicked,” Tucker said cheerfully.
“Please keep audience commentary to constructive suggestions only,” Vlad said sternly, already mentally sighing as he watched Daniel glare at his friend.

Samantha grinned at the abashed Tucker beside her while Vlad threw up a double-layered shield around the two teens. He changed into his Plasmius form then finally locked eyes with Daniel.

“Begin.”

A foot suddenly appeared four inches from his face, only to be stopped by Vlad’s own shield.

“Excellent Daniel,” Vlad praised. “Your speed is one of your best assets. Use it to take down your opponent before they even realize they’re in danger.”

Despite the praise, Daniel looked irritated. Well, probably because he’d hoped to have smacked the other halfa across the training room with that attack. Vlad didn’t give him the opportunity. Not yet.

Instead, he had the teen work on trying to crack through his shield. It was honestly a pleasure to watch the younger halfa puzzle through the exercise. Most of his best work came from figuring difficult problems in real time. Now, without the danger of being blasted to pieces, Vlad hoped Danny would take his time and really dig into the lesson.

Danny tried overpowering the shield first, but when he finally broke through it, he found Vlad had simply layered another beneath it. He tried weakening a particular section with a combination of physical and plasma attacks, but only when he started adding in elemental attacks, did he really start to damage the shield in any meaningful way.

“Very good,” Vlad praised again when Danny managed to shatter three shields in quick succession. “Your elemental powers give you an edge over most ghosts. Even me.”

The younger halfa was clearly pleased by this discovery so Vlad decided to remind him that the weakness went both ways. He summoned a dozen plasma balls and set them on fire before sending them racing after Daniel. He yelped and dodged, but instead of splashing messily against the wall to fizzle out, they followed like a homing missile.

Danny zipped around the training room, firing back at them with plasma and ice. Only the ice managed to stop the attacks.

“Sometimes it’s better to take the hits, Daniel, rather than give up the energy you’re expending now to dodge each attack,” Vlad lectured.
“I’m not going to take those hits!” the teen shouted back.
“With your shield, my dear, not your face,” Vlad corrected dryly.
“How is he supposed to know if a new attack won’t break his shield immediately?” Tucker put in from the sideline. “Some of the ghosts he fights are pretty powerful.”

Vlad considered that for a moment. At this stage in his life, Vlad was very good at gauging the level of attack coming at his face, but until Daniel racked up the necessary experience, he likely wouldn’t know what could or would definitely break through his shields.

“For attacks you’re not familiar with,” Vlad said slowly, thinking as he spoke, “making a shield further away from your ghost form should give you enough time to dodge if it doesn’t hold.”
“How far out,” Danny asked grimly as he continued to dodge.

It really wasn’t fair that Vlad could hold a conversation and keep attacking him!!

“Let’s practice and see, shall we?” the older halfa replied.

Vlad called back the flaming plasma and lined the balls up in the neat row over his head, waiting for Daniel to begin.

Cautiously, Daniel made a shield much too far out from him. Vlad didn’t correct him this time. Better for the younger halfa to feel the mistake for himself.

Vlad put enough power into the flaming ball of plasma to shatter the shield and sent it screaming across the room at him. Daniel immediately dodged out of the way, but the ball simply followed him to hover in front of his face a moment before returning to the older halfa.

“Again,” Vlad said.

Slowly, the teen figured out not to waste energy by dodging too soon or to put up the shield too far away. That doing so gave Vlad time to redirect his attacks.

When Vlad judged Danny had a good handle on the assignment, he snuffed out the plasma balls and lowered to the ground.

“Practice that on your own,” he told Danny. “I suggest trying it during actual fights as well as your own training.”

Vlad switched back to his human form and turned for the door.

“Wait, is that it?” Danny asked, surprised.

Vlad turned back and raised an eyebrow at him.

“We’ve been at it for over an hour and you’re tired,” he told the teen neutrally.
“I can keep going!”
“I know you can. But you’ve already been practicing several new techniques. There's no point in trying to stuff another into your head when you have more than enough to work on.”

Given the younger halfa’s glower, Vlad’s words had come across as an insult. He slowly raised both hands.

“We can only learn so much at a time, Daniel. It’s the same with any new skill. It will be much more efficient this way, I promise.”
“But we didn’t even get to fight! Not really!” Danny protested.

Vlad sighed inwardly. He had been deliberately avoiding that, actually, but was that really the best decision in this situation? Vlad honestly wasn’t sure. Especially when he worried about falling back into bad habits with the younger halfa.

“Very well. Fifteen minutes of hand to hand,” Vlad said, shifting once again to Plasmius. “I won’t even use a shield-”

Danny’s foot once again tried to impose itself across Vlad’s line of sight, but the older man had very much anticipated a repeat of the maneuver, however, and caught it before it could break his nose. He gripped the foot tightly and casually tossed the younger halfa into the air, knowing the lack of return fire would make him angry.

Sure enough, Danny’s green eyes burned hotter and he immediately zoomed back in Val’s direction, slamming in attack after attack. Most of them didn’t make it through, but a few did. Vlad carefully kept his face blank as each one hit home. The teen sure did pack a wallop!

As he endured them all with a straight face, Danny’s desperation continued to grow. He used more power behind his hits, giving up on any defense that he might have normally used. Vlad, in turn, used his lack of attention to great effect. Whacking him repeatedly with great precision.

“Time!” Sam called out when finally the fifteen minutes were up.

Danny was panting heavily at this point, but Vlad was barely winded having kept on the defensive the entire time.

Vlad teleported away from the younger halfa to float in front of the exit.

“We can resume this next time, Daniel,” he said, lowering to the floor again.

But the teen completely ignored his words, streaking after him at his fastest speed.

“Daniel,” Vlad warned. “We’re done.”
“Come on, Danny,” Tucker called. “Give it up.”

But the younger halfa continued to attack, green eyes blazing hotly, and Vlad’s patience finally snapped.

He neatly evaded the younger halfa’s tackle with a spin and used the momentum to bring his leg around and slam his heel into Danny’s spine. There was a loud crack as the younger halfa slammed into the nearby wall. Vlad followed up, grabbing him by the tail before he could recover and slamming him into the floor then back into the wall over and over again until Danny cried out and curled up.

Vlad flinched and immediately dropped his hold. Shit. Shit. He’d gone too fucking far!

He dropped to his knees beside Danny, carefully turning him over.

“Vlad! Let us out!” Sam shouted.

The reinforced shield immediately disappeared, and the other teens ran up.

“Fuck,” Sam said as she surveyed the damage. “How bad-”
“Not good,” Vlad bit out. “Stay here.”

He teleported away, leaving the two teens staring at each other.

“…that was terrifying,” Tucker whispered.
“Yeah,” Sam sighed.

She’d be lying if she said it didn’t scare her but…at the same time she was fucking pissed at Danny too.

Less than a minute later, Vlad teleported back with a syringe. He and Sam both ignored Tucker’s flinch as he arrived. Vlad knelt again and slid the needle into the unconscious boy’s arm.

“Narration would help the anxiety here, Fruitloop,” Sam said after a moment.

Vlad blinked in surprise, clearly not used to having to explain himself.

“Right, of course,” he said after a moment. “It’s a concentrated dose of plasma that will significantly help speed his healing. He should be ready to leave in an hour or two.”

Sam and Tucker relaxed a little.

“Any side effects we should know about?” Sam asked.
“No. Effects would happen only if he takes it regularly,” Vlad assured.
“How do you know?” Tucker asked, curious despite the situation.
“Because for twenty years I was my only test subject,” Vlad said absently as he studied the younger halfa.

He missed the other teens exchange a look at those words as he stood to his feet. A magenta cloud surrounded Danny and lifted him up to hover at waist height.

“Let’s take him upstairs. He’ll probably appreciate a more comfortable bed when he wakes,” Vlad said and moved off.

~~~

Two hours later, Danny groaned and opened his eyes. The first thing he saw were the concerned heads of his friends, hovering above him.

“Danny?” Sam asked.
“Hey man, how do you feel?” Tucker added.
“Like I got hit by a ghost train,” the younger halfa groaned again.
“Well, technically you kinda did. A Vlad train,” Tucker muttered.
“Poor attempts at humor aside,” said the dry voice of the man in question, “Tucker is correct. You sustained significant injuries.”

Danny flinched as Vlad set aside the laptop he’d been working on and walked over. The older halfa caught Danny’s chin and tilted it up, checking his eyes briefly with a light.

“No probable concussion,” he murmured, half to himself.

He checked over a few more things then stepped back.

“There shouldn’t be an issue with you going home, Daniel. I’d suggest you take it easy for the rest of the evening. Avoid fighting any more ghosts if at all possible though I doubt you will follow my advice.”

The laptop sailed into Vlad’s hand and he started for the door.

“I’ll be in my study. Text me about what you want to order in for dinner.”
“That’s all you have to say?!” Danny shouted after him.

Vlad paused in front of the door, not turning back.

“What would you like me to say, Daniel?” he asked, voice dangerously neutral.
“How about a fucking apology?! Or maybe ‘are you okay Danny?’ Something normal?!” the teen all but shouted.
“Uh, Danny,” Tucker began, “maybe you shouldn’t-”
“You’re right, Daniel. I owe you an apology,” Vlad interrupted. “I allowed my temper to get the better of me and seriously injured you. For that I am sorry.”

Danny stared. He hadn’t actually expected an apology. He’d just…wanted to rile up the other halfa a little. That’s what he and Vlad did. They fought. They shouted at each other. It was…normal.

When Danny said nothing further, Vlad phased through the door and was gone.

The moment he did so, Sam punched Danny on the arm.

“Ow! Sam-”
“Since you’re suddenly so enamored with apologies, you better do the same to Vlad,” she warned.
“Me?! But he-”
“Lost his temper which was terrifying by the way. But you attacked someone who had already stopped fighting, Danny. Just because you were angry and hate to lose,” Sam continued, glaring down at him. “You asked to be trained. You demanded hand-to-hand then got pissy because you didn’t like the results. That’s on you.”
“Uh, guys-” Tucker tried.
“Oh? So now you’re on his side?!” Danny demanded.
“I’m on neither side because you’re both idiots!” Sam shot back, throwing her hands in the air in exasperation.

She stomped over to the seat Vlad had been occupying and threw herself into it. She snatched her phone and texted angrily into it before glaring at both boys.

“I told Vlad we’re ordering from Garden Cafe,” she informed.

Both boys immediately groaned. Not the vegetarian place!

“But Sam-” Danny began.
“You’re in big fucking trouble so don’t start with me,” Sam growled back.
“Ugh,” Danny said, collapsing back into the bed.

Tucker just sighed. There was no stopping Sam when she got like this.

After their food arrived and everyone had eaten, Vlad came back down to take them home. He dropped Tucker off first then Sam. She hesitated for the briefest moments then firmly slammed the door to the SUV behind her and stomped into her house.

Vlad pulled back onto the street and for a few minutes the silence was suffocating.

“I have been…thinking,” Vlad said quietly.
“Wow, a fucking miracle,” Danny sassed back instinctively.

He saw Vlad’s fingers tighten around the steering wheel but the older halfa said nothing in response.

“…fine. What is it?” Danny grumbled.
“This fight made it clear to me that it is not feasible for me to train you-”
“Wait, what?! You’ve been after me to train with you this whole fucking time and now that I finally say yes you give up?!” Danny demanded, glaring at the older man. “What the fuck, Vladimir?!”
“I was not finished speaking, Daniel.”

The words were quiet but the tone behind them immediately shut him up. Vlad took a deep breath. Then another. His voice was mostly back to normal when he spoke again.

“It is clear that I am not capable of training you alone. You may have baited me today, but I am the adult here. If I can control my temper, I don’t deserve the privilege of training you.”

That caught Danny by surprise. Privilege? Of training him?? Sure, nemesis Vlad had yammered on about wanting to train him, but Danny had always gotten the idea it was because Vlad found his own fighting so abysmally terrible. Not because he’d, what, wanted to train him? Or saw potential in Danny?

“With that in mind, I came up with a strategy that will utilize our strengths better,” Vlad pressed on. “I will use my connections in the ghost zone to bring ghosts to you. You will fight them and I will observe and give you suggestions on how to improve. I believe this will give me the needed distance to be…impartial.”

Danny peeked over at the older halfa and really looked at Vlad for the first time. He’d assumed Vlad was pissed off. And, yeah, maybe there was some truth in that. But mostly what he saw was concern. Maybe even a little bit of fear.

“Why are you scared?” Danny blurted.

Vlad stiffened and Danny could hear the steering wheel groan under the suddenly tightened grip.

“I…I am concerned because I thought I could…control myself when it came to you,” Vlad said, sounding like he had to force the words out. “This past year has been…better. We haven’t fought much. You even asked for my assistance twice-”
“Three times.”

Vlad’s eyes flickered to the younger halfa then back to the road again.

“The Charity concert should count,” Danny explained.

He could have sworn that a smile flickered across Vlad’s face for the barest second.

“Fine. Three times. And I…want that to continue,” Vlad said slowly. “I…I really fucked up with you, Daniel, and I’m trying not to do that again.”

Danny could tell he meant it. Really meant it. Vlad really had been different this last year. The last few months had just given Danny more time to observe the changes. The fact that the older halfa had bonded with Sam—as annoying as it was—really said a lot about how far he had come. Vlad hadn’t even flirted with his mom either! Or made fun of his dad!

“…okay that could possibly work,” Danny muttered eventually. “But only for actual fighting. I don’t want to look like a moron in front of the other ghosts while I’m figuring out new techniques.”

Vlad glanced over at him again and seemed relieved by whatever he saw in Danny’s face because he nodded slowly.

“That’s reasonable.”
“Besides, you didn’t lose your shit until later anyway.”
“Your confidence, as always, is inspiring, Daniel.”

Danny grinned cheekily back at him, and they spent the rest of the drive hashing through which ghosts Vlad should approach for help. When Vlad stopped in front of FentonWorks, Danny blinked in surprise. For once the ride with the older man hadn’t felt like forever.

“So you’ll pick us up again next Friday?” Danny asked as he unbuckled the seatbelt Vlad insisted he wear.
“Yes, I’ll make sure to settle the whole arrangement as ongoing with your parents before then.”

Danny opened the door but paused as Vlad said his name again.

“Yeah?”
“…thank you. For giving me another chance to train you,” Vlad said quietly.

Danny felt embarrassed for some reason. Probably the sincere gratitude in Vlad’s blue eyes. Stupid Fruitloop.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just don’t mess it up again, Vladimir,” he grumbled and quickly slid out of the vehicle and headed inside.

 

Notes:

I laughed so hard at poor Vlad going through his anxiety crisis and completely forgetting he's tethered to a teen that can feel said crisis until she brings it up xD

I also wanted to show that while Vlad’s relationship with Sam has been pretty smooth sailing, he and Danny still have a lot to work through. Vlad’s been a lone wolf since college and though he could charm a snake into flying, he still doesn’t know how to make meaningful connections with people. He’s also terrified of fucking it up (even more than he already has) so add the anxiety on top of his lack of knowledge and you’ve got the perfect soup for explosions :) And I just desperately love Vlad trying to hard? To make up for all the shitty things he's done?? He's got so much to offer and I get feels, okay???

Chapter 5

Notes:

For those of you excited by Vlad and Jack's soft interaction in 'And so we band together' boy do I have good news for you...

 

 

Vlad groaned when his phone started pumping out an annoyingly loud guitar riff from his bedside table. He was tempted to just ignore it except for the fact that Samantha had specifically chosen AC/DC’s Back In Black for her ringtone. A magenta glow surrounded the phone before it drifted over and landed in Vlad’s hand. He blinked up at the time and cursed softly. 8:00 in the morning. He was usually up two hours before this but nightmares about-

Vlad breathed in sharply for a moment, having to swallow down the sudden surge of nausea as he remembered the dream.

Sam’s song had almost run all the way through by the time he was able to answer the call.

“Is somebody dying?” he asked roughly.
“Wow. If I recorded your morning voice, I bet I could sell out in a day,” Sam observed.
“Samantha please,” Vlad groaned, running a hand down his face.

He couldn’t handle this level of sass with as little sleep as he’d gotten.

“Since yesterday didn’t go so well-”

Vlad winced.

“Jazz and I decided to make it a spa day. Get our nails done and everything. No stupid boys allowed.”
“I’m very happy for you. Can I go back to sleep now?” he asked, rolling over to relieve the pins and needles in the arm that had been trapped under his pillow.
“No, I need you to get up and meet us there. You’re invited.”
“Samantha, you do realize I was one of the stupid boys involved in that disaster, yes?” Vlad asked, amused despite himself.
“You get to be one of the girls today. Our treat,” Sam insisted.
“It’s a very tempting offer but-”
“Come on, Vlad. You haven’t spent that much time with Jazz. You wouldn’t want to play favorites with your godchildren,” Sam sang.

Ugh. How dare she bring logic into this?

“Trust me, Samantha, you don’t have to worry about being the favorite at this moment,” Vlad grunted as he sat up.
“I live to defy expectations. Can you make it here by 10:00?”
“If I have to,” Vlad sighed, already resigning himself to the day beginning despite his efforts to the contrary. “Do either of you need a ride?”
“Nope, I’m good and Jazz is driving the car.”
“Then I’ll see you there.”
“Sure thing, Fruitloop. Love you,” Sam sang, then hung up.

Vlad’s phone dropped onto the bed, shock making his grip weak. Had she just…did she really say…

Abruptly, Vlad teleported himself off the bed and into the shower. He absolutely did not have the mental or emotional energy to break down the feeling those words brought up right now. Besides, he had probably just misheard. That’s right. Samantha was a teenager. Just at the age when she stopped telling parents and family friends that she lo-

“Shit,” Vlad muttered, leaning against the cold tile wall as the water started.

He spent way too long in the shower, hoping against hope that the much-too-hot-for-normal-human-skin temperature water would drag his confusion down the drain. Shockingly enough, it did not. Leaving him with barely enough time to drag on more jeans, a sleeveless (signed) band shirt from the group he’d done the charity concert with, and a new ‘bite me’ mask before yanking his hair back into what was hopefully an artfully messy braid and not just a deranged rats' nest before running out the door. He walked into the salon just as the clock hit 10:00.

“How can I help you today?” the receptionist asked, a hint of flirtation in her voice as she looked him over.
“My goddaughter made a reservation,” Vlad said, keeping his voice level while emphasizing his meeting with a family member. “She should be under Sam Manson.”
“Oh yes, she’s already arrived. She said one more person should be-”
“Vladdie!” came the all too familiar shout, making Vlad jump despite himself.

He turned with great reluctance just in time to be mauled by a bear hug.

“Dad, remember what we said about consensual hugging,” Jazz reminded as she quickly hurried in after her father.
“This is consensual! Vladdie loves my hugs!” Jack bellowed.

Vladdie would love to disappear just now, actually.

“Dad!”
“Okay, okay, Jazziepants. I’ll put him down,” Jack said, mournful as a puppy that didn’t know why you were telling him no but because he was a good boy was going to listen anyway.

Vlad had to deliberately inflate his lungs before he was able to speak again.

“Jack, what a surprise.”
“Right?! Well, Jazzie here told me all about the girl’s day out and since her mom took the car I thought I’d swing by and drop her off. I didn’t know you’d be here, too!”
“Yes, I was invited,” Vlad said, keeping his tone very neutral.
“Oh really? You mean guys can come too?!” Jack asked, surprised. He turned to his daughter. “Jazzie! Why didn’t you invite me?”
“Um, that’s because it was, well, we were doing this to cheer up Uncle Vlad,” she said quickly.

Vlad raised an eyebrow at her.

“Oh yeah? What’s wrong Vladdie? Did something happen?”
“It was a rough week at work,” Vlad smoothly supplied. “The girls were just taking pity on me.”
“Aw, that’s my Jazz,” Jack said, grabbing her into a one-armed hug before she could escape out of range.
“Well, it’s wonderful to see you again, Jack, but the appointment is starting and we can’t keep Sam waiting,” Vlad said, somehow managing to snatch the poor teenager from Jack’s grasp and maneuver her away to relative safety.
“I should join you!” Jack decided to everyone’s horror. “You’re my best friend! If you need cheering up, I should be there!”
“Dad,” Jazz said in a low tone, “we only paid for three technicians.”
“Oh really?”

Jazz looked like she was ready to disappear into the ground. Vlad felt for her. He’d been on the other side one too many times in college not to know what it felt like to try and stop a Fenton Train. Mentally saying goodbye to his somewhat peaceful bonding time with the girls, Vlad turned back to the receptionist.

“I would be happy to pay for an extra technician,” he said, already sliding several $100 dollar bills over.
“Um, s-sir-”
“Please, it’s the least we could do for changing things up at the last minute.”

He couldn’t smile charmingly at her, but Vlad made sure his eyes crinkled above the mask and his body language was open and expectant. She hesitated another moment before swiftly pulling the cash off the counter.

“Of course! Let me grab one of the other girls,” she said briskly and got to her feet and hurried off.
“Jasmine, why don’t you let Samantha know about our slight change in plan,” Vlad said, continuing to keep his voice light and easy.

Jazz looked a little abashed anyway, but she nodded and hurried into the back.

“Aw, thanks Vladdie. You didn’t need to do that,” Jack said, patting his friend on the back and nearly sending Vlad into the ghost zone with the strength of it.
“What are friends for,” Vlad said, and barely even sighed when he said it.

~~~

The spa time was…not a disaster, surprisingly.

Jack was overly loud, yes, but he had an earnest enjoyment of the world that had always struck Vlad back in college. With his obsession much more under control these days, Vlad was able to appreciate it once again.

How many straight white males would plunk comfortably down at a nail salon for the first time and be willing to try absolutely anything they suggested? Few. Very very few. But Jack was more than happy to converse about nails (what little he knew) with the nail tech, ghosts (which he knew slightly more about), or his girls (Vlad was reserving judgment on that last one).

Sam had, apparently, been adopted into the Fenton household as “one of them”. Possibly because she was visiting Danny so often and possibly because she was incredibly interested in ghost hunting techniques (for obvious reasons), but also just because Jack was a golden retriever of a man who loved everybody, especially his girls.

“So how are you liking the spa treatment, Mr. Fenton?” Sam said, leaning over from the massage chair she sat in on the other side of Vlad to look at him.
“Sammy! Call me Jack!” the large man insisted.
“Dad,” Jazz sighed from his other side.
“What? We’re practically family! She might think it’s weird to call me dad, but Jack should be fine!”

Sam grinned.

“Why not go for Uncle Jack?” Vlad wanted to know from where he was seated on Jack’s other side.

He and Jazz had instinctively corralled the large man between the two of them. So far it was working out rather well though Vlad did feel a bit sorry for the older teen not having any of the actual “girl bonding” the event had been predicated on. He might see if Sam was amenable to going out with her next weekend, just the two of them if he paid.

“Well, Vladdie, I could but that’s awfully close to "Apple Jack" when you say it real fast, and I’d hate to be named after a cereal.”

Sam roared with laughter, startling her poor technician. Even Jazz got the giggles, deliberately avoiding making eye contact with Vlad.

“Hm, you have a point there. Nothing worse than being called a breakfast cereal as an insult,” Vlad said, tone as dry as the desert.
“Exactly!” Jack enthused. “I knew you’d understand, Vladdie!”
“Samantha please. Taking you to the emergency room because you tore a muscle laughing was not on my list of things to do this morning,” Vlad sighed at his goddaughter.

She could only shake her head at him, tears of laughter streaming down her face. That set Jazz off even more and soon the two men were surrounded by sobbing girls.

“What is going on?” Jack asked, baffled.
“I have not a clue, Jackie,” Vlad lied. “Not a clue.”

After the teens (somewhat) recovered from their bout of hysteria, they were taken off to start their manicures while Jack and Vlad did the pedicures first. Vlad suspected the divide and conquer method was a direct result of an unexpected fourth being added to their party so he didn’t bother to protest it. In fact, it gave him the opportunity to speak to Jack somewhat privately about what had been weighing on his mind.

“Jack?” Vlad asked with what he hoped was extreme casualness.
“Yeah Vladdie?”
“Do the kids tell you…that they love you?”
“Jazziepants does all the time! Danny not so much, but he’s at a rough age, you know? So I make sure to tell him as often as I can so he doesn’t forget it,” the big man said proudly.

…so did that mean Samantha had said it? To him of all people?

“Whatcha thinkin’ about, Vladdie?” Jack asked.
“I’m not thinking about anything,” Vlad lied automatically.
“Oh, sure you are. You’ve got that thinking face on.”
“Jack, this is my normal face.”
“Sure, sure, your normal thinking face.”

The halfa hesitated.

“Samantha told me she loves me and I don’t know why,” Vlad blurted out before he could reconsider.
“Oh she did? That’s nice, Vladdie,” Jack said with a smile.
“It’s not nice, it's confusing.”
“Whaddya mean?”
“I’m not her…I’m not anyone special. To her. I’m not…we’re not even related.”
“Oh, Vladdie. You don’t have to be related to love someone! Look at us!”

A swirl of emotions so complicated and intense they made Sam snap her head over to look at them whirled in Vlad’s chest at the words.

“I…it’s different, Jack,” Vlad finally said.
“Why’s that? Kids like being doted on by older folks.”
“Thanks,” Vlad said dryly.
“I’m serious! The kids have been spending a lot of time with you, and I can tell it’s because they really like you. Sammy especially doesn’t have a great relationship with her folks, you know? And while that makes me sad, I know she has a lot to look up to with you!” Jack assured.

It was suddenly way, way too much for Vlad to deal with.

Vlad excused himself to go to the restroom, having to put on the stupid little flip flops in order to do so, and spent more than a few minutes breathing deeply at the bathroom sink before he got a handle on himself again. When he came out, he casually made his way over to stand behind Jasmine, charming the nail technician then engaging the teen in a debate over what everyone’s choice of nail colors signified about their upbringing to avoid speaking to Jack for a little longer.

The debate further lowered his heart rate and he eventually made his way over to Samantha next. Predictably, the teen had chosen black for her color.

“I see you’re going out on a limb today, Samantha,” Vlad teased.
“Someone had to balance your aggressively white middle-aged choice,” she fired back.
“Next time I’ll be sure to alternate nude with black,” Vlad promised, smiling down at her. “Sitting on the fence is also a well-observed pastime for my age group, no?”

Sam rolled her eyes but seemed pleased enough with the offer.

“GHOSTS!” Jack suddenly bellowed.

Sam and Vlad flinched while Jasmine actually ducked under the table. Vlad whirled around to see…nothing. Then he started laughing.

“What the fu-fudge was that about,” Sam said, quickly correcting herself with a look at Danny’s father.

It really was very cute how she tried to get on the man’s good side. Now if the two teens would just start actually dating each other, she might actually be able to get somewhere.

“He found-” Vlad started but cut off with a wheeze. “H-he found-”
“He found ghost stickers for his nails,” Jasmine sighed from deep inside her soul as she climbed out from under the table.
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Samantha growled, turning back to her technician.

Vlad just kept laughing.

By the end of the spa session, Vlad wasn’t sure if he was relaxed or just extremely excited to go home. Regardless, he didn’t regret coming. It had become a memory he was determined to cherish for a long, long time to come.

 

Notes:

Vlad suddenly not being able to deal with emotional revelations is such a mood. Retreat sir! Run for your (emotional) life! I also noticed during a very quick reread before posting that for some reason this chapter has lots of ( ) inserts. I'm going to blame it on the fact that most of this was written at 2 in the morning.

I also enjoyed picking a song for Sam's ringtone :D

Chapter 6

Notes:

Politics, they do be a-scheming.

 

 

Vlad was working down in his lab when his portal hummed a warning. Someone was coming to visit.

Vlad made a duplicate to go check–he wasn’t stupid–but otherwise he wasn’t particularly concerned. Very few people were able to access his portal, and he trusted most of the ones who had that access. So when Skulker stalked through it, Vlad reabsorbed the duplicate without even bothering to turn around and greet the other ghost.

“What damn ectopus crawled up your ass and died?” Skulker demanded, slamming a fist down on the nearest table.

Hm, maybe Vlad should have kept the duplicate out.

“Hello to you, too, Skulker. To what do I owe the pleasure of invertebrates inside my ass?” Vlad asked lightly.
“That’s what I’d like to know!” Skulker bellowed.

Vlad sighed and turned around to face the irate ghost.

“I can’t help you if you don’t calm down and explain what’s wrong,” he said levelly.

Skulker’s eyes bulged.

“Calm down? Me calm down? Plasmius, you’re the one turning the entire ghost zone upside down!”

Vlad cocked his head to one side. He honestly could not recall anything overly audacious he had enacted since he’d last seen the hulking ghost.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to be more specific,” he said at last.

Skulker actually sputtered.

“Plas! You! And the whelp!”

Ah, Vlad could work with that.

“You mean our training sessions in the zone?”
“Yes those!” Skulker bellowed.
“I don’t see why you’re making such a fuss about them. We haven’t hit the lair of anyone particularly powerful,” Vlad said, genuinely confused. “Daniel isn’t powerful enough for that yet.”

Skulker stared at him for a literal 60 seconds before turning back around and marching over to one of Vlad’s lab fridges. He yanked it open, snagged a bottle of aged ecto-infused alcohol Vlad had been experimenting with, then threw it back.

“Given your unrequested raid on my experiments,” Vlad said slowly, “I’m guessing I missed something important?”

Skulker drained the entire bottle dry before setting it back in the fridge and slamming the door shut.

“Plas,” the other ghost said seriously, “everyone is calling this an alliance between you and the whelp.”
“Daniel and I do have an alliance, Skel. You already knew that,” Vlad reminded.
“Sure. I knew that. And maybe one or two others you deigned to tell,” Skulker growled, “but the rest of the zone thought you were just playing with the whelp. Letting him build some confidence before you smashed his head in again.”

Vlad winced, and Skulker looked at him pointedly.

“You’re acting like his mother, Plas.”
“I’m helping to train him, Skel,” Vlad replied, forcing his voice to remain neutral. “And if you actually knew his mother, you’d know I am far less terrifying a prospect to fight.”

Skulker seemed to consider this for a moment before shrugging the information to the side.

“Regardless, everyone now sees you two as a bonded pair now-”
“I beg your pardon?” Vlad snapped.
“Not that kind,” Skulker said, waving away the other ghost’s outrage. “A father-son, nephew-uncle, cousin-brother whatever name you want to put to your little halfa alliance, everyone now sees exactly how serious you are about the child.”
“Skel, I didn’t realize you saw me as a father figure,” Vlad purred up at him.

Skulker stared.

“What?”
“You are still a part of our alliance, aren't you?” Vlad pressed.
“For fuck’s sake, Plas, that’s why I’m here. Don’t twist my words!”
“Then don’t give me the opportunity to twist them,” Vlad said simply.

He did relax a little, though. The thought of losing Skulker as a ghostly ally was not a happy one.

“Plasmius, this is serious,” Skulker growled.
“Then explain it to me in small, slow words, because I still don’t see what’s got you in such fuss,” Vlad said, throwing his hands into the air.

A year ago, he wouldn’t have dared be so openly expressive around the other ghost, but cutting down on plotting against Daniel had led to some completely unforeseen relationship upgrades with Skulker. They were, dare Vlad say, friendly with one another in addition to being allies? What else would you call someone who raided your fridge for your experimental alcohol?

Skulker seemed to finally decide that Vlad was serious because he took the opportunity to snag another container of alcohol out of the fridge. Vlad rather thought it didn’t bode well for their conversation.

“You alone are a problem, Plasmius. You’re powerful and you’re odd. That makes people nervous,” Skulker sighed.
“Thank you for that confidence boost,” Vlad murmured, turning back to his work to keep his hands busy as he listened.
“You came up like a meteor in the ghost zone, but you’ve mostly kept to yourself afterwards. When you start fights, you finish them, but you don’t often start them to begin with.”
“That’s just good sense. Why offend someone I might need to use later?” Vlad said absently.

Skulker rolled his eyes.

“And you’re odd. You keep people off-balance. Only someone on an equal level with you wants the headache of dealing with you in case you suddenly snap and end them.”
“Once again, my confidence is soaring beyond measure.”
“But you've become a fixture in the zone. Like the frozen wastes or Mt. Vesuvius,” Skulker plowed on. “You were feared and avoided unless someone powerful enough needed something from you and then you were to be approached with caution. Now, you’ve turned into something else entirely.”
“And that is?”
“A Pariah Dark.”

Vlad actually stopped working and turned around to stare at his friend.

“I’m not a ghost king.”
“You are one of the most powerful ghosts in existence,” Skulker said grimly. “And now, you’re training the whelp to be powerful as well. He may be clumsy, ignorant, fool-hardy, naive-”
“Please never compliment Daniel to his face, Skel, he’ll never recover.”
“-arrogant and reckless,” Skulker finished, “but he does have potential. A lot of it. Even someone like the Box Ghost can sense it.”

Vlad stared at the other ghost for a long moment, slowly piecing everything together.

“Because they know my power level, they’re making an estimate about Daniel’s,” he said slowly. Which was interesting, as Vlad had a feeling that given ten or more years of training, that the younger halfa would exceed him in that department. “And that concerns them because I’m now actively assisting Daniel-or rather, looking like I brought him under my control to be used for the future,” Vlad interpreted.

Skulker nodded, and Vlad suppressed a sigh. Daniel would not like that rumor. Not at all.

“I have done all of this because I suddenly want to rule the ghost zone,” Vlad continued. “Not that the idea doesn’t have its charms, Skel, but I’m much too busy to run a second kingdom right now.”
“Third,” Skulker disagreed, “you’re running this shitty human city, aren’t you?”
“If I’m the one running it, maybe you should avoid calling it shitty,” Vlad warned, red flickering in his eyes for a moment.

Skulker raised both hands in a wordless apology.

“Are alliances being made?” Vlad asked abruptly.

If he knew anything about power, it was that people banded together to preserve what they considered “theirs”. Especially against an upstart outsider.

“There are,” Skulker acknowledged. “Nothing too concrete yet but the signs are worrying.”

Vlad began to pace around his lab, thinking deeply. Skulker leaned back with his alcohol, content to wait now that the halfa had finally realized the seriousness of the situation. Only twenty minutes later (and two more bottles emptied) did Vlad spin on his heel and address his co-conspirator.

“What if it’s all a trick? A trap for Daniel?”
“I don’t follow,” Skulker said, eyes narrowing.
“Think of it this way. I am Vlad Plasmius. I don’t share my power, and I’m a stubborn ass who doesn’t trust anyone, not even my closest allies.”
“Now who’s throwing out compliments?” Skulker murmured.

The briefest of smiles flashed across Vlad’s face.

“Does taking an untrained, but potentially powerful ghost under my wing sound like something I would do?” the halfa pressed.
“Well, no, but-”
“Therefore! It is so much more likely that I’m scheming something. Something having to do with Daniel,” Vlad finished triumphantly.

Skulker studied the other ghost for a long moment.

“Are you scheming something, Plas?”
“No!” Vlad said, throwing up his hands again. “By the ancients, Skel, I am just trying to train the boy so he doesn’t die the rest of the way!”

Skulker nodded, accepting the answer.

“So how are you going to convince everyone that you’re scheming something?” he asked.
“I’m not. You are.”
“How?”
“By doing what you do best.”
“Hunting?”
“No, you’re going to complain very loudly about me.”
“I don’t fucking complain.”
“Says the ghost that drank half my supply of ecto-alcohol.”
“That was payment for services rendered.”
“Hm.”

The two ghosts traded amused glances before Vlad dragged them back on track.

“Everyone knows that we’re allies. I’m sure they’ve already been sniffing around, trying to get a handle on my “ghostly plans for domination” by talking to you, yes?”

Skulker nodded.

“All you need to do is laugh at them.”
“I don’t laugh.”
“Fine, gaze condescendingly then. Whatever you prefer. Just let them know that’s the stupidest idea you’ve ever heard. And you’ve heard a lot given how often you hang out with me.”

Skulker smirked.

“Now you’ve got a sense of humor?” Vlad asked despite himself. “When it’s an insult to me?”

The big ghost shrugged.

“You finally said something amusing.”

Vlad sighed deeply. He had to be doing this alliance thing wrong given that all his allies delighted in insulting him.

“Don’t tell them that they’re wrong,” the halfa continued. “Just say something to the effect of ‘I wouldn’t want to be the whelp. He’s going to regret agreeing to this little alliance once Plasmius gets finished with him’. That will be enough to plant the seed that I’m only using Daniel.”
“Still doesn’t mean you’re not going to use him to become the ghost king.”
“Make it my obsession.”

Skulker raised an eyebrow.

“Make it my obsession again,” Vlad muttered, embarrassed. “Make it seem like I never stopped. That this is just a long, drawn out con on my part. Make it known that if I ever did get off my ass and try for the crown that you wouldn’t mind taking my side but, well, poor Plasmius. He never did quite get the hang of his obsession.”

Skulker grimaced but slowly nodded.

“It sounds like it could work.”
“Good. I just thought of it and I try not to talk out of my ass when I can avoid it.”

Skulker stared at him again.

“...you really have changed, Plas.”
“Spending copious amounts of time with three teenagers will do that to you,” Vlad sighed.

Well, four teenagers now with Jasmine thrown into the mix.

“It suits you,” Skulker said slowly.

Now it was Vlad’s turn to stare, but the other ghost was already striding off towards the portal. If they were going to get ahead of the really troublesome alliances, he needed to start spreading that rumor.

 

Notes:

Vlad’s inner ‘is this a friend?’ dialogue is very autistic of him and I support this. Also, Skulker and Vlad were just so cutely sassy and supportive of each other?? I am all here for Vlad to have grown ass adult relationships in his life, not just sassy teenagers.

Chapter 7

 

 

Vlad floated slowly forward, invisible in his Plasmius form, as he approached FentonWorks. He waited right on the edge of Daniel’s ghost sense. No need to come across as antagonistic. This conversation would be difficult enough as it was without Vlad’s ecto signature looming over the younger halfa.

Less than a minute later, Phantom phased through the side of the house. Vlad shifted to visible for a brief moment, pointed at the roof, then turned back to invisible again. No point in being careless. He absolutely did not want any casual observer—much less Madelyn and Jack!—to see the two “ghosts” being friendly.

Vlad floated up to hover a foot or so above the rooftop then took down his invisibility as he felt Danny land nearby.

“What do you want, Fruitloop?” Danny grumbled.

The words were a bit more aggressive than necessary, but the tone was actually fairly relaxed. Vlad could only hope it continued to stay that way.

“I’ve run into a bit of a problem and wanted to keep you updated,” the older halfa began then proceeded to explain what Skulker had shared with him and their plan to mitigate the unsettling rumors.

Danny got up to pace halfway through the recitation, but he didn’t start shooting Vlad with ectobursts or screaming at him, so Vlad took that as a win.

“I apologize for not considering how…our sudden rapport might be taken,” Vlad finished slowly.
“I’d have thought world domination would be right at the top of your evil to-do list,” Danny muttered.
“I don’t have the patience to be an evil dictator,” Vlad sighed dramatically. “But perhaps in another decade or so I’ll change my mind.”

Danny eyed the older halfa suspiciously then decided he was joking and relaxed a little.

“Am I going to have to play stupid for this “pretend betrayal” to work?” the teen asked grudgingly.

Vlad graciously did not use the opening to question whether Danny ever really played being stupid or not. (Vlad was an adult, he could be serious here.)

“Only if you want to,” the older halfa said simply. “If you get angry and protest that I would never do anything of the sort, it’ll be just as damning, I assure you.”

Danny nodded, a little more happy with this answer.

“Okay, I can do that.”
“I never doubted you.”

The younger halfa squinted suspiciously at him, and Vlad quickly moved the conversation along.

“I’ll keep you updated on my end. Hopefully the rumors will die down soon enough.”
“I’m going to tell the truth to my allies,” Danny put in stubbornly.

Vlad hesitated.

“You can, of course, but they may not believe you.”
“Then you can come with me and convince them,” Danny insisted.
“Daniel, I doubt having a brief conversation will convince anyone that I’ve turned over a new leaf,” Vlad sighed.
“No, that’ll happen when you never actually betray me,” the teen said pointedly.
“Touché.”

Vlad raised both hands in surrender.

“Besides, if you never try to actually communicate with other people, they’re just left with their assumptions and those will always be bad when it comes to you,” Danny added, sounding like he was quoting someone. Probably Jasmine.

“Thank you for that pep talk, Daniel,” Vlad said dryly.

The teen just shrugged. Vlad continued to hover for a moment, but just as he decided he ought to go, Danny spoke up again.

“…are you free tomorrow? After school, I mean?”
“I have work, but if it’s urgent I could take off,” Vlad said cautiously, but Danny was already shaking his head.
“It’s not urgent, urgent. It’s just…nevermind. It’s stupid.”
“I’d like to hear it even if it’s “stupid”, Daniel.”

The teen hesitated again.

“It’s just…this project we have at school. We have to do a report and a presentation on our family history. It’s like, 50% of our grade, too. Sam’s been letting me borrow her laptop, but she’s gotta work on her report, too, and the library computers are always taken by the adults so…could I maybe borrow yours?”

Vlad blinked.

“Of course, Daniel. I have a spare you could use,” Vlad lied, already calculating the best model to buy for the younger halfa’s use.
“Really? Uh, thanks.”
“If you drop by my office after school, I can give it to you.” Vlad paused, then added as neutrally as possible, “if you needed somewhere quiet to work, there’s a table in my office you could use as well?”

Danny hesitated again.

“That’s up to you, of course,” Vlad continued smoothly as he got to his feet. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Daniel.”
“See ya, Fruitloop.”

The two halfas flew their separate ways. Danny phasing back into his home, and Vlad to the nearest store that sold decent quality laptops.

 

Notes:

Me: so this is set in the 90s right? I know I lived through that, but they didn’t have laptops did they?
Also Me: time is an illusion. We don’t care.
Me: okie dokie, modern tech it is.

Also, it’s a good thing you people are reading and commenting on this, because I was absolutely going to skip Vlad telling Danny about all this with a mental ‘yeah I’m sure they chatted, Vlad wouldn’t be that stupid’. Be the change you want to see in the world, friends xD

Chapter 8

Notes:

Trigger Warning - Queer phobia referenced

 

 

When Vlad went downstairs to meet Daniel at security the following day, he was surprised to find Tucker and Samantha standing with the younger halfa.

“Hey Vlad,” Sam said, grinning up at him.

Hm, she had clearly been working on her ability to dampen her presence and emotions. Otherwise he would have felt her so close by. Clever girl.

“Hello Samantha,” Vlad said, acknowledging her trick with a slightly upraised brow. “I was not aware that Daniel was bringing company with him.”
“You know us, Mr. Masters,” Tucker put in seriously. “We’re pack animals.”
“So I see. Come along then, my dear hooligans.”

He ignored their mocking repeat of the word hooligans as he led them up to his office. After a quick introduction to Mrs. Caine, Vlad led the group of teenagers into his office, leaving the door partway open as he did so. He gestured to the laptop on the table with a casual wave of his hand then sat behind his desk and got back to work.

Danny snagged the laptop eagerly then fought good-naturedly with the other two over which seat he’d get at the table. Eventually though, their tomfoolery abated and all three settled in on their projects. Only the tapping of keys, Mrs. Caine’s voice out in the hall, and the occasional mournful sigh from an unhappy teen broke the silence.

Vlad dug back into the minutiae that took up most of his time acting as mayor and only resurfaced when one of the teens asked him a question.

“Hey Vlad?” Danny asked, tipping his chair back onto two feet.
“Hey Daniel?” the older man replied absently, ignoring the quiet snickers of the other two at his response.
“What about you?”
“What about me, what?”
“Your family.”

That made Vlad finally glance up from his computer. All three teens were looking up at him, now. Clearly wanting to know more. Well, there really wasn’t any harm in that, he supposed.

“I have a mother, father, and younger sister,” Vlad replied. “They were all alive last I bothered to check but that was over a decade at this point.”

He didn’t miss the way all three teens exchanged a look.

“Surely you expected me to be estranged, no? You’ve never heard me speak of them before,” Vlad pointed out.
“Well, yeah, but maybe after you stopped being so fruitloopy-” Tucker began.
“Must we use that word as a verb now?” Vlad sighed.
“Yes,” all three teens said together.

Ugh. Teenagers were the worst.

“Anyway,” Tucker continued, “after you stopped your fruit loop ways, maybe you decided to reach out to them? It could happen.”
“Not likely,” Vlad said dryly as he turned his attention back to his screen.

He read another email in silence, pretending he couldn’t perfectly hear the teens whispering as they egged each other on to ask him more. Vlad sighed and looked up again.

“They didn’t appreciate the fact that I was bisexual,” he said out loud. “So unless they’ve suddenly changed their religion or their entire belief system, they wouldn’t want me to reach out to them.”
“Oh,” Danny said, an awkward expression on his face.

All three of them looked rather embarrassed now. It was adorable.

“Children please,” Vlad said, amused despite himself at their abashed faces. “It was literally twenty-five years ago. I am quite over it by now.”
“Says the man that stalked my parents for over twenty,” Danny dared to say.
“Yes, well, we all make mistakes don’t we?” Vlad insisted airily.

Sam and Tucker snorted, earning a glare from Danny.

“What?” Tucker complained. “It was funny!”

Vlad allowed himself a small smile in victory at the small win.

“How did they find out?” Sam asked before he could return to his screen. “If you don’t mind telling us.”
“I wasn’t stupid enough to tell them,” Vlad said absently, running a finger across the keys. “But when they found me giving head to a classmate, it rather let the cat out of the bag, I suspect.”

All three teens choked in shocked horror. Whether at the visual of him giving head or the fact that he’d said it out loud, Vlad wasn’t sure.

“You did ask,” he reminded them.
“YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE ANSWERED!” Danny and Tucker screeched together.
“Was it at least good h-” Sam began only to have her question buried underneath the horrified screeches of her friends.
“At the time he seemed satisfied, but I think the resulting punishments rather diminished my work,” Vlad replied, chuckling slightly.
“What happened?” Sam pressed.
“Sam!” Danny hissed.
“Please, god, no more,” Tucker whimpered into his homework.

Vlad finally took pity on them.

“You can ask me later, Samantha, if you truly want to know the whole story.”
“Okay, fine, we can talk later,” she said, shrugging and going back to her homework.

Thirty seconds later, Vlad glanced over at his phone to see a text from her.

Samantha: So?

Apparently “later” was going to be “now”.

Vlad: My parents did not take kindly to such a “sinful abomination” and kicked me out of the house. Thankfully, I was only a few weeks away from graduating high school with a ride to Wisconsin so it didn’t completely ruin my life.

Samantha: oh shit. How old were you?

Vlad: I’d just turned 17. I was graduating early and, in fact, it’s why I got up the courage to ask the boy out in the first place. Because if it didn’t go well then at least I wouldn’t have to see his face ever again.

Samantha: No, just his head. Forever stuck in your memory 😜

The teen snickered as Vlad sent a series of shocked emojis at her.

Samantha: what happened to the other guy?

Vlad: ironically, nothing much. He managed to convince his parents that he had actually been bullying me and wasn’t quote “into that nasty gay shit.”

Samantha: …I feel like the fact that it was more acceptable for him to force you to perform oral sex rather than being gay says a loooooooot about our american education system, but you already know my rants about that.

Vlad: by heart, my dear. But speaking of, your school proposal finally came through the pipeline. I think you’ll be pleased with the progress it’s making.

“Really?!” Sam shouted, startling the boys.
“Shhh,” Vlad teased. “Your friends are trying to work.”
“What? What’s going on?” Tucker asked.
“Nothing. Vlad’s just being a fruitloop again,” Sam muttered.

Vlad rolled his eyes, giving up on ever putting the nickname behind him as he turned back to his emails once more.

“Excuse me, sir?”

All four heads swiveled in the direction of the door, making the poor employee flinch.

“How can I help you?” Vlad asked the clearly nervous man.
“Um, your secretary said it was okay to…come ask you something?”

If Mrs. Caine had sent the man back, there was a reason Vlad was sure.

“Of course. Let’s step into the conference room,” Vlad said smoothly, getting out of his chair before turning to the teens. “I’ll be back shortly-”

He shouldn’t call them kids even though that’s exactly how Vlad thought of them in the privacy of his mind. His kids. But teenagers were notoriously prickly and prone to being dismissed on the regular so Vlad tried not to do it himself unless they were being especially bratty. But ‘kiddos’ was even worse. Teens was just weird. Group? Gang? That last felt closer but just as weird for a mayor to say.

“-so feel free to ask Mrs. Caine if you need anything, posse,” Vlad finished with barely a pause.

The kids all stared at him in mild horror which, if he was being honest, was incredibly amusing.

“Don’t call us that,” Sam said immediately. “In fact, don’t ever say that word again.”

Vlad grinned at her as he passed, and she discreetly flipped him off. Yep, that was definitely going into his pile of irritate-the-teenagers words for a while.

He led the other man into the conference room and firmly closed the door. Vlad could tell this was going to be an interesting encounter in the manner of the curse ‘May you live in interesting times.’ Still, Mrs. Caine hadn’t given him any forewarning, so Vlad was fairly certain it could not be earth-shatteringly terrible.

“Would you like to sit or stand?” Vlad asked, seeking to ease the obvious tension in the other man’s demeanor.
“Oh I, uh, standing is fine.”

Vlad nodded, and instead of sitting himself, he leaned a hip against the conference table, keeping his body posture open and interested. The man hesitated then visibly gathered his courage.

“There have been some…emails. Questionable ones. Circulating in my department. Maybe a few others.”

Vlad waited for more clarification on the subject of said ‘emails’ but none came.

“I’m assuming they’re of a fairly delicate nature given that you’re speaking to me and not IT?” Vlad said smoothly.
“I-um, yes. It involves…the government.”

Interesting. Given their current employment–or in Vlad’s case volunteer work–the man could only mean the federal government.

“I see. Those can be quite intimidating,” Vlad agreed neutrally.

The man, whose gaze had been stuck to the table in front of him, briefly met Vlad’s eyes before ducking back down again.

“Yes. They are…concerning.”
“I would like to help you with that concern,” Vlad said lightly, “but in order to do that, I need to know what they contained. Allegedly, if need be.”

Another quick glance.

“It’s about ghosts,” the employee finally blurted.
“Amity Park is rather full of them,” Vlad agreed, once again fully neutral.

The back of his neck began to prickle, however.

“Yes, it is,” the man agreed, looking a little relieved. “And the, um, government organization has been…asking about them. Asking if we, the employees I mean, could be on the, uh, lookout for them?”
“I see. Might this alleged government agency happen to be the GIW?” Vlad asked, delicately looking out the window as if he didn’t mind if he were wrong or not.

Given the man’s obvious jerk, he’d hit the nail on the head.

“Y-yes sir,” he admitted. “If it were…they’ve started sending letters now. To, um, our homes.”

Vlad was glad he was staring out the window because he felt his eyes flash red in a sudden rage.

“I see.”

There was a world of promised pain in those two words that did nothing to help ease the employee’s nervousness. How dare the GIW contact his employees behind his back. How dare they attempt to intimidate and threaten in order to place spies among his staff.

He’d been keeping an eye on the branch, of course he had, but so far they had been an inept government drain of resources that even Daniel had managed to stay a step ahead of. Vlad had been content to let them die, smothered under the weight of their own incompetence, but now they were coming after his employees in his town. Now, Vlad would come for them.

“I apologize this has happened to you and all the others,” Vlad said, forcing his eyes back to normal before returning his gaze squarely to the other man. “I also thank you for your willingness to share this with me. In return, I can promise you that this harassment will stop.”

Vlad walked over to the conference table and used the intercom to page Mrs. Caine, ignoring the other man’s slight flinch as he moved. He’d let a bit too much of Plasmius slip out, it seemed.

“Yes sir?” the secretary answered promptly.
“Mrs. Caine, would you please inform the head of HR, the head of Secury, and our publicity department that I require their attendance in the conference room at their earliest convenience.”
“Right away, Mr. Masters.”

Vlad released the button and straightened up.

“When I discuss this unacceptable breach of privacy with the heads of my department, I will inform them that I happened to overhear this issue in a private discussion as I walked down the hall,” Vlad said, putting a tone into his voice he hoped the other man understood.
“I-I…oh. Yes, sir. Just so,” the man said, relieved.

It was one thing to reveal a problem. Quite another to be the face of the war party Vlad planned to form.

“Just so,” Vlad repeated. “And so you will have to excuse me for this rather impromptu meeting with my department heads.”
“Yes sir. Thank you, sir.”

The man gave him the briefest of smiles, completely transforming his face with the brilliance of it, before hurrying out of the conference room. Vlad quickly shushed his core as it purred in satisfaction. He was protecting his people, his town. And he would make damn certain the other side in this little war never got up again.

 

Notes:

The cackles I made when I was coming up with “old man words” for Vlad to use for the trio were nothing short of hysterical. Hope they entertained you all just as much.

Chapter 9

Notes:

Happy Holidays to everyone who celebrates! This is my gift to you!

 

 

Five hours and several cups of coffee later, Vlad ushered his exhausted department heads and assistants out of the conference room. They’d hashed out a plan of action against the GIW’s harassment, set it in motion with their lawyers and a hand-picked judge, and now they would have to wait for their prey to amble unknowingly into the trap that would snap their neck.

Vlad hummed to himself, pleased with the time spent even though it had been a massive pain in the ass.

It wasn’t until he walked back to his office and saw Mrs. Caine sitting there waiting for him that Vlad remembered what he’d forgot.

“Oh shit!”

Vlad rushed into his office, but the room was dark in silence. Shit.

“Sir?”

Vlad slowly turned to his secretary. His expression must have been something extraordinary because Mrs. Caine unbent enough to chuckle at him.

“They went home, Vladimir,” she said in that tone she used when addressing him as a ‘young man’ rather than her boss. “You have found some rather interesting teenagers.”
“I’m rather fond of them,” Vlad admitted, feeling his core pulse with the truth of that statement.
“They are not completely stupid like so many people I see,” the woman continued, “so give them the credit of knowing how to take themselves off when it’s clear you’re not available.”
“Right,” Vlad muttered, still feeling bad for abandoning them.
“They spent another hour working before the dark-haired girl checked with me. I said that you had come across a rather time consuming problem and likely wouldn’t be available again for some time, and they wisely took themselves off to do something more enjoyable to wait for you to reappear to play with them.”
“I was hardly playing-” Vlad protested but was immediately waved off.
“Fine, bantering then. You did leave the office door open. I heard rather more than I wanted to,” she said dryly.
“My apologies. But I felt it the wisest course of action considering the age and status gap.”

Mrs. Caine nodded once, approvingly this time, as she gathered her things and stood.

“Now, young man, you will call me a cab to take me home. I’m much too old to drive at night anymore,” she said firmly.
“Yes, Mrs. Caine. I’ll also send one for you in the morning so you don’t have to worry about sending anyone for your car,” Vlad promised.

She nodded again, accepting it as her due.

“Grab your things, Vladimir. We can walk down together.”
“I had actually planned to stay-”
“You need to rest. And eat. You’re much too thin as it is.”

Vlad carefully hid a smile as he obediently entered the office and collected his laptop and cell phone. He knew a losing battle when he saw one. (These days, at least.)

Vlad called two rides for them as he escorted his secretary out of the silent building. He waited until her ride had left then got into his own before checking his phone for any messages. Along with the kids, he’d completely forgotten his phone in the office, having made all the necessary calls from the phone in the conference room.

Daniel: Fruitloop? Where’d you go? We’re starving.
Samantha: Hurry back the boys are annoying me.
Samantha: Did you seriously leave your phone in here??? You really are an old man. Get that memory issue checked out ASAP!
Samantha: M Caine seemed to think you’re going to be forever so we headed out. Good luck with whatever HR nightmare you found 🫡

There were other missed calls, but Vlad ignored them as he called Samantha’s number. He could text but…he needed to hear her voice when he apologized. Thankfully, she picked up on the third ring.

“Hey-”
“I apologize, Samantha. I should have let you know I’d be delayed,” Vlad blurted out.
“Yeah no biggie,” she said immediately. “The weirdest fucking thing is the fact that you just, like, left your phone with us all afternoon? Do you not need it like a security blanket like the rest of humanity?”
“I have other ways of coping with anxiety, Samantha, as well you know.”
“Yeah, usually by pulverizing the person that makes you anxious,” she said dryly.

Vlad smiled unrepentantly.

“I can feel that smile, you know.”
“Oh, so now you’re checking on my feelings?” he teased, easing back in his seat now that he was assured she didn’t hate him.
“You’re the one that said I should practice shutting it off and on!”
“I truly can’t recall. It must be my memory going. It’s my age, you know.”
“You fucking fruitloop.”

Vlad laughed and ignored the way his driver’s gaze flickered appreciatively back at him in the rearview mirror.

“I can neither confirm nor deny that I am such a thing,” Vlad continued. “Regardless, next time I promise to be a more conscientious host. I’ll be sure to provide snacks before wandering off.”
“Good, because the boys decided they want to visit again. Danny actually managed to mostly finish his project,” Sam informed.
“It is a relief and a privilege to assist in his furthering education.”
“Yeah, that “used laptop” really helped,” Sam said shrewdly.
“Once again, I can neither confirm nor deny-”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m not saying anything to him,” Sam said, rolling her eyes at the ridiculousness of halfas. “You free next Thursday?”
“I have a meeting, but it should be mercifully brief. I’ll let Mrs. Caine know to expect you.”
“Awesome, see you, Fruitloop.”
“Must you use that term of endearment, Samantha?” Vlad sighed.
“The fact that you consider it an endearment rather than an insult is adorable, Vlad.”

It was the older man’s turn to roll his eyes.

They chatted for a few more minutes before Sam hung up, promising to let the others know about next Thursday’s study session.

Vlad tucked the phone away and allowed himself a moment to preen. He had the kids over every Friday, of course, but these study sessions might become another scheduled time spent together if he were fortunate.

How times change, he thought with pleasure, staring out the window at the darkened streets.

A year ago he would never have imagined Daniel willingly approaching him for help unless in the most dire of circumstances. Now, Vlad could look forward to frequent meetings with the little ‘posse’. If his large house was empty, it was now ‘empty for the moment’. Ready to be filled with squabbling, brilliant young teens.

Vlad allowed himself the indulgence of basking in the glow of these changes all the way back to his home.

~~~

Vlad rushed through a brief meal then immediately headed down to his lab. He was too amped up to work on Vladco or even more mayoral details right now. That went doubly so on continuing his ectoplasmic research in the lab. Right now, he needed to release excess energy, and the Ghost Plain was always an excellent source of stress relief. For him, at least.

Smirking, Vlad transformed then flew through his portal. He teleported to the edge of Skulker's territory then waited patiently while the large shrikes guarding the island flew up to him. Vlad gave the password then tossed them a few pounds of ectomeat for good measure. They shrieked their pleasure then flew off, leaving him to descend alone.

The halfa landed in front of the hunter’s home. He let loose a blast of power, letting it run over the island. The ghostly version of ringing a doorbell. That done, Vlad let himself in only to be promptly removed as an enormous green junglecat pounced on him.

The halfa landed in the dirt with a groan. He groaned again as the cat settled down on top of him and began to purr.

“Hello to you, too, Custard,” Vlad muttered.

The cat shoved its massive muzzle against his face with affection, and Vlad couldn’t help but give the good kitty some chin scritchies.

“You spoil her.”

Vlad craned his head back to see Skulker standing behind them, arms crossed over his large chest.

“You named her Custard. It’s only natural she’s spoiled,” Vlad pointed out, continuing to pet her.

Skulker rolled his eyes.

“Are you free?” Vlad added.
“Depends.”
“Want to help me raid the GIW Headquarters?”

Skulker raised his eyebrows.

“What’d they do to piss you off?”
“They came after my employees. It’s only fair to repay the favor,” Vlad said sweetly.
“That would probably sound more intimidating if you weren’t plastered to the ground by a cat,” the other ghost said dryly.
“Custard is the Ghost Plain’s best killing machine! Aren’t you, sweetheart?” Vlad crooned up at her. “You even defeated Vlad Plasmius. What a strong, beautiful girl you are.”

The cat’s purr rivaled a thunderstorm at the praise, and Skulker rolled his eyes again.

“Careful. They’ll get stuck that way,” Vlad smirked, then went intangible and floated up through the cat.

He floated at the level of her back, continuing to stroke her as he waited for Skulker to give him an answer.

“I assume you have a way for us to get inside?” Skulker said finally.
“My dear hunter, when do I ever not?”
“Then why are we still here?”

Vlad’s grin widened. He gave Custard one last pat then shot up into the sky, Skulker following right behind him.

 

Notes:

Custard the cat is a reference to ‘Surviving as a Villain- I’m Trapped in My Favorite Comic as the Worst Scum?!’ If you haven’t read it yet, please go check it out!

Also, a question to everyone. I keep tossing emojis in for the text conversations, but I always wonder if they're showing up or glitching the system. Are these causing problems for anyone?

Chapter 10

Notes:

I was doing so WELL, friends. Carving down my phantom wips and making excellent progress on getting them out onto digital paper. The word count had been going down. Far down! And then Goth Cereal just kept giving me MORE and now that doc is threatening to overtake the original phantom stories -sigh-

 

 

Vlad led the way through the ghost plain for some time before stopping beside what looked like an indescript rocky ledge. Skulker, ever the hunter, waited patiently as Vlad shuffled between rock formations for a bit before abruptly snatching a large boulder off the ground.

“There you are,” the halfa purred down into the hidden recess.

Skulker hovered closer and saw a natural portal glimmering inside.

“…looks awfully small.”

Vlad frowned down at it.

“It was bigger last time,” the halfa said, dismayed.
“Maybe it didn’t get enough sun.”
“Don’t try to be funny. You’re supposed to be the quiet, mean one in this relationship.”
“Maybe I’m tired of letting you be the loud, annoying one.”

Vlad set the boulder down at the edge of the hole, ensuring the portal wouldn’t be apparent to the casual ghost observer, and muttered about everyone in his life who suddenly decided to start sassing him. He floated down into the hole and cautiously poked at the portal with one hand.

It fizzed unhappily and shoved it back out again.

“Damn,” Vlad growled. “This was our best way in.”

He spent a good hour messing with the portal, trying to feed it more power, but while it grew a little brighter, the portal refused to let Vlad pass through.

“Let me try,” Skulker finally said, floating down with him and pushing the halfa to one side.

He held out his hand in front of the portal, but didn’t actually touch the metal gauntlet to the flickering edges. Instead, a thin green tendril poked out of a gap in his armor and cautiously pressed against it. After a moment, it slid right through.

Vlad sighed. The fact that Skulker’s original form could slip through meant it was a power issue rather than an issue with the portal’s ability to connect the ghost plain with the human one. A problem which Vlad, unfortunately, could not fix.

Skulker pulled his hand back and looked at Vlad for a long moment.

“I have an idea,” he said finally.
“I’m listening,” Vlad assured.
“You’ll have to trust me.”
“I do.”
“A lot.”

The halfa raised an eloquent eyebrow, asking for more information. After another long moment, Skulker pulled out a Fenton thermos from inside his power suit. The hunter held it out, his meaning clear. Plasmius couldn’t go through the portal but the thermos would be just fine.

Vlad hummed thoughtfully.

“And you?” he asked.
“Someone has to let you out on the other side. I’ll put the armor in the thermos with you. Without it, I’ll be able to pass through.”

Now it was Vlad’s turn to study the other ghost. Nearly a full minute passed before the halfa nodded slowly. He floated to waist height then crossed his legs beneath him, the picture of patient expectation. Skulker slowly uncapped the thermos, and it pulled the other ghost inside.

He stared down at the thermos in his hands for a long moment before carefully setting it down inside the hole.

Then Skulker started to remove his armor.

He hated doing this. Hated peeling off his armored suit and losing its protection even for a minute. But if Plasmius could trust him enough to get in the fucking thermos, Skulker could endure the discomfort of being naked outside his armor.

When it finally lay in a large, inert pile at his feet, a much smaller Skulker scooped up the thermos again and pulled everything inside. He took a firm grip on the thermos then carefully oozed inside the portal. It resisted him for only a moment before spitting him out onto the other side.

Skulker scuttled into the nearest hiding spot he could find: a small cavity in a group of nearby boxes. With the thermos protectively beneath him, Skulker slid out eyestalk tendrils to take a better look around.

It was dark. Very dark. But that didn’t matter to a ghost. He appeared to be in some sort of storage room. Rarely used given the disarray of the place and lack of human smells nearby. Skulker was never quite sure how Plasmius put up with it all. Humans were grating on both the ears and the nose.

Satisfied they would remain undetected for some time, Skulker poked the thermos out of the hole and hit the reverse button.

Plasmius popped out followed quickly by the armor. The halfa had a grip on it, a magenta cloud lowering it carefully to the ground to avoid excess noise. Skulker nodded his approval. It was small things like this that made the difference between catching their prey and becoming the hunted.

The halfa glanced around, spotted him, then nodded slightly before turning back around. It would be Plasmius’s turn to guard them while Skulker suited back up.

“Finished,” Skulker said finally. “Ready?”
“Yes, you know how much I love a good reconnaissance mission,” Vlad murmured, spinning back around.

He wasn’t lying. Of all the ghosts Skulker knew, Vlad loved information gathering and plotting the most.

“I thought we were doing a raid,” Skulker grumbled.
“First we recon. Then we raid,” Vlad said, tsking at him in mock frustration. “Really, Skel. Do you even listen when I rant about my incredibly devious plans?”
“No.”
“I should have known.”
“Yes, you should have, nerd,” Skulker couldn’t help but say, affection making his voice gruffer than usual.
“Arrogant jock,” Plasmius threw right back.

They grinned at each other then they both went invisible and intangible and floated their separate ways.

~~~

Danny phased through the roof of Vlad’s mansion and immediately invaded the kitchen. The older halfa had promised to take him into the zone for another practice fight—though the word ‘practice’ made it seem like the other ghost wasn’t usually trying their dead best to rip off one of his limbs—but Danny could immediately sense Vlad wasn’t back yet.

Danny floated around the kitchen, happily gathering leftovers without the need to share them with his bottomless hole of a friend. While he waited for everything to heat, Danny glanced over his messages once more.

Still nothing from Vlad. The last message he’d sent had been weird, too. Well, weirder than normal. The guy was a fucking fruitloop.

Fruitloop: Meet up for training this Saturday?
Danny: yeah sure. Not too early tho
Fruitloop: I wouldn’t dream of making you rise before noon, Daniel.
Danny: you’re not as funny as you think, fruity
Fruitloop: I’ll have you know most people consider me very amusing.
Danny: you mean the sycophants or the bootlickers? 🤔
Fruitloop: Joke’s on you, Daniel. I have a coffee date Saturday morning.
Danny: ewwwwwwwwww did NOT ask did NOT want to know!
Danny: are they hot????
Danny: shit that wasn’t me! That was Sam!!!
Danny: she stole my phone!
Fruitloop: Daniel, if you wanted to know about my dating life, all you had to do was ask.
Danny: 🤬🤬🤬

The younger halfa had to admit he was more than a little curious about what the older halfa was up to. He knew Vlad. This would probably be some sort of ghostly plot he’d forced Skulker into helping him with.

And when did I get so okay with knowing Vlad was plotting and not automatically being paranoid that it was about me or my family? Danny wondered as he tugged all his food out of the microwave.

He carried it back to the den and inhaled it all while he watched some tv, but eventually he grew bored of doing that alone. Stick a cape on him and call him Fruitloop, but these days Danny wasn’t used to doing much alone. He was always with Sam and Tucker at school or fighting ghosts or doing his stupid homework at home with Jazz. What had started from necessity—having someone watch his back while he fought—had now turned into a deeply ingrained habit. Even when he was over at Vlad’s, it was with Sam and Tucker or at the very least stuck to the Fruitloop’s side as they explored the ghost zone.

Being alone felt…well, Danny didn’t like it.

Annoyed at himself for the weirdness of it all, Danny floated out of the den and down towards the lab. Vlad had a second anti-ghost shield on this as well. Just in case another ghost managed to overpower his lock on the portal or do something sneaky to get through. But a month ago, he’d given Danny a password of his own to get inside the lab doors.

Danny input the password and the doors whooshed open. He stepped inside and looked around. Sometimes Vlad brought out a weapon or an artifact for him to examine, but nothing sat on the usual table to the teen’s disappointment. Vlad had a whole wall of artifacts down here. Each housed in separate cubbies carved into the walls. But, and here’s the thing, Vlad had yet to give Danny the code to any of those.

“Stingy fucking cheesehead,” Danny muttered as he wandered around the lab.

He made a point of rubbing his ectosignature over everything touched. (Vlad’s claims about his brattiness weren’t far from the mark, he supposed.) But Danny was bored and the older halfa was taking forever. Danny was careful about what he touched though. He wasn’t stupid. He didn’t want to die again.

As if his thoughts had summoned the older halfa, the portal started to hum and shimmer, and, instinctively, Danny went invisible. A moment later, Skulker shot out of the portal like his ghostly tail was on fire. He carried another ghost over one shoulder. It was leaking too much plasma for Danny to make out what kind of animal it was. Something he’d picked up from a hunt, maybe? But why bring it here?

Until Skulker set it down on a nearby lab table with a surprising amount of gentleness despite his hurry, and Danny got a look at its face.

Oh shit. That was Vlad.

The younger halfa didn’t remember consciously choosing to move. But suddenly he had Skulker slammed into a wall, his own hands glittering with a dangerous amount of green plasma as they pressed against the armored chest.

“What the fuck did you do to him?” Danny snarled.
“Whelp,” Skulker snarled back. “Get off of me or I will-”
“Or what? You’ll do the same thing to me that you did to Vlad?!” Danny shouted.

He yelped when Skulker head butted him then used his arm weapons to send Danny hurtling across the lab and slam into a different wall. But when he started towards Vlad again, Danny launched himself onto the other ghost’s back, clinging like an ectopus.

“Whelp!” Skulker shouted, trying to drag him off. “I don’t have time for this!”
“For what? Trying to kill him the rest of the way?!” Danny shouted back.
“I’m trying to save him. Now get off!”
“Like I’m going to believe you!”
“I’ve been his ally longer than you’ve been alive, child!”
“Well you-wait, really?”
“Yes, really! Now get out of my way!”

The hunter finally managed to snag Danny’s arm and tear him off his perch, but instead of slamming him into anything he just released his grip on the younger halfa and hurried around the lab, throwing open containers as he gathered supplies.

Danny hesitated. Watching closely. He’d never seen Skulker look so…rattled. Maybe the other ghost really was trying to save the older halfa.

Oops.

Sensing an awkward apology in his future, Dannny slunk over to hover above Vlad. Skulker eyed him narrowly but didn’t insist that he move. In fact, he made the younger halfa hold things for him, while Danny tried not to freak out about the fact that Vlad was losing so much plasma.

“Th-that’s not normal, right?”
“Obviously,” Skulker growled. “It was some new weapon. Didn’t get a chance to study it closely since I was running for my life.”
“Do you think we should go get it-”
“Absolutely not. You’d be hunted and skinned before you made it five feet into their headquarters.”
“YOU WENT TO THEIR HEADQUARTERS?!” Danny shrieked.

Skulker glared at him again, but had to quickly drop his eyes as the enhanced plasma he was trying to use to replenish Vlad’s rapidly dwindling supply almost immediately began leaking out of the many chest wounds.

“Shit,” Skulker growled.

The Hunter abruptly dashed over to the wall containing all of Vlad’s collection of artifacts he had ‘liberated’ from the zone. For a moment Danny thought he would smash into the case, but Skulker paused long enough to type grimly at the computer and one reinforced screen slid open.

“He gave you the password?!” Danny yelped indignantly as Skulker came running back with a glimmering triangle in one hand. “And what’s that?!”
“A time reversal key.”
“DID YOU GUYS STEAL IT FROM CLOCKWORK?!” Danny shouted.
“I have no idea where Plasmius acquired it from, and I don’t fucking care,” the hunter growled back. “It can only be used once by each person.”

He paused for a moment then shoved it at the younger halfa.

“You use it.”
“What?! Why me??”
“Because I may have to use it on him later in case he does anything stupid again,” Skulker snapped.
“But I don’t know how to use-”
“What in the Ancients’ name are you all doing?” a new voice asked.

Both ghosts froze then slowly looked back at the portal.

Plasmius stood in front of it, arms crossed over his chest as he watched them curiously.

“Uh, we, um, were doing something totally normal and not at all insane?” Danny tried.

Vlad raised an eyebrow at the younger halfa as he floated forward.

“Ah, you brought my duplicate back. Thank you, Skulker.”
“Yeah, no problem,” the hunter grumbled.

As he stepped away, he casually pocketed the artifact, shooting Danny a look that was more than easy to interpret.

Keep your fucking mouth shut, whelp.

Danny had no desire to get a lecture (or laughed at) for mistaking Vlad’s duplicate as the real deal and so was more than happy to play along. He even distracted the older halfa long enough for Skulker to return the artifact, mostly by pestering the man about what had so beaten up his duplicate.

“It was a new GIW weapon, I believe.”
“You were fighting with the GIW?!”
“Yes, Daniel. Do try to keep up.”

Danny made choking motions at the older halfa when he turned to look at Skulker.

“How are your injuries?” he asked.
“Minor,” the hunter grunted. “You took most of the bad ones.”
“Yes, I thought it would make an excellent shield for you as we retreated,” Vlad said with satisfaction.

He turned back to the duplicate, studying it with interest.

“Hey Vlad?” Danny asked, moving to hover above him again.
“Yes Daniel?” he replied absently.
“How come it’s still here? Like, usually duplicates explode or fade when it’s too injured to survive.”
“That is an excellent question, Daniel, and mostly because this duplicate is a new experiment of mine. I inserted a piece of my core inside it to-”
“YOU USED YOUR FUCKING CORE TO MAKE THAT?” Skulker bellowed.

Both halfas jumped in surprise at the shout and stared at the hunter.

“Well, yes, but it was perfectly safe-”
“Shut up, Plasmius!”

The hunter advanced on Vlad, getting up in his space and shoving a finger against his chest.

“You said no more core experiments! You swore to me you wouldn’t-”
“Wait! No! This isn’t”- Vlad tried to protest.
“ITS A FUCKING PIECE OF YOUR CORE, PLASMIUS! THAT COULD KILL YOU!”
“But it didn’t!”
“GOOD! NOW I HAVE THE HONOR OF DOING IT MYSELF!”

Danny watched the interaction with wide eyes. Not sure if he should run, fight, or laugh hysterically.

“Skel,” Vlad said, clearly trying to calm the other ghost down.
“Don’t call me that!” Skulker snapped. “I refuse to be friends with an idiot!”
“I keep trying to tell you it’s not what you think!”
“YOU SAID IT WAS YOUR ANCIENTS DAMNED CORE! HOW ELSE AM I SUPPOSED TO TAKE IT WITH A DUPLICATE I CAN’T TELL APART FROM THE ORIGINAL?!"
“It was the original piece that I-“ Vlad's gaze flicked to Danny for the briefest second, “separated before I stopped all that! Plus, if it was really That Thing, would you not be able to tell it apart from me?!”

Skulker paused.

“…I guess that’s true.”

Vlad raised both hands in a ‘so please stop fucking yelling at me like I committed a murder’ gesture.

Then Vlad also paused.

“You couldn’t tell it was a duplicate?”

Skulker glared back at him, every line in the massive suit defensive and unhappy. Vlad’s head tilted, like a cat spotting a particularly juicy mouse. His body shimmered for a moment and two of him floated away.

“Can you tell which one I am now?” both Vlads asked.

Skulker studied them for a long moment then lifted both arms and opened fire. Vlad ducked with a rather undignified yelp. He glared up at the other ghost, but Skulker was already stalking into the portal, cursing under his breath.

“Looks like somebody’s maaaaaaaad,” Danny sang once he’d left.

He promptly had to duck as Vlad threw a canister at his head.

 

Notes:

I feel like Skulker’s physical reality mirrors his personality. Hardass exterior built for keeping people at a distance. Soft, gooey interior for those that make it past the walls. He’s so grumpily supportive of Vlad that it kills me xD

Also, Danny, Daniel, dearest child, why must you throw hands at every freakin opportunity? Could you just...not? What am I saying? This is the kid that grew up being beaten on by every ghost he met. Instincts are hard to fight.

As for the core fragment thingie, I figure Skulker’s anger has to do with Vlad poking his hand into the whole "cloning Danny idea" then ripping it back out again when they made their truce twoish years ago. Instead of taking power from Danny, Vlad tried to split his own core to make another halfa. Which, you know, was incredibly stupid and dangerous. Hence, Skulker’s anger. So while Vlad never made Danielle in this fic, everyone he loves would be almightily pissed to find out what he tried to do (and did) to himself while looking in that direction.

Chapter 11

 

 

After Plasmius and Skulker’s raid on the GIW headquarters humiliated the government agency professionally, the additional lawsuit by Amity Park’s legal team brought them to their knees financially. Vlad heard, unofficially of course, that the federal government was in the process of completely disbanding the agency and shuffling the few remaining members to other branches as advisors only. The information pleased him greatly. Another threat would come. It always did. But for now, Vlad could relax and enjoy spending more time with his teens as the long-awaited summer break finally arrived. Daniel and Tucker were especially ecstatic about their time off since they had promptly jetted off to Science Camp at NASA.

Samantha was…less happy. Not that she wasn’t happy for them. But now it was just her and Vlad rattling around in his mansion since Jasmine had started her part-time job at the local library. It was very quiet with just the two of them, and Vlad found himself looking forward to the end of the two weeks the boys would be gone.

Currently, Samantha was sprawled out on the couch in Vlad’s home study, trying to read a book. It was from one of her favorite environmentalists (Vlad had compiled a list), but she didn’t seem to have the attention span for the most basic text right now, much less a treatise on environmental impact in pitcher plants. She sighed deeply and let it drop out of her hands to the floor.

“That’s the fifth world-ending sigh I’ve heard out of you in an hour, Samantha,” Vlad commented from behind his desk.

Today his hair was half up, half down in a style Samantha herself had helped him with earlier. Vlad removed his computer glasses to better stare pointedly over at the teen.

“I’m bored,” Sam said, knowing that wasn’t really it but not wanting to get into everything she was feeling at the moment.
“Well, isn’t it fortunate that I have just the thing to cure boredom?”

Sam jumped as a flyer flew across the room on a wave of magenta fog and landed on her face. She snatched it off and held it up so she could read it.

“Carnival and Music Festival?” she read.
“One of the local bands you favor just happens to be playing, too,” Vlad said casually. “It could be fun to go together.”

Sam lowered the flyer so she could stare at him.

“...were you just waiting for a chance to bring this up?”
“I thought it might be nice for you to do something fun since you were unable to join Tucker and Danny,” Vlad admitted. “Also…I admit I thought it would be nice for us to spend the day out together.”

Sam grinned. She’d never been more grateful Vlad’s love language included quality time and gift giving. She jumped up and ran over to him, wrapping her arms around him.

“You’re such a fruitloop,” she teased.
“I think you mean ‘thank you Vlad so much for thinking of me’,” the older man sassed back.

But he returned the hug anyway.

“Thank you sooooo much,” Sam laughed. “Just let me change. I’ll be ready in five minutes!”

She released Vlad and booked it out of the room and toward her guest bedroom.

“Take your time,” Vlad called after her. “It’ll take me at least ten to get my disguise together.”
“Hurry up, Vladimus!”

The older halfa shook his head at the new name she’d taken to teasing him with, but he got up and headed for his own room.

They met in the foyer fifteen minutes later. Sam had donned shorts and her favorite fishnet stockings, the ones with skull patterns on them. She had a band t-shirt on and ballcap because she knew it would be hot as fuck in the sun. Vlad dressed like the sun didn’t matter (because it didn’t) in a long-sleeved leather jacket, his favorite longsleeved purple top, and more of the artfully ripped jeans Sam had found for him. That combined with his sunglasses and vampire mask and the pair made the perfect punk/goth uncle/niece combo.

“We look good,” Sam approved, earning a smile from beneath Vlad’s mask as he led the way into the garage.

When the three teens had begun hanging around more, Vlad had bought himself an SUV to fit everyone. It was a far cry from the incredibly expensive sportscars he normally used, but the SUV was much less conspicuous, decently comfortable, and big enough to fit everyone including Jasmine. The kids were trying to decide on a good nickname for it. So far, Vlad had refused Mystery Machine, Vladiator, and Sheepish Unicorn Ventilator. (He had no idea where these kids got their sense of humor.) Calling it ‘the SUV’ was good enough as far as he was concerned.

He and Samantha climbed into the vehicle and buckled in before Vlad pulled out of the garage. She immediately synced her phone up and started on her Neydis playlist. Vlad scowled.

“Absolutely not.”
“Come on, Vlad, you know you love it,” Sam mocked.

Vlad’s fingers tightened on the steering wheel as she scrolled down and clicked on ‘Be Prepared’. It was, so the three teens decided, Vlad’s official theme song.

“Samantha, I put up with this ridiculous nonsense when it’s the three of you, but I do not need irritating lyrics about lions and hyenas in my head on my way to listen to real bands playing.”
“So you admit it’s catchy? Close to the truth?” she pressed.
“I will turn this car around,” Vlad growled.

Sam just grinned and flipped to a local rock station instead. It really was too much fun to tease the fruitloop. She couldn’t believe sometimes that they’d only been close like this for about six months. Not that there hadn’t been bumps along the way, but still.

We owe Ooo’livia big time for that concert, she thought, and not for the first time.

Before long, Vlad was pulling up to the fair grounds and they joined the crowds slowly trickling in. Vlad raised an eyebrow as Sam shoved in front of him and set her card on the scanner.

“Two tickets please.”

When they were handed over, Sam snagged his wrist and dragged him out of the way of the next guest.

“What first?” she asked, looking around.
“I’m not sure, Samantha. I didn’t have time to grab a map in your enthusiasm.”
“For fuck’s sake, Vladimir,” she said, rolling her eyes at his dramatics.
“Language Samantha,” he teased before going back for a map.

They poured over it for a few minutes then decided to start halfway down the left side (bypassing the children’s area entirely) then work their way around the circle. Inside of the circle, stood the large stage set up for the concerts which started in the early afternoon.

Sam led the way through the crowd, Vlad towering behind her like an attractive gargoyle. The thought made her snicker.

“Hungry?” Vlad asked, nodding towards some food booths.
“What? Do I look like the boys or somethi-ooooo pickle cakes!”

She felt a wave of amusement from his core as he stepped over to buy one for her. Sam munched as they walked and pointed out games they had to try. They were, to a one, spectacularly bad at them.

“I get why I suck but why are you bad?” Sam muttered when they had wasted yet another ten dollars on game tokens only to spectacularly fail to even win one pity prize.
“What? You expect me to use my powers at a carnival game?” Vlad murmured back as he tried, and failed, to toss a ring around a bottle.
“Yes, actually, I do. This is just getting embarrassing,” she whined.
“You should work on that, Samantha, having a thick skin will get you far in life,” Vlad teased as he tossed his last ring and missed again.
“Loser.”
“I’m old. The arthritis is getting to me,” he said seriously.
“Shut up and do the thing!”
“Samantha, if you can’t win it fair and square, there is no point in playing.”
“You lie and cheat all the time!” she protested.
“That is in real life. This is a game,” Vlad reminded. “There are rules.”
“Oh my god, what is your malfunction?”
“Quite a lot, I suspect. How much time do you have?”

Sam rolled her eyes as Vlad’s eyes crinkled over his mask at her, then he stiffened suddenly.

“Vlad?”
“Just caught sight of an old friend,” he said, the posse’s code for a ghost nearby when they were out in public.

They both turned their heads, looking for some quiet corner where he could shift into his ghost form, but the carnival was packed with people.

“This way,” Sam finally said, grabbing his wrist and pulling him along.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see,” she insisted.

Vlad almost balked when he saw where they were headed.

“Samantha-”
“Don’t be a baby. You’ll be fine,” she insisted, towing him onwards toward the portapotty line.
“I would rather just let the problem solve itself, thank you,” Vlad growled.

Sam rolled her eyes and somehow got them towards the front of the line for one. When the door opened and another man stepped out, Vlad nearly fainted at the smell that came with it.

“Go,” Sam growled, shoving him inside.

But before he could close the door behind him, Sam shoved in alongside him and slammed the door shut, forcing him to nearly fall into the toilet. He scrabbled at the walls, claws digging into the soft plastic.

“Samantha!” he whisper-hissed.
“Vlad! Hurry up and go intangible so I’m not shoved against the urinal!”

Vlad growled but did as she asked, and Sam moved into the center of the small box with considerable relief.

“What the hell are you doing?” Vlad demanded.
“You’ll need an empty one available when you get back,” she scolded. “I’ll wait here for you to finish, then you can phase back, and we’ll step out.”
“Samantha-”
“Hurry the hell up, Vlad! You owe me so much for staying in this stinky ass hole!”

Vlad could only sigh, turn invisible, then slip out through the wall and fly off to find the troublesome ghost.

It turned out to be ghosts, plural, and it took him all of seven minutes to corral them all together and blast them back to the ghost zone. It was apparently seven minutes too long though given the look Samantha gave him when he phased back inside the box. She shoved open the door and stomped out, not waiting for him to follow. Vlad sighed and followed her out, ignoring the wide eyes of the people waiting in line.

Good thing I’m wearing a mask or that would be all over the papers in the morning, he thought dryly. Your mayor caught in a bathroom cubicle with an underage teen? It's more likely than you think!

They finally finished making their way around the large ring of booths, Vlad bought Sam a slushie and forced her to take a break in the shade under some trees.

“I don’t need you burnt to a crisp or dehydrated and passing out,” he warned when she put up a token protest.
“I’m not Danny,” she sighed.

But it was hot so she flopped down and rested her back against one of the trees. Vlad sat next to her until Sam glared at him.

“It’s hot and you’re hot. Get away from me.”
“Samantha please, I’m your godfather,” Vlad said in mock horror even as he scooted to give her more space.
“It’s your fault for developing a fire core.”
“I hardly think I did anything to deserve that. It was completely 100% by chance.”
“If we ever get a third halfa, I’m going to enjoy rubbing it in your face when they get a forest core,” she muttered before slurping up her drink.
“No such thing,” Vlad said, amused.
“As a third halfa or a forest core?”
“Samantha, if there was a third, I sincerely hope you would tell me.”
“Because you handled the second one so goddamn well.”
“...touché.”

Smiling smugly, she drank more of her slushie. They chatted for awhile, but between the heat and her mostly full stomach, Sam found herself nodding off. Sometime during that, a shoulder suddenly appeared beside her, and she gratefully leaned against it and closed her eyes.

When she opened her eyes again, the sun wasn't setting but it had definitely traveled across the sky. Sam pushed herself off of Vlad’s shoulder and was horrified to find the leather jacket was wet.

“Oh my god, did I drool on you?!” she demanded.
“You were a regular Niagara Falls,” Vlad teased as he looked down at her.
“I hate you so much.”
“But Samantha, we’ve bonded. Both through my core and your sali-”
“Do not finish that sentence,” she warned.

Vlad grinned but shut up. When she pulled away, the older halfa ran his hand down the shoulder. When he pulled his hand away, the moisture was completely gone.

“Damn, I could really use that trick after a shower,” she muttered.
“It’s incredibly useful when I’m running late,” he agreed.
“Speaking of running late, how long did I sleep?”
“About two hours.”
“Two hours?! How the hell did I sleep that long?!” Sam demanded.
“I made a privacy shield. It dulls the noise somewhat,” Vlad explained.
“You can do that?!”
“Daniel can’t?” he mocked lightly.

She shoved him and stood up then looked around. Given the heat, every other piece of shade was being occupied, but there was a wide berth around their small plot of trees.

“What did you do?” Sam said, looking accusingly down at him.
“Quite a bit, usually. You’ll have to be more specific, Samantha.”
“The space,” she said, gesturing dramatically around her.
“Ah, that was easy enough. I just have to project enough ‘other’ to make humans feel uncomfortable in my presence. They leave on their own.”
“Not me,” she pointed out.
“That’s because you know I won’t harm you,” Vlad said, standing up and dusting himself off.
“I do?”

He paused and looked at her carefully.

“I should hope so,” he said after a moment.

Sam rolled her eyes.

“I didn’t mean physically safe or whatever. I mean you and Danny can be fucking eerie and terrifying when you do your you-know-what shit so how come I didn’t feel that?”

Vlad relaxed a little.

“Because our core connection told you that you were safe. Therefore you believed you were safe even when you felt that ‘otherness’,” Vlad said simply.
“Fine. Weird. But fine.”
“I aim to please, Samantha,” Vlad said, giving her a perfect bow because of course he fucking knew how to do that.
“Not beating the ancient vampire allegations, Fruitloop,” she mocked as she headed towards the middle of the carnival grounds.
“I’m already strange, Samantha. I’ve simply decided to embrace it.”

Sam rolled her eyes, but her eyes caught on a vaguely familiar form looming over everyone. Wait, was that…

“Tiny!” she shouted.

Vlad looked in the direction she was waving, and saw the moment when the soundcrew tech from Ooo’Livia’s concert caught sight of them. He waved back then gestured them closer. Before Sam could move though, Vlad gently caught her shoulder.

“Picked up another old friend,” he murmured. “I’ll find you again?”
“Do you need me to come help with the portapotty ag-”
“Absolutely not.”

Sam laughed as she was shoved in Tiny’s direction, and Vlad turned away and walked off.

He followed the ghostly sense to a set of nearby tents, ones set up for the performers. Fortunately, the space between them was somewhat private, and Vlad was able to go invisible and slip through. Almost immediately he saw the problem. Ember stood off to one side, fiddling with her guitar.

Damn it.

Vlad had to time it carefully. He circled around the tent then phased in and grabbed her, turning the other ghost invisible as he did so, then yanked her outside with him. He immediately flew them up into the sky then had to let go as her flaming hair tried to wrap around his neck. Vlad kicked her away, and she spun, hands already on her guitar before pausing.

“Plasmius?!”
“In the ectoflesh, my dear. As lovely as this meeting is, I’m afraid there’s one too many ghosts at this concert. You’ll have to leave.”
“I can’t go!”

She hastily threw both hands up as Vlad powered up his ectoblasts, the threat obvious.

“Wait! Wait up!! I’m not here to fight!”
“Then run.”

The level of threat in his voice had her jerking back. Ember glanced down at the tents below, but before she could make a run for them, Vlad sent out a rope of plasma, tying her up neatly. He jerked the rope toward him and prepared to smash her face in.

“I’m playing with a band!” Ember shouted.

Vlad’s fist paused an inch away from her face.

“They were looking for a guitar player,” Ember added quickly. “Th-they know I’m a ghost, but Ooo’Livia said it was fine!”
“Which band?” Vlad growled.
“...All Girls Go to Heaven,” she muttered, slightly embarrassed.

Vlad sighed inwardly. Normally, he’d just banish her to the ghost zone with a beating to make the lesson stick. But if she really was playing with the band…having their guitar player drop out last minute would be a crushing blow.

Ember blinked as the plasma rope abruptly uncoiled from around her.

“Very well,” Vlad said sternly. “I’ll allow it. But if you start draining anyone down in the audience, you’ll wish I ended you here.”
“I won’t!” the other ghost assured quickly. “Promise!”
“Hm.”
“I just…I really wanted to play again,” she admitted.

Vlad sighed again. Out loud this time. Spending time with his little ‘posse’ really had made him soft. That or Ember’s apparent age made it all too easy to imagine one of his kids ending up in a similar situation.

“Drain anyone and you’re dead,” Vlad repeated. “Now go.”

Ember bobbed her head rapidly then quickly zoomed back down and phased through the tent. Vlad waited a minute or two before he also descended. After a quick look around, Vlad shifted then became visible once more. He casually stepped out from between the tents and followed his connection to Samantha to where she was still chatting with Tiny and yet another of the soundcrew his teens had befriended at the theatre.

“Ah, Zane’s back,” Sam said, pretending to catch sight of him and not having already felt his presence nearby. “I’ll see you guys around. Good luck and break a leg in there!”
“Thanks Sam. Drop by the theatre one of these days and we’ll let you in for free,” Tiny said with a smile.

Sam gave him a quick hug then jogged over to where Vlad was waiting.

“Well?” she demanded.
“It was Ember,” he murmured.
“What?!”
“Shh, she said she was playing with one of the bands.”
“And you believed her?!”
“Ooo’Livia is here. Why not Ember?”
“Becaaaaaause she tried to take over all of Amity Park?” Sam whispered furiously.
“So did I,” Vlad pointed out.

Sam stared flatly up at him.

“I don’t think she’s lying, and I would feel bad taking out a player or singer right before a band goes onstage,” Vlad said finally.
“Wow. Vlad Plasmius finally discovers his empathy. Never thought I’d see the day,” Sam said sarcastically.
“I’ll put a few duplicates around. If she’s lying, I’ll take care of it,” Vlad promised.
“In front of a few hundred people??”

Vlad nodded. He was pretty confident Ember would mind herself in his presence. He wasn’t Daniel after all. Ghosts didn’t just ignore him.

“A duplicate is following her right now,” he added when Sam continued to glare. “If she gets up to anything beforehand, I’ll know.”
“Fine. Whatever! Just know I’ll never forgive you if this ruins my chance to see my favorite band playing!”

She stomped away toward what she considered the ‘good seats’ while Vlad followed behind her, resigning himself to an irritable teenager until the music started. Thankfully, his patience was rewarded. The organizers of this festival knew what they were doing. The first group started off with a bang and soon had the crowd revved and raring to go. Given his sensitive hearing, Vlad quickly stuffed in a special set of earplugs he’d designed for himself early on. Normally, he wore them when he was traveling and surrounded by hundreds of people in a large hotel, but they worked well enough in a crowd this large as well.

Sam noticed the movement and leaned a little against him in support. Forgiven a little bit, it seemed. It helped that Ember really did behave herself and didn’t sing at all. She really did look happy being able to play. Vlad understood the feeling all too well.

And then it was time for Sam’s favorite band, and Vlad nearly got his eardrums blown out anyway by her screams of excitement.

“I hope you’re ready for one of our hottest local bands tonight!” the announcer began only to be drowned out by the chanting.
“GRLS KCK @SS!” the crowd roared.
“I can’t top that introduction,” the announcer laughed. “Come on out, ladies!”

The girl band ran out to even more screams. One especially loud one from right beside Vlad. He grinned down at Sam who looked like she was about to lose her mind with happiness.

“Thank you for that very warm reception,” the lead singer said to even more cheers. “We’re very excited to bring you one of our most asked for covers, Prey on Me!”

Vlad winced as the screaming somehow increased in volume. Sam latched onto his arm, shaking him.

“Ohmygodohmygodohmygod! They’re doing it! I get to hear it live!”

Vlad resigned himself to deafness and blood loss in his right arm for the rest of the night. But looking down at Sam, he knew it was worth every painful moment.

 

Notes:

I find it infinitely funny that Vlad is all ‘no, we don’t cheat on games we only cheat in real life’. Sam is so done with his shit. ALSO the fact that Vlad has entered his minivan stage in life without it actually being a minivan. He’s such a dad, friends, he kills me.

Fam, I absolutely adore “Prey On Me” from DOROTHY. Give it a listen.

Chapter 12

Summary:

Vlad bonds with more of his godchildren. Even when they ‘drive’ him crazy :D

 

 

Vlad sat in the front passenger seat of the SUV and tried not to laugh as he looked over at Tucker. The teen had the wheel in a death grip, and Vlad could literally hear the tendons in his fists constrict as he clung to it.

“Tucker,” Vlad said gently, “let go of the wheel.”

The teen released it like it was a snake trying to bite him.

“What? Why? Is it Technus?!” he yelped.

Swallowing laughter again, Vlad very carefully settled a hand on Tucker’s shoulder.

“No, there are no ghosts anywhere near here. Yours truly excepted, of course. I just need you to relax first. Try to match my breathing.”
“What are you, my counselor?” the teen grumbled.
“No, but since I did learn this in therapy, I think it might actually be helpful,” Vlad said lightly.
“Oh…sorry.”

Vlad led the anxious teen through a few rounds of breathing slowly which did seem to help.

“Okay, let’s try again,” Vlad coached.

Tucker inhaled deeply then put his hands on the wheel.

“Turn on the car.”

Tucker did so.

“That’s good. Now press the brake with your foot then put it in reverse.”

Tucker pressed on the pedal then practically levitated as high as a ghost when the engine in the SUV roared to life.

“That would be the gas, Mr. Foley,” Vlad said, deadpan.

Tucker chuckled nervously but depressed the other pedal and moved the vehicle into reverse.

“Now, I pulled in fairly straight when I parked so all you need to do is keep the wheel straight and give it a little bit of gas,” Vlad coached.

Tucker swallowed but nodded and gave it the tiniest bit of gas. Vlad thought about correcting him but decided it was better than the other problem and let them inch slowly out of the garage. The driveway from the mansion to the gate was long so Vlad had him turn so they could go down straight instead of having to reverse the whole way down. When they made it down to the gate, Vlad had the teen put the car in park then looked over at Tucker.

“Very good. I want to cover two things before we go out on the road,” Vlad informed.
“O-okay.”
“First, I have very good insurance and a lot of money. If something happens to the car, I will not be angry with you.”

Tucker nodded jerkily.

“Good. Second, if for some unforeseen reason something happens to the car, I will make sure we go intangible and avoid getting into a life threatening accident. I am literally the safest person you could be doing this with because I can and I will keep you safe, Tucker.”

The teen nodded again, this time a little more confidently.

“Okay.”
“Okay, click the button to open the gate and put the car into drive again.”

The rest of the session went very well. Tucker was still clearly nervous, but his confidence grew as he drove along and managed not to hit anything or be hit by anyone else. Vlad had mapped out a route for them that avoided the worst places for traffic. Even when Tucker missed a turn, the teen was able to recover fairly easily and turn at the next light instead. When they finally returned to the garage, Tucker slumped in his seat, exhausted.

“Well done, Tucker,” Vlad applauded. “That was very well done for your first time.”
“Thanks Vlad,” the teen said, grinning over at the older man.
“Same time tomorrow?”

Tucker shook his head.

“I gotta watch the girls. Mom’s got an event until late.”
“The day after then?”
“I’ll double check, but I think that’ll be fine.”

When Vlad had first approached Tucker about teaching him to drive, the teen was equal parts embarrassed and terrified. Did he want to learn to drive? Absolutely. But with two cars shared between parents that worked full-time, finding the time was next to impossible even during summer break. Vlad, obviously, didn’t have that problem. He did have the problem of being incredibly intimidating, however, and this would be the longest time Tucker had spent in his presence alone. Somehow, though, it had actually been…kinda fun? In a nerve-wracking, if I crash we could all die, kind of way.

“Uh Vlad?”
“Yes?”
“Um, thanks for teaching me,” Tucker muttered.
“You made it easy,” Vlad assured, smiling down at the teen.
“Anyone is easier than Danny,” Tucker grinned.

Vlad rolled his eyes. He had tried one time to teach the younger halfa to drive this summer, and the two of them had nearly died a second time hitting a semi-truck. Only Vlad’s last minute phasing of the SUV had kept them from being splatted. Naturally, both halfas blamed each other for the incident.

“So you guys almost dying was totally not cool, but the drama afterwards totally was hilarious,” Tucker couldn’t help but add.
“Remind me why I keep teenagers around?” Vlad muttered as he unclipped his seatbelt.
“Because you bonded with Sam, have a weird hate-love thing going on with Danny, and you secretly think I’m hilarious?”
“Mr. Foley, I assure you that I keep you around for your brains only, not your poor taste in humor.”

Tucker felt his face grow hot. Vlad thought he was smart?

“Come along. I would be remiss in my duties not to feed you before I send you home,” Vlad said, sliding out of the vehicle and shutting the door behind him.
“O-okay, yeah, I could eat,” Tucker said, quickly sliding out as well.
“The day you can’t eat, Tucker, is the day I discover you’ve been overshadowed,” Vlad mocked.
“Hey! A guy’s gotta eat!” Tucker complained.

Together, the two headed for the kitchen, sassing and being sassed in equal measure as they did so.

~~~

It was on Tucker and Vlad’s fourth drive around town that the inevitable happened. Vlad’s breath fogged up, but Tucker’s eyes were firmly on the road and he didn’t notice. Vlad’s head swiveled, looking around for the source, and that’s when a huge piece of rubble flew at them from the sky.

Vlad reached for the wheel, but Tucker was already yanking them over, narrowly avoiding the headon collision. The SUV jerked and swung around as the piece of wall clipped the back left, Vlad gripping the teen as they spun, but the SUV managed not to hit anything else as they came to an abrupt stop.

“Pull over to the shoulder,” Vlad coached the trembling teen. “We need to get out of the way of the rest of the cars.

Only once Tucker had safely pulled off the road did Vlad transform and zoom up to deal with the idiot ghost throwing large pieces of masonry around the street.

When he returned, Tucker had his head against the steering wheel and was taking deep breaths.

“Tucker?”

The teen jumped but relaxed when he saw it was just Vlad.

“Are you okay?” the older halfa said gently.
“I’m f-fine. How’s the car?”
“In much better shape than if we’d hit that head on. Good thinking and excellent reflexes,” Vlad praised.

Tucker let out a little wheeze of relief as he kept his slumped position.

“Would you like me to drive home?” Vlad asked gently.

He was surprised when Tucker shook his head.

“I-I want to do it.”
“Alright. Take your time.”

The teen nodded and after a few more minutes pulled them back onto the street and headed back to Vlad’s mansion. They were only five minutes away when blue lights suddenly lit up behind them.

“O-oh shit,” Tucker muttered, dark eyes wide as he looked in the rearview mirror.
“Slow down and pull over to the side when there’s room,” Vlad said, voice completely steady.
“O-okay right.”

Tucker did as he was told then put the car in park. His fingers trembled on the steering wheel as Vlad dug around in the glove compartment for the insurance then set it on the dash. He added his own license to the pile then helped Tucker dig his driver’s permit out of the teen’s wallet.

Vlad glanced in the sidemirror back at the cop car then grabbed a spare hairtie and with brisk efficiency pulled his hair back from his face into the much more recognizable style of Amity Park’s mayor.

“If something happens, I can overshadow him,” Vlad murmured to the terrified teen as he worked. “You’ll be fine, Tucker, I promise.”
“I-I know I just get n-nervous,” Tucker said.
“A perfectly understandable reaction.

The anxiety only increased as the officer didn’t move from the car for over five minutes.

“Wh-what’s taking so long?” Tucker asked, eyes continually flicking to the rearview mirror.
“He’s running our plates to see if the vehicle is stolen, most likely,” Vlad assured. “That and seeing if anything is expired. It’s perfectly normal-oh, here he comes. Take some deep breaths, Tucker, and hands on the steering wheel.”

The teen’s head bobbed unsteadily as he took deep breaths then slid the window down before putting his hands on the steering wheel.

“Hello, my name is Officer Greene. I’d like your license and registration please,” the man said sternly.
“Good evening, Officer,” Vlad said smoothly from his side of the SUV. “We’re happy to provide whatever you need.”

The man tilted his head a bit to get a better view of the passenger, and Tucker knew the moment he recognized Vlad as his eyes widened.

“Mr. Masters?”
“Yes, Officer Greene. Don’t mind me. My godson and I were just out practicing for his license exam.”
“Your godson?” the man asked, briefly eyeing Tucker.
“Yes, I have several godchildren. Four, in fact. There’s a strange correlation I’ve noticed. The richer I become, the more godchildren I’m responsible for,” Vlad joked.

The officer laughed along with him as Vlad had meant to.

“Mr. Masters, are you aware that your left tail light is out?” Officer Greene asked.
“Is it?” Vlad asked, eyes widening. “I guess that would make sense. We were just downtown when a ghost showed up out of nowhere and nearly hit us with a wall. A wall! If it wasn’t for Tucker here keeping his head, we would have been flattened!”

Vlad put his hand on the teen’s shoulder and smiled blindingly at him. It was such a weird mix of Vlad’s professional smile and his genuine one that Tucker’s stomach did a weird flip-flop.

Not now stupid crush, Tucker whined inwardly.

The officer immediately asked for more information about the incident downtown, and soon the two men were chatting aimably away before the officer took their paperwork and walked back to his vehicle. Tucker let out an unsteady breath when he was gone.

“You did well, Tucker,” Vlad murmured, immediately dropping the charm as his eyes zeroed in on the cop car behind them.

Thankfully, it didn’t take long for the officer to return.

“Since the taillight just happened, I’ll let you go with a warning,” the man said, handing back both licenses and the registration paperwork.
“That’s very kind of you, Officer Greene. I’ll be sure to have it towed in the morning,” Vlad said, smile easy as he leaned over to shake the man’s hand. “Thank you for the excellent work as always.”
“You too, sir. Have a good night.”

When he headed back to his vehicle, Tucker rolled the window back up and let out a whoosh of breath.

“You did well,” Vlad repeated, blue eyes locking onto him. “Let’s go home, shall we?”

Tucker nodded then carefully used his turn signal before pulling back onto the road.

Five minutes later they were parked safely in the garage. Tucker handed the keys over to Vlad then slumped against the steering wheel with a deep groan. That had been fucking terrifying!

He missed the way Vlad smiled softly over at him. Although the teen had been incredibly nervous, he hadn’t panicked with either situation, and Vlad was so proud of him for-

An unexpected click startled them both.

There was a rush of air in Tucker’s head, and his stomach dropped out as something gave a little shove into him and then suddenly he felt…mortified?

Tucker blinked through the windshield. Was he having a heart attack? Was he going to die?? He turned to Vlad for reassurance only to find the older halfa folded over in the seat next to him, face in his hands.

“V-Vlad?” Tucker squeaked out, absolutely ready to panic at whatever had just taken out the most powerful ghost he knew.
“I’m fine. We’re fine,” Vlad reassured immediately without looking up.
“Wh-what just happened?” Tucker demanded. “Was it a ghost?”
“In a manner of speaking,” Vlad muttered.
“How’d they get past your shield?!”

Vlad gave a deep, drawn out sigh.

“It was me, Tucker. I…I bonded with you. With my core.”

Another wave of hot embarrassment swept over Tucker, and he finally, finally realized what was going on.

“Oh shit, that’s you,” he breathed.

Vlad just hunched further into his hands. Tucker really wasn’t sure what to say. It was awkward but…but given the waves of embarrassment emanating from the older halfa, he figured if he didn’t say anything nobody would.

“Um, are you okay?” he tried. “It didn’t, um, hurt you or anything?”
“No, I’m quite all right,” Vlad murmured. “It doesn’t feel bad. I’m just…trying not to feel like a touch-starved cat trauma bonding with anything that hasn’t tried to kick me.”

Tucker wasn’t sure if he was allowed to laugh at that or not. Vlad finally looked over at him, face an extreme shade of red only incredibly pale white people were capable of achieving.

“You can go ahead and laugh.”
“Nah, I’m good, man,” Tucker said, deciding to take the high road for once in his life.
“I think I’d rather you just get it out of your system,” Vlad muttered.

Tucker grinned but managed not to laugh. Out loud, at least.

“Soooooo we’re just bonded now? That’s all she wrote?” the teen asked.
“I can cut the bond in a week,” Vlad sighed, letting his head fall back against the seat.
“Can I ask something?”
“In this situation? I can hardly refuse.”
“It’s just, um, why did you choose me?”

Vlad glanced over at him, eyebrow raised.

“Why would I not?”
“Because…well. I get Danny. He’s brave and he’s got powers and he’s the only one of your species. That makes sense. And Sam is…well, she’s Sam.”

Vlad nodded. Understanding what the other teen meant. Samantha Manson would walk barefoot into hell if she thought it necessary and probably come out with some sort of badass black leather shoes for good measure.

“It’s just…I’m not like that,” Tucker continued. “I’m not brave and I’m not super strong like they are. I’m just…me.”
“Tucker, just you is incredibly intelligent and loyal. You don’t need to be like your friends to be worthy of my respect,” Vlad said carefully. “Or anyone else's for that matter.”
“I know that. It’s just…I’m not brave like they are. They’ll run after a ghost no questions asked but I…don’t. I’m also clumsy and uncoordinated!”
“You’re a teenager. Your body is literally conspiring against you to make you uncoordinated right now.”
“Yeah, but even when it’s not I’m never going to be like that.”

Like his friends, he meant.

“Do you think I was incredibly coordinated when I started out?” Vlad said dryly. “I was a scientist. A nerd. I took off my own limbs with ectobursts more times than I like to count. I’m not saying that effort will get you to Daniel’s level, but it will make you more comfortable and competent in your own body, Tucker.
“I guess that’s fair,” the teen muttered.

Then his stomach rumbled loudly in the silence. Vlad grinned, amusement making its way through their bond.

“You’ve had a hard few hours. Let’s talk after you’ve eaten, shall we?”
“Yes please,” Tucker muttered pathetically.

They both got out of the SUV and headed for the kitchen. Tucker slid into a seat while Vlad studied the contents of the industrial-sized fridge for a moment before starting to pull out containers of leftovers. He’d planned on eating them tonight, but he could always order takeout for himself. The teen needed real food, and Vlad’s core demanded he provide that.

While Vlad heated up everything in the microwave, he grabbed himself a water and bag of chips and set them at his own spot at the table. Not because he was actually hungry but because it would keep the teen company as he ate. When the food had finished heating, Vlad slid it into a bowl then set the whole thing in front of Tucker. The teen dug in immediately and groaned with happiness.

“Fuuuuuuck, dude this is amazing,” he said before digging in more.

Vlad’s core thrummed with pleasure.

“I’m glad you like it.”

But the teen was staring up at Vlad like he’d grown a third head.

“What was that? That weird fizzing thing in my chest?”

Damn it, Vlad groaned inwardly. He was so used to automatically muffling his core around Samantha that he’d forgotten he couldn’t do the same with Tucker. At least not yet.

“I should probably tell you a bit about this whole core connection,” Vlad said hurriedly. “After a week or so, the bond will settle enough that I can snap it without any backlash to you and-”
“What if I want to keep it?” Tucker interrupted.

Vlad stared at him, waves of confusion washing over from him.

“I thought…I assumed you wouldn’t want to keep it?”
“Hey, you’re the one making assumptions here. Why wouldn’t I want to keep it?” Tucker shot back.
“Because you didn’t ask for this?
“I mean, yeah, but Sam said you could only bond if there was a reciprocal kind of interpersonal thing, right? Which is why you couldn’t bond with Danny or Danny’s mom-”

A wave of shame so large and intense it made Tucker drop his fork and struggle to breathe washed over from Vlad’s side.

“S-sorry,” Tucker said between gasps.
“Not your fault,” Vlad gritted back.

His nails had shifted to claws which were now dug deeply into the tabletop as he fought with his core. Tucker sat as still as he could not daring to move or do anything while the older halfa struggled.

It took over five minutes for Vlad to calm down enough to unhook his claws from the table top. He got up and leaned over the sink, breathing deeply for a moment before speaking.

“I apologize for…that. The lack of my ability to bond with them is a…sore subject.”
“No problem. Won’t bring it up again,” Tucker squeaked.
“Eat your food. It’ll help,” Vlad told him.

He took another deep breath then walked back to the table and sat again.

Never loathe to be told to eat, Tucker finally turned back to his bowl. He polished it off along with a bag of chips and two ice cream sandwiches Vlad had started stocking in his freezer for their visits. The teen sighed happily, being full really was the best feeling in the world.

A thread of amusement wove its way over from Vlad, making Tucker look over at him again.

“I can cut it in a week,” the older halfa reminded.
“Is it always going to be like that?” Tucker asked. “When you, um, it was hard to breathe for a minute there.”
“Ancients no! That was…I’m sorry,” Vlad said again. “I promise that is not how it normally is.”
“Okay, then I still think I want it. I can always change my mind later, right?”

Vlad inclined his head.

“If you’re sure, we can wait,” he assured.
“I mean, technically I kinda already agreed right?” the teen shrugged.
“I don’t like forcing this on a technicality, Tucker.”
“Yeah, but I don’t mind. Honest. It’s kinda…flattering?”

Vlad looked at him again, and Tucker felt a little flip-flop of mushy feels flow out from the older halfa at the words.

“Whoa,” the teen said without thinking.
“I apologize,” Vlad sighed, managing not to blush this time. “I’ll be able to muffle it in a day or two. Right now the bond is settling, and the connection is wide open, as it were.”
“Can I also muffle it?” Tucker asked.
“Yes, but it takes a lot of practice for a human. Samantha is just getting the hang of it right now, and we’ve been bonded for almost six months.”
“But you can’t, like, read my thoughts or anything?”
“If that were possible, I’m certain Samantha would have done away with me already for having to listen to my quote “old man brooding”.”
“Yeah, that sounds like her.”
“I promise I am not trying to change the subject, but I do still want to cover what we started in the car,” Vlad said after a few moments.
“What was that, again?”

Vlad’s face remained the same, but that thread of amusement was back.

“Why do you do that?” Tucker asked before he could think to censor himself.
“Do what?”
“The poker face thing?”

Vlad tilted his head, considering the question seriously.

“I’m sure Jasmine would say it’s a mix of factors, really. I grew up in a home that didn’t approve of my sexual orientation. I was also poor and very bad at social interactions as a child. I quickly learned that the more expression I showed when people bullied me, the more they would seek me out to continue it.”
“Oh.”

Tucker understood about bullies all right. Dash was pretty much a thing of the past now. What with Danny and Sam forcing him to leave them alone. But being ignored wasn’t fun either which is how he spent most of his time at school when he wasn’t with his two friends.

When he glanced over at the older halfa, he found Vlad was looking at the floor, and it took Tucker a moment to realize he was giving Tucker time to finish having “emotions”. Ugh, this was harder than it looked.

“I am also a businessman, and it has served me very well to either be utterly charming or inscrutable,” Vlad continued smoothly. “So nature and nurture packaged into one, I suppose. Now, back to you. You do not need to be brave in order to be likeable, Tucker. Or an excellent addition to Team Phantom. Your strength lies in your caution. Your ability to foresee problems. Daniel and Samantha have many excellent qualities, but foresight is not yet one of them.”

Tucker felt his face heat. He hadn’t expected Vlad to compliment him.

“We will always need those willing to throw themselves at the front line,” Vlad continued, blue eyes boring into the teen. “But they can only advance if they have the tools and knowledge to navigate what they encounter. Leaving it up to ‘luck’ will eventually lead to defeat. Very disastrous, potentially lethal defeat where ghosts are concerned.”
“But Danny’s so strong-” Tucker began.
“And I am much stronger,” Vlad cut in bluntly. “One cannot always expect to be the most powerful ghost or even person in the room. Even as a halfa.”

Tucker hunched a little, knowing it was true, and Vlad’s face softened slightly.

“If you would like, I would be happy to train you,” he offered carefully. “With persistence, one’s bodily limitations can be overcome. To a point.”
“You would? Really?” Tucker demanded.
“Really,” Vlad nodded. “But what I would really like to do is train your mind. Your ability to take in information and make split second decisions. Make you both the puppet master and the ranged damage dealer.”
“Whoa, whoa, wait. Do you game?” Tucker demanded.
“A little in college,” Vlad admitted. “I thought it would be an apt analogy for you to understand.”
“Hooooooly shit, Vlad Masters was a gaming nerd,” Tucker breathed.
“Focus Tucker,” Vlad sighed, even as a smile crossed his face.
“Right, right. Sure. But when we’re done, I’m toooootally grilling you about what you played.”
“Fair enough. Now about your training.”

While they hashed out a plan on what to focus on for Tucker’s new training regime, Vlad’s core began to purr softly in satisfaction. And this time, the teen was smart enough not to comment on it.

~~~

Tucker felt his head was full to bursting when he got home just in time for dinner with his family. He’d eaten at Vlad’s but, well, he was a growing teenager. He could always eat more.

He wasn’t able to dwell too much on the near death experience plus bonding combo as he got caught up with cleaning up after dinner, finishing chores, then helping put his youngest sister to bed. When that was all finally done, Tucker took himself off to his room and closed the door. Finally! He could be alone with his own thoughts!

Vlad Masters had offered to train him. Train him. Tucker Foley!

In the privacy of his room, Tucker flopped on his bed and rolled back and forth, silently freaking the fuck out. Eventually, he bolted upright, snagging his phone and flipping to the group chat only to pause at a text from Sam.

GothGirl: Vlad texted. Welcome to the trauma bond family, Tuck.

The teen grinned and clicked on the chat.

Tucker: 🤣 I lost at least a year of my life not laughing myself sick at him. His face Sam. He was so damn red!!
GG: Yeah, I felt that before he blocked it off. Is he sitting there kicking himself right now?
Tucker: Uh, not sure? I can still feel the embarrassment but it’s not, like, waves of it anymore
Tucker: also, does he have a food kink or smnth cuz holy shiiiiiit
GG: 😂😂😂 did he feed you? He gets so stupidly excited over it.
GG: OMG
GG: I JUST REALIZED
GG: He’s like a cat bringing you a dead mouse! All proud of himself for feeding his human!!!
Tucker: LMFAO YOU DID NOT JUST
GG: It’s true!
Tucker: 🤣🤣🤣

Tucker took the opportunity to message in the group chat about what had happened. Danny hadn’t read it yet, so Tucker clicked back into the other chat as Sam began texting him again.

GG: you gonna keep it?
Tucker: yeah, I think so. It’s weird but…nice?
GG: helps figure out his poker face
Tucker: That!
GG: he’s going to lose all his cool points now. You were the only one left that thought he was badass
Tucker: he is badass! He’s a you-know-what that can kick everyone’s ass! Literally!
GG: he’s a touch-starved nerd
GG: you two have a lot in common 😘
Tucker: hey!
Tucker: I’m not touch-starved!
GG: you’re both nerds though
Tucker: you’re a goth nerd!
GG: that doesn’t even make sense

They spent another insulting each other to everyone’s mutual satisfaction before Danny was suddenly blowing up the group chat. Tucker laughed at his best friend’s dramatic cursing filling line after line on the screen. Mostly accusing the older halfa of trying to steal everyone from him. Sam, of course, just added to the fire by sending eye roll and smirk emojis.

Tucker spent over an hour messaging back and forth before everyone signed off for the night. The teen pulled off his glasses and flopped onto his side, letting his phone drop to the side of his pillow. This day had been…a lot. But now he felt…connected. Tethered in some unexplainable way. It really was a nice feeling.

He fell asleep to the quiet hum of satisfaction coming from deep inside his chest.

 

Chapter 13

Notes:

First of all, I want to say that timelines suck because numbers suck, and I'm very bad at them. Secondly, since I've been finally putting all my little Goth Cereal scenes in order, you'll be happy to know that I've been having more and more ideas come up for this. All but two of my other fics are basically short or long one-shots that came from one idea, but this fic is the one that just keeps on giving and spinning itself into the ghost zone. My point is there will be a lot more where this came from so fans of soft, wet cat Vlad rejoice!

I will also need to eventually add more tags/characters to the tags, but that sounds like a job for another day :)

 

 

Vlad crossed his arms across his chest and watched the panting teenagers as they collapsed on the floor of the training room.

“I thought-” Tucker wheezed, “I thought you were gonna train my mind!”
“Your mind is housed in your body, Mr. Foley, I need to know that you can get it to safety when the need requires,” Vlad said reasonably.
“Ugh. I hate you so much.”
“What was that? You were ready for another lap?”
“Nope! I love you the most! Never knew a better halfa!”
“Hey,” Danny grumbled.
“Samantha, Daniel, weapons training for the two of you," Vlad added.

Danny groaned, mostly because he was the target. Sam just grinned and gave Vlad a thumbs up.

While the two traded shots and flirtatious one-liners, Vlad sat Tucker under a shield and went through strategy building exercises with him. It ended with a practical session where Tucker gave directions to his friends as they tried to avoid Vlad’s duplicates inside the mansion. Even Danny was exhausted by the end of that session, and Vlad was very pleased with how far their teamwork had already come. They already had an excellent base for him to build on. Years of trusting each other with their lives and experience in life-threatening situations would do that, it seemed.

“Very good, all of you,” Vlad praised when he had gathered them in the kitchen.

All three teens fell on the food like starving animals, and Vlad’s core thrummed with pleasure as they devoured his food.

“I hate you,” Danny muttered around his pasta.
“Daniel, please. Flattery will get you everywhere,” Vlad teased.

Danny rolled his eyes but continued devouring the food like it had personally offended him. When everyone had finished, the teens helped clear up the kitchen then gathered around Vlad again.

“Ready to go?” he asked.
“Erm, actually, I, uh, had a few questions I wanted to ask about my training,” Tucker put in. “If that’s okay?”
“Ah yes, I apologize for forgetting about that,” Vlad replied smoothly before turning to the other teens. “Shall I send a duplicate to drive you home, Samantha? Or do you want to fly with Daniel?”

The blush on both teens' faces was answer enough.

“Very well, be safe,” Vlad said, then turned and gestured for Tucker to follow him.

Danny wheezed at the parting words, but before he could say anything, Samantha elbowed him in the ribs.

“He meant flying, Danny,” she growled at him.
“O-Oh, I knew that.”
“Whatever nerd.”

Vlad shook his head as the door closed behind them. He didn’t envy young love. So many hormones and emotions without the support of a few decades of experience. Ancients, he was glad to be over that phase in his life.

Not that I did a particularly good job at this age, either, he thought dryly.

Vlad led the way up to his study, walking the whole way since Tucker preferred keeping both feet on the ground. He gestured for Tucker to take a seat on the, at this point, well-used couch then sat on the other half. He crossed his ankle over one knee and rested a hand on it as he looked expectantly at the teen.

“Uh, remember when you said you’d like to meet my parents?”
“I do,” Vlad said, carefully keeping his core steady. Whatever their response, he didn’t want the teen to feel pressured by it. “Given our continued close contact, I thought it was a wise precaution to take.”
“They, uh, invited you over to dinner.”
“Wonderful. Here or at your home?”
“Our place,” Tucker said then added quickly, “if that’s okay?”
“Of course it is. Should I bring take-out? I’m told it’s stressful to cook for a billionaire.”
“Uh…let me ask.”

Tucker pulled out his phone and started typing away. When he was done, he peeked up at Vlad.

“I’ll do my best not to embarrass you,” Vlad said, amused.
“I’m not worried about that!”
“Oh? So I can be as embarrassing as I want?”
“Why are you like this?” Tucker groaned.
“It’s a halfa defect, I’m afraid. It’s genetically programmed into us to be a massive ass,” Vlad smirked.

Tucker let his head flop back with another groan. Vlad took pity on him and changed the subject to the newest tech advancements at Vladco until the teen got another text.

“Mom says you don’t have to do that,” Tucker muttered.
“I will go along with what is easier for her,” Vlad promised, “but if it helps, you can tell her I’m trying to earn points with your sisters as well lest I be overwhelmed.”

A few texts later and it was decided Vlad would pick up takeout from everyone’s favorite Indian restaurant the following evening.

“Can you even handle spice?” Tucker asked doubtfully as Vlad skimmed over the online menu, making notes on the favorites of the teen’s siblings.
“I’ll be fine,” he said absently.
“Danny can only eat one thing from there,” Tucker warned.
“Daniel has other talents besides eating hot food, and I’m a fire core, Tucker,” Vlad reminded.
“I dunno if that’s the same thing,” the teen muttered.
“I’d tell you to stop worrying, but that would be rather hypocritical,” Vlad said, pausing his scrolling long enough to smile over at Tucker.
“You’re worried, too?”
“A little. If they decide they don’t approve of me or our connection, gathering like this will become quite complicated going forward.”
“Yeah,” Tucker sighed.
“That being said, the more profitable way to use this energy is to direct it towards things I can change,” Vlad said, getting to his feet. “And that includes getting you home at a decent hour so your parents aren’t predisposed to hating me.”
“Can we take one of the fun cars?” Tucker asked hopefully as he also stood.

Vlad smirked.

“I suppose it wouldn’t hurt. I’ll even let you pick which one,” he said graciously.
“YES!”

Tucker dashed out of the study, leaving the older halfa to try and catch up.

~~~

The following evening, Vlad picked Tucker up from Danny’s house and drove over to the Indian restaurant. Tucker’s mouth watered as he and Vlad stuffed all the takeout into the backseat of the SUV then started for the Foley residence.

“Tucker, please, you’ll drool on the seats,” Vlad teased as he drove.
“I can’t help it! I’m so hungry!”
“You didn’t eat at Daniels?”
“Well, we tried but the food kinda came to life again, so, no.”

Vlad sighed deeply. He really needed to do something about that ancient’s damned portal, but every time he brought it up with Daniel, the teen reacted poorly.

“Also, kudos to your outfit today,” Tucker added. “I thought for sure you’d wear a suit.”

He gestured at Vlad’s now-normal casual friday outfit of dress shirt and nice jean combo.

“Please, I know what to wear for a family dinner,” the older halfa scoffed.

Tucker just smirked at him.

“...Samantha told you I panicked, didn’t she?” Vlad asked with a sigh.
“Yeeeeeeep,” Tucker agreed smugly.
“That girl will be the death of me. What did I ever do to deserve this level of sass?” Vlad complained.
“You stopped picking on 14-year-olds and grew a conscience?”
“Touché.”

They pulled up to the curb a few minutes later, and Vlad grabbed the large to-go bags in both hands.

“Door please?” the older halfa asked.

Tucker shut the SUV door then together they walked up to the front door. But before Tucker could fumble out a key, it swung inward, revealing a small child.

“Jakki!” Tucker scolded. “You’re not supposed to open the door by yourself! You know that!”

The six-year-old grinned unrepentantly and pounced on Tucker’s leg.

“I’m starving! Walk me!” she insisted.
“You’re too heavy to walk!”
“Looks like someone skipped leg day,” Vlad murmured as he stepped past the teen, ignoring Tucker’s immediate glare. “Hello? Angela? Maurice?”

A woman poked her head out of a doorway and smiled at Vlad then immediately frowned when she saw her daughter.

“Jaklyn Elizabeth Foley get off your brother and get inside before I start counting!”

The girl squeaked in alarm and raced back into the house. Vlad watched her run past, amused.

“That’s Jaklyn,” Tucker explained with a sigh.
“And your mother,” Vlad added with a nod in her direction. “I’d shake your hand, my dear, but mine are a bit overfull at the moment.”
“Come in, come in,” Angela scolded. “Bring everything to the kitchen.”

Vlad obediently followed her back and set everything down on the counter. Tucker’s father, Maurice, was already there and they exchanged greetings and a handshake. His mom just hugged Vlad. Tucker felt the flicker of surprise from the older halfa before he hugged her back.

“We’re so glad to finally meet you in person,” Angela said with a smile. “Tucker talks about you all the time-”
“Mom!” Tucker squeaked in alarm.
“It’s been a pleasure having him and the others visit so often,” Vlad said, smiling back at her. “As much as teenagers get a bad reputation, I’ve found they’re quite delightful company in small groups. Until they gang up on me, that is.”
“It’s true,” Angela sighed, her husband nodding in agreement. “Tucker was always the sweetest boy but now he suddenly doesn’t want to spend any time with his family.”
“Mooooooooooom,” the teen groaned.
“I’m convinced they only pretend to like me so they can hang out in my house,” Vlad agreed seriously. “If I didn’t have so much money, I swear I’d go bankrupt with how much they eat!”
“We’re discussing taking out a second mortgage just for Tucker’s appetite,” Maurice laughed.
“Dad!”
“Honey, go get the rest of your sisters,” his mom told her eldest.

Tucker groaned but went upstairs and announced dinner was ready and had to shove himself out of the way as his siblings stampeded out of their shared room. When he finally got back downstairs, everyone was already seated at the table. Tucker slid in beside Vlad who had been seated between himself and his oldest sister, Jesi.

Introductions were made around the table. Jessamine (Jesi) was 12, and Jacinta (Cina) was 10.

“Lovely to meet you all. I’m Vlad Masters, but I’m afraid I'll be laughed at if I say my age,” Vlad told the girls with a smile.
“Nonsense,” Angela insisted. “And you’ve already met my youngest.”

She eyed Jakki dourly, but the six-year-old didn’t seem to notice as she started spooning up the curry her middle sister put on her plate.

There was a good bit of chatter between the adults, mostly about work and increasingly long hours at the office, but Vlad couldn’t help but notice the way Jakki stared at him from across the table.

“Jaklyn, dear, do you have a question?” he prompted finally.
“Are you sick?”
“Not that I’m aware,” he answered. “Why do you ask?”
“You’re so white!”

Vlad laughed.

“Jakkie!” her parents groaned together.
“And your hair’s super white!” the child continued. “Are you super old?”
“Jaklyn Elizabeth Foley,” her mother warned.
“Please, don’t,” Vlad told her parents. “It’s completely natural to wonder.” He turned back to Jakki with a smile. “I had an accident when I was younger, and my hair turned white in the hospital.” He looked around the table then leaned closer to her. “Do you want to know a secret?”
“Yes!”
“I absolutely cried the first time I saw my hair was white. I thought it made me look ugly,” Vlad informed.
“I think it’s pretty,” the child decided before returning to her curry.

Vlad’s core thrummed with amusement.

“Thank you, my dear. Now that I’m older, I think it’s quite pretty, too. Did you know your brother helps me style it sometimes?” Vlad asked.
“He braids my hair, too!” Jakki replied around a mouthful of food.
“Yes, he’s very good at it isn’t he?”
“Vlad,” Tucker grumbled, embarrassed.
“The best!” Jakki agreed happily.
“Can we braid it, too?” Jessamine dared to ask from beside Vlad.
“Jesi!” her mother scolded.
“I don’t mind,” Vlad broke in smoothly. “It’s good for Tucker to have some competition, don’t you think?”

Jesi looked smugly around Vlad at her brother who rolled his eyes.

Dinner continued to go well though Vlad was amused at the wide eyes of everyone except Jakki as he continued eating the hottest curry available on the table. Firecores truly were exceptional at being impressive, it seemed.

When dinner was finished, everyone stuffed with delicious curry that Vlad was definitely putting on his list of new local favorites, Angela shooed everyone except for the adults out of the kitchen. When Vlad offered to help put things away, he was shooed back to his seat.

“You are our guest,” she said sternly.
“As you wish,” Vlad said meekly, folding his hands on the table.
“Smart man. It took me twenty years to figure out giving in is always the smartest answer,” Maurice joked.
“Dear, you still haven’t figured it out,” Angela teased.

Vlad watched the couple’s interplay and was relieved when his core continued to remain relaxed and steady. During most of the last 20 years of his life, watching any sort of romantic interplay had been a painful experience for him. His core all but shrieking over the unfulfilled obsession it carried. Now, he felt content. He had his family. His.

A blast of affection and possession rushed out from his core to the teens that had bonded with him, and Vlad had to work hard not to blush. Damn it. Samantha was going to tease him to hell and back for that.

“So Vlad, Tucker mentioned you wanted to chat? About the kids coming over?” Maurice said.

Here we go.

Vlad blanketed his connections to both teens and tried to make his smile to the other man sincere.

“I have known the Fentons forever and become acquainted with the Mansons over the years, but since Tucker has become part of the group that regularly visits my home, I thought it would be wise to sit down with his parents and see if you had any questions,” Vlad said with an easy smile.

He didn’t spell it out for them, but they were smart enough that Vlad didn’t need to. He knew he didn’t always have the best reputation. Plus, the fact that he was sinfully wealthy really didn’t do him any favors here. Rumors about sex clubs or worse always floated around the elite. Not that Vlad had anything against clubs that were consensual, but it wasn’t exactly the kind of thing one wanted your teenage children exposed to.

“Actually, we were wondering what it is the kids do over there,” Maurice admitted. “Tucker has been pretty evasive about it.”
“Oh? I’m sorry that must have been concerning,” Vlad said, mentally vowing to kill the teen. Why in Pariah Dark’s name were all these teens so very bad at lying? “I’m not sure why he didn’t say anything unless it’s the typical teen insistence that no adult should have any idea what they’re thinking and feeling,” Vlad sighed. “Mostly, they play games. I bought Daniel a gaming system several years ago and now it’s finally started to get some use.”
“Mostly?” Angela pressed, her mother’s instinct catching on the important word in Vlad’s lie.
“Yes, a few months ago, Daniel approached me and asked if I would show him how to use my fitness center. They’re at that age, you know, and I didn’t see any reason to refuse. Imagine my surprise when all three of them started getting very into the whole exercise routine.”

Maurice and Angela exchanged a glance.

“Our Tucker?”

Vlad laughed.

“I’m actually very proud of him, you know. Physical activity doesn’t come to him as easily as it does Daniel and Samantha, but he’s very determined to learn. I think that when I described the science behind everything that it made him that much more willing to try.”
“I didn’t realize exercise science was a hobby of yours,” Maurice put in.
“I am a nerd at heart, my good sir, no matter what my shareholders might say,” Vlad said dryly. “I mentioned my hospitalization earlier, yes?”

The couple nodded their heads.

“Well, to no one’s surprise, when you are sick for years, your body needs to be rebuilt slowly. From the ground up, as it were. I became very interested in the science of it all for very obvious reasons.”

It was only partially a lie. Vlad had needed to find out all he could simply because he didn’t dare go to any doctors after about five years after his death. His levels were just too far off from normal to be explained away.

“Regardless, I shared what I know with Tucker and the others, and they have quite taken it up on their own,” Vlad said, letting a proud smile spread across his face. “I couldn’t say if this interest will last, but until it dies away, I will do what I can to encourage it.”
“That’s kind of you,” Angela put in.
“Oh no, I’m really very mercenary,” Vlad teased though it was simply the honest truth. “Why else would they continue to hang out with a man the age of their parents unless he had a well-stocked gym and gaming system?”

The other adults laughed as he meant them to.

“Well, you have our thanks for looking out for our boy. We love him a lot,” Maurice said, reaching out a hand for Vlad to shake again.
“It shows,” Vlad said as he took it, voice softer than he’d meant it to be. “He’s a good kid. They all are despite being teenagers.”
“We just have to hold on,” Angela sighed. “Just five more years.”
“My dear, I’m not sure how to say this, but you’ve got at least ten more after that as Jaklyn comes up,” Vlad teased.

Both parents groaned.

“God, that child is going to give me more than my fair share of grey hairs,” Maurice sighed.
“Well, I have an excellent solution to that problem,” Vlad said, tossing his silver hair over one shoulder, and the couple laughed again.

They chatted a little while longer before Angela moved into the hallway and called for her son.

“Tucker! Come down here, please!”

Tucker pounded down the stairs and almost slid completely by the kitchen in his haste.

“Yeah mom?” he asked anxiously.
“Come take Vlad to see your room,” she said.
“What?!”
“Tucker,” she warned.
“Mooooooooom, he doesn’t want to see my room!”
“Actually, I’d love to,” Vlad said, hiding a smirk.

He knew the teen could feel it though from the frown Tucker shot his way.

“Tucker, you keep acting like this, and Vlad won’t think he’s welcome.”
“Oh no, I still remember what it was like to be that age,” Vlad assured, getting off his seat and going to stand by Tucker. “Even though it was centuries ago. Nobody our current age was cool.”
“Vlaaaaaaad,” Tucker whined.
“You heard your mother. Room,” Vlad teased back.

Tucker glumly set off, Vlad following behind him. But when they reached Tucker’s room, the teen immediately started shouting.

“Hey! Get out of my room you little gremlin!”
“I’m not a gremlin!” Jakki shouted back from where she sat on Tucker’s gaming bean bag.
“Mom said you’re not allowed in my room!”
“Children,” Vlad warned.
“But she’s in my room!”
“And she’s probably there because she wants to spend time with her big brother,” Vlad pointed out. “Either way, shouting at her isn’t going to help.”

Tucker groaned.

“Jaklyn, do you want to show me your room?” Vlad coaxed the youngest.

She nodded, hair bouncing with her excitement. She ran out of the room and grabbed onto the older man’s hand. Vlad blinked in surprise but allowed himself to be led away, Tucker following with a grumble. Jakki walked around her room, collecting all of her favorite toys and shoving them at Vlad to hold. Eventually, Tucker started sniggering as Vlad’s arms started to grow full.

He took several pictures then gave up and just took a video of Vlad ‘accidentally’ dropping a toy each time Jakki tried to hand him one more thing.

“Stop dropping things!” she demanded.
“I’m very sorry, my dear, I’m afraid my arms are too full,” Vlad said. “I need help.”
“Okay!

She snatched several away and dumped them into a pile.

“Put them here!”

Vlad did as directed as the two older sisters poked their heads into the small bedroom.

“You’re gonna get in trouble for dumping your toys,” the oldest said.
“No, I’m not!” Jakki said immediately.
“Are so!”
“Am not!”
“Well, maybe you could put a few away while your sisters work on my hair,” Vlad suggested before smiling at the preteens. “If they were still interested?”

Both of them nodded so Vlad sat in the middle of the room while each girl took a side of his head. Tucker couldn’t stop staring at the older man as he chatted away with Jesi. Cina wasn’t much of a talker in front of strangers, but she seemed very pleased with how her braids were turning out.

Jakki, meanwhile, had given up partway through cleaning up her toys and had grabbed one of her books and plopped herself down in Vlad’s lap. She began ‘reading’ it to him, though it was less actual reading and more creating her own story from the pictures on each page.

“This is insane,” Tucker announced finally.

Four pairs of eyes turned in his direction.

“What’s insane, Tucker?” Vlad asked.
“You! All of you! How are you guys so chill together?!” he demanded.
“Because we’re not a nerd,” Jesi mocked.
“Hey!”
“Biggest nerd,” Cina agreed quietly.

The two sisters gave each other high-fives while Vlad smirked over at his teen. Before Tucker could protest again, Maurice called for them.

“Dad! We’re in Jakki’s room!” Jesi called back.

The older man poked his head in and stared at the little gathering.

“Hello, welcome to Vladco’s salon. We have a fifteen minute wait, sir,” Vlad joked.

Maurice spat out a laugh then did it all over again when his wife stepped into the room after him and had the same shocked reaction.

“Girls, what on earth are you doing to our guest?” she demanded.
“Mom! He said we could!” Jesi protested.
“I did,” Vlad agreed easily. “Of course, that was before I saw myself in a mirror, so we’ll see how long I agree to this.”
“Hey! It looks good,” Jesi scolded. “Also, we gotta talk about that salon name,” she added. “Yours sounds dumb.”
“We’ll workshop it,” Vlad promised.
“I like J.J.’s Salon,” Cina put in quietly.
“Oh dang! I like that,” Jesi said.
“There. Already settled,” Vlad said before looking at the Foley couple. “You’ve raised some excellent entrepreneurs. You should be proud.”

Maurice grinned and looked at his wife who shook her head but leaned into him.

“Yes, we’re very proud of our girls.”
“Um, hello?” Tucker whined.
“You too, Tucker. Most of the time,” his dad teased.

While the adults chatted away and the girls either braided or ‘read’, Tucker snagged his phone and surreptitiously messaged the Team Phantom group chat.

Tucker: I am losing my mind send help

He sent pictures of the whole thing to the group chat.

GothGirl: he’s such a girl uncle
DannyPantom: that is sooooo weird. Great hairstyle for him tho lmao
GG: we gotta print that out. Add it to the scrapbook.
DP: hell yes!
Tucker: guys focus! My sisters adore him! I don’t like this at all!
GG: that’s because their not stupid
GG: *they’re
DP: it’s just the stupid Vlad charm. They’ll get to see the really annoying Fruitloop soon enough.
GG: 🙄
GG: watch out Tucker or you’ll be replaced in your own family
Tucker: shut up!

He clicked out of the app when she started spamming emojis at him, and was promptly dragged into roleplaying J.J.’s salon as manager by his sisters.

At the end of the evening, Vlad was walked out of the door by the family, and Maurice had to snatch Jakki as she tried to cling to Vlad’s leg.

“I should come over more often. This is a better reception than I ever get at board meetings,” Vlad joked as the screaming child was carried back into the house.
“You’re welcome to come over anytime,” Angela assured.
“Then you both should have my number,” Vlad said, pulling out his phone. “That way Tucker can avoid the unfortunate task as our go-between.”

They exchanged numbers then everyone hugged the older halfa, even Tucker at his mother’s insistence, before Vlad got into his SUV and drove away. Everyone headed back inside. Tucker’s two sisters headed back upstairs while Tucker lingered in the kitchen with his mom.

“Stop worrying, Tuck, baby,” Angela said, smiling over at him. “We’re not going to tell you that you have to stop spending time with him. He was the perfect gentleman.”
“Not half as weird as I expected, either,” Maurice said as he walked in.
“Mauri!” his wife scolded.
“What? You said the same thing-oof!”

He rubbed his ribs where she elbowed him.

“I am surprised he was so good with the girls,” Angela admitted.
“I know. Jakki drives me crazy and I made her,” Maurice sighed and got another elbow from his wife.
“Oh, he said he had a little sister,” Tucker recalled.
“Oh?”
“Yeah, he’s, um, estranged with his family, but I think they were pretty close when he was younger.”
“That’s so sad,” Angela sighed.
“Well, he’s welcome to come over more often,” Maurice agreed.
“Thanks mom! Thanks dad!”

Tucker hugged them both then took the stairs two at a time so he could text the news to Vlad.

 

Chapter 14

Notes:

Sid: we should have a mini DnD campaign for Tucker’s birthday! Vlad would be the PERFECT DM because he’s overly dramatic and can buy as many miniatures as he wants.
Also Sid: are you deciding this because it would be good for the story or because you’re a nerd and want to write about DnD-
Sid: BECAUSE ITS FOR THE GOOD OF THE STORY, OBVIOUSLY!

Vlad glanced up from his wine as a new message from Tucker flashed across his phone screen.

Brains: Soooooooooo
Brains: you know how you said I could have anything for my birthday this year?

Vlad stared flatly at the screen then drained the rest of the wine in his glass. He might need to make room for some of his ectoalcohol given how this conversation was already starting.

Vlad: I believe I said anything within reason and under a $500,000 limit, but please, do go on.
Brains: sooooooooo
Brains: I was just thinking
Brains: what if…
Vlad: if you don’t spit it out, child, I will come over and visit you to ensure that you do.
Brains: okay so you know how you DM’d in college because you said you did and would you do a campaign for my birthday? Please? 🥺

Vlad blinked. Out of everything he had thought Tucker might actually want for his birthday this wasn’t even on the list. It wasn’t even in the same room as the list.

Vlad: are you sure this is what you want?
Brains: I keep telling the others how fun it is but Sam keeps saying it’s a game for nerds and now Danny won’t join me!!
Vlad: I have terrible news, Mr. Foley, but my playing of this game will only cement her opinion of its nerdiness.
Brains: yeah but she’ll still play it if you make it!!

Vlad sighed and poured himself another glass of wine.

Vlad: very well
Vlad: is there anything in particular you want to have in your campaign?

The halfa’s phone proceeded to blow up for the next thirty minutes as Tucker sent him idea after idea.

Vlad: STOP
Vlad: it would take us over a month to do all of this!
Vlad: pick three ideas and I’ll combine them together.
Brains: but Vlaaaaaaaaaaaad
Vlad: Three. Ideas.
Brains: yore the worst
Brains: *your
Vlad: *you’re
Brains: 😑

Vlad smirked then summoned a notebook and pen to start sketching out ideas for the campaign. He had less than three weeks to figure everything out and a teen’s overactive imagination to manage.

By the end of that week, the older halfa had nailed down the necessary plot points, created a legion of characters to use, and had overnighted a truly absurd amount of gaming paraphernalia to his home. He set up everything in the mansion’s dining hall. He never used it anyway, unless he hosted an event, and therefore could decorate it to his heart’s content.

It became a fantasy tavern which would be the characters home base. When he was finally pleased with the look, Vlad locked the room and set a ghost shield over the whole thing. Mostly to keep Daniel’s prying eyes out but also from worry that some ghost would manage to invade his home and head to the one spot he would least want them to go. Living with Jack Fenton for almost four years made one more than a little paranoid.

Vlad spent the rest of his time creating character sheets for the teens as they picked through the race and class of who they would be playing. He also used a duplicate to study up on the newest player manuals (his own personal knowledge being about 20 years out of date) while he did his usual paperwork and research.

Then, finally, Monday afternoon arrived.

Vlad had to completely shut down all of his links to keep the waves to excited jitters from sweeping through the other teens. It had been so long since he’d done something like…but no. Everything would be fine. Perfect even.

Vlad was in the kitchen putting the last minute touch on all the snacks when the doorbell rang. Vlad winced as the sonorous tones filled the mansion.

Shit. He’d forgotten to change it back after Daniel’s last prank. The younger halfa had insisted that it, “fit his vampire aesthetic.” Whatever that meant.

Vlad teleported to the front door then flung it open.

“Welcome all-”
“Hiya Vladdie!” Jack bellowed.

Stunned, Vlad didn’t have time to dodge the oncoming hug.

“J-Jack?” the older halfa stammered as his spine was rearranged.
“Hey Vlad,” Danny said sheepishly from where the three teenagers stood behind the massive man. “Dad insisted he drive us because he was free.”
“How…lovely,” Vlad managed. “Well, now that you’ve dropped everyone off, Jack, you can go.”
“Go? But I heard you’re DMing again, V-man! I wouldn’t miss this for the world!”
“Jack,” Vlad growled. “I don’t have a character sheet for you.”
“That’s fine! I’ll just sit and watch,” Jack insisted, smile incredibly hopeful as he looked down at his best friend.

Vlad inwardly groaned. Those fucking Fenton puppy dog eyes.

“…fine,” he grumbled out.
“Awesome! Thanks Vladdie!”
“Of course, Jack,” Vlad sighed. “Now if you could put me down?”

Jack obediently dropped the older halfa who almost stumbled down his own front steps and died a second time as a result. The teens suppressed their laughter poorly, and Vlad shot them a look.

“Daniel, please escort Tucker and your father into the dinning room. Miss Manson, I could use your help in the kitchen.”
“Wow, sexist much?” the teen muttered, clearly not wanting to deal with the oncoming lecture alone.
“Nonsense. Since we’ll both be in there, it negates the sexism,” Vlad said between clenched teeth.

Thankfully, Jack was already barreling inside the house, the other two teens hot on his heels, hopefully so they could keep him from breaking something important to the game. Sam gave a resigned sigh and followed Vlad to the kitchen. Once the door closed shut behind them, Vlad rounded on her.

“How could you not tell me Jack was coming?!” Vlad demanded.
“I did tell you. It’s hardly my fault you didn’t check your phone!” Sam growled back.
“I was busy!”
“I called! There’s a reason we have phones, Vladimir!”
“I PUT IT ON SILENT SO I WOULDN'T GET ANY INTERRUPTIONS FROM INVESTORS TODAY!” Vlad shouted.
“THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN CHECKING YOUR TEXTS!” Sam shouted back.
“I WAS BAKING SAMANTHA!”
“AND HOW IS THAT MY FAULT?!”

Vlad growled and leaned against the countertop, pressing his hands against the granite like he wanted to melt it. He took a few deep breaths, inhaling sharply through his nose.

“You’re right,” he finally said. “None of that is your fault. I’ll just have to…manage.”
“You two are sorta friends again though, right? How bad could it be?” Sam asked.
“I’m afraid you have no idea,” Vlad muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Jack is…a variable for which there is no planning for.”
“It’s not like he’s just gonna pull out a weapon and start shooting during the game.”

Vlad looked at her flatly.

“...okay, maybe that was a bad example,” Sam muttered. “But I still say that he’s-”
“Hey guys! Everything okay in here?” Jack asked, poking his head into the kitchen.
“Everything is fine, Jack!” Vlad said quickly. “Samantha was simply helping me carry the cake in.”
“Oh, I could do that-”
“You will help her by opening doors,” Vlad said sternly, immediately moving to stand protectively in front of his cake.
“Aw, c’mon Vladdie. You’re not still upset about that one in college-”
“The one I spent all night making for Madelyn that you destroyed when you tripped and tossed it out the window of our apartment that just happened to be open to let out the fumes of another explosion?” Vlad asked, tone icy.

Jack hung his head while Sam choked on her sudden bout of laughter.

“Come on, Mr. Fenton. I’ll take help on those doors,” she said as she scooped up the cake.

The big man perked up a little, and he grandly held the door open. Sam shot a wink at Vlad over her shoulder and walked out with the cake. The halfa took another calming breath.

He could do this. He could absolutely go with the flow tonight. Absolutely…not.

Vlad groaned and took some more deep breaths that did absolutely nothing to help before heading out of the kitchen.

~~~

Vlad felt his eye twitch again as Jack hovered behind his seat. The campaign had been going well so far. The teens had survived their first encounter—though Danny’s near miss because his barbarian forgot to rage was definitely going down in the annals for later trolling—and they were now on their way to a tavern to explore and gather information. Tucker’s familiar, a crow named Widget, led the way.

“You walk inside the pub and are immediately disgusted by the greasy tables and bar top,” Vlad narrated. “This disgust is only increased by the equally greasy, shady characters you see littered around the establishment.”
“How many people are around?” Sam piped up.
“About fifteen to twenty so you should probably not try to throw hands,” Vlad put in, eyeing her over the cardboard wall that separated the DM materials from the players.
“I didn’t start the last fight,” she insisted.
“But you finished it,” Danny said and gave her a hi-five.
“A ranger’s gotta rage,” she agreed.
“That’s actually the exact opposite of what you’re supposed to do,” Vlad said dryly, “but please, carry on. You couldn’t do it any worse than Barb the Barbarian over there.”
“Ugh, I forget to rage once, and Vlad’s mortally offended,” Danny grumbled.
“No. You were almost mortally destroyed. You’re lucky Tucker started the game with a potion of greater healing.”

“Which you still owe me for,” Tucker reminded.
“If I wanted to go into debt, I’d buy stuff in the real world,” the younger halfa complained.
“Okay Barb, you’re first. What would you like to do in the tavern?” Vlad sighed, corralling his players back on target.
“Uh, I want to buy a drink,” Danny decided.
“Danno!” his father scolded.
“Jack, he’s over 21 in the game. He can buy a drink,” Vlad warned.
“Yes! I go up and buy a drink.”
“The bartender uses his quite frankly filthy rag to wipe out the mug then leans back and fills it from a dripping barrel. He sets it on the counter before you and gestures for the required copper pieces.”
“Uhhhhh, how much?” Danny asked uncertainly.
“You mean how much of the copper pieces you absolutely do not have because you got pickpocketed on the way into town?” Vlad asked sweetly.
“…oh shit, I forgot about that.”

Danny turned to look at his friends pleadingly.

“Nuh-uh,” Tucker said immediately. “You still owe me for the potion of greater healing.”
“Nope,” Sam added. “It’s way more fun to watch you crash and burn.”
“Uuuuugh, you guys are the worst,” Danny complained.
“The barkeeper starts to look at you suspiciously,” Vlad added cheerfully. “You see his hand start to reach for something under the bar.”
“Argh! I, um, look around to see if there’s any money nearby,” Danny said hurriedly.
“Danny!” Jack exclaimed.
“Jack,” Vlad warned. The big man subsided, but still hovered over the older halfa’s shoulder. “As you look around the tavern, you see a man several seats over that has just pulled out a silver coin-”
“Is that more than copper?” Danny asked.
“Yes, it’s copper, silver, electrum, gold, and platinum,” Vlad reminded.
“Okay! I leave the beer and walk over to the man and say ‘excuse me good sir! I’ll arm wrestle you for that piece of silver!”

“Are you sure you want to do that?” Vlad asked.
“Yes! Hurry up!”
“Very well. The man stares down at you-”
“Down?” Tucker put in suddenly.
“Yes, down,” Vlad emphasized. “He starts to laugh at you-”
“Oh, okay, laughter is good,” Danny said.
“Then he punches you in the face and sends you flying across the tavern,” Vlad finished, “the half-orc then leans over the counter, grabs your beer, and drinks it all.”
“What?!” Danny shrieked.
“You hush,” Vlad told the younger halfa. “You’re now unconscious for one turn.
“Uuuuuugh.”
“That’s what you get for trying to steal, Danno,” Jack put in as he leaned over Vlad.
“Daaaaaaad,” Danny groaned. “I wasn’t stealing it from him. I was bartering for it!”
“Wagering actually,” Tucker put in.

Jack leaned over even more, practically crushing Vlad into the table.

“Jack,” Vlad growled, “get off! And stop hovering! I can’t concentrate when you loom like that.”
“I’m sorry, Vladdie, I just want to see better. Maybe if you scoot your chair over-”
“No, because then I wouldn’t be able to see the board,” Vlad growled up at his friend.
“Not even a little?”
“Jack, a little for you equals the size of a regular man. Daniel, back me up.”
“He’s right, dad. You’re a lot bigger than most people,” Danny put in. At Vlad’s relieved and his father’s crestfallen face, Danny innocently added, “but you know, you could always share a seat?”
“I beg your-JACK!” Vlad shouted as the bear masquerading as a man scooped him up out of the chair.
“That’s a real good idea, Danno! I think we’ll do that,” Jack said, grinning as he held a squirming Vlad.
“Jack Fenton, put me down!”
“Come on, Vladdie. We can fit,” Jack insisted as he settled on the chair, the struggling halfa in his lap.
“Yeah, Uncle Vlad,” Danny agreed, struggling not to laugh.
“He looks like a cat that got scruffed by a golden retriever,” Tucker whispered.

The other two teens lost it, roaring with laughter as they pounded on the table. Vlad, who had naturally overheard this aside, glared daggers at Tucker.

“It’s my birthday. You have to be nice to me,” the teen quickly reminded.
“It’s not your birthday yet, you little brat.”
“Now Vladdie, don’t yell at the kids. They’re just having a little fun,” Jack insisted, smiling down at his friend.
“I’m not yelling at them. Everyone will know when I start yelling,” Vlad growled.

Strangely enough, nobody at the table seemed very inclined to fear this pronouncement even though it was true. Where had his presence gone? His ability to silence even the loudest detractor with a sharp look? Vlad could only lament the downfall of his dignity as he grumpily took up his paper and dice again.

“Now, where were we?”
“The tavern,” Jack prompted.
“Yes, the tavern. Great Wizard Amuck, it is now your turn to harass the poor people in this tavern. What do you want to do?”
“Uh, I look around the tavern and see if there’s anyone, um, interesting?”
“Roll for perception.”

Tucker tossed his twenty-sided die and peered at it.

“Uh, that plus my wisdom modifier is 14?”

Vlad rifled through his sheet only for Jack to point out one of the pages.

“Thank you, Jack,” Vlad said, ignoring the way the bigger man beamed at him. “To your right, you see a slightly less greasy stranger in the corner, nursing a single beer. When he lifts it to his lips, you see the same tattoo of the fighters who attacked you on the road. To your left, there is a goblin named Sam Smorkle wearing primary colors sitting on top of the table downing beers like it’s his mission in life to drink the entire tavern dry. Who do you choose to talk to, Wizard Amuck?”
“I want to talk to Sam Smorkle,” Tucker decided.
“The goblin? Not the mysterious stranger in the corner?” Vlad pressed.
“Nope. I want to talk to the goblin.”
“Oh, oh! I got this Vladdie!” Jack shouted in his ear.
“Fine. Take it away, Jack,” Vlad sighed.

The night was utter chaos. Vlad’s carefully crafted campaign going haywire at nearly every turn. But…the kids were clearly having fun. Maybe moreso because they were laughing at him and Jack at every turn but…Vlad would take it as a win.

When 9:00 rolled around, Vlad actually had to confiscate the dice to get everyone to set down the game.

“We’ll pick this up tomorrow,” Vlad reminded. “It’s a week-long campaign. It’s not like it’s going anywhere in my house before tomorrow happens.”
“Ugh, fine, but can’t we spend the night since we’re already here?” Danny pleaded.

Vlad correctly judged the teen wanted to get out of another ride of terror with his father back to his own home.

“Sorry Daniel. Your mother wanted you home tonight. No exceptions," Vlad said more than a little smugly.

See how Daniel liked having his father used against him now.

“Come on, kids,” Jack said, “let’s help Vladdie clean everything up.”

While Tucker and Jack carried the used plates and glasses into the kitchen to wash, Danny and Sam cleaned up the table and set out new upgrade sheets for everyone for the morning. When everything was finished, Vlad walked them out to the front door.

“Excellent job not dying today, everyone. Let’s see if we can keep up the trend tomorrow,” Vlad told the teens as they headed down the front steps.
“You’re the worst, Fruitloop.”
“Yes Daniel. Never forget to use that ‘rage’,” Vlad smirked.

Sam and Tucker groaned.

“One of you using puns is more than enough,” Sam warned.

Vlad just smiled smugly back. He narrowly avoided an ambush hug from Jack who was the last to leave.

“Well, Jack, I expect I’ll see you at the same time tomorrow?” Vlad asked.
“Oh, actually, Jazzie’s gonna be driving the kids the rest of the week,” Jack informed. “Maddie had a girl’s zoom night today so I figured I’d come hang out with everyone and give her space.”

Vlad looked up at him, surprised.

“You’re not coming back?”
“Nah, I know this is really for the kids. I was just excited to watch you DM again,” Jack said with a smile.

Vlad hesitated. He could-no. That was a ridiculous idea. But really, maybe he could…damn it.

“Well…if you have time…I could use an assistant DM,” the halfa muttered.
“What was that, Vladdie?”
“Oh for fudge’s sake, Jack, just come over tomorrow!”
“Really?” Jack asked, growing excited again.
“Yes really! There’s plenty of room, and you were very…helpful tonight,” Vlad admitted.

He gave into the inevitable as Jack scooped him into a bear hug.

“Thanks, V-man! I’ll make sure we’re extra early next time!”
“I’m sure you will,” Vlad muttered into the massive chest.

He glared at the teens' amused looks as he was finally set down.

“Go,” he told them grumpily. “I’m tired of seeing your murderous faces.”

They all laughed and piled into the Fenton RV. Vlad waved them down the drive then headed back into the house to finish cleaning up.

Chapter 15

Notes:

Jazz and Vlad bonding go!

 

 

Vlad sat in his mayoral office nearly a week after Tucker's successful birthday party, inwardly cursing his non-functioning screen. The irony of a man who made his fortune on tech having a non-functioning computer was not lost on the billionaire. He did not let himself set the whole thing on fire, however, because he was an adult and could behave with maturity and poise.

“Give me back my files, you piece of shit,” he growled softly.

The machine, naturally, didn’t deign to respond. It was with considerable relief that his cellphone took him from the brink of arson by a call from Jazz.

“Hello my dear, thank you forever for this rescue,” Vlad said sincerely.
“Oh, um, happy to help, Uncle Vlad.”
“My desire to commit arson aside, how can I help you?”
“…why are you setting fire to things?”
“Desire, my dear, nothing more.” Currently, at least. “What’s going on? Is something wrong?”
“Um, a little bit. Nothing major though,” she was quick to add. “Not, um, Danny related.”
“I am equally concerned about Jasmine related emergencies,” Vlad informed the older teen.
“It’s not an emergency per se. Just an…inconvenience? That maybe you could help with?”

Vlad set aside his laptop and prepared to listen carefully. Aside from helping the older halfa with her mother, Jasmine had kept a certain amount of distance between them. Vlad had a sneaking suspicion of why exactly that was, but hadn’t been sure how—or whether or not he even ought—to address it.

“Please, tell me all about this inconvenience you think I might be able to help with,” Vlad invited.

Jazz hesitated.

“I’m, um, not sure if you know, but I made plans to visit a few universities during the summer?”
“I do. Danny was talking about it the other day,” Vlad assured.
“Mom was supposed to come with me, but she, um, got invited to a conference about engineering, and she thinks maybe they’ll be able to get a grant out of this so she can’t come with me like we planned.”

Vlad kept his sigh inward. Poor Jasmine. Always coming in second to ghosts no matter what side of the family she was dealing with.

“And I presume you’d rather not take your father since good impressions only happen once?” Vlad said as kindly as possible.
“Yes,” Jazz said, embarrassed.
“Just to be clear, do you need me to rearrange your visiting dates or something else?”
“Oh! Um, I didn’t realize you could do-”

She cut herself off. He was Vlad Masters. There was very little he couldn’t buy when he set his mind to it.

“That’s not what I was originally considering,” the teen said at last.
“Well, feel free to keep it in mind as an option,” Vlad said gently.

On the other end of the line, Jazz took a deep breath.

“If it’s not too much trouble, would you come with me?”

Vlad blinked.

Oh. Oh. She wanted him to come with her??

“I-I don’t see why not,” he stammered. “Assuming your mother doesn’t disagree, I would be happy to take you, Jasmine.”

Her sigh of relief on the other end probably wasn’t supposed to be audible to him so Vlad politely didn’t comment on it.

“Send me an email with the dates and times of your meetings, and I’ll take off for them,” Vlad assured.
“Don’t you need to check if you have something important first?”
“You are my priority, Jasmine. Nothing is more important than you.”
“…okay,” she said, voice going a bit thick at his words.

Vlad frowned.

He had been trying to give the older teen space she had seemed to be indicating she wanted from him. That and give her plenty of proof that Vlad’s continuing good behavior was not a whim but a dedicated, long-term change. But…perhaps he had given her too much space as a result.

Jasmine had always had to shoulder more than her fair share of responsibility in the Fenton household, and if he didn’t miss his guess here, she did not feel that same kind of support in return.

“Well, is that your inconvenience sorted out?” Vlad asked, letting his tone drop into a tease.
“Yes, Uncle Vlad,” she said, a smile in her voice now. “Thank you.”
“Think nothing of it, my dear, and don’t forget to send me that email.”
“I won’t,” she promised.

They said their goodbyes and hung up before Vlad let his phone drop onto the desk and quickly muffled his core bonds. He was absolutely giddy with the understanding that Jasmine had asked him to accompany her.

It is probably less flattering that she has all of three adults available to her, Vlad reminded himself, but the fact didn’t diminish his core’s glee at the thought of providing for this rather self-sufficient member of his family.

~~~

Before he retired for the night, Jasmine had sent Vlad the whole trip itinerary neatly typed out to his email. He expected nothing less from the punctual, organized girl and thanked her before studying it closely. It looked like a four day trip would cover everything she needed. He would ask Skel to keep an eye on Amity (and Daniel) in his absence, shuffle around a few things at work, then take some calls in the evening to deal with anything too important to wait until his return.

Vlad typed up his own emails to both his board and Mrs. Caine about the upcoming absence then sent them on and went to bed.

The next morning, he took Jasmine out to brunch where they hashed out all the important details not present in the email. Namely, who she wanted him to be.

“Can you just be my uncle?” Jasmine hazarded as she poked at her eggs with hollandaise sauce.
“I absolutely can if that’s what you would prefer. You won’t get the platinum treatment, however.”
“I don’t care about that. In fact, I don’t want anyone to know we’re related at all,” she said firmly.
“I’ll try not to take that personally, my dear.”

Jazz reddened.

“Oh, I didn’t mean it like that. I just-”
“I know,” Vlad reassured.

And he did.

Being attached to “Vlad Masters” would mean being attached to the sycophants that he dealt with on a daily basis, and Jasmine had learned early on that invisibility was her greatest weapon.

“I will do my best not to be noticed,” Vlad assured. “Would your mother have an apoplexy if I claimed to be from her side of the family? I don’t think I’m large enough to pull off a Fenton persona.”

Jazz chuckled.

“Well, I say what she doesn’t know can’t hurt you.”
“An excellent analysis,” Vlad said, smiling at her over the rim of his coffee. “So, I shall be Vladimir Grant to anyone who’s asking. I’ll have the IDs finished before we leave.”
“Oh, you don’t have to-”
“But I will. Trust me, it’s better to be thoroughly prepared than rely on blind luck and my admittedly persuasive silver tongue to get us out of trouble.”
“Yes, but it’s illegal.”
“So is overshadowing people, at least, if the general government knew of its possibility. Which would you prefer me do, Jasmine?”

The teen hesitated then nodded slowly.

“The IDs seem less…brain washy.”
“So they are,” Vlad agreed and took another drink of his coffee. “Another question for you. Do you want to keep the same hotel arrangements that you had with your mother?”
“We’re not going to some ritzy hotel, Vlad.”
“That’s not what I’m asking, Jasmine.”

It was a little bit what he was asking.

“Are they one bedroom or two?” he prompted.
“Oh, right,” she muttered.
“Would you like me to take care of it?”
“No,” Jazz said quickly. “I’ll rebook.”
“And you’ll send me an invoice so I can pay my half,” Vlad added easily.
“Uncle Vlad-”
“It’s either that or I give you my card, Jasmine. Which would you prefer?”

The older teen gave him a look. She knew exactly what he was doing by presenting her with a ‘better’ and ‘worse’ option. She knew but couldn’t exactly offer an alternative.

“Fine. Card it is,” she said daringly.

Vlad didn’t even hesitate to pull one out of his wallet and slide it over to her. Damn it, it felt like he won either way she played this.

“Jasmine, I’m not your enemy,” Vlad reminded softly.

She winced.

“Sorry. It’s, um…”
“Old habits that die hard? I understand.”

And she knew he did.

“Thank you,” she said finally.
“I’m just happy you asked me,” Vlad admitted.

Jazz let her eyes drop to the eggs in front of her.

“It’s not that I don’t want to…get to know you more,” she said quietly. “It’s just…”
“Daniel?” he asked gently.

She nodded, still staring down.

“I don’t want him to think that you’re more important than he is. And I don’t think it’s wrong that you, um, bonded with the others. I just worry that he’ll feel that everyone is choosing your side if I get closer to you.”

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair in a rather familiar gesture.

“That sounds pretty narcissistic when I say it out loud,” she admitted, finally looking up at Vlad.
“I can hardly fault you for narcissism when I am the worst example here,” he said, a wry smile on his lips. “And, for the record, I absolutely would bond with you in a heartbeat, if you so chose it.”

Her light blue eyes widened.

“B-but I thought you just, um, bonded naturally?”
“After two very embarrassing and accidental bondings, I have put a not inconsiderable amount of effort into better understanding and controlling that aspect of my ability,” Vlad said, a little grumpily. “I have not offered you this because I thought there might be a reason you’ve been a bit distant in comparison with the other three. Not because I didn’t care, Jasmine.”
“Oh,” she said in a very small voice.

Vlad hesitated then slid out of his chair and hugged her.

“I’m sorry I didn’t say anything sooner. That’s on me,” he said quietly as she bit her lip and tried not to cry.
“I-It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not. I made you feel unimportant, and I meant what I said before, Jasmine. You are important to me. I’ll try to do a better job showing that.”

Jazz nodded and finally hugged him back. Vlad continued to hold her until she took a deep breath then pulled away. He released her then slipped back into his own seat.

“Now that I’ve made brunch extremely awkward,” he began and received a wet laugh in return, “are there any other questions or concerns you have for me.”
“I’ve got a list,” Jazz said, wiping a napkin over her eyes before pulling out her notebook.
“Of course you do,” Vlad said, amused.
“You’ll be thanking me by the end. This will be the most painless trip you’ve ever been on,” Jazz insisted.
“The fact that your brother will be nowhere near us automatically qualifies us for that, my dear.”

Jazz rolled her eyes and started on her list.

~~~

Vlad’s SUV arrived at FentonWorks at an abysmally early hour. The older halfa was almost shocked Daniel managed to get up and send his sister off given the time, but the two siblings were nothing if not adorably supportive of each other. Jack, of course, was bright eyed and bushy tailed enough to make up for everyone else who’d rather still be sleeping. He blubbered over Jazz until Vlad had to extricate her from a suffocating hug and remind the bigger man they had a schedule to keep.

“I love you, Jazziepants! I know you wish your mom was going, but Vlad will take good care of you! I’m so proud of you!”
“Okay dad,” Jazz said with a smile. “See you in a few days.”
“If the Fruitloop is being annoying, text me and I’ll start burning his books or something,” Danny put in.

Both Vlad and Jazz rolled their eyes.

“Stay safe,” Jazz told her little brother, hugging him tightly.
“You too.”

Jazz and Vlad got into the SUV and she waved as the older man drove down the road. Vlad stopped at around the halfway point to their destination to refuel and grab some snacks. When they came out of the station with their arms full, Vlad held up the key and looked at Jazz.

“You want to drive?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

She looked over at him, startled.

“Me?”
“Do you see any other of my godchildren flying around nearby?”
“I certainly hope not,” she muttered. “I’m just surprised.”
“About?”
“You offering. That you’d willing give up control.”
“Yes, well, interacting with three hyperactive teens on a weekly basis has given me some experience in giving it up,” Vlad informed.

His tone was dry, but Jasmine could detect the fondness underneath it. There was no doubt in her mind that he really did love his ‘posse’. It was honestly quite cute.

About twenty minutes into the drive, Jazz looked over to ask a question and found Vlad passed out against the window, leaning against it with his rolled up Packer’s hoodie. It was such a normal, human thing that Jazz stared over at him for a second before returning her eyes to the road.

It was somehow all too easy to forget that the billionaire with three jobs (mayor, CEO, ghost researcher) and his incredibly powerful ghost side may seem all but untouchable was just as much human as she was.

Well, as much human as Danny, I guess. Doesn’t help that Vlad deliberately cultivates that ‘cannot be ruffled, ultra competent’ exterior, she thought.

Jazz knew he made mistakes like anyone else. (The other teens were full-to-bursting with those kinds of stories and loved to share.) But still, thinking of Vlad (especially Plasmius) as an insurmountable wall and authority figure was a hard mental habit to break. At least for her.

Danny has been beating on that wall since they met so I guess we are just built differently, she thought with amusement.

Jazz drove for about three more hours, and Vlad only woke up when she pulled into the motel parking lot, jerking his head up and immediately starting to catalogue any nearby threats. Actually, it reminded Jazz exactly of Danny these days. Guess it was a halfa thing. Or a ghost thing?

Or maybe having your life be physically on the line every day just does that to a person, Jazz.

“Jasmine?” Vlad asked, and she realized she’d been sitting there staring at him.
“We’re here,” she hastily informed before putting the SUV in park and turning off the vehicle.

Vlad sighed and ran both his hands over his face and through his hair, combing it into something less porn-star worthy and more mixed company appropriate.

“Hn. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.”

Jazz shrugged. It had been a rather peaceful drive in the silence, and silence was often hard to come by in the Fenton household.

“You clearly needed it,” she said, holding out the keys to him.
“I suppose I did.”

He grabbed both of their overnight bags from the back then carried them into the motel lobby. And that, of course, is when Jazz’s carefully planned itinerary went to hell in a hand basket.

“Jasmine Fenton? I see your one bedroom is available,” the employee across the counter said with a perfunctory smile.

Jazz froze.

“M-my one bedroom? I changed the reservation to two a few days ago.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am. On my screen it says C32 is yours. That’s a one bedroom.”
“But I-I, I could have sworn I changed to two…”

She trailed off, her mind whirling in an overactive loop. They had about two hours to get ready for and drive to the Freshman Orientation. Did they have time to find another motel? Probably not given the fact that she’d looked long and hard for this room and that was several days ago. They could find a gas station to change in, but would Vlad even-oh god, was Vlad judging her? Did he think she was a fuck-up? She was supposed to be the organized one. The one that figured things out and made everything work and-

“Ma’am?” the employee said, somewhat impatiently. “Will you take the room or not?”
“I-I, um,” she glanced back at Vlad, hating herself for it.

He wasn’t even looking at the two of them, seeming to scroll on his phone, but he must have sensed her gaze because he immediately stepped forward with that trademark smile.

“So there’s been a mixup on your end,” he told the employee smoothly. “How do you plan on fixing it?”
“On our-sir, this is the room she booked.”
“I’m certain it is not. Jasmine, please show this fine young man your receipt.”

Oh fuck. Of course she had the receipt!

Feeling her cheeks flame for not thinking of it herself, Jazz grabbed her phone and pulled up her emails. The employee's slightly superior expression immediately cracked.

“Oh, uh, hang on. Let me get my manager.”
“You do that,” Vlad said with a slightly superior expression of his own.

Damn, the halfa really could ‘Karen’ with the best of them.

Vlad turned his back on the counter as the employee disappeared and raised both eyebrows as Jazz, clearly asking if she was all right. Or maybe to make sure what he had done was all right with her.

She nodded quickly back.

“Don’t worry. We still have plenty of time before Orientation. You made good time on the drive,” Vlad soothed.

Jazz bit her lip. He was right. It was going to be fine. And even if it wasn’t fine, nobody would die if they showed up a little late. Nothing but her need for perfect attendance and outward control, anyway.

“You’re right,” she said, summoning her best ‘we’re going through it but I’ll figure it out’ smile.

Vlad’s shoulder gently nudged into hers, but then he turned back around and a moment later the employee walked out with what Jazz presumed was the manager who immediately began to apologize and start blaming the glitchy booking system.

“Do you have another room for us or are you giving us a refund?” Vlad interrupted smoothly.
“We, uh, may have a cancellation by this afternoon?”
“And if you don’t, you’ll refund us the full price of the original room my niece booked. How very kind of you,” Vlad smiled. “I appreciate your excellent customer service.”

The manager smiled wanly.

“Would you like to stay in the one bedroom until the other is available?”

Vlad turned his back on them again and looked directly at Jasmine.

“My suggestion is to take the room now then deal with it when we come back from our meeting,” he said, leaving the ultimate decision in her hands.
“I-I,” Jazz took a deep breath. “I agree. Give us the room please. We’ll talk about the refund when we get back.”
“Yes ma’am,” the manager said, trying not to cringe.

The employee handed the key over to Jazz, and together she and Vlad headed into the elevator. Once the doors closed around them, Vlad held out his hand.

“Um?” Jazz asked uncertainly.
“It’s called a hi-five, Jasmine. Surely you’ve heard of it?” 

The teen rolled her eyes but gave him a hi-five.

“What is that even for?” she asked.
“For handling yourself in a stressful situation, of course.”
“I didn’t handle it! I choked!”
“You messed up then you recovered,” Vlad corrected. “I’ll have you know not even I have a 100% success rate.”
“So says my mother,” Jazz agreed.

She froze as Vlad stared at her.

“…oh my god, I’m so sorry, Vlad. I-I didn’t mean-”
“Jasmine, stop,” he said, a smile slowly spreading over his face, “that was actually hysterical and even moreso because it was you that said it. I never would have thought it of you.”

She hid her face in her hands, pale skin flushing brilliantly.

“Technically,” Vlad added as they exited the elevator, “so says both your parents if you want to be accurate about it.”

Jasmine nearly tripped over her own feet as she whipped around to stare at her uncle.

“Both?!” she screeched.
“Yes, Jack was in my freshman introductory seminar. I got in late because my ride, hm, didn’t pan out. I sat next to Jack, flirted with him, felt like an idiot when he didn’t even realize he was being flirted with, then felt Iike even more of an idiot when I discovered we were roommates,” Vlad said calmly as he plucked the keycard from her useless fingers and used it to open the motel room door.

Jasmine was speechless. Actually speechless. Vlad peeked over his shoulder at her and seemed pleased with whatever he saw because he smirked.

“Yes, I got turned down by both your parents, Jasmine. Truly my ultimate failure.”

Jazz guffawed. She couldn’t help it. Vlad fucking Masters had tried asking out not just one but both of her parents? And they’d said no??

“I’ve been sitting on that particular secret for over twenty years now,” Vlad said as he tossed his suitcase on the bed nearest the door then set hers by the other. “My chest feels lighter already.”

When Jazz continued laughing in the hall, Vlad shook his head then dragged her in after him and shut the door.

“Go change in the bathroom, my dear, and do try to recover before it’s time for us to go,” he chided, only half teasing as he opened his own suitcase.

Jazz wiped the tears streaming from her face and did as she was told.

~~~

Jasmine did, in fact, recover in plenty of time before they had to leave for the 11:30 Orientation. She was a little more worried about Vlad who disappeared into the bathroom for 45 minutes before finally emerging. Jazz had set up all her important documents and permission slips and didn’t immediately look at him when he came to stand in front of her bed.

“Well,” Vlad asked finally.

He really never had been good at waiting.

Jazz looked up and her jaw dropped. Her “uncle” was now a red-head.

“Good or bad, my dear?” he asked, amused.
“Ummmm, weird? I mean, you look great, but why?”
“Two reasons, mainly,” Vlad said as he sat on his bed. “One, we don’t want me to be recognized. A middle-aged man with completely grey hair is a bit unusual. A middle-aged man with red hair is less so. Two, the more I look like your uncle, the fewer worries we’ll both have.”

Jazz thought about that for a moment then nodded. When she’d said weird, it was less along the lines of ‘ew gross’ and more ‘wow you are uncomfortably close to how my mother’s side of the family looks’.

Vlad was tall, check. He had pale skin, check. Light colored eyes, check. Thin, check. Red hair, check.

“Is there another reason that’s not a main one?” Jazz asked finally.

Vlad sighed.

“I was hoping you wouldn’t catch that.”
“Budding psychologist, remember? What people do and don’t say is importation,” Jazz reminded.
“The third, less important reason, is that Samantha got me hooked on hair dye, and I have nowhere to try it out.”

Vlad pouted at her. Actually pouted.

“No one is stopping you from dyeing your hair back at Amity Park,” she reminded.
“Yes, but here it will be taken as natural or assisted natural. There it will look like a midlife crisis,” he complained.
“I think you’re thinking too much about what other people are thinking.”
“Probably, but it’s a hard habit to give up, my dear.”

She let it go at that. He was right, after all.

Jazz got up off her bed and walked closer to examine it. Vlad had been smart enough to leave a few naturally silver strands in with the red. It made him look exactly like what he’d said. A middle-aged redhead.

A very attractive one, but we don’t need to think about that, Jazz thought with amusement. Tucker already covers that particular department.

They arrived at the lecture hall with ten minutes to spare. Jazz chose a couple of seats halfway up the rows of chairs and almost sat at the end seat when she caught a few moms (and their daughters) eyeing Vlad. She all but pushed him into the end seat, receiving a raised eyebrow in return before he settled in.

Jazz got out her notebook and her phone to put it on silent, but she paused when she saw a text from Sam.

Sam: Vlad says you guys got to the Freshman Orientation. Good luck! And try to have fun 😉
Jazz: Fun? What’s that?
Sam: 😂😂😂
Sam: but seriously, make the fruitloop take you out somewhere nice, okay?
Jazz: I’m not here to get dinner, Sam
Sam: please, he’s dying to feed you
Sam: he’s weirdo
Sam: but he’s our weirdo
Jazz: speaking of how often do you have to keep people from hitting on him?
Sam: lmfao ALL THE DAMN TIME
Sam: what’s going on? Who is it? 👀
Jazz: mostly moms and their daughters
Sam: damn, what’s he wearing?
Jazz: the usual?
Sam: 😑
Sam: you are so not helpful
Sam: describe it!
Jazz: I’m not describing what my uncle is wearing to you, Sam
Sam: you’re the worst ☹️

Jazz just shook her head.

Jazz: maybe they’ve got a thing for redheads?
Sam: …
Sam: excuse me
Sam: did you JUST SAY
Jazz: oh shit, did he not tell you?
Sam: NO HE DIDNT TELL ME LET ME SEE

Jazz sighed then turned to Vlad.

“So don’t be mad-”
“I always love when your brother starts off that way," Vlad interrupted archly. "It gives me a great indication that I should start with livid and go down from there."
“I’m serious. I accidentally told Sam about your, um, hair.”
“Oh? That doesn’t even rate as annoyed,” Vlad assured.
“Then why didn’t you tell her?”
“Because then she’ll tease me, and it’s embarrassing to lose a battle of wits with a fifteen-year-old, Jasmine.”

Jazz laughed and went back to her phone.

Sam: JAZZ
Sam: JAZZ THE PICTURES
Jazz: I’m not just taking pictures of Vlad for you!
Sam: then take a selfie!
Sam: he takes good selfies. I trained him well 😤

Jazz groaned and turned to Vlad who smirked and held out his hand for her phone, clearly having been reading over her shoulder. The teen sighed with defeat and handed it over.

A few selfies later and Vlad was handing her phone back. Jazz had just enough time to send them to Sam and put her phone on silent before the speaker began. She didn’t write too much down in her notebook yet. This was just the introductory part, mostly comprised of the professors and department heads drumming up how good the school was and why they should attend. That was interspersed with basic facts that Jazz could–and had–already looked up online. She wouldn’t get to the meat of her real questions until the hour long question-and-answer at the end of the Orientation.

If she survived until then, that is.

The more people that had gathered in the lecture hall and the longer they all sat there, the higher the temperature had risen until Jazz was sweating in her seat even in short sleeves. Vlad, of course, looked just fine. Then Building Services must have gotten the memo that people were in danger of fainting because the air kicked on and all too soon it was like an ice rink instead.

And here I thought going with a light outfit that looked cute and professional was the smart choice, Jazz grumbled inwardly. It’s summer! We don’t need it to be the Ghost Tundra!

Vlad must have noticed her shivering because he settled his arm across the back of her chair, and it was like getting draped with a heated towel. Jasmine completely forgot any embarrassment she might otherwise have felt and leaned up against his side, reveling in the heat that radiated off of him.

She felt more than heard his chuckle, and the warmth turned up a few more degrees. Jazz had never been more thankful to have a half-ghost godfather in her life.

Once they’d finally gotten to the question-and-answer portion and the prospective students were invited to get up and mingle with the professors, Jazz stood up and was off like a rocket. Unfortunately, her first two names on her list were a disappointment. They were clearly only here because they’d been drafted by their department heads, and knew little to nothing about organizing student schedules or anything else actually useful. Her last name, however, turned out to be a wealth of information, and Jazz happily monopolized his time for the rest of the hour until the event organizer officially closed that portion of the event.

“Well, Miss Fenton,” the professor said they’d all been dismissed, “this part of the welcome event may be over, but I’d be happy to meet you for dinner later to discuss any more questions you might have?”

Jazz hesitated. Would they have time for dinner between the campus tour she’d signed up for and checking out the locale for available apartments?

“I know a cheap place,” the professor added with a reassuring smile, as if it might be a monetary concern she was worried about. “I know it’s tough for you students these days.”
“Oh no, that’s not it,” Jazz assured. “I’m just making sure we have time in our schedule to fit everything in.”
“We?”
“My uncle and I.”

She pointed at Vlad who had remained in his seat and was scrolling through his phone, likely catching up on emails. He chose that moment to look up—likely he had heard her given the sensitivity of halfa hearing —and smiled at her.

“Oh, um, if it doesn’t fit your schedule, there’s nothing to be done about it, I’m afraid. Now if you’ll excuse me, my department head is calling me.”
“Wha-but I didn’t see Professor Kelajunji on the panel,” Jazz said, confused at the sudden change in conversation.
“She just walked out into the hallway. Have a wonderful rest of your orientation, my dear!”

Jazz watched, puzzled, as the man speed walked away. After a moment, she collected herself and her things before walking over to Vlad.

“Ready for the tour?” she asked, smiling down at him.
“Sit down, please, Jasmine. I’m having a moment and need to collect myself.”

Vlad’s tone was perfectly calm, but he deliberately was not making eye contact with her.

Slowly, Jasmine sat down beside him. The older halfa didn’t say anything further. Didn’t even look up from his phone. Confused but trusting he wasn’t just going to start shooting plasma blasts at random, Jazz decided to take the time to reorganize her notes from Professor Anderson. Partway through, something suddenly occurred to her, and she turned to her godfather.

“Vlad, was that man flirting with me?”
“Ah, more aware than your father, then,” the older halfa said, still not looking up.

Jazz made a face.

“I’m not unaware. I just…it’s always easier to see when it’s not with me. Like Danny and Sam.”
“They were glowing, neon lights, Jasmine. Even your father noticed Daniel and Samantha.”
“Okay, but my point still stands!”
“If you insist.”

Jazz studied him more closely.

“Is that why you’re irritated?”
“I’m not irritated at all, Jasmine. I’m enraged.”

She couldn’t help leaning away from him a little. There had definitely been some ghost in that tone.

“If you do that too much around Daniel, you’ll hurt him,” Vlad said after a moment, tone back to its usual calm inflection.
“What?”
“It’s perfectly natural to be scared of something much stronger than you,” Vlad continued, “but when you react like that, especially if it’s to Daniel whose obsession is to protect, he won’t take it well. He may even pull away and hide things from you in an attempt to protect you from your fear of him.”
“...shit.”

Jazz knew Vlad was right. Could, in fact, think of a few times Danny had done that exact thing.

“Just something to think about. I know it’s easier said than done,” the older halfa said gently before he got to his feet. “Let’s walk in the general direction of the tour, shall we?”

Jazz packed up her things quickly then stood up and slowly followed Vlad out of the large hall. She waited until they were outside and not so closely surrounded before speaking again.

“So why are you livid, exactly?”
“Because he wasn’t only flirting with you, which would be highly questionable on its own. He wanted to get you alone,” her godfather growled.

Jasmine carefully replayed the man’s words and reactions, especially what he had said towards the end.

“...I said ‘we’ and pointed you out. That’s when he changed tactics,” she said slowly.
“Well construed.”
“God, it almost worked, too.”

Jazz felt like an idiot and suddenly very, very unsafe. Vlad shot a quick glance in her direction before training his red eyes back on the sidewalk.

“You noticed something was wrong. I don’t doubt you would have noticed more the longer you spoke. You were also smart enough to bring someone along to this Orientation. You did everything you were supposed to and would have been fine, Jasmine.”
“I guess so,” she sighed. “It just makes me feel…” She trailed off, unable or unwilling to finish.
“I would absolutely not let anything happen to you, Jasmine,” Vlad told her gently. “Because you are my-”

He cut off and Jasmine eyed him again.

“Because I’m yours?” she finished, more than a little dryly.
“You are not mine,” Vlad corrected, “you’re Daniel’s. The bond is there for any ghost to see.”

That was a lie. She was absolutely his, too. Bond or no bond.

“What you are is family, and family you protect with your life,” Vlad finished. “And that is why my core is currently wrestling with me for not going over and ripping his heart out of his chest and shoving it down his throat.”

Jazz grimaced but didn’t lean away again.

“...I’m not exactly going to disagree with you here,” she said slowly. “Because I’d probably do the same to anyone that looked sideways at Sam or Danny or anyone else. But I’m not in any danger right now, right?”
“No,” Vlad all but growled.
“So why are you acting like I am? Can your core not see that I’m fine?”
“I can see that you are safe and well, Jasmine. It is reacting to the potential threat.”
“But I’m fine,” she repeated.
“Yes, and that would help immensely if a core was something you could have a logical, reasonable conversation with,” Vlad sassed.
“Oh. That sounds rather difficult to navigate.”
“Indeed.”

Vlad relaxed suddenly and only then did Jazz realize how tightly coiled he had been.

“There, that fixed it,” he said, voice smooth and velvety once more.
“What did you do?” Jazz asked suspiciously.
“Threw my core a bone. Now, we ought to hurry. My little melt-down cost us time.”

Vlad led her through a different corridor then down some steps and led the way to the open air gathering area where the guide was just beginning to speak.

“Vlad, how did you do that?” Jazz whispered, knowing he’d pick up her voice no matter how softly she spoke. “How did you know where to go? That wasn’t even on my map.”
“I sent duplicates to investigate all the exits and nearby buildings while the Orientation was in session," he murmured softly back.
“Did you actually listen to anything that was said?” she asked.
“Not really.”

She shot him a look to which he raised an eyebrow in return.

“Jasmine, you don’t actually need me here. You’re gathering the information. You’re deciding which choice to make. I’m just padding for the journey. To that end, making sure there isn’t a horde of unfriendlies lingering outside the very poorly named student cafe is a much better use of my time than listening to an opening speech I could google later.”

Jazz hated that she couldn’t disagree with his logic.

“Anything else you were doing that I should know about?” she muttered.
“I left a duplicate at the motel,” Vlad admitted. “Not because I thought there was any real danger from the staff, but just because I’m paranoid.”
“I’ll be grateful just this once, Fruitloop.”

There was a quick flash of a grin before he folded it all back behind his calm, impassive expression. Jazz shook off all thoughts of the encounter and ‘what could have beens’ with an effort. Right now she was researching and that’s all she needed to focus on for now.

Vlad, meanwhile, watched the tour guide with apparent interest as they followed the woman around, completely hiding the fact that two of his duplicates were going through a certain Professor Anderson’s office and computer at this very moment. What they had found on the man’s personal laptop was, well, deeply concerning.

Vlad very carefully kept his expression neutral as he began printing off pages and pages of questionable search history and photos, making sure there was enough for every single department head on campus, not to mention one each for the head of IT and Security and the Student Council.

The halfa judged it would take less than an hour to completely ruin the man’s life, and he finally allowed himself a small smile.

Nobody messed with his kids.

~~~

The next day started off early once more because naturally, the next university Jazz wanted to visit was eight hours in the opposite direction. Vlad started off driving to redeem himself and didn’t say anything as Jazz dozed off for another hour or two of sleep. When she woke up again, Vlad pulled through a drive through to get them breakfast, then continued down the road. Luckily, they were making good time and were poised to get there about two hours before starting yet another Freshman Orientation.

When Vlad’s phone chimed, he glanced over to see Skulker calling. The ghost had adapted quite well to the new technology and made frequent use of it when visiting Vlad’s mansion.

“I have to take this,” he told Jasmine who nodded.

Vlad clicked answer then put it on speaker. He could hear it at normal volume even with the phone on the dash, but he thought it would be a good moment of transparency for Jasmine to hear as well.

“Go Skel,” he said aloud.
“The whelp is being incredibly annoying.”
“Why do you think I tried to squish him for the first year of our acquaintance?” Vlad teased.

The hunter scoffed.

“Lie to yourself if you wish, Plasmius, but don’t lie to me. You could have crushed him any time you wanted. You chose not to because you grew fond of him.”
“Worst decision I ever made,” Vlad sighed in mournful resignation.
“I’d tend to agree at this moment.”
“What did he do?” Jazz dared to ask.
“Who is that?” Skulker demanded.
“The whelp’s sister,” Vlad said, amused.
“Ah, the smart one.”
“Danny’s not stupid,” Jazz immediately defended.
“He has great talent for fighting and some intermediate skill in growing alliances,” Skulker acknowledged, “but he is an idiot who does not think before he springs into action. He is currently fighting a dragon.”

“WHAT?!” Vlad and Jasmine shouted together.
“It is a small one. I will keep him from dying,” Skulker assured.
“For fuck’s sake, Daniel,” Vlad growled.
“There are dragons in the ghost zone?” Jazz squeaked.
“It would be harder to name what isn’t in there,” Vlad sighed. “How big of a threat is it, Skel?”
“A mere five.”
“Hm.”
“A five?” Jazz asked.
“It’s a way to measure ghostly power,” the older halfa explained. “I’m usually at a 7. Daniel is currently a 4.”
“Oh. That’s not good is it?”
“He’s survived worse, but it’s not great. Thankfully, Skel is there to keep his neck intact.”
“Maybe if you let him break it a few times-” Skulker began.
“Don’t finish that thought if you value this partnership,” Vlad said lightly.

The sigh that came across the phone was extremely long-suffering.

“Thank you for checking in,” Vlad continued after a moment. “Text when it’s sent back or defeated?”
“As you wish.”
“Thanks Skel.”
“The upgrades this month must be exceptional for the level of aggravation I am experiencing.”
“They will,” Vlad assured.

Skulker grumbled then hung up.

“Upgrades?” Jazz asked.
“He calls them upgrades, and sometimes they are, but mostly it’s just tweaks or repairs to what he already has,” Vlad said, waving it off. “Though I do like to throw in a surprise for him every once in awhile. It keeps him guessing.”
“Glad that works for the two of you.”

Vlad just smirked. When the silence lingered for a few minutes, Vlad glanced over at her again.

“Have you thought about what you would like as a high school graduation present?” he asked.

Jasmine hesitated.

“...a car would be nice.”

Vlad nodded though whether to the logic of her choice or recognizing how much it had cost her to say was unclear.

“Any idea as to what kind?” he continued.
“The ugliest you can find.”

That finally got a raised eyebrow.

“May I ask why?” he said.
“Because nobody wants to steal a car that looks like it’s on its last leg,” Jazz said promptly.
“I can’t argue with that logic. Any particular model or features?”

With a lot of coaxing, Vlad managed to pry out a few details. They were depressing in their basicness. She wanted an automatic. Small but not compact. Big enough to fit the other three teens in with her. No outstanding issues as far as the engine and other primary systems went. That was it.

Vlad carefully didn’t protest. This was a test of sorts, he knew. Not that she was deliberately choosing something that would pain him on purpose. But this was clearly Jasmine wanting to see if Vlad was willing to follow her instructions in regards to what she wanted. And Vlad was determined to pass this particular test.

“That should be enough for me to find what you want,” he assured, then tossed his phone to Jazz when it started to blow up with texts in the ‘Posse’ group chat. “Let me know what they’re saying, please.”

Jazz swiped into it and started to laugh.

“Bragging rights so far. Apparently Danny and Skulker-oh, there’s his text. He says ‘It is down. Does not even deserve to go on the trophy wall.’”
“Hm, that’s a shame. At least it gave Daniel some excellent practice,” the older halfa mused.

Jazz shook her head at the pics but couldn’t help smiling at their excitement.

“They’re asking why you’ve seen the messages but not said anything yet,” she informed.
“Let them know I’m driving and will scold them properly later when I have the time to look over the pictures,” Vlad muttered.

Jazz grinned and did as he asked. This trip wasn’t what she’d been expecting or even what she had wanted, in the beginning, but now she was a little glad her mom had dipped on her. Spending time with this version of the Fruitloop was pretty damn nice…

 

Chapter 16

Notes:

This next series of chapters was inspired by me starting to wonder what would happen if two ghosts wanted to use the same name. Do they just fight it out until one gets to claim it? How does this work, exactly? Inquiring minds need to know!!
Enjoy!

-Sid

 

 

Vlad was sitting in yet another mayoral meeting when he nearly spilled water all over his suit as both of his bonds lit up like a ghostly christmas tree.

Helphelphelpfearhelphelpangerhelphelphelp-

He carefully set down his water, making sure his expression remained a careful neutral as he homed in on the two teens’ location. They were still in the building, thank the ancients, on their way out from visiting him. Was Daniel-no. The younger halfa had been commandeered by his father and forced to clean up their lab today (a feat Vlad did not envy), so Daniel would be too far away to reach them.

He’s probably going as crazy as I am feeling this, Vlad thought as he picked up his water again.

He brought it to his lips then ‘accidentally’ spilled it all over himself. He shoved himself back in his chair with a muffled exclamation, drawing all eyes to him. Vlad quickly excused himself to go clean up and nearly immolated the entire building in his anxiety to teleport to his teens right the fuck now and-

Vlad power-walked around the corner and pretended to be startled by what he saw in front of him. That was a lie. He actually was a bit startled to see what looked like a knock-off version of the box ghost hovering a few feet away. Samantha and Tucker were also hovering inside something his ghostly senses faintly detected was rectangular in shape. An invisible shield perhaps?

“I say, what are you doing with those kids?” Vlad snapped out, just barely keeping the Plasmius snarl out of his tone as he walked closer.
“Oh no! Run away, Mr. Mayor,” Samantha added, immediately playing along, and Vlad nearly choked despite the situation.

Mr. Mayor? Really Samantha??

“That man is a ghost!” Samantha added, as if any fool couldn’t see Vlad’s prey hovering several feet off the ground.

Then again, there seemed to be quite a lot of fools in Amity Park.

“Yeah! He’s trying to kidnap us to capture Phantom!” Tucker quickly added in.
“Oh is he?” Vlad asked, barely keeping the red from flashing in his eyes.
“Yes, I am!” the ghost preened, hovering a little higher. “Behold! I am the Box Ghost, and you-”
“Young man, I couldn’t care less if you are the ghost of wrapping paper tubes,” Vlad said, putting as much Karen into his voice as he possibly could. Given the sudden snort by both teens, it was an appreciable amount. “How dare you detain these people without just cause? They are minors my good sir! Just what are you planning??”
“Well, I just thought-” the ghost began, clearly having expected more screaming and less lecturing.
“Do I need to report you to the Ghostly Association of the Zone?” Vlad interrupted sternly.
“Th-the wha-”
“Ghostly Association of the Zone,” Vlad snapped. “Surely you, as a formidable ghost, have heard of the ruling body of the Ghostly Plane??”

Three pairs of extremely confused eyes met his own.

“Right!” Sam said a moment later. “Everyone knows about the Ghost Association.”
“Er, right,” Tucker said, less confident but just as game to try and support Vlad’s lie.
“Exactly. Even we humans have heard of it,” Vlad continued, bullshitting easily. “So you know it’s an important organization. A powerful one.”
“That’s right. They banned stealing human minors the other month,” Sam added in. “You could get fined for it.”
“Fined?” asked the baffled ghost.
“Oh yes,” Vlad said, shaking his head. “Very large fine. Would set you back decades, I’d say.”
“In Walker’s prison!” Tucker added.

They watched the other ghost flinch. Nobody wanted to deal with the crazed warden.

“I didn’t mean to, uh, well, that is I didn’t-”
“Good. Glad we cleared that up,” Vlad said smoothly. “Now if you’ll let these poor children go you can take me instead and-”
“That’s right! I can take you as adult supervision,” the ghost interrupted in sudden glee. “That way the Ghostly Association can’t fine me! I’ve brought an adult human to watch them!”
“Wait, no! Just take me-” Vlad began, but he was abruptly scooped into the invisible shield-box-thing along with the two teens.

There was a bright flash, and suddenly they were all in the Ghost Zone.

Tucker yelped as the box hit the ground, and Vlad grabbed onto him to keep him from smacking into the nearly invisible wall. For a long moment, there was nothing but the sounds of the teens' elevated breathing, then Vlad let go of Tucker and ran his hand along one side of the invisible wall, sighing inwardly.

What a fucking disaster.

“Sooooo I was expecting that rescue to go a little better,” Tucker announced into the silence.
“Me too,” Vlad admitted.
“Yeah, but look at the bright side,” Sam put in slyly.

They both glanced over at her.

“I got the whole Ghostly Association speech on my phone so we can watch it over and over-”

She ducked as Vlad lunged for her phone.

“Samantha! Delete that right now!”
“But Mr. Masters, it would look so good in your next campaign,” Sam mocked, dodging behind Tucker.

The other teen yelped as Vlad shoved him aside to grab her.

“Help! Help! CPS! The mayor’s gone crazy!” Sam screeched as she leaned away, holding the phone away from his grasping hand.
“Samantha,” Vlad growled.
“Don’t worry, Sam. I’ll film his reprobate ways,” Tucker said, holding up his phone now. “He won’t get away with this harassment of innocent teenagers!”

The teens shrieked with laughter as Vlad grabbed for them, tossing their phones back and forth to keep the older man from getting his hands on them. Eventually, Vlad got tired of messing around and grabbed both their wrists in one hand while with the other he snagged their phones away triumphantly.

“Vlad Masters was arrested today on charges of sexual harassment to minors,” Sam began then laughed as Vlad released them with a huff.
“So what’s the plan?” Tucker asked as Vlad tossed the phones back.
“We wait to be rescued by the infamous Phantom, of course,” Vlad put in.

The teens stared at him.

“I’m serious. Even if we could break out of this box, which as extremely weak and pathetic humans we could never accomplish, I have a feeling he wouldn’t just leave us alone without leaving a guard. We’re valuable hostages, after all.”

Both teens nodded, understanding what Vlad couldn’t say aloud. Apparently, they had an invisible watcher.

“Let’s empty those backpacks,” Vlad said after a moment, gesturing to the bags they still had on. “Let’s see what we’ve got to work with.”

The teens did so while Vlad checked all of his pockets. The result was a bottle and a half of water. One smushed PB&J sandwich. A banana. Stacks of homework. A lighter and a pack of cigarettes.

“I didn’t know you smoked,” Sam said, surprised.
“Rarely but it’s useful for me to have on my person,” Vlad explained, keeping his tone casual.

The teens looked confused until Sam realized he meant it gave him an easy excuse if he ever needed to use his fire core.

“Oh, that’s smart.”
“I live to please, Samantha.”
“If that were true, we wouldn’t be stuck in this stupid box.”
“Touché.”

The rest of their haul wasn’t much better. Several books. Three phones. A mint. An empty plastic bag full of crumbs. And a well-worn stack of Go Fish cards.

Both Vlad and Sam looked at Tucker when they saw the last item.

“They’re not mine!” he immediately protested. “They’re Jakki’s!”
“Sure they are, T-man,” Sam mocked.
“Now Samantha. It is not for us to judge how Tucker spends his time. Especially if he finds other games too difficult to play,” Vlad added seriously.
“I hate you both.”
“Let’s save the food and water for later,” Vlad instructed, pretending he hadn’t heard the teen’s sulky mutter. “The rest doesn’t seem especially useful although you may as well go ahead and finish your homework.”
“What?! Our homework? After we’ve been captured by a ghost?!” Tucker demanded.
“Since said ghost isn’t currently threatening us, you might as well get it done,” Vlad said practically. “We don’t know how long it will be until Phantom comes to rescue us.”

Sam made a face but grabbed her books. She sat down and put her back to one of the invisible walls before flopping a textbook in her lap. Tucker looked like he might protest but slowly did the same. Vlad, meanwhile, felt his way down the other end of the enclosure. Their box was about 10 feet long by 4 feet wide. Vlad could easily press a hand to each side of the narrow corridor. Fortunately for him, it was 7 feet tall or he’d be feeling cramped very quickly.

Vlad checked all the walls and seams but everything was tightly sealed. The walls were sturdy, requiring quite a few blows from him before they would start to crack. His plasma bolts or fire might work better, but he wanted to avoid using that in an enclosed space with the kids if at all possible.

Nothing could ever be easy could it?

He used a fang to slice open his thumb and painted obvious X’s on each wall and in the corners so that the teens wouldn’t walk right into them every time. Sam watched, a disgusted expression on her face.

“That is so gross.”
“Would you rather I use my saliva, Samantha?” Vlad asked absently as he continued to move around the box.
“God no.”
“Then be content with this.”
“Have you ever heard of blood-borne pathogens?”
“My blood is clean and will not harm you unless you decide to ingest it,” the older halfa sighed.
“...what would happen if we did?”

Tucker and Vlad turned to stare at her, and Sam held up both her hands in protest.

“I’m not actually going to,” she protested. “I was just curious.”
“And here I thought Daniel was the one I needed to worry about,” Vlad muttered.
“You’re taking this Goth thing a step too far don’t you think?” Tucker added.
“Keep talking and my foot will be a step too far up your ass,” Sam warned.
“Alright, children, let’s settle down. Once you finish, we’ll play a game.”

Curious, they both pestered Vlad as he sat down nearby, but the older man refused to tell them what he had in mind until they both finished. When he pulled the pack of Go Fish cards out of Tucker’s bag, they stared at him.

“You have got to be kidding,” Sam protested.
“I’ll have you know these come highly recommended by Tucker’s sister,” Vlad said as he shuffled the cards.
“I get enough of this at home,” Tucker whined even as he took the six cards Vlad dealt to him.
“You better hope you win then or I will never let you forget it,” Sam mocked, taking her own cards.

~~~

Less than ten minutes later, the Box Ghost reappeared.

Vlad had…well, to call it a hunch would be an understatement. As a half-ghost with a large amount of personal experience being incredibly dramatic, he understood what made ghosts like him tick. And their little group acting so unimpressed by being kidnapped that they sat down and did their homework and then played a child’s game was not going to be taken well.

He didn’t want the ghost in a rage. That would be too dangerous for Samantha and Tucker. But irritated? Off balance? That was perfect.

“What are you doing?!”

The teens jumped, but Vlad just kept looking at his cards.

“Playing a game as you can see. Are you going to let us go now?” he asked calmly.
“No! Not until Phantom is here!” the Box Ghost shouted.
"What's your deal with Phantom, anyway?” Tucker demanded.
“Stupid human, if I get rid of Phantom, I can control the whole of Amity Park as my territory including the portal!”
“What about Plasmius?” Sam put in.

The ghost scoffed.

“Plasmius is a has-been. He’s been letting Phantom run all around this territory so clearly he either doesn’t care enough to intervene or he has been weakened and will be no threat at all.”

One of Vlad’s eyebrows rose as he looked down at the pink fish in his hand, leaving both teens to try and choke back their laughter. Given the thunderous expression on the Box Ghost’s face, they weren’t very successful.

“Why? What do you know? Tell me!” the ghost shouted.

He kicked their box in a temper, and it spun roughly across the dirt, scattering cards and backpacks everywhere. Vlad managed to grab both teens before their heads could bang against the walls of the box.

“Watch it!” Vlad growled. “You could kill a human like that!”
“Oh please. They’re fine,” the Box Ghost grumbled.
“Weren’t your hostages supposed to be bait for Phantom?” Vlad said, taking a different tact as he released his hold on the teens. “You need to be careful with them.”
“Well, they’re clearly not important enough because he’s not coming nearly fast enough!”
“Did you even tell him you kidnapped us?” Sam demanded.
“Of course not! I don’t need to give him the home advantage!”
“So you’re scared of him,” Tucker taunted.
“Careful,” Vlad warned softly as the ghost’s eyes blazed.
“I am not scared of Phantom! I am simply fighting a wise battle at the place of my own choosing!”
“No wonder you’re scared. All you can do is create stupid boxes, just like Box Ghost,” Sam shot back.
“I am not Box Ghost!” he shouted. “I am the Box ghost!”
“Dude, this isn’t even a box. It’s a rectangular prism,” Tucker scoffed
“You think you can mouth off to me? The most powerful of ghosts?!”
“No, we definitely do not think that-” Vlad began but it was too late.
“IF YOU CAN’T RESPECT ME, THEN YOU CAN FREEZE INSTEAD!” the Box Ghost shouted.

Their box teleported once more, landing with a heavy thump in a snowdrift. Vlad immediately shivered. Why did it have to be the Ghost Tundra of all places?

“O-okay maybe that w-wasn’t the greatest id-dea ever,” Tucker said, teeth chattering immediately starting to chatter.
“Y-you think?” Sam muttered, immediately moving to press against Vlad’s chest and the added warmth of his fire core.

This was not good. The box may have kept the worst of the ghost zone plasma away, but it did nothing to help either human with the extreme temperature.

Vlad shrugged out of his suit coat and wrapped it around Samantha’s shoulders. He sat down on the ground then tugged her into his arms, cradling her carefully between his legs. He took a chance and pumped up the heat from his core, and she immediately relaxed in the sudden heat that surrounded them.

“Thank god,” she muttered.
“Tucker come here,” Vlad beckoned to the other teen.

Tucker stared at the huddle and immediately shook his head.

“N-no I think I’m g-good over h-here.”
“Tucker, stop being a moron and get over here,” Sam scolded.
“I’m s-still g-good-ack!”

Sam leaned out and kicked the other teen.

“Get in here before I make you regret the rest of your life before you become a frozen popsicle,” she growled then quickly tucked her legs back between Vlad’s. The bubble of warmth didn’t extend much past his body so it was good that he was tall!

Tucker hesitated a moment more then crawled under the suitcoat with Sam. She cursed as his freezing clothes touched her, shoving him against Vlad’s other arm.

“Children please,” Vlad sighed, rearranging the coat around them again.
“Sam started it! Also, you are so warm! Like a space heater,” Tucker cooed, forgetting all his reservations about snuggling into the older man.
“I told you so,” Sam grumbled.
“Happy to accommodate,” Vlad said dryly.
“Shh, be a good space heater and give us more.”

Vlad rolled his eyes but pumped up the heat another few degrees. The teens melted into a puddle against him, and it took all of Vlad’s self control not to let his core purr in satisfaction at keeping them warm and safe. He just hoped Daniel got here before either his control slipped (leading Sam to mock him forever) or the ice core ghosts in this area got close enough to sense him and try to take him out along with the kids.

 

Notes:

I wanted to try my hand at the ridiculous ‘oh no we’re stuck in a small confined space’ trope. This is obviously a fluff version, but I still think it’s funny.

Chapter 17

Notes:

Vlad goes a little feral. For those of you uncomfy with violence, I’d suggest skimming.

 

 

Plasmius drifted soundlessly through the ghost zone, all senses on alert. He was going to murder that knock-off box ghost if it was the last thing he did.

Fortunately, Daniel had shown up about thirty minutes after they’d been dumped into the Ghost Tundra, broke them out, then carried all three of them out of the zone. Unfortunately, the Box Ghost had fled the area by the time he arrived.

Vlad had needed to go back and soothe all his ruffled employees and constituents that were losing their mind over their mayor being kidnapped by a ghost. It had been a useful opportunity to give Daniel a bit of good publicity, however, and Vlad had made sure to make the most of it even as the younger halfa had squirmed uncomfortably at his ‘high praise’ for the heroic ghost that had saved the three kidnappees.

We’ll have to work on his onscreen performance later, Vlad said with an absent mental note. It was dangerous for the Phantom to be too closely associated with what Daniel was, an awkward young teen. If they were going to successfully keep their halfa status secret, no one could connect the two together. It was already irritating and dangerous enough that most ghosts knew Daniel’s human identity and his close bond with Samantha and Tucker.

Vlad had to quickly smother another overpowering rag at the thought of his teens being in danger again. Thankfully, their connection was muffled by the fact that he was in the ghost zone, and they were in the human zone, but it was generally considered stupid to light up the sky with bloodlust when one was hunting prey.

Skel would kick my ass if he saw, Vlad thought, a thread of amusement finding its way through him before he shut it all down.

He needed to focus. Only once he found that mewling, pathetic excuse for ectoplasm and ripped him into tiny little pieces, would Vlad be able to relax again.

After several hours of fruitless searching, Vlad finally caught the scent again. The smile that crossed his face was nothing short of terrifying as Vlad went invisible and entered the cave system. It was a little concerning that the walls were ghost-proof, but there were many ruins in the zone that had fallen millenia ago and were now used by the lucky few that found them. The Box Ghost was clearly one of these.

The protection of this ancient fortress won’t save you from me, Vlad thought grimly as he flew onward.

There were some traps, but they were all either so underpowered as to be laughable or so obvious that even Daniel would have spotted them. Eventually, Vlad came to a massive door. It must lead to what had either been the commander center, throne room, or both in one.

Vlad let his clawed fingers run over the metal. More ghost-proof metal. While he technically could break through it, he didn’t want to waste either his time or energy. It would give the little ghost too much time to escape down a bolt-hole, and then Vlad would be back at square one again and even angrier than before.

Instead, Vlad closed his eyes and rested a hand against the seam in the door. He stood there for a full two minutes before his ghost form wavered then broke into a blue mist. Slowly, Vlad fed himself through the seam and out to the other side. He immediately drifted up towards the ceiling and just as slowly reformed himself.

He really hated doing that. His human side freaked out every single time which made reforming Plasmius take even longer. His effort was rewarded, however, by a squeaky voice coming from a pacing figure beside the broken throne far in the distance. Vlad’s fangs gleamed as he smiled then he teleported right behind him.

“Why so nervous, little ghost?” Vlad purred.

The Box Ghost shrieked and tried to turn, but a clawed hand gripped his shoulder, and he suddenly found he couldn’t move.

“It’s almost like you’re waiting for someone,” the smooth baritone continued from behind him.

The other ghost shuddered.

“Answer me.”

The box ghost whined, feeling the points of those powerful claws dig deep into his plasma.

“Y-yes! I’m waiting for someone!”
“How many?”
“I-I don’t know-”
“Guess.”
“A lot! Over f-fifty!”

Behind the other ghost, Vlad’s eyes widened and he teleported away just in time to avoid a dozen ectobursts hitting the place he’d been standing mere moments ago. The Box Ghost shrieked and hit the floor, the top of his hair on fire.

Shit. It was a fucking ambush, and Vlad had flown right into it.

I take back everything I ever said to Daniel, Vlad thought as he rapidly dodged and returned fire. Because I’m clearly the stupidest halfa in existence.

Vlad continued to dodge, doing his best to keep the movement random while still edging himself back towards the Box Ghost. When he was close enough, Vlad tried to grab him, but he was pounced off by a triple-layered green shield.

The halfa snarled in frustration at his prey then fired an overpowered ectoburst off to his left. There was another explosion as it bounced off yet another shield.

Hah, he’d deduced correctly where the masterminds were hiding.

“Come out little ghosts,” Vlad mocked, spinning his own shields around himself as he floated in place. “I just want to play.”

As he’d thought, the leaders couldn’t ignore his words and a group of 12 shimmered into view. They were all fairly powerful ghosts, but none were a match individually for Vlad.

Unfortunately, I don’t think they plan to come at me one at a time, Vlad thought grimly.

He was also not pleased to see 7 other firecores among them. If they were smart, which given the lure they’d expertly used on him, they had at least some basic intelligence, they would use those 7 to combat his flames while the others wore him down enough to capture him or kill him.

“Welcome, Vlad Plasmius, to our lair,” said the female ghost closest to the center.

Hm, I’m betting on them being a ‘collection of equals’ looks like. Though some are obviously more equal than others, Vlad judged.

“Yes, I’ve seen it. It’s rather worn down, don’t you think? Could use a bit of decoration. My associate Skulker is personally quite fond of ghost pelts. I’d be happy to demonstrate his technique to you,” Vlad said, fangs on full display in his smile.

Unfortunately, the challenge didn’t seem to bother the leader. Instead, she gestured at the Box Ghost, still hidden behind the layers of shields, and the weakling quickly zipped over to her side to hide behind her, shivering beneath Vlad’s glare.

“You have something of mine,” Vlad said pointedly.

Obviously, he was going to destroy all of these ghosts for setting a trap for him (and Daniel?), but it would help to pretend that his obsession was running the show here.

“Well, he’s certainly not one of ours,” the woman said, smiling cruelly down at the little ghost. “But he is a rather useful tool. I’m sure you know all about those, Plasmius.”
“You have the advantage of me, madam.”
“Fifty powerful ghosts will do that,” she said, pleased.
“I meant your name. Most of these are bottom-dwellers,” Vlad said, raising an amused brow at her.

Her jaw clenched, but after a moment, she smoothed her expression once more.

“Of course. How remiss of me. I am Cordelia. And this little one-” She reached out and snagged the Box Ghost by the hair. “Is a Barrier Ghost.”
“Mistress nooooooooo,” the ghost wailed. “Any name but that!”

Its cry cut off as she abruptly shoved it inside a large, lantern-shaped artifact.

Vlad’s opinion of this group dropped even lower, if that was at all possible. One’s name was everything to a ghost. Refusing to call the Box Ghost by his chosen title took a little bit of power away from him each time. Of course, if you were strong like Vlad, you could avoid having power ripped away from you no matter what you were called, but for a small-time ghost, it was an effective means of torture.

“A Barrier Ghost,” Cordelia repeated, smiling cruelly at the ghost trapped inside the lantern. “But he became obsessed with making boxes for some reason. He’s weak, but this little artifact makes it worthwhile putting up with his whining-”

Vlad immediately lunged forward again. (He might be stupid enough to fall into this trap, but he wasn’t stupid enough to let his enemy finish monologuing.) But before he could let off more than a handful of ectobursts, a powerful barrier slammed into him and sent Vlad flying all the way back into the nearest wall.

Vlad peeled himself off the wall and lunged at the incredibly strong barrier. He poured more power into his hands, flexing his claws into it with a growl.

Just a little more…

Vlad snarled in triumph as it finally shattered only to pause as he caught sight of four more barriers, each just as strong, between him and the other ghosts.

Literally stuck between a rock and a hard place, he sighed inwardly. Fuck.

Four barriers between him and his prey.

And that’s assuming Ophelia didn’t make more while he was shattering through the other barriers. Even if he did get through them, that still left Vlad with a legion of powerful ghosts to fight when he got free. Several of whom were fellow fire cores which wouldn’t go down easily to his elemental powers.

So Vlad did what came most naturally to him. He lied.

Plasmius floated back a little, crossing one leg over the other and doing the same with his arms, the picture of ease behind his little containment barrier.

“Well, you certainly have my attention,” he said mildly. “May I ask what this is all about?”

Ophelia stared at him for a long moment, clearly trying to decide his intentions.

“Well, I’m waiting,” Vlad said impatiently.

Keep pushing. Keep testing. For the love of fuck, keep them off-balance until he found a weakness he could use.

“Don’t play coy, Plasmius,” she said finally. “It doesn’t suit you.”
“I’m sure I have no idea what you mean, my dear,” he purred back.
“Everyone in the ghost zone knows you’re gathering allies. Making a push for the dark throne.”

Well fuck. Was that what this was all about?

“I have a kingdom in the human realm,” Vlad said with a roll of his eyes. “As amazing as I am, I have very little desire to stretch myself so thin between two thrones.”

Now it was Ophelia’s turn to scoff.

“Maybe idiots believe that, Plasmius, but the human world is dead and dry. But here resides true power. Only a fool would give that up, and you are no fool.”

Vlad smirked at her, but inwardly he was cringing. Damn it. He really had thought about this too much from a human perspective. True, many ghosts enjoyed invading through the Fenton portal, but it was hard for a ghost to gain a foothold here. A lasting foothold, Vlad amended. There just wasn’t enough ectoplasm in the ambient atmosphere to sustain a ghost or a ghost army. So while there were plots to turn earth into a ghostly paradise, most of those plans barely made it off the ground, sinking under the weight of their owners' ambition. He would know.

“I’m not sure what to tell you,” Vlad said with a mild shrug. “I’m rather content with my domain as it currently is.”
“Hm, and that’s why you sent the younger halfa to parlay with Cockwork?” she said, humming skeptically.

Vlad blinked.

“You didn’t realize we knew, did you?” Ophelia asked coyly.
“I am surprised,” Vlad granted.

Completely and utterly baffled, actually. Daniel had met Clockwork? The Clockwork? When? Why??

“We have spies all throughout the zone,” Ophelia said proudly. “From every species.”
“Yes, I do see you’re rather overfilled with fire cores,” Vlad said dryly, shoving his questions about Clockwork’s involvement with the younger halfa into a box inside his mind for later worrying.

The fire cores all glared at Vlad. He had not endeared himself to his ‘kindred’ in the ghost zone. Mostly by refusing to bow to their authority and making the point stick by killing every single one they’d sent after him.

“Fire cores are some of the most powerful ghosts,” she said with an eye to open flattery.

Vlad barely kept himself from rolling his eyes.

“Yet, here I sit behind a barrier, the most powerful of the fire cores…” he said, letting his voice trail off.
“Your very power is the problem, Plasmius,” Ophelia tutted. “You’ve used Phantom to barter for the throne with Clockwork and now that you have his tacit permission, you plan to drain the young halfa to add his powers to your own,” Ophelia finished triumphantly.

Vlad blinked again.

That’s not how halfas worked, at all. True, he could probably absorb some power from Daniel if he drained his ghostly half to, well, a second death, but it wasn’t the sort of invincible power boost worth this cabal coming together. Unless…

“I see. You’ve marked Phantom as your prey, have you?” Vlad asked casually, as if his own core wasn’t shaking in sudden, murderous rage.

How dare they try to claim Daniel. How dare they threaten to drain and consume him and-

“We are the Consumers,” Ophelia pronounced, raising her hands and laughing with delight. “And we shall consume all of the zone!”

Vlad forced himself to scoff past the burning heat in his throat.

“If you consume the whole Ghost Zone, who are you going to rule over?”
“There will always be more ghosts born,” she said dismissively.
“True, but what about when you’ve conquered every single objectively strong ghost left?”
“I don’t follow.”
“Well, if I were you and your consumers,” Vlad mocked, “I’d worry about what came next. With no one else to defy you or consume, it’s only natural to start turning on your fellow-”

Vlad grunted as the barrier closest to him suddenly slammed against him. He managed to get both hands up, keeping the barrier from completely crushing him against the cave wall, but it wasn’t easy.

“My, my, Ophelia,” Vlad mocked as he continued to fight for his half-life. “Sounds like someone has a guilty conscience. Who were you planning to gut first? That little weakling in the corner? Or were you planning to go for the ones standing beside you, the strongest among you?”

Ophelia growled and used the lantern to shove the barrier harder against him, but Vlad still managed to resist her. She glanced around at the rest of her group, narrowing her eyes at the uncertain and speculative glances sent in her direction.

“Don’t listen to him!” she hissed. “He’s just trying to turn us on each other!”

Vlad laughed, trying not to let it seem forced.

“I, my dear? It sounds like you’re already far ahead of anything I could possibly do.”
“Shut up!” she snapped.
“My, my, losing your temper already? What kind of leader are you? Perhaps the others should consider replacing you sooner rather than later,” Vlad crooned.

Her eyes suddenly blazed an angry red, and she shoved the barrier at full power against him. Vlad flexed his claws and shattered the second barrier, using the power she’d shoved into it against her. He smirked at Ophelia, still playing casually amused even as his fingers vibrated painfully from the force she’d exerted.

“You worthless halfbreed!” she screamed. “I will tear your tongue from your head then tear that off your body so you can watch us feed on you!”
“You have terrible table manners,” Vlad sighed. “It’s not surprising I haven’t heard of the Consumers before. With a leader like you, I’m surprised it’s even lasted this long.”

There were angry hisses around the room, but Vlad caught even more speculative gazes flash to Ophelia then away again.

She glared at Vlad, clearly frustrated that she was unable to break his composure. Had, in fact, lost control of this situation altogether.

“Very well,” Ophelia said, trying to calm herself. “Perhaps I have been a little hasty. Instead of feasting on you right away, I might allow my fellow consumers to, shall we say, nibble on you. A few inches per day. Just enough for you to regrow during the night and be ready for fresh consumption the next day.”

Vlad arched an eyebrow at her.

“Nibble? Vlad Plasmius is no appetizer. He is the main course.”

Annnnnnd now he was talking about himself in the third person. Vlad was doubly glad the children weren’t around to see this. They would never let him live it down.

Ophelia glared at him, eyes flickering with red again. And then she suddenly smiled. A chill ran up Vlad’s spine. A prescient knowing that he wouldn’t like what came out of her mouth next.

“Perhaps you are used to casual torture, Plasmius, but are your little human sycophants?”

Vlad’s stomach dropped.

“Oh yes, we know all about the Phantom’s little pets. Who are, so I’m told, your pets now.”

Vlad knew he should say something. Anything to distract her. But his core was pounding with sick desperation at him, squeezing his throat shut.

Protect them protect them protect them protect them proTECT THEM!

“I see by your silence that it must be true. Honestly Plasmius, it’s in poor form to play with your food this much. We’ll show you how to really devour humans.”
“Maybe we should let him help, Ophelia," said another ghost, one of the twelve most powerful. “When he’s starved of plasma, we can force-feed the humans a few liters and then shove them into the force field with him.”
“Oh, Emberius, you devil,” Ophelia laughed. “I prefer something a bit more…leisurely. Let him have just a bite from them. Let them scream and plead and beg him to stop until-”

Magenta flames exploded behind the third barrier, shattering it in an instant. The second was just as easily disposed of as Vlad ripped it to pieces with his white-hot claws.

Ophelia hastily poured her own power into the lantern artifact, but Vlad’s flames kept growing and growing until the final barrier burst from the sheer amount of heat behind it. Vlad’s flames blasted through the cavern, melting several inches of rock face into slag.

Most of the ghosts didn’t even have time to scream as they instantly liquified along with the rock. The seven flame cores fared much better, simply raising shields to shield themselves.

At the last moment, Ophelia wrapped another barrier around herself with the artifact and managed to survive the burning heat. When the steam cleared from around her barrier, she saw duplicates of Plasmius everywhere in the giant hall, shooting plasma bursts and eyebeams at the surviving ghosts. Ophelia scrutinized them carefully, trying to discern the fakes from the real one.

She neededn’t have bothered.

An overpowered eyebeam slammed into her barrier followed by Plasmius himself. One clawed fist shattered the barrier, and he used his claws to slice through her face. Ophelia screamed as he ripped through skin and plasma, shredding through both of her eyes. The next fist pierced straight through her abdomen, and Vlad gripped her by the spine and yanked her up against his chest. When she was close enough, he leaned in and tore out her throat with his fangs.

Nobody touched his kids.

 

Chapter 18

 

 

Skulker skidded around a corner in the cave and blasted another ghost to pieces with his gun. There hadn’t been any real resistance to his one-ghost campaign inside the Caves of Darkness and Sorrow, and that just made the Hunter even more grim. If there was nothing but small fry guarding the gates, the big shots would definitely be inside, waiting.

He was going to kill Plasmius. When he finally found him, that is.

Skulker continued running through the maze of hallways and corridors until he came to a set of massive doors made of ghoststeel. That looked like a lair of he’d ever seen one.

He glared up at the doors that were warped outward in their frame. Nothing for it but to blow them wide open.

Skulker switched to the massive gun strapped to his back and started to power it up. It took over three minutes until it started to buck and twist under his grip. Skulker tried not to worry about what it meant that nothing had tried to attack him during all that time. Instead, hoisting the gun into the firing position and firming his stance.

Skulker fired.

The doors exploded off their hinges.

Skulker tossed the ruined gun to one side as he flew into the new room, ready to start firing at anything that moved.

But nothing did.

Nothing except him, because the hunter had never levitated up so fast. The floor was on fucking fire! Molten lava burned around the edges and walls. The inside of this damned room was hot enough to make hell feel like the Frozen Tundra!

The smell of superheated plasma was nearly overwhelming, but Skulker pressed on. He peered through the smoke and flame, desperately seeking a familiar blue face.

What he found instead chilled his core.

Plasmius floated in the center of the room, the bodies of several fire cores around him. Well, pieces of them, anyway. But Skulker was more concerned for the way his friend shimmered in the air, surrounded by super-heated magenta fire. His hair was also on fire, magenta strands dancing like living flame in the air.

“…Plas?” Skulker said quietly.

Magenta eyes turned towards him, recognition absolutely nowhere in the bright orbs.

“Shit,” Skulker said.

The other ghost had been completely overtaken by the need to protect his obsession.

As Plasmius began drifting towards him, magenta flames starting to crackle with even more heat, Skulker let go of his gun, raising both hands slowly.

“Daniel Fenton,” he said carefully.

The specter paused for a moment before continuing towards him, more slowly this time.

“Jasmine Fenton,” Skulker added.

Again, a pause.

“Tucker Foley. Samantha Manson.”

The other ghost stopped completely, staring at him with eyes that didn’t see but ears that, thankfully, worked just fine.

“They need you to come back to them, Plas,” Skulker continued, voice gentler than it had ever been. “I need you to come back.”

The halfa’s magenta flames wavered for a moment then snuffed out completely.

Skulker zipped forward in time to catch Plasmius before he hit the molten floor below. The hunter tried not to hold onto anything painful, but the older halfa was covered in wounds. From the fist-sized holes in his torso and the livid burn mark on his neck where someone had nearly decapitated him with a flaming sword, to the claw marks on his back and the missing left arm, there really wasn’t much of a good place to hold onto.

There was a flicker of black around Plasmius’s waist, and Skulker tightened his grip.

“Plas no,” he said quickly. “Do not change. It’s not safe here.”

Plasmius groaned but the flicker died away. He leaned his head against the armored chest, slumping in the other ghost’s hold.

“T-take me home, Skel,” Vlad mumbled, exhaustion slurring his words.
“You’re lucky I don’t decide to toss you in the Frozen Tundra myself for being stupid enough to get caught in an ambush,” Skulker growled back even as he flew off at his top speed for the portal.
“Nobody’s p-perfect.”

Skulker snorted but pushed for just a tiny bit more speed when he saw the growing trail of plasma they were leaving behind.

~~~

It took far longer than the hunter wished to arrive at the portal though he objectively knew it wasn’t more than an hour. The halfa’s bleeding had mostly stopped by that point, but the rest of his wounds hadn’t started to heal.

The first thing Skulker did when they zoomed into Vlad’s lab was grab a bag of concentrated plasma from one of the specialized fridges and shove it into halfa’s remaining hand.

“Drink it,” Skulker said sternly.

But when Vlad tried to bring the bag to his mouth, his hand was trembling too much to manage. The other ghost immediately took the bag away and held it up for him. Vlad sunk his fangs into it and sucked it dry, along with two more before he started to feel uncomfortably full.

Skulker set him down on one of the tables and was pleased to see that the wounds were finally starting to heal. Vlad concentrated for a moment then his left arm reformed with a loud pop.

“Ow.”
“Baby,” Skulker muttered as he helped the other ghost lie down.
“Asshole,” Vlad muttered back, letting his eyes droop closed.

He wished he could just pass out and sleep off the shitty ambush, but his core’s insistent pounding was only growing louder the more he recovered. He’d have to do something soon.

“The whelp is searching the ghost zone for you,” Skulker said abruptly.

Or maybe it hadn’t been that abrupt, Vlad realized, but the fact that he’d actually fallen asleep for a minute.

“For me?” Vlad asked, peeling his eyes back open. “Why?”
“Yes, you. After that poor box ghost was stupid enough to try stealing his friends, he came to the zone and started knocking on lairs.”
“For fuck’s sake, Daniel,” Vlad growled.

He’d had everything under control! Well, up to the point he’d been ambushed and almost killed. Again.

“When I heard about the riot he was creating,” Skulker continued, “I tracked him down. Planned to capture him and haul him back to your portal, but his words stopped me. He’d somehow managed to beat enough ghosts into submission that they coughed up the Consumers-”
“Don’t call them that,” Vlad growled weakly. “It’s a stupid name.”
“The parasites then,” Skulker said, rolling his eyes. “He heard that they were involved. That, in fact, it was a trap for him and for you.”

Vlad sighed. And he had disappeared without saying anything, hadn’t he? Not wanting to worry–or argue–with the teens about what he planned to do with that irritating little box ghost...

“You’re lucky you survived that,” Skulker said gruffly.
“Don’t I know it,” Vlad muttered.

Maybe he could put off telling the kids about for, well, forever would be nice. He eyed Skulker to see if he could get away with the lie, but the hunter was staring at him like he was considering tossing Vlad back into the ghost zone so he didn’t both asking.

I’ll just have to be mocked forever, I guess. Such is the fate of old men around teenagers, he groaned mentally.

“They claimed I was using Daniel to take over the dark throne,” Vlad said into the silence.
“Figured.”
“Said I was going to feed off him.”
“Idiots.”
“They also said I’d sent him to Clockwork to parley for me.”

That got the hunter’s attention.

“That’s a new rumor,” Skulker said.
“Apparently, someone saw Daniel actually be invited into his lair,” Vlad sighed.
“What?!”
“That was my reaction.”
“Damn.”
“That too.”

Skulker scratched at his helmet, thinking. The tic had always amused Vlad since it was an affectation that had become so ingrained that it was pure habit at this point.

“What do you think they talked about?” Skulker finally asked.
“I don’t know. I’m almost scared to ask.”

Skulker grunted in agreement.

“Skel?” Vlad waited for the green eyes to look down at him before continuing, “you’ve already done a lot for me, but would you be willing to bring Daniel back? Just in case another alliance decides now is a good time to strike at him?”

While I’m temporarily out of commission, hung unspoken in the air.

Skulker sighed.

“You’ll owe me new upgrades.”

Vlad nearly rolled his eyes. He made upgrades to the power suit every few months at this point. They were more regular than the postal service.

“I’ll owe you new upgrades,” Vlad promised aloud.
“Then I’ll fetch the whelp for you.”
“You know, you would probably get along better if you started using his name,” Vlad called as the hunter stalked toward the portal.

Skulker turned and shot Vlad a look.

“Don’t move from that spot,” he warned.
“Skel,” Vlad said, exasperated, “what do you think I’m planning on doing other than sleeping?”

The hunter grunted irritably then marched into the portal and out of sight.

Vlad waited five minutes before he got off the table.

He gestured at one of the fridges and another enhanced plasma flew over to him. He drained it dry despite the queasy feeling it started in his stomach then Vlad flew up through the house and headed into Amity Park. He chose his rooftop with care. It wasn’t the exact center of Amity Park. At least, not by the official city boundaries. But it was the spiritual center of the place.

Vlad hovered a few inches over the roof then reached out with his ghost senses, patiently waiting for the rhythm of the place to come to him. Once he was ready, his core began to sing. It sang to the whole of Amity Park, a song of power and protection.

Join me. Submit to me, Vlad urged. I will protect you from any that seeks to do you harm.

The city filled with plasma paused for a long moment. Vlad’s offer was not…expected. He had lived here for several years now, but Vlad hadn’t really fought for the city. In fact, he’d caused his fair share of its problems. There was another though. Another that fought for her. Loved her. That was the ghost she wanted most-

“Too fucking bad,” Vlad snarled back. “He’s too young and too inexperienced to do what needs to be done. You get me or nothing at all.”

He continued pressing his song against the city’s resistance. Pouring the rest of his power into making Amity his city. It wasn’t enough. Vlad felt the small boost from the enhanced plasma he’d drank go up like smoke inside him while Amity continued to resist him. Fight him. And it was going to win.

Vlad wasn’t strong enough to do this. He knew that, but it needed to be done right this fucking second so that nothing could ever threaten his kids again.

So for the first time in twenty years, Vlad begged.

Please, he sang to the city. I just want my kids to be safe. I need to protect them. Please help me.

Protect? the city suddenly asked.

Yes, I need to protect them. Please.

Amity hesitated. Yes, Vlad wanted to protect something, but he wasn’t a Protector like Daniel.

I’ll leave room for him, Vlad suddenly offered. He’s too young right now. He’s not able to protect. Not the way you need. But I’ll leave spaces for him. Room for him to grow into you. And the more he grows the more I’ll give until we will no longer be together.

The city considered his offer for a moment that was as long as the universe and short as a puff of air.

YES, she said. We will be YOURS and then we will be HIS.

Her resistance disappeared and a new bond snapped into place inside Vlad. It was full of color and energy and she was laughing because she had waited for her protector for so long and now Vlad was here, standing in that much-wounded gap and vowing to protect it until HE was ready.

Vlad passed out with the thrum of Amity’s delight filling the city around him.

 

Notes:

Poor Amity Park. She had to wait far too long for someone to claim her as a lair. Good thing this will absolutely 100% NOT blow up in Vlad's face in 3 2 1...

Notes:

I think there's supposed to be an average level of enjoyment one has while writing a fic. This is not me, however. I am HOWLING writing Vlad as a smart but out of the loop adult. (Just because I'm one myself means NOTHING.)

Anyway, I'm enjoying seeing awkward, soft, adorable, sexy Vlad and I will continue to build this hill with my own two hands.

P.S. Is it FentonWorks altogether or Fenton Works separate? Please send help.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 2 of Danny Phantom - Goth Cereal