UNITED DARKNESS

Filed by Dr. Kyle Stevens, Team Co-Captain
GBI Case File No. GBWC-2006-24/204

May 2006
Ghostbusters Omnibus Timeline Year Twenty Four
The day was long and gloomy. The Ghostbusters West Coast team was bored to tears. Dr. Kyle Stevens, the team's Field Co-Captain, and Dr. Jeff Nash, ice ninja and part-time member of Ghostbusters Nightsquad, unwound at a local gym. They had been there two hours before even that was getting boring.

" Nice training with you, Kyle, but I have some pull lists to work on." Jeff stated.

" Sure thing, Jeff. I'll catch up with you later." he stated, and he jogged off.

He keeps this up something will happen to him. Jeff thought to himself.

Somewhere at a secret haven...
" We are gathered here this very day to discuss a certain annoyance. It has plagued us for quite some time, and something must be done." the leader stated.

An uproar echoed throughout the crowd.

" Silence !" the leader's voice boomed.

" Sire, the problem that we seek an answer to is the Ghostbusters. They have exterminated many of our Kindred." one of the followers said. "It's been nearly a year since the fall of Teth-Apophis..."

"I know of this. The Los Angeles band has become quite a nuisance over the last three years. This is why I called everyone here to discuss my objective." the leader boasted before them.

" Objective, Master ?" one of them asked.

"The objective is find which of them would be most suitable to joining us."

"The Embrace? For a Ghostbuster?"

"Once Embraced, he or she will be sacrificed to our vampire priestess, Cywong. After that is done she will unleashed our ultimate plan, United Darkness." the leader said, savoring the thoughts "Mason. Lillian." the leader motioned toward two of the assembled throng. "Your Master has a mission for you..."

Meanwhile on the streets...
Kyle Stevens jogged through the streets. His body was sweaty and aching from the workout. He saw a car slowly approach him, and recognized the driver--it was Jeremy Hicks, a teammate.

" Hey, Jeremy, what's up ?" he asked.

" I'm okay, Kyle, have you seen Jeff ? " Jeremy asked him.

" He went back to work on some pull lists." Kyle replied.

"Pull lists? His store got trashed ages ago..."

"I think it was for a friend of his who got sick."

"Okay, I needed to talk to him about something." Jeremy rolled his eyes. "I barely see the guy since he's been moonlighting out east...Thanks, and don't overdo it and drop dead, okay?" he laughed, and drove off.

Before Kyle started back to his jogging, he heard a faint scream from an alleyway.

Ghostbusters International had it's share of dark cynics who would probably ignore the noise. If it's not a ghost and nobody's paying, who cares? But Kyle Stevens wasn't one of those dark cynics--he'd been subject to gentle teasing in the past about being a "stereotypical Southern Gentleman".--but in his eyes, better to care too much for others than not enough. He ran toward the scream without a second's hesitation.

So Kyle ran into the alleyway to confront the oncoming danger, where he managed to see a mugger attacking a woman.

He tried to stop him, but the mugger shoved him back.

That's it. he thought to himself.

Kyle grabbed the mugger and threw him to the ground. The mugger sprang back to his feet, eyes burning with anger...and ran off, disappearing into the darkness.

" Are you okay, miss ?" he asked the victim. "I'm a Doctor...did that animal hurt you in any way?"

" It's Lillian." she jumped in. " Yes, I'm okay. Thank you for your help."

Kyle looked at her to make sure that she wasn't injured.

" Good thing I showed up, Lillian." he told her, " Things would have got worse."

" For you." she muttered, quietly.

The mugger crept behind Kyle, while he was taking care of Lillian.

The mugger grabbed him and threw him in a bunch of trash cans. In a lightning flash, realization hit Kyle: This was all a sham.

Lillian rushed over to him and gave him a swift kick in the head, which knocked him out.

" Hmm... I should feed on him." Mason grunted.

" The master wants him alive." Lillian jumped in.

They grabbed Kyle and shoved him into their vehicle. Mason started the car, driving back to their hidden haven.

Little did they realize that they were being watched by someone on the rooftops of a buildings.

" You've interrupted the normal lives of these people long enough." the voice said.

Meanwhile at Ghostbusters: West Coast Central...
Dr. Andy Harnish, Dr. Jeff Nash, and Jeremy Hicks got back from a recent bust.

" I'll take it that Mrs. Winfield will be happy that we nabbed that pesky problems of hers. I mean it was just a minor Class-3 spook." Andy laughed.

" I wouldn't call a Class-3 a minor spook, Andy.'' Jeremy jumped in, with a stern look on his face.

" I'm going to place this spook into the Containment Unit." Jeff stated, as he quickly walked upstairs.

"And then what? A quick ninja teleport back to New York?" Andy teased. "You get antsy when you don't see Holbrook in a few days?"

Jeff flipped him off.

After the spook was sent to his new home and the paperwork was (sorta) done, they all sat down on the couch and flipped on the television set.

Kyle's cat, Mr. Whiskers, came in meowing at them.

"Kyle not get home to feed his cat yet?" Jeremy asked.

"I guess not. "Andy replied. "But since it was my turn to do Fritters' paperwork, somebody else can do that."

"Jeff...since you get skipped in the rotation so much for not being here, that means you!" Jeremy said brightly.

" Okay." Jeff muttered, thinking to himself.

Meanwhile at the hidden haven...
Dr. Kyle Stevens awoke to find himself chained to the wall in a dank jail cell.

He struggled to break himself free, but he couldn't.

" Try all you like, Ghostbuster, you'll never break yourself free." Lillian taunted him. " The master has sent someone to see you."

The captured person was slowly approaching forward. It was Gen Brown, Kyle's girlfriend! They had met two years before, and despite the imposing obstacles, had fallen quickly in love.

" Oh, no ! Not her ! Anything, but her!" Kyle's voice boomed.

" Help me, Kyle, don't let them kill me! That's why they brought me here!" Gen told him.

" Gen, listen to me. I'll do whatever I can to us out of here. You mean a good bit to me." he told her.

The master of the haven came out and appeared before them.

" Sire." Lillian bowed before him.

" You must be Gen Brown, the one debasing yourself with this Kine, yes?" he stated with equal parts amusement and disgust. "Well, no matter. You will be used as my plaything once I am done turning your boyfriend into my slave." he told her.

Gen spat at him, " You won't get away with this !"

" Leave her out of this ! She didn't ask to be what she is. Leave her alone ! Take me instead." Kyle shouted.

" I intend to, Ghostbuster." the master stated, as he grabbed Gen.

" No !" Kyle shouted, " No !"

The master crammed his hand into her chest, pulling her heart out.

She screamed his name, as her body went lifeless.

" Gen !!!" Kyle shouted her name.

The master threw her lifeless body on the ground.

" I'll get you for this ! Whoever you are !" Kyle shouted.

" My name is Master Orus." he sneered, while kicking the Ghostbuster in his head, knocking him out.

" Take him to my lair." Orus ordered Lillian.

Meanwhile at the Ghostbusters:West Coast Central...
Jeff, Andy, Jeremy, GBWC CEO Fritz Baugh, Mobile Agent Will Ketcham, and Reservist Jennifer Thompson sat in the kitchen trying to figure out where Kyle went.

"I haven't seen him since I nearly ran him down jogging." Jeremy explained.

"It's not like Kyle to not call in." Will stated. "If that guy wasn't a Boy Scout, he should've been..."

Then there was a knock. Even more interestingly, it was at the back door.

"Maybe it's Kyle--he forgot his key or something?" Jeremy offered.

"I'm sure that violates some rule in the Boy Scout Handbook..." Will retorted.

Jennifer, being the closest to it, went to answer the door.

" Normally office hours are eight to five, but may I help you ?" she asked the man standing there, a man in a dark outfit and cloak.

" No, I am here because I have information about your missing teammate." the man answered.

Jeff's PKE meter went off.

Andy jumped up with his proton blaster out and ready to open fire.

" Surely, young man, you think attacking me would help you find your missing teammate ?" the man questioned him, " I saw what happened. Perhaps you should ask me what happened to him?"

Jennifer stepped back so the man could walk in and have a seat.

Everyone saw this dark cloaked masked man sit before them.

" What's with the get up?" Jeremy asked him.

" I choose to dress this way. I would rather hide my appearance from my enemies than to have them truly see who I am. " he replied, " You wouldn't like what you would have seen if I did show what I truly am. You would probably find it frightening."

"After bugbears, werewolves, hobgoblins, and Egyptian gods, we're a hard lot to scare." Jeff stated.

His aura was flashing with mystery, vengeance, and an empty, hollow feeling that everyone could sense on him.

" So what are we dealing with?" Jennifer asked him.

" You all are dealing with a scourge that was plagued you and everyone else for centuries. You are dealing with vampires." the man relied.

Andy jumped into the front seat of the Ecto-WC, switching the engine on. Within moments, the converted SWAT van roared into the night.

The mysterious man sat in the passenger seat. He'd told them of what he'd seen...the trap set by two vampires that had snared Kyle Stevens.

He sniffed out the window to catch the vampires' scent.

" Turn here, we're getting close." the man told Andy.

Meanwhile at the hidden haven...
The master strapped Kyle to his torture wall.

" I want you to think about all that you enjoyed over your pitifully short lifespan. Think of the memories that you'll have haunting you through the centuries." the master explained, " When it truly starts you'll beg me for deliverance."

Outside the hidden haven, his vampiric followers heard the sounds of a speeding automobile with sirens going off coming closer to them.

" Move !!" Lillian's voice hissed as the sound of a large moving swat van came crashing through the doors of the hidden haven.

One of the vampires was crushed underneath the Ecto-WC.

" What the hell ?!" Lillian shouted with her fangs ready to attack.

The Ghostbusters West Coast team staggered out of the Ecto-WC with their proton packs out and ready.

" Hell is a premonition to the things I have in store for you." the cloaked man told her.

Lillian recognized his voice.

" Victor Nightstalker !" she shouted, as she saw him change into his werewolf form, his true birth form.

"A werewolf?" Andy quipped. "Nothing really does surprise me anymore..."

"He probably heard about what we did to Micheal Jackson." Jeff added. "The whole werewolf race is probably grateful to us for that..."

Dr. Jennifer Thompson and Dr. Fritz Baugh went past them to find their missing teammate.

Victor slipped out his knives and threw them at Lillian. One struck her in the chest and the other one struck her in the throat.

She fell to the ground dead.

Her friend, Mason saw what happend. He decided to go for Victor, however, Jeff shot his ice blast at him.

The ice blast froze Mason in midair, which caused him to hit the ground and shatter into pieces.

Dr. Will Ketcham, Dr. Andy Harnish, and Jeremy Hicks both opened fire on three vampires. The vampires stood there motionless as the streams hit them.

"Let'em have it, Snow Miser!!!" Andy shouted.

"That's Doctor Snow Miser to you, Jethro..." Jeff retorted.

His mystical ice powers surrounded him as he threw his arms in the air and small ice particals rained on the three vampires, freezing them on contact.

Will, Andy, and Jeremy shattered the last three vampires.

"Vampire Popsicles." Andy joked. "There has got to be a marketing opportunity in this..."

Meanwhile where Fritz and Jennifer were heading into the master's lair.

" We're getting closer, Jennifer, so brace yourself." he warned her.

" I can take care of myself." she told him. She had to note to herself how well her boss was getting around now on his prosthetic left leg--when she first met the man, a year and a half before, he was still confined to a wheelchair.

They both ran through the hallways, they felt as if that they were getting closer.

" This is where it ends, Ghostbuster. Now it is time to meet your own fate, as your lover before you..." the master said to Kyle.

Fritz and Jennifer burst through the door. "Lovely..." Fritz noted. "The decor is very Abu Ghraib..."

"There's Kyle!" Jennifer shouted.

They both opened fire as the master was sent flying back about 20 yards across the room.

The master was slammed off the wall hard, but managed to land on his feet. With an angry wave of his hand, Fritz and Jennifer were knocked down.

" You think you can stop me, Ghostbusters ? I am Master Orus. I am unstoppable! Watch as you see before you is a united darkness. Can you imagine a world of vampires dominating every single thing in existence ?" he boasted.

" It'll never work, Orus, every living being in the entire world will prevent you from doing so." Kyle explained.

Orus stepped towards him and asked," Do you think you can stop me ?"

" No, but he might." Kyle quipped.

Victor ran past Fritz and Jennifer, giving Master Orus a raking claw against his chest.

Master Orus grabbed Victor and threw into the wall, which knocked the wind out of him.

The distractions, though, gave Fritz and Jennifer a chance to free their teammate and try to make a hasty retreat.

" Come on, let's get out of here." Jennifer insisted.

Victor then got a good kick in on Orus, this time knocking the vampire for a loop.

Victor planted some of his homemade explosives on the walls, setting the time for five minutes.

" I suggest that all of you get out of here. This place will go off in five minutes." Victor warned them.

The three Ghostbusters headed towards the exit.

" Everyone get into the Ecto-WC ! This place is going to blow !" Fritz shouted.

Everyone got loaded into the Ecto-WC at record time and sped out of the hidden haven at a blinding pace.

" You can't stop me, Lupine...You don't stand a chance." Orus taunted him.

" We both have something in common, Leech, is the fact that we both know that you will die in my hands before you can make a move." Victor explained.

He kicked in his power of speed to grab the vampire and forcefully chain him into his own torture wall. He pinned Orus's arms into the wall by stabbing his fetish made knives into the vampire's wrists.

The time was ticking down to one minute remaining.

" No united darkness for you, only eternal darkness for you and your filthy kind." Victor stated, as he poured gasoline on the ground and placed a lit match on it, creating the symbol of the Silent Striders tribe in fire.

Victor ran out of the haven as the time was dwindling down.

" Nooo !!" Orus's voice shouted as his hidden haven exploded in a matter of seconds.

Victor Nightstalker disappeared from the scene.

The next day...

Everyone was sitting in the kitchen eating breakfast.

However, Kyle sat aimlessly by the window.

" Cheer up, Kyle, she's at a better place." Andy said to him.

" I'm so angry and lost, Andy. She was all that I cared for. She meant the world to me. And what happens? A vampire comes along to rip her heart out !" Kyle stated, with anger in his eyes.

"Dude, a big guy like you, with a heart big enough to reach out to a vampire..." Jeremy put a hand on his shoulder. "You ain't gonna be alone long."

Kyle headed for the door to take a long walk. " Thanks, team, but I think I need some alone time." he insisted.

" Should I go after him ?" Jennifer asked.

" Not right now. He'll come back when he's ready." Fritz answered her, as they watched Kyle walk out of their eyesight.

The heart that cared too much was breaking to pieces.

Questions? Comments? Go to the GBWC Message Board

Based on Ghostbusters Created by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis

Ghostbusters West Coast Division Created by Andy Harnish and Vincent Belmont

Some werewolf ideas swiped gleefully from White Wolf's Werewolf: The Apocalypse
#3504-20060520Y
Established 20060606T
Version 20240513m e-21 (XXIV Tau, XXXIV AAq)