Author's Note: I own nothing.

21 Kinda Creepy

Dani would admit she'd expected this trip to be boring. She hadn't expected Vlad Masters to be pretty cool. During lunch on that first day he'd asked her and Jazz about their interests and had let Dani babble for a full hour about NASA and different planets and the stars in general. He'd gifted Jazz a first edition of the works of Sigmund Freud when she'd expressed her interest in psychology. That night just as the sun set he showed Dani and Maddie to a balcony that looked out away from the nearby city.

"I often use this balcony to read on warm days but I believe it would be ideal for stargazing." Dani grinned. She and her mother spent the night on the balcony watching the stars. It was a much clearer view of than one got at Fenton Works with all the light pollution from Amity Park. At one point Maddie went back in the castle to check on Jack and Jazz. Vlad came out with two cups of steaming hot chocolate.

"Thought you might be cold, Little Badger." Vlad said offering her a mug. Dani took it, though she hadn't noticed the cold.

"Thanks Mr. Masters." He shook his head.

"How many times must I ask you to call me Vlad?" He sounded slightly exasperated. "I'd like us to be friends after all Danielle." Dani avoided her gaze by looking up at the stars instead. As nice as Vlad was he was kind of creepy. He hit on her mom whenever the chance arose, and a lot of the time Dani could swear she spotted a malevolent gleam in his eyes when he looked at her father. It set her teeth on edge but vanished too fast for anyone else to see it happen. In leu of something else to do she sipped the hot chocolate.

"This is really good." She said and he grinned.

"It's my own blend of specially selected chocolate from Belgium my dear." That and a healthy shot of fresh ectoplasm harvested directly from the Ghost Zone. But there was no need to tell Danielle that, nor the fact that he'd spiked her syrup with it this morning too. It would help her heal from their little altercation last night and it had everything a growing ghost needed. She was busy contemplating the stars. The way she talked about them he wouldn't be surprised if they were her obsession. He lightly shook his head.

Obsession, such a reductive word. But paranormal scholars agreed on the word. In essence they equated an obsession to a ghost's 'unfinished business'. Vlad privately thought that those so called 'professionals' were idiots, drawing grand assumptions from old fairy tales and no solid evidence. Of course when Jack Fenton was at the head of the field anyone else was bound to have problems. He'd found that an obsession shaped a ghost's personality.

Skulker for example, his obsession was proving himself the best. He achieved satisfaction for his obsession through hunting, as Vlad suspected he had in life. Vlad's own obsession was much more complex than Skulkers. He wanted everything he'd been robbed of by the accident and the subsequent years in the hospital. Soon. Soon he'd have everything he ever wanted and more.

"I'll leave you to your stargazing Little Badger. Let me know if you need anything at all." She nodded absently as he headed back inside. He had a few more preparations to make before tomorrow night's party.

The next day found Dani, Jazz and Maddie at the local spa. Vlad had insisted on footing the bill to get their hair and nails done as part of his apology for sending out the incorrect invitation. Maddie thought it was sweet but Jazz was a little suspicious.

"I'm telling you Dani no one does so much for people expecting nothing back." Jazz stated and Dani shrugged watching as the nail tech ran a brush over her nail.

"Come on Jazz. He seems pretty cool. And I mean all he's done so far is hit on mom and like you said as long as she says no it's fine right?" Dani reasoned. Jazz shook her head slightly.

"I'm just saying Dani, he's a little creepy." Jazz pointed out and Dani nodded.

"Yeah I gotta agree with you there." But they would be leaving the next morning so it didn't really matter. But as guests began to arrive Dani frowned to herself. The party was nice, if horribly embarrassing thanks to her dad, but for her it was painfully dull. She was contemplating joining Jazz in the theater Vlad had down the hall when the man himself walked up to her.

"Danielle dear, will you do me a favor? I got your father a present but I'm afraid I left it in my lab. Down the hall, two lefts then a right. Would you be a dear and grab it for me?" Dani stood, grateful for something to do.

"Sure Mr. Masters. And call me Dani. Only my teachers call me Danielle." As she slipped off through the crowd Vlad smiled.

"Oh child, I can teach you more than you can imagine."

Dani reached the lab without a problem. But she didn't find a present. What she did find was the rest of the photo the vulture ghosts had dropped on their way out of Amity Park. The whole photo depicted her father in his college years, his arm wrapped around her mother who had the worst perm she'd ever seen. Next to them stood what could only be a college age Vlad. He sported a full mullet, but it was black, not quite as dark as her father's hair bit much darker than it was now. She didn't get a chance to contemplate what this meant her ghost sense went off and she transformed just in time to avoid the ectopuses and smack them back through the floor.

"What the hell are two of the first ghosts I ever fought doing here?" She questioned aloud.

"Setting a trap welp!" That was all the warning she got as the net slammed into her. She screamed as electricity coursed through her. Looking up her eyes widened.

"Skulker how'd you get back into your exoskeleton!" He laughed as she pulled herself free of the net.

"None of your concern child." As she freed herself Skulker threw a black box at her. It didn't look like anything but when it got within a foot of her it expanded. She tried to phase through it and wound up stuck in the box. She screamed again as more electricity passed through her. She was dazed, only half aware until a metal hand wrapped itself in her hair and pulled her head upright, forcing her chin back as far as it could go. A whir heralded a glowing green blade at her neck. Convulsively she gulped.

"Uh, the glowing blade is new." She said, panic eating away at her common sense. Skulker seemed to perk up as his smile turned from predatory to excited like a puppy dog.

"You like it? I've had some upgrades." His demeanor shifted from excited puppy dog to hunting hound eager for a kill as he again laid the blade at Dani's neck. "Now Ghost Child." But this time it wasn't the PDA still attached to his wrist that saved her it was a voice.

"Enough!" Skulker immediately released her hair. "I didn't free you to kill the girl Skulker. Your job is done." Vlad Masters stepped out of the shadows. Skulker looked downright disappointed but the PDA on his wrist beeped. He looked down at it and scowled.

"Have to go to the library and checkout a book on a gorilla. Again!?" He sounded incredulous but looked resigned as he phased through the ceiling. Vlad turned to Dani a smile on his face.

"Ah Danielle, good to see you again."