A/N: Thank you for all your reviews. I'm really glad the first part worked and you liked it. I've never written anything like this before, so I hope I manage to make it suitably frightening and atmospheric (I know Witness was freaky, but this is going to be completely different!).

Onwards.

xxxx

"Howard, are we nearly there?"

Howard groaned. Vince had been asking the same question over and over again for the last half hour, and if he didn't have his driving to concentrate on he probably would have strangled him by now. Staring ahead he noticed the clouds rolling dark and ominous across the sky, purple and grey and about to unleash their fury at any moment. The trees either side of the road were swaying in the wind, leaves dropping off their branches and spinning their way to the ground. Truth be told, Howard and no idea how much longer they would be travelling for. The directions they'd been given to some obscure club way outside of London seemed to be sending them on a wild goose-chase, and Howard was beginning to suspect that the whole thing had been a mega wind-up. Whatever it was, though, it wasn't funny.

"Howard?"

Howard snapped his head round to look at his friend. "No, Vince!"

Vince blinked at him before sinking down in his seat. "All right, don't get your knickers in a twist, I was only asking."

"Yes, but you've asked the same question about a million times. I'm sorry, Vince, but I haven't a clue where we are. These directions are all over the place - It's like we're going in circles."

The clouds broke then, and rain fell down in a torrent, flooding the windscreen and impairing Howard's visibility. He snapped on the wipers and took his foot off the pedal slightly; the last thing he wanted was for them to go skidding across the road and into a ditch.

"Do you think we've been had?" Vince asked dejectedly, looking out the window across the empty fields.

Howard sighed. "Yeah, I think so, little man." Then, to make his bad day even worse, the van suddenly started to splutter, and Howard was forced to pull over just as the engine died completely. Howard slammed his hands against the steering wheel. "Oh, well that's just brilliant, isn't it." He unclipped his seat-belt and reached round behind him to grab his torch from the back seat.

"Howard?"

"What?" he replied, a little harshly.

"Can I do anything to help?" Vince's voice, although concerned, was mostly calm, and it helped Howard to focus.

"Yeah, um, you can sit in my seat and start the engine when I tell you too, but don't touch anything until then." Howard popped the bonnet and opened his door, climbing out into the rain.

Vince sighed and slid over into Howard's seat. After a truly awful day of endless driving and stupid arguments fuelled by tiredness and frustration, Vince was afraid the van breaking down would send Howard into meltdown, and the last thing Vince wanted was to have a huge bust up with him. They'd been having too many of those lately, and as much as he sniped and bitched, especially when he was in defensive mode, Vince was starting to become tired of it, secretly wishing things could go back to how they'd once been. He wound the window down and called out, not wanting to lean out and get his hair wet, laughing quietly in despair at himself as he realised how shallow that was.

Howard didn't respond to him at first, his head stuck under the bonnet as he shone his torch over the innards of the van, hissing as he burnt his hand on the engine. He knew the basics of car maintenance, but he couldn't for the life of him work out what was wrong and not only that, he couldn't even see that anything was wrong. He fiddled with a few wires, then leant round and shouted to Vince. "Vince! Turn the key!" The engine spluttered, groaning horribly. Howard cursed, slammed the bonnet down and walked round to the side of the van, leaning against the door. Vince stopped turning the key and looked at him expectantly.

"Can you fix it?"

Howard stared at him irritably, rain pouring down his face and soaking his clothes, hair flat against his head. "No, Vince, I can't. Shift over." He opened the door and slid in, banging it shut after him and rubbing his hands over his wet face. "Can you reach into the glove-box and pass me my breakdown card, please?" Howard pulled his phone out of his pocket, and then sat back in his seat, closing his eyes.

Vince, who now had the card in his hand, leant over and placed a hand on Howard's shoulder. "Howard?"

Howard swallowed heavily. "No signal."

Vince took out his own mobile phone, and looked at the screen; 'Emergency calls only' was written across the display. "We could ring nine-nine-nine."

Howard opened his eyes and blinked at him incredulously. "Don't be stupid. Why would they come out for a broken down van when they have actual emergencies to attend to? You know, like murders and accidents and robberies. I don't think they'd be too concerned about the fact that you have nowhere to plug in your straighteners."

Ouch.

Vince removed his hand from Howard's shoulder and hung his head, his hands wringing in his lap. "I was only trying to help," he whispered, sounding on the verge of tears.

Howard, shocked at the emotion in Vince's voice as much as he was by the lack of a comeback, turned to face him, his eyes full of guilt. "I'm sorry, Vince, that was uncalled for."

Vince shrugged, still not looking up. "S'ok."

"No, it's not." Howard took Vince's chin in his hand and tilted his head up so he could look at him. "I'm sorry," he said again, his voice full of sincerity.

Vince offered him a small smile in return, which was quickly replaced with a frown as Howard shivered. "You should get in the back and get changed before you catch a cold."

Howard was about to agree that that was a good idea, when something caught his eye. "Vince, is that a house over there?"

Vince peered out of the window, the rain blurring his view slightly, and saw, partially hidden behind some trees, the house Howard had spotted. "Yeah! Hey, Howard, do you think they'll let us use their phone?"

"Only one way to find out, little man," Howard grinned, moving to open the door. "Wait here."

"What? Why?"

"I just thought you might not want to get wet."

That was true. Vince didn't want to get wet, but he didn't think it was fair that Howard was already soaked and willing to go back out there while he just sat there. Plus, he didn't want to be left alone on this, quite frankly, creepy country road. He told Howard as much, and so they left the van together, Vince gasping as the icy rain hit his skin and stung his eyes. Grabbing his torch, Howard locked the van, and they made their way across the quiet road and climbed over a wall into a muddy field. Vince looked around him warily as they walked, clutching onto Howard's arm as they neared the trees.

"I hate woods; they're scary."

"It's not really a wood, Vince, is it?"

"It's dark, so it's bad enough," he replied, raising a hand to his face and pushing his dripping hair away from it.

They sped up their pace, at Vince's insistence, mud splashing up their legs and leaves falling from above and catching in their hair. Finally, they cleared the trees, and what stood before them made them stop and gasp. The house wasn't just a house, but a large manor, all grey stone and gothic looking and very imposing.

"Wow. It looks like a film set."

They walked towards the door, Vince feeling a little better as he was swept up in the grandeur of the place, which was captivating even through the terrible weather.

"Howard?"

"Hmm?"

"I don't think anyone's in – there's no lights on."

"Maybe they're asleep."

Vince gave him a funny look. "It's only just gone nine. Maybe they're out."

"God, I hope not." Howard shivered and reached out to grab the large knocker on the front door, but as he banged it down, the door creaked open. Howard jumped back, expecting someone to be behind it; but no one showed. Taking the lead, he pushed the door open and slowly stepped inside. "Hello?"

Vince, who was still holding onto Howard's arm, looked around him warily, a feeling passing through him that he didn't at all like. "Howard?"

"Yeah, Vince?"

"I don't think anyone lives here."

"What makes you say that?"

Vince gestured around them, and Howard eyes widened slightly as he took in the entrance hall. It was rather grand, with a staircase and a patterned stone floor, an old wooden seat covered in red velvet and a tall, intricately carved cupboard. Paintings in gilt frames hung on the walls, mostly showing landscapes and flowers, and a small, ornate looking table held a vase of roses – except, they were all shrivelled and very clearly dead, and everything Howard had laid his eyes on was covered in dust and cobwebs. Spying a light switch on the wall, he flicked it, not surprised when nothing happened.

"I don't like it."

Howard turned to Vince and smiled comfortingly at him. "Hey, little man, it's all right. It might just belong to someone very... messy." He didn't sound convinced. "Let's have a look round, see what we can find."

Either side of the hall, and right at the end of it, were doors leading into different parts of the house. Howard opened the nearest one and popped his head round it, his eyes adjusting so he could make out a couple of sofas, a coffee table, and a bookcase. Lots of bookcases, holding lots of books, all looking like they could do with a good clean. Howard shut the door.

"I think I found the library."

"And?"

"Pretty much the same state as out here."

They checked out the rest of the manor, Vince becoming more and more freaked out as the house quickly began to look like it had been abandoned in a hurry; toys were strewn across a play-room they came across, and plates were laid out on the dining room table with the remains of rotting food stuck to the once colourful china. A few broken bits of furniture were scattered about, and Vince had noticed an upturned desk with what looked like scratches underneath it. Scratches, he was certain, that were made by human nails.

"Howard, can we go back to the van?"

Even as Vince asked that, a plan was forming in Howard's head. "Listen – this house is empty, right? So wouldn't it be more sensible to spend the night here than in the van? Then in the morning we can go and find help. There must be a village nearby somewhere."

Vince shook his head, eyes to the floor. "I'd rather not. This place isn't right."

"Vince," Howard started, gently, "I know it doesn't look good, but if anything did happen here, it was obviously quite a long time ago. I've got some provisions in the van that I can bring back here, stuff to light a fire with. We'll be warm here, and I know you'd rather that than freeze in the van, eh? Come on, I'm not going to let anything happen to you, am I?" He put an arm around Vince's shoulders and gave him a comforting squeeze, leading him over to an old sofa that was sat in the middle of the living room they were currently in. He sat Vince down, then straightened and said, "stay there. I won't be long, and when I come back we can get changed and get ourselves warmed up."

"You're leaving me on my own?!"

"It won't be for long, I promise. I'll run, if need be. Look, we haven't got much of a choice. You'll be fine, all right? You've got music on your phone – why don't you play that; It'll make you feel better."

Vince stared up at Howard pleadingly, but he knew it was no use. Howard was right, of course, and was only doing what was best for them. He let him go, then huddled up on the sofa, shivering and listening out for the slightest noise which could possibly pose a threat to his safety. After a few minutes, he decided to take Howard's advice and turn on the music player on his phone. Scrolling through his playlist, he selected 'Together in Electric Dreams', and let the music wash over him as he trembled from the cold. He wished they'd just stayed at home. Neither of them had been particularly enthusiastic about the gig, but they'd both realised that the money would come in handy and had grudgingly thrown together some songs and set off. Vince ran a hand through his damp, tangled hair; he wanted to cry. He was cold, miserable, wet, scared, and a part of him was panicking that Howard wasn't going to be coming back. Of course, his fear was unfounded, because ten minutes later Howard reappeared, clutching their overnight bags and dripping water all over the floor, frightening the life out of Vince by walking through the doorway at the exact same moment a flash of lightning bolted across the sky, which lit him up eerily and made him look like a ghost.

"Woah there, little man – it's just me."

They both changed quickly, rummaging though their bags and putting on almost every item of clothing they'd packed in an effort to warm up. Howard then moved across the room and picked up a wooden chair.

"What are you doing?"

"We need wood for the fire. I'm going to have to break this up." He did it swiftly, the noise making Vince wince slightly, then he grabbed some matches from his bag and his latest copy of The Global Explorer, and took them over to the fireplace, crouching down and laying his torch, which was tucked under his arm, on the floor in front of him so he could see what he was doing as he cleared out the grate before placing the wood in it. Then he reached for his magazine. Vince noticed what he was about to do and stopped him before he had the chance.

"Wait!"

Howard turned to face him. "What?"

Vince grabbed his copy of NME and sat down next to him. "Here, use this – I've read it."

"But you never get rid of your NME magazines," Howard said, looking at Vince as if he'd been switched with someone else.

"I know, but you haven't had a chance to read yours yet, so you shouldn't have to burn it." Vince started tearing up the pages of his magazine and throwing them on top of the wood before Howard could begin to protest.

Secretly, though, Howard was touched. With everything that had gone on recently, this was the last thing he expected Vince to do. He smiled. "Thanks, Vince."

Vince returned it happily. "No problem."

After a couple of false starts, Howard finally got the fire to light, and they both sat there watching as the flames took hold of the paper, the edges curling and burning away, the wood smouldering and slowly catching alight.

The rain continued to pour, crashes of thunder joining in with the lightning and shaking the earth.

In the trees behind the house, something moved.