The scar on her side was burning like hell. Since she woke up this morning, it had been irritating her. She gripped her side, harshly. She looked on at the scene before her.
Danny, or Phantom, as he had tried to lead her to believe, was doing a horrendous job.
Kalush wasn't kidding, Sam thought to herself. They really don't know what they're doing.
The Dead Sea salt and sage infused pouches in her belt satchel would stop that slimy serpent in its tracks.
"Nymph..." she heard the serpentine beast, an Anguis Nefas, or Hell's Serpent, hiss out. "Where is the wood nymph?"
"W-what?" Danny's voice strained under the pressure of being crushed. "Wood nymph?"
An unpleasant heat bubbled in Sam's gut as she watched the damned creature tighten it's hellish grip on Danny.
"Where is the remaining wood nymph?" The spine shivering howl echoed through the streets.
Give it to 'im, Ivy, Zoey's voice hissed in her head.
Sam scoffed. "Right here."
The blood red gaze of the Anguis turned towards her as she stood, unwavering, on top of the building.
Phantom couldn't find his voice. She was as beautiful as she was intimidating. Her physique was slim and slender, and her long, illuminated hair danced in the wind from under her hood. Her most astonishing features were her amethyst eyes that shined even the darkest hour of the night. Astonishing, and yet...familiar.
"Struggling, Phantom?" Her lips curved into a grin.
Before he could even begin to contemplate her sultry smile, he was thrown aside like a broken toy, barely managing to keep himself from crashing into the pavement again. He floated a good distance away, keeping his gaze on the mysterious woman.
Could this be her? The "Good Witch"? He mused.
The Anguis let out a nauseating snicker. "Your head is a prize, nymphling."
Sam snorted. "That won't mean much to you when I'm finished."
The Anguis swiped its massive claws towards her neck, only for her to leap out of reach.
As swift as a feather, she flipped down and bounced off an awning, flying towards the hellish serpent. Sam ripped a sage colored cheesecloth pouch out of her satchel and flung it right in the beast's eyes.
A guttural howl raddled the streets, followed by a sizzling sound, like water on a hot stove.
Danny's eyes widened. He was amazed by the meager weapon's effect, but what really caught his attention was the hooded woman's movements. Only one person I know moves like that...But it couldn't be her, could it?
Sam landed effortlessly on her feet, right in front of Tucker and Valerie, still on the ground after taking such a blow.
"Looks like we found her, " Tucker gasped.
Valerie scoffed. "More like she found us."
The Anguis let out a reptilian snarl, its eyes closed tightly. Its forked tongue flicked out, tasting the very air.
"Your luscious scent is apparent, nymph," it snarled. "You cannot hide!"
"Who's hiding?" Sam laughed as she launched herself into the Anguis' gut, foot first.
Caught by surprise, the blow toppled the serpent. Sam landed by Danny, who was awestruck. His mouth hung open as he stared.
She raised a brow at him. "You better close that thing, Phantom," she said, humorously "You'll catch a fly."
A green blush spread over his cheeks, but before he could respond, he gasped. "Look out!"
Sam spun around and...
SLASH!
The Anguis' elongated claws swiped at her, reaching her arm. Her hood had fallen off, letting her illuminated locks of green and purple fly free. She landed in Danny's arms, clutching her arm.
"Hey, are you alright?" He panicked. He saw blood gushing from between her fingers. Gently, he set her down on the pavement.
"Do you need-" He paused when she looked up at him. Her face, her eyes...
It felt like his heart was in his throat. "S-Sam?" he stammered.
Sam gasped and pushed him away, avoiding eye contact as she pulled her hood back up.
"Sam, y-you...," he cut himself off. "Ah!"
The Anguis's long arm was headed towards them. In a flash, Danny was in front Sam. He caught the large scaled limb in his grasp. Danny grunted as he held on tightly on to the Anguis. Using his supernatural strength, he lifted the serpent off the ground and threw it over his shoulder, sending it hurtling down the street.
Now, it was Sam's turn to be impressed. He's stronger than I thought.
Struggling to catch his breath, Danny turned back to her.
"Are you okay, uh, Sam?" Danny asked uneasily.
Sam got up from the ground, still covering the wound on her arm.
"Yes," Sam said, "I'm alright."
Might as well let another cat out of the bag, she smirked at the sound of Zoey's voice.
"Thank you, Danny," she stated, casually.
Danny was too busy trying to get a good look at the scrape on her arm to notice that she used his name.
"Are you sure?" He asked. "You took a pretty good hit, and I don't-"
He froze. His green eyes widened. His face was priceless.
He looked at her in a strange mixture of bewilderment, panic, and a hint of humiliation.
He gaped like a fish. "I...uh...y-you...m-my name isn't...," he truly was speechless.
Before Sam could tease him anymore, the Anguis was back. It slammed its huge tail into Danny, sending him flying.
Hoping to lure the beast away, Sam ran for it. It didn't take the reptilian beast long to catch her scent.
As she ran, Sam desperately wracked her brain on what to do next. With her arm freshly wounded, there wasn't much she could do for now. Her breathing was getting ragged and her legs were wearing out quickly. She could hear the beast behind her. She could feel it getting closer.
Just as the Anguis was about clamp its jaws down on her, a black shadow, the size of a fully grown tiger, tackled the hellish serpent into an alleyway. The shadow moved so fast, the wake knocked Sam to the ground where she laid, panting.
A pained hiss echoed out of the alley, followed by the gut-churning sound of flesh being ripped from bone.
On the ground, Sam desperately tried to catch her breath. She shakily tried to raise herself up and looked over to the alley.
"Sam!" Danny called as he flew down next to her.
"What happened?" Jazz cried as she ran towards the two of them, followed by Tucker, who was supporting Valerie.
"I-I don't..." Sam stuttered as Danny helped her up off the ground.
A guttural, feral growl came from the alley.
Sam walked forward carefully, Danny behind her. As they approached the alley, she heard Danny gasp. The large shadow of a tiger was moving along the brick wall, indicating the mysterious creature was coming closer.
Sam squinted in confusion, but when she heard a delicate cry of a cat, she couldn't help but laugh.
Walking out of the alley was Nyx!
Danny looked back at his sister in utter disbelief. She just shrugged.
After cleaning the blood off her paws and face, she daintily walked over to Sam, green eyes gleaming in the low light.
Sam smiled proudly and picked Nyx up in her arms. "Wonderful timing, as usual." Nyx purred as Sam scratched her ears.
Danny cleared his throat. "Um, Sam?"
Sam smirked, and coyly turned towards him and the others. She could see that all three of them were completely and spectacularly confused.
She snickered. "Yes?"
——————————————————-
Sam brought Danny, Jazz, Tucker and Valerie to her house. Luckily, her Gramm was fast asleep. It was almost 1:30 in the morning, after all.
They were sitting in the kitchen, waiting for Sam to get remedies to help with wounds. There were more than a few scrapes here and there.
"I can't believe it," Tucker said.
Valerie scoffed as she held an ice pack to her shoulder. "She was right under our noses the whole time!"
"No, I mean that cat of hers," Tucker shuddered as he nervously looked towards the snoozing feline in the parlor. "I didn't think it could get more terrifying."
Jazz rolled her eyes and looked over at her brother. He had returned to his human form when they made it to Sam's. He looked pensive, perplexed, and a little bit irked.
Jazz nudged him. "You sour that she figured you out?"
"No," Danny scoffed.
"Oh, get over it," she laughed. "On the bright side, you figured her out."
"And the stake out was a success," Tucker chimed. "We found who we were looking for."
Valerie winced. "Along with the garden snake from Hell."
"Yep, hence the name," Sam spoke as she walked in with a tray of soft cloth, gauze, and various jars. " I guess you learned the hard way that those ecto-blasters of yours won't do much."
"The really hard way," Valerie groaned.
Sam sat down at the table between Danny and Tucker. The techno wiz had a nasty bump on his cheek.
She sighed and pulled out a glass jar. Within the jar was a smooth, waxing, bright yellow salve.
The light mildew fragrance met their noses when she removed the top.
Tucker's face scrunched at the salve's gooey texture and Sam scooped it on a tongue depressor. She spread it on a piece of gauze.
"What is that?" He spat.
Jazz and Valerie giggled at his expression.
Sam rolled her eyes. "It's an arnica salve. It helps with bruising." She placed the gauze on his face, and taped it, securely.
"Yuck!" Tucker cringed. He could feel the cold ointment squish against his skin.
"Hah!" Danny chortled. "Nice look, Tuck."
Sam's violet gaze landed in him. "Your turn, mister," she smirked. "For that nasty bruise on your shoulder."
Danny shivered.
Before long, they all had a few gauze patches on themselves.
Tucker cleared his throat. "So," he drawled. "Is no one going to address the elephant in the room?"
Sam snorted, just finishing wrapping up Danny's wrist.
The rest of them all looked at each other.
"I suppose we should," Sam spoke.
Jazz furrowed her brow. "Sam, why didn't you tell us?"
"You never asked," she chirped.
Danny huffed. "Sam, we're being serious! You're the witch we've been looking for, so why didn't you just come forward?"
Sam glared at him. "Maybe for the same reason that you-" she turned to the others at the table. "-None of you, told me that you were Phantom."
Danny blushed slightly as the rest looked rather sheepish.
Sam, then, smirked at Danny. "Not that you needed to. I figured it out a couple weeks ago."
Danny sputtered. "W-weeks? How...? When did...?"
His cheeks darkened even more when she put her finger to his lips. "I have my ways. Being observant and investigating the paranormal is a big part of what I do," Sam said.
"In that case," Valerie said. "Do you know what the deal is with all these...monsters?" She lacked a better word for them.
Sam sighed and turned to all of them. "Unfortunately, yes. I do," she nervously fidgeted with her fingers. Talking so openly about this was unfamiliar to her. "Demons, yes, demons are what they are."
"D-demons," Tucker stuttered.
"Why are they showing up now?" Jazz asked.
"Yeah," Valerie leered at Sam, slightly suspicious. "It seems rather coincidental that these attacks started when you came here."
Sam met Valerie's glare. "If you're implying that I had anything to do with these demon attacks..." she sounded offended at first. But then, her face became hollowed. "You're kind of right."
Danny gently placed his hand on her wrist. "What do you mean?"
Sam ducked her head; her bangs covered her eyes. "In order for demons to enter this realm, a rift must be opened. One must have opened somewhere here in Amity Park."
"What does that have to do with you?" Danny asked.
He could feel her hand quiver. "The so called...a-accident in New Orleans...it was my...c-coven and I sealing up a rift that had been opened."
"Coven?" Tucker asked, confusedly.
"A group of witches," Jazz said.
Tucker nervously laughed. "...I knew that."
Sam attempted at a watery smile as she finally raised her head. All four of them were shocked to see tears begin to form in her eyes.
Danny tightened his grip.
"After the rift had been closed, I thought that was the end of it," Sam continued. "I was shocked, to say the least, when attacks started up here. I'd found out that since the rift in New Orleans is so tightly sealed, the demons have focused their attention on a new unstable territory..."
"Amity Park..." Valerie gasped.
Sam nodded. "This town already has a thin line between the world of mortals and the Infinite Realm, or the Ghost Zone; I suppose a rift being broken open here would be an easy feat. So, I guess, you could say it is sort of my fault."
Valerie looked at her sadly. "No, it's not, Sam. You did what you had to do. I'm sorry."
"She's right," Jazz chimed. "There's no way you could've known."
Danny hooked Sam's chin and turned her face him. "All that matters is that you're here to help now. And you have us."
Sam's smile looked stronger as his kind words sunk in, and his blue eyes glimmered at her.
"In that case, Phantom," Sam said, her voice still a little cracked. "What's you guys' story? How did you get to become "the most feared and dangerous ghost in Amity Park"?"
Danny nervously scratched the back of his head, and chuckled. "I-it's nothing all that exciting..."
"HAH!" His sister and two friends all laughed.
"Tell her, dude!" Tucker jeered.
Danny glared at them before turning back to Sam. "While attempting to turn on a portal to the Ghost Zone my parents had invited, I accidentally electrocuted myself."
Sam gasped. "Oh, Fates!"
"I was fine, I promise," He assured with a smile. "The ectoplasmic energy from the portal infused with my DNA, turning me into Phantom."
"Sounds exciting to me!" Sam said, a little bit astonished. She'd never heard of such an odd phenomenon.
"Not that my powers will do much with this demon problem of ours," Danny sighed. "I'm glad that we found you, Sam. We're definitely going to need your help."
"Tell me about it," Sam joked.
"I second that," Valerie groaned as she staggered to her feet. Jazz and Tucker helped her limp into the parlor to relax on the couch.
"If we don't come up with something, that just means we're going to need more of that gross ointment!" Tucker whined from the next room.
Danny and Sam laughed, only for Sam to wince as she finally noticed the stinging pain in her arm. She clutched it tight and could feel that the wound had reopened.
Danny immediately looked over to her, reaching for her arm.
She flinched away on instinct.
"Let me look at it," Danny said sternly.
Sam looked at her arm hesitantly, before taking off her jacket. Danny's heart froze; this was the first time he got a clear view of it. It was a nasty three clawed mark. It was inflamed, bleeding, weeping, and he could see her veins around it looked rather dark.
"I'm fine, Danny," Sam tried to sound convincing.
Danny's expression did not change. "Sam, it looks infected! Damnit, you should've let me take care of it first."
"Relax, I've had worse than this," she stated calmly. "Just clean it up a bit, and put some Iris root salve on it."
"You sure that'll help?" Danny inquiried while getting one of the wet cloths.
Sam smirked at him. "It's never let me down before."
————————————————————————-
It was 4 in the morning, and Danny, Jazz, Tucker and Valerie had all gone home hours ago.
Sam laid comfortably in her bed, sound asleep; completely oblivious to the injury changing under the delicately wrapped bandaged.
The wound was slowly turning a sickly dark purple.