Chapter 2

Danny raised his left arm, aimed and pulled the trigger. The Fenton blaster knocked his opponent a good ten feet back. Two-smiley guy reared back his head and let out a guttural sound, he zoomed toward Danny again, his wispy arm clawing its way to Danny's face. He blocked it with his left arm, butting smiley-neck on the jaw. He roared again but Danny was quick to deliver his final blow. He had the hilt of the Fenton Dagger ready and swiped it vertically across the ghost's chest.

For a second, the face of the once man appeared, his black irises widened in fear and his chapped, decayed lips contorted in pain. He stared at Danny in shock as the wound continued to tear on both sides. Black oil welled from the inside, oozed down to his waist and up to his face. It consumed every part of him until the dead person became nothing but swirls of black smokes that evaporated into the night.

Danny looked at the Fenton Dagger in his hand, it was smeared with the awful black blood. He was sweating and panting. And God, he was still breathing in that horrible stench. He sheathed the dagger and hoisted it to his waist under the cover of his white, now dirty, loose shirt.

He shrugged and scrambled out the shed.

He needed a shower.

"You look like shit."

"I smell like shit too." Danny hastily took off his shirt and threw it down the floor. He unbuckled his belt and dagger then zipped down his jeans.

"Whoa! Whoa! Man! No cybersex tonight. I am so not in the mood!" Tucker Foley flailed his arms on the screen and ran a hand down his face, sending Danny a glare.

Danny smirked and repositioned his laptop on the pillow. His voice took on a deeper tone and he winked at the web cam. "I thought it turns you on when I talk dirty."

Tucker's snort echoed from the built in speakers. "Not when you're actually dirty. Dude, you are so gross!"

"I don't know, Tuck, you go ghost killing in a rusty shed that hasn't been opened for who knew how long and let's see if you come out looking sterilized as a surgeon."

"Jeez! No need to use hospital-related comparisons. The mere mention of surgeons gives me goose bumps." Danny paused and watched as Tucker rubbed his arms.

"I tell you about a ghost with a slashed neck and bleeding black blood that attempted to punch bullet holes in my body and you get all paranoid with the mention of surgeons? How come I'm the one who kills the dead and you're the weird kid?"

His best friend chose to ignore the rhetorical question. "You okay?" Tucker asked in a serious tone and Danny popped his head from the open closet with a raised brow. He gave his best friend a smirk. "Of course." Then resumed back on finding clean clothes.

"Did you—"

"No." Danny replied coldly. Then he pasted a wicked grin on his face as he turned back to his laptop, wriggling his brows. "I'm going to shower now, wanna join me?"

Tucker choked and made vomiting sounds from the screen which earned a chortle from Danny as he began to pickup his computer. "Later!" Tucker quipped and the window containing his best friend's blanching face went black even before Danny could execute his plan. He sighed and flipped his gadget shut then padded to the bathroom.

"Is my slot-invite to the party still open?" Danny leaned against the locker and gave Star his best boy-next-door grin.

She was talking to someone on her phone when she whirled around and paused. Her blue eyes took in Danny's clothes and his face before she hung up and pursued her lips. "That depends. Can you turn on that charm again and clean up better?"

The corners of Danny's eyes crinkled in delight as they both shared a chuckle. Socializing was always a part of the job, the key point was to stick close to the people who knew a lot of people, AKA the Queen Bee. Often times, he enjoyed it more than he should.

He tilted his head playfully. "Hmm, that's a tough one. I might have to google how to turn on a non-existent charm and put myself in a washing machine."

Star rolled her eyes. "You have to do better than that, you know. Girls are getting better with witty comebacks to lame pick up lines."

He took an offended step back. "Are you saying I'm lame?"

Star gave a cheeky grin that revealed a perfect set of pearly whites. "I'm saying I'm witty. So technically, blonde jokes do not apply to me." She fixed him with a leveled glare and turned on her heel.

Danny was left open mouthed for a second before he did something very uncool. He yelled, "What about Saturday?" To his dismay, he earned a few weird looks from the other kids milling around.

"How are you planning to take her out?"

Danny stopped leafing through the keg inventory list and arched a brow at the question. He capped the pen and set the clipboard on the counter before he leaned against it and chewed on his lower lip. "I might ask to borrow your truck and drive her to the party?"

Mr. Lancer looked like he wanted to get his rifle and make a target board out of Danny's head. "I honestly wonder how you're able to keep yourself alive up to this point."

Danny choked. "Excuse me?"

Lancer crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm asking you about the damn slaughteress, you idiot."

"Oh," Was all Danny cleverly came up with. He wanted to tell Lancer to take off his prying nose, canned it to his keg and Danny would happily push it down a cliff. Lancer was still waiting impatiently to hear his reply and Danny shrugged. "I don't go around announcing my plans."

Lancer shook his head and his chest rumbled with dry laughter. "Simply translated to 'I don't have a frigging plan'."

Danny's eyes hardened but he kept his mouth shut. One of the cons of having people who knew about his job, they tend to demand updates and act as if this was a group assignment.

"Do you even know how many she killed?"

"About seventy people." He returned a tad too obnoxious for his own benefit. Ex-Army men like Lancer didn't get off people's back until they deem them proven and worthy enough. Danny watched as he seemed unimpressed by his answer.

Lancer opened his mouth again to interrogate him but he decided against it. The mere look on Danny's face told him to shut up, and he knew that when a man wanted to do something by himself, you let him do it. He was also aware that when a man needed help, he'd begrudgingly come to you. He unfolded his arms. "Suit yourself, then."

Danny picked up the clipboard again when Lancer's voice drifted back.

"Fenton."

"Sir."

"You're not allowed to party while working. Finish your shift before you start fooling around."

Danny set his jaw and nodded wordlessly. Lancer finally left and didn't approach him again until his hours were done. He went back to his dorm about two in the morning, tired, irritated and questioning himself about getting such a stupid job when he could be focusing on university and trying to make it through college.

He was about to pass out on his bed when he noticed something wet and dripping on his wall. He got up and flicked on the lights. At first he thought the slaughteress got bored and tried to spook him herself but then the smell hit his senses and he knew the memo didn't come from the dead. It was worse. It had come from someone breathing and plotting.

The wall beside his bed was vandalized with big, bold, red letters that read:

FUCK OFF!

Danny didn't waste time staring at the graffiti, instead he quickly checked his belongings. One shove in his closet confirmed it was ransacked but nothing was permanently damaged, just clothes that were stepped upon and hung back up. He crouched and looked under his bed, no dead and bloody animal or prosthetic hand was nicely wrapped below there. He pulled the drawers, nothing seemed amiss.

He grabbed a black bag pack from the closet's secret compartment and rummaged through its contents. Thankfully, they didn't find this. His other weapons were still intact and unharmed. Good thing he always kept the Fenton Dagger with him. He zipped the bag shut and locked it back to the hidden compartment.

He yanked his school bag and checked it. Bless Tucker's OCD when it came to gadgets, he always insisted that Danny bring his laptop whenever he went. It was encrypted and safe in his bag pack which he had with him from university to work.

With everything seemed under control, he went back to bed. He could deal with the living tomorrow.

The banging on his door jolted Danny awake.

His hand automatically grasped the dagger that was resting under his pillow but a tiny conscious voice in his head warned him that ghosts didn't bang, they just phase through. With that comforting thought, he grabbed the dagger and sheathed it on his waist then he cracked open the door.

Witty Barbie was standing outside her small fist hovering in mid-air, prepared to smash down his door again. Upon seeing Danny's disgruntled state, she broke into a heart-stopping smile and let her hand fall back to her side. "Uhm, good morning." She started shyly.

Danny's hand held the door while the other desperately tried to pat down his bed head. He fervently hoped that there wasn't any trace of drool on his chin. "I didn't make any blonde jokes, did I?"

Star giggled. "No, and I'm here to apologize for my behavior yesterday. I thought you were doing The Moves." She bit her lower lip and looked up at him hopefully.

"The what?"

She shut her eyes and brought a hand to her face. "Sorry. Never mind. I thought you were doing something annoying, I didn't know you were just really asking about the party. Gosh, I'm so stupid. And yeah, the invite still stands, if you still wanna go?" She was doing that distracting thing again with her big blue eyes but Danny was in no mood to figure out what it was and he suddenly had a flashback of what Lancer said about the party.

He sighed. "That's okay. I'm afraid I can't go."

Star's face fell.

"No, no it's not about yesterday. I'll be working on Saturday; my boss is kinda giving me a hard time. That's all."

Star's heart-shaped face lit up teasingly. "So the evil step-boss is making you do all the chores first. I hope your car won't turn into a pumpkin by midnight." She paused and beamed at him. "See you around, Danny-rella."

Danny wanted to protest against the pet name but a guffaw from his left made him stop. He opened his door wider and glanced to the left. There was a blond guy wearing a varsity football jacket, leaning against the opposite wall and watching the scene with unhappy, light blue eyes.

He slowly got off his post and sauntered in front of Danny's door, straightening up to his full height. The blond thought he'd tower over Danny with his boulder-shoulders and muscled-frame. Danny continued to give him a blank look but his bare feet were firmly planted on the floor and his knees unlocked. What Danny lacked in the bulky department, he made up in agility. The trick was to get the threat thinking that he had you cornered with his eyes.

"May I help you?" Danny asked lazily but his blazing blue eyes stated otherwise.

The blond smirked. "Yes, kindly fuck off, will you?" Then he turned to leave but not before throwing another remark over his shoulder. "And while you're at it, you might want to clean off your walls. Vandalism is strictly prohibited in Lisle."

Danny slammed his door shut before he changed his mind and use the dagger to eliminate the living. If he did that, he'd end up killing Mr. Thick Head'N Shoulders twice. On second thought, slashing him the second time as a ghost would probably be a fun way to spend the day.

Time didn't fly in Ashland. It slipped between Danny's fingers like motor oil and left a slinky trail behind. By the end of the week he managed to get as much information he could about the blond body builder who knew how to say kindly right before he say fuck off. At least he had some twisted grammar style, Danny would give him credit for that.

Danny learned Mr. My-varsity-jacket-says-it-all was legally known as Dashiel "Dash" Baxter, Lisle University Football Quarterback, Basketball Captain, Volleyball trainer, and No-balls when it came to Dean Lister Star Sykes.

Danny would've added 'heart rob' on the description if he had magically perfect hair, wore skimpy clothing and red lipstick but he was too mature for that so he rephrased heart rob and turned it to douche king instead. If he was ever assigned to make a facebook profile for Dash, he bet people would worship him for his proficiency in three languages, English, Sarcasm and Profanity.

The grin forming on his lips was instantly reprimanded by a scowl that appeared in his line of sight.

"Find something amusing, Fenton?" Lancer the big, bald boss shot him an impatient sneer. Danny immediately dropped his smile and his eyes, and wiped the marble counter rather too hard.

"One of these days, that counter would break under the pressure of your ever-so wiping hands."

Danny fought hard to keep his mouth shut, he just came up with a list of things that he would like to break under the pressure of Lancer's meddling hands. "How did you know about the Slaughteress?" Lancer probed and grabbed a seat which Danny had just spent minutes trying to organize.

"I didn't." Danny grumbled and Lancer stood. He snatched the cloth from his hand. Danny looked up and saw the cloth soaring in the air and landing inside a nearby bucket. Danny gritted his teeth, that bucket was for the mop.

"Who told you?"

"Nobody."

Lancer slammed his palm on the counter and narrowed his piercing light blue eyes at Danny. "You don't want to mess with me, Daniel."

Something within Danny snapped at the use of his first name and he turned his back abruptly, fully intending on ignoring Lancer till the day he grew white hair which was highly unlikely.

"Jack was a dear friend of mine."

Danny froze on his step and by the time he recovered his wit, Lancer had strode out the shop and into the night, leaving only a trail of cigarette smoke.

It was around 1:30 a.m when Danny finally finished his shift, he went to his locker and shrugged out of his work clothes. He grabbed his phone and speed dialed Tucker. He grabbed his last clean shirt, thank goodness he left one here, and put it on. Tucker's voicemail played back and Danny clicked his teeth in annoyance.

"Tuck, where are you? Call me as soon as you get this. I think—ugh," He ran a hand through his hair. "Just ring me ASAP, okay?" Then he hung up and slung his backpack on his shoulder. He was feeling pretty rebellious. He grabbed the keys on the hook. Lancer would shoot fire from his nose but Danny didn't care. He would deal with him later.

He still had a party to attend.

"Danny!" Danny turned his head in time to see an over excited Star rushing to him and enveloping him in a bear hug. Who knew she could hug like a man would wring someone's neck?

"Oomph!" The breath was knocked out of him as Star's head bounced off his chest and she let him go giggling. That giggle. Damn, drunk college girl alert.

"Sorry!" She continued in that high-pitched, giggly voice of hers. Star wound up her arm around Danny's slim bicep and dragged him forward to the blasting music and swaying bodies. It was an outside party set in a forest, complete with bon fire and a small river off to the north.

"You came!" Star sang as she squeezed his arm.

"I did." He muttered. Star was saying something about his boss and pumpkin but Danny didn't hear her. A curly brunette passed by them. She didn't notice them but Danny definitely noticed her. She was wearing a yellow tank top and a short beige skirt. He didn't even saw her face but her posture and the way she carried herself caught Danny's eyes. She was confident, sure and brave. He didn't know how he got all that just by seeing her walk but it was something he probably picked off from Jazz.

Star pulled him deeper into the forest until they stopped to lean on a large tree. She patted his arm as if to comfort him. "There, there. This isn't so bad, huh?"

Danny grunted as his eyes surveyed the place. It seemed that he arrived at the perfect time, most people were already buzzed and everyone appeared to be happy. And high. Maybe some of them even both but that was not what he was looking for.

Star tugged hard on his arm and Danny turned his eyes on her. She didn't look as drunk as she was when he first saw her. In fact, her eyes were calculating. She gestured on a log and they both sat together.

"You're not here for the party." Star stated as she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Danny. Really, was he that transparent?

Danny tilted his head playfully at her and ran his mind on what lie could be suitable for this particular situation but after a moment he realized getting defensive wasn't the best course of action to take. He dropped the act and stared at her with amused eyes. "Of course, you invited me here for a reason." The implication was thick in his voice but Star proved to be resistant with his antics.

"You're here for something. That I don't know of." She pursued her lips and studied him openly, like a student would look at an onion skin under a microscope.

Danny chuckled but held her gaze, he would be damned if he'd let blondie-tective figure him out. She could make as many theories as she'd like if it would keep her occupied but there was no way he'd let her in. "Now you're acting like my sister."

"So you have a sister."

Dang. Wrong move! Danny smiled even brighter. "Yes, yes I do." He took a timed pause. "But she's not as beautiful as you are."

Star's carefully drawn brows puckered. "Blondes are not your type."

"Excuse me?"

"You like brunettes."

Danny shrugged but he was pissed. Who the heck did this girl think she was? "I think I'm the one who's supposed to know what my type is."

Star grinned. "Ooh, I hit a nerve. No offense, Danny but you don't need to lie to me. I'm not your type. I saw your face when you first stepped foot in this place. You don't want to be here. But you have to. You're eyes are quick. You're always looking for someone. I was the first person to talk to you but your head turned when the curly brunette walked by. I'm not your type."

She flipped her hair over her shoulder and winked at him. "I'm taking up Criminal Psychology, by the way."

Danny forced his shoulders to slump and he sighed. Of all the queen bees he could talk to, this one had to take up psychology. He smirked at her. "So I'm a criminal?"

Star mulled over that thought for a second before she shook her head. "No. Your records said that you're suffering from depression and causing self harm that was why they had to enforce the therapy. Of course some people could hide it very well but you, you're … something else."

Danny nodded his head thoughtfully. "I'm a case study then. Unique case study, hmm… if I answer all your questions, would I get a cookie afterward?"

Star gave his shoulder a light shove. "You're not. I just… I just want—"

"To figure me out."

She bit her lip and actually looked embarrassed. "Yeah."

Danny inhaled through his nose. "If I tell you I'm here for a girl, would you settle for that?"

Star's face lit up and she nodded earnestly. "That's it! That actually explains a lot. Thank you, Danny. Thank you!" Star hugged him again, this time longer and she wouldn't stop making happy noises.

A part of Danny wanted to see what Star's face would look like if he told her the truth, that he was here for a dead girl, and that was to kill her for good.

Star finally let him go and stared up at him with overwhelming interest. "So, what's her name?"

Danny's mouth opened to say, 'Sam' but before he even got the words out, his vision blacked out and he found himself kissing the ground.

He knew he heard Star scream because he got a glimpse of her opening her mouth and looking frantic before he was hauled up by the front of his shirt and jerked on his limp feet. With shaking knees, swimming vision and ringing ears, Danny forced his hands to grab the person holding him.

It didn't change anything for he was still dazed and his grip was nothing compared to the beefy hands keeping him upright. Danny slowly lifted his eyes at his attacker.

He was met by the raging eyes of one Dash Baxter.

Oh, jeez. This didn't look good.

A/N: I would like to thank stormking92, Lightning Streak, Sam L. Manson, and floodmaster16 for the first chapter's reviews. I appreciated all your thoughts.

Sorry, it's taking me ages to update. I've got some real life issues popping out.

Comments, questions, opinions, suggestions, violent reactions? Please review.