Doctor Dash

Chapter 36

Desiree entered the laboratory in the basement of Danny's house, but she came to an immediate halt when she found someone else already there. "Vlad?" she questioned as she floated over to the half ghost, wondering what he was doing at Danny's house, though it wasn't that unusual, not since he was defeated and began to change his ways.

Vlad was actually a halfway decent man after he put aside all his scheming, like many of the ghosts that came to befriend Danny, and he seemed to care a great deal about Danny and his son. She could see some of Dan in him when she thought about Vlad's relationship with the other two half ghosts. Vlad wanted to remain as a part of their lives, and for that, he tried to be a better man. Giving it some serious thought, she realized Danny seemed to have that effect on people, or ghosts. Once he got them to open up enough to talk with him, they began to change and develop into better people.

"What are you doing here?" Desiree frowned at him when she noticed the troubled expression creasing his face. The man didn't often wear that kind of expression unless something was wrong, and that tended to mean something bad. She worried her lower lip, hoping nothing serious had happened to Danny. The poor man already had enough grief in his life.

Vlad blinked his dark blue eyes as he turned his head to stared at her, like he only just realized her presence. "That was Daniel's friend." His mouth thinned, the gears turning in his head. "Dash Baxter, I believe his name was." He held a cordless phone in his hand, which squeezed tightly around the object. "It seems that Daniel and Lex have caught a bit of a sore throat, and Dash has decided to keep them at his home to care for them."

"Well, that doesn't sound too bad." Desiree frowned as she watched the half ghost, feeling a coil of doubt twisting inside her. Vlad didn't look all that convinced that everything was all right. "I don't know a lot about human illnesses, but a sore throat isn't anything serious. Right?"

"No," Vlad agreed. "But it might not be as simple as that. Being half ghost, of course, doesn't make us immune to human disease. But it does make us susceptible to ghost illnesses as well as human ones. If Daniel and Lex are sick with some sort of ghost bug, imagine what sort of slip ups that could cause. And in front of someone who doesn't already know about Daniel?" He shook his head, clearly worried about Daniel's safety.

"What are you going to do?" Desiree's brow furrowed with some concern. When he got scheming, Vlad could become rather dangerous.

"I may not be a doctor, but I do know a bit about ghost illnesses. I," Vlad's mouth pursed, "have unfortunately experienced some of them myself. I would know much better how to handle them than a human doctor. I should be the one to look after them, if for no other reason than to make sure Daniel's secret isn't discovered."

"Not very trusting of this human, are you?" Desiree allowed half a smirk slip onto her face as she placed her hands on her hips. The blue wisp of her tail flicked back and forth while she floated in the air.

Vlad cocked an eyebrow at her. "And you trust him? A man?"

Frowning, Desiree folded her arms as she turned her head away. "I hardly know him enough to develop any sense of trust in him."

"And I don't know him at all." Vlad turned and led the way up the stairs into the kitchen where he placed the cordless phone back on its holder. "So you'll have to forgive me if I feel more than a little concerned about him possibly discovering anything about half ghosts existing. Perhaps he's a trustworthy person who will keep the secret until his dying breath, but I don't know him well enough to have such faith in him."

Desiree sighed as she switched to her human appearance before leaving the laboratory. Trust could be a difficult thing, especially for someone like her who had her trust in people, specifically men, greatly shaken throughout her life. "So you plan on heading over to this man's house and dragging Danny back here?"