Chapter 24
"The punchbowl goes over there," Vlad ordered one of his maids as he pointed toward a table on the far side of the party room.
Vlad woke up early that day to get a few more things set up for the reunion party. Only the food and beverage was left to be set out. However, he didn't want anything ruined by sitting out, so he was left with only planning out where to place everything. As he prepared to yell at the maids again, the door opened. Vlad spun around, frustration flowing through him until he saw who was peeking into the room.
"Maddie," he greeted with a smile as he walked toward her. "Did you need something?"
"This castle is so big that I got lost," Maddie admitted, laughing lightly.
You'll have plenty of time to learn your way around once you're my wife, Vlad thought as he guided Maddie out of the room. "I was so busy with getting everything ready for the reunion that I've been a bad host. You must forgive me. I suppose you and the children wish to be served breakfast now, hm?"
"Oh, the cooks already made us breakfast," answered Maddie. "Jack and I were curious to see if you kept up with any of the ghost research we did back in college." They heard a loud bang from upstairs, and Maddie grinned weakly. "I guess Jack found-"
"My lab!" shouted Vlad before he rushed up the stairs to his laboratory. When he got there, his heart nearly stopped upon seeing Jack taking apart the spectral energy feedback regulator he worked on for months. "You!" he shouted, pointing at Jack. "Out of my lab! Out right this instant!"
"Hey, V-man!" Jack grinned, oblivious to Vlad's anger. "We should trade notes sometime."
"Jack, dear," Maddie said as she passed by Vlad. "Why don't we go check on the kids?" She managed to pry Jack away from the device and lead him toward the door. "Sorry about that, Vlad," she said, offering a small smile as Jack walked grumpily down the hallway. "You know how Jack enjoys taking things apart."
"Yes, well." Vlad coughed slightly to regain his composure. "It was nothing a little time and work can't correct." Months worth of time, he thought even while putting on a smile. "I apologize for snapping like that."
"Well, it is your lab after all." Maddie still wore the small smile. They heard a crash, and she winced. "I'll go keep him from doing anymore damage." She hurried off down the hallway, following the noise as a guide to Jack's location.
Vlad frowned as he watched Maddie disappear down one hallway. It's no wonder Daniel ended up with ghost powers, he thought, seething. With such an oaf for a husband and father, Maddie and the children's lives are in constant danger, and they don't even acknowledge the extent of the threat his presence is to them. He turned his head and glared at the device Jack destroyed. He only had to wait out the hours until the reunion party then his plan would be put into action.
When time came, Vlad greeted with false smiles and well-trained manners the attendees of his reunion party. Soon he would put his plan into action. Soon he would ruin Jack's life and have his revenge. However, for now, he needed to play the role of the gracious host.
The last of the guests arrived, and Vlad was finally given the chance to look around and see how everything was proceeding. He caught sight of Daniel sitting alone at a table near the back of the room. Daniel had his head resting on his folded arms, looking rather bored.
Perfect, Vlad thought as he weaved his way through the crowd to the boy. He needed a moment alone to speak to the boy but in a more private setting.
"Well, Son, you're looking much better," said Vlad, smiling at the boy, who immediately sat up the moment he heard the man speak. "I was wondering if you could do me a huge favor." I would be a better father for him, Vlad thought. I would give him the time and care he needs to reach his potential. Jack could never do that. He doesn't understand what this boy's needs. He would never understand what Daniel truly is.
"Oh, sure, Mr. Masters," Daniel said, eagerness lighting up his blue eyes. "But call me Danny," insisted the boy. "Son's what my dad calls me."
Vlad kept his smile in place, feeling an odd sting at the name. Perhaps not now but one day, Daniel will call me father, he thought, pushing aside the foolish sting. I'm sure of it. "Could you go to my lab, second door on the right upstairs? There's a present in there for your father that I'd like you to bring down." He chuckled lightly.
"Okay," Daniel said happily as he stood. He walked off, heading toward the exit of the party room.
Now that he had taken care of that little detail, Vlad turned and searched the room for his target. He spotted Jack on the dance floor doing the pogo, that ridiculous dance. His eyes narrowed, thoughts of hate for the man filling his head. Maddie stood beside Jack with her arms folded as she watched his bounce like an idiot. The anger and irritation he saw in her eyes spoke of her discontent.
Maddie. A dreamy sigh entered his voice as Vlad thought about her. But anger boiled through his veins. That lab accident cost me my youthful chance at you, but that's all about to change. A smirk tugged at his lips. He would deal with Jack shortly, but first he had a certain matter to discuss with Daniel.
"Well, if it isn't Vlad Masters." The voice drew his attention away from Maddie.
Vlad stared blankly at the woman that approached him with a drink in her hand. He half suspected it contained more than simply the punch he served. When he recognized her, his eyes narrowed, and he struggled with his anger so that he wouldn't cause a scene. "What do you want?"
A wicked smirk appeared on her face as her gaze flicked toward the door that Daniel left through moments ago. "Just your type, isn't he?" she asked with cruelty in her voice. "I'm surprised you didn't put him in a dress."
Vlad twitched as he gritted his teeth. "I don't believe I invited you to this reunion, Laura." He would love to use his ghost powers on this woman and get payback on her for what happened twenty years ago. It would serve her right, but I have a bigger fish to fry.
"I was in the same graduating class as you." Laura looked smug at that fact, and Vlad only returned the look with a dull glare. "The invitation didn't say anyone from our class was excluded." She glanced back at the door. "Trying to sneak off to have a little fun with your new toy."
"Get out of my home," Vlad growled, his glare darkening at her. Her comments only reminded him of things that he wanted to keep forgotten.
But his response only made Laura smile like she won somehow. Before she could make another comment, another woman joined them. "I think that Cliff Hudgins over there," she told Laura, pointing into the crowd.
"What? Where?" Laura demanded, looking around for the man. The name only sounded vaguely familiar to Vlad. After the other woman pointed him out again, Laura hurried off to speak with him.
"I'm really sorry about that," the woman said, looking regretful. "She wouldn't leave me alone about coming to this."
"Quite all right," Vlad said, trying to sound like the encounter didn't bother him. He stared at her for a moment before he asked, "Tiffany, was it?"
The woman nodded with a laugh. "I wasn't sure you'd remember me. We only met that one time." Tiffany's gaze took in the crowd attending the party. "That Danny kid isn't here?"
Vlad's hand clenched tightly. Why did everyone insist on bringing him up? "No, he isn't."
Tiffany frowned at his answer. "Well, I just wanted to thank you for back in college and apologize for Laura." She leaned closer to him, lowering her voice. "She couldn't even get a job with her journalism degree. None of the magazines or newspapers would hire her. The only job she could get was announcing lotto numbers for some local news station, but I heard she might be getting fired soon."
A smile tugged at his lips, hearing that news, but it was a small victory to him. "That may be the best news I've heard tonight," he told her. "But if you'll excuse me, I have a matter that needs to be checked on."
"Oh, of course! Don't let me hold you up." Tiffany wandered off to mingle with the rest of the guests.
Everyone else was too busy enjoying the party to notice when he strolled out of the party room. Vlad arrived at his laboratory in time to hear Daniel say, with a small tremble in his voice, "The glowing blade is new."
"You like it?" Skulker asked, sounding proud of his new weapon. "I've had some upgrades. Now."
Vlad walked into the laboratory and found Skulker pressing the blade to Daniel's neck, and his heart nearly stopped with the thought of what Skulker was about to do. "Enough!" he shouted, scowling at the hunter. "I didn't free you to kill the boy, Skulker. Your work is done." He glared, daring the hunter to protest.
Skulker stopped and stared at Vlad. His gaze drifted toward Daniel before he pulled back and stood up straight. He grumbled about something that Vlad hardly cared about. His flight equipment popped out of his back as he turned intangible.
Daniel watched Skulker shoot off through the ceiling. Vlad snapped his response to the boy's bafflement, his inability to understand. Some of his frustration toward Jack and all his years of waiting for Maddie seeped into his voice. He approached the boy trapped in the device that Skulker created, and he grinned with confidence. "Imagine my surprise when I find you: the second ghost hybrid his foolishness created." He smirked at the surprise and confusion on the boy's face. Daniel didn't quite catch on, Vlad noticed. No matter. I'll show him he's not alone.
Vlad could see the gears trying to work in Daniel's head as he tried to figure out what Vlad meant by the comment. He decided to take pity on the poor boy. The black ring flashed before his eyes, and he stood before the boy transformed into Plasmius. He smirked as understanding entered Daniel's gaze.
Vlad chuckled lightly as he watched Daniel try to turn ghost while trapped within the box. The boy was too amusing. A bit slow and too naïve, he thought, wanting to laugh at Daniel's hero complex. "As long as you're contained within that box, you're as human as your idiot father."
Vlad kept his back toward the boy as Daniel demanded to be released. He would prove to Daniel that he could teach him things Jack knew nothing about. I'm the better choice. You'll see. I can teach you so many things. You can learn to control your powers if you join me. He turned to face Daniel as he demonstrated the various powers that he learned to control over the years since the accident. "I could train you, teach you everything I know. And all you have to do is renounce your idiot father." What have you to say now, boy, after seeing what I can teach you? He smirked, waiting for Daniel's answer.
"Dude, you are one seriously crazed up fruit loop," Daniel said, and Vlad frowned at that response. "That is never going to happen."
"Once your father is out of the way, we'll see how you feel." He laughed as he drew his cape around him. His body shifted in matter, tingling as it turned smoky. He swirled and vanished from the laboratory in a demonstration of yet another one of his powers.
Vlad appeared in a swirl of smoke in his wine cellar below the party room. His body became solid once again. Daniel had refused him. He was furious with that response. How could Daniel still want that buffoon for a father after seeing all that Vlad could teach him? Why did everyone choose Jack over him? Vlad needed to blast something to release the anger inside him. But he had a plan to finish. After he ruined Jack, Vlad would worry about making Daniel see him as his father.
Floating up through the ceiling, Vlad found he arrived in the right spot. Jack stood directly before him as he said something to Harriet. Vlad didn't care what they were talking about. It wasn't important. He overshadowed the big oaf, and like most others, Jack gave no resistance to the possession. It felt disgusting to be within Jack's body, almost as if his IQ was diminishing simply by being inside him, but Vlad forced himself to stay. He had to finish this plan.
With anger fueling him, Vlad wasted no time. He grabbed Harriet and lifted her over his head, ignoring her shout of protest. This had to be done quickly. Vlad didn't think he could last inside Jack's body for a long period of time. Harriet smashed into the bowl of punch sitting on one table. Partygoers stared in shock at the scene being made before them.
Vlad made Jack's lips stretch into a crazed grin as he surveyed the chaos brought on by his possession. People screamed in terror and ran for their lives as objects flew about the room. It was working. His plan would succeed. No one would trust Jack after this. Maddie and Daniel would join him and be his.
Vlad picked up a table and flung it toward door. People ran out of the room as the table smashed into the wall. The thrill of scaring people rivaled with the pleasure of releasing the pent up anger he felt. Vlad flew toward another partygoer by the window. Screaming, the man slipped and fell off the sill.
"If you live to tell the tale," Vlad shouted for all to hear as he threw another man across the room, "remember that big, fat Jack Fenton did this to you."
"Guess again, Cheese Head," announced Daniel, making Vlad spin Jack's body toward the source of his voice.
How could he escape? Vlad thought a second before Daniel's being rushed into Jack's body. He hardly had time to try and cling to the body before being ripped out. His howl at being evicted from the body echoed through the room as Daniel drove them through the wall. The younger hybrid only stopped once they reached Vlad's library. Daniel made to punch at the older hybrid, but Vlad easily dodged then kicked the boy in the side. Daniel flipped in the air and landed on his feet.
Vlad tried to reason with the other hybrid, make him understand that together they could be unstoppable, as father and son. Daniel refused his offer again as he shot a blast at the older hybrid. Smirking, Vlad caught the blast, absorbing it with one hand. He exchanged it into his other hand before sending the blast back at the young hybrid. Daniel flinched, arms rising immediately to protect his head. That strong desire to protect himself brought out a force field around him, and the blast glanced off its side.
The threat was almost laughable really. Daniel would expose his secret to the world? Naïve little child, Vlad thought, frowning upon Daniel's way of thinking. You are far too young to out think me, boy. "And so will I," he informed the boy. "Honestly, if you expose me, you expose yourself."
Loud honking interrupted their fight. The RV crashed into the library and nearly took Daniel down, but the boy leapt away in the nick of time. Vlad shot up into the air as the RV charged toward him. Once the RV stopped, he phased through the roof. Vlad grabbed Maddie and phased her out of the RV, ignoring Maddie shouting and struggling within his arms. He scowled at that. He would never let Maddie suffer as he had at the hands of bumbling Jack Fenton.
Jack jumped out of the RV and chased after them when Vlad flew farther away.
Vlad dangled Maddie by one foot as he floated out of reach for Jack. Don't you see he can never save you? I can, Maddie. I have the power to save you when you're in danger. Jack can't do that. He couldn't find his way out of a paper bag. You and I were meant to be together, Maddie.
"Jack, look out! The RV!" Maddie's shout tore through Vlad's thoughts.
Vlad looked over in time to see Jack leap out of the way as the RV drove toward them. The boy could almost do my job for me with those driving skills, he thought amused. But no, he knew Daniel was trying to save his parents. The boy refused his offer.
With a smug smirk, Vlad managed to block the attacks until the third shot fired ectoplasmic goo. Unable to do anything to avoid the hit, Vlad released his hold on Maddie right before the goo knocked him out of the air. He cursed the child, cursed Jack, cursed every little thing that went wrong in his life. I will not be defeated like this, he growled as he watched Daniel overshadow his father to save his mother.
"Jack, you did it!" Maddie exclaimed, the happiness in her voice slicing through Vlad's heart.
No, Vlad thought as he refused to accept what he heard as truth. Maddie was merely happy that someone had leapt in to save her. Jack merely happened to be that person, and it hadn't even been Jack. Daniel was the one who forced Jack into action. Jack would have stood like a lump as Maddie fell if Daniel hadn't overshadowed him. Vlad was sure of that.
Daniel used Jack's hands to grab Vlad and lift him off the floor.
"Oh, you've overshadowed Jack. Oh, I'm so scared," Vlad said sarcastically. Does he honestly think this level of power is going to defeat me? he thought, angered by Daniel's low level of strategist thinking. Vlad almost laughed at the suggestion of a truce, but something in the boy's eyes made him stop. Daniel was dead serious about exposing his secret, both their secrets.
Daniel pulled him closer. "My parents will accept me no matter what. But if I expose you, well, heh, what would my mom think of you?" The corners of Vlad's mouth turned down in a frown. "You'll be miserable and alone," Daniel continued as he set Vlad back on his feet. "For the rest of your life unless you call a truce."
Vlad doubted the boy knew how much the comment cut into him. He already was alone and miserable, all thanks to Jack. "Using your opponent's weaknesses against him," he said as a proud smirk stretched over his face. "I am teaching you something after all. Very well, truce." For now anyway, but eventually Maddie and Daniel would join him. He coughed before flying into the air, and in a dramatic shout, he announced his defeat at the hands of Jack Fenton. His voice lowered as he met gazes with Daniel. "Until next time, Son." Crying out in false pain, his body became smoke again and faded from sight, leaving them aside from Daniel to believe he had been defeated.
How could that boy outsmart me? Vlad thought in a growl as he fled to his secret laboratory. He hadn't expected his plan to fail in such a manner. Daniel never should have been able to escape from the spectral energy neutralizer. Reaching his secret laboratory, Vlad quickly brought up the security cameras from his other laboratory. He rewound the recording to the point just before he left.
There! he thought watching as a ghost released Daniel from his prison. Stupid Dairy King! Vlad pounded his fists furiously on the computer console. He hadn't factored the ghost that haunted this castle into his plan. Releasing a roar of anger, he sent a pink energy blast screaming through the air. It slammed into the thick iron wall, leaving scorch marks. He blasted again and again, his rage driving him not to care about the damage to the wall at that moment.
When he used up all his power, Vlad sagged to the floor, reverting to his human form. He panted before snarling and beating a fist into the floor. For twenty years he schemed and planned for this. Discovering Daniel's ghost powers took only a little maneuvering to work into his plan. And he failed because he hadn't taken into account the ghost of the previous owner of his castle. Failure was not something he would accept.
Vlad waited in his secret laboratory until after all the partygoers left his castle. In the long hours he spent waiting, he realized even though his plan failed, it was not as badly as he originally thought. Daniel learned something from him. Vlad planted a seed of knowledge into that child's brain. Daniel would soon come to realize that only Vlad could understand him, could teach him what he needed to know.
Vlad left his secret laboratory and headed to look at the damage to his library and party room. He would need to call in a cleaning crew to fix everything. At the foot of the stair case, he stopped and glared at the man standing over the broken down door.
"That must have been some reunion party," said the man, shaking his head as he surveyed the damage to the front hall. "I never thought you would be the kind of guy to throw such a wild party, Vlad."
"What are you doing here, Ben?" Vlad demanded as he walked with long, quick strides toward the man.
"Was I not invited to the reunion party? I seem to recall getting an invitation in the mail, though I must admit I seem to have arrived a little late," Ben answered, ignoring Vlad's glare as he glanced around at the damage in the front hall. "Failed to win her heart, huh?" He folded his arms with a serious expression on his face. "You don't even love her. Why can't you just let her be happy with Jack?"
"How can you say whether I love her or not? You don't know my feelings." Vlad's hand curled into a fist, but he restrained himself from punching the man.
"Because I know you," Ben replied softly. "I know you still love him, and I know he's still out there."
"Do not bring him into this," Vlad ordered as a growl rumbled in his throat. The memories tried to find their way back to the surface again, but he forced them away, locking them tighter within his mind.
Ben frowned sadly at him. "Fine. I won't talk about him." He sighed and retrieved something from his jacket pocket. He held a pack of letters in his hand. "She may not love you the way you want her to, but she does want you to be in her life." Ben offered the letters to Vlad, who sneered and smacked the letters from the man's hand.
"I love her, and I won't be happy until she's my wife," Vlad stated through clenched teeth. "Leave my home now, or I'll call the cops to drag you away."
Ben's expression crumbled. "Danny's heart would break if he saw you now," he mumbled before he turned his back on Vlad and walking down the steps.
"He doesn't have the right to be heartbroken," Vlad muttered darkly as he turned and stormed through his castle.