Magic - A Ghostbusters Story

The Gatekeeper and The Keymaster

Thursday night approached quicker than Egon would have liked. His PKE readings have been telling him something bad was bound to happen for the past week, and he had a gut feeling tonight was the night it was going to happen. Ray told him it was probably his subconscious trying to sabotage his date with Genevieve. He still couldn't shake the feeling that things were headed for disaster. He had carefully planned each move he made with Genevieve, he didn't need work to ruin his plan for the night.

It was almost five p.m. when he was finishing up his lab work. Genevieve left thirty minutes ago to grab a bottle of wine and to visit with her mother, Egon was supposed to meet her at her mother's apartment at five thirty. Peter was out as well, he was going out to dinner with Dana. Winston and Ray were busy working that night's schedule.

Egon walked to Janine's desk, fixing his tie. "Is the address Genevieve left here?"

"Yes, it's right here," Janine said, handing Egon a small index card. "You might want to grab flowers on your way there, meeting the parents on the first date is rough."

"I've met her mother before. Janine, could you pull out Dana Barrett's file please?" Egon asked, looking at the card intensely. She handed him the file and he held the two up together. "Genevieve's mother and Dana live in the same apartment building, I'm curious if she's experienced anything supernatural."

Janine heard a knock at the door and excused herself to answer it. Egon continued heavily reading Dana's file, trying to pinpoint any connection between her apartment and Genevieve's mothers. Janine turned around and whispered, "Egon, there's and officer at the door asking for a Ghostbuster"

He sighed, placing the files back down, walking to the door. The officer explained they found a man wandering the streets and they weren't sure what to do with him. Egon held up his PKE meter and it began buzzing and lighting up at the strange man.

"You better bring him inside."

Across town, Genevieve was approaching her mother's apartment building, wine bottle in hand. There were cop cars and policemen interviewing people on the street. She approached the doorman, "What happened?"

"Some lunatic brought a cougar to a party", he sighed.

"Oh," she mumbled, "Well, I'm here to visit my mother, Diane Stratford."

The doorman nodded and opened the door for Genevieve. She made her way up to the 22nd floor and as she walked towards her mother's apartment she saw large scratch marks on the hall and broken down doors. She knocked on the door once and her mother answered it in a hurry.

"Genevieve! Get in here!" her mother cried, grabbing her and pulling her into the safety of her apartment. "The most awful thing happened, my neighbor was attacked by some wild animal. We still can't find him. You shouldn't have come."

"It's alright, I'm sorry this is happening so close to you. Maybe you and Dad should get out and get a hotel room for the night. Just until this all blows over." Genevieve said, putting a sympathetic arm on her mother.

"That's not a bad idea. I'm gonna tend to your father. Call Ray or Peter to come get you, I don't feel safe with you walking all the way back with an animal on the loose." her mother said, walking back into the kitchen, where Genevieve assumed her father was.

Genevieve walked back into her parents' bedroom and picked up the phone, quickly dialing the firehouse. She waited impatiently as the phone was ringing. There was a low growl coming from her parents' closet, she dropped the receiver a little bit to get a better listen. A red light began glowing brighter and brighter from the closet. She nervously put the phone back up to her face.