A/N: Another up-date! Wooh-hoo!
The Art of Deception
Chapter Seven
"Does it run in your blood to betray the ones you love?
Does it run in your blood to betray the ones you love?
The ones you love, the ones you love, the ones you love..."
"Sam," Danny said, relieved. Danny ran over to her. Sam smiled, but it was short-lived. She quickly exited the door and closed it, bolting it behind her.
"They found me and are catching up," she said. She spotted the two other doors and opened the one right in front of them now, the one that seemed to lead straight ahead from the corridor they were presently in. "We'd better hurry."
Danny nodded. He couldn't hear anyone in pursuit of her, but trusted her just the same. They ran through the door, closing it behind them. Danny had been right. This door had led them into what seemed to be another hallway. This hallway, though, had slick white walls and floors. It had, still, dim lighting, but you could see way better. Now in front of him, Sam kept running at top speed. Danny easily kept up with her, so it didn't really matter.
From behind them he heard nothing. Could the guards have been tricked into going in another direction? "Sam, are you sure they caught up to you?" he asked. "I don't hear anything."
"I didn't imagine it," Sam shot at him. "Trust me, okay?"
"I do," Danny said, but stilled felt a little unsure. She was sure acting very strange. It also seemed as though she knew where she was going. Every time they had to pick doors, she always chose without even looking at the other doors. Is it possible that she's-
Danny's train of thought was interrupted by his running into what seemed an invisible barrier. He crashed, fell backwards and lied there before sitting up. Sam had stopped on the other side. "Danny," she whispered.
"Sam!" Danny said, standing up. He pounded on the barrier with both fists. "I can't get out!"
"The other way, Danny," she said. Danny turned and tried to get out the other way, but that side was blocked too.
"It's no use, I'm boxed in!" he exclaimed. He looked at Sam. She only stood there. She wasn't even looking at him directly anymore. Danny walked over and placed both hands on the barrier. "Sam?" he asked, wondering what was up. "You okay?"
Sam's shoulders shook. Danny frowned. She was...laughing. A short, soft chuckle escaped her throat. She looked up at him now. A small smile curved her purple-color lips. "Perfect," she said.
"What?" Danny exclaimed in disbelief. Perfect? What was she talking about? Why was she laughing? And why did she have that expression of sick and warped happiness on her face.
Sam, suddenly, changed. In a quick-flash, her clothes were replaced by a black, shadow-colored hazmat suit. Her dark hair was up in a full pony tail, and her amethyst eyes gleamed with glee. Danny's eyes widened. He simultaneously shouted her name and pounded on the barrier. Something had to be possessing her. This was not the Sam he had grown to know. It couldn't be. Could it?
"Stop," Sam told him firmly. Her voice held a laughing-tone, but was stern all the same. Danny stopped pounding on the barrier, thoughts spurring, confusion clear on his face. Sam smiled again. That sick, wicked grin only brought more horror to Danny's soul. He found himself breathing hard against a sick feeling at the pit of his stomach. He found that his heart was beating loudly and his eyes were wide with fear and bewilderment.
"Surprised?" Sam asked. Danny didn't respond, only looked at her. "Surprised your best friend betrayed you? Surprised she led you into a trap, Danny?"
"This isn't funny, Sam!" Danny said. "Let me out!" The word 'betrayed' just wouldn't register in his mind. The words 'your best friend betrayed you' just wouldn't make sense to him. That particular sentence didn't exist to him, to his mind. He pounded once again on the barrier, but cut it short as something else began to happen. From all four corners of the invisible bow he was in came what looked like electric rods. A small trapdoor slid open on the ground and out came the rods, glowing menacingly. Danny stepped back as the rods then joined in forming a square shape with visible electricity. Now he was in the middle of a square formed by electric power. "Sam," he tried again. No answer. Only a wicked smile formed on her face. "What is this?" he asked, his voice shaking.
"Wait and find out for yourself," Sam said, still smiling. Danny didn't get a chance to say anything else as the rods suddenly began to glow more fiercely, delivering a shock to Danny, literally. He felt his whole body flare with energy, electric and ectoplasmic. His powers seemed to be trying to fight it off, but finally succumbed to the new energy. The shock continued. Danny felt his body lose all strength and his voice no longer followed instructions, stopping his pained howl-scream. The electric attack stopped. The rods vanished back into their cases.
Danny stood there for only a few more seconds. Then a white ring appeared at his waist. It slowly moved up and down simultaneously, changing him back into human form. Then his legs gave way and he fell onto his knees before falling down on all fours, him still struggling to stay awake. He couldn't even lift his glance at first, only looked down, trying to regain stamina. Then he finally looked up at Sam.
The barrier had gone down now. Sam closed in on him and crouched down to be at almost eye-level with him. She cupped his chin in her hand and smiled. "Feeling a little helpless, Danny?" she asked. Her tone was so cheerful, it made him sick. Danny jerked away from her. She grinned. "Feeling angry?"
"My parents or Jazz will find me," Danny said. He knew for a fact that electricity didn't just short out his powers. It had a larger effect. "If I can't stop you, they will."
Sam chuckled. "Your parents, your sister, and everyone else who ever knew you including Tucker won't even remember your name," she said. Danny looked at her. "Every ghost beneath our control took away every memory of Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom from everyone in the city. All your relatives and friends have forgotten you no matter where they are."
"'Our?" Danny asked.
"Vlad, Walker, Skulker, and me," Sam explained.
She was working for Vlad, and two of his other enemies? That's the lowest of the low. "I'll kill you," Danny snarled. He no longer care for this. If she was telling the truth, then no one would come to help him, no one. She betrayed him, led him into a trap, and worst yet, conspired against him with his own enemies.
"Now, Danny," Sam said smugly. "You can't kill me in cold blood, because if you do, then you might just become evil yourself." Danny's breath caught in his throat again. Now she was using that against him? "I know you would hate the fact of killing everyone you ever loved in your life in the future, wouldn't you?" Danny said nothing, only glared daggers at the girl.
Sam stood and turned her back on him, walking away. "How long?" Danny managed to ask. He strained his voice to remain even, angry but casual.
"What?"
"How long has this been going on behind my back?"
"Since we met," Sam said. "I'm not a Manson, Danny. I was given to the Mansons as a replacement for their actual daughter who was lost in an accident. I don't know much about my real parents, but my real mother died at the same time the real Sam Manson died. Vlad found me and gave me a purpose for living. To spy on Jack Fenton, befriend his son and daughter. I've been in touch with Vlad ever since you got your ghost powers, before we'd only send occasional letters. But they were for my foster parents, not me."
"So that's how Vlad knew me during the reunion?" Danny asked, now remembering something.
"Yes," Sam said. "I told him only about a ghost boy who'd arrived in town. I didn't tell him it was you though."
"All this talk about trust, all that jazz you were saying, it was all fake," Danny snarled. He couldn't believe it. His best friend since they were kids was a spy. She'd faked through every situation only to report it to Vlad. It was...sickening. He looked up again as Sam began to walk away. "I never expected this from you. You of all people," he said, teeth clenched with anger, blue eyes flaring with angry flames. "So are you just gonna walk away? Forget me? I'll make sure you never forget what you did to me, never." She stopped. "To think," Danny continued. "I thought you were my best friend. To think I actually once loved you."
Sam gasped quietly. She didn't turned. Didn't move. Only stood there, dumbstruck. "You're never going to live this down, Samantha," Danny growled.
Sam instinctively snapped her fingers. In a second three guards had apprehended Danny, putting cuffs around his wrists, keeping a good grip on his arms. "I hope you're satisfied," Danny said. Sam still didn't move. She only stood there, trying to keep her head up high to show she cared not for his words even though they hurt her so.
Danny, though human, could not get through the ghosts. Somehow, he guessed, Vlad found a way to keep him locked up even as human. He looked back at Sam as the guards led him away. Her shoulders shook slightly, but he didn't care. Let her live her mistakes; let him live his betrayal.
"Cause I'm not a pawn for you to play in your fucking game
I've got dignity and I dream that I want to change
The pressure, your troubled and you let me down
I'm not deaf and all I hear is your empty promises..."
E/N: I don't own the song 'Blood(Empty Promises)' by Papa Roach. This is yet another song that inspired this story, which, by the way, is almost at it's end! I'll up-date later!
--Airamé Phantom
