Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any of the characters. Danny Phantom is the sole property of Butch Hartman, Nickelodeon and Paramount global.
Blackmailed
Chapter 13: The Good, The Evil and The Half Ghost in The Middle
Sam was livid and gloomy, more so than usual.
The goth girl was troubled about her family and her future. Her parents were not speaking to her and vice verse. But not for the usual reasons.
No, it was because of a crime she was framed for.
"What to do?! My folks are useless as always and Danny still isn't answering my calls. I can't just sit here until my folks send me to that prison for girls in London!..." She thought, desperate to prove her innocence and seeing few options.
The gloomy girl also knew that she had to do something if she wanted any chance to clear her name.
"Guess there's one option..." She thought, know what she had to do.
She wanted to call Danny and the others, but her parents confiscated her cell phone and her Fenton Phones were out of juice right now. She was left with no choice but to take matters in her own hands.
Like always.
"Looks like I'm gonna have to do the old climb down my window with a bunch of tied together bedsheets cliché..." Sam said to herself, as she was about to grab her many bedsheets.
However, someone heard her and decided to give her a better idea.
"Or you could just follow me and sneak out the safe way and not risk breaking or twist you ankle..." Grandma Ida said, as she quietly opened Sam bedroom door and jiggled her copy of every key in the house.
"Trust me Bubeleh, I've done that when I was around your age and it ain't fun or worth it..."The old lady said, recalling certain past events from her youth.
"Grandma?..." Sam said, as her grandmother rolled closer to her on her scooter.
Ida smiled, wanting to help her.
"I know that you are innocent, Sam. Your parents are too narrow-minded and stubborn to listen but I know you and you wouldn't do the crimes you were accused of. Now go. I will keep your folks busy. Not like they're leaving their room right now anyway..." The old woman said.
Sam smiled and placed a kiss on her grandmother's forehead.
"Thank you, Grandma..."She said, grateful.
"You can thank me by finding the scum who framed you...and give them a good wollup for me too when you do..." Ida said.
"Will do..." Sam said, as she grabbed the key and proceeded to leave.
Once she was gone, Ida proceeded to focus on dealing with her foolish son and her daughter-in-law.
"Jeremy is too stubborn and Pamela is too stupid to listen to reason. I'd better get the old girls ready..." She said, as she then cracked her knuckles.
She is going to remind them who really runs this house.
Meanwhile
Star had quickly got out and went to meet Danny.
She'd been allowed out to meet Danny, wondering if something happened with him. She wanted to see him, and later find a way to prove Colette's role in her recent troubles.
Yet, Colette was still the only suspect in her book.
Her mother still didn't actually believed Colette was involved in her predicament, though her father and the Fenton's still could see that brat doing that.
"I just have to find evidence. IF anything, Danny could sneak into her room and find it..." She thought, smiling to herself.
That would work, but she had yet to know of the coming troubles as she neared the park.
The blonde girl kept searching for her boyfriend.
She was relieved when she found him he was sitting on a park bench, looking down at his shoes. Star noticed his eyes were red like he'd been crying and knuckles were clenched tight, like something terrible happened.
"Danny?..." Star greeted.
Danny flinched, almost jumping out of his skin as he heard her voice.
"S-Starlight?!..."He stammered, wishing that she didn't find him right away before he had a chance to find a way out of this.
The blonde girl seemed surprised by this reaction, almost like he was trying to avoid her for some reason.
That certainly seemed out of character for Star's boyfriend. So, she decided question her Danny-boo about it.
"Danny, are you okay?..." She asked, sitting besides him and putting a hand on his..
"No. Not really..." He said flatly without any emotion, like he was reading from a script.
The blonde girl grew more concerned now.
"Danny? What's going on? You're not acting like yourself, and where have you been?..." The blonde girl asked, unaware of the impending shock of her young life.
Danny was silent for a moment, but knew that he couldn't stay quiet for long. He had to get this done.
"We need to talk. It's important..." He said, his heart feeling heavy.
Like a brand new boat being shipwrecked in the ocean and sinking deep in the watery depths. And right now, he had no means to save that ship.
Danny was clearly torn between his feelings for his precious Starlight and the pressure he's under to keep his blackmailer from releasing the material she's using as leverage against him..
"Forgive me, Starlight..."He said silently, his voice barely above a whisper before he took a deep breath and continued his act.
"I'm not okay, I don't think I've been okay for a while..." Danny said robotically as he turned to look at Star, he looked like he'd rather be anywhere than here.
"Danny? You don't look good. Please, let me take you home and then we'll talk..." Star said, feeling like he's hiding something.
"I'm not going anywhere with you, Estelle, not now not ever!..." Danny said standing up, pulling his hand away.
Star was wide eyed with shock as Danny made eye contact.
"I think we should break up!..." He said, never in his young life did he ever have such a different time saying those six words until right now.
Those six words echoed in her head. Star's eyes widen in shock, and unsure how else to process what Danny said then with a surprised shout.
"WHAT?!..."She exclaimed, unable to believe what she's hearing.
There was a lot to take in.
For starters, when did Danny ever call her by her actual name? She hated that and knew he knew as well. But that was not important as everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours became non-existent.
Her heart pounded painfully against her chest, choking her, and making it hard to breath.
"Danny, what's going on?! Why are you doing this?! Don't you love me?!..."She asked, tears forming in her eyes.
Danny can't bear to meet Star's gaze, feeling like he was not only crushing Star's heart, but his own shattering heart too.
"Of course I do, Starlight. And it's because I love you so much that I have to hurt you, just this once!..."He thought with guilt.
"You've been holding me back and I found someone else. I found 'my love' for someone who's worthy of me..." He continued, his eyes gesturing to the bushes, as if indicating something.
"What?!..." Star asked as her beloved boyfriend kept making weird pauses at certain word and moving his eyes in a single direction.
"Please catch on to what I'm doing..." He thought as he mentally prepared himself for what he had to say next.
"We're done and if I never see you again in my life, Estelle, it'll be too soon..." He said, hating his words.
"Really hope she got my choice of words and saw where I was looking..." He thought
Colette left after seeing Danny dumping her stepsister. She grinned, seemingly unconcerned about the pain and suffering that she has just caused.
"Finally...that was certainly worth the the six month wait..."She said, before slinking away.
She had her nose in the air, feeling haughty and overconfident.
All the while, Star wanted to cry that her one true love dumped her out of the blue, but there was something just seemed off about that entire conversation.
"Did Danny-boo just called me Estelle? Twice?!..." Star thought as she noticed something was definitely off
"Something is weird, even when we hated each other, he never called me Estelle. It's almost as if he was trying to tell me something..." She thought, trying to piece it together before she realized something.
His eyes were gesturing away, as if trying to tell her someone was present.
The blonde girl immediately realized that all this was just some act for some reason. An act meant to hurt her, so it couldn't have been willing.
As she got up, she noticed something glittering on the ground near her feet.
"What the…?" The blonde said out loud as she picked up the object.
She soon realized that it was a crystal of some sort, and not just any kind of crystal, after all, since she started dating Danny, she was aware of his cryogenic powers, so she put two and two together, thinking that he may have left this behind for her to find.
Star inspected the crystal, getting ever closer to her eyes, she closed one eye as she noticed something was written on it, she didn't know what it said but was going to find out.
"Danny, there's something you're not telling me. I know it. But you didn't need to, actions speak louder than words, one way or another, you and I are gonna take care of who did this..." Star said.
"Danny Boo, whatever clue you left for me… I won't let you down..." She vowed.
She then ran away, determined to get to the bottom of this. Anger filled her soul for who did this, and she would repay that anger.
Meanwhile
Unknown to her, Kwan had watched the entire thing for his "boss" and he hated every minute of it.
"This is so wrong on so many levels! I can't believe that I'm even letting this happen! I don't want her back like this!..." He thought, clenching his fists, feeling a mixture of anger and sympathy for his ex-girlfriend.
He felt extremely guilty for putting both Star and Danny through such a terrible fate, but knew that Colette still has some dirt on him from going against her.
However, it is what she had on Danny that made him so willing to do what she said.
"I wonder what kind of dirt Colette finally managed to get on Fenton. Whatever it is, it must be that bad..." He thought, unable to place what it could be.
Whatever it was, it only made the scene that unfolded even more unpleasant.
This caused some conflict from within the young jock. Before he could further think about these thoughts of wrong and right, Kwan heard his phone ring and instantly knew who it was. He then picked up his cellphone reluctantly answered the call from Colette and report back on what just happened. However, he knew if he didn't, she'd lose her temper.
So, he answered.
"It's done, he read the script you gave him..." Kwan reported, sounding ashamed for his role in this.
"Good, glad to see that he knows his place..." Colette said happily.
"Now we can focus on our grand debut this weekend and Estelle and her little friends can be expelled on Monday, Thanks to a little surprise that I had Cartland plant..." She added.
"She did what?!..." Kwan thought horrified.
"You've done surprisingly well, Kwan. You're less useless than your idiot friend, Dash..." Colette said, enraging him more.
"I should call the cops right now and tell them what you've done! This is wrong and we both know it!..." Kwan yelled angrily.
"Since when have you cared about what's right or wrong?!..." Colette snapped.
"Ever since I finally saw the real you underneath all that obviously fake red hair..." Kwan replied, angering the rotten French girl.
"You had best watch your tone, peasant!..." Colette said, irritated.
"No! There's nothing more you can do to me that won't hurt me already!…"Kwan stormed up with a scowl.
"So, I'm gonna do the right thing…"He declared.
He turned around as started walking. Part of him wanted to rearrange the girl's face with punches. The amount would go beyond his counting, but right now, the only math he cared about was dividing Colette's plan.
Only two steps away, and a laugh was heard. Low and malicious, it echoed in the jock's head as he turned back around to see the wicked smile on Colette.
"What's so funny?!…"Kwan demanded.
"You, and your tiny brain…"Colette halted her laughter and gazed at the boy. "You really think calling the police will only affect me?..." She scoffed.
Kwan silent, cracking his knuckles as his fists rose to the front of his chest.
"If I go down, then you will too…"A slender finger pointed at the boy.
"Oh, please. You're the one who framed everyone and broke the law. I'm just an innocent bystander…"Kwan said.
The crazy French girl then laughed up storm as if Kwan had said something truly hilarious. Which immediately got on his nerves, but then Colette stop and spoke in a much more serious tone than before.
"You?! Innocent?! Do not make me laugh, football player who stuffs nerds in lockers and abuses school policies!..." Colette said, making him flinch.
"Need I remind you of your role in my grand design. And even if you claim innocence, no one will believe you..." She pointed out.
"Darn it...she's right..." Kwan thought, upset.
Even if he fessed up and tried to claim innocence, he knew that his reputation wouldn't do him any favors. He knew now he'd be in as much trouble and no one would likely believe him if he said he was forced into this.
It started to dawn on him that this was part of Colette's plot as well, knowing he'd be unable to prove innocence even if he turned against her.
"You followed along blindly to whatever person gave you an order. You obediently joined and mimicked your idiot jock friends whenever they did their usual routine of constantly bullying and hurting people at their whims because you knew that you were lesser than them. Without your muscles, you're nothing! But at least you make for a good attack dog for whoever holds your leash. And right now, I'm the one holding your leash. Now do as you are told, Dog!..."She said, ordering him around like he wasn't even human.
Kwan wanted to say that wasn't true, but when he thought about it, she was right.
He bullied people for years because Dash, Paulina or any of the other more popular A-Listers told him to. Or because he didn't want to be singled out and targeted as a loser outcast, like they did to Danny, Sam, Tucker and eventually Valerie too.
He wanted to fit in, but now he was facing an even bigger kind of trouble than he ever expected.
Upon remembering the look he saw on Star's face when she quit being an A-lister and lecturing him, it now dawned on him why she turned on them in the first place.
"No wonder Star wanted nothing to do with me..." He whispered, finally realizing that he wasn't as innocent as he thought he was and that the A-listers weren't as great as he thought they were.
It took now for him to finally start seeing why Star is so much happier not being part of the A-Listers.
He snapped out of it when he heard Colette scoff.
"Don't worry your stupid American brain about it. Once Mon Amore and I have left for Paris, you'll never see us again and you can go back to being Dash's pet..." She said with an added mocking chuckle at the end.
"Until then, keep the email I sent you safe and don't look at it. Au revoir..." Colette said before she hung up.
Kwan was enraged at the fake redhead and ashamed of himself. He felt he's crossed a massive line.
His expression is troubled and he can't shake the guilt that's been gnawing at him since witnessing the forced breakup with Star and Danny.
"This is so wrong. Star doesn't deserve any of this. I've got to do something..." Kwan thought, guilt and shame eating him alive.
But as to what he could do, he wasn't sure yet.
With Colette
"Of course NOW he has to decide to think for himself and grow something useless, like a conscience. No matter, he's usefulness to me will run out sooner or later. After that, he can cry himself to sleep if he wants, I do not care..."Colette thought before she went outside to meet with Danny.
She soon went to the nearby restroom where Danny was nearby, she walked an air of superiority about her as always.
Danny looked angry and miserable, while Colette looked pleased.
"I did it..." He said, sounding bitter.
Colette smiled more.
"Magnifique. I am glad to see that you've finally made the right choice, Darling..." She said, grinning maliciously.
"RIGHT choice? More like I didn't have any other choice, you insane stalker!..." Danny thought, hating her more.
He clenched his fists, his face was a mix of hateful anger, pure sorrow, and frustration as he wanted nothing more than to punch the crazy French girl's clock out.
Also, what Danny really wanted to do right now was to be at Star's side and comforting her while apologizing profusely to her for what he said.
"You've got what you wanted. Now please, at least undo whatever you did to frame my friends and Jazz..." Danny said, hoping to at least get her to hold her part of the bargain and get her to undo it.
Colette shook her head with a twisted, silly smile. Somehow, she managed, in her insanity, to make such a gesture shocking, if not predictable.
"How adorable he thinks I'll actually going to follow through with my word. As if I would ever let Danny's former minions, Jasmine and especially Estelle go, they'll try to take MON Danny away from me the earliest chance they get. Not on mon watch..." Colette thought deviously.
"I don't think so, mon amore..." The fake redhead said as she wagged her finger side to side.
Danny's eyes glowed green with rage.
"We had a deal! You already have blackmail on me!..." Danny argued.
"And I am so grateful that you held up your side of zee bargain first. But did you honestly think that would ever simply give up my golden ticket..." Colette said in a domineering way.
"You already have enough blackmail on me, just leave them out of this!..." Danny argued back.
Unfortunately, she crossed her arms and looked away.
"Sorry, Mon Amore. But that's not on the table anymore or to be more accurate, I won't be doing anything that I promised..."She said, not sorry at all.
"We had a deal! I broke up with Star and you'd get rid of those pictures of Star and let her and my friends off the hook. That was the deal!..." Danny argued, as his eyes briefly glowed green out of anger.
"And again, I am so grateful that you did as I asked...as you should. But I'm afraid I've changed my mind..."Colette said as she smiled mischievously.
"After all, you may try to find a way to slip away if it was just your secret on the line..."She said, hitting the nail on the head.
"Darn it, why does she have to be smarter than Paulina?..." He thought in dismay as she kept arrogantly believing that she won.
"You know blackmail is a federal offense right..." Danny said through gritted teeth his eyes glowing.
"You say that like I'm supposed to care..." She said with indifference.
"You should!..." Danny replied. "Because everything you done, one day it will come back to haunt you..." He warned.
"Ghost pun? So beneath you, mon amore..." Colette sneered.
"Like I care what you think..."Danny snapped.
"You SHOULD!..." Colette said, hands on her hipa.
"No matter, once we leave this horrid city, ghosts will be zee last thing on your mind. After all you have me now, which is far better than any ghost..."She said with a smile.
"I beg to differ. Don't think you won yet..." The Ghost boy said with contempt.
"Ah but I already have..."Colette replied smugly.
"And soon, you will see that you're won as well. All I want is to make you mine. And now that I have you, mon amore, I will keep it that way…"Collette's voice was cracking, bits of insanity and obsession oozed here and there as her mind walked a slippery slope.
Danny, while angry, remained silent and gritted his teeth. A part of him knew the fake redhead would not keep her word, but he still had to ask. It was not that he didn't trust her, which he clearly doesn't. But he needed to wiggle, flail, struggle, anything to show some sign that, despite his predicament, it was not all set in stone.
Colette's smile widened, relishing her power she now has over Danny. She traced her finger over the ghost boy's chin, almost holding it like a glass of fine wine, ready to take a sip.
"You're mine now. Now how about a kiss?..." Colette said, fluttering her eyelashes in a faux coy way, much to the ghost boys disgust.
"Do I even have a choice?..." Danny snarked.
"No, but lets be honest, you know you want to..." She said flirtatiously.
"I'd much more rather make out with a sick coyote instead of this nutcase..." Danny thought to himself.
He wanted to say no, but knew there'd be consequences Star would suffer.
Star's face flashed through Danny's mind, and he clenched his fists, hating the situation he's found himself in more and more. Danny knew there was a long list of people waiting to kill him because he broke Star's heart. Including the girls who were rivals in love, probably.
Ember may flirt with him, but at least she recognized how things were. Misty was overdosed on magic, via mind control, but at least now that was gone. Though they wanted the ghost boy, even they would be shocked at hearing how he dumped Star. After seeing Star cry, Danny would let them because he would never forgive himself for what he said to her, even if he didn't want to.
He wanted so badly to hit Colette, but knew he couldn't.
"I shouldn't expect that she would at least keep some part of her word. If anything, she'd spontaneously combust just thinking about doing the right thing, if she ever does..." He thought, as the spoiled brat continued to be domineering, almost steeping over him like a stone.
Scratch that. At least the stone wouldn't feel a thing, nor would it care.
Colette relished the moment, biting her lower lip as her victories dominoed in her favor. Her mind overloaded like it was taking multiple drugs, almost disorienting her before something came to mind.
"I was going to wait until tomorrow, but I do not want to wait. Now will you be a good boy and lets cut your hair the way it was when grandmama visited and wear the clothes I bought you..." Colette said cheerfully, but it was clearly an order.
"No thanks..." Danny said, not wanting to follow any more of her orders.
Colette frowned, narrowing her eyebrow at him. He thought he could speak back to her. Clearly he needed to understand how this relationship worked.
But the moment passed as she giggled, knowing she still had a leash on the boy.
"First rule of this relationship...the only words that you will say to my requests will be " yes" and "my love"..." Colette said, earning a glare from him.
"I already have a few particular set of words that want to saw to you, along with a hand gesture or two..." He thought, not wanting to reduce himself to level lower than the fake redhead.
If there even is one.
The ghost boy fumed, as the spoiled brat continued to make her demands.
"Let me make it clear to you what will happen if you don't listen to me, Mon Amore. If you have so much as one button out of place, your friends will be seeing zhe back of a police car before they realize what's going on. I think I'll start with either Tucker or Sam maybe both depending on how many rules you break. It'd be such a tragedy to see something else truly bad happen to zhem..."The fake redhead said, threatening use his friends at leverage again without a hint of guilt.
Danny growled but reluctantly conceded. Very reluctantly.
"Fine, your highness. Just don't hurt Star and the others any further. Just...give me the clothes. I'll do what you want..." He said, his shoulders slumped while looking defeated and trapped.
"Until I find a way to get rid of your evidence and get rid of you..." Danny thought to himself, daring to hope.
Colette smiled, pleased with how obedient the ghost boy was being, as she leaned in closer, her tone dripping with manipulation and possessiveness.
Having any part of the insane French girl touching him made the ghost boy's skin crawl, enough to peel itself off his body.
"Oh, don't worry, Darling. I won't bother myself with those peasants...as long as you do exactly as I say like a good little boyfriend and don't test my patience. Now, time to please your queen..." She said, enjoying the control she had over him.
"Could she sound any MORE full of herself?!..." Danny thought with a roll of his eyes as the clothes were handed to him.
"Thank...you...mon amore..." He muttered, having no other choice but to fake sweet talk the girl.
"That's more like it..."Collette cooed, placing her finger underneath Danny's chin. "I think you deserve a reward..."She said.
"How is THIS a reward?..." He snarked.
Colette brought the boy's face to the side, planting a kiss on the boy's cheek. She would have given him a kiss on the lips, but wanted to savor that moment, doing so in front of Estelle for the cherry on top.
"Note to self, boil cheek and puke out of disgust later, then proceed with rinse out mouth and disinfect face soon after..." He thought with a disgusted shiver.
He'd have to try and get with the others to find a way to beat Colette after.
With a pop, the kiss ended. But it would not be the last one. Danny knew that. But he was going to power through until he found a way to fix things. Anything to reverse this and hopefully never see Colette again.
"Oh, Danny, you're such a good boy. Now, let's go. I can't wait to see you in the dozens of outfits that I've bought for you in the last few months. You can pull off so many of those expensive suits that I know that you'll look so fabulous in zhem instead of zhat sad looking plain shirt and jeans you always wear..." She said, clearly bossing him around.
Danny said nothing as he sighed deeply, which thankfully went unnoticeable by the crazy French girl.
Before leaving, he turned to the sky, looking longingly at the air. As birds passed by, he felt his legs chained to the ground.
With a huff, he kept his thoughts to himself.
"I hope that Star won't be too hurt. I'll have to work extra hard to make things right between us as soon as this nightmare is over. I'll do whatever it takes. Forgive me, Starlight..." Danny thought as he was dragged away from the wicked girl.
His body felt like a ragdoll. Strings stabbed into his limbs as the world went blank. But Danny would not go on autopilot. Instead, he would have to pay attention, knowing full well that pride would come before the fall for the overconfident fake redhead.
All he needed was one weak point to exploit.
He had bested ghosts and world-ending plots. All those events were far more dangerous situations that got foiled because the so called clever genius got far too full of themselves and overlooked the smallest mistakes they made. Colette was no different and had to do was slip up eventually, and then the ghost boy would take his chance to turn things around. It was his only solution.
This was a game of patience. Just one chance, one chance, and Danny could destroy everything the crazy French girl built and planned. This was not going to be easy, especially with how he'll probably be at her beck-and-call, not to mention the fact he won't escape having to kiss her.
Hopefully, there won't be too much French kissing. The very thought of doing that with spoiled rich brat made the ghost boy want to puke. No pun to her father's nickname intended.
"I never thought I'd miss Misty kissing me..." Danny muttered, finding anyone more palatable at the moment.
Once he was free of her, he'll let Star do whatever violent actions she desired to do to her evil stepsister.
Short of killing the girl. That could possibly be going to far, but every moment with the fake redhead made him question how much is too much.
"Maybe ripping all of Colette's fake hair cleanly off her head with her own bare hands will work..." Danny thought to himself.
With a depressed sigh, he kept his mouth shut and played along. He kept his head low. All while he kept an eye on Colette to see her make a mistake.
Elsewhere
A certain fruit loop was in his lab, to get rid of his unwanted wife.
Originally, he planned to deal with Alicia more discreetly...but he came across a certain invention of his that gave him another idea a that he wanted to try.
"Why didn't I think of this first? This would have been the cheaper solution. I was planning on using this on Jack, but desperate times call measures..." Vlad said as he watched the events unfold on his monitored.
Alicia was outside, doing pushups on the ground and afterwards started lifting some barrels that she brought outside.
"34...35...36...37...38..." Alicia counted as she sweated.
"Time to drop some dead weight, and I do mean dead!..." Vlad said as he pressed a button and unleashed his secret weapon.
Alicia was still lifting her weights but stopped when she heard a rustling from the bushes. Alicia heard it, dropped her barbells and grabbed a nearby shotgun.
"Who's there?! Show yourself, you coward!..." She ordered.
"Unleash the robot beast!..." Vlad said as he watched a metallic werewolf-like entity crawl out of the bush.
A robotic red, slender wolf made of metal, with only bits of grey like the lower jaw and the claws.
Alicia was confused and mad at the same time.
"What in the Sam Hill is that?!..." She asked in confusion.
Vlad smirked.
"Now attack!..."He said.
However, he was surprised when something unexpected happened.
His robotic beast didn't attack Alicia...instead...it started...DANCING?!
"WHAT THE HECK?!..."Vlad shouted.
"HUH?!..." Alicia asked, lowering her shot gun confusion.
Suddenly, the robot lycanthrope kept dancing, until it suddenly flew in the air and into some kind of portal before it closed and vanished. The robot disappeared.
Vlad and Alicia were both stunned, wondering what the neck just happened.
"I...don't remember programming it to do that..." Vlad said, lost for words now
Alicia was also confused and rubbed her eyes, wondering if she was seeing things.
She looked at a certain "special drink" she had been drinking as she did her work out and jumped to her conclusions.
"That's it, no more working out while drinking meemaw's special brew again..." She said as she dumped the rest of the drink and went inside to take a break, convinced that event was just a hallucination.
All the while, Vlad was trying to figure out how his plan backfired in such a way.
"How the heck did...wait?! Puck?! Oh, that overgrown gnat is going to send me to the nut house?!..." Vlad shouted, pulling his hair in frustration as he began blasting at random targets in his lab in rage.
"You're already there..." Puck thought before vanishing, leaving the core of the apple he ate behind.
"Ugh, looks like I will have to go with the other plan after all. Something more... long ranged..." Vlad thought, scratching his chin in thought.
He saw Alicia on the screen, wiping her face with a towel and chugging water out of a vase. He glared at her, loathing and disgust fermenting as he wanted her gone
"No matter what, I will get rid of you, you hideous, disgusting, vile, moronic, backwoods rustic bumkin..." Vlad thought before taking a deep breath as he watched Alicia continue her workout on the screen.
He stared intensely at her.
"You mannish, vixen...with surprisingly energetic vivaciousness and flexible arms that feel wonderful...and surprisingly soft lips that- What am I thinking?!..." Vlad thought in revulsion as his thoughts went in that direction.
Again!
"I'd rather kiss Spectra than her! Sadistic or not, at least she can LOOK like a human lady!..." He yelled at himself as he slapped his own face, questioning his mental actions.
Vlad went back to plotting, trying to block out those disturbing and unusual thoughts about Alicia and focus on getting rid of her.
"Now... where is that robot knight I was working on?..." He thought.
Yes, he was THAT desperate to get rid of Alicia without paying for a divorce or letting Maddie know about the marriage.
Anything to be free.
Later
After being giving her marching orders to her "boyfriend", Colette had left to do who knows what.
Danny suspected 'wedding planning' or shopping, either activity would eventually make him respond with "Eww".
"There's got to be a hole in Colette's plan..." Danny thought. "She's turning sixteen not a master planner, there's going to be a hole in her plan..."
"Now, mon amore…" Those last words held a more domineering tone. "You may go home and rest now. I will call you before bed with instructions for tomorrow. Sweet dreams…"She said in a controlling way.
Danny shuddered as he felt another kiss on his cheek. Transforming, he flew away, wanting nothing more than to scrub himself with steel wool. He knew it was a better idea to follow the girl, but he could not stomach being close to her as the pain of breaking up with Star crushed him more.
"How could I have let things go so wrong?!..." He thought, wondering why life had threw him under the bus with this hurdle.
Tears of regret cascaded as he flew home. Desperately wanting to wash off any trace of the spoiled bratty rich girl from his face.
He didn't just want to wash his face, he wanted to soak it in boiling hot water, not caring how painful it would be.
The limits of his tolerance and patience of today were pushed, crushed, and discarded. This would always be the worst night of his life.
"Once I emptied the disgust I feel in my stomach and washed away all the regret and shame from today, I gotta sneak a message to the others to explain everything. I just hope that Star will understand I had no choice and forgive me. I'll do anything to be forgiven and never see Colette again..." He thought, hoping that he can still clear the air with his real true love of his life.
Her, not the fake redhead who chooses to take unethical means to claim him.
Colette watched her new "boyfriend" fly off. To think he also had powers was the cherry on top she wanted.
And now, he was finally hers.
"Finally, everything is going the way they're meant to..." She thought, finally having things go her way.
Satisfied, she soon went to a rendezvous, where Cartland and Yolanda were waiting for her.
Both adults stared impatiently at the little girl. Their wallets were empty, and if they weren't filled, so would her ambitions and plans.
"About time you show up, ya brat. We were tired of waiting..." Yolanda said, as she had been waiting for the last few hours for the fake redhead to show up.
"I'm here now, am I not?..." Colette said in a haughty tone while checking her makeup in a nearby mirror.
Cartland rolled his eyes, his patience almost as empty as his wallet.
"You do realize that I'm still charging you by the hour, right?..." He said, implementing that he'll want to be paid extra for waiting around for her to meet up at these private meetings.
"So?..." Colette said, not seeing a big deal.
"So, much as I want to charge you more, I do have a life to get back to..." He stated.
Colette smirked as she reached into her purse and pulled out an envelope filled the agreed amount of money.
"As promised, the rest of your payment and ze payment for keeping ze video I sent to you secure..." She said, not wanting to have Danny slip out of her fingers.
Wads of cash were tossed at them, caught easily. Cartland nodded as he counted the money, brushing his fingers along the edges.
His phone pinged, notifying him of the recently sent video.
He didn't care what video the brat had sent him, figuring it was some secret on the poor sucker she was blackmailing. Not caring in the least, he figured there'd be no point in hiding it for long.
"Whatever it is, I'll delete it when she stops paying me..." He thought as he turns off and pockets his phone.
"Well, there is your rent or whatever it is you need it for..." Colette said, clearly still looking down on him.
Cartland only focused on the money, choosing to ignore her rudeness.
Yolanda walked over, gesturing for the moment with one hand.
"And MY payment?..." Yolanda asked, patting the designer purse that was the first payment.
"Ah but of course..."Colette said, as she handed her the cash.
Unlike Cartland, she stashed the money without hesitation, clamping her bag shut as the man shook his head. The clicking of his tongue was ignored for more pressing matters.
"I assume you've also spoken with Jean Luc?…"Yolanda asked, keeping designer purse close to her hips.
"I've spoken with papa. Like moi, he has grown sick for our home in Paris..."Colette began.
"He has already been making some discussions with his attorney. I know that soon, I can convince him to leave America, we will be going home, and hopefully, with two less annoyances..." She said, watching Yolanda smile greedily.
"Just make sure I have my time to shine, kid…"Yolanda licked her lips, cracking her arms above her head, almost purposely showing off her figure, but not to anyone present.
"I don't want to stay in this rat hole town, any longer. I always knew I deserve much better than that dumb blonde…"She said arrogantly.
"You vill be living in Paris in no time. And as long as you stay out of my way, it will stay that way..." Colette promised the greedy woman grinned.
Yolanda simply waved her hand on a 'whatever you say' gesture, as she counted the money.
Cartland, who never moved from his spot, snickered at his company. The money was now in his pocket, but he saw it fit to give his own two cents.
"Congratulations on your progress of becoming the sixth trophy wife to some rich schmuck, he'll be shopping for number seven within six months on no time flat at the rate he's going..." Cartland sneered at his ex who sneered back.
"You know nothing of Jean Luc and his billions! He's a real man who's wealth can support four wives at once. It won't make a difference..."Yolanda said, making it clear what she really loves.
"Whatever, None of my business anyway.…"The man said, acting nonchalant with a grin.
Yolanda would have snapped again, but decided not to as she had other things to care about.
The fake redhead then glared at the uncultured man, disliking how he thinks lowly of her father. Colette grew impatient with these idiots and wanted to cut this meeting short then go.
"Before I leave, one last reminder. Keep the video I sent you safe, it's vital for moi future. Do that, and I can ensure more money coming your way..." Colette ordered sternly, pointing accusingly.
"What? Oh right. Don't worry, it's safe..."Yolanda said, not caring too much about whatever video her future step-daughter had sent her.
"If you forgot about it so quickly, I should worry..."Colette said in a nasty way, irritating the other woman.
"You should worry about other things..." Yolanda said, annoyed and quickly thinking of sending her to boarding school once she marries Jean-Luc.
"I beg to differ..." Colette said.
"The only downside to Jean Luc are his brats. I can live without them..." She thought, preferring if Jean Luc would only spend his money on her.
Her ex saw her expression, and rolled his eyes.
"Suddenly I'm reminded of why Yolanda never wanted to have kids when we were living together..." Carland thought as he also has come to hate Colette.
However, she was their current source of income, so that'd be kept quiet for now.
Colette grinned wickedly, leaving the scene. As long as the hired help did their part, nothing else mattered.
Right now, she was on a winning streak. All that was left was to call Danny and tell him what to wear. A simple text would be sufficient, but now that she had a taste of victory, she wanted more.
Colette decided to plan her celebration with Danny, she was even confident and sure of herself enough to schedule it after the weekend.
With Danny's number in her phone, she grinned even more.
"Everything is going according to plan..." She thought evilly, biting the tip of her finger.
Colette was absolutely sure that nothing could possibly go wrong with her fool-proof blackmail scheme.
She had no idea she already left a weakness exposed, one that would cost her more than Danny if she wasn't careful.
But for now, she had control over the ghost boy and believed she had everything, all of which she wouldn't let go.
Oh boy.
-To be continued-
Next time on Blackmailed
Rinse, Wash and Regroup
A/N(1): I dedicate this chapter to my family, my friends and my love for God :)
A/N(2): Special thanks to NeoMark, 61394, BCW, Invader Johnny, Luiz4200 and Jay The Average Fanboy for all their help. You guys rock :)
REPLIES to my loyal and totally awesome reviewer:
CZS4, Jebest4781, Pokemon fan 1991 and NightShadow2955: Thank you :)
Guardian1989: Sorry, no spoilers. I guess that we will have to wait and see what happens.
Invader Johnny: Yeah.
Danifan3000:
1) Yeah, the Baxter's are messed up.
2) How is this?
RonaldM40196867:
1) Yeah.
2) Yes.
3) I instead see her as a sociopath, or at least becoming one.
4) Its close.
5) Most likely because Colette was watching him do it the entire time.
6) Yeah.
7) They liked Valerie.
8) Most likely.
9) I can try.
10) That will be revealed later on.
11) Right.
12) I guess that we will have to wait and see what happens.
13) Sorry, will fix later. Its suppose to be 10 yards.
Guest:
1) I guess that we will have to wait and see what happens
2) Huh?
3) Size the is the first wife.
4) Sorry, no spoilers. I guess that we will have to wait and see what happens.
5) I never understood that too.
6) My top 3 options would be Ben 10, Casey Jones and maybe Robin.
7) Most likely tech related powers.
8) I see your point.
9) Yeah.
10) I see Tucker as an engineer and Sam as an environmental biologist.
11) Intereating.
JDF Legacier Morphicon: Thank you :)
Here are my responses to your questions:
1) Probably Ember, Kitty and Johnny.
2) No.
3) Yes.
4) Maybe the Black, Silver or Red Ranger.
5) She has mostly accepted it by this point.
Red Ron: Maybe.
Luiz4200: Yeah.
:) I hope you enjoyed this! Remember to read and review :)