Author's Note: I own nothing.

20 Ghost Stories

Vince couldn't believe that he was finally getting to meet the Vlad who'd sent him his ghost fighting gear. He'd often wondered how someone had heard about his horrendously bad ghost luck and decided he should be armed against the ethereal creatures. He was pretty excited to finally get to talk to him. He flew them up to the rooftops of Amity, Vlad sitting on the edge of the hoverboard.

"So the equipment is working well? No problems?" He asked as they landed on the roof. Vince nodded pulling off his cowl.

"Honestly yeah, I mean the board got damaged but I was able to get it repaired." Vince said rubbing the back of his neck a bit sheepishly. Vlad raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh? By whom?" Vlad asked. "I want to make sure your equipment is getting the best of care after all."

"Dani Fenton actually, she saw my board go down and offered to help." He said with a slight grin. Vlad raised an eyebrow.

"Does she know? Who the Red Hunter is I mean." Vlad asked and Vince shook his head.

"No. I've been pretty careful." Vince said. Vlad smiled. He knew that Dani knew but he would allow Vince his little fantasy of a secret identity. "But I have been curious Sir, why me? I mean there are a lot of people in this town who have ghost trouble. Why pick me? I mean you could easily have sent this stuff to Dani, she has more experience with ghosts than I do." Vlad let out a low laugh.

"Oh someday Danielle may yet join our little crusade but I chose you because you're strong, smart and most importantly motivated. You're only fourteen."

"I'm fifteen." Vince corrected him and Vlad smiled lightly.

"Of course. You're only fifteen and you're already one of the most capable ghost hunters I've ever met." Vlad laid a hand on Vince's shoulder. "I've never had any children of my own, but knowing I can teach you how to eradicate ghosts, well it's like having a child of my own."

"Really?"

"Of course my dear boy. And with that in mind I'd like to pass something on to you." Vlad reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring. It looked to be carved out of some kind of black rock. The front of the band was adorned with a black circle encasing a green skull, if Vince had to guess at the stone he'd say it was probably malachite, it had the swirled look of the stone. Set into the skulls eye sockets were two multifaceted rubies.

"I can't accept this Sir. It looks way too expensive."

"It is." Vlad said with a grin. "In fact it's an heirloom, passed from hunter to hunter for generations. I insist you take it my dear boy, as I said you are the most capable ghost hunter I've seen in years. Far more capable than Jack." Vlad said taking Vince's hand and placing the ring on his pointer finger. It was the perfect fit.

"Are you sure?" Vince asked, examining the ring. Maybe it was just the light but it looked almost like it was glowing.

"My dear boy, I have never been so sure of something." Vlad said with a smile. A crash sounded from back down the street. Vince turned, frowning.

"What was that?" He asked pulling his cowl back on.

"Best guess? Probably Jack goofing things up again." Vlad said laughing like he was joking. They both watched as a swarm of ghosts emerged from Fenton Works. "I believe you have a job to do." Vince nodded, activating his hoverboard and taking off.

"I won't let you down Mister Masters!" He called back to the rooftop as he took off to face down the hoard. Vlad nodded waiting for the figure in red to vanish from sight before he began laughing. This was far too easy, his pawn was doing exactly as he'd planned. Dani would be far too busy protecting Vincent from the Fright Knight to stop him taking the suit. He frowned slightly as he transformed. So things hadn't exactly gone the way he'd planned. If they had he'd be sitting as King of Ghosts. He hadn't expected Pariah Dark to still be functional after several thousand years in the sarcophagus. But he'd been wrong, Pariah was no less strong than the legends of him had said. He couldn't help but wonder if he may have bitten off a bit more than he could chew. But perhaps he would find a new ally in the Fright Knight. The dead Knight had seemed more than willing to speak treachery with him before Pariah discovered his misdirection. He just had to speak to him alone for a few moments.

Dani was running herself ragged. She was trying to work out what exactly the hell was going on. All she had to go on was a mass invasion of ghosts, that didn't seem to be hurting anything. In fact they were going to ground, hiding as soon as they could, all on the run from the supposed King of Ghosts. So Dani paid a visit to the house on Maple Way, which was currently the residence of a ghost from the fifties who called herself Wynona. She talked a lot about her husband Harold too, but Dani had yet to see him, though the house did keep getting fixed up seemingly on its own. She knocked, more out of habit than anything else. Wynona had told her to consider the house her own as well. The door opened on its own and Dani slipped inside. There was a new fence that had popped up around the property after Dani's short conversation with Officer Wulfric and his friend Kyle, but it wasn't exactly a deterrent for Dani, who walked right through it. She entered the house, the door closing behind her.

"Wynona?" She called out.

"In the kitchen dearie!" Dani floated through the wall into the kitchen. She was surprised to find Wynona was not alone. Kitty, Johny, Sidney Poindexter and Ember were sitting at the table. Dani dropped into a defensive stance and Wynona clucked her tongue as Ember's hand inched towards her guitar. "Not in the house children!" Ember raised her hands in surrender glaring at Dani.

"Fine, your haunt your rules." Ember conceded. Dani lowered her fists.

"Can somebody please tell me what's going on here? What are you running from? Who is Pariah Dark?" Dani demanded. Wynona frowned pulling a tray of steaming hot cookies out of the oven.

"Maybe you should sit down. This is a bit of a long story." Dani frowned but pulled out a chair and sat as Wynona set down the plate of fresh cookies. "It happened a long time ago, a very long time ago. It was long before any of us, or many ghosts that any of us have met. Pariah Dark was chosen to be the ruler of the Ghost Zone."

"Chosen?" Dani asked snagging a cookie from the plate. "By whom?"

"Well dear, the Infinite Realms are alive dear, after a manner of speaking." Wynona said like everyone should know that. Dani opened her mouth to speak. "Don't talk with your mouth full Dani." Dani rolled her eyes. Ember laughed.

"Yeah Baby-Pop, don't talk with your mouth full."

Dani chewed, swallowed and glared at Ember.

"Do not test me right now Pop Princess." She snarled. Wynona glared between the two of them.

"Children." Both of them fell silent as Wynona stepped over to the stove where the kettle was beginning to whistle. "As I was saying, the Infinite Realms are alive, they change and make decisions, though it's such an expansive being that it can't really communicate on a level most ghosts can understand. But the legend holds that the Realms chooses a ruler to keep the peace."

"That didn't work out so well with Pariah." Johny snorted taking a cookie.

"Elbows off the table Johny." Wynona called over her shoulder as she began to pour the tea. "It really didn't though. He took the Ring of Rage and Crown of Fire and ruled the ghost zone with an iron fist for a long time. In the end a group of ancient ghosts banded together, but even they couldn't kill him. So they locked him away in the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep. They took the ring from him but none of them could touch the crown, so it was left on him. But they took the ring hiding it away in Pariah's keep. The Keep's been silent ever since." Dani frowned as Wynona set a cup of tea in front of her.

"I'd bet good money I know who let him out. I honestly didn't think Vlad would be stupid enough to mess with someone on that level though." Dani ran a hand through her hair. "Does the Fright Knight work for Pariah?"

"That moldy bum? Yeah he's one of Pariah's top dogs. One of the reason's we had to agitate the gravel. He and his goon squad were tearing up the Zone! That bunch of wet rags trashed most of our homes." Poindexter said and everyone but Wynona stared at him like he'd started speaking a completely different language.

"Did anyone get that?" Dani asked taking a sip of her tea. Ember rolled her eyes.

"Yes, the Fright Knight works for Pariah, him and the King's army trashed most of our homes, which is why we had to run." She translated and Johny laughed.

"Wouldn't have guessed you spoke old school nerd." She shot him a look and Kitty must have kicked him under the table.

"Can you not be terrible to my friends please?" She demanded. Johny grew sheepish. Dani shook her head.

"So what's he after? Pariah I mean." She asked and the room fell silent for a moment.

"Control over the Realms. Ultimate power and the ability to subjugate every ghost in existence, you know not much." Ember said helping herself to another cookie. Dani let out a low whistle.

"How do we stop him?" Dani asked. Ember shook her head.

"There ain't a 'we' Baby-Pop. Your territory, you get to handle him if he shows." She said and Poindexter nodded. Dani groaned under her breath, downed the last of her tea and stood from the table.

"Well great, I have to go figure out how to fix this." A beeping sounded through the room and Dani pulled her phone from her neon green vest. "And I'm gonna be late for school. Today is not my day."