Two chapters in one day! I still am grossed out by what Jack looks like.

My mom struggled against the tight bonds that held her down. Jack stared at her with a sick fascination that made Vlad struggle harder against my grip. "Soon you no longer have to worry about death. Once you become a ghost you will have no choice but to join me." Jack said in his ragged voice.

Mom got the gag she was wearing out of her mouth and spat in Jack's face. He stood up and I grimaced silently at what happened next. The skin where the saliva had landed started making a sucking noise. Jack's charred skin absorbed her spit and continued slurping as if wanting more.

I watched as he simply smiled and said, "Even your saliva is delicious Maddie my dear." Apparently that was too much for my mom to see. She fainted on the table as Jack bent over her. Then Jack picked up her head in his hands and kissed her.

In the state of shock I was in I didn't even realize Vlad's arm slipping from my loosening grip. Suddenly he became visible and ran towards Jack with pure venom and hatred in his normally calm eyes. I sprinted after him as fast as I could.

Unfortunately for Vlad, (or fortunately if you see it that way) humans in the Ghost Zone are the ghosts. Vlad leapt for Jack but phased through him instead of tackling him. Jack stood straight and watched smugly as Vlad skidded across the floor into the wall. I stopped in my invisible tracks and watched as Vlad stood back up.

He held a large ecto-gun in his hand. It glowed dangerously as it charged up. Vlad didn't give Jack even a moment to escape as he fired. The blast was bright green and my instincts told me that I did not want to get in its way.

When the blast hit Jack I thought that I saw a slight gleam of terror in his eyes. Then Jack's form suddenly melted and the blast flew past him and destroyed the front of the castle. There was a black puddle on the floor and Vlad walked up to it. Before I could do anything a black hand formed from the puddle and grabbed Vlad's leg.

Vlad screamed in agony and I watched as smoke came from underneath the hand. The hand let go of Vlad and sunk back into the puddle; almost daring anyone to come closer. I finally became visible and ran over to Vlad. He was clutching his leg and had started shaking. When he saw me his hands moved and revealed the wound.

I sat down next to him and examined it. His leg had a burned ring where the hand had been. It was deep and as I looked closer I saw bone. The wound wasn't bleeding, but a strange bluish color was growing on the surrounding skin.

Suddenly Vlad gasped and pointed at something behind me. I turned around and came face to face with a very angry looking Jack. If he still had eyes they would have been glowing dangerously. "I see that once again you tried to destroy me." He said. "I am dead. How can I die?"

Hatred practically dripped from his voice. "No one can stop me. Not Vlad, not Maddie, and certainly not you!" Jack reached towards me but suddenly stopped. "I'll save you for later." Then he turned and walked back over to my mom. I tried to stand up but for some reason I was stuck to the floor.

I looked down and saw that I was stuck in black ooze. Next to me Vlad had passed out and his leg was looking worse by the second. The only thing I could do was watch as the blue coloring crept up and down his leg. It reminded me of ice. I started panicking as the ice slowly covered his leg.

Then I turned back and looked at Jack. Instantly I wished that I hadn't. Jack's hideous form was standing over mom and he was pointing a strange looking gun at her heart. I looked back at Vlad with faint hope that he would get up and stop Jack, but of course he was still lying there.

Once again I struggled against the goo. It held me tighter and I felt it suddenly creep farther up my arms. None of my powers seemed to work either. I turned my attention back to Jack just in time to watch him fire the gun.

A high pitched scream filled the air. Mom was shaking violently on the table. I watched transfixed as the scream grew louder and louder. As suddenly as it started the screaming stopped. Blue mist seeped out of my mouth announcing the arrival of another ghost.

It had long red hair that flew around even though there was no wind. It was wearing a ragged t-shirt and jeans. The skin was green but otherwise normal. I felt my stomach flip. The ghost was my mom. Her body was no longer on the table. It was just gone.

Vlad was still passed out on the floor. I was kind of glad that he was. If he had seen what I had I don't know what he would do. Mom floated in place and looked over at Vlad and I. Her now green eyes showed no emotion towards us.

Jack moved towards her and she seemed to realize that he was there. "Maddie my beautiful wife, how are you today?" Mom looked confused and looked from him to us and back to him. I wanted to blow Jack's slimy face off.

"I'm your wife?" She pointed to us and continued talking. "But that boy looks like my dad did when he was younger. Is he related to me? And that man with the blue leg looks like he would be more my type than you." Jack frowned and swore. My mom still seemed to love Vlad even though she had lost her memory. She started to float towards us.

Jack looked very angry. I'm pretty sure that this wasn't part of the plan. "You are my wife. Not Vlad's. Now come over here and forget about those two Maddie." Mom looked insulted and floated in place again.

"That's Madeline to you sir." Her eyes flashed in anger. "I don't think that anyone would marry you. Your ugly and mean and most of all your rude." She turned and floated over to where I sat on the floor in my human form. As she reached towards the ooze it recoiled from my arms and slinked back over to Jack. Then she helped me up and went over to Vlad.

Jack was staring openmouthed at what mom had just told him. My mom put her hand to Vlad's head and shivered. "I'm guessing that you're the one responsible for this mans pain?" Jack was in so much shock that he nodded before he could stop himself. Mom glared at him and an ecto-beam from her eyes blasted Jack into a wall.

Vlad was shaking but still unconscious. His leg had frozen completely and ice started creeping onto the other one. Mom looked at me and said, "Is he your dad young man?" I nodded silently. Maybe it was shock that my mom was dead, or maybe worry for the unconscious man in front of me but I finally admitted it.

"Dad?" I reached out and touched his frozen leg. Vlad shifted slightly and then sat up. I backed up in surprise as he stared at me. His eyes were full of surprise and fatherly love. Vlad looked down at his leg. I followed his gaze and saw that the ice had started melting where I had touched.

His eyes focused on me again and he asked in a whisper, "What did you call me?"

I blinked and thought about it. "Um, I called you dad. Is that okay?" A grin appeared on Vlad's face and he grabbed me and pulled me into a hug. I looked up at mom who was staring back longingly. She looked away and suddenly a look of terror froze on her face.

"Guys, can we stop the father/son love for a moment?" She pointed and instantly we saw what she was pointing at. Vlad let go of me and stood up. The ice on his leg was gone. I changed into my ghost form.

Jack had a twisted grin on his dead face. He was standing next to the altar with his hands on Pariah Dark's coffin. I tried to launch forward but was held back by mom. Her face seemed to show that there was nothing I could do.

Raven's crows filled the air as the sarcophagus creaked open. Jack pulled the door all the way off and stepped back. The ghost king stepped out. Before he could even say 'who dares' Jack turned intangible and launched himself into the other ghost.

The two ghosts started to fuse together.

I think my favorite part of this whole chapter is that Maddie still hates Jack even though she didn't know him.