Danny flew around the city finding it more or less they way he remembered it. "Well if this is an illusion. It is a well-put together one." Danny spotted his house and flew to it. He ducked behind an alley and turned back to his human form. "No need to give dad a reason to shoot me." He walked up to the house. A large house with an even larger ops center on top of it. "So far so good." He pinched himself, "Well that hurt. If they did bring me back home, what would be the point?" Danny walked up to the door and rang the bell. He tried to imagine what his parents would say to him after being gone for two years.
A large man in an orange jumpsuit opened the door. "Danny!" He proceeded to crush him with a very large bear hug. "Where have you been? We have been so worried. Hey Maddie, our son is home."
"Danny?" A red haired woman in a blue jumpsuit ran to the front door. "Danny!" She kissed him half a dozen times.
"Can I breathe please?"
Jack dropped his son, "Sorry!"
"Please come in!" Maddie pulled her son inside and sat him down on the couch, "So where have you been? Why did you leave?"
Danny held his hands up, "It is a very long and complicated story." He stood up, "Can I rest for a few?"
"Sure! We left your room just like you left it." Danny's parents watched their son walk upstairs to his room.
It was just as he remembered it, except clean. Danny sighed and sat down at his desk, "Can't believe it has been so long." He picked up a picture of him, Sam, and Tucker. It was taken when they were just fifteen. "So long ago!" The image of Sam started to melt away. He shook his head and the image returned to normal. "Need to sleep more!" He looked at his watch, "Five more days. Vlad thinks sending me home will distract me." He smiled, "This just sets me back a day." He quickly wrote a note to his parents telling them that he had to go and help a friend and he would be back in a few more days. He had to find a way to break the hold Ember had on Tucker. "Going Ghost!" He transformed and flew out of the house. "I bet Sam would know a thing or two about vampires." He flew over to her house and phased through her window. The room was empty.
"You!" A woman in a pink dress walked into the room.
"Miss Manson! How have you been doing?"
She pulled a small locket from her dress. "You harm my daughter and dare to return here." She opened the locket and pressed a small button. Danny heard a large alarm filled the house.
"What happen to Sam?"
"Like you don't know!" The woman ran out of the room.
Before Danny could pursue, a large section of the wall exploded and a girl in armor floated in on a hover board. She held a large rifle in her hands, "I've been waiting for your return." She aimed and fired a large red blast from her rifle.
"Crud!" Danny phased through the floor and out of the house. "What happened while I was away?" He flew across town invisible and hid in one the warehouses by the docks. He sat down behind a stack of boxes. "Vlad must have done something and blamed it on me. As soon as I get back to Master City, I'm going to rip him apart."
"Danny!" It was a girl's voice coming from the far side of the warehouse.
"Sam?" Danny flew up and spotted Sam. He clothes were disheveled and her hair was a mess. Danny landed in front of her and turned back to his human form. "What happened to you?"
"You!"
Danny gulped, "Me?"
"It is because of your powers that I was targeted like this." Sam's voice had grown to a yell. "Because you were too stupid to realized that I loved you. I was captured, beaten, and treated like trash." She started to walk towards him as he stepped back. "It is your fault this has happened to me. It is your fault that Tucker is dead. And it is your fault that Vlad is using me as his personal toy!"
"Shut up!" Danny turned into his ghost form. "Stop!" Danny flew out of the warehouse. "What is going on?" He didn't have to wait for an answer. Valerie flew up and slammed her board into him. Danny fell to the ground and crashed onto it.
"Time is up!" Valerie fired her rifle at him.
Danny rolled clear and fired a ghost beam at her, "I can't believe I had a crush on you." The beam knocked Valerie off her board and she landed on the roof of the warehouse. "I need to find some real answers." He took off before Valerie could find him.
Danny landed on the outskirts of town. "Something is definitely wrong here. What was up with Sam?" Danny tapped his foot, "This doesn't seem like home."
"Danny!" Sam appeared several feet away. She looked worst than she did in the warehouse. She was wrapped in a black shroud and her eyes were blackened. "Why did you leave me with that monster?"
"What monster? I have no idea what you're talking about."
"How could you forget me?" Sam's face turned angry, "Its because you like Valerie. Or is it Paullina?"
"No I swear. I didn't forget you. But I had no idea that any of this was happening to you."
"Liar! You are just using this as a reason to leave me. You wanted this to happen to me."
"You're my best friend! I would never wish this to happen to you. Vlad maybe, but not you."
"It is too late Danny. Much too late." She started to fade.
"Sam!" Danny started to run to her, but something appeared on the ground in front of him. A large whip made of white chains. "My whip!" Danny reached out and it wrapped around his arm. It exploded with white light and Danny saw Sam's shadow. It wasn't of a girl. Danny finally understood, "You're not Sam!" He swung the whip at her and slammed her down. Danny's clothes vanished and he was back in his vampire hunting gear. "This is all a dream."
"Very good!" Sam turned into a woman with blood red hair. She was wearing a leather body suit and large bat like wings were connected to her back. "You managed to pierce my illusion."
"A succubus! I've should have know. You were trying to use my friend to weaken my resolve."
The demon bowed, "Not bad for someone so young. Belmonts twice your age took much longer just figure out this was a dream." She licked her lips, "You look tasty! Mind if I have a taste?"
"Sorry! But only one girl gets a shot at this dinner plate." Danny slammed the whip into the ground. A large force of light exploded under the demon.
"You play rough." The succubus flew into the air, "I like that!"
"And my whip doesn't hurt me here." Danny grabbed his stake from his back holster, "Not get down here." He lashed out with his whip and it wrapped around her leg. Danny pulled the demon to the ground. He jumped up and landed on top of her.
"Play nice!"
Danny frowned, "Your pathetic when your plot is discovered." He slammed the wooden weapon into the succubus's heart. She exploded into dust. Danny looked around as the world around him started to fade, "NOW WAKE UP!"
The door to the coffin burst open and Danny stepped out. He took in several breaths of clean air. "That was not fun!" Ace was sleeping next to the wooden box he had been trapped in. There was several claw marks on the side of the coffin. Danny smiled and looked at his watch. "Oh no! I was in there for two days. I need to hurry before Vlad gains more power." He picked up Ace and flew out of the hole.
Vlad cursed as he threw on his robe and walked out of his bedroom. Walker was standing in his office. "You better have a very good reason to disturb me."
"The succubus failed. He escaped!"
Vlad nodded, "No matter! He was occupied for two days and I am that much closer to my goal. Change nothing!"
"Sir!" The tall ghost glanced behind Vlad and spotted a form on his bed, "Don't you need her pure."
Vlad smiled and his dark voice sounded out, "Only were her chastity is ofconcern. Anything else is open game." He turned around and went back into his bedroom.