"I'm going to go down to the auction," Gregor explained to me as I sipped my punch. "I bid on some items earlier and I think it's nearing the time they'll announce the winners."

"I'll go and find Mikey while you're downstairs then." I smiled warmly at him.

Gregor nodded but then, instead of turning to leave, he placed one hand on my waist and seductively drew me toward him. I leaned into his kiss, fully enjoying the feel of his lips to mine. He squeezed me tightly and then, daringly, he kissed my neck. Goosebumps broke out under his touch and I couldn't help but curl my shoulders up, releasing a shuddering breath that I hadn't realized I'd been holding.

"See you soon," Gregor whispered into my ear.

I swooned as he walked away; the tingling sensation was still lingering on my neck.

I didn't have time to think about that warm spot on my neck he'd kissed. Mikey approached me while Gregor's back was still in sight, leading me to the dance floor. I looped my arms around his neck and he placed his hands on my waist. Like the last time we danced, Mikey kept a respectful distance between the two of us.

"Been having a good night?" I asked him with a light smile on my face.

"It's been … stressful," Mikey sighed. "Danny's not handling anything. Tucker is trying to pretend like he's handling it better than he is because he doesn't want Danny to suspect anything."

"You know?" I asked, referencing Tucker and Jazz's relationship, surprise lit up my face.

Mikey managed a smile. "Yeah … I found out in the worst way."

I blushed. "Did you … That is, were they?"

Mikey shook his head. "But they were well on their way. I was dropping off a video game to Tuck. I just let myself in and went up to his room, because that's what I always do. Long story short, I haven't done that since."

"That's one way to teach unexpected visitors a lesson," I giggled.

Mikey rolled his eyes, muttering, "Understatement of the year."

We spun and then he asked, "How is it going with Gregor? Has he been treating you okay?"

"Absolutely. Gregor is great. Why? Have you been worrying about me?" I teased him.

"A little," he admitted, without shame.

"You're sweet," I told him, becoming distracted.

Mikey spun me faster, taking a look at what my gaze had locked on: a frantic looking Tucker. He was edging around the ballroom, inspecting the dancers, but he obviously wasn't finding who he was looking for. He looked paler than I had ever seen him; worse than the day he'd shown up at my house after Jazz's attack. I let go of one side of Mikey, though I kept one hand in his. Together, we wove across to the dance floor to Tucker's side.

"Have you seen Danny?" He demanded. His eyes were wild, darting from place to place and his stance was equally distressed. He looked utterly panicked.

I detected a crack in his voice.

Mikey shook his head. "I've been with Sam. The last time I saw Danny, he was with you."

I also shook my head. "Never registered on my radar, Tuck."

"We have to find him," Tucker stressed. "We absolutely have to. I've already checked the kitchen but I didn't see him."

"I'll check the bathrooms," Mikey volunteered, and slipped away.

"Sam, please help us look. I know you don't want to see him but we must find him. I'm scared he's in danger."

"I'll help you," I promised him. "I'll go take a look along the buffet, okay? Then I'll go down to the auction."

Tucker nodded solemnly. "I'm … I'm going to go look around the rest of the house. Danny doesn't like Vlad so he might be snooping, or doing something dumb."

"Don't worry about him. We both know he can take good care of himself."

Tucker looked at me – his green eyes dark and serious. Something about the strength of his gaze was giving me chills. I rubbed at my arms, despite the heat of the house.

"Not this time, Sam." Tucker whispered.

Before I could ask him what he meant, Tucker had walked away, going off to search for his friend. His words haunted my mind. I found it unbelievable that something could scare or do some serious damage to Fenton. Thought I had tried to cut off all of thoughts of him, I couldn't help but let bits creep in. With those bits, came a sliver of fear, creeping into my heart. Tucker and I both knew what Fenton was capable of so there must be something truly terrifying creeping around in the night. Like I had promised my friend, I went to the buffet. I walked slowly down the line of food, taking in all of the people that surrounded the room. None of them, though, were Danny Fenton. I let out a breath, walking slowly. Truthfully, I didn't want to be the one to find him, because that meant that I would have to strike up a civil conversation with him and I didn't know if I could do that.

I left the buffet area and went headed down to the auction. At the very least, Gregor would be downstairs. Just the thought of him brought a small smile dancing to my lips. I had just carefully placed one of my heeled shoes down on the step when the very object of my thoughts appeared before me. No, not Fenton; Gregor.

"Hi there," he greeted me. He reached for my hand and kissed it; an unexpected move but not an unwelcome one. "Miss me too?"

I chuckled. "Not quite. I told Tucker I'd go looking for … Danny. Is he down there?"

Gregor shook his head. "No. And I was at the very back of the room. I would have seen him if he had come in."

"Tucker's worried. I don't know why though." I shook my head, letting my eyes drop to the floor.

"I'm sure Danny is fine," Gregor looped his fingers through mine. "Do you want to go out to the backyard with me?"

Instantly my eyes lit up, but I wavered. "I should go check myself. You know, just to make sure that he's not down there. Tucker was really upset."

"I promise you," Gregor purred in his accent, "That he's not down there. I would tell you if he were."

"I can trust that," I decided as I turned my thoughts to his previous offer. "You were saying something about outside?"

Gregor nodded. "Uncle Vlad prepared the backyard as well; he has an orchestra coming in later. I thought you might want to take a look at the backyard garden before it's overrun with people."

"I think that sounds lovely."

I took a tottering step backward. Gregor joined me on the main level and then he offered me his elbow. Feeling incredibly formal – what with the fancy dress and his form-fitting tux – I took his arm. We swept from the main area of the house and out into the backyard.

"Oh, it's so pretty," I gasped aloud.

Vlad had a small garden arranged near the door. It was large enough to accommodate several rows of chairs and room for an orchestra, with flowers surrounding it. I didn't know all the different kinds of flowers that he had planted but it all looked beautiful. I was immediately drawn to the roses; my favourite.

I left the step and immediately my heels sank into the rich grass. I toppled backward, and would have hit my head on the top step, were it not for Gregor's quick reflexes. He had me around the shoulders, so that I was leaning back and looking up at him.

"Looks like you really fell for me," he joked.

"Just grateful you decided to catch me," I returned with a smirk.

Gregor sat me down gently, so that I was now perched on the step. He dropped down next to me.

"I really enjoyed catching you," Gregor told me.

I slipped my feet from my heels, placing my bare soles on the slightly damp grass. I bounced to a standing position and cackled, "Catch me if you can!" I lifted my skirt so that I wouldn't trip on the hem of my dress and ran for the rose bushes. I could hear Gregor not far behind me; I focused on not tripping and falling flat on my face. It was likely I would fall, as uncoordinated as I tended to be. I could feel my heart thundering, whether it was from the running or from spending time with Gregor, I didn't know.

I could feel my now wet feet slipping on the blades of grass. I knew that I wasn't going to be upright much longer, and Gregor was coming up quick behind me anyway. There was a short stone bench in front of the rose bushes that I'd been eyeing. I dropped neatly onto the bench, grinning up at Gregor as he came to a stop in front of me.

"You're a minx," he teased.

"Who? Me?" I joked in response.

Gregor took a seat beside me on the stone bench, pressing his leg tightly against mine. He leaned over and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, bringing him closer to me. His hands felt heavy on my waist as he wanted me even closer to him. I looped one of my legs over Gregor's, my knee creasing over his. When our breathing became laboured, I had to break away from him.

"You're beautiful," Gregor breathed.

"Thank you." I responded, snapping out of the daze he had so wonderfully placed me in.

"I won something, at the auction."

"What did you get?" I asked with a hint of curiosity in my eye.

"It's a necklace," Gregor revealed, digging in his jacket pocket. "I got it for you."

"Oh, Gregor," I said automatically. "You really didn't have to do that."

Even as I said it, I was already touched that he'd gone so far as to buy me a gift. Butterflies erupted within my stomach and happiness filled me as I thought, This is what a real relationship is. This is what can really blossom into something beautiful. My smile stretched my cheeks as I looked at him, realizing just how easy it was to fall for such a charming, wonderful man.

"It was for a good cause and I thought that it would look beautiful on you," Gregor explained, He popped open the jewellery box – it was a silver chain with a simple silver heart pendent on it.

"Thank you," I breathed. "It's lovely."

"I'll put it on," Gregor offered. "Just turn around."

I tilted so that I was facing the other direction. Then, I gathered my hair off the nape of my neck, revealing my bare back to him. Gregor slid the cold chain around my throat.

"The latch is being tricky," Gregor explained, as he'd been toying with the necklace for some time. "Forgive me."

"It's fine," I said with a small chuckle. "I know how tricky necklace latches can be."

As I was saying it, the necklace slipped from his grasp, toward the front of my dress. I reached up to grab it but froze when I realized Gregor's hands were in my view. Was he going to reach down my dress?

Horror crept up my face; everything from this moment onward seemed to happen incredibly slowly.

I couldn't decide on whether or not I should scream or hit him, it was here where I came to the realization that Gregor wasn't reaching for the front of my dress; wasn't going to grope around my chest for the necklace that he'd dropped. Instead, his hands were snaking around my throat. In a detached sort of way, I was wondering what he was doing; why he was putting his hands around my throat like he was going to commit some kind of violent act.

I didn't even think to scream before my world went black.

(-.-)

When I woke up, I didn't have typical thoughts like: why did he do that? Where am I? What happened?

No, the first thing I thought of when I came around was: I was out much longer than I should have been.

I could tell, from the stiffness in my joints to the way my head was pounding, that I'd been given something to prolong the spell I was put under, longer than I would have been from someone putting their hands around my neck. I brought my fingers gently up to my throat, touching it in a detached sort of way. It felt positively normal.

But I could clearly remember how it felt to have hands around my neck. I was even more incredulous over the fact that it was Gregor who had done it. Why would he have done that?

The world 'betrayal' began to form in my mind, the feeling that I was experiencing now was a dampened version of when Fenton had told me he was half ghost. My heart lurched painfully at the comparison and a sick feeling formed in the pit of my stomach. I had fallen head over heels for Gregor, who had seemed like such a great person. I was at a loss. Was I really so unlucky when it came to love?

I shook my head to dispel my previous thoughts and I pried open my eyes, expecting to find Gregor there, but that wasn't what I saw at all. I was faced with a dark grey wall. I reached out and touched it, not believing it was real. But it was. There was a stone wall, real and unyielding under my fingertips.

Panic began to well up inside me. I slowly pushed myself to sit upright, ignoring both my headache and the dizzy feeling I had. In front of me, was more of the grey wall. I lurched to my feet and there was a heavy tugging on my ankle. I kicked backward, trying to frantically free myself from the weight but, rather, I was stopped by a chain. I'd been chained up.

I let out a cry and turned around, seeing first the bars of a cell. The scene was terrifying as I connected it to what I had seen of prisons. The connection to the familiar image shook me to the core. Second, I spotted my cellmate. A second prisoner, who was chained more seriously than I was.

Daniel Fenton.

He was staring at me, blue eyes sharp.

"Don't panic," he said softly.

I stared at him; trying to control my erratic breathing that was coming in short bursts through flared nostrils. I could feel my terror welling up in me. I knew what Fenton was capable of. I knew that he was deadlier than most things out there; hell, he could transform and fight ghosts, for goodness sake. If something had taken him down, I was in deep trouble.

"What happened?" I asked, feeling myself break down. Tremors had begun to plague my body.

Gregor's phantom hands dug into my neck again.

"Why?" I cried out, not sure if I was talking to Fenton or my memory.

"Fuck," Fenton swore. "I'm fuckin' sorry, Sam."

"And," I demanded, my eyes narrowing with accusations, "What the hell do you have to be sorry for?"

I don't own anything recognizable. Thanks to my betas: Forever Sky.

~TLL~