Will stood in the open yard, the breeze smacking his face. He liked it. Perfect weather for a practice or game. Will patiently and lively took steps to his mail and opened it. Inside were a three letters. He grabbed them and began to stroll back to his house, his white lab following him. "Alright, Mystic let's see what we got." Will walked upped the steps with ease and opened the door, his dog sprinting in.
Slamming the door behind him Will sat down at his work table. He sliced opened the first one with a letter opener and scanned it, "Bills." He moaned. Even though it was not the worst, it is one of his chores. He grabbed the second and sliced it open like the other. "Transfer? Oh man! Titans are still trying to get me on with them! Good grief!" Will threw the paper into the trashcan and rested his legs on the table. He opened the third letter and didn't recognize it. With a small hum he read the invitation and gave a shrewd smile. "Like a vacation?" He pondered to himself. Didn't sound so bad. As a matter of fact it was a nice idea. Will got up and shook his tension off of him. "I could use a break from all these damn popularity crap."

Val sat at her computer desk, hunched over her keyboard typing anxiously, her eyes glued to the screen like the meaning of life had been scrolled across its surface. Of course, the screen did not contain the answers to that age long question. No, she had just been staring at if for far too long and her eye's were drying from the stress on them, causing her to blink rarely. As she was typing furiously, her wide rimmed, dark red glasses began to sink down onto the edge of her nose. She didn't realize it until they were practically falling off and she could no longer see. Breaking her concentration, she reached up to adjust them, then looked over at the clock. Great. She had overdone it again. Oh well. She leaned back in her computer chair, a satisfied smirk on her face as she admired her work. She put her fingers up to her mouth and kissed them like a chef.

"Perfecto," she purred like a cat, jokingly. She squinted her eyes in thought. "Valencia, you are one brilliant cookie."

Soon after the absolutely absurd thought crossed her mind, the beeping of Val’s computer distracted her. She leaned closer, as the tiny message “You've Got Mail” blinked on its screen. She snickered lowly, like one of those villains off those old and cheesy espionage films. Must be one of her college admission letter… thingys. She slapped her leg as she chuckled louder. Haha, what a joke. Never mind, that couldn’t be it. She moved the cursor over the view button and clicked it, a picture of a large castle filled her screen as the message opened.

“I’ve been invited to stay at this castle?!” She questioned, raising an eyebrow, but that puzzled look quickly faded. “Cool!”

Julian Bennett hummed softly to himself, as he absentmindedly flipped a coin in between, through, under, over his fingers, the coin flashing once before disappearing, only to reappear and sparkle again...like a flitting thought. There and then gone. He sat in the bay window of the front room, on the window seat, leaning back against the smooth wood.

His curly dark brown hair lay over his face, almost obscuring his pale hazel eyes as they stared out at the leaves on the tree nearby. He paused the coin in its movements, before he resumed them again. Julian had a small problem. Call it ADD or ADHD or whatever you wanted, but Julian was incapable of sitting still or doing anything of the sort for very long.

He turned his head towards the window, running the hand that wasn't flipping the coin (which hadn't stopped even as he moved) through his hair.

He blinked, realizing that there was something caught in the branches of the tree nearby. Julian swung his feet off the window seat. His socked feet had barely touched the wood before he was off running, slipping into well-worn Converse, not bothering to tie them as he reached the tree. He climbed it, getting rid of his shoes and his socks as he did so. He tugged the envelope free of the leafy prison and sat down on the branch, one foot swinging down, the other bent.

"An invitation?" his voice was soft, a curious whisper as he read the tri-folded piece of paper. "Is it even meant for me?"

Well, the print on the front couldn't be wrong. His name, clear as day.

Lilith crept up the stairs of her parents’ newest project, another rundown Victorian house upstate. It had only taken a few days to memorize which steps squeaked and not to lean on the railing to much until the repairs were made; so jumping over every other step and careful to keep her balance, she made it to the top of the stair case and flipped on the switch to the upstairs hall… Only to be greeted by a hum and pop as the only working bulb died along with the other four. “Great. I guess the electrician couldn’t make it today.”

Cradling the bookstore sack with her newest purchase inside, Lilith carefully ran a hand along the wall as she made her way to her room.

Creak

Mid-step and wide eyed she froze as the sound came from behind her. Breathe held, Lilith lowered her foot back to the ground and let out a sigh at what must have been a random board shifting. But feeling something touch her leg, Lilith let out a small shriek and shot down the hall into her room and slammed the door shut as she hopped onto her bed. Unbeknownst to her as she calmed her breathing, the family cat was sitting very confused in the hall after it had rubbed against her wanting a snack; watching it’s owner run away like frantic mouse.

“I’ve gotta get out of this house. Something to give me a break and a change of scenery.” Rearranging her position from clutching her pillow for dear life to instead sitting cross-legged on the bed, Lilith opened the bag and pulled out a book. “The Enchanted Castle, childish, perhaps. But you shall make the perfect side companion until the next teen vampire or wolf book comes out… That should give me a week.” Musing out loud to herself and the book, she opened and skimmed for the first chapter; finding it easily as an envelope was tucked inside and the pages automatically fell open to it.

“What?” Opening it up and seeing the personal invite to stay at a castle, Lilith had to debate on whether this was a prank or not; but seeing her name, it was obvious it wasn’t random. “This must be some kind of promotional contest or something. A real castle… That sounds so neat! And it would give me the break I wanted!” Flipping the book over to look at the picture of a castle on the front, she couldn’t help but feel this was just chance she needed… and she was going to take it.

Dragana sighed, almost dejectedly, as he heaved his suitcase up the long winded stairs, attempting to balance a box in his arms, almost unsuccessful as what he was carrying almost fell. "Just great." He mumbled to himself, finally making it to the top floor, the 15th of all things, and into his set of rooms. Since it was the top floor, the owners had converted the entire top floor into the same apartment, and had kept it that way for a few years, until finally Dragana had come along and dusted it out.

"Wish they had clean up sooner rather than never." He mumbled, sneezing as he breathed in dust. "Just glad I don't have allergy's." He said, scrunching up his nose. He set down the last of his stuff and stretched, closing the door. "Finally." He said, thumping onto his couch. He had been moving around for so long he had forgotten what it felt like to just sit down and smell the flowers.

It seemed like forever but soon, there was a knocking on the front door that woke the sleeping man. Thumping to the floor loudly, he went to answer the door groggily, confused when no one was there. "The hell?" He mumbled, as the hair on the back of his neck stood up suddenly. He instantly reached for one of his pistols, turning around and drawing the gun.

Nothing was there.

Confusion etched onto his face, Dragana stepped more into his apartment, looking around with keen eyes before he spotted it. Sitting on the kitchen table sat a bouquet of flowers and, leaning against it, an envelope. Frowning, Dragana closed his front door and went over to the bouquet, picking up the envelope. There, on the front, was his name, written in elegant letters. "Unique." He mumbled, turning the envelope to open in. He slid a finger under the wax seal and took the single sheet of paper out, reading quickly. "A castle? I guess I need a vacation...I mean, it can't possibly hurt." He commented aloud, though to himself. He was glad he hadn't unpacked yet.

(Erased!)

Dehlia was in her apartment when she received the invitation.

Walking through the doors, she smiled to herself. It was quiet. Way too quiet. That kind of silence made Dehlia feel not at ease. So, she started to sing. Anything that popped into her mind. Carelessly strolling over to the fridge, the 'ABC's' floated through the air. "A..B.. C.. D.." She sung to herself, opening the heavy door. She leaned in, switching songs. Maybe a old song. She actually couldn't remember the name of it. Or the words, so she hummed.

Grabbing the milk, Dehlia straightened up, still humming the Nameless tune. She stopped short when her melodious, sarcasm noted, hum was cut off by the sound of paper being slid under the door. Dehlia froze, and turned her head towards the door. She noticed the small paper addressed to her, scribbled in calligraphy. Walking over there, she opened the door, and looked either way. No one was in the hall. She looked down at the paper, milk jug still her hand.

Dehlia crouched down, swiping it up. Inspecting it closely, Dehlia muttered to herself. "Peculiar..." She grinned, and ripped it open, but not before putting down the milk. She scanned the note. "Stone.. Oh.. Cool.." She mumbled, her eyes wild. It must have been some exclusive thing. It made Dehlia feel special. Besides, it couldn't possibly be bad... Right?

She gripped the paper, and took a swig of milk.

Presha could feel the castle's "pulse", as she called it, obviously her domain had no heart but it was a sort of feeling. Almost like the vibe one gets from a person, but it's so strong that it's almost tangible, the precious breath she took was filled with the houses anticipation. As she swung back and forth on the creeky, old wooden rocking chair in the parlour she thought that surely they would be coming soon, the castle's pulse was running rabid in the past few days.

I swear the castle will grow legs and go to them if it were any more anxious, it's driving me mad. I wonder if anything went wrong with...no. The castle made no mistakes, the invitations are sure to of been delivered expediently. It is rather a bother that I am rarely informed of such things... Ah well at least I'm not in charge of such things, too much hastle, not to mention the repercussion of mistakes would probably be high in price.

Her cascading curled black tresses made a sharp contrast of the white lace dress she was wearing as did her red patent mary janes lightly dragging over the black marble flooring as she swung. Soon after she rose to her dainty feet and opened the heavy black curtains to the largest window in the house which was adjacent to where she had been sitting. In poured in the lucious sunlight that she could feel penetrate her cold flesh as she closed her eyes to relish in the sensation. This small comfort was short lived as she remembered that she had to...dispose of a few things before the guests arrived and seeing as she was unaware of when that would be there was no time better than the present to do so. Presha climbed the spiraling stair case like a child on Christmas day would in the opposite direction but then a chilling shiver ran up her spine so she slowed herself and gripped the railing as a defensive measure, luckily it was daylight and the castle's power was still subdued so she relaxed and continued in a grim manner onto her tasks.

Dragana sighed, stepping out of the taxi to look over the gate that stood between him and his destination. The taxi driver refused to drive him any further and, upon realizing where he was dropping the man off, let him ride for free. "No charge, sir!" The driver had said, helping the man to get his suitcases out before driving off. "At least I didn't have to pay." He said, watching the taxi go.

Shaking his head, he approached the gate, stuff in tow. In reality, he hadn't been that far from the Castle, just being a bus away, and a taxi. "Thankfully, I already paid for the apartment for a year." He said, half amused. "Now, just to get to the door." He said drly next, sighing again.

He pushed open the iron gates at the front, and started dragging his things up the drive way. He stuck close to one side, sure that sooner or later another car would blast past him or something. He had learned to be cautious years ago.

Lilith sat in the backseat of her parents’ car, music blasting through her earphones and her thoughts deep in the book she just bought. She wasn’t going to turn back. She was going to go to this castle and have a vacation. She was going to have fun. She was going to be away from her parents…She was going to be sick.

Plopping her head down into the book, she faintly heard her mother call over the loud music. “Yeah?” she asked as she glanced to the front of the car only to see her mom with a wide grin on her face.

“We’re here honey! Now you have a good time. Call us if you need anything and don’t forget to take pictures!”

No sooner had her mother finished speaking, her dad had already unloaded the trunk of the car and plunked the last suitcase in front of the gates. Figures. Her parents wanted to get her out of the car before she had a chance to chicken out, and apparently they considered dropping her off at the gate was as far as they could keep away from the front doors without being outright rude. “Thanks, and I don’t know if this place get’s reception or not. Love you!” Pecking a kiss on both her parents cheeks as her dad got into the car, it didn’t take long for her to be standing in front of her bags with her last ditch chance disappearing down the road.

Steeling herself with a deep breath, ready to turn around and see the flourishing green castle like in the book, Lilith turned only to have her jaw drop and eyes widened. This place was out of a story book alright. A Gothic Nightmare one! Between the graying that seemed to touch everything around it, living trees and dead stones looking like one, the castle looked like it could easily house a vampire...or a murderer… or a murderous vampire… Enough! She had told herself she wanted a change, and this was going to be it! Even if it meant the end of the last of her nerves…

Dragging her things down the drive way, mumbling encouraging words between all the monster images she had seen in movies, Lilith spotted a man ahead of her dragging his own things towards the castle doors. “Oh dear.” Was he one of the inhabitants here? Was he safe!? How far could her parents have gotten that she could simply walk to catch them? Shaking her head, she finally put two and two together when she took a second notice of his bags. “He must be a guest also… Excuse me! Sir!” Speaking up, she’d rather know if he was a murderous inhabitant like in her imagination now instead of later; and see what he was like before being locked indoors would be a better choice.

Julian stared up at the castle, a backpack and a messenger bag on his body. This was his only luggage. He ran a hand through his curly hair, his hazel eyes widening with surprise and awe as he looked up at the massive structure. He glanced back at his parents, who nodded at him once before driving away.

"I'm a college kid now," Julian reminded himself. "I don't need their permission to do whatever the hell I want."

He pushed open the gate, spotting two people already there.

A girl and a guy. He headed over, hovering slightly on the outside as he heard the girl strike up conversation with the guy. They both had bags.

Dragana blinked and turned around, seeing two new people. Putting a smile on his face, he stopped to let them both catch up to him. Were they guests also? It looked that way, unless his imaginative mind was coming up with things again. "Hello. I assume you were invited her too?" He asked the girl, as she was closest.

He turned slightly to look at the hulking building known as the Castle. It surprised him how big it was, times bigger than any place he had seen before. Shaking his head, he turned back to the girl, waiting for her answer. He decided to ask the guy as well, trying to be friendly even though his nerves were getting to him. He didn't hate other men, he just sometimes liked them too much.

"Are you a guest too?" He asked him, still trying to strike up a conversation with them both. It might benefit to have friends in a strange place.

Lilith was glad to see that she had caught the man’s attention, but realizing that he had stopped to wait on her to catch up, she quickly grabbed a better hold of her things and hurried forward. Stopping a short ways from him, close enough to be polite but far enough for her own comfort, Lilith sat down her things as he asked the question she was wondering about him. “Sorry for the wait! And yes, I am a guest. So you received an invitation too then?” So he was a guest. It did make sense though, why would a castle this huge only invite one person to it?

When the man addressed the same question to someone behind her, Lilith quickly turned around and gave a slight jump; surprised to see that another person was behind her this whole time. “Um… Hello.” Dragging her things a bit off to the side, she didn’t want to stand between the two’s line of vision to each other. Wait a minute… There were two males here and one female… Was she the only girl here! Her mother would have a fit! Ok…Calm breaths…positive thoughts… She just arrived, so perhaps there were others inside or on their way. Surely there were more on their way!... But that would mean she would have to socialize, which was one subject she was a bit lacking on. And she was staying with strangers in this huge stone place.

Lilith could see it now. She could just kiss the last of her nerves good bye.

Val looked down at the paper she had printed off of her computer and back up at the castle. At the paper from the computer, then back up at the castle. Yes, I think this is the place, she assured herself, like there were so many castles the taxi-driver could have mistaken it as.

The taxi came to a rest right outside of the castle gates and Val opened her door, stepping out lightly as she cooed and awed at the fortress's grande appearance. She scuttered around to the back of the cab, her wedge heels clattering against the gravel on the road as she did so. Her mother wanted her to dress up, making a good impression. It was probably because, for once in her life, Val was actually going somewhere where it was kind of a necessity to make herself decent, versus going to convenience stores and dollar movie-theatres with her grandmother and younger brother... and parents. God, she needed a life so bad. Out of the trunk, she grabbed her rolling suitcase and her laptop case, she toted a tiny white purse over her shoulder. She looked absolutely classy, if she had to say so herself, and had even traded in her red wide-rimmed glasses for some contacts, for the day of course... she couldn't stand to keep them in to long.

The gates opened as she approached them, and she pulled her clinky suitcase behind her. She froze as she noticed the other guests, inside the gates. "Hi!" She waved an awkward, but enthusiastic hand at them. She reached up to adjust her glasses, but cleared her throat in embarassment as she realized they weren't there. She itched her nose as if it had been on purpose. "Um," she mumbled. "So did everyone get an email too? I thought it was strange at first but hey... who could pass this up huh?!..."

Will stood over his bed, seeing all of his things backed. With a grin he grabbed it and bid goodbye to his dog and the dog sitter. Will hurried into his new viper with his grin turning into a smile. "Although I prefer Dodges a lot more, I am in kind of a hurry." He said, excusing himself. Putting the car in gear, it roared, sending a signal that something fancy was nearby. Will checked all of his things and thought through his head. He grabbed his shades, placing them on and turned up the radio.
After about eight songs he finally arrived at the entrance. "Good. It wasn't as far as I thought." Will said gladly, driving in. He saw a small crowd and smiled at them, parking his car. "Looks like I'm not the only one." Will opened his door, placing his shads above his forehead now. He grabbed his luggage and suitcases. He wore an under armor and a Patriots shirt on top of it. He dusted off his blue jeans and cracked his knuckles, carrying his luggage. His veins were very visible as he lifted the heavy load, stopping by the other guests. "So what's new? We allowed to go in?" Will questioned at the strangers.

The house watched and gazed as the people (finnally XD) arrived. As they began to reduce their distance to them, the evil spirits (although some were just hungry :3) shifted and watched, waiting for their fun to begin. All they had to do....is enter the house.... The first 3 quickly came, wondering how they could get in. The evil spirits definetly wanted them in. Notably, an odd storm seemed to drift out of nowhere (and if anyone could see all the way there, only around the property itself....O.o). As it began to rain heavily, a strong gust of wind "blew" the doors open, allowing the people to seek shelter inside, at least, shelter from the rain.

The spirits watched them with a paticular lust. Saddly, its no fun good spirits would probably try to stop them. However, they will not succeed. The spirits passed through the people, invisible to the naked eye, but they would still give a chill to anyone who they went through. How it was so much fun to play with new toys....too bad once this was over, they would all be broken.....

However, the spirits soon retracted from activity, as a man came through a door, and towards the group (which is now inside or outside, depending on who actually went inside). He took off his sunglasses and said "Welcome one, welcome all to the castle. I wasnt aware you would arive so soon. Excuse me for a moment, i need to find Presha" he told them, then running off somewhere.

Once she finished her...duties she came back downstairs and found Ryan looking for her, slightly frantic he seemed.
"I assume the guests have arrived? How lovely! I also assume you havnt greeted them since you are in here..." Quickly she motioned for him to follow as she passed through the door, her heels making a loud clack as she hopped off the steps. Her eyes roamed the faces of the poor souls who arrived and was sincerely glad she would have some sort of company besides the regular. With a beaming smile she spoke in a bell like voice, " Welcome dears! I understand that this must be quite the experience so I won't fill you with much information for now. My name is Presha and I will be your hostess!"

Dragana nodded, head turning slightly to face Val. "Yeah, I take it." He said, making a face. He turned to the house, and continued, too nervous to continue talking. It was just how he acted around other men, even if he seemed rude.

Feeling and seeing the rain, he made a face and took off at a jog to get into the house, taking his glasses once inside. He was about to say something when he felt something pass through him, and recognized it as a spirit, and one up to no good. "Just great." He mumbled, before being startled by someone else.

He eyed the man with sunglasses, who had come in after him. He assumed the others were after him, and he turned to face Presha, blinking slightly. Presha? Interesting name. (sorry if this is small. x.o)