DISCLAIMER: I own nothing!

Warnings apply to all chapters: older man and younger girl relationship. Mentions death, stillborns. Name-calling such as pervert and pedophile. Child Protective Services mentioned, children being taken away from parents. Swearing Mentions sex. Not for children under age of fourteen! You've been warned.

She was alone when the portal started up. Her two best friends Sam and Tucker had never found out and so far even Jazz and her ghost hunter parents were oblivious. No one besides Vlad and the ghosts knew.

Everyone also got to know who their soulmate was on their fifth birthday. A mark would reveal itself and it would lead you to who they were. There were also other factors but the main one was the mark. Dani's mark never appeared like the other kids' marks did. Which caused her to be bullied and ridiculed. Maddie and Jack Fenton were soulmates and yet they were confused as to why their younger daughter had no mark. Her older sister Jazz even tried to exclude her from activities.

As she got older her mark still never appeared and it caused more people to exclude her. Sam and Tucker were soulmates despite all of their arguments and so they slowly left her in the dust. Valerie was soulmates with Dale, Star and Kwan were soulmates, Jazz had Dash's mark and so did Paulina, Dash had both girls' marks and they were what most people called a throuple. Paulina and Jazz may not exactly felt the pull towards each other but they certainly felt it towards Dash and we're constantly pining for his attention.

Dani, later found out that even ghosts had soulmate marks. They had those marks during their human lives as well but they ended up not finding their soulmates until the afterlife. Dani was ostracized by her family, peers, and even her while town for not having a mark.

It wasn't until she was in her twenties when she found out she wasn't the only person who never had a mark. While it certainly helped to have one, to find your one and only. She didn't find out directly from the other person with no mark, she found out through a tabloid magazine of all places. On the cover, it showed Vlad Masters as one of the richest men in the world and even mentioned how he himself also didn't have a soulmate mark. When news got out about it, girls from all over the world flocked to Vlad to try and be his 'princess' in a sense. They went so far as to cover their own marks or try and put a mark showing that glad was theirs. They always failed though.

Dani had to ask her own parents about it. About whether or not Vlad had a mark or if he covered it. They had told her Vlad hadn't had a mark but that didn't automatically mean that their daughter was his soulmate. They also explained to their daughter that most people got their soul marks later in life because their soulmate hadn't been born yet but Dani knew better.

After a few weeks, Vlad had a press conference to address the fact of his soul mark. Everyone from Amity Park had shown up, even Danielle's old classmates. They had a break from college, it was between semesters anyway. Even Jazz was back and both her and Paulina had one of Dash's hands in their grasp.

"As all of you may have known, the reason we are here to address the fact about my soul mark. The tabloids were indeed correct about the fact that I have no soul mark. There could be many explanations as to why I don't have one, as to whether my soulmate is dead or hasn't been born yet but there is a reason that is only known to myself and one other person in this world. My soulmate is younger than me by over twenty years. I'm not getting any younger but it is important for you all to know that I know who my soulmate is and for those young ladies and even some men, you should focus on finding your own soulmate and not some old guy like myself. I'm not certain if my soulmate knows if we're soulmates yet but even if she doesn't that is a matter that the two of us need to resolve and talk about. Thank you all for coming."

Even with the cameras everywhere, it seemed like Vlad's attention was directed towards her and her alone. The people of Amity didn't exactly put the pieces together but one person in that crowd certainly had. Vlad had said something about being tied to his soulmate in another way and that reason was because their we're only two in existence. Danielle Fenton and Vlad Masters were tired together by the red string of fate because they were both halfas. When the crowd dispersed and the cameras were cut, Vlad was still standing in the stage and Dani was still in the crowd. The two seemed to be in their own little world just staring at each other.

Vlad broke the contact first and went to turn around but was quickly stopped by the very same girl he was making eye contact with moments before.

Vlad turned around to see Danielle Fenton coming up onto the stage. The press had long ago vanished and so had the crowd. When she got up onto the stage she only said, "The sky looks beautiful tonight. It'd be perfect for a flight, don't you think?" This was essentially her code to tell him to go on a flight with her tonight so the two could talk.

"Yes, that it would be.". That was Vlad's way of agreeing. There might not have been people around but they could never be too careful.

"My parents go to bed around eleven. My dad's snores drown out the whole house."

"I'm sure they do. I guess we'll see each other soon enough Little Badger."

The two just simply nod before leaving. Vlad now knew that it hadn't totally passed over Danielle's head like it had with the rest of the town and world. When Vlad got back to his office, he finally let out a sigh of relief and sunk back into his chair. He was no longer alone in his burden of life. He now knew that his soulmate was willing to accept him as she was willing to talk to him. He also knew that she was probably just as lonely as himself.

He noticed the distance her family and friends kept from her. She was an outcast because she had no mark and so was he. He saw the looks her parents gave him when they became friends in high school. They almost pitied him but when they saw that their daughter was similar to him, they didn't know what to say or do so they ignored her thinking that was for the best. He also saw how Danielle's friends ignored her. He kind of understood how that felt though, his two friends were soulmates and so they tended to ignore the one without a mark or soulmate more often then not.

Vlad managed to take his mind off of things by delving into paperwork. Dani, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. As soon as she left Vlad and went home her parents interrogated her. The worst part was the fact that Paulina, Dash, and Jazz had also overheard.

Dani had gotten scolded for the fact that she could possibly be Vlad's soulmate. She denied everything her parents accused and once they had gone down to the lab Paulina and Jazz had called her an attention seeker and that if she did actually have Vlad as a soulmate that she better help them all financially. The girls even went so far as to have Dash threaten her.

Just her luck that Sam and Tucker had knocked on the door soon after and Jazz had been the one to open the door. When Sam and Tucker entered they heard Jazz complaining to her soulmates about how Dani could get lucky enough to be soulmates with a billionaire.

"Wait, does that mean Vlad's your soulmate?" Tucker asks.

"I don't know, " soon after that statement of hers, her ghost sense went off. "My soulmate is probably dead, maybe they were stillborn and never got to experience life. I would go more towards that."

"Yeah, that makes sense, " Sam agrees.

"Um, I have to use the bathroom. I'll be back, maybe."

Once Dani was upstairs she transformed and then went to find the ghost. She hadn't been worried about the ghost at first because the power levels we're a level one and they can't do much damage. As it turned out she was correct it was two ectopusses. She caught them no problem but not too long after Skulker and Ember showed up. The two were ready to start up trouble. They were soulmates themselves but how often the two of them fought, it was a miracle they were even still together.

After about three hours she managed to get them both in the thermos and when she got back, Sam, Tucker, Maddie, Jack, Jazz, Dash, and Paulina were in the living room talking. Just her luck. She put the ghosts back into the Ghost Zone before heading back into the bathroom upstairs and detransformed. She slowly came down the stairs and Maddie and Jack started to yell at her because she snuck out. She was twenty for goodness sakes and she was getting yelled at like she was still a teenager.

They even went so far as to ground her and sent Sam and Tucker home. Jazz said something along the lines of not being able to handle all of the fighting and said that she was going over to Paulina's. That was basically code for the three of them having sex.

Jack and Maddie didn't catch that part of it though. They agreed with Jazz and let her go. They yelled at Dani some more before the two of them got tired. They went to bed early, three hours earlier than expected. Dani managed to sneak downstairs and use the house phone though. She had gotten her cellphone and laptop taken away.

She called Vlad's house number as well. She knew he'd probably retired home a few hours ago. She knew his number by memory because she had called him many times after a ghost attack. While the two may have been arch-nemesis' at first the two got over themselves and became allies. Maybe they weren't the best of friends but they cared about the other's safety.

Vlad had told her to call him after any serious ghost fights or if there was a ghost fight. Sometimes Vlad even helped her but he couldn't always leave his post as the mayor to help her. But if she was badly beaten up she could crash land in his office and he'd help patch her up. Even if they didn't always get along, they always help the other out.

Someone picked up the phone after the fourth ring. It was a maid or someone. "Hello? Mr. Masters landline, may I ask who's calling?"

"Can you give the phone to Vlad, please. He knows who this is."

"I'm sorry but Mr. Masters already has a soulmate and if this is a random woman trying to reach him, please delete this number."

"Vlad knows me, I'm someone close to him."

There was some scuffling before the phone was handed to Vlad. Vlad recognized the number almost immediately. "Hello Little Badger, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"My parents retired early for the night so if you want to meet up, we can."

"I'll be right there."

The phone was hung up and Dani rushed up to her room and locked the door. She then transformed and as soon as she was out she spotted Vlad. His back was still turned but he seemed to sense her before she could crash into him. When she did, she just held onto him and cried.

"What's wrong? Little Badger, please tell me." Vlad slowly lowered the two onto a building. And sat on the edge Dani in his lap.

"My- my parents. I don't know how this is going to work Vlad. My parents don't like the fact that their daughter is potentially the soulmate of their best friend and my sister is threatening that if we are that I have to keep her and her soulmates set for life. Tucker and Sam aren't exactly supportive of it either. I also had to leave to go fight ghosts and while I was gone they were talking horribly. I wouldn't be surprise if the whole town knows by tomorrow."

"Shhh, it's okay. They are correct in saying that we are soulmates. There are quite a few reasons for that. We're both half-ghosts and that, my dear girl, is stronger than any soul mark. There's also another reason as to why we were paired together. While I may be twenty years your senior, we will have eternity together."

"Eternity?"

"It might be too soon for you to recognize this but we don't age like normal humans do. I don't even think it's possible for us to die from something as trivial as old age."

"You mean, we'll have to watch everyone else around us die as we don't age?"

"Yes but, we'll have each other."

"So, you won't leave me then and we'll be able to be soulmates?" Dani asks hopeful, her tears slowly stopping as Vlad continues to wipe them away.

"If anything it should be me that's worried about you leaving me for a guy around your own age. No, I won't leave you, my dear. I've waited this long for you."

"Thanks, Vlad."

"For what?"

"For always being there for me. When my parents weren't there when no one else knew my secret, and for waiting for me."

"I probably would've waited longer to tell you or at least told you in private instead of the whole world."

"I know we didn't start off on the right foot Vlad but I'm glad that you're my soulmate."

"Well we have eternity, so waiting would be no issue."

"I'm kid of glad that I found out now, though instead of years from now. People might not like that we're soulmates but I think this is better than wondering if I was even worth the trouble of a soulmate."

"You, my dear, are worth everything in this world."

Dani cuddles more into Vlad and he wraps his arms around her tighter. "What are we going to do about everyone finding out?"

"They'll find out eventually and even if we are soulmates, they won't understand or accept."

"What about my parents?"

"Well, they could accept in time or they might not but you'll always have a place to stay with me."

"Speaking of places to stay, I kind of do have a place to stay. Clockwork and the Observants have been waiting until after I found my soulmate to take over but I think you should know. After defeating Pariah Dark, I've been promoted to leader of the Ghost Zone. That means you'll be my king to rule by my side."

"That's quite an upgrade from mayor."

"Yes, yes it is but you're always up for a challenge, right?"

"Always."

"Hey, Vlad. Can I, uh, kiss you?"

"Always, my dear."

The two share a searing kiss. The sparks that flew definitely dampened all of their previous doubts. They eventually pull away, in their ghost forms they didn't need much air but because they were still partly human they needed to breathe once in a while in their ghost forms.

"I'm kind of tired."

"I'll fly you back home."

"Okay. Can we meet up some more? I'll have to tell Clockwork about our bond and I'm sure he'll get the Observants and we'll be coronated any day."

"I'll be sure to clear my schedule that day then. As for when we can meet up, I'll keep my lunch open for tomorrow."

Dani let's out a yawn and when they land in her room she detransforms. "Thanks, Vlad."

"Sleep well, my dear. I'll see you tomorrow."

"G'night Vlad, " Dani slurs before falling asleep. Vlad gives her a kiss on the forehead before taking his leave.

End.