Synopsis: Jack is brought up to the creepy Victorian mansion that overlooks their hometown in hopes of spotting the monster they think inhabits the place and takes care of it, in a coming-of-age ceremony, but find out that the stories are more than true. In their puppy games, Jack and Frankie have brought to light a recluse living a peaceful life in a mansion. But why he is a recluse is more strange than the stories about him.

Author's Note: Alright, I just thought of this story a little while ago and threw it together. Combining elements from other stories, this is what I've produced. A little fantasy story about two boys who bond with a strange fur and end up helping each other more than they could have ever thought by the end, despite their initial destructive game. This is truly a story that will grasp and hold the attention of every person who loves similar stories, books and movies. One other thing, because I'm terrible with names, so, if you can think of any better one, just tell me. Either way, enjoy and peace out.
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Chapter 1 (WIP Chapter): Games

“Come on, you pansy, keep up with us.” Frankie loudly whispers, his eyes glaring over his shoulder. “You’re not afraid, are you?”
“I’m not afraid of anything.” I reply, whispering angrily.
“He’s a pussy, Frankie; we should have left him at home.” James quickly says.
“Hey, Jim, shut the hell up.” Frankie replies, swinging his head around to look at his friend. “He’s my little brother. And you know we had to bring him along. My folks think we’re at your house.”
“Whatever.” James says, whispering, as he turns his head away from us.
The truth is that I am afraid. We’ve come all the way up Old Goat’s Hill to come see the most famous house in Bristol: Vampire Manor. Vampire Manor is an old Victorian-style mansion that sits on the top of the ridge overlooking the town. Having become run down over the years after its owner died, a man mysteriously bought the old place and moved in.
But the thing is that nobody saw him move in and nobody ever sees him around town. But at night the entire town can observe lights being lit throughout the house. The worst part is that not only did the house suddenly become restored in a matter of weeks, nearby neighbors saw figures walking against the lighted windows and through the dark yards in the dead of the dark.
People began to claim that their pets were going missing. They said they saw blood stains on the sidewalk leading into the house. They were even bold enough to state that they saw a black figure with a scythe standing on the roof of the house, silhouetted against the full moon. The only thing they could tell of it was that it wasn’t a normal fur.
We’ve come up here tonight because my big brother Frankie wants me to become a real alpha, a real dog and cease to be some sniveling puppy. He told me that if we can come up here and sneak a peek at the Vampire of Vampire Manor, and get away, then I’ll be a true alpha dog.
Crouching down, the three of us sneak along the boulevard where the only house is our target, the rest of the lots remaining unsold since the sixties and grown up with trees and underbrush. Hidden beyond the concrete base of the wrought iron fence, we lift our heads only to make sure we’ve not been spotted. James leads the way, the fat leopard having done this once before.
Frankie, the protective big brother, follows right behind, his one arm reaching back towards me to make sure I’m still here. Despite being a total reckless dumbass, Frankie always has a way of making sure I’m never hurt. I think it’s because Dad would probably kick his ass into the next county if something were to happen to Mommy’s Puppy. Those words send chills down my spine and out my tail.
Ahead the wrought iron fence stops and produces a high archway where two eight-foot-tall symmetrical fences rise into the air. They feature figures and letters that both intrigue and freak me out. But, the thing that we are going to the gate for is that one of them is cracked open. Apparently the Vampire doesn’t lock the only way into his compound. The black fence wraps around the entire yard, cutting off the outside world from his.
“The fence is right ahead. That’s where we’ll go in.” James tells us without looking towards us.
“Good.” Frankie replies. “Maybe we don’t have to spend so much time in here. Let’s just pop in, catch a peek at him, and slip out of here before we have our tails bit off.”
We all rise up and rush forward after James and Frankie lift their heads and look in every direction like a pair of lighthouses. Our shoes knocking against the sidewalk, we swing our arms as we quickly go to the gate. Upon reaching it, James steps back and Frankie steps forward to grab the iron. Rocking the gates to and fro, we suddenly find out that, despite it being cracked open, the gates are held in their position by a chain.
“Dammit.” Frankie says in a loud whisper as he loudly clangs the gate. “It looks like we’ll have to squeeze between the two gates if we want to get in.”
“You’re kidding me?” James says with his arms out at his side. “There’s no way I’ll fit through there. This looks like this is as far as I’m going.”
Frankie steps back and looks to both James and I before nodding his head and sighing audibly. Rubbing the pads of his paws together, he continues nodding his head like a moron as he usually does when he is thinking. Looking up and down the gate, he steps forward and then thrusts his arm through the opening.
“That’s fine.” He then says as he begins to push himself through the gate. “I think I can fit through. And if I can, so can Jack.”
“Aw, come on, Frankie. Let’s just go home before the police show up.” I say to Frankie, rocking my head back and forth.
He looks to me, his body halfway through the gate and smiles that sly smile he makes when he’s about to taunt me. His eyes turn into slits and his ears dance about on top of his head. Behind him, I can see his tail swishing about in the dark. Ceasing to move, he rolls his head to one side and chuckles.
“God, you’ll always be that momma’s boy you always were, won’t you Jacky?” Frankie mocks me.
“No, I won’t, Frankie. I’m just the one dog in this family who has a brain behind his eyes.” I quickly retort, louder than I thought.
James quickly shushes me and then looks around, his fat face swinging about as he scans up and down the street. Not that anybody is there to here us, but, just in case a car could have been coming up the street. Then he looks back to me and sneers.
“Just shut your muzzle and hurry this up. The more time we spend out here is the more chances that we have to be discovered. And I really don’t want to explain to Officer Regal why we’re out here.” James says.
“Fine, fine, we’ll get moving.” Frankie responds. “Come on, let’s go.”
Turning his head to the side, he pushes himself through the gate, sucking in his gut to do so. When he pushes through entirely, almost tumbling onto the concrete pathway cutting the Victorian lawn in half and leading to the double front door of the house, the gate rattles loudly as it bounces back into place. Standing up, dusting off his clothes, he looks to me and cocks his head.
“Come on, it’s your turn.” Frankie says to me, happily.
I grumble, but go forward as commanded. Holding my arms up, I thrust my right hand in between the two gates and then begin to squeeze through. With my jeans and shoe on my paw stepping through, I suck in my gut as I feel the iron begin to press against my body.
Halfway through, the gate feels like it is tightening on me and some sharp ends of iron bars presses into my jeans jacket. The points press into my fur, causing some discomfort. I feel as if they will soon tear through my clothes like razors. That would be great, having to explain to my parents why my clothes are ripped up. Oh, yeah, we were trespassing and breaking and entering, just great.
Grunting and groaning, I bite my lower lip and then push through entirely. Tumbling out onto the other side, I catch myself and then look back to the gate as I sigh with relief. Frankie chuckles and pats me on the shoulder, making me look to him and smile dumbly in return. Motioning his head in the other direction, he turns and begins to walk that way.
“Come on, stick close.” Frank commands.
Standing up after taking a short rest against my thighs, I stride after him and soon find myself hugging against him, wishing that I was brave enough to do so. We’ve entered the strange yard of the Vampire, yet it seems so normal. It is cut, clipped close to the ground. And a small bed of flowers wraps around the base of the building, with beautiful pink flowers and red rose bushes growing juxtaposed against the white marble of the house.
Raising my eyes upwards, I suddenly realize how close to the haunted mansion I actually am. The three-story building towers above me, with intimidating towers, red and blue stained glass with terrifying pictures of grotesque Bible scenes and a dirty white marble covered with climbing vines. It seems like it jumped straight out of a classic B-movie horror flick.
Crouching down again, Frankie and I quickly cross the lawn to the large window that is closest to the front door. We pass by a large fountain gently trickling water from a cupid mounted on top of it. It catches my eye for a few seconds, but, I don’t stop to admire it. My brother would kick my ass if I were to stop to look at it.
Stepping over the small brick liners that separate the walkways from the grass, we cross a small stone path that runs around the side of the house. Then we kneel down in the flower bed just under where a window looks in onto the first floor. My brother puts his back against the stone and then looks to me. I step right beside him, my eyes focusing on my paws.
I try not to crush any of the flowers and roses that grow in the freshly mulched bed. My brother obviously sees this and begins to cluck his tongue against the roof of his mouth. Then he laughs and shakes his head.
“Boy, you are the dumbest dog on the block.” Frankie mocks me. “Now get over here before morning comes.”
“Yes.” I reply unenthusiastically.
Kneeling down directly beside him, I place my fingers up onto the marble wall just below the window. Frankie turns and does the same and we look up into the darkness of the house. Through the dusty window panes I can clearly see the ceiling of the room inside, as well as some dated striped wall paper decorated with wall sconces.
“It looks like a parlor room.” I say without thinking.
“Only you would know that, you faggot.” Frankie says.
I sneer at him, but, it doesn’t do anything. He just smiles like a dick and then looks back into the house. Standing up slowly, he looks into the house and smiles a bit wider. As he stares through the window, I look away and then copy him. As I stand upwards, I look through the glass and to the creepy room inside.
Two large couches cover a central rug, turned towards a large television that looks like it’s from the eighties. Two corner fixtures hold China while on the other side of a room, a buffet displays more glassware and silver. And all of this is shown to us by a blue light that flows through the two windows looking out onto the lawn.
“God forbid. This house looks like some stereotypical haunted house.” Frankie says and then turns to me. “Isn’t it great?”
“Not really, Frankie. Let’s go home, this is stupid.” I quickly reply.
“No, you dumbass, not until we see the Vampire.” Frankie snaps.
Frankie turns and looks back in through the window. Standing entirely up, he almost presses his nose against the glass, in hopes of seeing the resident of this home. But no matter how hard he gazes inside, it won’t help him see something that isn’t there. As if concentrating hard will help him see through walls, anyways.
Sighing, he leans back and then stands akimbo while he thinks. I stand up as well and look to him, wondering exactly what he has planned. Thrusting my hands into my jeans jacket pockets, I wait for his next move. I hope that he’ll decide just to give this charade up, but, I know Frankie. Though he’s twenty-one, he still doesn’t give up on stupid, childish things like this until he succeeds or gets hurt.
Frankie smiles and then snaps his fingers in front of his body. Stepping forward, he suddenly grabs the frame of the window and begins to lurch it upwards. I pull my hands from my jacket and look to him with surprise.
“What are you doing?” I demand of him.
Swinging my head around, I scan over the yard, fearing that somebody may show up. When I see no figures moving about the moonlight bathed lawn, I look back to my stupid, half-drunken brother and see that he has no intention of giving up this stupid course of action.
“If he won’t come to us . . .” Frankie grunts, “. . . then we’ll come to him.”
I stand beside him and look into the window, just knowing that somebody is going to show up at any moment. As he grunts and exerts himself to break the lock holding down the window, I focus my eyes on our shadows, cast upon the Persian carpet thrown upon the floor.
“Frankie.” I say as I watch our shadows move about. “This isn’t a good idea.”
“Shut up.” Frankie replies. “I’ll . . . I’ll have the window loose in a moment.”
Suddenly I begin to see something black moving about on the floor, right between our shadows. And I know that it’s not either of our shadows because it seems to rise up above us. The black, ghastly figure rises up between us and quickly begins to take the shape of a fur. A shadow covers my shoulders and against the floor, I see something sticking up, protruding away from the trio of shadows. It looks like a gun.
“Frankie!” I say loudly.
“What?” Frankie says, letting go of the window.
He swings his head around and looks to me and I gently look back. His angry eyes gaze towards me but then loosen up when he begins to notice what I’ve been watching all along. Turning my head towards him, we meet eyes and then begin to look in the same direction: behind us.
As my eyes turn to meet what foe has come to harm us, we see that the person we’ve been looking for all along has been watching us the entire time. Behind us stands a tall figure wearing a full suit. A wide-brimmed fedora covers his head and a tail swings behind him like a ghastly black appendage.
Clutched in his hands is a pump-action shotgun. But that isn’t what I notice about him, it isn’t what I fear. Hanging just below the brim of the hat covering his head are two slits of pure red evilness. Eyes that glow like the flames of hell and colored about the same stare down at us, casting the hatred of the mind hiding behind it directly into our hearts. In my chest, my heart lurches forward and both Frankie and I gasp for breath.
“What are you doing here, who are you?” He demands angrily.
“Run!” Frankie suddenly yells.
Before I can react, Frankie pushes past me and knocks me into the flowerbed. Tromping past me, he almost crushes my muzzle in his frantic flight towards the front gate. Rolling immediately onto my back, I begin to kick and claw away from the monster that hovers above me.
“Aw, look what you’ve done!” He cries out at me.
Almost in tears, I scream and then roll up onto my hands and knees. I push up and dart towards the front gate the fastest that my legs can possibly carry me. Crossing the stone walkway, I look over my shoulder and see that the figure turns towards me, the gun still in his hands. In the moonlight, the silver shotgun shimmers and summons within me the fear of dying.
With my eyes posted on our pursuer, I don’t notice the brick divider and one of them catches my paw. Stumbling forward, I throw my arms up over my head and try to catch myself. I turn my head around and look ahead and for anything that I can use to break my fall. Immediately I see the tall, marble fountain or bird bath.
Without thinking I reach out and grab it. My weight pulls me downwards and I slide around the side of the trickling fountain because of the momentum still in my body. My claws dig into the stone and I find myself pulling it down with me. As soon as I hit the ground, I roll away from the collapsing stone fixture and then focus on getting away.
As I dig my paws into the grass, the stone fountain crashes down onto the ground and smashes into pieces. This catches my attention, but, doesn’t keep me from continuing my flight towards freedom. I push off of the ground like a sprinter and follow my brother, who is already halfway through the gate. His clothes are caught up in sharp, unsmoothed edges of the metal bars.
“Push through, push through!” I yell at him.
Frankie successfully frees himself as I near the gate. Grabbing the metal, I swing around the open side of the gate and begin to slip through the opening. Quickly I find myself caught, but continue to push with all my might in hopes of getting through. Looking back towards the house, I see the Vampire coming towards me.
He knows I’m stuck here and I’m sure that’s what he wanted! He’s trapped me with my own stupidity! Holding the shotgun with only one hand, he approaches me in a quick walk. His eyes glare at me angrily, drilling into my very soul like daggers. I scream and push and pull myself.
“Frankie!” I cry out in fear. “Frankie, help me!”
Suddenly I feel hands upon my shoulder and turn to see my brother and James come to help me. They pull at my jacket and try with all their might to free me. My brother seems to be the one most frantic. If he goes home without me, Dad will skin him and throw his fur before the fireplace. He pulls at the sleeve of my jacket and soon I hear it begin to tear.
“My jacket is ripping, Frankie!” I holler.
“Slip out of it! It’s what’s hung you up!” James commands.
I do as I’m told and pull my right arm up into the body. Looking back, I see the Vampire almost upon me. He reaches out with his free hand and grabs at me. But, thankfully, I squeeze in-between the bars and then roll out of my jacket. With my left arm slipping right out of the jacket, I begin to barrel up the street.
James and Frankie are right behind me, running at full speed to get away from that house and back to the truck. Closing my eyes, I run at full force until I can’t breathe anymore. Then, slowing down, I reopen them and begin to gasp for breath. Looking over my shoulder halfway down the street, as we all begin to slow our pace, I see that my jacket is in the gate.
Frankie and James come up right beside me and we all stop running, almost at the end of the street where Frankie parked his Dakota. All of us panting and gasping for breath, Frankie slaps me in the back and then smiles when I look to him. We all have seen the Vampire, that’s true. But, that was a little too close for me.
“Now you’re a real dog.” Frankie says.
“Yeah, too bad you almost lost your tail back there, kid.” James says.
They walk ahead of me as I stop entirely. Watching them go with a straight face, I look to the right and then turn my head to look over my shoulder. Looking the entire way back up the street, I see my jacket still tangled up in the wrought iron gate. Then I suddenly see it disappear onto the other side. Swallowing hard, I turn and begin to follow my brother and his friend. I just wanna go home before we get in deep trouble. I hate Frank’s games.