The Witching Hour

"Alright, girls." Yuka stated seriously as she got down to business. "Time to get going." She reached into her bag and pulled out four glowsticks and four magnetic flashlights and passed them out to her friends. "See, Kagome, I came prepared. So there's nothing to worry about."

Kagome forced a tight smile as she cracked her glowstick and strung it around her neck, then shook the small flashlight to charge it and checked the beam. It was surprisingly bright for such a small flashlight, and there was comfort in the thought that she wouldn't have to worry about dying batteries thanks to the marvels of technology.

Yuka waited impatiently for her friends to don their beacons of glowing, green light and to test out their little flashlights. When she was convinced that enough time had been wasted, she turned towards the woods and urged the girls into the tangled branches of the trees.

"Come on guys!" she called. "This is going to be the best Halloween ever!"

Eri and Ayumi squealed with glee as the started after Yuka into the darkness of the forest, the steady beams of their flashlights being swallows up by the deep shadows ahead. For a moment, Kagome watched after them. Everything she knew about demons and dark spirits was telling her that this was not only the worst plan for a Halloween excursion ever, but also the most dangerous. However, she wasn't about to let her friends walk into such dangers alone and with no form of defense, so she took a steadying grip on the bow slung over her shoulder, then began walking towards her friends.

Once in the forest, the darkness took over; it was thick, almost of substance, and the deep shadows shifted dangerously every time a gust of howling wind ripped through the bare branches of the gnarled old trees, lifting deadened leaves to dance in an eerie spin of chaotic turbulence. All around them there was stillness. No creature moved in this dark place, no life dared to tread upon this haunted ground. Only the darkness lived here, darkness deep and corrupt and filled with anger and hatred. It subverted everything that it touched, twisting the trees into foreboding sentinels, running on the howling winds to chill the blood cold, and slinking through the shadows to stalk its prey.

The feeling of warning touched all of the girls as they made their way through the dark brush. Even Yuka felt the strong, cold shiver working its way up her spine, but this was what she had come here to find and she would not be deterred.

"They say this place is haunted," Yuka began the chilling tale. "They say that there was once a great palace on these grounds, and that a great Lord lived there. But one night, on a night darker than this, evil found refuge within a tortured soul, lashing out at the great Lord and bringing the darkness in upon him. A brutal betrayal, a night stained with blood; the great Lord was left to his death. But the story says that the Lord did not pass into the afterlife as he should have. They say that his spirit still wanders these woods. They say that he searches still for the one that betrayed him, that he seeks out retribution for such heinous acts committed against him. And they say, that on dark nights such as this, from the stillness of the forest, can be heard the haunting cries of the Lord's suffering. He howls out his anguish for the pain of the betrayal."

- AAWWOOOOOOOOOOOOO -

The bone-chilling howl echoed through the dark wood all around the girls. Eri screamed in fright and latched onto Ayumi who was staring wide-eyed and frightful into the shadows cast by the trees. Kagome too was searching out the shadows, but not just with her eyes. She had stretched out her miko senses, searching the darkness for the presence of evil or the dark aura of a demon.

Yuka laughed gleefully at the looks of terror on her friend's faces…well, except for Kagome whose face and stance were hardened inexplicably and whose hand was clutching the bow on her shoulder with a death-grip. Still, this was exactly what she had planned for. She wanted to give her friends a good scare in honor of All Hallow's Eve, and so far so good.

"Come on guys," Yuka urged once her laughter had been reined in. "It's not far now."

Eri and Ayumi exchanged nervous glances at each other, then untangled themselves and started off after Yuka. Kagome spared one last cautionary look into the deep shadows of the woods, before she followed her friends deeper into the forest.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"This is it!" Yuka cried with delight. "It's just up ahead! Come on, come on!"

Yuka broke into a run, and her friends followed quickly not wanting to be left behind in the dark woods. They ran for a short while, but soon the group of girls burst into a vast clearing and came to a skidding stop.

In front of them stood a massive estate. Its ancient stone foundations and arches had eroded over the years to become nothing but worn and crumbling remains held together by creeping vines which wormed their way through the porous structures.

The building was of unusual design for its age. The sculpted, flowing arcs and simple lines suggested of a feudal period mansion, but the use of stone and heavy beams instead of light woodwork and paper screens gave the building a hardened look. There was also a second story to the structure. Above the grand entrance whose doors had been long eroded by time and which stood as a great maw, dark and forbidding, rested a balcony carved of white marble seen only in patches not consumed by the heavy vines.

In its prime, this building would have been magnificent. The crumbling remains belittled the greatness that had once stood here, but served as a clear warning that there was a reason such a structure had gone so long forgotten.

"Isn't it great!" Yuka squealed in her excitement. "I just knew this place would be perfect!"

"Yuka," Kagome finally had to voice her warning. "There's something dark about this place. We shouldn't go in there."

"Well of course it's dark!" Yuka snapped back at her. "It's nighttime, Kagome! Quit being such a baby and lets…"

"AAAAHHHHH!!!!"

Eri's shrill scream startled Kagome, and when she turned to see her friend, she found she didn't have to look very far because Eri had lumped the short distance between them and latched onto her.

"What is it Eri?" Kagome asked anxiously.

"O…Over….there!" Eri stuttered as she lifted the beam of her flashlight to shine into the bushes at the edge of the clearing. "AHHHH!! There, THERE! Do you see it?"

The light reflected back off of a dark surface which glinted in the darkness. Kagome raised her flashlight too for more illuminations, and with the combined beams, began to get a better look at what lay concealed. The dark surface had been that of a dark claw set in a massive paw of striking white.

"Oh, you scaredy cat!" Yuka admonished as she strolled over to the bushes and cleared some away. "It's just some stupid statue!"

Yuka was right. The dark claws were just polished marble set at the base of a grand statue. The carved figure rose higher than Yuka's head as she stood beside it, but would have been larger if it were not missing a prominent feature: its head.

"I…I don't like this place," Ayumi stuttered fearfully.

"What?" Yuka asked. "You're going to let some silly statue freak you out? It's just one of those lions or dragons or something meant to stand as a giant, useless guard-dog. I thought you had more guts than this Ayumi."

"Yuka! That's enough." Kagome was beginning to become quite annoyed with Yuka's continual dismissal of all their warnings of danger. "You can't be hard on Ayumi for this one. That 'watch-dog' as you put it, was put there for a reason, and she has every right to fear what those reason could be. This place is bad news and we shouldn't be here!"

"What's wrong with you, Kagome?!" Yuka finally snapped. "You were always the one who would talk endlessly about ghosts and demons and monsters, you were always the one who dreamed what it would be like if they existed, you were always the lead player in our games! What happened to you? What happened to our Kagome?"

Kagome scowled. 'I met the real thing, that's what happened,' she thought dismally before responding. "Yuka, don't you think we're getting too old for all of this. I mean, spooks and haunts and things that go bump in the night? That's kids stuff. We should be at that big bash at the night-club, but you've got us running around in a dark forest and sneaking up on an old abandoned building that looks like it's ready to fall apart as we speak."

"HA!" Yuka laughed shortly. "I see what's going on here! You're scared! You try to look all tough and say that you're being conscientious of Ayumi's feelings, but the truth is that YOU are the one who is scared, that YOU are the one that doesn't want to go in there, that YOU are the one afraid of some old ghost story!"

Kagome's eyes narrowed into thin slits. "I am not afraid."

"Good," Yuka cut out shortly. "Then let's go." She turned quickly and began making her way to the building.

Eri looked anxiously after Yuka, then back at Kagome and Ayumi. She made a slight whining sound of indecision, but then made her choice, spun around and took off after Yuka.

Kagome sighed as she watched her go. "We can't let them go in there by themselves," she said quietly to Ayumi.

"I know," Ayumi replied with a sigh of her own. "Kagome?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm…I'm glad that you're here."

"Me too," Kagome replied as she smiled warmly and took her friends hand. "So what do you say we go and make sure those two can stay out of trouble for more than five minutes?"

Ayumi smiled brightly. "Yeah, let's go!"

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"HELLO!……Hellooo..….helloooooo."

Yuka smiled ecstatically as she listened to the echo of her own voice. "OOOooOOOoo! This place is so great!"

"Yeah…" Kagome replied dispassionately. "Great…"

The girls stood just inside the entrance of the old building. There were in a greeting hall of some sort. The ceiling stretched up above them, the old beams and arching supports becoming lost in the deep shadows, and a hanging chandelier reflecting back scattered beams of light from their wandering flashlights to create the illusion of movement all around them. And in front of them, just at the edge of the range of vision granted them by their portable lights, a great staircase could be seen winding its way up to the second story.

"Look at that!" Eri exclaimed as her light settled on a dusty side table. "That vase is exquisite! I bet it's worth a fortune!"

"I bet there's more!" Ayumi chimed in as the excitement of the other girls began to rub off on her. "There's probably treasure hidden in this old house!"

'Treasure...' Kagome thought bitterly as she allowed her flashlight to travel up the wall above the small table to rest on a sprawling display of weaponry. 'More like a blood-bath in the making.'

"Well, come on guys!" Yuka called happily as she started across the grand entrance.

Eri and Ayumi followed quickly behind her, and Kagome, after mentally promising herself that she would get back at Yuka for this stupid plan, followed as well.

The girls made their way deeper into the old building, pausing every now and then to peer into a darkened room or to skirt around a weakened portion of the flooring. They brushed futilely at cobwebs that caught in their hair and on their clothes, constantly wary of the elusive eight-legged monster known as the common spider. The aged wood beneath their feet creaked and groaned with each of their footfalls, and as they moved deeper into the house, the darkness around them deepened as well.

A sudden, soft screeching noise ahead made the girls pause.

"Rats," Yuka spit in distaste. "Come on." She gestured to a large room to her right and led her friends in.

The room, like the others before was very large. Its furnishings were sparse, and what were there were so dust-covered and aged that they blended in with the dank surroundings. But what set this room apart from the others, were the lines of shelves that stretched across the walls filled with duty old tomes and decaying parchment. The room was a library, or perhaps even the Lord's study.

Eri turned around slowly, allowing the beam of her flashlight to trail across the shelves and walls, searching for more secret discoveries and hidden treasure lost to the secrets of this old place. She had nearly completed her circle, and was facing the doorway again, when a shifting within the deepest shadows made her pause in fright.

'What was…' Eri took a shaky step toward the movement. She was frightened, but still she did not to voice her hesitations. Yuka already had enough to tease her about. She moved the beam of her light quickly from left to right, searching the dark hallway beyond the door anxiously. She inhaled sharply when she saw another shift in the shadows just beyond the range of her light. The movement was deliberate, whatever it was she was seeing, Eri was certain that it was no trick of the light. She took another hesitant step forward.

- DONG! -

"AAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!"

-DONG! -

"ERI!" Yuka screamed.

- DONG!-

"Get off of me!" Yuka pushed and pulled to detangle her startled friend from her person.

- DONG! -

"It's just an old clock!"

- DONG!-

Yuka sent Eri a look of disgust for her cowardice, then turned to the old clock. The deep, vibrating chimes of the large timepiece continued, shaking dust to fall from the rafters and clouding the room with a turbulent blanket of unease. Yuka walked right up to the old clock and pulled out of her maid's apron a fluffy feather-duster. She reached up and brushed away the thick layer of old dust from the clock's face and read the time aloud.

"Eleven o'clock." She told her friends in a dark and suspicious voice. "The witching hour is upon us."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Come in and play my children. Mwahahahahahahaha!

Are things getting scary yet? I sure hope so. Well, I'm not done yet. Though this story will be short, I will try to get out as many chapters as I can per day. And hopefully, the final chapter will be posted on Halloween day!

Shadows shifting in the darkness.

Disclaimer: Unfortunately my imagination only goes so far as to create plotlines not characters. I don't own any of them.