Rising Power
Demons - part 3

THEN

Danny shook with fear, and he was secretly thankful when he was pushed to stand behind his dad's large back.

"I won't let you hurt my son." Jack Fenton was uncharacteristically serious, with no trace of humour in his voice.

The other hunter, the stranger that had dropped by their town after increased reports about hauntings, swore and readied his shotgun. "That thing is not your son! You're a hunter, Jack! You can't let it fool you! It's not even human!"

Danny's heart pounded in his ears, and he concentrated on the sound and the words his mother had told him. His heart beat, therefore he was alive. He wasn't a ghost.

"He is human, and he is my son." Jack's tone allowed no room for argument.

"I think it's time for you to leave." Finally, the cavalry arrived in the shape of Danny's mom and a loaded handgun.

The hunter looked between the angry parents and their mostly hidden son before making up his mind. He lowered his weapon. "This isn't over."

NOW

The living room was homely. The armchairs were soft, though the fabric was worn from use and the pattern faded. The coffee table held a rapidly cooling cup of coffee and an abandoned newspaper. The curtains were drawn, not letting in the last of the evening light, but still a cheerful yellow colour.

Danny and Dean sat on a small sofa, while the matching sofa facing them held a small family of three - A mother and two children.

In Danny's eyes, the mother had a face made of shadows and eyes as black as night.

Apparently, that was how a demon possessing someone looked to him. He could have happily gone through his entire life without finding out that particular fact.

The demon's hands were heavy on the children, pinning them down on the sofa. She smiled widely, showing off teeth. There was no need for her to hide her malice, since she knew that they knew that she was a demon.

"Sammy and things like you go against the natural order. I won't stand for it." The demon smiled sweetly, pitch black eyes locked on Danny. "When he comes here to save you, I'll deal with him."

Even if she hadn't pointed out Danny's own oddities, he still would have found the accusation as hitting far too close to home. He had to crush down a surge of anger. He was no monster, and he was no bait.

"Why, do we make you feel threatened?" Danny smirked, casually leaning back on the sofa. Faking confidence was easy. "You do realise that you're not the largest predator in town, don't you?"

The demon sneered in response.

Danny let his anger flare, not bothering to clamp down on the emotions like he usually did.

Predictably, all the lambs flickered.

Dean's eyes widened slightly, gaze moving from Danny to the demon and back again.

Danny gave him an exaggerated wink.

The demon was less surprised, and not at all impressed by the display of power. "You think you're strong, human? Just because you can do a little light show?"

Danny gave a small snort, but stopped himself from saying anything. Someone calling him 'human' as an insult was almost refreshing. Usually people didn't take offence to that part of him.

Still, it was all good. After all, his plan hinged on the demon thinking that "little light show" was meant for her eyes only.

Valerie swore as she and Sam watched the house from afar. The probably looked like creepy peeping toms, hiding in the bushes with a pair of binoculars, but that didn't matter.

Danny and Dean were inside with a demon, and given Danny's texted SOS (followed by no more contact) they would need help to escape. Not the fake excuse kind, but the guns ablaze kind. That meant the demon wasn't trying to pretend to be human anymore.

The curtains were drawn downstairs, stopping them from seeing anything. There was no way to tell whether Danny and Dean were still unharmed, or even alive.

The lamps in the house flickered, clearly visible from the upstairs bedrooms and the little light that streamed through the curtains.

Valerie smiled.

"What was that?" Sam didn't share her enthusiasm. His shoulders tensed. "Is it a ghost after all?"

"No. That was a signal."

"From Danny? What does it mean?"

"I'm not sure..." What did it mean? Danny wouldn't risk doing something like usually. Especially not in front of other hunters. It would bring all attention to him, and that was something he avoided.

Unless that was the entire point.

Valerie's eyes widened with realisation. "It's a distraction."

Dean was no fool.

He acted like one, on occasion, but he knew his stuff. His stuff mainly included supernatural phenomena. Like mediums and psychics.

He knew Danny Foley was not a medium. It became rather obvious after the kid make all the lights flicker.

Sam's theory about Danny being one of Yellow Eyes' kids was feeling less and less far-fetched, despite all the evidence against it. It wasn't like they knew all about Yellow Eyes' plans to begin with.

At least the possessed woman had confirmed that Danny was human, and not some ghost or something.

Danny lounged on the sofa, settling in comfortably between the decorative pillows.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, so softly that nobody else noticed it.

Hopefully, that was Val's way of signalling that she was on her way and needed a distraction. If it was Sam or Tucker, Danny was about to take a huge risk for no reason.

Oh, well. You can't make an omelet without risking it coming to life and cracking a few skulls.

Danny cracked his neck and leaned forward, the motion bringing back the demon's attention to him.

"So, this little plan of yours..." Danny trailed off, throwing in some fake concern. Nothing annoyed people like obviously fake concern. "What are you hoping to accomplish? Any long term goals? This is your chance to do the villainous monologue. You shouldn't waste it."

The demon looked insulted.

Danny smiled sweetly. "Come on, you're a demon. Creepy black eyes and smoke face. Embrace your evil side and do the villain things. I mean, those kids are obviously just substitutes for a cat."

"A cat?"

"Yes. You want to keep a cat in your lap and pet it, because that makes you seem ominous and stuff. Typical villain behaviour, but I've got to say, kids don't really work as a replacement."

"They're hostages."

"Really?" Danny jerked back and held a hand over his heart. Maybe he was overdoing the 'playing dumb' thing, but if he didn't let himself have fun when trying to anger demons, he'd never get to enjoy himself. "I never would have guessed."

Dean seemed amused, at least. He either picked up on what Danny was doing, or he just felt like being a jerk to a demon. "I figured out that they were hostages, but I've been a hunter longer than you."

Scratch that, Dean obviously felt like being a jerk to Danny.

The demon's fingers curled painfully into her hostages, nails like claws. The kids were crying, but were too scared to make any noise that would bring attention to them.

Danny let his temper flare again, making the lighting go haywire.

There was a dull crash from upstairs, like breaking glass.

The demon jerked, her head turning slightly towards the stairs.

"Oh, and here I was aiming for your face." Danny sighed, pouting.

The demon's attention returned to him.

"I'm not just light shows." He smirked, showing off teeth.

His lie must have worked, because the demon didn't notice as Sam Winchester poked his head down the stairs.

Danny personally thought that breaking into a house via the upstairs windows was pretty cool.

"Still, two hostages is kind of overkill," said Dean as he noticed his brother. "They're just kids."

'Oh, Sam must have heard that. Smart.'

"I don't need to keep you both alive until Sammy gets here. Just Dean will do for bait." The demon looked pointedly at Danny.

'Sam probably heard that too. I love villains who monologue.'

"Come on now, you don't have what it takes to kill me. I keep telling you, you're not the most dangerous person in town anymore." Danny barely got the words out before the demon pounced on him, throwing him into the far wall.

It successfully got her away from the hostages, but Danny was beginning to question his own methods when she stalked towards him.

It was at that point that Dean sprung to his feet, placing himself between the demon and the kids, and Sam Winchester decided to run down the last steps, completely foregoing stealth.

The demon stopped, delighted. She turned fully towards Sam with a wide smirk on her face.

Since her back was turned towards the front door, and her attention fully occupied, the demon failed to notice Valerie picking the lock and casually walking inside. She left the front door open, likely because she didn't want to risk the demon hearing the sound of it closing.

Valerie dropped to the ground, standing on her side on her hands and knees.

It took Danny a moment to realise what she was trying to do, but then Sam tackled the demon so that the back of her knees hit Valerie.

The demon fell through the still open front door and landed outside, into some weird circle which was drawn on the ground.

Val and Sam shared a satisfied nod, while Danny and Dean both offered their teammates high fives. Valerie didn't leave Danny hanging.

"Devil's trap. She's stuck in there," explained Valerie when she caught Danny staring at the occult themed graffiti. "Sam's idea."

"You shouldn't have underestimated normal humans so much," said Danny casually to the trapped demon. "The most dangerous person in town is obviously Val."

Sam stepped forward, ignoring Dean's offered hand, and started chanting in... Latin? It was probably Latin.

Whatever it was, it made something underneath Danny's skin itch uncomfortably, and the demon disappear in a cloud of angry black smoke.

Danny silently wondered what the others saw when they looked at it.

AN: I changed the summary, hopefully making it more reflective of what this fic is really about. The old one only really worked for the first version of this story, which didn't continue beyond the first three chapters.

Next chapter we get reactions and the return of the annoying reaper. In the mean time, feel free to check out my pure Danny Phantom fic Conversations with Dead People for more DP ghost story funtimes featuring Valerie and Danny as the main characters. It's got medium!Valerie, ghost!Danny and character arcs.