9

An old man in his late forties stared at the multiple monitors in his private study, petting his kitty as she purred softly on his lap.

He was not happy, nor was he getting off as much as he used to as he watched the multiple recorded videos in the Fenton household. His favorite actor has been missing for a number of weeks now, and it was starting to get on his nerves. He hasn't upgraded the software to be able to hear what was going on, so none of the videos had any sound. Vlad only cared about what he could see, so he saw no real need in replacing the camera's. He did, however, like to edit in soft music in some of the videos to make them a little more romantic.

Vlad frowned as he rewound the few short videos. One screen was of Daniel Fenton doing his homework at his desk, another was of him taking a nap in his bed. Vlad favored the one where he was in the shower facing away from the peeping camera. The soap washing out of his silky black hair and running down between his flexing and unflexing shoulder blades was more erotic then any porn he'd ever seen. But these were all video's that he had seen before, and they didn't offer the same thrill as seeing Daniel in live action. He supposed watching Maddie shower and sleep in the very bed he screwed her in was somewhat enjoyable. Her short and deep red hair was comforting and framed her face perfectly, plus her body looked like it belonged to a goddess and was arousing to any man with eyes.

But Vlad needed Daniel. He hasn't screwed Daniel yet, so it was like the boy was forbidden fruit he hadn't taken a bite out of. He was a tasty treat that was swinging in front of his eyes, and he needed a taste. He focused on Daniel's face as he stressed over his homework desk, he was alone in his room and trying very hard to concentrate on his math. His light blue eyes stared down at the equation with disinterest and a severe lack of motivation, and Vlad crept over every detail on the kid's face. How in the hell did a 15-year-old boy manage such perfect features? What devil did he strike a deal with to get such flawless and perfect skin? The black hair on near paper white skin was sinful and the slim but boyish frame was demonic in the hottest way possible.

Jazz was... She's beautiful, but out of his type. He only liked girls that were fully developed, and her body is not nearly as shapely or voluminous as a fully grown woman with two kids was. He also didn't like how moody and hormonal teenage girls were, teenage boys and grown woman tend to be a lot less winey and held a lot more self-confidence, and that's what Vlad found attractive.

Especially when they played hard to get, like Daniel did.

These videos were all taken weeks ago, and Vlad hated that he had to resort to watching reruns. Where was Daniel? Didn't he have school?

Vlad mulled over what he had been seeing for the past five weeks, he figured that Maddie and Jack weren't sleeping together because of what happened those weeks ago. They didn't spend a lot of time in the house outside of night time, which was strange because prior to before that specific weekend, they were almost always home. Jazmine came home from Florida in the middle of the semester and has stayed there for almost the full five weeks now, which was strange because if he knew Jazz like he knew he did, then she would priorities school over everything but family. The amount of strange behavior was suspicious.

Maybe he should call them, he thought as he clicked his mouse a few times to get the live feed on the Fenton house. Jazmine was conveniently sitting in the living room on her computer, Maddie wasn't in the house and the idiot was in the basement again working on who the hell knows what.

Vlad lifted up his phone and dialed the only number beside his own that he knew by heart and waited as it rang. He watched the screen carefully as Jazmine jumped in surprise when the phone next to her started ringing before she wiped her face and picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Jazmine, Hello." He used his fake happy voice that he knew nobody in the family could see through, except for maybe Daniel, the kid was much smarter and spotted fakes very easily. The kid was truly on to him about his true intentions, but the poor thing was always underestimated by the people around him who thought he was a dimwit when he really wasn't.

Truly a convenient and amusing feature of the boy's character.

"Oh, hey, Uncle Vlad. I'm sorry, my parents are busy." her voice sounded more than just tired. Sad stressed, and exhausted was a more accurate description of the 17-year-olds tone.

"Ah, no my dear girl, I'm just glad someone has finally answered the phone. I've been calling for weeks just to chat with your parents like I normally do once or twice a week, but nobody has been picking up." He lied, "I've gotten worried, to be honest."

"Oh yeah," her voice broke a little and he could see on his screen that she was covering her eyes with her free hand as if she was trying to hold back a load of tears.

Ah, there's those hormones that he hated, Vlad thought before he faked concern, "Jazmine? is everything okay?"

Jazz had known Vlad her entire life, he felt like a real uncle to her and not just a close family friend. He was there for every birthday, every Christmas, every Fourth of July, he was even there when she and her brother were born. Surely her Mom and Dad wouldn't mind that she told him about their current situation right?

"No, Uncle Vlad. Danny's missing." She confirmed what Vlad had been theorizing, "You have to believe me, Vlad, I've seen them, he was kidnapped by... they took him." He could hardly understand what she was saying now as she was full blown crying into the phone receiver, completely diluted under the impression that he cared that she was sobbing.

His brows rose in interest though, the idea that his piece of candy that he has been saving for the perfect moment was missing, supposedly stolen by someone, was infuriating.

"What do you mean Jazmine, who took him?" he would hunt them down, pay the most capable hunter/tracker, or assassin, and pay for the biggest search party known to man to get Daniel back.

There was a pause on the other end, and Vlad swallowed his impatience and waited, he needed to keep up the appearance that Daniel's absence was new information to him. He needed to make sure that Jazz felt like he cared about them as if they were his own, and he couldn't do that if he showed her how little he felt in regards to compassion for how difficult this must be for her.

"Mermaids, they're in the cove by the beach on Amity cost. We've been searching for him every day for weeks now, with no luck." she finally pushed out. Vlad could practically hear the number of tears that fell from this girls face, and he didn't need to be watching her through the video feed to know that she was the most upset that he had ever seen her. "Please, I know it sounds ridiculous, but you have to believe me, I saw them with my own eyes," she started pushing out more forcefully, obviously unaware that Vlad believed her.

"Hush now, dear girl, I believe you." he pulled up his note pad from the pocket on the inside of his jacket and flipped through the pages. "I'll help you find him. Don't forget I went to college with your parents and I believe in the existence of the mermaids just as they do."

She sniffled as he found the number he was looking for, "Really?"

"Of course, Jazmine, the only difference is I have dollars by the million and the necessary equipment to properly search and rescue Daniel from a cove full of mermaids. Why did none of you call before?" he pretended like he didn't know the answer to that question. He was under the impression that Jazmine did not know about her mother's affair yet, convenient for him as he will now be invited to the household instead of having to just show up randomly to figure out what happened to Daniel. "I also have a personal team of professionals that are equipped to handle these situations. They have all the gear and training that they need to go snorkeling through mermaid infested water."

It was a sobering fact that Daniel was most likely dead if it was true that he was kidnapped by mermaids during the fishing trip he and his father went on, he couldn't believe that he wasted all that time enjoying the boy from a distance and now he was dead. However, if he was right, and Daniel's parents were probably going to get a divorce, then if he tries to help them pointlessly search for their son, he would completely win Maddie's heart and she would come live with him after they separate. May as well keep her since he no longer had the baffoon's friendship and his son was now gone, there would be no reason to ever see them again if he had Maddie's affection, at least.

He could see how excited Jazz got after what he said, "Really? You have a team? And equipment that isn't faulty?" she asked as if he hadn't literally just said that.

"Of course, and I will be on your doorstep by morning, because as soon as we hang up, I'm going to call all of my people, and then I'm going to jump on my private jet to Amity." he hinted how much he wanted to get off the phone with Jazz.

She sniffled again, honestly, wasn't this girl old enough to control her tears? Vlad rolled his eyes. "Thank you, Uncle Vlad. We've always been able to count on you."

"Don't mention it. I'll see you soon okay?" he could see her nod on the video, but he didn't wait for a verbal response before he hung up and dialed the number on his notepad.

"This is The Guys in White, what the hell do you want?" the disrespectful tone didn't at all bother Vlad, because he had the money to make peoples lives hell if he wanted. All it took was one threat and people cowered at his feet, clearly, Agent W had no idea who he was talking to.

"Hello, Agent W. This is Mr. Master's. You know, the guy that funds all your research, training, and equipment?" he smirked as the man stuttered on the phone.

"Oh, uh, please excuse me Mr. Master's, what can I do for you?"

...

They had kept their relationship problems a complete secret. They hadn't told Jazmine about their impending separation, or about the divorce, or anything to clue into the affair. They had kept her completely in the dark about the fact that her favorite uncle had slept with her mom behind her fathers back. They still felt like they should keep all these things a secret for the time being until they found out what happened to Danny after he was kidnaped by those mermaids. They would do anything to protect what was left of her emotional stability.

Which was how Vlad ended up back in their living room one morning.

Jazz had answered the door, she had been expecting him. However her father had still been in the basement and her mother was probably in bed hungover again, so neither of them even had the opportunity to have a private conversation with the older man before Jazz allowed him into the house.

Jazz hadn't even bothered to tell either of her parents that he was in their house, which was why Jack jumped on his way up from the basement and almost dropped his coffee mug when he noticed Vlad sitting on his couch as if nothing had ever gone wrong between them. However, he couldn't say anything at that moment when eye contact was first made due to the fact that his daughter was sitting on the couch next to him.

He wanted to kill his ex-best friend at that moment for having the audacity to not only go behind his back with his wife for all these years but now to also takes advantage of his daughter's ignorance to snake his way back into his house? But as much as he hated him and wanted to skin him alive, he had to protect his daughter's sanity for as long as he could; she was already going through so much with the loss of her brother. He wasn't about to take away the love and respect she has for her godfather and at the same time break her heart with her mother's affair. He knew it would be too much for her to handle all at once and he wanted her to stay just the way she was mentally when all of this was over.

"Vlad." he started, holding back monstrous anger and frustration. "What are you doing here?" It was an honest and legitimate question since he had no recollection of ever giving this guy permission to enter his home after the son of an asshole became the bane of his existence.

"Well, Jazmine and I were talking last night and I learned of your current situation with young Daniel," he said as he stood up and walked towards Jack, not at all afraid of the man's passive aggression. "I'm here to help. I have brought my team and sufficient equipment to do a proper search for any sign of him."

Jack scratched his right ear, attempting to maintain the attitude in his voice for fear of his very smart daughter catching on to any of it. "Good news," was all that Jack was able to say, playing it off as exhaustion by yawning and heading over to the kitchen like he originally planned before he was bombarded with the presence of his worst enemy. His lack of response was only convincing to those who had no idea what was going on, but he didn't care enough to make Vlad feel appreciated. He was glad that Sam and Tucker had to go home for the night the day before, he didn't know if he would be able to handle anymore faces in this house at the moment, sure they would most likely be back after school but at least he would have the morning and part of the afternoon to collect himself and successfully get used to the fact that Vlad would apparently be helping them from now on.

Oh well, all he cared about was finding his Son, and though he and his college friend were having the worst kind of issues, Vlad still had always been there watching Danny grow up, so he had to actually care for Danny enough to look for him. Vlad was Danny's Godfather and he didn't have the heart to refuse Vlad for trying to help in finding the kid that everyone in this house loved unconditionally. Finding his son was his top priority, and just like he could handle being around his thot of a wife in favor of finding his son, he could handle being around his bitch of an ex-best friend. Because logically, Jack knew from his experience working with Vlad in college, that the man had a lot of useful resources, resources that they needed in order to successfully find Danny.

He could handle it. For his precious son and for the sake of his daughter.

He walked into the kitchen, leaving Vlad and his daughter to stare after him as he walked away. Jazz stared at her father in concern, figuring that his salty attitude was just the effects of the lack of sleep and the amount of stress he's been under because of Danny's absence.

Things had been weird between everyone in the house ever since Danny was kidnapped, but she was sure that it was resolvable, it was nothing that they couldn't handle because their family had always worked through their issues with love and patients.

But would that change if they never found Danny? Was Danny the one piece in their lives that kept them all together, the one thing that made the whole family as soft and as compassionate as they were? Without him, they weren't complete. A huge chunk of their hearts would break apart and dissolve into nothing, and they would either be left with an empty space in their hearts left there to fester and rot, or it would be replaced by nothing but pain, regret, and this hatred for themselves because they didn't try hard enough to get him back. Danny was their baby, he was the youngest and the most innocent out of all of them, he had all the choices and hardly any mistakes

Jack opened the fridge and took out a soda, not caring that he had four the day before, Dr. Pepper was the best doctor out there and could solve anything. Save my life doctor, he thought as he uncapped the tab on the top and took a long drink, knowing that he was going to have at least fifty new gray hairs before the day was over. He hoped the good doctor could protect him long enough to keep him from actually loosing half his hair before all of this was over. His worst nightmare, right below his wife cheating on him with his best friend and then losing his son to a cave full of mermaids, was losing his hair and becoming bald before he even hit 60.

The amount of frustration and pent up anger for the vile man in the room next to him could be felt filling him like poison all the way from the tips of his toes up to his throat. His head was in responding to it with images of fire, some gasoline, some duck tape, and a specific turkey looking old man on a very uncomfortable chair.

He could not be having thoughts like that with his daughter in the house, and as much as he hated his wife right now, the only person that he was wishing to set on fire was his college nemesis.

A thump upstairs could be heard, and a second later it registered that Maddie was finally up. Oh joy, I wonder how we're all going to interact together... in the same house... in the same room... possibly on the same couch.

He took another sip of his soda and grabbed a second one for Vlad just to keep up appearances with as little hostility as possible.

This was going to be a long day.