Ghostbusters
Specter Squad
Prologue
New Recruits

Disclaimer: I don't own Ghost Busters, any of the characters, or any of the characters involved in the fic, with the exception of Alexander Van Helsing. He's mine, based on Abraham Van Helsing to a point though, so I can't actually make any money off him, but...well, you know.

AN: Alright, so I came up with this while considering whether to put a Ghostbuster in a modern LXG fic. Instead, I sort of combined the ideas. Egon needs new recruits...and this time, he goes for people with experience. Please be kind, as this is my first GB fic of any kind. Enjoy the fic!

The firehouse was cold, and mostly empty. It had been since the Kylie, Eduardo, Roland, and Garrett, the Extreme Ghost Busters, had left. Egon had gone back to his relatively loner life, with Janine as his only companion, since Eduardo had grudgingly accepted Slimer as a sort of pet/roommate combination. He and Kylie were married, and were expecting a baby in five months.

Roland was teaching at one of the prestigious schools, Egon couldn't remember which. Paranormal Studies, of course, with an extra English Lit. course here and there just to round himself out.

Garrett was, supposedly, going to host an extreme sports show. Egon was happy for him, he was, but he just wasn't sure if Garrett could be reliable. He had no doubt that he'd have the energy or the guts to do it, but even after going through everything the EGB had gone through, Garrett still seemed somewhat irresponsible, at least to Egon.

At the moment, Dr. Egon Spengler was hunched over his desk, examining a troubling new ectoplasmic specimen. Several attempts at identification and cataloguing the ectoplasm had failed, and Egon was beginning to grow troubled by it. "Egon," Janine sighed from nearby, her accent as thick as ever, "are you still workin' on that stuff?"

"Of course I am, Janine," Egon sighed. "You know I haven't been able to identify this sample, no matter how hard I've tried. It worries me, that I can't-"

"Egon," Janine interrupted.

"Janine, please let me finish. Now, like I was saying-"

"Egon," Janine insisted, her voice more urgent this time. It was bitten off at the end, as if she'd been cut off...forcibly.

"Janine, what is it," Egon asked, his eyes narrowing as he began to turn around, and was just as abruptly stopped as he felt a dagger press against his throat. He could see very little of the person holding the dagger, just the lower half of a forearm – clothed in tight, lacy black material – and the hand holding the weapon, with long fingernails that had been painted blood red.

"I wouldn't turn around if I were you, Dr. Spengler," insisted a feminine voice. It had a very soft English accent to it, so soft that it took Egon a second to pick it out. "Your secretary has not been harmed. My men and I are here only for the sample you are studying. As long as you cooperate, the woman will not be harmed."

"Yes, yes, of course," Egon replied. "Take the sample. But I want Janine let go first. I want her over here, with me, or I won't give up the sample."

"Fair enough," the owner of the dagger agreed. "Let her go." Within seconds, a subtly trembling Janine was shoved into Egon's arms. "Now, Dr. Spengler, I will be taking the sample. Do not try to stop me, or the both of you will be slaughtered in the time it takes you to blink." Another arm – looking just like the other – reached around and slid the specimen Egon had been studying from under the microscope. "I have to wonder why you were even bothering to study it. You specialize in ectoplasmic studies, don't you, Dr. Spengler?"

"Yes, which is exactly why I was studying it," Egon returned, nervousness keeping his mouth from shutting. "I know what it is," he continued, in an attempt to goad information from this woman.

"I don't believe you," the woman replied, "which is very, very lucky for you. Should I truly believe that you had discovered something about this specimen, you would be dead by now."

"Tell me one thing," Egon returned boldly. "That isn't ectoplasm of any kind, is it? It's something else."

"Well, aren't you the smart one," the woman laughed. "It took my prompting you to figure it out. I rather doubt how you got your doctorate, Dr. Spengler." With a slight, cold laugh, the woman ducked away, her men piling out behind her. They moved silently, with the grace of assassins, and by the time Egon and Janine turned around, all traces of them were gone. Egon immediately went to work scraping at one of the magnifying lenses on his microscope, Janine looking on in shock.

"Egon, what the hell are you doing? We should call the police!"

"And tell them what, Janine? That a group of people neither of us saw broke into the firehouse in complete silence and stole a sample of something that wasn't even ectoplasm," Egon returned hotly.

"Well, it's better than cleaning your microscope!"

"I'm not cleaning it," Egon sighed. "When I was preparing the slide, I didn't quite get it right the first time. When I lowered the microscope, a little bit of the sample got onto it. If I can get enough of it off, I can perhaps identify or catalogue the substance." Egon sat back down suddenly and prepared another slide. "I think I might know what this is. If I'm right, then we may be in trouble, Janine."

"What do you think it is," she asked, even as she watched Egon work. What was odd was that he wasn't putting a top on the slide at all, and he was lifting a knife. "Egon, what are you doing?" He pricked his finger and let a few drops of blood fall on the slide.

"Watch," Egon said, waiting for the reaction he assumed would come. Right before their eyes, the blood seemed to be absorbed by the substance.

"What is that," Janine questioned. "It absorbs blood?"

"No," Egon returned. "See how the specimen changed colors to match the blood?" Janine nodded, and then Egon noticed she was wearing a cross around her neck. "Janine, put your cross into the substance."

"What," she yelped, backing up and gripping the cross tightly.

"This is the final test. Put your cross in the substance." Janine stared at Egon for a few more moments before finally moving forward. Reluctantly, she removed the cross from around her neck and slowly placed it down into the crimson substance.

She jumped back with a yelp as a loud hissing sound erupted from the substance on the slide, along with a bit of smoke wafting up from the area where the cross touched. "Egon...Egon, what the hell just happened?"

"Think, Janine," Egon urged. "What else does a cross have that effect on?" Realization dawned on Janine like a rising sun, and she gasped suddenly. "That specimen, whatever it is...it seems to have the ability to turn normal blood into vampiric blood."

"So...that means," Janine said slowly, "that it could turn humans into vampires?"

"That's it exactly, Janine. That's it exactly." Egon sighed and pulled three pieces of paper from a nearby drawer, followed by a pencil. "Now, I need to write three letters. Could you please crosscheck some addresses for me?"

"Sure thing Egon," Janine replied, regaining her composure. "What are the names?"

"Duncan McLeod, Frank Banister, and Dawn Summers." Egon paused for a moment before adding quickly, "Or, well...the Summers listing is probably under Buffy."

"Oh," Janine replied, nodding, "wasn't she the nice girl with the blonde hair that was in here a year ago?"

"That was her, yes," Egon responded. "I'll start writing the letters now. Just give me the addresses when you find them."

"Alright," Janine nodded. Egon was hard at work on the letters by the time she got to the doorway, and she smiled wistfully before exiting.