Mystical Lady

Here is a Partridge Family fiction that is a bit different. This story is told from Danny's point of view. Most of it, anyway. This was something that has kind of been in the back of my mind for a while now. I'd like to thank Jackie (RandomFan22) for her valuable help and one very important suggestion that she made to me during the writing of this one.

I hope you like it and have as much fun reading it as I've had in writing it.

Let the reading begin!

Chapter 1

Danny snapped the television off quietly, returning the Partridge family living room to darkness once more. He had just finished watching the Saturday late night double feature horror movie. Well, it had been Saturday night when the movies started. Presently, it was approximately 1:30 Sunday morning. The first one hadn't been too bad; Frankenstein had actually been a little on the boring side. But he had been totally engrossed in the second movie, Dracula. It had shifted his sometimes over imaginative mind into overdrive. If his mom knew that he had stayed up to watch both films until the wee hours of the morning...well, she wouldn't be very happy. She absolutely hated these kinds of movies and practically forbade him and Chris from watching them.

Chris had been unable to keep his eyes open during the first movie and now he lay on the other end of the sofa, sleeping soundly. Danny gently shook him, not out of brotherly love, but to save his own skin; he didn't want Chris to make any unwanted noise as he woke up. They had made it this far, it would be a bummer if they got caught now.

"Chris. Wake up, it's time to go to bed." Danny whispered urgently as he prodded his younger brother's shoulder.

The younger boy opened his eyes sleepily and tried to adjust his vision to the darkness that surrounded him. The television screen glowed faintly across the room, indicating that it had recently been turned off.

"Huh? What time is it?" Chris couldn't stifle a yawn.

An impatient Danny sighed in exasperation. "I told you...it's time to go to bed, now hurry up. Don't make any noise, we don't want to wake anyone up, namely Mom." Of course it wouldn't do to wake Keith or Laurie either. They'd be sure to mention it to Mom in the morning. He didn't worry about Tracy too much; she could easily be bribed into silence.

Chris slowly got up from the sofa. "I can't believe that I fell asleep! Why didn't you wake me up? I really wanted to see that Dracula film." Wide awake now, his disappointment was beginning to settle in.

"I'll tell you about it in the morning. Now let's get upstairs and in bed before we get caught." Danny urged.

Chris wasn't mollified in the least. "It isn't the same." He grumbled as he followed Danny.

The two boys trudged quietly up the carpeted staircase. They were in luck this early morning; no one was waiting at the top of the stairs wanting to know what they were doing up at this hour. They crept along the hallway and into their shared room. Both boys quickly hopped into bed and in no time at all, they were sleeping soundly.

Despite going to bed so late, Danny was up pretty early the next morning. He was raiding the refrigerator for a before-breakfast snack when Keith walked into the kitchen.

"Hey squirt. How was the movie last night?" Keith asked nonchalantly as he reached over Danny's head for the pitcher of orange juice.

Alarmed, Danny stood up straight, nearly knocking the glass pitcher out of his older brother's hand. "What movie? What are you talking about? I didn't watch any movie!"

Keith gripped the glass container in both hands in order to prevent it from falling to the floor and took a couple of quick steps backward. "Watch it, you dork! You almost made me drop the juice!"

"Sorry." Danny quickly apologized, eager to make amends. If Keith knew something, it would be best to stay on his good side.

Keith grinned and ruffled his red hair before walking to the cabinet to get a juice glass. "Relax. I won't say a word to Mom about you and Chris staying up to watch it." It wasn't so long ago, that he was doing the same thing; staying up late on a Friday or Saturday night to watch an old movie against his mother's wishes. Although, Keith had preferred more of an action film than a horror movie.

Greatly relieved, Danny smiled back. Sometimes, his older brother could be very cool about stuff. "Thanks." Then a thought occurred to him. "How did you know we were up?"

Keith poured himself a glass of the juice and took a sip. "I couldn't sleep, so I got up to write down some lyrics that popped into my head around 11:30 or so. I saw the light from the TV flickering downstairs, so I checked to make sure we weren't being burglarized or something." He put the glass down and gazed at his younger brother. "What movie were you guys watching anyhow?"

Danny gave up trying to find anything in the refrigerator and closed the door. He went to the kitchen table and grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl. "It was a double feature: Frankenstein and then Dracula." He peeled back the skin from the yellow fruit and began to eat it.

"Ah. So...how were they? Scary?" Keith scrunched his eyes and held his hands up, fingers curled into claws, doing a half-hearted pseudo-monster.

"Frankenstein was okay; Chris fell asleep before it ended. But Dracula was pretty darn interesting. I think I'll be doing my book report on Dracula." Danny said around a mouthful of banana.

"Oh?" Keith dropped his hands and raised an eyebrow in feigned shock. "You know how to read?" He teased.

Danny scowled at his older brother. "Ha, ha. That was so funny, I almost forgot to laugh." Then he changed the subject. "Hey, what are you doing up so early on a Saturday morning? You usually sleep in until at least 10 or 11."

"I'm going to the beach with the guys." Keith stated. "Gordy got a new surfboard for his birthday, and we're going to break it in today."

Danny looked out the kitchen window, it was pleasant enough out there. "But it's supposed to rain later this morning. Didn't you know that?" He was just now noticing his brother's attire: Swimming trunks, a t-shirt and an old pair of tennis shoes. His sunglasses were perched on top of his head.

"But not until closer to noon, which is why we're getting an early start. We'll have conquered the biggest waves before the first raindrop falls, besides having the beach to ourselves." He finished the glass of orange juice, walked to the sink and rinsed the glass out. That done, he put the glass into the dishwasher. "And I'll be home in plenty of time for our rehearsal this afternoon." He picked up the beach towel that he had left on the counter, hung it around his neck and headed for the back door.

"Yeah, okay." Danny agreed readily. He was busy planning out his own morning activities. The town library was going to be his first stop. "See ya later." He said to his already retreating brother's back. If it was going to rain, then he might as well spend some time indoors doing something interesting. Doing some research on Dracula sounded very promising. He made a mental note to call Punky to see if he wanted to go with him.

Hours later, Danny came home from the library laden with books. He tossed them in the nearest chair and greeted his older sister.

"Hi!"

"Hi yourself." Laurie placed a marker in the book that she had been reading, closed it and put it on the coffee table. She then eyed the books in the chair. "Don't tell me that you spent the day at the library?"

Danny shrugged. "Okay, I won't tell you. Where's Mom?"

Shirley came through the kitchen door. "Mom's right here. Where is your brother? We can't very well have a rehearsal without him!" She was absentmindedly drying her hands on a dishtowel as she walked to the living room front window and looked at the increasingly gray skies.

Danny grinned. "Which brother? We'd be hard pressed to rehearse without either one of them. A lead singer and a drummer are pretty important parts of any band."

"Danny." Shirley sighed patiently. "Chris has been here all day; he's upstairs going over his baseball cards. Keith is late...yet again. He promised that he'd be on time today." She tossed another look at the window. The weatherman had been right, the sky was clouding up quickly.

As if on cue, they heard the back door open. Within seconds, Keith was standing in the kitchen doorway with a silly grin on his face. He hadn't bothered to put his t-shirt back on, but the towel was hanging over his shoulder. His dark locks were damp, likewise his sun-darkened skin glistened with tanning oil. Danny had always been a bit put out that Keith could tolerate the sun so well, when his own fair skin burned to a painful pink if he wasn't careful.

"Sorry I'm late. Gordy had car trouble on the way home. Guess who had to fix it?" Keith gave a wry smile as he held his dirty hands up for them to see.

Shirley sighed and pointed toward the staircase. "I'll give you a half hour to get yourself showered, changed and in the garage."

"Only half an hour?" Keith exclaimed in disbelief.

Shirley made a show of looking at her watch. "Yes. Starting right now. You better get moving." She smiled pleasantly at him.

"Or...what?" Keith wanted to know, hoping that she was bluffing.

She put her hands on her hips and sternly replied, "Or you'll be grounded for the rest of the weekend!"

As Keith took the stairs two at a time, Danny couldn't help but turn to his sister and whisper loudly. "He'll have time to blow dry, but there's no way he's got time to fluff."

"I HEARD THAT!" Came a heated shout from the upper level of the house, causing all three of them to giggle.

Danny lamented. "You know, for a guy that doesn't have visible ears, he sure can hear good."

"Did you see him book up those stairs? If I didn't know better, I'd say that he's got plans for the weekend." Laurie speculated.

"Yeah, he's got a date with that new girl in school. Adrian...somebody." Danny tried to remember her last name. He had yet to meet the newest girl in his older brother's life, but he had seen her from afar. She was a total knock-out. Long dark hair. Legs that went up to there, a bewitching smile and a sexy European accent to top it off. She was supposed to be an exchange student from...darned if he could remember the country she was supposed to be from! It was yet another reason to be a bit envious of his older brother. His popularity with members of the opposite sex. They found him irresistible and were drawn to him like a magnet. It seemed that there was a constant stream of teenage girls marching in and out of Keith's life. He certainly had a busy social schedule.

Shirley settled in a nearby chair to wait for their fearless leader. "Laurie, aren't you going out as well tonight?"

"Yeah, Craig is taking me to the drive-in tonight. I wonder where Keith's taking his date?" She pondered out loud.

"I overheard him on the phone yesterday. He mentioned the drive-in too. He warned whoever it was-I'm assuming that it was this new girl-that it might get a bit cold and to bring a sweater or something. Apparently the heater in his car doesn't work." Shirley picked a magazine off of the coffee table and began to page through it. "He should fix it before he really needs it."

"That's what he says..." Danny smirked under his breath. He knew Keith's heater worked just fine. Having a broken car heater during a date at the drive-in could be very convenient.

Laurie rolled her eyes and picked up her book again.

Rehearsal hadn't gone very smoothly that afternoon. It seemed that there were a number of technical difficulties in which they had to stop and wait for Keith to take care of the problems. The first time it had been a broken string on his guitar. Then Danny's amplifier had shorted out, and fried one of the tubes. This had resulted in a longer break while Keith searched the garage for a spare tube. The straw that had broken the camel's back had been when the whining feedback had started, creating a very uncomfortable atmosphere in the small space of the garage. Shirley could see the frustration clearly on her eldest son's face and canceled the remainder of the practice session. She ushered the kids out of the garage, while Keith stayed behind to deal with the equipment breakdowns.

Later that evening after supper, Keith left the house to pick his date up. Laurie lounged in the living room waiting for her date for the evening, Craig.

Danny was also in the living room, pouring over the books that he had checked out from the library earlier that day.

Trying to entertain herself as she waited, she looked over Danny's shoulder to see what was so interesting.

"What are you reading about, Danny?"

"I'm doing research for my book report. It's going to be on Dracula." He replied without looking up.

"Dracula? Don't you have to write about someone who actually existed?"

Danny looked up and addressed his sister. "Not necessarily. Mrs. Winston said that it could be about a fictional person, just as long as we can back up our research. I already asked her."

Laurie rolled her eyes. "Okay, just make sure you write an accurate report then. No making stuff up." She teased him. Looking out the window, she spotted Craig's car pulling into the driveway. She decided to make good her escape.

"Craig's here. I'll be back in a few hours. Bye" She hurried out the front door.

Shirley had sat on the sofa quietly listening to Danny's description of the subject of his book report.

"Danny, why don't you pick someone different to write about." She gently suggested.

Puzzled, Danny looked up from his books. "Why?"

"It's just too...macabre. I'm afraid it'll give you nightmares."

Danny shook his head. "Nah. It won't." He looked down at the open book before him. "It says here that modern day vampires can be exposed to sunlight without ill effect. Only their powers are weakened during daylight."

"Danny," She chided him. "Vampires only exist in the overactive minds of certain people."

He seemed to think that over for a moment, then he shrugged. "You never know...there could be a vampire walking around San Pueblo right this very minute."

She watched him as he fully immersed himself in the book once again. She didn't like censorship and this was beginning to smack of it, so she compromised...against her better judgment. "Okay. But if I hear that you've had one bad dream, you'll have to find another subject. Agreed?"

He looked up at her and readily agreed. "Okay."

Smiling to himself, he went back to his book.