This may end rather quickly, but I felt it was ready to post. May do a rewrite later.

Protector

Written November 11, 2012. Finished June 27, 2013.

"Hello," Vlad spoke into the phone with a bored feeling of trepidation.

His caller ID had warned him it was the Fenton household on the other line. That only left one of two likely possibilities. The two Fenton children were not an option since they would both rather drink battery acid then talk to him willingly. Maddie might be calling him, but it would only be to chew him out on some sort of inappropriate incident regarding his last visit to the house. That left only that oaf Jack and his annoying voice.

So, naturally, he was surprised when it turned out to be Danny.

"Vlad, help."

Vlad paused on his end, his eyes wide and his mind blank. He was unable to understand that last word. It had never been issued from Danny's lips to his ears before. Then again, Daniel had been known to be tricky before.

"Daniel, if this is some sort of trick!" Vlad left the threat unfinished, his anger rising to the forefront.

"No! No trick!" Danny yelled, sounding frantic. "Please, I think I killed him."

Now Vlad was all ears. Danny would never joke around with something as heavy as death.

"Who Daniel? Where are you exactly?"

"At home, in the lab. Oh dear god, I think I killed him. I didn't mean too. I just wanted him to stop."

"Daniel, get yourself together," Vlad said as he rose from his desk, intent on getting his jacket and calling the car forward. "Who are you talking about? A ghost?"

"She's not waking up. Jazz, please! Wake up!"

Vlad dropped the phone and transformed. Daniel was too far gone into shock to be of any use and it was obvious that something dire had happened at the house. There was no time to waste on getting a car ready to drive. A simple thought was all that was needed to transport himself to the front steps of the Fenton house.

The cold October air hit Vlad like a slap in the face. The wind blowing hard and the bleakness of the street obvious. It was coming from the house before him. He phased himself inside and sucked in a breath. The living room was in tatters, the couch in half, the stuffing spilling from the innards. All of the electronics had either shattered or completely combusted into small smoldering heaps of melted metal and circuitry.

"Technus?" Vlad wondered, then decided that was wrong.

The tech-loving ghost prized technology. He wouldn't destroy it like this; it would go against his obsession. As he walked to the kitchen to get to the lab, he turned back to human, on the off chance that one of the adults would see him and pull a gun out on him, and noticed the damage of the kitchen as well. All of the technology had been destroyed the same way, the furniture in broken shards. The door to the basement/lab was open and sad sounds were heard coming from below.

When he got to the top of the stairs he had to swallow the bile in his throat. Jack laid like a broken puppet in the corner, blood all around him. Maddie laid further away from him, unconscious he hoped, and Danny was sobbing over the broken form of his sister in the middle of the lab floor. Vlad rushed to him first.

He moved around Danny and reached for a feel of Jazz's pulse. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found one.

"Danny, it's okay," Vlad pulled Danny away from Jazz gently, speaking softly to him. "Danny hush, it's okay. Jazz is alive."

Danny swallowed, holding his breath in order to try and stop the sobs. He only seemed to half succeed, but it was enough for him to become coherent.

"She's okay?" he asked Vlad voice breaking from his sore throat.

"She will be once we get her to a hospital. Your mother too, and you don't look so good yourself."

The boy had blood all over him, bruises and scrapes covered his face along with a sporting black eye. It also looked like a few fingers were broken considering how blue and bent they were. Vlad took one of the teen's hands into his own to look at them.

"How did this happen?" Vlad asked.

"Dad slammed the door on them," Danny said, curling up on himself.

Vlad gently gave Danny back his hand then looked at Jack in the corner. He was dead, there was no doubt about that. A ghost always knew the living from the dead. The only question was, did Danny do it? There was no time to ask. Jazz, Maddie, and Danny all needed medical attention.

Vlad called for an ambulance, keeping Danny in his line of vision. He reported a ghost attack on the Fenton house, which it certainly looked like. Suspicion would not fall on Danny for this. It might on Phantom though, but Vlad would come to that hurtle when it was time.