A/N: First off I would like to state: I suck at history. Therefore this is my own timeline yada yada yada. I won't be specifying any dates and if details are off by a little or long way I can do nothing about them. And about the slaves, in this story black, white, red or green it doesn't matter if you could be bought over, were too poor or committed some sort of crime or something like that, you would be a slave, end of. Secondly if, as a slave, you did something bad you would have been beaten etc, killed or sold or shipped to the glue factory were they would use your bones to make glue. Thirdly, you cannot kill someone unless they are a slave, and they cannot be a slave if they have not bought over, thus Vlad had to sell Danny and Jazz because they were not his slaves he was their guardian rather then straight out killing them, and the parent of guardian has the right to sell the child or children in their care to slavery but it is illegal to kill them, as stated somewhere above. Also in case you ask, Vlad sells Danny because he was driving him crazy. You may ask 'Come on, what idiot in their right mind would sell a ghost boy to just about anyone?' but the thing is durng the beginning of this story Vlad was not in his right frame of mind, thanks to Danny. And besides if he didn't sell him it destroys the entire plot.
Kapeesh?
Good.
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He couldn't take it. The boy was driving him insane. He hadn't meant for Maddie to die, but things had gone that way. At least, he had thought, I still have Daniel to follow me and become my heir. But Daniel hadn't wanted to follow the path Vlad had skillfully laid with the death of his parents.
No one knew Vlad was the one that tipped the authorities off about Jack and Maddie, no one but Daniel. And as a result Daniel was out for his blood, pushing him over the edge of sanity to get it. Though mute Daniel could be a vicious young man, and Vlad had learned the hard way he refused to be a voiceless puppet.
That was why Vlad was doing what he was doing. That was why he was sitting in a carridge, Daniel was tied up in the back along with his naggy sister - whom Vlad had wished to dispose of instead of Maddie - on their way to be sold as slaves to one of Vlad's many 'acquaintances'. He didn't care who he bumped them off with, as long as it was soon. Daniel already had scared off most possible buyers with his ferocious nature.
Next stop, the Mansons. Vlad had low expectations for this one but was driven on by the grim determination to be rid of Daniel and go back home to live in peace... possibly get a cat as Daniel had motion-suggested. No, no, he would never sink so low as to take up on a suggestion from Daniel... No, he would get himself a dog.
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"Please Danny," Jazz begged her brother. "We can't keep on going like this, Vlad took our food away! He's not feeding us until we're sold!" Danny stared at the wall pretending not to hear. But he heard, Jazz knew he heard, there was little, next to nothing that Danny did not hear. "You can't keep scaring them off! We'll die!" Danny shot her a look. "I know you don't think Vlad could kill us but, he's changed." Jazz trailed off. Danny tilted his head to one side and raised an eyebrow, a playful smirk on his face. "No Danny! You and your sick thoughts." She smiled weakly and punched him playfully in the arm. She grew serious "I mean, he wouldn't kill us before because of Mom, now she's gone..." Danny glared fiercly at the wall, his sky blue eyes flashing a dangerous, omnious green. But Jazz pressed on, "Now she's gone he may not hesitate especially now you've refused to join him." Danny was silent.
Then again he always was.
He hadn't told Jazz it was Vlad's fault their mother and father were dead. He could not voice it and just couldn't bring himself to motion it. He would let her find the connections on her own. So he sat and stared at the wall ignoring Jazz's feeble, half-hearted attempts to convince him to be cooperative.
Nothing would make him cooperate if that man wanted it.
That man was a murderor.
He killed Danny's parents.
He killed Danny's hope.
He took Danny's freedom.
He took Danny's voice.
----
'This family is rich.' Danny motioned subtly to Jazz. He caught a glimpse of a butt-ugly diamond incrusted vase that had no purpose but to look expensive. 'Scratch that, this family is really rich.' Danny scowled. 'The lucky b-'
"Danny." Jazz hissed in warning. Danny rolled his eyes. They wore rusted ecto-handcuffs with and anklecuffs that allowed them to take about half a metre long stride. They were both clad in what looked like tattered potatoe sacks with sleeves and a neck hole (which wasn't too far from the truth) fastened at the waist with a length of rope. 'This damn soil sack is itchy.' Danny moan-motioned.'You'd think the jerk would have the decency to buy us proper tunics rather than making you sew stuff out of sacks. Bloody b-' Jazz shot him a look. Danny rolled his eyes. 'I was going to say billionaire.' Jazz heaved a sigh and mimicked his action.
"You're hopeless."
Vlad walked in front of them, observing his surroundings and assessing the chances of success. Next to none. Jazmine was smart, she had a good opportunity here. Daniel however would most probably fight them off and ruin both her chances and his. Vlad knew no matter how badly Jazmine reacted she didn't mind, not really. He could never understand why exactly so just put it down to a 'sibling thing', something he would never understand but had figured out roughly after he had tried to have a young man named Johnathon court Jazmine. Daniel had chased him off with such ferocity you would have thought he was slimy, cheating git - oh wait, he was. Vlad sighed. The unwritten law of siblinghood seem to be 'Protect and Retain. Never abandon them and always look out for them'. Vlad had no siblings, he hated the idea. Why you would possibly want to look after a whiny, annoying, bratty brother or sister he did not know. When they reached the door to the main room where Mr. and Mrs. Manson sat Vlad sucked in his breath, crossed his fingers kissed his luck charms - receiving a 'What an idiot' on Danny's part - before finally ordering a slave to push open the door.
----
Clad in black, the sole heir to the Manson Fortune sat huffily in the main room awaiting her 'new slaves'. She wanted nothing to do with slavery. The very thought made he sick to her stomach. The fact she was forced to be involved with it only made it worse. But her parents insisted upon it. It seemed they could not live without it. In fact she was pretty sure they couldn't.
"Vlad Masters has arrived." A young slave announced. A man in his late forties emerged from the outside hall. He had grey hair slicked back into a low ponytail. His suit was crisp and new. Two slaves followed him in - and were those potatoe sacks they were wearing?
The female looked older, she had orange hair slightly brighter than that of Mrs Manson. It fell to her waist and her intellegent teal eyes sparkled with knowledge. The boy however captivated the young maiden's vision for much longer than a respected lady was to look at a man, let alone a slave. Her mother cleared her thorat to warn her, and even after her eyes left him, his raven black hair and the striking sky blue orbs peeking out from under his shaggy bangs were still imprinted in her sight.
"Mr. Manson, Mrs Manson, Miss Manson." Vlad bowed to them each respectively. He motioned for his slaves to kneel. The girl did so and pulled the boy down to match her.
"This is Jazmine, and this is Daniel." The boy known as Daniel glared viciously at Vlad. "Jazmine is smart and very obedient. She can sew, clean and can translate several languages. She knows-"
"Enough." Mr. Manson commanded. Vlad flinched, he hated being ordered around. "The girl seems worth her money but what of the boy?" Mr. Manson looked over Daniel. "He seems alittle on the scrawny side." A small expression of panic washed over Vlad's face (and a rather lage expression of outrage appeared on Danny's) but was gone as soon as it came.
"He is a lot stronger than he looks. He can cook too." Vlad searched frantically for other comments he could make about Daniel before Daniel himself decided it was time to show them just what he could do.
Danny was just getting ready to exactly what Vlad was hoping he wouldn't when he spied the violet eyed teen in the corner. Unlike her, he made it so inobvious that he was examining her no one could tell he was. Well, no one except Jazz. Knowing exactly what he was doing was part of her job. The girl's ashen china-like face and delicate looking features hypnotised him but he looked away quickly. To most onlookers she simply looked bored. But her eyes said differently as they examined the boy in front of her. When her mother had cleared her throat and she had looked away. But she snuck looks at him time and again. On one of these occasions Danny lifted his head and is gaze met hers. Danny's limbs froze and all plans of acting out faded from his mind.
"I don't think he's very suitable. We'll take the girl-"
"He's mute." Danny whipped his head around dropping the girl's gaze. He glowered at Vlad with such intensity, Vlad could almost feel the ecto-blasts. Mutness always got buyers interested and these were no different. One's voice was like one's ability to defy authority. Without it you were expected to comply to just about everything. Danny would never obey rules without a fight. A fight that was about to begin.
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So there it is. Please review and leave some constructive critism. I don't mind flames but please be reasonable and say more than just a 'This story sucks' please say why. Any way, the new chapters will come soon but relatively slowly. Once a month at the very slowest unless I put in on hiatus. So please review and give me some motivation.
Thank you
Nixi