Chapter Text
Danny tossed and turned in his sleep and sat bolt upright with a yelp. This wasn’t his room and it took him a few moments to remember how he got here.
It was his parent’s college reunion and he was staying in Mr. Master’s mansion. Right.
A blue wisp escaped his mouth and he immediately went on alert. But as soon as he felt the presence of a ghost… it was gone. Maybe it was that ghost that Mr Masters mentioned, the dairy… something. Wisconsin was weird.
Of course Illinois had the box ghost so maybe he didn’t have much room to judge. He jumped when he realized that someone was standing in the doorway. “Uh… hello?”
“Daniel?” Vlad asked. “I apologize if I gave you a start, I was walking past and I heard you yell, is everything alright?”
“Oh! Uh sorry Mr. Masters, bad dream.” He chuckled nervously. “Didn’t mean to bother you.”
“It’s no bother.” He waved a hand dismissively. “Bad dream, well… that’s nothing a cup of hot cocoa can’t fix. I was just going to make some myself… care to join me?” Vlad asked offhandedly. If this boy had an ounce of Jack’s blood there was no way he could refuse sugar. He had been wanting to catch the boy alone since Jack called him, letting him know that their son was caught up in a portal accident and asking him for help. Help that was not even needed because the boy didn’t come down with the same illness as him. Still, ectoplasm was nothing if not predictable. It could just come on suddenly, heaven knows he knew that from countless relapses in his own illness. Now was as good a time as any to try and gauge what Daniel had experienced thus far.
“Dude, yes !” Danny hopped out of bed with a grin. “Oh… uh I mean… thanks Mr. Masters, sounds good.”
Vlad chuckled. “Right. Just this way.”
Vlad lead Danny to a seat in his kitchen and began making the drinks. “So… it’s been quite some time since I caught up with your parents, of course the portal must keep them busy.”
Danny nodded. “Yeah, ever since it started working they’ve been in research hyper mode.” He shrugged. “At least they’re happy.”
“Hm.” Vlad leaned against a counter with a thoughtful look after he set the water to boil. “Yes, well I must confess I never dreamed that they’d be able to stabilize one of that magnitude. I… suppose they let you know about our college days, hm?”
“Oh, yeah I’m sorry about that Mr Masters. That bites, they never were good with lab safety but they seemed really torn up about it.”
“I’d assume not after your own accident.” Vlad turned his back to the boy to pour the water, not wanting to tip his own hand too early. “ Could have fooled me. ” He added under his breath. He might be willing to forgive them, if they ever tried to apologize. But he sure hadn’t seen any of that torn up side. They were nothing but downright chipper since they came here. If there was remorse it was deep down.
Danny froze. “Uh… how did you know about my accident?” As far as he knew, the only people that were aware of it were his family and Sam and Tuck.
“Oh, right. Jack called me when it happened. He figured that if anyone would know how to treat ecto-radiation it would be patient zero.”
“Oh… huh. Guess that makes sense.” Danny nodded. “They… uh never really mentioned you until now so I guess I figured you three weren’t in contact.”
“On and off.” Vlad said dismissively, in truth, it had been only three or four times since they parted ways. He’d be lying if he said that it didn’t sting but he was going to set that aside… somewhat… for now. “I was actually hoping to talk to you at some point about that. You see, as the only other person who has been hit by a ghost portal I thought you might want to… compare notes?”
Danny’s eyes widened. “Notes? Notes on what? There was really nothing to note.” He said quickly and then averted his eyes.
“Ah, none at all?” Vlad asked with a frown.
“Nope! No side effects at all! I mean, I got a pretty bad shock when it started up and there’s this really cool scar.” He pulled up his sleeve to reveal a lichtenburg scar that ended at his elbow. “But that’s it.”
“I suppose that is fortunate for you.” Vlad tried to reply kindly, but it fell a little flat. Daniel couldn’t be like him, not if he hadn’t noticed anything two months out, and yet he couldn’t stop himself from hoping. Though hoping for someone else to be half dead wasn’t exactly kind, no matter how he looked at it.
He was interrupted by the water boiling over. “Fudge buckets!” Vlad turned the burner off and moved the kettle off.
“Is… uh.. Everything okay?” Danny asked leaning over in his spot to try and see what happened.
“Ah, yes, everything is fine, just forgot to put the lid on…” Vlad began mopping up the water. “Well, like I was saying, I wouldn’t wish illness like that on anyone. Though I have noticed that the effects have been rather long lasting, perhaps I could at least tell you what I have come across so you are prepared if any symptoms do manifest.”
“Oh uh… yeah that sounds cool. I don’t actually have to take notes though, right?” Danny asked.
“No, not unless you wish to. I must ask you however, that nothing we discuss here will leave this room.” Vlad said slowly. He poured some of the water into two mugs and realized his hand was shaking. Was he really going to reveal his secret to a child, and a child of ghost hunters of all people? He took a steadying breath and added hot cocoa and marshmallows to the mugs, turning around to face Danny with a composed look. He gave him a mug and then sat down next to him.
“Uh… sure.” Danny nodded. “I won’t go around telling people ‘bout any problems you had, I’m not that kind of person.”
“Daniel, I am asking for your strictest confidence, that you will tell no one, not even your own family. Can I trust you with that?”
Suddenly, it was like a flip switched. Danny was no longer a goofy kid but someone who had seen much more than he should at his age. “Whatever it is, I know the importance of secrets like that. You can trust me.”
Vlad nodded and took a sip of his cocoa. “Where to start? Well ectoplasm is… unpredictable at the best of times. It took ten years for me to fully understand how it affected me. You see, there may come a time where it... activates… for lack of a better term. If it does you might notice some side effects that are ghostly in nature.”
“Ghostly?” Danny asked, eyes wide.
“Yes…” Vlad tapped his fingers on the countertop nervously. “You see I have… rather the accident gave me... abilities I suppose you could say. It may sound far-fetched but, well when you think of ghosts, what sort of abilities come to mind?”
“Flight, intangibility, invisibility and ectoblasts.” Danny listed off immediately.
“Right.” Vlad nodded. “Those are the basics, and… well I have them. Among other things.”
“Y-You’re kidding.” Danny’s eyes were as wide as could be.
“Wouldn’t be a very tasteful joke, now would it?” Vlad sighed. “Perhaps it would be better to show you... “ He nodded to himself and stood. “Right… well… here goes nothing.” A set of black rings appeared at his waist and split, traveling up and down Masters until a vampiric looking ghost replaced him. A very nervous looking one at that. “Ta da?” Vlad’s voice echoed slightly.
Danny’s jaw dropped and it took him a few minutes to regain the ability to speak. “You… you’re a…”
“Ghost. Please don’t run or scream.” Vlad asked immediately. “I know what you’ve been raised to think of ghosts, or at the very least I have a good guess but I swear I am not going to hurt you.”
“Uh… you… I’ll listen.” Danny said slowly, looking completely awestruck.
“Thank you.” Vlad sighed. “I am a half ghost hybrid to be specific. I… well I decided that I owed it to you of all people, if you ever gain abilities of your own… you won’t have to face this alone. I can… I can help you.”
“No… I mean…” Danny started shook his head. “This is crazy. I am so… I mean you…” Danny started laughing and a blue wisp of smoke came out of his mouth. “Oh my god! You were the ghost!”
“The… ghost?” Vlad asked slowly.
“The ghost!” Danny cackled. Suddenly a pair of rings appeared around him and he transformed into a ghost as well. “You’re the ghost that set off my ghost sense!”
It was Vlad’s turn to look at Danny in wide eyed shock. “You’re a hybrid! I thought you said you didn’t have any powers!” His expression morphed into a grin.
“I said I didn’t have any side effects, this is way more than a side effect.” Danny corrected, a grin appearing on his face too. “Holy shit! I’m not alone! You’re not alone! We aren’t alone!”
“Language!” Vlad didn’t seem too stern because he was laughing too. “This is great! Gouda… I’m not one of a kind anymore that’s…” He shook his head with the grin still shining on his face. “That’s amazing! Now we really do have to compare notes, you have to tell me which powers you’ve developed so far.”
“So far?” Danny asked. “You mean that there’s more than what I told you about?”
“ So much more .” Vlad nodded emphatically. “I can show you… I could even train you if you wanted! Ghost powers are hard to figure out when you have no frame of reference, I can help!”
“Man, this is awesome!” Suddenly a noise outside the kitchen had both half ghosts transforming back in the blink of an eye. A cat came slinking around the corner and they both dissolved into fits of laughter again.