The raven haired male woke up later that night, the skies outside the window darkening as the sun set over the horizon. His eyes landed on the female on the bed, her small form looking even smaller with how much weight she had lost in captivity, asleep for god knows how long. His mind was still going over his dream, the dream that seemed so real, the emotions and the reaction of the Goth that had been with him in that darkness. Had it really been a dream? Or was it something more? Stretching he got up from the chair, his body stiff from sleeping in the awkward position. He didn't want to leave her alone, fear holding him in that room, fear that she would die while he was gone, but he needed to grab something to eat. His stomach grumbled at him just as the door opened to reveal his sister, Jazz. The red head smiled sadly at him.

"Thought you might want to grab something to eat," she said. He smiled back at her and giving the Goth in the bed a final glance headed out of the room to fill his angry stomach. The red headed female took the spot that he had vacated, a book in hand as she waited for her brother to return.


Maddie stood before the space where they would be putting the portal, the plans still on the table with Jack hovering over them. He was looking at the old plans, the one that had been utilized in the building of the small portal found with Vlad. They were both still in shock that their old college buddy was the one that had been holding the raven haired female captive and while with him in custody that same girl was free, they worried about what had planned to do with her.

"Her parents didn't trust him around her, so there had to be a reason they felt that way," the red headed ghost fighter stated as she turned to her husband. "And while I never trusted him because of how he acted around me, I don't know how far he would have gone to keep her in his care." Jack looked up, his blue eyes filled with anger and confusion. He still couldn't believe all that had been going on around him. His high school peers, not super close friends, were dead, their daughter in a coma after their college friend had captured her. The fact that their son claimed, along with a ghost that had been working with Vlad, that the white haired male was a half ghost. Could they have really made him that way? Had they given him the power to do all that he had done? To the women he was supposed to marry and then to the young teen girl laying in the hospital? How had they not seen how evil he was?

"I can't wrap my head around the fact that he killed those women or that he would do whatever he did to Sam," the hulking male stated. He looked down at the blue prints, recalling that the day they had tested the little portal on the blue sheet, that it had gone wrong, but for the life of him he couldn't figure it out. Maddie had said the calculations were wrong that day, but he couldn't see what she was talking about. She joined him at that moment, her purple gaze on the plans that were causing him such confusion. Pulling out a white tipped pencil she erased a small calculation at the bottom before writing a new one where it had been.

"Well, he had moments that one would classify as delusions of grandeur," Maddie stated. "He was smart, but he always acted like no one could match him in brainpower and then there was the idea that I was better off with him." Jack nodded, though he had seen his friend swoon over his wife, he had never thought much of it. His wife was a beautiful woman and while her beauty had gotten his attention, her brain had kept him captivated. He loved that she was the whole package, her beauty and brains. "I wonder what made him think to use his powers for evil?" There would be no answer for that until the male in question told the police and the GIW of his plans and the reason for why he had done what he had done. But that only happened in the movies, the villain wanting to show off when he had all his plan going the way he wanted it to and Vlad hadn't had that happen, not this time.

"The GIW will figure that out, I am sure of it," the raven haired ghost fighter stated.

"I hope they figure it out before..." she faded off, not wanting to will the action of Sam's death to life, but Jack understood what she was referring to as he nodded in agreement. She looked over to where the wall that would house the portal, if they could get it to work, was. If they didn't then she hoped that they could find the ghosts responsible for what had happened to the Goth, the ghost on the video speaking of two other people helping the half ghost.


Weeks passed and while Sam was looking better, the color coming back to her once pale skin, she still didn't awaken. Vlad was still in the custody of the GIW, though he was now at their facility so he could be examined, but he never revealed his ghostly side. No matter how much they talked to him, questioning him about his past with the women that had gone missing and the small portal that had been found in his possession.

"We know that you stole it," Operative O stated, the small portal in his hands. The white haired male in the glass cage sneered back at him, his blue eyes narrowed on the male before him. "And while we don't particularly care about the theft we want to know about how you were able to get ghosts to aid you in taking custody of the young Manson child."

"She wanted to be my ward," the male snapped. "She even signed the documents to prove it." Operative K smirked at him, pulling out some papers from a folder. Taking the first page he slapped it on the windowed cell for Vlad to read it. The male in the cage didn't even look at it, unconcerned with whatever they were showing him.

"This states otherwise," Operative K stated. He turned it toward himself so he could read it to the male in the glass cage. "It seems that Miss Manson felt that you were more underhanded than anyone gave you credit for." The blue eyes watching him didn't even blink as he continued, "She even went so far as to say that if she did become your ward that it was under duress or coercion." He chuckled. "Such a big word." He turned to another page. "She is adamant that you were not supposed to gain custody of her ever. That she felt uneasy in your very presence."

"And you would chose to believe a child that is depressed over the death of her parents. Such a government mindset." He was angry that he hadn't thought of her writing a thing to protect herself. It was another hitch in his plans, the plans that he made being unraveled right before his eyes. The two men before him weren't even fazed by his words, another page turned.

"She claims that she was to be given over to the Fentons, that her parents were fleeing to their home for safety." Operative K looked up at him. "That in itself seems strange, that they would go to the people that they hadn't talked to in forever and that they were ghost hunters." That caught his attention because while he had been aware of the Fentons, as they were his college peers, and their ghost hunting he too had found it strange that they would run to them for safety. They weren't going to the police with their fears, as if they knew something was off with how they were being hunted. The people he had hired were humans so that didn't add up. "Maybe they knew that you weren't fully human." A growl escaped from the man behind the glass.

"I am as human as you are, buffoon," Vlad spat. "Have you ever heard of a ghost and human coexisting in a body?" No response. "Thought so. Why would you believe such trash?"

"There are things out there that can't be explained, so for us, ghost fighters, it isn't impossible for something as bizarre a ghost inhabiting a human body isn't that far fetched." He pulled out another paper, this one with a picture on it. The male in the picture was pale, his skin almost that of a ghost while his eyes were blood red. He wore a long black trench coat and a small bowler on his head. "This guy is a human, but he can control ghosts. Maybe you're not a half ghost half human male, but maybe you can control ghosts like him." Vlad scoffed, though he was interested in the information given to him. "He even has a ghost that he doesn't control."

"Not sure why you're showing me this," the male stated, calming down as he pondered this new bit of information and how it could benefit him. "I don't control ghosts and nor do I have one inhabiting my body. I was in an accident, but I only had acne, nothing to get your panties in a twist."

"Don't worry," Operative O stated with a smirk. "We have ways of making you talk and one of those ways is being finished as we speak. We will learn if you are indeed that which you claim you are not." Vlad tried to conceal his surprise at those words, the worry that flickered in his eyes. He wanted to ask about this thing they were speaking of, but he knew that if he did ask that they would know he was a half ghost. Maybe they were hoping he would slip up, but when they still looked at him with those cocky smirks he knew that they weren't just trying to bait him. No, these two men really had something that would reveal his identity. He needed to get out of here before they finished up this invention, but without his ghosts to help him he was stuck. "As for your little partner in crime, well, she isn't speaking, but she soon will too." They turned to leave, those words echoing in the white haired male's brain.


Danny was back at the small female's side, his hand once again holding onto hers as he watched her breath, her chest rising slowly with every breath she took. He was worried though. She might not be in a coma and she was looking better, but with every day that passed he wondered how long this calm would last. When would she awaken and if she didn't then when would her last breath be? The plus side of her not being in a coma was that she was still functioning as if she were awake. There was no need for a machine to breath for her and with only the feeding tube hooked up to her she wasn't so scary looking. He had seen the other patients in the wing she was in with all the machines hooked up to them and to think that she was one of them had pained him. He didn't want to think that she was too weak to survive after all that she had been thru.

"I know you're stronger than that, Sam," he said to her sleeping female. "Please wake up. Come back to me."


Sam was in the darkness, no light around her like she had seen before when Danny had been with her. She sat there, alone with all the thoughts from before flickering before her. The darkness that had once been infecting her memories of those moments with the raven haired male gone now, though she still felt so lost. "I know you're stronger than that, Sam." She looked up at the voice of the male she had just been thinking of.

"I'm not strong," she replied. "I can't even figure out how to get out of here."

"Please wake up. Come back to me." She blinked. Danny wanted her to come back to him? Why? Sure, she had seen that he really hadn't wanted her to go with the officer, but still, he wanted her to come back to him? She knew that he wanted her to be safe, but she had never truly believed that he wanted her back in his life. Not after what she had said to him that day that he had showed up at her house. Suddenly the darkness went away to show her that day, the young male in question standing before her with such distrust in his eyes. She hadn't seen that, her own vision to distorted to see anything but the one who had lied to her, the one that had been so willing to turn his back on her after promising to protect her. She turned around to see herself exit the car, her eyes narrowing at the broken female before her.

"Sam," he said as he went to pull her in a hug, but the raven haired girl moved away, her body shaking slightly as she stood behind Vlad. Sam could see the anger in his gaze and while at first thought the Goth thought it was toward her for moving away from him she could see it clearly from this vantage point that it was toward the older male.

"So, you must be Jack and Maddie's boy," the white haired male said with a sneer. "You are not welcome in this home." Danny glanced at him before turning his gaze to the Goth.

"I won't leave her alone with you," he spat. He had come to protect her and because of what had been said to her by the red headed woman that had been with Vlad in the hotel room she had been too drained, to miserable to see that he was really trying to help her.

"You don't have a say in that," she muttered. "I want you to go and never come back." She could see that Danny wanted to say more, his mouth opening to rebut her response, but the smirk on Vlad's face only made him scowl.

"She doesn't want you here either, boy, so I suggest that you do as she wishes."

"As if your promises mean anything," the girl muttered before walking past Vlad and the servant still standing there in silent shock. Sam found herself hurting over what she had said, the words she had uttered without thought. How could he want her anywhere near him after that? She had been so cold towards him, his attempt to come to her aid making her heart break. It was so strange watching it from the outside. She felt so cold, her body feeling so weak for a moment and then suddenly it was gone. She could feel that someone was with her, holding her up.

"I knew that something was wrong," came Danny's voice at her side. She turned to see the raven haired boy at her side. "You weren't yourself, your fire gone." He looked at her, his blue eyes sad. "I knew it wasn't you speaking."

"But how?" she asked him. "I didn't even know who I was when I came to you and I was only with you for less than a day." He shrugged.

"I don't know, but I trust this," he said, his hand coming to rest on his own heart. "You should listen to yours when you have doubts." She reached to touch her own heart, the organ beating loudly in her ears. "It will lead you out of here, but only if you can get past all the deceit that has been placed before you." He took her hand in his. "And if you ever need me I will be there for you." He used his free hand to touch her hand over her heart. "I know that we are virtually strangers, but like my mom always says... There is someone for everyone, that special connection that only those two have and Sam, I felt that connection the moment I saw you under that dumpster." With that he was gone, only the warmth from him left to show that he had even been there. She smiled now, the darkness receding away from her, the light that flickered over her just a small light, but light nonetheless.

"I will come back to you," she promised the space where he had been. She could feel it, that connection that he spoke of. It was like a string that connected them, the red string of Fate. She began to walk again, her amethyst eyes taking in the darkness around her, the weight of it lifted by the fact that she had Danny.