Hi Everyone, long time DP fan, first time writing DP fan fiction. This story idea grabbed me and wouldn't let me go. I hope you enjoy it.

I don't own Danny Phantom

Madeline Henries stretched her arm over the counter top as soon as the cashier's back was turned. In one swift motion she snatched up a pack of cigarettes and pocketed them into her worn out jean jacket pocket before anyone could notice a thing. As the man behind the counter was just turning around, she called back to him as she ran out the door,

"Oh, you know what, I change my mind I don't need anything, thank you anyway, goodbye!"

He yelled something back at her but she didn't bother to listen. She didn't stop running until she was in the back ally behind the store where she met up with her delinquent friends. They all showed off the spoils of their thievery. A few bottles of beer and a pack of smokes. Quickly stashing them back into their coat pockets, they dashed down the street that chilly morning of October 20th, 1979.

On the surface, Maddie looked like a sweet 14 year old girl, her long auburn hair still in pigtails, adorable freckles dotting her cheeks but she was slowly falling into the wrong crowd of people.

She was a brilliant minded young lady who moved up a grade in school last year when it became clear to all her teachers that the work was much too easy for her. She was a Karate blue belt and could even beat those ranked higher than her in a fight. Most things came easy for her and that was the trouble. Everything was boring. She barely needing to try and already in her sophomore year of high school she was sure that there was nothing that the future could hold that would be as interesting as the here and now. So she quit Karate and started ditching school more and more in the interest of doing whatever she pleased whenever she wanted.

"You're throwing your life away" her family would tell her "You could be a brilliant doctor or engineer!" While Maddie did love science, as it was the class she'd skip the least she found it hard to get excited about a life in those sectors. They just didn't inspire passion in her. These days she was using her scientific know how mostly to hot wire cars for joy rides with her friends.

"Hey you hear about the old O'leary house on Hemlock road?" One of the her friends asked the group as he cracked opened his beer.

"The condemned old rat infested, shack?"

"Yeah, they're gonna take it down next week. I say we go explore it one last time before then. Maybe it's haunted."

"Come on, there's no such thing as ghosts!"

"You're just a chicken."

Maddie listened to the conversation as she took a swig of her beer. "Yeah, let's go. Could be fun.", She chimed in.

Maddie didn't really take the idea of seeing a ghost seriously, but it was something to do in this tiny little town. So that night at midnight the group of punks each snuck out of their houses and met up at the old O'leary shack, flashlights in hand.

It was a creepy run down home that looked about as stable a structure as a house of cards. The wood was rotted, the paint was faded and peeling, the windows were cracked and broken and clear fire damage could be seen from the kitchen window. Every small town has got to have a haunted house and this was theirs.

The teens wandered inside, each step let out a loud cry from the floorboards and the shadows on the wall made from the busted windows looked like monsters.

"Cool". Maddie thought to herself as she ran her fingers over the dusty walls. She looked down at the old busted furniture strewn about the place and noticed some paper business cards thrown about on a dirty table. She wasn't sure what drew her to them but she picked one up to examine it. Only one word was printed on it in big bold letters.

"Scratch"

She flipped the card around, letting it roll around her fingers before shrugging and walking towards her friends who were goofing off on the other side of the room.

"Hey what do you think-"

CRASH!

Before she had a chance to finish her sentence her foot fell threw a weak floorboard, twisting her ankle as she fell. She dropped to the floor suddenly. Her hands shot out to try and break her fall only for them to be cut up on stray pieces of broken glass scattered all over the dusty floor.

"DAMMIT! She yelled out in pain. Her foot was twisted and her hands were cut up. She hardly noticed a few drops of blood smeared on the card.

"You okay, Maddie?" One of her friends asked as they tried to help her up.

"This stupid house - wait, what?" Maddie looked around and saw the shadows slowly growing larger until they engulfed the room in complete darkness. The flashlights they had all brought with them flickered until they shut off completely. The only thing any of the teens could see clearly in the pool of blackness was the card with blood on it as it glowed an unnatural green.

Out of the darkness a monster walked forward. A being that resembled a demon with fire engine red skin, big black goat horns, Yellow eyes like the inside of a rotten apple and fangs and claws like razor blades.

The creature's mouth turned up into wickedly devilish smile and it spoke through clenched, sharp teeth.

"Hello…"

"AHHHHH!" The teens screamed out, dropping Maddie, letting her fall to her butt and leaving her on the floor to save themselves. They all ran out the front door and didn't look back.

"DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!" Maddie called out to them. She couldn't run with her injured foot and even if she could, she was too terrified to move even a muscle. She could only stare up at the monster, horror stricken.

"Yeesh, what crawled up their butts and died?" The creature joked in an attempt to lighten the mood. He looked down at the scared 14 year old girl, cleared his throat and smiled in what he hoped was a manor that looked more polite than creepy as he prepared his business pitch.

"Well hello, sweetheart, you summon me?"

She was too shocked to speak so he just kept on speaking. Your blood is on my business card so I assume you want to make a deal. Names, Scratch, Necromancy ghost extraordinary, at your service. Hey, how ya doin?"

Finally Maddie found her voice and was able to get something out. "Y-y-you're a ghost?"

"Not just a ghost." The monster responded proudly. "A businessman! I'm trying to get my company off the ground and for that I need workers. I suppose you're here looking for a job? You came to the right spook!"

He held out his hand to shake her's but she was still far too shocked to move. Scratch hummed a little as he sized up the girl, but continued on with his pitch. He brought out a contract and explained how his company would work. He wouldn't be able to pay her in cash right now, but what he could offer his employees was something that no other ghost in any world could offer. In the middle of explaining how his powers worked Maddie cut him off.

"I-I don't need anything like that!"

"What are you talking about? Everybody looses somebody at some point. No tragic childhood friend who didn't look both ways before crossing the street? No grandma who had a sudden heart attack?"

The girl shook her head in the negative.

Scratch was irritated over having his time wasted. That this human summoned him for nothing. He let out a long sigh before seeing the pack of cigarettes sticking out of the girl's jacket pocket. He reached a long threatening looking hand towards Maddie and she shut her eyes anticipating danger. She opened her eyes again when she felt him take the pack of smokes. He removed one from the box and with a snap of a lighter that seemed to have materialized from nothing he lit the cancer stick and took a long drag.

"Kid, you keep my card. Contact me again if you ever need to consider my offer." With that, the ghost disappeared, leaving the room as it was before his arrival. Maddie only sat there, still in shock staring at the place he stood only a moment ago. She must have sat alone in silence for ten minutes before she voiced aloud to herself the question swirling around in her mind.

Ghosts can smoke?

It may have sounded like a ridiculous question but it was one that sparked something in her. She had no idea that ghosts really existed before that night and now her scientific curiosity had been awakened in her like never before. She wanted to know. How was it able to do things it did? Did it really have the powers he claimed to have? Why did it look like the devil?

She went back to her friends the next day, at first to yell at them for ditching her to limp back home on her own, and then to talk with them about what they had seen. They didn't want to ever think about the horrific monster ever again, only wanting to put the event behind them and pretend it never happened. The more Maddie brought it up, the more they would deny that the occurrence even happened. Eventually Maddie had had enough of them and decided to leave the friend group once and for all.

She stopped ditching school and spent her free time in the library looking for any books on the topic of the paranormal that could possibly contain any answers. Her family was a little concerned for her strange new obsession, not believing her story about seeing a ghost, but they figured that if it was between this or being a delinquent, they'd take the ghost obsession any day. Maddie even gave up drinking and smoking and went back to her old Karate dojo, figuring that if a ghost ever made her feel unsafe like that ever again, she'd want to be ready to fight back, through any means possible.

Years passed and Maddie graduated top of her class and was accepted at the university of Wisconsin but her passion for studying ghosts never wained. On the contrary it only heightened upon befriending two like minded students, Jack Fenton and Vlad Masters who were just as, if not more obsessed with the paranormal as she was.

In her senior year, Maddie would eventually summon Scratch again. This time with Jack Fenton's help, and finally make that deal that was offered to her that night back in 1979. but that's not what this story is about.

This story is about the second contract she and Jack Fenton would make with Scratch.