Chapter 7: Complications

Vlad's surprise quickly melted. "Do you realize what time it is?" he asked calmly, leaning against his door, indifferent to the weapons aimed at him.

"Where's Danny?!" Sam demanded, holding her weapon firmly.

"Sam, let me handle this" Jazz asked, before turning her attention back to the man. "We know you know where he is! I swear, if you as much as harmed one hair on his hair I'll-"

"You'll what?" Vlad asked menacingly, standing to his full height.

A flash of hesitation flashed on her expression before her eyes narrowed again. "I'll make you sorry." She replied, mimicking his tone of voice.

A smirk slowly spread on the man's face. "You? Make me sorry? I highly doubt that. In any case, what makes you think I would know where Daniel is?"

"Quit playing around, Vlad! I know and you know he came here! Where is he?!" Jazz demanded.

"Yes, he was here, but then he…disappeared." Vlad said with a chuckle.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Jazz snapped back.

"It means, Jasmine, I can not tell you where your half human brother is, because, I have not seen him since your father left. Daniel came to make sure I didn't harm Jack and then….disappeared." Vlad's dry tone turned humorous at his last sentence.

Jazz frowned at this. Half human? The man never referred to her brother with that title. "What makes you think we're going to believe you?" Sam jumped in.

"Yeah" Tucker agreed. "You probably have him locked in your big house somewhere!"

Vlad covered his mouth as a yawn escaped him. "And where, Mr. Foley, would I keep him? A cage?" he asked calmly. "And if so, don't you think you would hear him calling for help?"

Right then, a wail reached the four people in the doorway. Vlad smiled amused. "See? Just like that one, but that isn't Daniel's voice, now is it?" he said in the same calm demeanor.

"What is that?" Sam asked with a frown.

Vlad shrugged. "My new pet and he wants attention, so, if you three will excuse me, I need to attend to him."

"We are not leaving, until you tell us where Danny is!" Jazz yelled.

"I already told you, I do not know where he is and you will leave, because, if you do not, I will be forced to make a few phone calls and inform each of your parents, their child is out in the streets, past midnight. Vlad replied firmly.

All three teens glared, but then Jazz's quickly fell. "Please Vlad, if you know anything about my baby brother, tell us. We've looked all over Amity for him and we can't find him!"

Vlad raised an eyebrow at her. "He has a lot of enemies, Jasmine. I told him that mouth of his would get him in trouble eventually; if he's missing, it probably already has. Try the Ghost Zone. Good Night." Vlad said airily, before slamming the door in their faces.

The three teen's stayed quiet, before Tucker broke it. "He knows something"

"Yeah, Tucker; we figured that out too." Sam said dryly, turning to walk away from the billionaire's house.

"I don't understand." Jazz said, walking beside Sam. "I was sure Danny was there, I mean, he would have found a way to get our attention, right?"

"I don't know, Jazz, but Vlad knows something and if he won't tell us, then we are going to find out ourselves."

"How, Sam?" Jazz asked, worry in her expression.

"Let's check the Ghost Zone, maybe Vlad sent him in there. The real world detector on the speeder will make it a lot easier. If he's not there, then we're going to invite ourselves into the mayor's house." Sam replied, trying Danny's cell again.

"What about that noise we heard?" Tucker added thoughtfully.

"What about it, Tucker?" Jazz asked.

"Well, I thought he had a cat as a pet; that didn't sound like a cat to me." He said with a raised eyebrow.

Jazz shrugged. "He said something about having a new pet. I don't really care; he can get himself an entire zoo if it will keep him away from my parents and Danny."

"Well, I do!" Sam protested. "Whatever it was, it sounded like it was being tortured! Someone as demented as Vlad, should not, be allowed to have pets!"

"Sam, let's find Danny, first and then you can worry about helping your fellow animals." Tucker said dryly

Sam huffed but didn't respond. "Let's see if we have any luck in the Ghost Zone. I don't want to see the look on my mom's face if she finds out Danny is missing." Jazz said with a frown.


Danny fell silent when Vlad walked in holding a smirk on his lips. The teen's shoulders and ears slumped in sadness. He sat down, his eye gaze lowered. He could not phase through the cage. As much as he tried, he couldn't remember how to use his powers.

"Aw, come now, little badger; chin up." Vlad said amused, placing a finger under Danny's chin and raising it. "They will be back." Vlad assured with a grin, moving his hand away. "Not that it would do you any good; they would not suspect you are you in a million years."

Danny "glared" at him, before turning away. He jumped up on the hammock and lied down, facing away from the man. Vlad was right, even if they did find him, they wouldn't recognize him. Worse, he couldn't talk and tell them what happened. Danny was so upset, he didn't even hear Vlad walk away and sit back down on the couch. "What am I going to do?" he questioned fearfully. Danny simply lied there, the rest of the night. He was not tired and he had lost his appetite and energy after what happened. Eventually, around six in the morning, the teen feel asleep.


Maddie walked into her son's room. She knew that he would still be sleeping, but she had felt compelled to check on him all night and now that she was awake…

She needed to see him.

She got closer to his bed, noting that he was not snoring loudly, like last night; in fact, he was not snoring at all. Maddie gently touched her son's sleeping form, only to frown. She pulled down the sheet, feeling something that was not her son; it didn't even feel like a person. At seeing a pillow, instead of her son's head, she pulled the sheets away. "Danny?" Maddie questioned, seeing several pillows instead of her son. She looked around the room, her expression becoming angry.

She walked out of the room, and quickly checked the bathroom… Nothing.

"Jazz" Maddie called firmly, opening her daughter's door. At finding Jazz's bed empty, the ghost-hunting mom also became confused, and confusion and anger is not a good combination for any mother.

Maddie quickly headed downstairs, hoping they were there. She could understand Jazz, waking up early, but Danny? …She hadn't seen him since yesterday morning….were her children even home? "Danny, better be." She mumbled.

"Jazz? Danny?" she called, heading to the kitchen. Maddie sighed; it was empty. Right then, a noise in the lab caught her attention and she anxiously made her way over to it.

"Jazz? Danny?"

"Mom!" Jazz exclaimed, quickly slamming the door of the Specter Speeder.

"What are you doing?" Maddie asked suspiciously.

"Who? Me?" she said nervously.

Her mother raised an eyebrow. "Oh, right. Ha-ha! Of course, me! I was just looking at dad's ghost inventions!"

Maddie knew she was lying. Her daughter hated anything related to their work. "Is Danny in there?" she inquired, seeing she was pressed heavily on the speeder.

"D-Danny?" she asked.

"Yes, Danny! Your brother?" she replied exasperated.

"Oh, Danny! Yes! I mean, no! Well, he was, maybe." she said changing her mind back and forth.

Maddie put a hand on her hip and tapped her foot on the floor; irritation clearly on her face.

"Danny's sleeping, mom." Jazz said with a nervous smile.

This made Maddie extremely upset. "Young lady, do not lie to me. What's laying on Danny's bed are pillows! You tell me, right now, where he is, because if he left the house, knowing he is grounded for the weekend, then I am going to ground him for the entire month and you will keep him company for covering his disobedience and lying!" Maddie said firmly.

Jazz shoulders slumped in defeat. "Mom…Danny, well he's… at detention!" she covered, her attitude abruptly changing.

Maddie rubbed her temple at her excuse. "Jazz" she began, her tone boarding on anger. "I want the truth."

"But it is." She defended softly, inwardly feeling guilty of lying to her mom.

"Jazz! Mr. Lancer, informed me, Danny, only had detention on Friday afternoon and even if he had not told me this, I still would now you are lying. It is 6:02 on a Sunday morning! How can he possibly be at detention?!"

"Well, it's not exactly detention; Mr. Lancer is letting him make up the work he missed." Jazz explained, her right eye twitching, momentarily.

Maddie looked at her with unconvinced eyes. "I am going to call the school, Jazz. Are you sure?"

Jazz's gaze fell to her twiddling fingers. "Yes" she said softly.

Maddie sighed and shook her head. "Alright." She accepted calmly, turning away from her and heading up the stairs.

Jazz sighed herself at her mom's retreating form, before turning towards the speeder and opening the door.

"Detention?! Is that the best excuse you can come up with?" Jazz asked angrily, but kept her voice down.

"Well, it's better then yes, no, maybe!" Sam mocked back in the same tone and voice, volume.

Jazz sighed in annoyance, but dropped the argument. "You two, will have to stay in there until I can sneak you out. The last thing I need is my mom asking me why, Danny's friends are here."

"Man, you're going to be in big trouble when she finds out Danny's not at school." Tucker whispered.

Jazz glared at Tucker. "I don't care about that. I'm more worried about what I'm supposed to tell her when she does find out." Jazz sighed worriedly. "No one is going to answer at school and it will take my mom a few hours to give up on calling before she decides to wait for him to get back. By noon, she'll be extremely worried and will drive over to the school. That means we have until then to find him." Jazz informed

"Wow" Sam said with a baffled look. "You really have your mom figured out."

Jazz smiled helplessly at her. "When it comes to Danny, she's not very hard to figure out, Sam."

"So, what now?" Tucker asked. "We checked the places we know in the Ghost Zone and the Real World detector did not pick anything up."

Jazz yawned, Sam and Tucker doing the same right after. "We're going to head back to Vlad's; he has to know something. Problem is, if I run out now, my mom will get suspicious.

"We have to head back home, anyways, before our parents discover we were gone the whole night. My morning parents like to give me wake up calls at 7am sharp." Sam said, her expression turning bitter at her last remark.

"My mom's cooking gives me wake up calls at 7am sharp!" Tucker quipped, a hungry smile on his face.

Sam rolled her eyes at him, but she had to admit, she too, was hungry and tired. "Alright, let's all get some rest and eat. Maybe Danny will show up on his own; if not, we'll meet at the park at nine and head to Vlad's." Jazz resolved, walking over to the door to see if her mom was there. "Come on, I think my mom's upstairs."

Quickly, the two young teens made it to the door and headed back to their houses.

Jazz watched as her mom walked down the stairs with her address book. "Mom, don't worry so much about, Danny. He's fine, really." she comforted. Jazz knew that her mom wasn't really upset that Danny, while grounded, had left the house; she was upset because she had not seen him since yesterday morning. Jazz sighed at not getting a response from her mother, who was busy dialing the school's number. The teenage girl walked up the stairs and towards her room for a small nap, or try to nap at least. She was tired, but it was hard to sleep while her brother was missing.


Vlad sat up, placed his head in his hands and groaned. He felt horrible! He had a terrible headache and he felt so drained, he was sure he couldn't stand. "I must be catching something." He whispered, rubbing his temple. With a great deal of effort he got to his feet, only to experience vertigo right after. He quickly grabbed the couch's arm rest for balance and groaned again.

He sighed tiredly as his hazed eyes went to his clock. "Blast" he mumbled annoyed. It was already eight in the morning and he felt like it was still night time. Ignoring his dizziness he walked over to Danny.

Vlad huffed amused. Danny was curled up into a ball, his face hidden under his arm and the end of his tail. "Oh, now he sleeps" he said. The man's humor slowly vanished as he realized something. He slept yesterday morning too.

"That can't be right." He stated thoughtfully. He knew enough about badgers to know they were nocturnal creatures, but that couldn't apply to Danny. He might look like a badger but internally, he was not. Mentally, he was still the same teenage boy. Vlad studied the sleeping badger for a moment. "I haven't noticed anything unusual about him. Well, the sleeping, but teenagers have a habit of sleeping in till later times, right?" he asked himself. "I thought his eyes were brown yesterday, but it had to be the light and as annoying as it was, everything he did yesterday, is not anything he wouldn't do." Vlad glared at him. "He's fine. If he starts grooming himself with his tongue, then, I might worry." He said angrily, but then quickly smirked. Without a second thought, he grabbed the hammock and flipped it; the teen fell to the floor with a thump.

Danny yelped and quickly got to his feet, while looking around. "This isn't the time for you to be sleeping; you wanted to sleep, you should have done so while it was dark."

Danny stared up with alarmed and hazy eyes. It wasn't until Vlad walked off that he remembered where he was and who the person talking was.

"Ow" he thought, calming down once more. He stretched; just like a cat, his back arched and paws flexed. A big yawn left him as he did so, exposing his small, pink tongue and showing of his nice set of teeth and fangs. "It's morning?" he thought. "It feels like night to me." Another yawn left him, his sleepy eyes closing mid way after. "Well, at least I can finally get outta here…or try. …I'll figure out how to tell them I'm me when I get there." He added with sad chitters, remembering what occurred last night. "I have to find a way to get Vlad to let me out of this cage…heh, maybe messing up his living room wasn't the greatest idea." He concluded, realizing, he had reduced his chances of being let out after his actions. "Not that I regret it" The teen badger said with a chuckle. "Where did he go anyways? He better come back soon." He yawned. "I'll just lie down until he gets back" he groggily decided. A minute later he was asleep again.


As they agreed, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz met at the park. "I don't get why the boomerang isn't picking up his signature." Jazz said worriedly.

"Maybe, he's just too far away, Jazz." Sam suggested, just as worried.

"Far away? That's bad!" Jazz exclaimed on the verge of tears. "It's been more then a day and my little brother is, still, nowhere to be found!"

"Relax, Jazz. I'm sure there has to be some explanation to all this. We'll use the Ghost finder on our way to Vlad's; maybe it'll pick Danny up." Sam hoped.

"Speaking of the Fenton Ghost finder, it's picking up a ghost right now and it's not too far from here." Tucker informed, while observing the radar on the device spin and beep."

Jazz smiled. "Maybe it's Danny, since we haven't heard-"

"AH!"

The three teen's stared at one another before running towards the screams and calls for help. "Where's the ghost, Tucker?" Sam asked, looking back at her running friend.

Suddenly, they all heard a loud horn and felt the earth rumbled. "What is that?!" Jazz exclaimed, covering her ears. "It sounds like-"

"A SHIP!" Tucker yelled, pointing at the sails that could be seen over the trees.

All of them stared wide eyed as the ship shredded through the ground, across from them. "How does a ship, end up, in the middle of Amity Park?!" Sam exclaimed.

"Your wish is my command, fools!" they heard a voice echo loudly, before it laughed evilly.

Jazz eyes broaden as Desiree flew by. "It's- It's-"

"Desiree!" Sam and Tucker exclaimed, angrily

"No, Ghostly Geina!" Jazz corrected

Sam and Tucker gave her a weird look. "Ghostly Who?" Sam asked in disbelief. "Her names' Desiree, Jazz."

"Look, we can argue about her name later. We need to stop her before she causes anymore damage." Jazz replied.

"By we, I think you mean Tucker and me." Sam said crossing her arms.

"No, I mean, Tucker, you and me." She countered, placing her hand on her hip.

"No offence, Jazz, but Tucker and I have been doing this longer; we can handle it." Sam assured.

"I think you forget, Sam, I come from a family of crazy ghost hunters; if anyone has experience in this; it's me." She replied annoyed

"Just because everyone in your family hunts ghosts, doesn't mean, you have experience; name one ghost you've caught,and Danny doesn't count."

"I've uh.. caught plenty; you are going to have to accept that I'm part of this team, now."

"You're not part of this team; we can handle things on our own!"

Tucker stared back and forth between the two arguing girls. He moved his gaze pass them and he could see Desiree still wracking havoc. "Hey, guys?"

"Danny, doesn't need you!"

"Oh, and he needs you? What makes you so special, Sam?!"

Tucker looked at them for a moment longer, before shrugging. Checking to make sure he had a tube of lipstick in his pocket, which was really a ghost weapon, he ran off towards Desiree.

The arguing, Sam and Jazz, didn't even notice.

Tucker took cover behind a bush, after avoiding a flying dog. "Man, why would anyone wish for a flying dog and… a dinosaur?" he added, seeing some teenage kid running away from a full size T-Rex.

Tucker's attention went to the ghost genie; she stopped one of the fleeing civilians and waved a hand at him. "And what is your hearts' desire?"

"Oh no you don't!" Tucker exclaimed, taking off towards the ghost. "You've worked enough for today, Desiree, how about taking a lunch break." He quipped, firing the ecto-lipstick at Desiree.

Not prepared for the sudden assault, Desiree was thrown away from the civilian. "That reminds me; it's been 15 minutes since my last meal. Dude, you owe me a triple sized meal at the Nasty Burger once all this is over with." Tucker stated, referring to Danny.

Desiree watched her victim run off, before glaring at the teen. "Why you insolent child, how dare you interfere?"

"I wouldn't, but your wishes stink and I know that for fact" he shot back, firing two other shots.

The spirit quickly avoided them, realization falling on her facial features. "You're one of the ghost boy's helpers."

"What? Hey, have you seen Danny?" Tucker asked, hopeful.

Desiree laughed, before smiling wickedly. "Per- AH!" The ghost was blasted to the ground by a green blast, before a blue light quickly engulfed her and she disappeared. In a flash, the wishes the ghost had granted became undone or vanished

"Ha! I shot her! See? I can catch ghosts!" Jazz announced, deactivating the Fenton ghost peeler before doing a small victory dance in front of Sam.

"You didn't catch anything! I did!" she protested, shaking the thermos in her hand for empathizes.

"I think Desiree knew something about Danny." Tucker voiced.

"She did? What did she say?" Sam asked, urgently.

"Nothing; she was going to reply but then you guys came along." He replied a little annoyed.

"Why do you think she knew something, Tucker?" Jazz asked with a frown.

Tucker shrugged. "She recognized me as Danny's friend…I don't know…. Just forget it; I guess I read too much in that. I mean, why would Desiree know where Danny is, right?" Tucker rationalized.

Sam and Jazz sighed simultaneously. "Come on, we need to hurry; the faster we get to Vlad's the better. The two other teens agreed and resumed their walk.


Phew, done. So Sorry for not being able to post Saturday; I was out all day and then Sunday was the same way. I tired to post it last night, but after doing HW, I was having a hard time staying awake and the fact that editing, itself, makes me sleepy didn't help. I hope you guys liked this chapter in any case. Okay, important information: I am going on a trip, leaving this Friday, so, I won't be able to update until May 19th; I come back the 11th, but I won't be able to write a chapter in a day, so, the update will have to be until the next Saturday, after. Good News? None; no, I'm kidding! Ghostlover15 requested an early chapter for this story, soo…I will be posting another chapter after this one. I'll just give you guys some time to read this one, then post the other one, kay? Alright, see ya later and Thanks for your support!