Chapter Five

"Just as I figured. You will never be fast enough to protect anyone's life....including your own," Vlad spat venomously. He faded into his ghost form and hovered as he watched the blood spill onto the cold tile.

His eyes snapped open. Danny let out a yell that would have woken up anyone within a mile. Tears blinded him. "How could I have let something like this of happened!?" He snarled. He was in some kind of hospital. He looked down at himself. He was in his normal clothes, but there were bloodstains on his hands and jeans. He looked up from the chair that he sat in, and there she was. Sam. In the hospital bed, she was breathing quietly. The sheets were pulled back ever so slightly to see a deep wound in her side, a few inches below where her heart was parallel.

Danny got up and ripped the door open and left the room, making sure to slam the door on the way out. He sat in a chair just outside Sam's room, and closed his eyes. He felt a tear slip away from him. "How the hell could I have let this happen...?" He whispered again. He went deep into his memory, but could not remember anything after Vlad's final words that night. He looked down at his wrist. It was already six at night on the next day. "I wish this had never happened...I wish that I would have never... Oh damn it all... Why can't I just tell her...why won't she just stay away...?" Danny conflicted with himself. He could really feel his feelings bubbling up to the surface.

"Danny? What's wrong with you!?" Sam yelled. A small smile was on her face, and her eyes were playful. "Come on Danny...that's over. I'm fine now!" She was much more cheery than ever before. She even jumped to him and wrapped her arms around him. She quickly pulled away though, and blushed when he wasn't looking.

Danny was still shocked that he let Vlad shoot Sam. It was still horrifying. He sighed, and smiled gently. "You're right...I worry too much..." His voice dropped, "...I guess."

It was only a mere two days after the incident that night. Danny, Sam, and Tucker were walking home from school, but Danny and Sam remained silenced and reserved. Every so often they would glance at each other, but not long enough to meet eyes.

"What's up with you two?" Tucker suddenly blurted out.

Sam looked as if she was going to speak, but her gaze fell to the sidewalk. Danny then sighed. Neither of them could come to say what had happened.

"Fine then...I'm going home. I guess I'll talk to you guys over the holiday," He mumbled as he turned the corner.

"Oh yeah...Christmas break is this week isn't it...?" Sam chuckled slightly. She had completely forgotten. This would mean that her parents would rarely be home; always out at last minute get-togethers.

"Sam..." Danny said suddenly, "I think it'd be best if we didn't see each other for a while. I just feel...to protective over you right now," He then apologized for her wound, and he too left for his house. Thus, Sam was left alone, and her head fell. She trudged home feeling incredible lonesome and strange.

That night was nothing out of the ordinary either...

Vlad phased through a wall of Sam's home, and slipped into her room.

"Well if he won't kill her, then he'll do something much worse..." He chuckled, "break her heart and soul...."

He glanced over Sam, she looked normal, but cold. Yet again she was dressed in a pair of shorts and a bra. The covers were pushed to the foot of the bed, and she trembled. Vlad smiled vilely, and floated towards her, and as he did so he placed his hands on her hips, and let them run up her waist. She was so perfect - so pure. Surely this is the girl... He thought.

The ghost then left and traveled to Danny's house as fast as time allowed. Danny was also slumbering, in the same clothes he had worn to school. Vlad looked down upon him. "This child is so under me...for us being the only two halfas known widely. He grabbed Danny's neck, and then phased into his body. "I always knew that you would be too weak to keep me out..." Vlad growled as he took his place in Danny's mind. Soon after settling, he commanded Danny to make his way to Sam's while he attempted to alter his emotions manually. "That damn box will take too long anyway..." He spat as he dug deeper into the boy's heart.

Moments later the controlled Danny arrived at Sam's doorstep. His eyes were glowing green, but he was in his human form. He remained frozen, but slightly slumped over. "Yes..." Vlad purred, "I have done it...at least well enough for now." Vlad then slipped out of Danny's body, and watched as he received the pain.

"You see Daniel," Vlad began as he watched Danny collapse beneath himself, "this is how real pain feels. Now that you have felt it, go in there, and do something for me. You see, to open the ghost portal forever, connecting humans and ghosts, you must...err...how to put this... You must blend your blood with that girl's. Let a new generation of immortal ghost-humans be born. Once you summon the first ghost-human child, it will open the portal and all ghosts can mate with humans and create a great race that will dominate not only this world, but the ghost world as well. Thus, making you and that girl the main keys. Now go...give your mind up and rely on only your nature and body to guide you..." Vlad chuckled. He had never done something quite this bad before. He almost felt sorry for them - they were only 14! "At least Daniel will break her heart...then once I return his emotions he will feel her pain..." He smirked as Danny phased through the walls of the lonesome home.