Chapter 23

Vlad scowled at the trio of vulture ghosts after they reported back to him. Another failure. Were there no reliable ghosts he could use to test Jack Fenton's abilities? No, it wasn't his minions that failed. It was that blasted Danny Phantom that kept getting in the way.

"Leave," Vlad ordered of the vultures with a dismissive wave of his hand. The vultures fled quickly in fear of his wrath. That much made Vlad smirk, but it soon vanished into a frown. "Danny Phantom," he muttered darkly. "I don't know who you are, but I'm going to put you out of commission. I will have my revenge on Jack Fenton."

The doorbell echoed through the castle, and Vlad turned to glare at the door to his laboratory. Who dared to interrupt his planning? He stormed out of the laboratory and through the castle to front door. Throwing it open, he found the crew he hired to set up for the reunion party he planned to hold that coming weekend. The vultures may have failed him, but Vlad still had many more plans to carry out his revenge. The whole point of throwing the reunion party was to destroy Jack, and for that he would at least make it look like an actual party. He let the men into his castle and directed them to party room.

Hours passed slowly as Vlad instructed the crew of workers on how to set up the room for the party. It only succeeded in making him more frustrated. The men couldn't follow even the simplest of his orders. Finally after five hours, Vlad happily showed the men out of his home. He sighed with relief to have that headache of his plan finished. The caterers would come early tomorrow with the food he ordered for the party.

A pleasant surprise greeted Vlad before he could turn back into his castle. He smirked as the RV drove up the driveway and parked in front of the steps. He noticed Maddie first as she climbed out of the car. His smile faltered at the sight of Jack, but he managed to keep it on his face as the family of four walked up the steps.

"Jack," Vlad greeted as warmly as possible, walking the short distance to meet them, "and Maddie." His smile widened only a little, and he clasped his hands together. "You've never looked lovelier, my dear." He placed an arm around her shoulders. "Please, please come in." He ushered them into the castle.

Vlad slammed the door in the man's face as he smirked in satisfaction. The thick castle door muffled the sound of Jack's voice as he tried to get their attentions, but he could still, unfortunately, be heard. If only she hadn't married that buffoon, Vlad thought with growing annoyance as he heard Jack knocking on the door.

Vlad smiled at the young girl when she commented on his decor. It was a difficult task when he really felt like sneering at her for what felt like an insult. He didn't need an interior decorator! His castle was exactly as he liked it. Almost, he thought as he glanced toward Maddie. Almost. Vlad could tell the young girl was an intelligent woman, taking after her mother, but clearly she didn't understand the simple things in life.

"Jazz, hello," said the boy, like he couldn't believe his sister had to ask about it. "Football helmets, jerseys, cheese heads." He gestured at the sports paraphernalia decorating the entrance hall. "He's a Packer fanatic." The boy grinned smugly, like knowing this proved him better in some way.

Vlad grinned as he placed a hand on the boy's head. This boy could have been my son, he thought as a sharp pain stabbed at his heart. It hurt to see this boy, sharing similar traits as himself, yet be the son of that bumbling idiot. Why Jack? Why couldn't this really be my son? Anger filled him as he wished even more to exact his revenge on Jack. He lifted his hand away from the boy's head.

"I don't understand," said the girl.

Is she trying to make sense of a man's obsession with a sports team? Vlad thought with mild amusement, though mostly annoyance. This would be a long weekend if the girl insisted on psycho analyzing everything. He realized that could also be dangerous if she was smart enough to piece everything together.

Things didn't go as well as Vlad hoped. He tried to keep his temper under control, but the more he was forced to deal with Jack, the more his anger increased. This error came to his realization when Maddie suggested staying in their RV. He couldn't allow that to happen. The whole point was to have the Fenton family stay at his castle.

"You know, Jack," Vlad started, realizing the daughter's not so subtle comment of staying here wouldn't be enough incentive to ensure that they would. Jack liked playing with his inventions, which the RV no doubt had plenty of, but that also made it easy manipulate him. Vlad removed his arm from Jack's shoulders then walked forward to stand before a painting on the wall. "The Dairy King's ghost could haunt these very halls."

"I'll get the bags!" Jack shouted before he rushed out of the castle.

Vlad smirked at the man's response. He knew the mention of a possible haunting would make Jack stay. Something tugged at his mind, and he glanced over to see the boy joined him standing before the painting of the Dairy King. Think fatherly, he told himself as he turned to the boy.

"I do believe we never got a proper introduction." Vlad smiled down at the boy. "Vlad Masters, though I'm sure you already knew that."

"Yeah," said the boy, "Dad told me some about his college days, and you came up."

"I'm not surprised." Vlad laughed. "We were roommates throughout college, after all." He looked over the boy with a critical eye. The boy took after his mother, hardly close to matching his father in terms of height and build. He could have been mine, he thought, smile faltering. "And your name?"

"Oh, right, sorry," replied the boy, chuckling nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Danny Fenton."

Danny. The name sent a stab of pain deep into Vlad's heart. Quickly, he blocked out the thoughts before they could resurface again. Jack that bastard, he thought, fury boiling below the surface as he kept his outward appearance calm. "What a charming name." He forced a smile onto his face.

Twenty years wasn't enough to fully erase the memory of that man who he once believed he loved. Vlad couldn't bring himself to think of the boy with that name. Daniel. He would use that name instead. It was less painful that way.

Daniel gave him an uncertain, worried look before noticing his father enter with the bags. He hurried over to take his things from Jack. Vlad followed after them with his warm smile firmly in place.

"If you'll follow me, I'll show you to your rooms," Vlad announced as he walked toward the stair case leading upstairs. They passed by his laboratory – he didn't mention it, knowing that Jack would want to take a peek inside – and headed toward the wing with the guest rooms. "Dinner shall be served at seven sharp," he told the family before they could enter their separate rooms.

Once the doors closed behind them, Vlad smirked and walked back down the hallway. How easy it would be to slip a little poison into Jack's – No! That wouldn't be satisfying enough. Vlad needed to ruin Jack's life the same way Jack had ruined his life. For that, he needed to be patient and await his chance. Vlad headed down to the kitchens to whip up a splendid meal to serve for dinner.

Later that night, Vlad sat in his secret laboratory, watching his security cameras. Dinner went quite well, in his opinion. Jack blathered on about his latest inventions while his children stayed silent, looking rather embarrassed for their father. That element could play to his advantage in turning them against their father. A smirk slipped across his face as he checked the cameras one last time before leaving. He stood but stopped midway when Jack got out of bed.

"What is that oaf doing?" Vlad growled and glared at the man as he left the bedroom. He pressed a few buttons on the control panel, bringing up the feed from all cameras in the paths that Jack might take in his nightly stroll. "Where are you heading?" His eyes narrowed more when he noticed the vulture trio appear on screen. "Idiot birds! I told them-" The angry words caught in his throat and his eyes grew wide as Jack's large from sank straight through the floor.

Vlad stormed out of his secret laboratory as black rings surrounded him, transforming him from his normal human self into his ghost self. Something was not right here, and he would find out what caused Jack to phase through the floor like only a ghost could.

When he arrived at the spot where Jack had last been, Vlad saw the white haired ghost boy rise up through the floor. The child had his back toward Vlad, clearly unaware of his presence. He lifted an eyebrow as the desire to laugh at the child's comments rose in him. Is this child serious?

The boy was quick, arm raised back ready to throw a punch as he flew toward Vlad. Cocky little brat. Vlad easily caught the boy's fist and tossed him away like a little rag doll. The boy slammed into the wall, sliding down to the ground. When the ghost boy attacked again, Vlad caught him around the throat. Did he really think he could win with this level of power? Vlad smirked, holding the boy up before throwing him to the ground. "My vultures were supposed to bring the big idiot to me, but you'll do," he mocked, using the same manner of speaking. He watched in boredom as the boy sat up. "Danny Phantom, right?"

"You," said Phantom, confused as his eyes darted around the hallway before landing on Vlad again. "You know me?"

Vlad was almost appalled by the ghost boy's idiocy. Did he not realize how well known he was in the Ghost Zone? He floated backward and turned intangible, phasing through the wall into his private study. Curiosity made the boy follow him. So predictable. Vlad announced his knowledge of the ghost boy. What a silly hero complex he possessed! Vlad sneered at the boy before moving closer and leaning toward him. "Aren't you going to try to shove me into your ridiculous thermos?" He floated around the boy, who followed his motion.

Shock and fear warred against each other in the boy's eyes as Phantom fought to speak. "I don't want to fight you."

How this child ever managed to best his minions, Vlad couldn't guess. From what he witnessed so far, this Danny Phantom wasn't much of a challenge to deal with, much like a new born ghost still struggling to understand and control its new found powers. "No, no you don't," Vlad agreed with a smug smirk.

An energy blast charged in his hand, and he shot Phantom with it. The blast threw Phantom back. He slid across a table, knocking off books and the candle holder, before he slammed into the bookcase at the corner of the room. Vlad sighed with annoyance at the mess he would have to clean later.

Wasting no time, Phantom jumped back into the air. "Get away!" he shouted as he fired off his own green blasts.

Vlad created a shield that blocked the boy's attacks. He watched unimpressed as Phantom threw blast after blast at him. But Vlad merely moved his shield to block each attack and mock yawned in boredom. How did Phantom win all those fights when he seemed to know so little about battle strategy? The child merely attacked head on with brute force and no apparent thought of learning from his mistakes. Once Phantom stopped attacking, Vlad let the shield vanish, no longer needing it. "Tell me, child. Can you do this?" Vlad split himself into clones, surrounding Phantom on all four sides.

Phantom spun around to look at each close as it appeared. He backed out of the circle, fear overriding the shock on his face. "No, I can't," he replied, voice nearly cracking. "How are you doing all of this?"

So young, so untrained, Vlad thought as he called his clones into a line. "Years of practice, which you unfortunately have no time for." Eight hands charged up an ectoplasm energy blast. Each pair of blasts combined into four large beams that shot toward the child.

Phantom shouted as they slammed into his body then he dropped to the ground. He placed a hand around his body, standing up weakly. Vlad took no pity on the child. Phantom was a nuisance and too cocky for his own good. He needed a swift kick in the head to knock some reality into that inflated ego. For too long, Vlad heard of the ghost boy's triumphs over his minions. Now he would let boy know of true strength, strength acquired through long, hard training.

Phantom had little power left after that combined attack by Vlad and his three clones. Vlad toyed with him, treating him very much like a useless ragdoll until Phantom managed to turn intangible and fly through the door. Vlad followed and landed on the floor by Phantom's battered body. The ghost child had no strength left, falling into unconsciousness. Rings of white light appeared around his waist, and Vlad's eyes widened a fraction in shock of the familiarity of them. Then the truth smacked him in the face as the rings traveled over the boy's body and revealed a human child.

"The ghost boy is Jack's son?" Vlad asked in shock. Similar black rings appeared around his own waist, changing him back to his human form. "Well, what do you know?" A devious smirk stretched across his face as plots circulated in his mind. He imagined the power he could gain with the ghost boy at his side, as his apprentice and heir. But first, he would need to gain the boy's trust.

Vlad lifted Daniel into his arms, carrying him back to his guest room. When he reached it, he gently, caringly laid Daniel on the bed and tucked him in like a father would for his son. It remained a present thought in his head that this boy could have been his son. In terms of appearance, Daniel looked like he shared more in common with Vlad than Jack. He waited, watching the boy. A thought tingled at his mind, but he refused to let it surface.