Disclaimer: I am not Butch Hartman. I do not own Danny Phantom. I write this story for pure entertainment purposes only. I do not get paid for it. Enjoy the chapter!

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Friday. December 23rd, 2004. Large Guest Room. 8:25 p.m.

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"Danielle, I did not like the way you were conducting yourself with Vlad."

Dani rolled her eyes. It took her mother two whole seconds since they walked in the large guest room to start yelling at her. That had to be some kind of record. Usually it just took one.

"It was nothing mom." She casually responded, cooing as she scratched Vladimir between his ears while he softly purred in response. He was so adorable!

"I am not kidding young lady!" Her mother ranted, incensed from Dani's indifferent attitude. "He's more than twice your age and you have no business-"

"Relax mom." She hastily replied before her mother really flipped the lid. "I was just getting back at him for slamming the door on Dad. I have absolutely no interest in Vlad Masters. Like you said he's way too old for me."

'And way too creepy.' She added mentally, still remembering when he refused to let go of her hand. One thing she could admit about Vlad Masters, besides him being a rich, crazed potential murderer, was that he had one hell of a grip. She damn near lost blood circulation when he refused to let go.

"Besides," She added with a smirk. "You were the one Vlad was hitting on. What did he say again mom? You were one out of two things his wealth has not yet acquired?"

Her mother had the grace to look abashed. Her cheeks tinted red and she looked away from Dani, a small smile on her face. Dani grinned. She knew her mother loved being hit on by other men even though she said otherwise. Oh she would never ever even dream about cheating on her father, of that Dani was a hundred percent sure. Not even with a multi-billionaire who lived in a castle. But while she would deny them, she would never deny their compliments to her. It's been that way since before she could remember. Dani just thought her mother craved the attention, loved the power her beauty had over the masses, and that it just made her feel younger. Especially now since she was over forty.

"Why are we getting dressed anyway? Aren't I dressed enough?" Dani inquired, trying to switch the conversation topic. She saw the two evening gowns her mother laid out in the bed and desperately hoped she didn't have to wear the ridiculously long green one.

"Oh Dani." She chided, handing her the dreaded green dress. "You know you can't wear a short halter dress to a formal dinner."

Dani took it miserably. God she hated long evening dresses.

"Now quickly put it on." She ordered, grabbing the other dress for herself. "I still have to fix your hair."

"What's wrong with my hair?" Dani asked, quickly slipping her gloves and clothes off and sliding the dress on.

As much as Dani hated to admit it, it was really beautiful. The emerald green fabric clung to her body loosely, but not too loosely, and the spaghetti straps held her breasts firmly but didn't bother her shoulder blades at all. Her breasts were not squashed together, like in the halter dress, but were allowed space to breathe. The only thing she didn't like about it was that it was a braless dress. There was no way she could hide her cell phone without her mother noticing it and catching a fit. Since the dress was so long, she would just have to hide it by strapping it to her leg just like she did with her blade.

"Oh Dani you always wear it down. This time I want to do a pretty French Twist." She responded, patting the space next to her, already in her black evening gown. Dani picked up Vladimir and sat down next to her mother. She saw her mother grimace but she didn't say anything.

As her mother did her hair, Dani played with Vladimir until she was finished.

"There sweetheart." Her mother said, temporarily taking Dani's attention away from Vladimir. "All done."

Dani left Vladimir on the bed and walked over to the large desk mirror and took a glance at her reflection. The French Twist looked really beautiful. It didn't look too severe and it wasn't too loose. It was just a pretty up do that her mom decorated with what looked like tiny diamonds that made her hair look even prettier. How she managed to even do something like that was a complete mystery to Dani. It was great for Dani to know that if ghost hunting didn't work out for her mother, she always had being a Beautician to fall back on.

"Oh I can't believe it! I swore I put it in here!" Her mother said as she clawed through her suitcase, flinging her items about. "Dani I'll be right back!"

Her mother left, most likely to go find her hairbrush that she's constantly misplacing. Dani took that opportunity to quickly strap her blade and cell phone to her legs. The moment she was done, she heard Vladimir let out a low whine and she could hear his stomach growl.

"Awww are you hungry Vladimir?" She cooed down at him as he stared up with pleading eyes. "Let's go get you some nice warm milk."

Dani picked up Vladimir and headed over to the kitchen. Vlad had previously told them where the kitchen and shown them to their rooms before he hastily had to excuse himself due to 'business.'

Whatever. The man could run but he couldn't hide. Eventually he would have to join them for dinner and then Dani would make her move. She already knew now he wouldn't resist her. She'd make sure her father would catch them in the act and then they would be headed home before nine.

But Dani had to make sure to do it exactly right, on her terms, and leave absolutely nothing to chance. She couldn't risk something happening and Dash getting more angry with her than he currently was now. She couldn't afford to be in anymore hot water. Her circumstances were bad enough as it was.

She felt panic build inside her from thinking about her situation with the Baxters but she pushed it down. She would not think about that today. Tomorrow, not today. Never today.

As Dani got to the green and gold marble staircase, she started debating to herself about whether or not to feed Vladimir Vlad's food (It could be poisoned but then again Dani was sure Vlad didn't want to risk poisoning her mother) when suddenly her ghost sense went off. And before she could make any move at all, she was hit in the back. Hard.

Dani didn't know what it was that hit her (Or who it was) only that it seemed to paralyze her every movement. She dropped Vladimir unconsciously and the hit send her painfully crashing down the steps. The last thing she remembered was hearing Vladimir's loud hisses and feeling unbelievable agony before blessed darkness finally overcame her.

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