The wheels of time kept turning in the eternal clock, and the months continued to roll on by. Winter blew in, Christmas and the New Year went by, and spring began to bloom. Throughout all this time Vlad had settled into his life's routine – going from one job to another to make a living by day; going through his training with Katou by night. And, with the initial shock of being in The Ghost-Zone long since past and his mind open to any knowledge he could gather about the place, and with him now used to being awake all night, he could wake up in the morning with little sleep and still function. Both sides of his life seemed to become the norm for him. With the odd exception here or there, there was little in the way of any kind of surprise.
When he woke up the morning of May 9, 1986, he had no reason to suspect that day as being any different.
In the time since his visit to the Order, Vlad's abilities had expanded greatly. He had begun work on defensive manoeuvres with his powers, creating spectral energy domes around him that could act as a barrier and small walls of green that could serve as a shield. He also learned a very useful technique – if a continuous spectral blast attached to his opponent's hands or a spectral rope was coming for him, he could catch it in his grip and send a spectral shock down the length of his opponent's attack back at them. It administered a very painful sting (Vlad knew what it felt like – to demonstrate, Katou had performed it on him) and was in fact very much like a stinger. Katou was now showing him how to transfer spectral energy into his sword, and that energy surrounded the blade in a blue or green flame. It could be left on the sword or shot out in a sharp wave of energy. Either way, in this form, the sword could cut right through any kind of ectoplasm – except the spectral flame on the blade of another weapon.
Katou's duties continually interrupted Vlad's training, but as Vlad now knew why his master had to leave so often, that wasn't as much of an issue between them now. At Vlad's request, Katou had gotten him the full records and legends of the Skeleton Key. Vlad devoted his time when his master was away half to going through the legends and half to perfecting his skills. He rarely made use of the cauldron Katou had told him about, though he did often visit the sanctuary. His master never needed help in taking care of his duty, and if he did…
The issue of Katou's duty may have been behind them but Vlad's other reservations towards his master and the Order still remained – and if Katou knew of the other issues, he made no sign of it.
Vlad did have to admit; the Order did prove useful to him. Beyond basic knowledge of ghosts and ectoplasm and the legends of the Skeleton Key, they knew about The Ghost-Zone itself. Their maps provided him with a way to determine which areas of The Ghost-Zone could prove worthy of a visit and which he should steer clear of. They knew specific doors where he could go to test new abilities. And they were always willing to serve as guides if he was flying off into areas where getting lost could prove dangerous. But their beliefs, their philosophies, and the ghosts themselves just did not go along with Vlad's plans for his life.
There were two things, though, that the Order was useful for, even if they did not know they were involved (and Vlad knew they wouldn't have wanted to be if they knew). One was in providing him with knowledge of The Ghost-Zone Family. A single part of his mind, the one that – up until the accident, and even until the incident with the smoke – had chiefly been in charge of governing his thoughts and emotions, resisted the idea of pursuing an interest in the ghost Mafia. It was a violent, dangerous, illegal, and immoral business. But his mind had dismissed that area of his subconscious from its position as chief long ago. Unbeknownst to the Order, he had been using their maps, their records, their history, and their battle plans to learn all he could about both the Family and Luchesi. He did research in the real world to find out about Luchesi's life in the 30s. Even then, he was a sly, clever, powerful ringleader in the New York Mafia families. He learned about certain operations that the Family conducted in The Ghost-Zone, of past headquarters, and of suspected hiding places. The last of his old self in heart, mind and soul convinced him to keep himself from going into the Family's territory, but his investigations proved to be increasingly tempting to his new self.
The second thing the Order was unintentionally useful for was that their knowledge about ghosts and ectoplasm proved very helpful to Vlad's experiments. Now that he was no longer in a college that forbade paranormal studies or cooped up in a hospital room, his pursuit of his old obsession began anew, and this time he had the ultimate card in the deck – The Ghost-Zone. Many of the theories he, Jack, and Maddie had made had been proven correct, but armed with his enlightenment, Vlad had re-written half of his old notes. He had begun retrieving ectoplasmic samples, chiefly the raw green material floating around. Though he took great care to avoid contaminating himself with it, he had been hit once or twice. The affects were identical to the incident with the smoke – only more so. This only further pushed out the young college student he had once been. And he had completely revamped his blueprints for his ghost-hunting weapons to work with full spectral power instead of traces he had dug up. Cut off from scholarship and two partners, he didn't have the money to buy all the equipment he needed to build his inventions, but the blueprints were ready. And, when the time came, he planned to test his toys out right in The Ghost-Zone.
In the real world, Vlad had gone through five jobs in the past few months. He had gotten good wages and moved into a better apartment. He was able to achieve such good fortune partly because he had been paying closer attention to the people around him and made better observations on whom to ally himself with. In each job he had gone to, he had played his cards carefully, acting the part of the friend to all the people who could see to it that he could get some kind of promotion or raise. Whenever someone began to lose their usefulness, or someone who could be more helpful came along, he was always quick to change teams. This had certainly paid off in securing his finances and living conditions. However, this was also the chief reason he had to keep going from job to job, as he couldn't silence the people whom he abandoned.
He had begun to change his appearance as well. Gone was his long, messy hair and T-shirt from his college days. He now kept his hair trimmed and slicked back. He never let his beard grow out all the way, but he always left himself a bit unshaven. His dress was now made up of casual pants, jackets, and button-down shirts. He kept green and gold as his main choice of colour. His new looked proved helpful with combat, as his clothes were easier to move in and his shorter hair not so distracting.
One change to his life's routine had came up just recently. As a test of Vlad's skills so far and to provide some "real-life" training, Katou had been sending Vlad out on minor quests and duties. He began retrieving rare jewels in areas close to the Order's sanctuary. Later on, he was to track down clues to larger quests and pieces to greater puzzles. Eventually, when he was ready, he was to go on a "journey of self" as Katou had described it, searching for a door that would lead to a mystical, isolated, and solitary land where he could see all of his heart, soul, and mind laid out before him. He could see his strengths and weakness, his hopes and dreams and his fears and nightmares. In this place, he could see all this, separate the darkness of his soul, confront it, and drive it out, attaining a state of being that was absolute. He would have this state only as long as the land allowed him to stay, but knowing how to reach that perfection, he would be able to go back to his training and work towards reaching that state again. Every member of the Order had had to find this place and perform this ritual – even Katou, Arthur, and all of the founding council. It was considered a rite of passage. Vlad was not ready for this journey yet, however, and he doubted he would stay with the Order long enough to go on it. He was not fond of his petty, unimportant tasks either.
May 9, 1986 began as a normal day. He awoke from his most tangible dream yet of revenge and of love for Maddie (they seemed to become more akin to reality with each passing night), he showered, he dressed, and he hailed a cab to work. His latest job was at a local seafood restaurant, serving as an assistant manager. He had been working his way around at that place and had the highest salary out of anyone there, but he had reached the point where his changing alliances meant that he would soon be leaving – possibly within a matter of days.
His shift was from 10 to 8, and he hailed a cab home after grabbing a bite to eat (free fresh Atlantic salmon from the restaurant). From there, it was a quick shower and a change of clothes, then he started up the Proto-Portal and headed into The Ghost-Zone for another night of training.
After initial warm-ups, the two prepared for the end of the month final exam (Katou had been busy with a particularly time-consuming duty with the Order for the past few weeks, so they had missed it April 30). Vlad's ever-growing skills had made themselves known in these tests. He had finally been getting the hang of Katou's method of swordplay (the moves, not the ethics). His movements were faster, sharper, and more precise, as were his martial arts skills. His spectral attacks had more power behind them, and his defensive abilities held up against his master's attacks. Katou kept on saying that he improved exponentially with every passing month and that it was getting harder and harder to take the upper hand. But Katou still kept holding back to make it a fair fight, and he always emerged as the victor. Tonight was no exception.
They had been going at it for two hours. Both were soaked to the bone with sweat (or whatever it is that ghosts perspire). Katou had removed his dark heavy cloak and had gotten rid of the lighter brown robe held by his belt, leaving on only his tunic, belt, boots, and dark trousers the same colour as his cloak. Vlad had lost his jacket, rolled up his sleeves, and opened up part of his shirt. The marbled floor they were duelling on was scorched from spectral blasts and was covered in scratches from their swords. Both were covered in bruises and their clothes had been cut and torn at several places. Yet, despite his master looking even more tired and world-worn than was typical, it felt to Vlad as though he was the one that was more tired out.
Vlad was determined to win. He had had it with being knocked down every month. He was tired of being forced to fight an opponent who was holding back as though Vlad wasn't worth his full power, he was tired of going over the same basic routines day after day, and he was tired of his master constantly putting up an act as though he were actually having trouble (so Vlad thought, anyway). Growling at his master, he fired a blue spectral blast at the floor in front of his master, raising up smoke and dust as a distraction. With stealth and silence, he slipped over to Katou's side, firing another blast and churning up more smoke and dust. Moving behind his master, he repeated his move. Around and around in a circle he went at great speed, firing off his blue attack and raising up a cloud of smoke and dust so thick that it could be cut with a spectral wave set off from his sword. All the while Katou remained where he was, remaining calm, his eyes occasionally darting back and forth as he tried to catch Vlad's movements. He stood in place, statuesque and focused, patiently waiting for a revealing sound as the smoke continued to build. He waited and waited. Finally, deciding that some action was advisable to move the fight along, Katou curled up into a ball of ghost energy and shot it outward, blowing the smoke away as it travelled away from its host. His vision was clear, but Katou saw no sign of his student. He continued to remain in that one spot of marble. He had been in combat his whole life, and he sensed a trap when one came up. He wasn't about to fly into it.
A moment's pause. A swish of steel moving against the air made their sounds known and the blade grazed Katou's ear. He picked up on the brittle whoosh of sound almost too late – almost. With less than a second to spare, he managed to parry Vlad's cut from overhead as his apprentice became visible, balanced just over Katou's head. His parry in place, Katou let go of his sword with one hand and charged up a spectral blast, firing right into Vlad's chest and blasting him back towards the ships' masts. Vlad was caught by the ropes and tossed forward like in a slingshot, flying over the marble floor and crashing into the sloping rock wall across the room, sliding down and falling into the piles of stored treasures.
Vlad sat in the mess of valuables for a moment, letting his sense come back after being knocked out by the collision with the wall. Then, as he pulled himself together, he slowly floated back up to the marble floor, touched down, and, grinding his teeth, fired a huge green blast into the floor that shook the whole cave.
"BLAST!" he yelled as loud as he could, echoes shooting back from all corners of the cave, "AGAIN!"
"I don't know why you're upset," Katou sighed as he re-sheathed his blade, "You nearly took my head off with that trick of yours," it was clear he meant it as a compliment, but there was a bit of worry in his voice.
"Oh no, really?" Vlad hissed sarcastically, "Well, it's a good thing I lost then, isn't it? I wouldn't want to decapitate someone who can't die since he's already dead, now would I? I'll just keep going over the same things month after month and get toyed around with by my master, who continually holds back as though I'm not worth his full time and – "
"You're never going to learn anything if you don't fight opponents at your own skill level," Katou said sternly. The tone he took and the glare in his eye seemed to show that maybe he did know a bit more about Vlad's issues with him.
"The only reason that we keep going over the basics is because you need to learn how to crawl before you can walk," Katou continued as he gathered up his robe and cloak, "You've been getting better and better every month and you're learning new skills just fine, but unless you keep reviewing basic techniques, you won't make anymore progress. And as to the sword…well, let's just say that ghosts aren't completely immortal," at that comment, Vlad looked down at his own sword as though he were holding both the Holy Grail and an atomic bomb. What could this thing do?
"In any case," Katou said as he put his robe back on and wrapped his belt around it, "That is it for tonight, because you have another duty. And I think you'll find this one to be worth your time," his tone again suggested that he knew more about Vlad's issues with him then he let on.
"And what might that be?" Vlad raised an eyebrow.
"A few miles up from here at the Order's north-west border, a ghost named Eel has been causing a lot of problems for a lot of ghost-fishers that live in the doors there. I want you to take care of it," Vlad nearly dropped his sword. It may have just been in a small area of the border, it may have only been one ghost, and it may have been meant to be in line with the Order's policies. But…
'…I want you to take care of it…'
This wasn't just putting a piece into a puzzle. He wasn't just picking up some jewels or artefacts. This actually sounded like a real mission…like a challenge.
"You're kidding," Vlad said sceptically. Why would he be given a task that actually matched his abilities after all this time? He should have been getting assignments like this to begin with!
"Oh, I think you've earned the trust for something like this," Katou smiled as he slid his cloak on, "He shouldn't be hard to find. Be very careful around him – he's a tricky one, that Eel, and he has red spectral blasts on his side. He moves fast, too, so you might want to get a move on."
"Very well," Vlad sheathed his blade, "I guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow evening, then," he began floating to the door, paying no mind to the sound of a spectral technique Katou always used to clean up all the scorches and scratches on the marble floor.
"Vlad," he heard his master call.
"Yes?" he answered, stopping but not turning around.
"I said that I wanted you to take care of this, and I told you about our swords. But I want you to bring him in alive if possible," for the third time that evening he showed greater insight to Vlad's thoughts then he usually let on. Despite being uncomfortable about that, Vlad didn't have time to worry about it now.
"Good night," he replied simply, and with that, he flew out of the cave and off to the northwest border.
---
The northwest corner of the Order was usually a quiet little place. The ghosts of trappers, fishers, and hunters were the primary population here, living behind that doors that led to forests, lakes, oceans…wherever their profession called for them to be. This area of the Order's territory usually lay in peace, the only activity being the exchange of goods between ghosts on every month's market day. On a normal day, it was quite possibly the most tranquil spot in The Ghost-Zone. Unfortunately, today was not a normal day.
Eel well earned his name, as he was literally the ghost of an electric eel. He was well known throughout The Ghost-Zone as a dangerous fugitive from both the Order and from Walker. His speciality was attacking the ghosts of fishermen as they practised their trade, but his other charges involved theft, abduction, assault, and he was suspected to have some ties to The Ghost-Zone Family. The ghost of an aquatic animal, he could not speak and made no sound while moving, and he was as fast and as slippery as he was a menace. His motives might have been animal territorial instincts when he first arrived, but he had long since made his crimes a pleasure – mainly due to his absorption of high levels of raw red ectoplasm.
Eel's current occupation involved him lashing out with his teeth at the door to a log cabin. Giant splinters of purple glowing wood went flying as he gnawed and gnashed at the wooden barrier as though it was his midnight snack. He had completely absorbed himself in this task to get inside. So absorbed was he, in fact, that he did not notice the green spectral blast that came flying at his right and hit him right in the jaw. His wind quickly returned, and he turned with a snarl to face his opponent.
"Ghosts outside the Order aren't exactly known for subtlety, so I take it you're Eel," Vlad Masters said with a sarcastic air, his arms crossed, "I'd hate to interrupt your little meal there, but apparently the Order takes offence to your choice of meals and has asked me to take care of it," Eel let a sarcastic grin slide over his face. His eyes quickly went from blue-green to blazing red, and a hot steady beam went flying out from each one. Vlad quickly flew straight downward, the blasts passing over his head.
"Well, Katou's wish for him to come back in one piece seems unlikely," he said to himself as he floated back up, drawing his sword. He and Eel locked onto the other's eyes, gazing right past them and into the other's mind. Neither one of them had any fear, but both held some strange and dark enjoyment for the battle to come and the knowledge that they could harm the other. Vlad was feeling this for the first time, and it brought a cruel smirk to his lips.
"Now this is where the fun begins," he hissed under his breath. He raised up his sword, sent a flame of spectral energy around the blade, and shot it out in a quick slash, following that stroke with another one perpendicular to it. Eel dodged the two strikes as though he were swimming around a strand of seaweed. He let out another blast with his eyes, which Vlad blocked, and then the criminal ghost took off, speeding as fast as he could toward the east. With a quick re-sheathing of his blade, Vlad followed in pursuit. The hunt was on.
Eel proved to be quite resourceful. It was clear that he knew his way around the labyrinth of doors, islands, and general void of The Ghost-Zone. He was constantly making his way towards rows of doors, going left and right, flying around in circles, and zigzagging between the doors themselves. He rammed into a few of them, flying around through the world behind and heading right back out. Vlad kept up his pursuit, following the slippery ghost as best he could. He found during this chase that all of Katou's seemingly useless and aggravating points on the basics of his ghost powers, speed, agility, and even his insistence on self-control all seemed to have reason and meaning as he attempted to catch up. Unfortunately, as the hunt pressed onward, self-control seemed to be the farthest thing from Vlad's state of mind. His frustration built, his anger lit up, and his focus and judgement clouded. Random spectral blasts began flying out from his hands, none of which made their mark and caused quite a bit of damage to both doors and the realms behind them. The situation worsened as time went by, and Vlad began to forget why he was chasing Eel and that he was in a populated area of The Ghost-Zone. He began to forget the other aspects of Katou's training that would have served him well here. And he began to lose track of where Eel was leading him. All he was interested in was catching the slippery ghost-fish and slicing him into pieces.
After about a half-hour, Eel seemed to take a definite course. He headed for a plain-looking door off by itself at his right (where exactly in The Ghost-Zone they were, Vlad had lost a while ago). He rammed into it hard with his head, breaking it open and flying inside. The world behind this door consisted of a single yet elaborate building that seemed to come right out of the 1930s. A blend of Italian architecture and art deco, it was an apartment complex surrounded by sidewalk and by a cobblestone road that just seemed to fade away, leaving only the impressive-sized structure to take up most of the space. Vlad took in none of this – he saw Eel slide through an open window, and he followed suit. Not small enough to slide through, he settled for breaking through.
The hallways in the building were dark, sepia-toned lights from the ceiling the only source of light. Dark wood floors, rich oak doors, and panelling on the walls made the room seem even darker than it actually was. Though everything seemed as though it was kept clean, this place looked as though it had been around and lived in for a good long while. Vlad looked around suspiciously. Eel had vanished, leaving no trace as to where he had gone. Yet Vlad felt as though he were not alone in this place. Someone was watching him. He summoned up his sword and scabbard, pulling out his blade. He slowly lifted off the ground, keeping himself alert as he began to float forward.
"Non si muova!" Vlad whirled around, touching back down on the floor and adopting an offensive stance. Two ghosts stood before him, black handguns drawn. Both of them looked very different from anyone Vlad had seen in the Order in that they did not have their natural skin colour. They were both blue. Beyond that, they looked like figures out of an old gangster film from the 30s, dressed in black Italian suits with thin white lines, black bowlers resting on their heads, and gloves covering their hands. One had five o' clock shadow; the other was clean-shaven. Both looked shocked, enraged, and afraid all at once. Vlad glared back at them fiercely for a few moments, and deathly silence consumed the hallway. In those few moments, the three of them in the hallway were all there was in existence.
"... goccia la spada!" the ghost with the shadow finally sputtered, his gun hand beginning to shake. Vlad just gave him a smug grin. He let loose a blast from his sword, aiming it just centimetres away from the feet of his two adversaries. They jumped back with a yelp, and the one with the shaking hand fired his gun. Instead of a bullet, a small, round shot of spectral energy flew out, and Vlad quickly raised up an ecto-wall with his free hand. He fired off another blast once he had dropped the shield and turned to flee down the hall, set to track down Eel once more. He three other ghosts dressed in the same way as the first blocking his exit – and one of them had what looked like some kind of machine gun. He wasted no time in using it, and Vlad had to conjure up an ecto-dome to protect himself. As he faced this continuous round of ecto-shots, more and more ghosts began coming into the hallway, all of them armed and all of them dressed similarly. Vlad suddenly decided that retreat wasn't a bad strategy given the situation. As the ghost with the machine gun ran out of ammo, Vlad lowered the shield and looked around, searching for an exit.
"Cada la spada e metta le vostre mani nell'aria!" one of the ghosts shouted. Vlad could tell what language they were speaking, though he didn't understand a word of Italian. He did, however, get the feeling that they weren't saying anything friendly. He just smiled, re-sheathed his blade, and stood up straight. A blue-white ghost ring shot out across his middle, splitting in two and moving along his body. Soon, Vlad Masters stood in human form. Every single one of his ghost opponents looked as though they had been socked in the jaw. Weapons began falling, gasps and yells escaped throats, and someone went running down the hall.
"Che cosa è lui?" he heard someone shout. Vlad's cocky grin just grew wider.
"Ta," he said lightly, and he slowly began to phase through the floor of the building. More gasps, more shouts, and now full-out screams began to echo around the hall. One ghost, however, kept some of his nerve. He fired off a weapon that sent a glowing green rope at Vlad's still-tangible shoulders, wrapping around them tightly. A current of energy made its way from the rope into Vlad's body, firing a sting into every nerve, cell, and tissue of his being. Fo a brief moment he tried to contemplate how a ghost-weapon could affect his human form, but the sting befan taking its toll on his mind as well. He knew one way to remedy the situation. Transforming back into ghost form and flying back up, he managed to get one hand to grab the rope and prepared to send back his own stinger. However, his desire to end his pain led to a momentary disregard for his surroundings. Another blast from another gun caught both his hands and his legs in handcuffs comprised entirely of ectoplasm. With that binding on his feet, even if he had gone human again, he couldn't phase through the floor. The ghost who had fired that shot, a grim-looking figure with a bulldog-like face, stepped forward. He walked right up to his prisoner, looking straight into Vlad's eyes, which now didn't have quite the cocky glare they had just had moments before.
"Venuto con me," he said bluntly, using his gun to motion towards the still cut-off hall.
"Che cosa state facendo?" another ghost, a thin, fragile-looking one, stepped forward,"Questo uomo è un intruso! Conoscete le regole del Luchesi circa gli intrusi!"
"Penso che questo potrebbe avere certo uso a Luchesi," the grim ghost replied, "Sembra essere fantasma a metà umano e mezzo. Forse può allora fare l'un lavoro per Luchesi?" at this statement, the sentiment of shock and fear among all the ghosts was replaced by a sudden realisation, as though this one bulldog-faced member of their group had hit upon a note of genius. The hall was immediately cleared up, and the grim ghost and a hefty ghost with a scar on his chin dragged Vlad off.
---
For the past few months, Vlad Masters had been getting more self-confident by the day. He was always sure that the benefits of any situation were meant for him, he had been looking out for himself, and he did it with a self-assurance that he deserved what he was getting and that, by hook or by crook, he would get it. Since the incident with the smoke he had become a cocky, self-serving individual with an otherworldly advantage over anyone in the real world who stood in his way. Yet now, with his means of escape cut off and his fate in the hands of these thugs, all of that seemed to melt away. He wasn't the confident man he had been growing into, and he wasn't his old college self. All he seemed to be now was a tiny little shell of an individual that was filled up with fear.
The two ghosts dragged him along the hallways, never stopping, never speaking. They pulled their prisoner up two flights of stairs and down hallways that seemed to become increasingly dark. Whether it was actually the fault of the building or all in Vlad's mind he would never know, but as they went on, more of the lights seemed to be dead, and the few that were left were near-gone and very bleak. The air (or whatever was in The Ghost-Zone) seemed to get thinner, and Vlad found his breath getting more raspy by the minute. For the second time today he was covered in sweat, and this time it wasn't from anything physical.
What was going to happen to him? How could he have gotten himself into this mess? How could he have been so stupid? He tried any excuse he could find to relieve him of some of his misery. It had to be Jack's fault – the accident must have dulled his senses. Katou must not have given him the proper training. He kept going over all his old excuses, trying to fix the blame, but for the first time in two years, he finally began to grasp that not everything could be blamed on Jack, not everything was another man's fault and not everything was meant to suit him.
It was his own fault he was in this mess – and he would have to face the consequences.
The ghosts continued to drag him along in what seemed like and endless maze of halls, stairways, and an ever-diminishing light source. Finally, at the end of one hallway, they stopped in front of a lone door. The two men made no move to open it. They seemed to be waiting. Even through his panic, Vlad managed to hear through the door the conversation going on inside.
"Era di destra dalla sede sul lago," a nervous voice was saying, "Era di destra là. Mi non dica che sia stato giusto là pescare, perché non uscirebbe quello lontano. Stanno rintracciandoli giù! Dobbiamo ora muoversi!"
"Distendasi, tony, distendasi," a stronger, authoritative voice replied, "Chi era comunque esso?"
"Guyart!" the nervous voice practically screamed. The stronger voice laughed jovially.
"Guyart!" he managed to get out, "Siete preoccupati per lui? È un dandy! Se fosse Katou o Arthur o Shao-lin, quindi avremmo qualcosa preoccuparsi circa, ma Guyart? Vi preoccupate troppo, il mio amico."
"È sul consiglio fondante dell'ordine!"
"Pensate che marche lui grande e pericoloso? Può combattere con una spada, ma è in nessun posto vicino agli altri. Lascilo pescare. Se altri escono, passeremo ancora, ma per ora, desidero rimanere qui. Ciò è un buon posto per la famiglia," at that, the two ghosts decided it was alright to go inside. They opened the door and dragged Vlad in.
Though he hadn't seen who was talking and couldn't understand the language, Vlad knew instantly who had said what. The nervous voice had come from a ghost who was leaning against a writing desk. He had yellow-green skin, dark circles around his eyes, and very greasy, messy black hair that hung down over his eyes. He was tall and thin, and everything about him suggested that he was a nervous soul by nature. His appearance made him seem sickly, and every part of his body seemed to be trembling to some degree. He was dressed in the same kind of suit as the guards who held Vlad, but he had a rose on his jacket and he had no hat.
Behind the writing desk in a very comfortable-looking chair sat the other ghost. He was a big-looking, powerful individual, with broad shoulders and a stocky build. He also had yellow-green skin, but there was nothing sickly or nervous about him. He was balding, with sideburns and a well-trimmed goatee being the sole remainder of his follicles, and his eyes were a blazing yellow colour. He was dressed in a tan suit, the collar on his jacket pulled up to his neck. A cool grey trench coat hung on the back of his chair, and fedora of the same colour with a black band sat on the desk.
The room they occupied looked like an office. A window behind the balding ghost looked out towards the door to this realm, and huge bookshelves were up against the side walls. They held plenty of books, but they were also used to stack up old newspapers, to hold small framed photographs, and to display various odd objects. On the left bookshelf, a high-collared white cape with a red lining hung from the top shelf. This room seemed to be the darkest of them all, the only light coming from the glowing outlines of the ghosts – and, for some reason, these two ghosts were outlined in green, giving off such an eerie glow that it would have been better to have no light at all.
The bald ghost turned his yellow eyes towards the three latest arrivals in what appeared to be his office, fixing them with an unnerving gaze.
"Che cosa è la materia con voi?" he yelled at the two ghosts who held Vlad, "Sapete non alla chiatta dentro quando sto maneggiando il commercio!"
"Abbiamo un intruso," the ghost on Vlad's left said, yanking on his prisoner's arm and getting a slight guttural to come from the young man's throat.
"Conoscete che cosa fare con lui!" the bald ghost shouted. He was clearly annoyed by whatever these two were saying.
"Questo ha potuto essere buon da introdurre nella famiglia," the ghost to Vlad's left continued, "È un po'differente."
"Come?" the bald ghost demanded.
"È fantasma soltanto mezzo. La metà di lui è ancora essere umano," at these words, the two ghosts across the room seemed to have some silent dam in their mind break open in shock. The nervous-looking ghost, who had been suspiciously eyeing Vlad the entire time, began to shake as though he had been left out into the cold for hours (he shook so much, in fact, that his hands slid off the desk and he landed face-first on the floor). The bald ghost's eyebrows shot up, and both pure shock and realisation filled up within his eyes, as though he had found the solution to a puzzle that had long plagued him.
"Siedalo giù," he said, regaining his composure quickly (his companion remained on the floor, out cold). He pointed to the chair that was across from him by the writing desks. The two ghosts who held Vlad dragged him over and threw him into the chair, moving towards the back of the room again. Vlad managed to get himself to meet the ghost before him eye-to-eye, but he couldn't get his breath to calm or get his body to stop shaking.
"Parlate italiano?" the ghost asked, leaning forward and focusing his glare. Vlad said nothing, still trying to keep himself from looking away and making a futile escape attempt.
"Parlate italiano?" the ghost repeated, a bit more forcefully this time. Not knowing what else to do, Vlad managed a very weak and intimidated smile.
"P-pardon?" he managed to get his vocal chords to say. The ghost sighed and sat back against his chair.
"You don't speak Italian, do you?" he asked in perfect English, though he retained a thick accent. The fact that he knew Vlad's language didn't bring the young man any ease.
"N-no. No I don't, sir," he gasped. The ghost nodded.
"You've likely heard of me, but I doubt you've seen my face. I am Vito Luchesi, and I welcome you to the current centre of business for The Ghost-Zone Family." Realisation now flooded Vlad's mind, and he felt like a complete idiot for not having grasped that fact before. It also made him feel even more fearful of what his fate was to be.
"You have a name?" Luchesi asked, bringing Vlad back to the immediate conversation.
"Vlad Masters," he quickly said, his breathing more uneven than ever now. Luchesi nodded slowly.
"Stava trasportando una spada come il samurai capo dall'ordine," the ghost who had been at Vlad's right suddenly said from the back. Luchesi put on a smug little smile.
"So you carry a sword like that of Katou, do you?" he continued to nod, "You a member of the Order?"
"No," despite his dread of what was to come, Vlad managed to fill his voice with defiance in that one word, "Katou has been training me to control my powers, but I doubt I'll stick around once I've found out everything I need to know," Luchesi nodded again.
"Good to know," he said, "And you've done something your master and all the Order's never been able to do. You found out right where we are. Now, that makes you an intruder, your realise. And we have a rule about intruders – they come in. They don't come out," Vlad gulped. His momentary defiance quickly fell away, and his mind began preparing itself for the worst demise imaginable.
"But for you, I make an exception," Luchesi rose out of his chair. Though he was of average height, his build and his attitude made him seem like a giant, "I do this because I am told you are only half-ghost, and that you can turn back into a human. Is this true?"
"Yes, sir," it was Vlad's turn to nod. He didn't know where this was going, but he now sensed that he had a window of opportunity here, and it seemed wise to take it.
"If you swear on the life of the one you love most that you will not escape, I will have your bindings removed, and you can show me," Luchesi said, "But if you try to escape, we will catch you before you can, and then you won't be going out," the way he spoke those words left one feeling in no state of mind to ignore them.
"You have my word," Vlad said, swearing on Maddie's life. Luchesi nodded and snapped his fingers. The ghost who had been at Vlad's left pulled out the gun he used to fire the handcuffs and hit a button in it. The confinements faded away into nothing. Vlad stretched his arms and legs out a bit, then stood up.
"Alright," he sighed. He threw his hands over his head, and a blue-white ring shot out across his middle, splitting in two and moving along his body. Soon he stood in human form, in a perfect position to escape. But he wasn't about to disregard Luchesi's warning. Besides, he had sworn on Maddie's life. The rings appeared again, and soon he was back in ghost-mode. The ghosts behind him let out gasps once again, and the nervous-looking ghost was still out cold, but Luchesi's grin grew wider and he gave Vlad a brief round of applause.
"Very good," he said, "Very good. Sit down," they both did so, "I take it Katou or the Order have told you about us?"
"Yes, sir."
"Very good. Have they mentioned anything to you about how anyplace where the Family does business makes no progress with technology or science or anything like that?"
"Yes…"
"Do you know why?" Vlad shook his head, "Neither do they. But I will tell you why. If you've spent any time going over this and have come up with some great conspiracy theories or such, then get them out of your head now. We have a very simple reason for keeping all these sciences quiet, and that reason is business.
"When we first came into The Ghost-Zone, we needed new forms of business. A lot of our specialities from the real world didn't apply here. We did all right with a couple things, yes, but on a big scale that could really help us out there was nothing. There wasn't much luck finding good markets when there were the seven mobs, so when I put together the Family, I made it my priority. I found t that in The Ghost-Zone here, the ghosts love real-world items. Stuff from the real world that makes it in here. Boxes, bottles, instruments, remotes, batteries, telephones, wires, broken toys, you name it, but the thing that most ghosts were after was technology. The latest advances in science and machinery. Ghost scientists started getting these things or what was left of them, and with their ghost-powers, they made super machines of all kinds. The ghosts in the Order only use what's here in The Ghost-Zone, and they never made any real weapons, but they were coming up with some good stuff too. This was our market. But Walker made real-world items illegal to have. This made our involvement in this business only more profitable. But the ghost scientists and all the ghosts who gathered this stuff up…they became competition for us, you see, and we were losing to them in a few spots.
"So, we started to shut down our biggest competition. We bought them out, we welcomed them into the Family, we…persuaded them to shut down, and in some cases…well, we'll say that ghosts aren't completely immortal," at that, Vlad eyed the spot on his belt where his sword usually materialised when he summoned it forth. He still didn't know where this was going.
"We also began shutting down smaller ghosts," Luchesi continued, "and when we went into the Order, we started to shut them up too. We shut them all up. We stopped them from making anymore progress. Anything they had that was ahead of our technology, we either bought, took, or destroyed. We convinced them to say nothing of any of this and to just go on with their lives. We bought up everything. Now, thanks to this, we are the only ghosts in this whole lousy dimension that supply any kind of real-world stuff, technology in particular. Walker and the Order can't find us, we do our business behind doors, and anyone who can threaten the deal we shut up. It's the best business we've had alive or dead.
"There's just one little problem with all this. The super machines with the ghost-parts in them sell big, but the normal human stuff from the modern-day sells for more. But natural portals into the real world are hard to find, and Walker's been shutting them down as he finds them. We haven't had any major breakthroughs in finding technology or stuff that's drifted in for years. Eventually the supply's gonna go empty and we won't have anything new. And that," he pointed at Vlad, "is where you come in. You don't live here, do you?"
"No."
"So you found a portal?"
"I have a man-made one that I…built," finally beginning to relax, Vlad allowed himself to grin a little.
'Serves Jack right,' he thought.
"You made a portal to The Ghost-Zone? No natural portal, no secret door? You made one?" Luchesi looked like he had been hit in the face. Vlad just nodded.
"Even better," Luchesi gave him a big grin, "Here's why we're letting you go, and here's what I'm thinking you can do. Now, we have real money here in the Family. If you go back to the real-world, I still know how to handle things there. We play around a bit, make some anonymous payments and set up some shadowed accounts, che cosa voi sanno, we set you up as a legitimate business in the real-world. We give you a name, a background, we forward you some of the super machines from here, and you make some noise in the market. This gets you in with some of the big shots on the business scene. These guys will have big things in the works. Machines, devices…all of them under wraps until they're ready for the world to know. Once you get in with this crowd and make friends with the right people, they'll start letting you in with their circle of friends who they show this stuff off to. You find out all about these toys. What they do, how to work 'em, everything. You pass it along to us. At night, when everyone in those buildings has gone home, you lead my boys to the place. You'll take it, you'll pass it along to me, and we'll put it onto our markets. You get a good amount of what we make in the business, we keep making your company big, you're a huge man in the real-world and there's no way you can get traced back to us or accused of taking that equipment if you use your ghost-powers. That is my plan for you. Now, what do you say?"
"I…" Vlad had to struggle to say just that. This deal…he had an entire life laid out for him with this! If this "business" was as profitable as Luchesi was telling him, and if he was really in for a fair share of the money, he could become a very rich man practically overnight. No one could trace a crime committed by ghosts to him. He'd be in the clear from any charges. All that money and the access to that kind of technology could help him with his inventions. Heck, with The Ghost-Zone and all that wealth getting his inventions made, he could revolutionise the entire paranormal field! And with that status in society, he could get access to information. He could find Maddie. And he could find Jack. And with the Order in the dark about The Ghost-Zone Family for the most part, he wouldn't be caught by them. This Family could actually help him take down Jack. It was a perfect deal!
And yet…a voice in his mind, heart and soul…the one that had once governed his life, the one he had cast aside…
That one part of him seemed to regain strength for this moment and was determined to resist going into this arrangement. It was illegal, immoral, and self-serving, as was this entire organisation. No matter what the rewards, going into the Family was wrong.
But was this even his choice?
"I don't know," he finally finished with a hard, forced breath. He had no idea what to expect next. A deadly silenced filled the room. Vlad's mind pictured everything from being led out of the building to being shot with a ghost-gun right in that chair. He waited, the only sound being his quivering breaths. Finally, Luchesi nodded once again.
"You think about it," he said in an understanding voice, "I don't want you in this if you don't want to. I really think you should want to do this if you're going to. You go home, and you think about it. Come back here tomorrow morning, and we'll talk it out. If you say no, then you will be free if you swear as you did before that you will not say where we are. My two boys that brought you in here will see it out. Go home and think about it," he waved towards the door, and Vlad felt both relief and a new form of dread flood into his body at once.
"Thank you, sir," he gulped. He slowly rose up out of his chair, turned towards his two escorts, and headed for the door.
---
It might have been May, but it was a cold night. Old Man Winter had one last frost in store for Wisconsin before he moved back up north, and it was quite the strong one at that. Icy frost rested over everything from the rooftops and lawn grass to the leaves on the trees, all of it glistening from the light of a full moon. In the park just outside Milwaukee, where most signs of human life were absent, it made for a truly magical setting.
It was over this mystical view that Vlad hovered. He had a black overcoat and gloves over his usual clothes to fend off the cold. He took no notice of the beauty of the night around him. He could barely remember flying out here in the first place. He didn't remember grabbing his coat. He didn't remember coming out of the Proto-Portal and back into his apartment. He didn't even remember flying through The Ghost-Zone with his two escorts. All he remembered was Luchesi's deal, and what it could do for him and to him.
The part of him that had been brought forth by the incident with the smoke and his thirst for revenge kept telling him he had nothing to lose. He held none of the jobs he had been working at in high esteem. They had just been means for him to get by with his basic day-to-day necessities. He had made no real friends. Every one of his associates and fellow employees had either been obstacles or a means by which to claw his way up. The only other ghosts with whom he had an alliance were a group of foolish old idealists whose principles went against the course that Vlad had chosen for his life. Katou never let him progress in training. He was living in an apartment, he didn't have the money to build his ghost-weapons, the love of his life was likely miles away, and the idiotic, bumbling oaf who had ruined his life had gone away with her. Accepting this deal would give him the money he needed to build his devices, and his role in this company would be that of a leader. Gone, then, would be his days of playing his cards right with his "superiors." He could get a real house. And he would have the power to track down Maddie and Jack. The Ghost-Zone Family and all of its power and membership could help him with much of his agenda and other things that the Order wouldn't have anything to do with. To hell with the code of the Order! To hell with Walker! And to hell with the laws of the real-world! This deal offered a whole new life for him, the window to his revenge, and most importantly of all, the key to getting his love back. If that meant allying himself with the Mafia, then so be it.
But the Vlad from his college days had chosen this one crucial moment to regain some strength and control, and the conflict began. Every cell in his body and every part of his soul was in agreement that what Jack did deserved vengeance, but his old self was not willing to let Vlad corrupt himself just for that. The easy route wasn't always the best one to take. There would be another time. Luchesi and the Family were not to be trusted. They had their own interests at heart, not Vlad's. Hidden agendas and broken promises were the norm when making deals in crime. And with powers as unique as his, Luchesi would likely call upon Vlad to do other things for him – possibly even more unpleasant. He didn't need the Family. He had ghost allies already. Katou and the Order may have had philosophies that were against what Vlad wanted to do, and that prevented any true friendship, but Katou at least seemed to genuinely care what happened to him. He had his entire life ahead of him for his plans. A better home, his ghost-weapons, revenge on Jack…even Maddie could wait for a better time. The price he would have to pay for a chance at a new life now just wasn't worth it.
Still another voice that didn't seem like it belonged to Vlad at all was expressing worry not over the choice before him, but what would happen if it ever got out that he knew where the Mafia was, regardless of his decision over the deal. If he went with the deal and it got out, the Order would come after him. They might not come after him for betrayal, but they would come after him for going into the illegal empire. The Family would definitely come after him for betraying them. And he would have this Walker to deal with as well. If he didn't go with the deal and it got out, he might be safe from the Order, but the Family was large, Luchesi was slippery, and he'd likely have a price on his head. And even if the information didn't get out, if he turned the deal down, what guarantee did he have that Luchesi would keep his word and let him go? What assurance did he have that he wouldn't get shot in the back as he flew away?
Just hours ago, Vlad was sure of himself, who he was, what he needed to do, and what his life was going to be. Now, with his old self back, a third voice in his ear, and a massive decision laid out before him, it was as though he were an empty shell playing host to warring spirits.
The breeze suddenly picked up, and a rush of cold air pushed Vlad backwards. His heart felt no difference between the outside temperature and the hollow feeling within him, but his mind recognised that the temperature was dropping, and that the way the wind was speeding up, it was unwise to fly back to the apartment. Besides, he was tired, and more time going home meant more time to think. He flew up to the nearest main highway and touched down behind a building, going back into human form. He then stepped out and hailed a cab. He quickly gave out the address to his apartment and slipped into the back seat with a sigh. With all that was going on inside it, his head seemed to weigh a ton.
So wrapped up in his burden, was he, that he didn't even notice that someone else was in the cab with him until a suitcase on the floor nudged itself against his feet at a turn and he looked to see who it belonged to.
"Harriet?" he asked with surprise. He never expected to see her after that last visit. His old classmate was looking tired but well off; her job as a reporter was apparently going well. She was dressed in a green-yellow business suit and a greyish-green overcoat, a copy of The Milwaukee Journal in her lap under her purse. She was touching up her make-up when she turned to see who had spoken. She stared at Vlad with a confused expression on her face. She didn't seem to recognise him (and with the ecto-acne and his long hair gone, it was an understandable mistake.)
"It's Vlad," he said, smiling slightly, "Vlad Masters," now she remembered.
"Hello Vlad!" she said, also smiling, "Didn't think I'd see you ever again! It's been a year, hasn't it?" Vlad began to nod, but she kept going.
"Well, I have had the most exhausting day. I flew all the way out to Massachusetts and back in less than twenty-four hours. I would have spent the night, but I had to come back. There's a hot assignment and they want me to do it. I think they said on the phone that it had something to do with the situation in Ubekastan. Well, it's probably best that I did leave right away – wouldn't want to keep the newly weds busy before their honeymoon! So, I…"
"Newly-weds?" Vlad interrupted. Any thoughts of the deal and all his issues with it seemed to be wiped from his mind. He had something else to worry about now. He might just be jumping to conclusions, but…his social status had kept him out of many things in college, but he didn't know anyone else who could get Harriet to go out to their wedding who had moved…
"Why exactly were you in Massachusetts, my dear?" he asked. He tried to sound polite, but his voice ended up deadly serious. Harriet took no notice.
"Maddie," she said simply, "She and Jack moved to Amity Park after college. It's a nice enough town, but Boston would have been a better place to live. Come to think of it, they shouldn't have gone out to the coast at all. They should have moved to Illinois. Illinois is closer so I don't have to travel as much when they invite me to see them, and…"
"Yes, yes, yes, but why did they invite you out?" This was really worrying him now.
"Oh, that. Well," her smile became bigger and much more genuine, "It seems that Jack might be a bit more mature than I gave him credit for. He popped the question, Maddie said yes, and now the two of them are married!"
'…The two of them are married…'
Six words.
Six simple, common, familiar words.
The six words that killed the old Vlad Masters.
Inside his mind, he could hear the distant scream of his old self as the words drove through his skull and pierced through him like a knife. The scream echoed around the inside of his head. Even after his old self had long since withered away he could still hear the echoes of that scream. As that scream and those six words completely overtook his mind, heart, and soul, he completely lost sense of everything around him. He didn't hear the rest of what Harriet was telling him or notice when she was dropped off at the headquarters of the Journal. He didn't see the cab pull up in front of his apartment and he didn't notice that he accidentally gave the cab driver a 50-dollar bill. He didn't feel his legs moving as he walked up the stairs. When he came to his room, he didn't feel how cold the doorknob was when he turned it, his eyes didn't notice how dark it was inside the room, and he didn't remember to hit the light switch. He didn't even notice that he had sat down on the bed. The only thing he was aware of was his eyes closing as the scream finally faded away and the words imprinted themselves into part of his mind.
A single breath left his body in a cold, icy hiss like that of a threatened cobra. An involuntary shudder went down his spine, arching his back like that of an enraged cat. And a low, hollow, barely audible voice hissed out the sentence words that Vlad hated above all others.
"The two of them are married."
His eyes shot open. Every part of his eye – pupil, iris, white – everything was now a hot glowing blue, casting an eerie hue on the skin surrounding his eye. An invisible, soundless wave of energy shot out from all around him. The sheets on his bed rustled. The shades on the windows swayed back and forth. And, with the Proto-Portal somehow being the only thing to avoid his wrath, everything in the room that had some electricity was destroyed. The TV screen shattered, smoke flying out from behind it. The light bulb cracked and the glass went flying all around the room. Smoke began to drift out of the fan. The alarm clock and reading lamp that rested on a table beside his bed both shorted out. And, as the smoke began to clear, the room began to settle down, and Vlad's eyes finally began to take on a more human appearance, the fire inside him against Jack seemed to shoot up out of his heart and consume his entire being.
His mind was made up. He knew what to do about the deal. He knew what he had to do now. But he couldn't think about that right now. He could sort it out in the morning, when he went back to see Luchesi. All he could stand to do for now was burn in his own hate.
"Jack," the word came from his mouth, but the voice that said sounded more like a snarling lion than a human being.
---
"So, have you made up your mind?"
Vlad was back in The Ghost-Zone, back in the northwest area of the Order, back in the headquarters of The Ghost-Zone Family, and back in Luchesi's office. He sat across from Luchesi again. The same two guards from before stood inside the door, and the nervous-looking ghost was still there, leaning on the table. Six other ghosts were with them this time, all of them in fine Italian suits. They stayed back in the shadows, so Vlad couldn't really see their faces, but he guessed from what the Order had told him that those six and the nervous-looking ghosts were the bosses of the mobs before the Family was born.
"Have you?" Luchesi asked again, and indeed Vlad had. He had finally worked everything out over a painful and restless night. He was still burning from the flames, and the six words continued to echo in his mind. But with his old self gone for good, his mind was clear of one of its duellists, leaving the Vlad from the incident with the smoke to take over. He knew exactly what his decision was, and he had no regrets.
"Mr. Luchesi, you have yourself a businessman," he grinned, and Luchesi did the same.
"That's what I wanted to hear," his tone was jovial, but something in it told Vlad that this choice was also keeping him alive, "Vlad Masters, welcome to the Family," he snapped his fingers, and instantly his writing desk was cleared of papers. In their place were a wine bottle and eight glasses.
"I want you to meet the people you'll be reporting to along with me," he got up, motioning for Vlad to do the same, "They are my closest associates. They used to be the bosses of the small mobs before I made the Family. This here is Tony," he pointed at the sickly-looking ghost, who nodded back, "And these six," he motioned towards the six in the shadows, going from left to right, "are Armando, Fredo, Sonny, Pappi, Roberto, Ramono, Michael, and Phil," of these six, only Phil made any motion when his name was called, giving a slight wave.
"And now," Luchesi filled the eight glasses with the green, glowing liquid that rested inside the wine bottle, "A little toast. To the newest member of the Family. I expect you will be a great help to us, and best of luck in your duty," he lifted up his glass. Vlad took one and was about to take a sip when –
"Just so you know, that's raw ectoplasm there. Might be a bit strong for you," Vlad held the glass away from his mouth. His new self remembered what Katou had told his old self about raw ectoplasm – but Katou wasn't here. He drained his entire glass in a single gulp. He began to lean against the table as he began to grow dizzy and he began to cough. The glow around his body went bright and faded back again, an icy cold and a rush of power poured through his veins, and, though he couldn't see it, his eyes briefly flashed green. It only took a few moments for the feeling to pass.
"Cheers," he smiled up at the head of the Family. He poured himself another glass as the seven advisors took theirs, his mind full of images of his new future – and this time, no foolish, nagging sentimental voice from the past spoiled his fun.