Disclaimer: Butch Hartman owns Danny Phantom.

Realizations

OOOOOOO

When Sam woke again the pain in her head was slightly less. She sat up carefully, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and pushed herself to a standing position waiting for the dizziness to subside. Once she was sure that she wasn't going to fall, Sam hesitantly looked around the room and noticed three doors. The first one she tried was a bathroom and Sam quickly relieved herself and then faced the mirror. She was extremely pale, and her hair was a mess. Reaching up she removed the bandage from her cheek to see a reddish purple bruise covering the side of her face and a cut across her cheekbone. She winced as she tenderly prodded her cheek. Leaving the bedroom, she tried the door to the left and found that it was locked. Turning around she went to the last door in the room and turned the knob. It's open! Opening the door quietly she stepped through into what looked like a sitting room. Carefully glancing around and seeing no one she made her way to the door that she thought would open to the hall. Just as she turned the knob, a voice sounded behind her.

"Samantha, are you quite sure you should be out of bed?" Spinning around in fright she wavered on her feet as dizziness swept through her. The man stepped forward and took her arm, leading her toward a chair. As soon as the dizziness receded, she ripped her arm away from the man and glared at him.

"Who the hell are you and where are we?" The man sat down in the chair across from hers and smiled charmingly.

"Ah, I see you don't remember our last talk as you were still a little under the weather. I am Vincent Masters and we are currently in my uncle's home in Wisconsin." Sam frowned as she registered the name Masters and Wisconsin.

"Wait a minute, Masters? Vlad Masters is your uncle?" Vincent nodded as he stood and wandered over to the mini bar and poured himself and Sam a drink.

"Yes. Now I'm sure you are wondering how you came to be here so if you will just relax I will be more than happy to tell you." Walking back over to Sam, who was staring at him distrustfully, he offered her the drink. Without blinking, Sam took the drink and threw it in his face. She watched as his eyes closed and a tic developed in his jaw. When he took a deep breath and turned toward the bathroom to retrieve a towel, Sam made her move. Standing suddenly, she ignored the wave of dizziness that once again swept over her and raced to the door. Opening the door, she made it over the threshold before Vincent grabbed her from behind, and she struggled with him before suddenly feeling weak and her legs collapsed. He picked her up, moving back into the room and placing her on a couch, kicking the door closed behind him.

"Well, I see that Uncle Vlad was correct, you are very spirited." He returned to his chair. "I wouldn't recommend trying that again," he said as she slowly sat up, feeling sick to her stomach and shaky. "The after effects of the sedative I gave you earlier will last for a while. Now, where were we, yes, you see Samantha" he simply ignored her growled "Don't call me that" and continued. "Several months ago I was in Amityville on business for my uncle, getting some information on a certain young man…" Danny, Sam thought fearfully. "… and I happened to notice a beautiful young woman who always seemed to be at his side." Sam rolled her eyes here and snorted.

"And is there a reason you're spouting this drivel?" she asked sarcastically. Vincent looked at her and smirked.

"Most women rather enjoy getting such compliments, but of course you are not most women." He stood up and walked over to refresh his drink. "Forgive me if I do not offer you another drink. In any case, I must admit to being rather smitten. Of course, you rejected my gifts, which unfortunately made things a bit more difficult. I am sure you realize just how powerful my uncle is. As his sole heir, I have certain…standards to maintain, so imagine my delight when I found out that this woman was Miss Samantha Manson. He turned back to face her. Sam frowned at him.

"So you were the one sending me things in the mail and calling me? Why?"

He chuckled. "Admittedly my employee's methods were rather crass." He moved a little closer. "The pleasure of dancing with you at the benefit, however was mine alone. As to why, well my dear, suffice to say that my uncle and I are not ones to overlook a perfect opportunity."

Sam stood carefully. "Look I don't know what you're talking about but it doesn't matter, Danny will come after me."

"That is precisely what we expect Miss Manson." Sam turned around to see Vlad Masters enter the room. "It's quiet simple really, my nephew, as my heir, needs a suitable wife and has chosen you. When Daniel finds out you're marrying him, he'll be crushed emotionally, and of course I will step in to offer him my support and guidance, thus bringing him over to my side."

Sam stared at him for a moment before laughing. "You think I'll marry him?"

"Oh, I don't think, I know. It's the only way you will be able to guarantee Daniel's safety." Sam paled at his words and an evil gleam entered Vlad's eyes as he stepped forward.

"Who do you think arranged that trip that he's on?" He stepped forward again and Sam instinctively took a step back. Taking a microscopic object from his pocket, he held it out to Sam.

"Do you know what this is Miss Manson? No? It is a new invention my people have come up with. It is similar to that idiot Jack Fenton's belt that disrupts ghost powers. I have taken the liberty of having one of these planted on Daniel, unknown to him of course. If you refuse my nephew's generous offer, I'm afraid I will have no choice but to activate the chip and inform my minions to dispose of him." Sam felt a cold chill go down her spine.

"That doesn't make sense; you just said you wanted Danny."

"True, true, however I have nothing to lose." Vlad pocketed the chip. "I either gain Daniel as a powerful ally or I get rid of a powerful enemy. Vlad motioned to Vincent and together the two men walked to the door.

"It's really your choice my dear" he said as he closed the door behind them and Sam heard the click of the lock.

OOOOOOO

Danny flew invisible through Amityville, searching everywhere he could think of. Sam, where are you? Please be okay. It was 1:00am and he was growing more frantic with each passing minute. He had seen the police searching the area as well as his parents, but had not stopped, not wanting to lose precious time talking. As he flew through a seedier section of town, he noticed that while the streets were still quiet, there were occasional groups hanging out on the street corners. Passing a group of gang members, he suddenly stopped when he overheard one of them. The creep was bragging about a girl he had caught earlier that night, and feeling hope rush through him Danny flew silently down next to the group to hear the rest of the conversation.

"Yeah, you guys should have seen her, man she was a hot little number." One of the other gang members laughed.

"Doesn't look like she was too interested in anything you had to offer. Did she do that to your face?" Danny moved to get a better view and saw that the man's face was swollen twice the size of normal, his nose obviously broken, and had a black eye.

"That little witch, she came on to me and then when I tried to take her up on her offer she ran across campus and nailed me with a hubcap after I caught up with her." Danny stiffened at this. Campus, Sam was waiting at school for Tucker. He tried to tune back in to what the person was saying.

"I caught her though, feisty one. Delivered her to a contact who paid me a good chunk of change for her. Course I helped myself to a little grope or two before that." The man gave a leering smile, his friends all started laughing, and giving catcalls. Before the man could take his next breath, he found himself pinned against the wall by a furious Danny Phantom. There were shouts of "Ghost!" as several of the other men fled. Two of them shouted and moved forward and without even looking at them Danny fired a single ectoblast at them, hitting the ground near their feet and sending them running. His hand wrapped around the man's throat, squeezing.

"Tell me where you took her or I swear I will kill you" Danny ground out. The man opened his mouth to speak and only a harsh squeak came out as he gasped for air. Danny loosened his grip slightly.

"Tell me!" He snarled.

"All right, all right! I took her to a car, some ghost transported us somewhere." Feeling the angry ghost's hand tighten around his neck again he spat out "I don't know where man! All I know is that some guy named Matters or Mattress paid me to get her for him." Danny froze as he looked at the frightened man.

"You mean MASTERS?"

The man tried to nod. "Yeah, that was it, Masters." Danny abruptly let the man go and turned away, leaving him to slide down the wall, choking and clutching his throat as he tried to draw in breath. Vlad. He turned again and picked the man up by one hand.

"This is for daring to touch her you maggot." Danny pulled back his other arm and punched the man in the gut, watching with a cold satisfaction as the man slumped unconscious to the ground before grimly reaching for his walkie-talkie. As he flew toward the apartment, he called Jazz.

"Jazz! I know where she is, but I think I'm going to need some help."