AN: Yes, I know. I promised myself that I wouldn't start another new story beyond the one's I've already started. But this one isn't exactly new, per say, it's actually a replacement story for For Whom the Bell Tolls, which, I'm sad to say, didn't work out plot-wise for me in the end. So instead, I bring you this story, a very different kind of Reaper story. Note that in this story, Reaper is actually a race, a type of mutation that shows up every once in awhile in people, and not specifically like the Grim Reaper. The concept was fun to toy with, as well was Danny.

Danny is the older brother of Jazz in this particular fiction. Why might you ask? Well, it's simple. The entire fiction works better this way. Their relationship now makes more sense for the fic than it would if I had done it the other way around. Plus, twelve-year old Jazz is cute. Come on. You all know she is?

Danny Phantom belongs to Butch Hartman, and I'm not making any money off of this. Just lots of yummy reviews that make me happy. Yes, that is a hint that you should leave reviews. Cause I love all of em!

Shadow of the Reaper

Chapter One: The Family

He told her that she had died in a car accident.

At the age of twelve, Jasmine Masters had never once met her mother. Well, not that she could remember, at least. She was sure she had met the red-haired woman when she was a baby, before the accident. She had heard stories from her father about what a wonderful, extraordinary woman she was, and how much she reminded him of her.

Jazz seemed to be the apple of her father's eye. And her father wasn't just any man, oh no. He was perhaps one of the most well-known men in the country, and the girl didn't just think that because she loved him. It was true. Everyone knew that Vlad Masters was one of the richest men in the United States. He had done great things with his wealth as well, that had brought him even more to the public eye.

Still, there were times when Jazz wondered about him. Other children knew what their fathers did, but Jazz had never learned what hers did. Or at least, not exactly. She knew he was involved in business, but she was never certain what exactly. He had told her stocks, once, but at the time she was too young to even know what those were, and had long since forgotten the explanation.

She loved her father all the same though. He was the man she held with most respect and adoration in her life. She loved to spend time with him, listen to him talk, telling her various stories from his life growing up, stories from books he had read (which she suspected were watered down for her ears, but she never commented on that suspicion), and other interesting things he knew of.

Jazz especially loved the stories about her mother.

Madeline. That was her name. Most of those who knew her had called her Maddie. She was a fiercely independent woman, but at the same time, she was the most loving person on Earth. She was always ready to open her arms up for anyone who was in need. Jazz knew that she loved her very much, because her father told her over and over again that she did.

Still, she couldn't help but wonder why there were no pictures of the four of them together. She thought that maybe there would at least be some pictures of her parents and her older brother, but no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't find any of them. For that matter, there weren't any pictures of her brother in the album since before he turned six, around the time she was born.

It was nothing she was worried about, really. It was more of just a curiosity.

She smiled as she thought of her older brother, shutting the photo album that she had been leafing through closed, her aqua eyes closing in happiness.

She curled up on her chair, happily drawing her aqua-stockinged knees up to her chest, and wrapping her arms around them. Her firey orange hair fell down behind her, an aqua headband placed in it to keep it neat. She was dressed in her school's uniform-a white dress shirt, with an aqua tie, and a cute blue skirt.

Her brother. He would be coming home again today, she thought happily to herself. She always wondered where he went on those times when he didn't come home, but her father didn't seem bothered by it, and so neither was she. Her father, in fact, seemed to know exactly where his son went, and approved highly of whatever it was that he was doing. He always told her when he was ready to come home, letting her excitement build as it was now. Seeing her eager face made the white-haired man smile.

"He'll be home when you come from school." he had told her this morning, and Jazz's heart had been pounding with excitement since then. She wanted the day to go by in a rush, not wanting to have to wait the eight long hours it would take for her schooling to be finished. She wanted to find a way to jump through time, so that she could skip the day, and cut to seeing her brother again.

He had been gone for a week this time. Her father said that he was in Chicago. She wondered what he could be doing in Illinois, but she was too young yet to let it really trouble her.

Jazz loved her brother very much. He was the second most important man in her world, and she felt that she could always go to him whenever she had a problem. One could tell that her older brother loved his sister very much as well, always making sure that everything went well for her. He was fiercely protective of her, and simply enjoyed spending time with her.

Daniel was his name, but nobody really called him that. It was always Danny, and he was quick to correct them if they called him anything else. Only her father, the formal man that he was, still called him Daniel, just as he called Jazz by her full name.

He had to be the most interesting person that the young girl had ever met. It wasn't just his looks, for those were quite interesting in and of themselves. For how many other people did she know that had hair that came in two colors, or eyes for that matter. Some people thought it bizarre, Jazz thought it was beautiful. She loved the sudden dramatic change in his hair color-it was all black as night up until his mid-neck, where it suddenly turned into a strange snow white. His eyes were wonderful to her as well, his left ice blue, and his right a bright green, both like she never saw in anyone else. They almost glowed in the dark, and seemed to have an almost natural shadow about them that Jazz found appealing.

Most didn't see his real eyes though, for he wore colored contacts that made both a plain blue. No one seemed to believe that his hair had started to grow white naturally, always assuming that he dyed it that way. Jazz wasn't so sure why they thought it was strange-she sure didn't see anything odd about it.

His personality only added to her fascination with her brother. He was always kind to her, always protective, and always willing to lend a helping hand whenever he could. Just like an older brother should, she thought. Though she had to admit there were times when her brother scared her, just a bit. His temper, though it had a long fuse, was terrifying when it was let loose, and there were other times when he could just be downright creepy. Jazz suspected that the latter came from too many horror movies.

"Jasmine? You're going to be late for school." Her father's voice interrupted her thoughts, as he poked his head into her room, a soft smile coming over his face as he looked upon his daughter. "Excited, aren't you?"

She nodded rapidly, practically bounding off the chair. The seventh-grader spun in a circle once, her black Mary Jane's making a clicking sound against the stone flooring of her room. "Of course! I can't wait to see Danny again. It feels like he's been gone forever! Do you think he'll bring me back something this time too?"

"Who knows?" Vlad shrugged, reaching out and taking his daughter's hand. The young girl happily took it, swinging it as he escorted her out to the limo that was waiting. "Just don't let your excitement distract you from your schoolwork." He advised her, before smiling again and planting a kiss on her forehead.

"Okay!" Jazz nodded again, giving her father's hand a squeeze. "I'll try my best! Bye Daddy!" She stood up on her tip-toes, pecking the leaning man on the cheek before she got into the limo, wondering how on earth she was ever going to manage to keep her promise.

A tired sigh escaped from the lips of a blue-eyed teen as he slid comfortably into his seat on the airplane, his eyes closing as he stretched his long legs out in front of him, placing his hands behind his head. "Man... You'd think after all this time, that bastard would send someone else to do his dirty work."

He sighed again, his breath blowing his black bangs briefly away from his left eye, before they once again settled over it. He shifted, adjusting his braid so that he no longer sat on the silver ring that the end of his white hair was tied to.

He was certainly a strange sight for the other first class passengers to behold. It wasn't every day you saw an eighteen-year old with dual-colored hair, sitting in a section that one was usually accustomed to seeing older men clad in business suits in. They all cast glances at him, at the black tank top he wore, coupled with black and dark gray striped armwarmers, gray camo pants and black combat boots. Pale green crystal-like earrings hung from his ears, and a silver chain with a jagged pendent hung from his neck, along with what appeared almost to be a dark gray cape tied around his waist, the fabric torn slightly at the bottom.

Most could, however, after their initial onset of shock, recognize him. He was the son of Vlad Masters, one of the richest people in America. He was reported to be a rather lenient father, his son popping up practically all of the country on all days of the week, including those when he should be in school.

Whispers, as always, circulated the cabin, both from those in first class and the stewardess who walked through it. Danny ignored them, as he always did, his aching body glad for the comfort of the cushy seats. He yawned now, making himself more comfortable in the seats. It wouldn't be too long before he arrived back in Wisconsin, and he wanted to enjoy his time away from his father and his job as much as he possibly could.

He laughed then, causing the person sitting next to him to eye him with uncertainty. The strange look didn't faze him, however, and he continued to do what he pleased, and in this case it was thinking about the man that he was forced to call his father.

Vlad had fooled the entire world into thinking that Danny was truly his son, and that his younger sister was truly his daughter. But in fact, they weren't even slightly related, and Danny knew it. He had been six when the man had taken him from his true parents, upon discovering what exactly their son was.

Danny wasn't human. Well... he was, somewhat, but one would be very hard put to truly consider him one. There were things, so many things, that he could do that other humans could not-and he wasn't alone among them. The teenager was a Reaper, a Deathbringer. He was marked as one by the bizarre scars on his upper back, standing out from all the other scars that dotted his torso.

No one was quite sure how many Reaper their were, nor why they truly existed. Frankly, Danny had stopped caring after awhile. He had long since gone through his periods of self-doubt, self-hate, and a rather bloody period of self-mutilation, in which he attempted to kill himself more times than he could remember. Growing up, he had been almost too certain that he would never be able to reach the level of self-acceptance that he was at now-he would always be a monster to himself, a murderer.

And he was. He didn't deny it. He didn't deny that he largely had regrets about what he was made to do, but he had realized that he had to learn to accept it. He was a Reaper. He had been born that way, and no amount of blood loss could cure that. It wasn't an easy thing for him to come to terms with, but he had managed to.

Reapers, Deathbringers. Strange creatures, strange humans, if one could even call them as such. All of them possessed enhanced speed, strength, stamina, and agility that set them apart from humans. They were born with symbols carved into various places on their body, as well as other traits one normally wouldn't find on a human-such as his true eyes, or his hair color. They could summon a weapon, what kind varied between them.

No one had quite figured out where the weapon itself came from-most theorized that it was part of their souls, and that sounded like a likely enough explanation. Danny's was a rather strange weapon, befitting the rather strange boy-the black-handled weapon was a scythe and a pike merged, a jagged scythe blade residing at the top of the pole, and a pike at the bottom. A glowing green chain wrapped halfway around it, ending in a little ball that seemed to collect souls. Danny wondered sometimes what would happen if he were ever to break it, but he wasn't too keen on finding that out directly.

Reapers possessed powers that could be best defined as ghost-like. They varied from Reaper to Reaper, and Danny himself possessed the powers of invisibility, intangibility, levitation, and flight. He had a unique sense that he hadn't heard of in any Reaper before him as well-he could see those whose deaths were coming soon. A black aura, that he saw all too often while working.

And all of the possessed the ability to kill. Now, one might not think that to be anything special-for surely everyone could do that. But Danny would like to see everyone cause someone's head to implode from across the room, or to cause someone to turn the trigger of their gun on themselves. Once again, the way the various Reapers delivered death to their victims varied between them. Many enjoyed relying on their powers, and the sense of almost playing god that it brought to them. A few, however, preferred to do it the old fashioned way-with weapons and hand-to-hand combat. Danny was one of the latter-he preferred to at least give those who he was forced to condemn to death a fighting chance.

What most people didn't know about the rich and powerful Vlad Masters was how he had gotten that way. It wasn't from stocks and smart investments that he would like everyone to believe, oh no. It was from the fact that he was the leader of a criminal organization, that made deals with those in power-and killed anyone who stood in it's way.

That's why he had taken Danny. Who better to do the dirty work than someone born to kill? The man's logic made the Reaper's stomach churn. He wished at times that he at least might have left his newborn sister with his parents, but he wasn't about to let another potential Reaper slip through his fingers. Danny was grateful that Jazz had never shown any Reaper abilities. He didn't know how the girl would handle having to be one.

It was a hint of irony that the his pseudo father used to know both of Danny's true parents in college, and in fact, was quite bitter about the fact that his mother had ultimately chosen his father.

Sometimes Danny seriously wondered why the crime lord didn't simply order for them to kill Jack-the man that was really his father. In the end, he was grateful that Vlad had merely whipped their memories clean of their children's existence. He knew that if he ever changed his mind, however, he would most likely be the one forced to do the job.

So he only could pray that he didn't.

The Reaper closed his eyes and heaved another sigh, lowering his hands from behind his head and cracking his knuckles. While he didn't get as tired as humans did, he was inexhaustible. He had been up for a large part of the last week, busy hunting down a small group of the organization's traitors that were trying to hide in this city. They were terribly good at hiding, and so now there was nothing more that he wanted than a good night's sleep.

The Reaper yawned again. Now was one of those times he wished he could be one of those people that could fall asleep just about anywhere. But alas, he only seemed to be able to sleep if he was in an actual bed, and so he would have to wait until the end of the day to be able to catch some sleep. For surely, neither Vlad nor his sister would let him sleep until then.

He smiled then, thinking of his little sister. If there was one person in that accursed castle he lived in that he loved, it would be her. She was sweet and innocent, untouched by the corruption that run rampant in the castle, untouched by Danny's own corruption. She was unaware of everything that went on behind the scenes, and actually agreed with his pseudo father that it was likely for the best if she didn't know.

It wasn't that Danny was ashamed of what he was, and what he did. It wasn't that he liked his job either, and he did at times prefer death to having to kill someone again. But he didn't want to hurt Jazz. In a way, she was all he had left to really root him in his humanity, for he was one, in part. He didn't want to let her go, and he didn't want to see her get hurt. And he knew she would be if she discovered everything about her life was a lie. If she discovered her 'father' that she loved so much was a criminal, and her brother that she loved just as well wasn't even human, much less a murderer.

The roaring of the engine's snapped him out of his thoughts, his eyes opening and glancing out the opened window. The plane was about to take off, and he let out a sigh as he saw that. It wouldn't be long before he was home... or rather, back to his prison.

One might wonder why he didn't simply try to escape, and take Jazz with him. He knew where his parents lived, so why? The truth was that he had tried before. It wasn't fear of rejection by his parents that kept him away, that had caused his attempts to fail-he had long since discarded the idea that they could ever hate him. Rather, it was the fact that he simply couldn't- despite the fact that the boy was much more powerful than his pseudo father, the older man still had more resources. Every attempt he had made to leave had been foiled, and he didn't like to think about the punishments he received afterwards.

He glanced about the cabin as the plane took off. It was largely empty, and he noticed with slight amusement that the person who had been sitting next to him earlier had moved. Ah well. He thought. More room for me.

He yawned again. Maybe he really should trying getting a little sleep.

AN: See I can end in something that's not really a cliffhanger! Geez. Also, check out the art for this story! (take the spaces out of the links to make them work)-

Casper Private Uniformed Group- www. deviantart. com / deviation/ 40473026 /

Reaper Danny- www. deviantart .com/ deviation/ 40450145 /

I needs sleep...