"It's a long story," I told her. I squeezed my eyes shut, the images of the past couple of months passed before my eyes: arguing with Jazz and Tucker; fighting alongside Jazz and Tucker; helping the ghosts cross over; fighting with Vlad; and his endless threats. I didn't want to admit anything to Sam, because I knew that it would scare her.

But she deserved to know.

"I will come over there and … and …" Sam stumbled around her words. "Or I'll kick you."

I realized how worried she was when her words didn't make complete sense. Sam always tried to make sense. It was impossible to think of her knowing the truth after she had been removed from my life for so long. Sam was in front of me again, forced to have a conversation with me, and all I could think about was how much easier it was when she was just a fantasy; when all she did was love me rather than need an explanation.

"I didn't want to bring you into this. I tried … I didn't want to bring anyone into it." The last thing I wanted to do was put the people I loved in danger, but that was all I managed to do. "I got Jazz hurt. Tucker … fuck knows what happened to Tucker. And you; you're down here."

I could picture all of their eyes, staring at me, accusing me. I was supposed to be a protector, a hero, and I had ended up trapped like any worthless damsel in distress. I was fucking useless. I should have been better. Even though I squeezed my own eyes shut even tighter than they were before, I could still see Jazz's blue eyes – dimming, maybe dying; I saw Tucker's green eyes – fading into unconsciousness; and Sam's purple eyes, condemning me. Plasmius' red eyes flashed in front of me and I was angry, unbelievably so, that I managed to get myself into this fucking mess. My own eyes opened and I smashed my fists, radiating with ghostly energy, into the floor, trying not to feel anything anymore. As soon as my fists hit the floor, Sam dropped to her knees, screaming wildly. I froze, not even managing to jump into action when she fell against the floor, shaking like she was having a seizure. I made it onto my knees when she puked.

I recoiled from the vomit, remembering the other time that I had seen her get sick. I had taken care of her. Now, it was my fault.

"Sam?" I asked her. "Sam, please, answer me? Are you okay?"

She looked nearly dead. I heard her groan once, but before it could become a reply, someone else spoke.

"Leave her be, Daniel."

I ground my teeth together and cringed. I should have been expecting Plasmius to show up; should have been waiting for it, really.

"What did you do?" I shouted. I forced myself onto my feet so that I could stare him down better.

Vlad grinned. He was probably getting off on seeing us chained in his basement, the sick bastard.

"Me?" Vlad pressed his hand against his chest, trying to look innocent. He didn't quite make it convincing though. Maybe it was the fangs or maybe it was because I knew he was a sadist. "I didn't do anything. You did. By using your powers, you caused her unimaginable pain. I warn you, though, if you transform it will kill her."

That son of a bitch! He had stalked me enough to know that the only thing I wouldn't want to do was hurt her. The only thing I wanted to do right now was to kill him. I leapt at the cell bars. I didn't need my powers to be able to reach through them and strangle him. But as soon as I moved, Sam screamed again. I felt sick, stumbling backward to my original place by the wall. He'd hurt her again.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing." Vlad shrugged like nothing had happened. "Though I may have forgotten to mention that you can't move very far from where you're chained. That also hurts her."

I seethed. He had made it so I couldn't do anything without hurting Sam. If I wanted to stop him then I would have to sacrifice her and he knew that I would never do that.

"FUCK YOU!" I shouted at him, because nothing else could convey what I was feeling.

"Such language," Vlad sounded appalled. "What would your mother say?"

I curled my lip at the mention of my mother, knowing Vlad's obsession. "Probably the same thing, if she knew the truth about you."

Vlad chuckled and I wanted punch him. "Then, little badger, she would have to know the truth about you."

It physically hurt to think about telling my parents. I couldn't help but wince.

"All the things you've done, including getting your dear sister hurt all of those times …"

"I didn't hurt her!" He did. "I would never hurt Jazz."

"Maybe not directly." Vlad stepped closer to the bars, narrowing his eyes at me. "You are the reason she was hurt though."

I tried to keep myself under control. I hadn't done anything to my sister. If it hadn't been for Vlad – fucked-up, crazy Vlad – then Jazz would never have been in danger in the first place. But Vlad didn't see it that way.

"If you hadn't been playing your game, Jasmine wouldn't be in the hospital. If you had listened, dear little Samantha wouldn't be trapped here. Oh, and your poor friend Tucker. What will he think of you if he ever sees you again?"

"What the fuck did you do to Tucker?" I shouted. Knowing what I did about Vlad, it wouldn't surprise me if he'd touched Tucker after I had blacked out. I didn't want to think that he had – that Tucker had somehow ended up worse off than when I had last seen him, unconscious against the floor – but it was more than probable.

"Nothing too horrible." Vlad got closer to the bars again so that his face was almost touching them. In a soft voice, he said, "Let's just say, he's gone down a similar path to Jasmine."

"When I get out of here, I'm going to kill you, Vlad."

I could feel his death happening in my hands with startling clarity. I could see the light fading out of his eyes and hear his breath stopping in his chest. Finally dead for good, hopefully being sent to hell where he belonged.

Vlad smiled again, flashing his vampire-like fangs – I'd always been thankful they weren't characteristic of being a halfa. "If you get out of here, little badger."

Like the pompous ass that he was, Vlad flashed his cape and turned on one heel. He didn't look back as he walked away, knowing that we were in enough agony. I watched him go, trying to let myself process what had just happened. But there was no processing. There was just act and react, and right now, I needed to react to – Sam! I spun around to face her, aware that I had been so caught up in Vlad that I had forgotten what was most important to me here – her.

"Are you okay?" I demanded breathlessly, because, looking at her now, I realized that it was my fault she was on the floor like that. Vlad had set it up, but I had been the cause behind her pain. As I always was. "I'm so sorry; I didn't know. I won't do it again, I promise. But I'll get us out of here. I promise that too."

Sam didn't say anything right away. She took a long breath and then she sat up. I was worried that she shouldn't have been moving, she was sick after all, but she didn't look like she was about to collapse.

"Talk," Sam snapped at me. "I want the whole story, start to finish."

"That man you just saw, the one who looks like a ghost, that's Vlad Masters, Sam."

I didn't know how I expected her to act. A little shocked, maybe, that her boyfriend's guardian had a completely different, vampire-ish appearance, but that's not what Sam did. She kept me on my toes. All she did was close her eyes and ask, "And he's like you?"

"Yeah," I said slowly, unsure of how she had made it to that conclusion without help. "Vlad's the only other halfa."

I watched her process my words, keeping her eyes closed against the world.

"Why am I here?" She asked.

I shrugged at her, even though, to me, it was terribly obvious. "My best guess? Probably to keep me in line. Vlad knows I'm powerful enough to break out of anything he could cook up, given enough time. He linked my powers and your pain together to keep me passive until he accomplishes whatever he needs to." I wanted to sound powerful to her, like there wasn't a lot to worry about because I could manage things.

"What does he need to accomplish?"

"I don't know!" I couldn't keep the frustration out of my voice. "I know it has something to do with the ghosts crossing over, but I don't know what!"

"Crossing over?" Sam repeated.

"Ghosts aren't supposed to be here," I said, trying to explain things as quickly and simply as possible. "They got stuck, somewhere between here and the afterlife. Ember, she was the first ghost that I knew to cross to the other side, taught me to help other ghosts. I had helped quite a few of them. But then, a few months ago, right after you left Amity –" after you left me, "– Vlad cornered me. He said I had to stop what I was doing."

"But you didn't," Sam guessed.

I dropped my head, unable to look at her any longer. No, I didn't. If I had … What would be different, if I had?

"Why me?" Sam whimpered, voice barely audible. I could hear all the words that she didn't put into her sentence: why was she the one that Vlad chose to suffer along with me?"

"Because I'm in love with you." Not only was it the truth, but it was also a relief to say it; to tell her, once more, that I was in love with her.

Sam was pissed. "Don't. You don't get to say that."

I deflated. I hoped that it would mean something to her. Weakly, I laid out Vlad's logic to her. "I'm just giving you the reason. You asked and that's it. Vlad's been watching me. He's likely been watching you. He couldn't use anyone else but you. You don't have ghost-fighting experience, so you won't be able to fight back like Tucker or Jazz would. He couldn't use my parents, because neither of them know we're halfas and he has to protect his dual identity as much as I have to protect mine. There's no one else that really matters to me except for you."

Sam turned her head away. My heart dropped at the action. I expected her to go on ignoring me, but instead, she asked another question. "Is someone going to find us? My parents are going to be looking. Your parents have to be looking. We have to be found."

I smiled at her, although it was the expression of a cynic. "No, they're not going to find us. We're going to have to find our own way out."

"How can you be so sure?" I saw fear in her eyes, and I desperately wanted to tell that I wasn't sure and that they would find us immediately. But I knew better. Vlad was evil, but he wasn't stupid.

I tapped the stone wall behind my head. I knew exactly where we were, because I had been here so many times before, snooping and generally not minding my own business. "Sam, we're still in his mansion."

(-.-)

I was restlessly tossing back and forth on the stone floor, trying to make myself comfortable where there was no comfort to be found. I drifted in and out of sleep. I was almost completely out of it when I heard Sam scream again. I snorted, sitting up. "Sam? Are you all right?"

She was absolutely silent, and that made me worry more than anything else.

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

~TLL~