Vlad PoV

The tea was dark and steaming. A light vapor danced in the air, but my heavy sigh quickly eliminated it. The gray newspaper had nothing distracting in it and the silence of my castle did nothing to help deter my mind from a certain teenager. He was, of course, sleeping soundly upstairs, most likely lost in his dreams. I let him sleep in, it was the least I could do. My watched beeped once, signaling the arrival of 9:00 am. Daniel was probably going to sleep in till noon, and then he probably wouldn't want to see me for the rest of eternity anyways.

I stared dejectedly out the window, reminiscing about my life. (This often happens when I fall into a state of moderate depression and I hate it because it accomplishes nothing.) Why couldn't anything ever work out in my favor? Why couldn't I obsess over Maddie and move on? Why did it have to be him?

I sighed, rubbing my temples, trying to stand strong against the wall of impossibilities that loomed over me. For the love of god, he's 15. But...would it really matter anyways? 15 or 20, I'd still feel the same. Half the time I forget he's still a teen.

A half smile reluctantly formed on my tired face, remembering the perseverance and determination he displays on a regular basis. It constantly amazes me that he can balance ghost hunting, grades, and homicidal parents daily. He worries me though. I can often see how exhausted he is during our fights.

Still, he manages to put up a brilliant facade while living his human life. When I first met him at the reunion, I barely noticed. But he'd be hard pressed to hide something like a double life from me, especially since we're in the same boat. I'd known from the moment I met him that there was something different about him. He'd seemed off to me, an entity unlike anything I had ever sensed. I'd felt...drawn to him, as odd as it sounds. It was later that I discovered he was just like me, a half ghost.

I smiled wanly now, remembering the shock I had felt. I don't even think I'd been as shocked when I first discovered my own powers. It was easy to understand why. It was mostly because I knew, from the second that he transformed into his human half, that I loved him. That had scared me to death.

Actually,at first it had disgusted me. How could I be in love with Maddie's son? A 14year old child? The idea was preposterous. I must have just felt a fatherly attraction to him. After all he is Maddie's son, so of course I would wish to be a father figure to him. Certainly better than Jack.

But, as time moved on and I got to know him better, it just got worse. I'd been frantic, desperately trying to somehow make myself love Maddie. Daniel was not an option. It was impossible. I did whatever I could to get him to hate me in the hopes that if he despised me enough, I'd eventually despise him. Unfortunately that had backfired horribly. Now, I love him more than ever and he hates me. Brilliant.

Maybe...if I could get him to not hate me...there might be at least a semblance of a chance. Maybe...I'm sure he can feel it...that connection...he'd-Oh what am I saying! This is ridiculously hopeless.

I hated the fact that a mere 15 year old boy could reduce me to this state. Unsure, nervous, even frightened in some aspects. It was embarrassing.

But I couldn't deny it, no matter how much I wanted to sometimes. I needed him.

"More tea Sir?" a voice asked from my left.

"No thank you, Stephen." I replied automatically, my head resting on my fingertips, staring at the wall.

My ghostly servant didn't leave. I managed to catch his concerned look, but said nothing.

"That will be all."

He bowed and left respectively, leaving me in the lonely silence once more. A clock ticked somewhere, echoing across the many rooms, furthering my feelings of isolation. Maybe I should get a smaller house.

Or maybe I could just share it with Daniel? It's a shame he absolutely abhors me though. I couldn't help as a small groan of exasperation crossed my lips and I buried my head in my arms, my weaker emotion finally coming through.

How is it that I can get anything I want and never what I need? No matter what I do, I always either go about it the wrong way or somehow mess it up. Is getting love really this difficult, or am I just making it hard for myself? I tried almost every approach with Maddie, but she never once looked at me. Not with flattery, manners, money, gifts, nothing. I don't care for her as I once did, but I'm still a little miffed that I couldn't win her over. If I had no luck with her, how could I possibly have a chance with her son?

How how could I get Daniel not to hate me?

I suppose kidnapping and locking him in my mansion wasn't the smoothest move towards that goal. If I could, I would kill my stupidity. But as they say, love makes you do crazy things.

Maybe if I let him outside a bit he wouldn't be so testy with me. But I don't want to treat him like some dog! It's bad enough I'm locking him in his room. He's worth so much more than that. Maybe a companion would level him out a bit, or a sparring partner he could take his frustrations out on.

I rolled my eyes.

Skulker would gladly volunteer for that position, I'm sure.

Perhaps I should ask Daniel first though. Knowing how utterly impulsive he is, he'd immediately assume I was sending someone to attack, not spar or befriend him. I doubt he would accept anything from me though, even the company of another person. He was so stubborn.

I sighed once more, but brought my though back to a more pressing issue. I know that Daniel's friends and sister will suspect me of his disappearance, if they don't already. I'll need to be prepared for them. They'll probably drag Maddie and Jack here as a pitiful attempt to distract me and then go search my house for Daniel. I could always keep the boy in one of the more distant and higher floors when they arrive, just in case they do make it past me and have a chance to look for him.

But what if they do see Daniel?

That...would be a disaster.

The only way to fix that problem would be to either threaten their lives, which they wouldn't care about, threatening Daniel's life, which would only hold them off temporarily, or erasing their short term memory of the event, which would require a hell of a lot of time in the lab.

My options were rather limited, but if I wanted Daniel to stay here forever, the third option was the only one.

Grumbling to myself, I downed the rest of the tea and headed off to the lab, hoping I could put those nanobots to good use.