Ethereal

29

Bill dodged the ectoplasm with a quick laugh, looking a little surprised at Danny's sudden outburst. The blast blew a tree behind them off the ground, leaning haphazardly onto the surrounding foliage for support. Black smoke billowed momentarily in the air.

The group surrounding Danny shared a glance, Jazz biting her lower lip. Bill had entered into touchy territory for her little brother and she was more than a little nervous. He was a teen, after all; teens could be severe hotheads.

She wrinkled her nose at the idea of head and threw her Jack o' Nine Tails to the ground, pulling out a small pocket knife with practiced care. Ever since Danny told her about the Dan incident she'd been more than a little paranoid of possible ghostly enemies out to get her and found herself carrying small weapons of choice. The blade, well, it was coated in hardened ectoplasm and sharpened with precision, but Jazz thought she could never be too careful when it came to sociopathic humans that might be compelled to pull her into an alley one day. It was a safety precaution, and a pretty good one at that.

Stan was pulling out a blade of his own, though it looked a little more deadly than her simple pocket knife.

"You want to fight?" Bill laughed easily and fully; a deadly mix of sarcasm and cockiness. His voice, however, was no longer at the cheerful higher-pitched volume that they had grown accustomed to. Rather, it was dark and menacing, red swirling in the monstrosity's eye. "I'll tear you to shreds."

Vlad threw another ectoblast and it hit Bill square in the chest with a deadly crack; or, maybe that was just the ground. Spidering out like webs from Bill's feet, the dried dirt fractured into pieces. His perfect attire was shredded where the blast hit him. Despite, this, he was smiling. It was the same creepily large smile that Vlad's features had endured, and Danny shivered.

Bill's hand lit up in blue flame and he threw it at Vlad with ease. The older man rushed to place a shield over himself and the fireball smacked against the ectoplasm with deadly force before dissipating into thin air.

The world around them exploded into fireballs and smoke. Innocent trees took the brunt of the damage, the sound of cracking wood and the smell of fire numbing their senses. Danny found himself rushing about with his ice powers rather than fighting in an attempt to stop the flames from reaching further into the forest. Oh, how he wished nothing interesting had happened during this trip. If Cujo had been the only problematic moment, this vacation would prove to be a lot more relaxing.

Wait a minute.

Danny reached for his belt and pulled out the Fenton Thermos with ease. Thank God he'd developed the habit of never leaving without it. Twisting off the cap, he pressed the release button and let Cujo out of the metal prison (and the two ghosts that ran the Dusk 2 Dawn, but he sucked those back in before they even knew what had happened). The puppy shook his head confusedly before Danny floated down amidst the smoke and shouted, "Go get it, boy! Go get Bill!"

A yap of excitement rang through the air before Cujo grew ten times his size, his bark becoming low and dangerous. The dog bounded into the smoke with Danny following quickly behind, putting the thermos away and lighting his fists in green ectoplasm.

He punched that smug triangle in the jaw so hard Bill flew into the tree behind himself.

Cujo busied himself with attacking.

Danny smirked; maybe this wouldn't be too hard of a fight, after all. And as a bonus, Serafina was already taken care of (though that had been a gruesome death. Danny preferred not to think about it).

He totally jinxed it.

Bill shoved the snarling dog off with one swift motion, throwing it to the other side of the meadow and pushing himself off the damaged tree. His fists were alit in blue flames and his hair and clothes were askew, but his eyes were more deadly than ever. That dumb smirk no longer adorned his face, and Danny quickly came to the realization that that was very, very bad.