House

The House had no other name. Everyone in Trepidville just called it the House. If it had ever had another name, it was long forgotten.

It was a tall, black building, with two towering towers which made it look more like a castle than anything else, except it had no walls around it and was not built in stone. It had, though, a long metal fence around it, and an enormous gate that for some reason was adorned with an enormous "S", although no-one could recall what that S stood for. A pathway led from the gate and up to the House, and if anyone dared along that pathway they would be watched by a thousand eyes, that glared down from the leaves of the old trees that grew on both sides of the path.

Amanda and her three friends stood hesitantly outside the gate for a long time. Amanda was an average, brown-haired teenager with average grades and an average family. Josie and Sam, two of her friends, who were twins, stood slightly behind her, both had ruffled, short curly red hair, a bunch of freckles, and their pale blue eyes were watching the House. The fourth member of the group was Mark, who was clearly the tallest, but was nervously stepping from foot to foot and glancing back towards the road.

He definitely did not like the House.

The last member of the group was not Amanda's friend. Well, he was, but not in that sense. His name was Checkers, and he was a big, white-red Springer Spaniel whose main concerns in life were to keep his tail wagging, and where his next meal would come from. He kept close by Amanda's side, tail between his legs, unsettled by the strange, fearful mood that had struck the teenagers. She had a grip on his collar to keep him from leaving.

"Well," Sam said finally. "Are we doing this or not?"

'This' was a bet that they could stay one night in the House. It had been Amanda's big brother Jack's idea, and before Amanda could slither out of it, Josie had – in her usual, straightforward manner – agreed. She had, on the other hand, also made sure that Amanda did not have to go alone. The result was that she brought Josie, and thereby Sam, and finally Mark, Sam's best friend, who claimed he came 'just to keep an eye on them'.

Amanda still had her doubts. She realised that when she noticed that she was grabbing Checkers' collar so tightly he gave a yelp of surprise. But Amanda was not going to let Jack prove her a coward.

Jack was obsessed with the House. Had been so since two years back when he himself had stayed the night there. He said it was the coolest place in the world.

"We're going in," Amanda said.

Josie began pushing at the rusty old gate.

Mark glanced towards the House, and then back towards the road. "Let's see… about zero percent of me wants to go towards the House. There is a major majority for heading back home. This is a democracy, so bye bye. Have fun."

He turned on his heel and started back to the road.

"Not so fast," Josie said, grabbing Mark's arm and pulling him steadily along in through the open gate. "This is the only way you'll be going."

"Whatever happened to democracy?"

"Come on. There's nothing to be afraid of."

"I would be less worried if it wasn't a full moon," Mark stated, yanking his arm free, and glaring up at the moon.

"Worried? You're scared to death!" Josie said.

"Cut it out, Jo," Sam said softly, seeing how Mark was getting annoyed. Josie just shrugged.

"Are you coming along or not?" Amanda asked Mark. "You don't have to."

"That's right," Mark said, importantly. "I don't have to!"

"No, you don't have to," Sam agreed. Then flashed a grin. "But if you back out the entire school will know what a chicken you are by Monday morning!"

"Including the cheerleading squad," Josie added.

Mark took on a face of looking hurt. "You wouldn't!" When all three nodded, he readjusted his backpack on his shoulders, and turned determinably back down along the path. "To the House!"

With that, the four marched down the path, Mark in the lead and Josie laughing cheerfully as she closed the gate behind them.

Half an hour later they had found a more or less acceptable room on the second floor where they could sleep. They spread out their sleeping bags on the floor and hungrily ate their sandwiches.

All four sneaked pieces of sandwich to a more and more delighted Checkers when they thought no one else was watching. When all the food was gone, they had a short argument about whether or not they should eat the popcorn and crisps they had brought or if they should save it for later.

The argument was solved when Sam commented that opening the bag of crisps would condemn them all to the best of Checkers's well-practised drooling. And that should preferably be postponed until they were hungry enough not to care.

The House, they had discovered, was not half as scary from the inside as from the outside. It was almost pleasant – once they had pulled the white sheets from the furniture and the dust clouds had settled, they had been able to make the room they were staying in quite cosy.

When they settled down to sleep it was close to midnight. The moon shone in clearly through the large windows, and through the glass door to the balcony. The four wriggled down into their sleeping bags, Checkers lying curled up contently on Amanda's feet.

Mark entertained the others with ghost stories, and Josie entertained Mark with comments such as "yeah, right", and "you wish". Amanda listened with half an ear to their gibbering, her eyelids beginning to feel heavy. Staying the night in the House was not turning out to be so bad, after all.

The winds began blowing outside. Mark made a few semi-scary noises, and Josie combined that with what was supposed to be an evil cackle but ended up as a uncontrolled giggle. Sam suddenly sat up.

"Amanda? The next time we go here, could we leave those two behind? We're not going to get a moment's sleep with them here."

Josie sat up as well, turned towards her brother and gave him a playful shove. "Hey, I invited you. Not the other way around. Don't kick me out."

"I'm not kicking anyone out. I'm just stating fact; you two have never heard of being serious."

"I can be serious," Mark said. "Just watch me during history lesson."

"That's not serious," Amanda said. "That's asleep with open eyes."

Mark shrugged, unconcerned. "At least I'm good at it."

"Of course, there was that time when you started snoring…" Sam laughed.

The laughter was infectious, and the automatic thump-thump-thump of Checkers' tail drumming against the floor made them all laugh even harder. The spaniel lifted his head from his paws to see what was so funny, his tail still wagging, beating against the floor.

The wagging stopped when the balcony's doors were blown open by a gust of wind, which continued, howling, into the room and chilled them all to their bones. Checkers flew up with a yelp and darted out of the room.

"Checkers!" Amanda called, struggling out of her sleeping bag and getting to her feet to follow the dog. "Silly! It's just the wind."

She sighed heavily to herself, already hurrying out of the room to retrieve her cowardly canine, calling "I'll be back in a minute!" to her friends. The door slammed shut behind her.

Sam got to his feet as well, and hurried to closed the balcony door again, this time locking it. He pulled the heavy, red curtains over the windows and found his way back to his sleeping bag.

"Wonder what got into Checkers," he said.

Josie rolled her eyes. "A dead cockroach could scare Checkers. He's cute, but on the bravery and brain side he's a complete wimp."

There was another howl of wind. The curtains flew away from the balcony's glass doors with a series of clangs from the metal rings they hung on. The doors slammed open again, and this time, not only the wind flew into the room.

Amanda had forgotten to bring a flashlight. Even with the moon shining bravely in through the large windows in both ends of the second floor's corridor, there was barely enough light to see by. Checkers had vanished without a trace – as far as she was concerned. His prints were probably clearly visible in the coat of dust on the floor… but to see them you needed light.

"Checkers!" she called. "Checkers, get over here!"

There was no reply. She searched the corridor, thinking that as Checkers could not open doors and all the doors were closed, he would not be in one of the rooms.

Then she went down the stairs. The only sound was the ghastly creaking of the steps under her weight, and her own breaths. It was almost completely dark.

"Checkers!"

There was a shrill howl and a slamming, and Amanda almost jumped out of her skin until she realized it was probably just the wind, and one of the tree branches beating against the house. Maybe against a window.

She dismissed that thought, but then realised that after the first slam there had been another howl. One she recognized.

She hurried down to the bottom floor and to the hallway, from where the second howl had come. Checkers was crawled up by the door, piteously whining when he saw her, and leapt at her, tail wagging uncertainly, and licked her face as she bent down to hug him.

"Silly dog," she said. "Come on. Let's go back up."

He followed her gladly back to the stairs, but hesitated at the bottom. She took a grip on his collar and pulled him up the first step, scolding him again when he dug his claws in and refused to go further.

"Great. 'Get a spaniel', they said," Amanda muttered to herself. "And I listened to them. As usual. Just great. Next time I'll get something with a spine as well as a tail. Checkers, come here."

She was halfway up the stairs, and had to pull her dog along every step of the way, lifting his shaking paws to place on the next step and then repeating the process.

When she finally reached the second floor she had to literally drag the spaniel along with her back to the room. The door was closed, but she opened it to look in.

"It took some time, but we're back," Amanda said, dragging the spaniel along as she slipped in through the doorway. "There you go, Checkers. Good dog." She gave the shaking spaniel's head a hearty rub. Only then did she look up, and look around.

The room was empty.

On the wind, in through the balcony's open door, rode the spirits. They were not light, they were not dark, and they did not shine. As they were nothing, nothing except a shrill cackle and a twist of air, you should really not have been able to see them. But however Josie tried, they were impossible to ignore.

They came at the three teenagers, soon surrounding them, riding the fierce wind in circles around them, cackling and shrieking with pleasure at having someone to torment.

Unfortunately, the spirits were not happy with only that. They began suddenly reaching in to touch the humans, who pulled together into a tight knot in the centre of the circle, and before they knew what was happening the spirits were pulling at their arms and hair and fingers. Their touch was cold as ice the three cringed in terror to avoid it, unable to move or scream or even think.

The doors suddenly flew open.

"Stop!" an imposing voice roared. "Ghouls, I command you!"

A figure was standing in the doorway, surrounded by smaller, numerous shapes, that immediately rushed into the room and towards the teenagers, beginning to shoo the constantly cackling and shrieking ghouls away.

The figure followed them into the room only when the ghouls, still cackling, had fled. The smaller shapes, tiny, brightly coloured, tailed and horned, urged the three teenagers to their feet and half-pushed, half-shoved them up to meet the figure.

The figure watched them haughtily, and they did not object, as they were still dazed by the ghouls' chilling treatment. "Well, Cordelia, Annabelle?" the shape said. "What do you think?"

Two women came into the room, moving gracefully as cats, slowly and tensely as if they were preparing to charge any moment, and there was something deadly in their eyes as they fixed their gazes on Josie, Mark and Sam. One of them stopped halfway and drew in a sharp breath. She let it out in a pleased sigh.

"I smell fresh blood," she commented. "Fresh."

The other took a place next to her, lowering an arm to let one of the small creatures clamber up to her shoulder and whisper something in her ear. She nodded, and the creature curled up around her neck, contently purring, and stayed there.

"Prath here claims you are correct, Cordelia."

The first woman, Cordelia, laughed. The sound was like a chill down your spine. "The demons usually have good taste, Annabelle."

"They always have before," Annabelle agreed. "A demon is a vampire's best friend."

The figure who had first entered clasped his hands together. "Well then, ladies," he said, smiling, revealing two long, slightly curved teeth. "Now that that is settled… let us feast."

"Jo? Sam? Mark?"

Amanda, returning to the empty room a while after the vampires, demons and her three friends had left, blinked in confusion, leaving Checkers near the doorway and walking over to the deserted sleeping bags. Her gaze swept over the room, but there was no sight of either of her friends. The balcony was open, though, and she walked out on it, feeling the chill of the wind.

"Jo?"

After looking out from the balcony she turned back around.

"Okay, ha ha, very funny," she said, but a part of her was afraid. "Joke's over. Come out now."

"Gladly," a voice said in a hiss. Out from a dark shadow stepped a crouched figure, his back slightly crooked, his appearance shabby, but his face was in shadow and she could not see it properly. His arms were changing as he came into the moonlight, his legs were shortening, and within a step he had fallen down to all four and behind him there was suddenly a tail.

Two glistening gold eyes glared up at her from a still partly-human face, all while hair sprouted from his cheeks and spread across him, and white teeth flashed in a mouth that was growing out into a nuzzle.

Amanda felt cold metal behind her and noticed that she had been backing away from the creature and now reached the balcony's railing. No more room to back away.

Trapped.

The creature had been laughing through the transformation, but now the laugh was broken off and he threw his head back and howled.

Amanda screamed.

The werewolf leapt, coming at her face, and what followed was only blankness. She knew no more.

Not until she awoke, resting more or less comfortably on a red, since long worn-out divan, in a room she had not been in before.

"You're awake," a dry voice commented as her eyes opened.

Two red eyes were watching her from above. They were attached to a small, brightly coloured face, on a head with horns and pointed ears. When Amanda pulled back in fright at the sight the being let out a shrill of merriness and leaped from side to side on the edge of the divan.

"Roth, move away from her," a sharp woman's voice snapped, and the creature leaped away instantly. Amanda followed it with her eyes as it ran to sit in the lap of a white-faced, but very beautiful woman, hissing back at her as it noticed she was watching. "Demons," the woman said, rolling her eyes.

"Demon?" Amanda spluttered weakly, still watching the hissing creature.

"It's rude to stare," a second woman commented. "Where in the world are your manners, child?"

"Not a child at all," that dry voice said, amused. Amanda found herself staring in the face of a silver-haired man, who was watching her so intently it burned her skin. "As old as the others. Probably as –" he reached out a hand, and bared his teeth – two sharp, wicked teeth, already coated with blood.

"Get away, Count," a voice snapped in a hiss. The werewolf rose from his place near the fire, still walking crouched. Another appeared near the window, still in the moonlight, and still in wolf shape – and beginning to growl.

The man pulled away. "Just a thought," he said as an excuse.

"We all know where your thoughts always seem to end up, Count," the first woman mocked him, and he shot her an angry stare.

"You're leaving this one alone," the werewolf spat. He watched Amanda with his gleaming, golden eyes. Shapeless forms, almost distinguishable as specks of darkness or light – it was impossible to tell – cackled around him.

"Hush, ghouls!" the Count snapped.

The ghouls flew about in a frenzy, cackling even louder, but then a group of the small demons rushed up from nowhere and drove them to take refuge up by the roof, their cackling slowly dying away.

"We have enough vampires," the werewolf continued. "Time for some more… respectful… new members in our society."

"Vampires have more class than you, you flea-bitten mongrel," one of the vampire women spat. The demon around her shoulders hissed.

"Flea-bitten mongrels or not," the second werewolf replied calmly, coming out of the moonlight and growing up to take the shape of a bony woman, not near the lethal beauty of the vampires. "We are still in charge here. One little cross… holy water… or a stake through the heart, and you will be history. If even that."

The vampires all stiffened, some part of their arrogance being quenched. But the Count and the two others quickly recovered.

The were-woman saw their reaction and smiled. "Me?" she continued, the smile broadening. "It takes a silver bullet to kill me. Which, as you probably are painfully aware of, is infinitely harder to come by than a stake."

She flexed her fingers and turned to Amanda. "Now then. What have we here?"

"Let me go," Amanda said, suddenly finding her voice again.

"Why should we, Amanda?" the first werewolf asked, almost pleasantly. "We are having so much fun. Aren't we?"

The three vampires flashed their sharp teeth in evil grins, the little demons shrilled in approval, the group of ghouls cackled wickedly, and the other werewolf threw her still-human human head back and howled wildly at the roof.

"How do you know my name?" Amanda demanded.

"I know many things," he laughed.

Amanda trembled. Then, with sudden determination, she leapt up, spun around, dove for the door, out through it, and slammed it shut behind her with all her might.

No vampire, demon or werewolf followed her, but the ghouls were after her instantly, cackling and reaching for her hair with their icy fingers. She tried desperately to fend them off with her arms as she ran towards the stairs, having discovered that she was on the second floor.

She heard a werewolf's howl and sped up as she reached the stairs. She was never sure if she fell or ran down them, or maybe a little of each, but she reached the bottom floor and sped into the hallway.

She yanked the door open with a sob of dread and threw herself out.

Anything to get away from the House. As fast as possible.

She was caught with an arm around her shoulder, and instantly began struggling.

"Hey hey hey, calm down!" the owner of the arm ordered. "They can't harm you out here!"

She stared up at the face of Jack, her brother, and felt a wave of almost staggering relief.

"So," he said, smiling. "The ghouls. That bad, huh?"

She nodded, feeling dumbstruck, knowing her face was probably white. Her face paled even more when she remembered… "The… the others… Jo and Sam and Mark, they're –"

"Perfectly fine, my friends took care of them. Checkers, too. He's in the car."

She nodded again, and let herself be slowly turned led away from the House.

She thought about his frequent visits to the House and knew at once that he was probably aware of what occurred in there. She felt that he could at least have warned her. "You… you're not afraid of the ghouls?"

"They take some getting used to," Jack admitted. "The vampires, though, are worse. But they can be quite civil, given the chance – when they're not hungry."

"And… the werewolves?"

"Ah," he laughed, as they stepped out from the shadows on the porch and into the bright moonlight.. "My personal favourite. Nasty claws, don't want to be scratched by them… believe me."

He shuddered. She pulled free and stared at him. "A… werewolf… scratched you?"

"Yes. Two years ago. Guess why I'm accepted in this place?"

"And…" she felt herself pulling away, as she saw the changes beginning to occur as he was again standing in the light of the full moon. "You… you…"

"Yes," he said, and now she recognized him as the werewolf who had met her on the balcony. His teeth glistened in a smile. "I am."

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Author's Note;

Something I wrote for English class last year. Found it while looking through my school account for biology fact papers, to study for the test. Suddenly decided to post it. Don't have time to elaborate.