A man, tall, dark and mysterious walked through the halls of the large empty mansion. He had long dark hair that he let grow wild and crazy. It always looked unkempt. He had a shaggy beard that was also dark. He wore a black cloak and a big black hat with black boots, black pants and a black shirt with a black vest. He also had all sorts of weaponry. He carried a large crossbow and a lot of hidden daggers. He moved silently. More so then any man, huge and muscular as he, could move. He was the hunter. Or at least, he was supposed to be.
He felt eyes always watching him in this huge building. It was supposed to be empty, but there had been rumors that children had never been seen again once they came near this house. People could here screams coming from inside the house on some nights. There had been shadows of people seen through the windows during the day. That was why he was here. That was why he had been sent to this place. He was to find who was causing all this chaos and why. He was the hunter. He had been there all morning and hadn't seen anything, although he had only been through half the ground floor. He still had the two upstairs floors to go through, and the basement. There was also a cellar out back and a huge cemetery behind the cellar. It was going to be a long night. He had left most of his gear on the front porch so that if needed, he could just go back and get it. The lights in the house worked so he wouldn't need his flashlight, even though he could fight just as well in the dark.
A few more steps would bring him to the front parlor, where he had first entered the house. Across from the front door, there was a giant stair case leading to the second floor. He couldn't tell where the staircase for the top floor was, but that didn't really concern him right now. He had to finish the ground floor first.
He stopped to think for a minute. The towns people had said that this used to be owned by a very wealthy family. They had had two children. One had been a small boy, and the other was his older sister. There had been the mother and father of the children who lived here as well. He was told that the parents used to beat their children whenever they were home. The children had never said anything, but it showed. The mother had had an affair with another man, and once her husband found out about it, had taken the man to their basement, tortured and killed him, then fed him to his wife and kids without telling them what they were eating. The husband had instantly acquired the taste for human flesh and not long after, random people from the town had begun to disappear.
The house was quiet, though from the moment he stepped onto the property, the hunter knew he was being watched. He could never tell if whatever was watching him was good or not and he couldn't tell how powerful it was. He would have to wait. He walked throughout the rest of the ground floor before going back to the front double doors. He was trying to decide if he should take the basement and cellar first, or go upstairs.
"The Hunter" is what everyone calls him. His real name was Neo. Neo walked over to the large staircase that led to the upper levels of the house and began to walk up them. At the top, there were two large red double doors. They probably led into the ballroom or another room for big gatherings. He pushed them, trying to get them to open, but they seemed locked or barricaded from the inside. He raised an eyebrow then looked to the right and then to the left as he tried to figure which way to go first. He decided to go right. He turned and began to walk down the long hallway.
A gust of wind blew past him, like some one was running through the hall way. He turned but couldn't see anything. His eyes narrowed and he brought up his crossbow as he reached the first door. He reached down for the handle and turned it quietly. It was locked as well.
"Are all the doors up here locked?" he muttered to himself. He continued through the right side of the upper half of the house and couldn't open any of the doors without busting them down. He sighed as he headed back towards the left side. The doors were in similar condition.
As he checked the last door, he cursed silently. He headed back to the staircase and froze. The front door was open. He had sworn he had shut it and that it had been shut the whole time until now. He walked down the stairs slowly and as quietly as he could, holding his crossbow ready. He moved to the door and looked out to see if it had been the wind. There was no wind that day. He turned around and stepped back inside, closing the door behind him.
Something crashed from where the kitchen was on his left. A woman cursing followed by a man laughing could be heard coming from that direction. He moved slowly towards the kitchen and peered into the room, hiding behind the door way so that whatever was in there wouldn't be able to see him. A man, probably in his early 20's was leaning on the counter, roaring with laughter. He had shaggy brown hair. Neo couldn't see his eyes, since he man had his head down and his eyes were most likely closed. He was tan, and big built.
"It's not funny!" a woman's voice said angrily from behind the counter that stood in the center of the room. The man just kept laughing. Neo stepped into the room. The man stood up suddenly and stopped laughing.
"What's wrong?" the woman's voice asked. The man moved his hand, motioning for her to be cautious and stand up. A woman came up from behind the counter. She looked like she was in her late teens or early 20's. Her long black hair fell over her shoulders and past the top of the counter. Big, bright blue eyes stared at Neo from behind the dark hair. She was tan, like the man, but slender looking. Neo new that these two were probably the ones who had left the door open.
"Who are you?" the man asked quickly.
"I should be asking you the same question." Neo replied calmly. The woman looked between Neo and the man. She walked around the counter, and stood on the opposite side that the man she was with was on.
"I'm Adie, and this is Zac." The woman said. "Who are you?" she asked.
"I am Neo. What are you two doing here?" Neo asked.
"Well, we're here for the night. Why are you here?" Zac said sharply. Adie shot him a look and he shot her one back.
"I am here for the night also. Or until I rid this house and town of whatever is in here." Neo said.
"Yeah, good luck with that!" Zac said with a chuckle.
"Why are you guys staying here for the night? You'll get in my way." Neo replied. Adie shook her head.
"Nah…We'll stay out of your way. We promise. We can help you if you want. I hear the entities are more likely to come when there's a woman or girl around." She said with a smile.
"Don't get a big head Adie." Zac said rolling his eyes. "You aren't that attractive." She made a weird face and walked over to one of the cabinet drawers. She opened it and pulled out a long wooden spoon. She twirled around and chucked it at Zac, hitting him in the shoulder.
"Ah ha-ha! That's what you get!" she said with a grin. "I hate guys…" she muttered.
"What was that for?!" Zac yelled. Adie stuck her tongue out at him, then glanced out the window behind him and screamed, jumping back a little.
"What?" Zac asked. He turned around and looked out the window but could only see the yard and could tell it was getting dark rather quickly.
"There was someone out the window! Do you know how far we are from anyone? No one in this town goes around looking through random windows! Especially at this house. Besides, the man was dead." She said.
"How do you know?" Zac asked, watching Neo walk towards the window cautiously.
"He had no eyes." She said, not taking her eyes from the window.
"We should find somewhere to keep our stuff and hang out at." Neo said as he walked towards the door of the kitchen that led to the hallway.
"It'll half to be on this floor or in the basement or cellar. All the upstairs rooms are locked. Come on. We can use the study." He added as he walked down the hall, followed closely by Adie and Zac.
They went to the front door and grabbed Neo's equipment then headed to the study. The study was a normal sized room. A bookcase filled with books about almost everything stood on one wall. The other wall had a huge stone fireplace. There was unused wood sitting in it. A mirror hung above the mantle piece. An old fashioned lamp sat on a round wooden table that was in the center of the room. The table had three chairs around it. Open books were scattered across the table. Everything in this room was dusty.
Neo set his bag on the floor and went to dust off the chairs and table. Zac and Adie went to opposite sides of the room; Zac going to check out the book case and Adie going to the fire place. Adie studied the cold stones, running her hand over the top of the mantle piece. She rubbed some dust off of the mirror with her sleeve and stared at her reflection. She jumped for a second, not recognizing the woman who was supposed to be her reflection, but soon realized it was her, but she looked older. She stood up on her tip-toes so she could get closer to inspect the mirror more closely and felt herself falling forward towards the mirror as if being drawn into it. Her foot slipped and she seemed to come back into the room. She looked around and saw Neo sitting at the table, trying to read the dusty old books, while Zac picked random books from the shelf to read, but only if they seemed interesting to him.
Adie walked over to the window and peered out. It was dark outside and she could hardly see anything. It didn't seem like a normal darkness, since it never grew this dark in the town. She got a strange feeling that someone was watching her. She turned around but Neo had his nose in a book and so did Zac. The feeling was an unsettling one.