Author notes:

1)English is my second language. Forgive me for any mistake.

2)I don't own Danny Phantom.

3)I only own the plot for this AU and the eventual OCs

There was a kingdom named Amikeco Parko[1]. The king was known for being a respectful and generous man for his people. His name was Raymond Irongrip. The population of his kingdom would agree that his name was fit for him.

It was true that he never mistreated his people without a reason. However, he had little patience and hated to be defied in any possible way. Everyone always did everything he asked without question afraid of even question the 'why' of his orders.

The oldest was Alicia. She was twenty-one year-old and was married to a prince named William Baxter of the kingdom Malnova Pordo[2]. His father made her marry with him so he could tighten the relationship with the neighbor kingdom.

The youngest of his daughters was Madeline, who was nineteen at that time. She was often called Maddie, for short, by her parents and sister only. No, not just them. There was another person who was allowed to call her like that. It was her…husband.

She had married him five months ago and she did it without her father knowing it. She had to hide this from him because she knew her father would never approve a relationship of a human and a…ghost[3].

His name was Vlad Plasmius. He was also nineteen year-old. He had blue skin, glowing red eyes, long black hair and a white aura around his body. He had married Maddie a couple of months ago.

They had met each other when they were sixteen years old. The couple would never forget how they met…

One day, when Princess Maddie, who was wearing a long elegant blue dress, was going for a stroll with her maids near the horse stables. Two men, in their mid-thirties, one with short blond hair and the other with short black hair who were disguised as servants waited for the perfect opportunity to kidnap her in order to receive a ransom for her.

The princess decided to walk in one of the royal horses to kill some time until the lunch. One of the bandits, who had black hair, heard her and did his best to hide his malicious grin and instead he forced a friendly smile and decided to speak with the princess.

The bandits, after blending into the cast of servants of the castle, discovered that princess Maddie had a habit of riding horses at an almost a daily basis. The reason she liked to ride them so much was because she found it to be quite relaxing.

When he approached her, he bowed respectfully and said while looking down: "Your highness, if you desire, there's a new horse which I think it would please you greatly. It's docile and, in my humble opinion, is worthy of someone of your status."

Maddie couldn't help but to sigh. She didn't like that much being treated like she were superior, however she was aware that it was custom to people talk to her like that, after all, she was a princess. She smiled tenderly at him and replied not aware of this man's malice: "You can raise your head. I appreciate your suggestion. Where is such a magnificent horse."

His partner was watching that scene and quickly went towards their brown horse, which was brought there in the silent of the previous night, and brought it to her. The two bandits looked around and noticed that the guards were quite far and they weren't paying much attention. The two criminals smiled. This kingdom haven't been into a war for two hundred years and the crime rate was low, so that made the guards not do their job with the seriousness it demanded.

The two criminal smiled to see that the princess only protection was just a couple of maids. However, they weren't stupid enough to try drag her to the horse and then flee. They chose to make her mount the horse on her own. Which she did without much trouble.

As soon as she was on the horse, the two criminals quickly mounted the animal, the man with black hair mounted the horse behind Maddie to hold her and the blond one mounted the animal in front of the princess to guide the horse. They had chosen a strong stallion in order to be able to carry the three of them and still be able to run fast. In the process, the princess's golden crown with rubies and emeralds fell on the ground.

The criminals used to horse to flee from there. The maids screamed in shock and all guards were startled by it and picked their weapon and tried to follow them, going to the stable. When they opened the stalls to gain access to the animals only to find all horses' legs chained.

The bandits were laughing at the success of their job as the princess struggled to get rid of the man's tight grip. They were quite lucky to have discovered a hole on the wall that led to outside of Amikeco Parko. So, they didn't need to go through one of the guarded bridges.

Maddie screamed hysterically ordering them to let her go, but the black haired man took from his pocket a long handkerchief and tied over her mouth to muffle her screams. Maddie started to think that was going to be her end. She let her tears to fall from her eyes as she hopped that it would at least be quick. But thing weren't exactly as she thought.

The man with black hair explained to her the reason why she was kidnapped: "We want a ransom for you, dear princess. So if you behave you might see your dear daddy again. So why don't you cooperate, huh?"

She just closed her eyes and flinched as the man tightened his hold on her arms, so she wouldn't try fight back.

However, the kidnappers were foolish enough to try hide into a forbidden area known as The Dead Forest. They thought it was the perfect place to hide themselves, because no one dared to enter that place.

The Dead Forest was the residence of the ghosts. The trees didn't have any leaves and they all seemed like they were dead, yet the trees kept growing every year and their branches were so thick and were spread in a way, almost like a web, that they actually blocked almost all sunlight. It was said that, at night, green orbs with a eerie glow floated within the depths of the forest.

That entire area was strictly forbidden because it was said that its inhabitants, the ghosts, were savage beasts who couldn't stand daylight and they slaughtered anyone who dared to enter their domain.

However the bandits weren't afraid of that. In fact, they were it was just a stupid story to scare little kids. They took Maddie to deep inside of the forest still on the horse. After they dismounted the animal, the princess was dragged by force and was thrown against one tree. She just sobbed as she stared with fear at her assailants.

The man with black hair told to his partner after giving Maddie a good look: "Do you think that if we 'use' her a little bit before giving her back to the king will do any harm to our demands?"

The blond man replied coldly: "As long as you don't do anything visible to her at first sight, You can have fun with her. I'm going to prepare the note for the ransom."

The man with black hair just grinned evilly as he slowly approached her: "Don't worry sweetie. You're going to like it."

However, they weren't alone as they thought they were. Vlad, who was wearing a plain white shirt and brown pants, had heard a commotion and went to investigate. The teenage was invisible as he watched in horror what that filthy man wanted to do with her.

He became visible and told them with spite in his voice: "Don't you have anything better to do other than attack defenseless girls?"

However when the two noticed him, it was too late. Vlad pointed the pal of his right hand to the man with black hair and fired a purple beam against the man, making a pretty bad wound on his belly.

What he had fired was an ecto-blast. It was a power that most of his kind could do with a bit of practice. Vlad's body aura was red because of anger. He was a ghost. A name given by humans because of their abilities.

Vlad hissed at the one with blond hair: "If you value your life, take your pal and leave this place at once, before I make you!"

The blond man quickly picked up his partner and put him over the horse and left fearing for his life. He was trembling in fear after seeing a ghost for the first time in his life.

Vlad saw the teen girl looking at him with as much as fear as those criminals were. She also had never seen a ghost and stories said that he would kill her in a horrible way. She thought she only changed her fate to something even worse.

He slowly approached her, kneeled down in front of her and gently removed the tissue from her mouth turning it intangible and them throwing it on the floor. "There you are. Are you alright?" he asked concerned, but she only looked at him frightened.

Vlad Plasmius sighed. 'I should have expected this…how is she going back home anyway? It's highly unlikely that a human would let me help.' he thought shaking his head.

He got up and told her: "You should go home. Your family must be worried." Then he turned and started to walk away. He didn't want her to start screaming at him, but he also didn't want to leave her alone. But how could he help her if she didn't let him!

Maddie looked at him puzzled and scared. Her father always told her that ghosts were merciless being that always killed on the spot, but that ghost clearly wasn't anything like she was taught about.

She gathered all her courage and muttered: "T-thank you…"

Vlad turned quite surprised to see her showing some gratitude. He decided to give another shot and slowly approached her. They both stared at each other for a couple of minutes when the ghost finally asked scratching the back of his head: "Well…do you need any help to go back to your home?"

Plasmius knew that the answer for that was quite obvious, but he had to have her consent to take her back home.

She looked down, still unsure about what to do. She never went so far from the castle before. She didn't have anyone from her kingdom to help her and because she was struggling all her way to the Dead Forest, she didn't pay attention in the path the men took, in another words, she was completely lost.

"Please…help me…" she finally said admitting defeat.

Vlad blinked a few times and smiled at her: "Okay. Where do you live? I could take you near there. I can't exactly be seen by humans or else they might think I'm going to attack them or something."

Maddie nodded understanding. She didn't mind herself having to walk on her own if that meant she could get back home. "I live in the kingdom of Amikeco Parko. Do you know where it is?"

Vlad thought for a bit and he had to admit he didn't know were it was: "I'm really sorry. I don't know where it is. But I think you could recognize it as soon as we spot the place."

Maddie raised an eyebrow and asked: "Do you expect me to walk aimlessly with you until we find my kingdom?" then after a short pause she asked again: "Aren't you going to turn into dust if you go under sunlight?"

Vlad quickly corrected her: "No, no. It's a common mistake you humans do. We don't die if we stay under the sunlight. It doesn't harm us. I've made several travels before to outside of this place. The thing is that we, ghosts, live in this forest, because…" But Vlad couldn't finish his sentence. He didn't know the answer for that. All his life he has been told to never get out of this place, but even in his most rebellious moments he found himself being attracted back to the Dead Forest at the end of each day.

The ghost shook his head from his thoughts and asked, once again, the woman: "Do you want try see if we can find your home? I promise it won't take as long as you're thinking it will. I promise I'll take you home safe and sound."

The princess sighed in defeat, after all, that was her beast choice at the moment: "Very well, let's do it your way…"

The ghost approached her and blushed a little: "Shall we?"

Maddie looked at him quizzically, but before she could react, the boy quickly put her on his arms and became invisible and intangible and flew above the trees. The princess gasped in shock and quickly held against Vlad.

The ghost chuckled seeing her reaction. "It's alright. I'm not going to let you fall." He said as he tightened his grip on her.

However, the teen could only say: "Put me down. PUT ME BACK DOWN!"

Vlad sighed as he tried to calm her down: "Believe me. This is the fastest way. Now, do you remember at least, which direction you came from?"

Maddie took a deep breath. She was now deeply regretting agrreing with such a plan. She tried to focus and looked around from high. She honestly didn't remember exactly which way she came. She could only say: "I'm sorry…I…"

"There's no problem. You know the name of your kingdom, right? Even if we don't know where it is, I know of some human villages nearby. How about if I let you go in one of them to ask for around for some information of the whereabouts of your home. I can't go with you, for obvious reasons, but I'll be waiting for you outside of one of them. Do you agree?" the ghost suggested.

Maddie frowned and couldn't help but to ask: "How am I going to know if you aren't going to abandon me in a far away land?"

Vlad didn't like to hear someone doubting of his good will, but he had to concede that the human teen had never talked or even seen a ghost for a matter of fact, so it was only natural of her being suspicious of him.

"Believe me, my fair lady. I promise I won't abandon you. I promise you'll be back home before the end of this day." He assured her.

"Fine…" Maddie muttered not having much choice at that moment. She had to wonder how much in danger she was right now. She thought that if she angered that ghost too much, he could let her go and she would fall to her death. Not that Vlad would do such a thing, but she didn't know him. Yet.

The ghost started flying north into the direction of a human village. It would take less than an hour to reach that place and with a bit of luck, they would find the information they needed there.

However, that wasn't necessary. While they were flying, while still invisible, The two of them spotted an entire army moving. Maddie recognize the flags, some of them were carrying as the symbol of Amikeco Parko. It was a blue and red flag, divided horizontally with two hands shaking each other in the center of it.

Maddie bit her lower lip before she said to Vlad: "I think it's okay for you to put me back on the ground. They're my father's army. I bet they're looking for me."

Vlad immediately halted. He had noticed the army before, but he didn't suspect that when she had said 'her kingdom', she really meant that the kingdom was really hers. He stopped and thought for a while and he immediately retreated to some nearby trees.

The princess jolted with his sudden action and demanded to know: "Why aren't you going to their direction? Are you going to kidnap me as well? You freak!"

Vlad remained quiet as he flew behind a few trees, a bit far from the army, so they wouldn't see the ghost and the princess. Vlad turned visible as soon as he reached the ground.

Maddie quickly got down from his arms. When she stared at him he was really serious, but before she could accuse him more Vlad said: "Tell me one thing, and be honest about it. The reason why you didn't believe me when I said I would help you was because I'm a stranger to you or because I'm a ghost?"

The princess remained quiet taken back by his words, but quickly continued, not letting her speak. "Listen. The world is pretty big and there are things not even you or I can possible understand, however, judge me just because of my species? Are you that low? I don't care if you're a princess or a queen, you're a human being. You aren't superior to any other person, you need to eat, breath and sleep like any human being. You're as mortal as any human as well. Just like I'm just like any other ghost. I might be from another race, but that doesn't give you the right to be suspicious of me because solely because of that! If you wanted to be suspicious because I was a total stranger, I would accept it!"

Maddie was in complete silence. His words hurt like daggers at her. Now she understood why he had to go hiding before letting her go. It would be a huge mess if her father's army found him with her. They would have certainly misunderstood the whole situation.

Before the human girl could apologize, the ghost boy said with an angry expression: "What are you waiting for? Aren't going to meet with them?"

After saying this, he disappeared. The princess sighed. She felt ashamed of herself. She whispered: "I'm sorry…" then she took off her fancy gold-colored shoes and held them with her left hand. After that she went running towards her father's army holding her dress up with her right hand, so she wouldn't trip.

The guards were baffled to see her alone and well! They begged for forgiveness for their lateness and asked her how did she manage to escape from the criminals.

She bit her lower lip. She couldn't tell them she was saved by a ghost. They would never believe that there were kind ghosts or even that the ghosts were actually real, after all, they haven't been seen for centuries.

She lied saying that she had kicked them in their 'precious' areas and used that opportunity to flee from them. Some of the guards laughed amused by the princess' story, because they found quite amusing a royalty, especially a female[3], being so bold and brave in such a situation.

They quickly took her to the castle and when she got there, her family hugged her and covered her with kisses asking constantly if she was okay and if they dared to lay a finger on her.

Maddie didn't like to lie to her family, but she repeated her story to her family. Her sister gave her a thumbs up for her 'feat', but her parents weren't so proud of that. They didn't like to hear that their daughter had acted 'so low', because they found it to be unfitting for a lady of her status, but they had to admit that if it was necessary for her to escape, then they could let the subject go.

Later, that night, Maddie, who was wearing a red silk sleeping dress, was at the balcony of her room staring at the clear sky. She was thinking about everything that happened earlier that day. Her father was furious because the guards 'allowed' her to be kidnapped like that and the only reason he didn't order them to be beheaded, was because begged him not to do such a thing.

She looked at the stars and then closed her eyes to feel the cool night breeze on her face. She felt really sorry for treating that ghost so poorly. "I'm really sorry…" she whispered to the air hoping that the gentle breeze would take her apology to him.

"Apology accepted." Said a familiar voice.

She was startled by it and she instantly recognized the ghost, who turned visible floating outside of the balcony in front of her. She panicked and tried to cover herself with her hands, but then she ran into her room. She felt quite vulnerable to bee seen that way. She felt embarrassed and even a bit angry to be caught in her sleeping cloths. She came back wearing a red mantle over her body trying to feel a bit more secure as she demanded: "What are you doing here?"

Vlad's expression remained serious as he replied: "I just wanted to make sure you would arrive home safely. I…wouldn't forgive myself if something happened at you. Just because you decided to act with prejudice against me, it doesn't mean I should forget my promise that I would take you back home safe and sound…"

"I see…" Maddie said not adding anything else. She felt horrible for treating him like that and she had thought a lot about what he had said to her earlier that day.

For a good time the only sound heard was the wind blowing. Vlad looked around and finally said: "Well, now that you're okay, I'll be going back now. My parents are going to kill me if I get home too late."

Maddie raised an eyebrow, curious at him: "Wait, you have family?"

Plasmius eyebrows creased at her question and he replied: "Of course I have a family. What did you expect? That we are born from dust?"

The princess immediately shook her head. "That's not what I meant. I thought ghosts were just an amount of bad feelings of dead people. That was what I was taught, anyway. But, honestly, I'm doubting of everything I know about your…kind."

Vlad had to admit he liked her sincerity. 'Maybe she can learn something about us. With that, maybe, this whole tension between ghosts and humans might finally end if people start to understand what we really are.'

Vlad explained: "You see, we, ghosts, aren't an amount of bad feelings. I guess we're known as ghosts because of our 'little tricks'…Anyway, We are living and conscious beings just like humans. We have our powers, but that also doesn't make us superior to your race the same way yours isn't superior to mine. We have hearts just like humans do, though they beat at a much slower rate than yours. We also still need to eat, drink and rest like humans and we also have children the same way your kind do."

Maddie listened at his explanation with full attention. She found herself desiring to learn all about him and his kin. She smiled at him, which made the ghost blush a little.

Vlad looked a bit anxious noticing how firmly she was staring at him. But it wasn't in a bad way. The ghost had to admit he liked he had never seen a human willing to learn about ghosts. "I guess…It's time for me to go. Try to be more careful for now on, okay?" Vlad said turning his back at her ready to go flying back to his home.

"Wait! Maddie suddenly said. "You haven't told me your name! And when am I going to be able to see you again?"

Vlad turned again to meet her gaze, loosing himself at her pleading eyes for a few seconds. When he recovered himself from that he said: "My name is Vlad Plasmius." Then after a short pause he asked a bit unsure: "Do you want to see me again?"

Maddie nodded as she replied: "My name is Madeline Irongrip, but you can call me Maddie. And yes. I would love to meet you again. I mean, I'm really curious about you…"

Vlad blinked a few times, before a warm smile appeared on his face. "Well…I guess I could come back here tomorrow night. How about it?"

Maddie smiled gently as she replied: "Tomorrow would be perfect."

Over three years passed by after Maddie and Vlad's first meeting. The ghost started to come to Maddie's castle everyday, at night, after everyone was asleep. Both of them talked and got to know each other.

She even discovered that the ghosts society was very similar to the human's. They had a king, nobles, villages, all of that inside of the Dead Forest. She was quite surprised to hear that Vlad was a count.

The princess lost her fear and asked Vlad to go flying with her every now and then. She started to love the feeling of flying. She thought ghosts were really amazing beings.

They had fallen in love with each other a year after their first meeting. They wanted to wait for the right moment to reveal their relationship to Maddie's family. However, the human princess had met Vlad's family.

Vlad's father was named James Plasmius and his mother was named Christine Plasmius. Both had pale blue skin, red eyes and black hair. However Vlad's father had a short hair while his mother had a long one.

She loved meeting them, but she had to admit that the hour she could talk with them was quite inconvenient for everyone. Ghosts also slept at night, just like humans, but Maddie couldn't leave during daytime without anyone suspecting.

After another year, when both were eighteen, they decided to get married. Maddie whished she could invite her family, but she didn't know how to explain about Vlad. It divided her heart, but she wanted to spend the rest of her life with the ghost who saved her two years ago. She loved him with every piece of her soul, she just hoped her family would be happy for her, when she eventually told them about him.

Fortunately, for them, Vlad's parents knew a ghost priest who was able to realize the ceremony for them. Vlad only called his parents, his best friends, Skulker and his wife, Desiree, Wulf and his brother, Eric. However, Vlad's brother didn't agree with a union of different species and decided to not appear at the wedding. Eric always wore a black armor and worked for the king of all ghosts, Pariah Dark. Vlad's older brother was also known as Fright Knight.

Now, Maddie was pregnant. She had been for seven months. Vlad was really surprised when she told him that she was having their baby.

The princess had to wear very loose dresses and don't let her maids get too close of her anymore. Her family has been quite busy in the last years. Her older sister got married and her father was making some deals with some nobles from other kingdoms.

She didn't have much choice anymore. She had to talk with them as soon as possible about her husband.

One night as she waited for Vlad at her balcony, she heard from behind her: "How is my fair lady and my child doing?" Vlad asked her hugging her and gently caressing her belly.

Maddie was wearing a white long sleeping clothing and wasn't wearing her crown, while vlad was wearing a brown shirt with brown pants.

"We missed you, my dear." She said teasing him, leaning her face back in order to look properly at her beloved one. Vlad carefully leaned her back and gave her a passionate kiss.

"I love you so much…" she said to him after breaking the kiss.

"I also missed you, my love" He said still holding her.

Both were silent enjoyed their moment together. They only whished they didn't have to hide it from Maddie's family.

"It's amazing how you're keeping your pregnancy from everyone else." Vlad said amused still caressing his wife's belly. "Hey I felt a kick! And a strong one, by the way! I bet it's a strong boy."

Maddie chuckled and teased him: "Or a tomboy girl."

Vlad smiled amused at his wife. He didn't care the gender of the kid. He would love him or her regardless of it.

They remained at that position for a while enjoyed each other's affection. The princess finally broke the silence: "I need to talk to my father about you, my love. We can't wait more to tell him. I don't know for how long I'll be able to keep you and our child as a secret."

Vlad knew she was right. He let her go and gently turned her so they could look at each other properly: "You have to promise me you'll only tell your father about us with me nearby. The shock might be too much for him. Besides I want to be at your side when we give him the news about us."

Maddie hugged her husband and dug her head on his chest and said: "I guess you're right…" She didn't want to even imagine what would happen if her family didn't accept her marriage. She could be disowned and have to leave her land. At least, she thought she could live with Vlad in The Dead Forest. She had been so many times there she lost all her fear from that place.

"How about if tell them next week? I think we should start planning what to say to them carefully." Vlad suggested.

"Sounds like a plan." Maddie replied giving her husband a kiss.

After the kiss, Vlad smiled and offered: "How about I give you a foot massage before you go sleep. Carry our child must be wearing you out."

Maddie chuckled before she replied: "Maybe a little, but I know all this effort will be worthy as soon as he or she is born."

"I couldn't agree more with you." Vlad said holding her hand and leading them to her bed.

On the next day, at night, Maddie was about to change her beautiful emerald-colored dress to a more comfortable clothing and wait for her beloved one when she heard someone knocking at the door. After checking herself, she sighed. Each day was harder for her to hide her pregnancy.

Her room was illuminated by the light of a couple of candles. She looked at her shadow silhouette and gently caressed her belly. She was both overjoyed and scared. She couldn't wait to be able to hug her child and give him or her lots of love, but she feared the reaction of her parents.

She opened the door and saw one of her maids. However Maddie hid almost all her body behind the door and only showed her head to the maid.

The maid bowed respectfully and said to her: "You father requires your presence at the throne room."

"Is my mother there with him?" Maddie asked curious.

"No, milady. She's already at her chambers. Looks like your father wants to talk with you alone."

"I see, Thank you." Maddie said wondering what could be so important that couldn't wait for the sunrise. She was also worried about her husband. He should be arriving at any moment.

The maid bowed again and said before leaving: "The pleasure was mine, milady."

Maddie decided to take care of it as soon as possible and walked to the throne room. The halls were lighted by torches and when she got into the room, there was only her father sitting on the majestic gold-made throne wearing a gold and silver-made crown and a couple of guards, who were wearing silver colored armors, holding spears at the entrance of the room.

"I'm here, my father." Maddie said respectfully to her father, as soon as she entered the throne room.

The king looked at his daughter and asked her in a serious tone: "Do you remember Jack Fenton, my dear?"

Maddie raised an eyebrow at the sudden question, but she answered it: "Yes, I do. He's that noble who was at my sister wedding. The one who was building some sort of weapons to fight ghosts, right?"

The king nodded and continued: "Yes, that's him. I just would like to inform you that your wedding with him has been scheduled. It's going to be in three week, on April 28th."

Maddie opened her mouth in shock and quickly said: "Father, You can't make me marry him!"

King Raymond just gave her daughter a bored look and said: "Look, my dear, marriage is a business. Do you think your sister married for love? Actually she got a bit lucky, because she actually started to like him. She said that to me a couple of weeks ago after a visit to us. You'll marry Jack Fenton. We need you to marry him because we have seen that his invention works and we need to secure such thing for ourselves, besides, I don't want that your sister's child to be the ruler of both kingdoms It's obvious that the child, especially it it's a boy is going to make user our kingdom becomes nothing but an extension of his father's. I need you to marry a noble, because, that way, your child will be the ruler of Amikeco Parko, instead of your sister's child. I'll not accept such fusion between our kingdoms. You'll marry him and give me a male child to me, so I can have a proper heir. This isn't open for discussion."

However, his daughter wasn't done talking yet: "You can't do this to me. I can't marry him, father! Besides ghosts aren't as evil as you claim them to be!" after a short paused she added not really sure if she wanted to know the answer: "A-and how do you know these weapons work?"

This time, the king was starting to loose his patience. He didn't like to be defied. "I already told you that the wedding is already scheduled! Since when do I have to repeat myself to you?" he didn't like to see his daughter defying him one bit. But, remembering her question, he decided to answer it regardless: "The weapons are going to work because Jack Fentom managed to capture a ghost with his new equipment and tested his more 'lethal' ones on it with complete success. I was there when he killed that beast." After another short pause the king continued: "How can you say that? Ghosts are mindless beasts? They can't even think! They're just waiting for the right moment to strike us with their freakish powers! How can you even say those fiends have any sort of good feeling?"

Maddie suddenly snapped at him not being able to hold herself anymore: "Because I married a ghost!"

"WHAT!" her father yelled out loud.

Even the guards were taken aback by both the king and princess' words. The king looked at her daughter astonished. But then he finally understood why his daughter changed the behavior so drastically in the last years and after thinking for a few moments he realized something. His daughter has been 'gaining weight' for the last months. He thought she was just getting fat and he also intended to put her on a strickt diet before the marriage, but after knowing she married a ghost and also seeing how protective she was now towards her womb he finally realized what was going on with his youngest daughter. She was pregnant of a ghost.

"Father, I-" Maddie tried to explain herself better, but she was cut by her father.

"You…DON'T YOU DARE CALL ME FATHER! YOU DARED TO MATE WITH A FIEND AND WILLINGLY, ABOVE ALL?" He gave Maddie no time to answer: "I have no daughter! Guards, kill her!"

Maddie was in utter shock by her father's words. Sure, she expected him to be angry, but to this point? Even the guards were unsure if they should compel to such order.

Noticing that the guards weren't obeying him, he said venomously to them: "What are you waiting for? Do you want to be beheaded? She mated with a monster she's no longer human and above all she's carrying a demon's spawn in her womb!"

The guards were now fearing for their own lives and they looked back at the princess who quickly started to run back to her room hoping Vlad had arrived as soon as her father gave the order. The guards quickly followed her.

She managed to arrive in the room and she closed the door and locked it and moved to the balcony and screamed: "VLAD, PLEASE! ARE YOU THERE?" but there was no response.

The guards shortly arrived at the locked door and as soon as they noticed the door was locked, one of the them used the spear to destroy the door handle and now Maddie was defenseless.

"Please, you can't do this! My father is wrong. Ghosts aren't what people think they are!" Maddie begged sobbing as she hugged her belly in a protective way towards her child.

As the guards approached, one of them spoke: "I'm really sorry, princess. But our lives are at stake here as well..."

Maddie tried to give a step back, but she was already at the end of the balcony. She found herself between a certain fall to her death and be killed by these two men.

The guards slowly approached her pointing their spears at her. "VLAD!" she screamed at the top of her lungs hoping he would appear and save her like three years ago.

But it was too late for her as one of the guards pierced her right lung with a spear. She gasped not being able to react at the attack. She looked shocked at the metal stabbing her. The princess feared more for her child who would never see the light of the day in its life.

She cried harder as she felt her life leaving her slowly. However, a sudden a big red blast of energy hit both men sending them flying back into the room. But when they were sent flying the man kept holding the spear and it was forcefully taken out of Maddie.

Vlad had finally arrived and was shocked to say the least. He quickly took his wife in his arms. She was bleeding too much and too fast. He focused and a grey mist enveloped both of them and they reappeared inside of Vlad's house. His parents were at the ghost castle for a ball, because Eric had invited them. He also invited Vlad. After staying there for a couple of hours, the man decided to finally show everyone his wife, after all he couldn't keep her a secret from everyone forever. He wanted to make everyone a surprise to show them his wife. Vlad was wearing an elegant white clothing, proper for such event. But it was now red because of his wife's blood.

"Maddie, please…hang in there…I…" Vlad tried to consulate his wife not really sure how he was going to accomplish such a feat.

She was loosing too much blood too fast. "My father…how could he…I just… why couldn't he be happy for us" she managed to say crying.

Vlad immediately understood what she meant. His fury was boiling, but he was more concerned about his wife.

The princess knew she was near the end of her life. She cried. Not for herself, but for her child and for her husband who was looking desperate trying to figure it out a way to save her.

Maddie's eyes went wide in realization. She had just figured a way to save at least her child. "Vlad…" she said weakly.

"Please, be quiet, my dear. You need to save strength. You're going to be okay…" He tried ssure her, not exactly believing in his own words.

"Please, Vlad…I know I'm going to die…But you can save our child…"

Vlad who was tried to use a ghost power to save his wife, but he wasn't connected with her by blood and she wasn't a ghost. So his attempts were futile. But he turned his look at his wife and was unsure of what she meant by that.

"Dear, you…" Maddie coughed some blood and gathered strength to continue "can save our child by using that intangibility of yours. You must save at least our child…"

The ghost's eyes went wide by such suggestion. "Are you sure of this?" he asked not wanting to dug his hands into his wife. What if he killed his wife? What if he harmed or killed the child in the process? He wanted to find a way to save both of his loved ones.

"Please, Vlad…You must do it, or else we both die. At least save our child!" Maddie begged him using every ounce of her willpower to remain conscious and not give him to the death's embrace before she was sure her baby was alright.

Vlad sighed. He hoped from deep down of his heart that his wife's plan would work. If it did, he would be able to use his healing power on the child, because it shared blood ties with him.

The ghost carefully turned his hands intangible and dug them into his wife's womb and as soon as he felt the child, he gently grabbed it and turned it intangible as well and took it from the womb.

Vlad turned his hands tangible to see his child. It was a baby boy. He had snow white hair and a dim white aura surrounding his small and fragile body.

The ghost held the fragile baby boy in his shaking arms in a cradling position. The boy was crying for leaving the comfort of his mother's womb and the boy was still quite small, which just increased his father's worries. "It's a boy…" he told his beloved wife approaching her so she could see her child.

Maddie raised her hand to touch her precious son. She didn't even minded to see that he was born with his father's heritage so evident. She instantly loved that kid. "Can…I name him?" She said before coughing some blood.

Vlad held his tears seeing the love of his life at the verge of death and told her: "Of course you can, my dear…"

Maddie smiled still caressing her son's crying form who seemed to have calmed down feeling his mother's gentle touch. "How about…Daniel…Daniel Plasmius…"

The man smiled. He truly liked that name. But before he could say how much he liked it, his wife continued still caressing her son: "Vlad, I want you to promise me something…"

He looked at her wondering what she could as him for. He would do it in a heartbeat for her: "What is it, my love?"

"Please…don't tell our son how I died…I don't want to see him growing up with hate against humans, especially against my father. He doesn't have to know any of this. Don't let vengeance to taint his soul."

Vlad instantly frowned. He had every right to spite king Raymond for what he did to his own daughter. But he couldn't deny his wife's last wish: "Very well, my love. For you I shall hide what that monster did to you, but I'll also say your whole side of your family is dead. I think…it's going to be the best for him…"

Maddie smiled weakly as she closed her eyes, finally giving her heavy eyes the rest they begged so much. Her hand fell from her son's face and as if, the boy could understand what had just happened, Daniel started to cry really loud.

The man couldn't help, but to let a couple of tears escape from his eyes. He felt torn. He cursed himself for not arriving earlier at Maddie's home. If he hadn't decide to attend that stupid party, his wife would have been alive and their son wouldn't be in such a danger.

Vlad held the infant firmly, concealing him with his own life energy. Vlad was literally giving the child life support to substitute his mother's womb for the time being. This was something only ghosts of the same family could do to each other in order to save their lives in a extreme case. Ghosts were capable of giving up a few years of their lives in order to heal a family member. Vlad would gladly give up of his entire life for the boy, but, fortunately, all he would loose to help the weak child was just a couple of years, which didn't matter much for him, after all ghosts could live up to five hundred years.

The baby boy was enveloped by a golden light in his father's arms as he stopped crying and seemed to have finally quieted down feeling his father's gentle life energy concealing him and warming him up.

The man didn't know what to do as he gently caressed his son's cheeks. He promised himself he would devote his entire life to raise and protect his child.

End of chapter 1

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. See you next update.

More Author Notes:

[1]It means "Amity Park" in Esperanto

[2]It means "Old Gate" in Esperanto

[3]I'll explain what ghosts 'really' are in this story in the later chapters.

[4]Don't get me wrong, this is a medieval fantasy, so I'm trying to be loyal to the time they were.