Dark stretches over the entire room except for a small area where the light seeps in under the door. All the fragrances of the room are buried in the faint sent of a very pungent cologne. No movement disturbs the air except the gentle breath of a person lying on their back. Suddenly a bright flash of red and a beeping disturb the room, my cell phone rings. Theyre finally here. I snatch my cell phone from my bookshelf and open it. A raspy voice comes across the phone, Were waiting for you. I close the phone and shove it into my pants pocket. The floor creeks as I begin to crawl out of bed. I grab the flash light out of my desk and begin to head for the door. As I place my hand on the knob I realize that I have forgotten a very important item. I turn back around and grab my keys form the night stand, if I forget it will be caught for sure. I then focus my attention back at the door. I crack the door just enough to see if any one is there. The hall is empty, they must all be asleep.  I make a slow dash to the front door, my best bet on getting out without any one in the house noticing. Theyre doing a good job of staying out of site. I step out onto the porch quietly pulling the door closed behind me. The street is dark except for a few street lights.  They see me and flash their lights. I walk down the steps and onto the side walks with only the luminance of the full moon. I jog down the road a short piece to meet a large blood red late model sedan. This will be an awesome night just me and the ghouls, girls I mean. I swing the back passenger side door open. Brad slides over so I can have a see. Just about then the driver announces Hold on. Devlin our driver pull a 180 to get us going in the right direction. My door is slam shut with the sheer force of the spin. Devlin slams on breaks to make us come to a dead stop. Then with great synchronism he slams on the gas with his foot and shifts gears with his hand. We take off into the night. The wind blows our hair trough the open moon roof. We speed down the highway which is devoid of traffic. No one in their right mind would be out at this time of night.

It doesnt take us long to get to the spot. We were fast just not fast enough the girls beat us here, but they are no where to be seen. Devlin pulls in right next to the girls car. We all swing our doors open at the same time like one of those cheesy shots where the team is getting out of their vehicle. Like in those Charlies Angels movies. We are far from being Charlies Angels. Our group is more like Devlins Freaks. We all turn on our flashlights and walks in the general direction of the graves. We know that the girls are in the graveyard some where, but there are a lot of headstones they could be hiding behind. At least we can be almost sure that we will be undisturbed by any one during the night. We are pretty deep in the forest. And, the nearest house is a country mile away. Then there is the assurance that no one would come in to a graveyard in the dark unless they had business here. As we start to split up Brad grabs my shoulder and whispers Dude, you can not leave me here alone, Dude, theyre dead they cant get you now, I say looking over my shoulder at him. Brad with a flushed look on his face said What!  Its the girls that scare me not the corpses. I just look back at him and smile. Bard is the newest member to our little group. His family is new in town so we decided to extend a welcome to him to make him feel comfortable. I think we have failed at that. But, he does meet all the requirements to join our little group so at lest he may be interesting. As we walk further into the graveyard I feels something cold and clammy wrap around my ankle.  Before I can look down to see what caught me I am pull off my feet. As I fall to the ground Brad begins to excise his vocal cords with a loud scream. Once on the ground I have time to recognize the petite hand that has caused my demise. I clamp her arm between my legs. In an attempt to free her self Hail crawls to her knees. Here face is coved but no one could miss her hair. Brad stops screaming as soon as he sees Hails hair. I put my hand behind my head and watch her struggle. She finally breaks free. Hail then climbs onto my mid section with a leg on either side of me and asks, Why did you put up such a fight tonight. I tell her, I just felt like being feisty. Hail asks, How ya feelin? I make a short exhale then speak, Your beauty takes my breath away, or is that your weight. Hail squeezes me with her knees before rolling onto the ground next to me.  Some color finally returns to Brads face. .  Hail questions Whats up with that guy. Give him a break do you remember your first time playing in a graveyard. I say. Well yeah I do. I loved it the first time and I still love it, I was never as scared as he is, she says. But you dont deny that you were scared on your first trip out to a graveyard, I questioned her further. I get up and dust my self off and then out stretch my hand to help Hail. She pulls her self up and begins to walk back to the cars. Hail, where is everyone. I ask her trying to catch her attention before she was out of range.  Theyre all around here somewhere, she lets the words slip out of her mouth.

The sounds of laughter and music work their way around the headstones and into my ears. Sounds like every one is back at the cars now. They have moved the cars so the headlights hit one spot. Every one is sitting on the grass in the lights.   Everyone is paired with few exceptions me and hail, Etan and his girl Lucretia, Gavinea and her man Ciro. Devlin is missing his better half because she ended up having to work tonight. They have tuned both of the radios to the same station.  I sit down beside Hail and place my hand on top of hers. She glances at our hands and begins to wiggle hers free of mine. One she has it free she places it in here lap and gives me the cold shoulder. She then glances back at me with a smile growing over her face. She puts her hand on top of my hand. Hail slowly reclines back onto me lying he head into my lap. She stares up into my eyes as I stare down into hers. I reach down and caress her face with my hands. She reaches up to mine and does the same. I lean down and gently place my lips on top of hers. We kiss, and like every other time the world begins to spin and nothing else matters to us while we embrace one another. With out our knowing the feeling became contagious. Etan has locked his lips on Lucretias. Gavinea straddles Ciro as their lips radiate with passion. Brad I frozen in place with amazement. Devlin feeling a bit awkward tries to think of a way out of this situation. Just as we had gotten deeply entranced into each others eyes and lips Devlin decides to start talking. What about a game of last days. Devlin yells.

Brad asks in a timid tone What exactly is last days? Gavinea stands up. She is Ciros complete opposite with her deep java completion, midnight black hair, and her pale green eyes. Gavinea begins to explain the game to Brad, The game starts of with someone being it. The person who is it is given 3 minutes to look around the grave yard. After three minutes that person will come back to the group. The person who is it will then give us a riddle which we must solve. The last one to solve the riddle is in his or her last days. The loser then must perform one task for each person who got the riddle. Thats all there is to the game but it is extremely fun.

Devlin begins to speak again, Since I am the oldest here I think I should go first and I already have a riddle in mind and the answer is right here in this graveyard. In the light of day I hide in the dark. In the dark of night I come to life. I am the end for all and the beginning for others. I am not the greatest equalizer but I do put all in their place. Can any one here answer that? Give us a minute we cant just answer it of the top of our heads, Hail pipes up. Everyone but Devlin gets up and begins to wonder around the grave yard. Out of the whole lot of us Brad seems to be the one most troubled by this riddle. I assumed he would, being he is probably the least familiar with the ins and outs of a grave yard. I and hail decide we can figure this out much faster if we work together. Hail turns back to me and asks, So, what do you think it is?  I answer he question Well my first idea was vampire but it think that would be a little too easy.  Hail says, Well for one we defiantly know it is not a vampire. Devlin said that it is in the grave yard, and in case you dont remember vampires live in houses not crypts. I touch the side of her face and lean in towards her and say Oh, Hail I could never forget. She pulls away from me before I can press my lips against hers. She storms around to the next row of graves. Ciro and Gavinea have very much the same idea that I and Hail do. They are both going from head stone to head stone with their flashlights closely inspecting their inscriptions to see if they can find any clues to help them answer Devlins riddle. Lucretia and Etan have both chosen to work alone and it seems they are doing the least work of all. Etan has decided that he can work best lying on his back staring at the moon in extremely deep thought. Lucretia has taken the same approach but has a slightly different twist she has climbed up on the base of a state and is peering deep into the forest.

I got it Lucretia yells. She slowly climbs down form her perch and makes her way over to Devlin. She knells down beside him and whispers her answer into his ear. Devlin sits up and yells, Ok one down and six to go. Etan has caught on to the answer almost as quickly as Lucretia. He sits up and grins.  Taking his time he walks over to Devlin and like Lucretia whisper his answer into Devlin's ear. Devlin makes yet another announcement, two down and five to go. After Etan gets his answer the knowledge begins to spread over the graveyard. Hail and I look into one anothers eyes thinking that the riddle must be very simple if they got the answer that quickly. We just stand their looking in to one anothers eyes then we get it. We walk slowly over to Devlin with smirks on our faces. Both of us lean down and whisper it into both of his ears at the same time. Devlin makes yet another announcement, That makes four down and three left to go. Brad begins to look all over the place, scanning every head stone in the yard. As time goes on he becomes more and more frantic. Some thing cold and slimy is slithers its way across Gavineas foot. Then she realizes that this small creature is the answer to Devlins riddle. She picks up the worm and shows it to Ciro. While she leans down to put the little creature in its place Ciro walks over to Devlin and whispers, rather loudly the answer to his riddle. Devlin stands up and makes the most important announcement of the game, We have our loser, Brad. Brad look up with a startled expression as he begins to slowly walk into the forest.

Just before he can get completely out of sight a hand comes down on his shoulder. A mysterious but beautiful voice asks And where do you think your going. Brad turns around to look Fayina right in the face. Devlin calls out to her So you finally got here.  Fayina walks toward Devlin pushing Brad in front of her. Fayina ask So what exactly is going on here. Devlin replies to her Just a game of last days. She kisses Devlin putting one hand behind his head and pushes Brad to the ground with her free hand. After Devlin frees his lips form Fayinas he begins to speak, Each person will go in the order they figured out the answer so Lucretia, Etan, Adam and Hail, then Gavinea and Ciro. So Lucretia what do you want from him.

Lucretia slowly walks toward Brad. She places one hand under his chin and caresses it with her gentle touch as he works his way to his feet. Lucretia then begins to reveal her wish, I want you to drink, blood. My blood to be specific.   Brad with a startled look on his face he looks around at the others faces to see if she is joking  ,but they seem to be very decided. He begins to questions Lucretia, What is this supposed to prove, why blood, why your blood. Lucretia reaches into her pocket and pulls out a small pocket knife with an elegant l carved in it. She unfolds the blade and draws the blade slowly across her wrist. Lucretia commands Brad Just shut up and Drink brad put her wrist up to his mouth and lets the warm substance flow into his mouth. Taste good doesnt it Lucretia points out. Brad continues with each gulp draining more and more blood form her wrist. In a slightly irritated voice she says how about leaving me some. Lucretia places her free hand on brads chin and pulls him away from her wrist.  Blood still dripping form his lips Lucretia asks him, So, how do you fell now. Wiping the blood from his lips Brad says Invigorate.

Since thats all you wanted I believe it is my turn now, come here Brad. Etan says. Close your eyes, hold out your hand, and wait for a surprise. Etan then reaches down into his bag of tricks and pulls out a snake of a very unnatural gray color. Etan stares the snake down as he slowly slides him of into brads hand. The muscles in brads arm begin to tense and tighten as the creature works up his arm. Brad slowly opens his eye to confirm his fear that it is indeed a snake creeping up his arm. Etan gives him the task which he must complete, With only your eyes you must command the snake to craw down your leg and back in to my hand, and some words of advice he is deadly and he can sense fear.  Brad begins to shiver in terror never releasing the serpent form his gaze. The snake stops on Brads for arm and looks eyes with him. Etan gives Brad more instructions, Lock your eyes with him. You must dispel all the fear from your hear and with your stare let him know who is the master and who is the defeated. Command him and he is yours. Brad is able to banish most of the fear from his heart but there are a few what ifs left in a corner. Brad slowly relaxes the muscles in his are as he does so the snake begins to act erratically and begins to craw on the under side of Brads arm and toward his back. The snake slithers onto the small of Brads back and stops. Brad begins to tighten his back and the snake quickly slithers back to his hand. Brad closes his eyes and look away from the snake. Just as the snake begins to head for his head he looks back at the snake with his stare one full blast. The snake freezes in place for a second before slither, almost falling, down Brads back and to the ground. The snake crawls back to Etan and hides its head behind his neck. Brad smiles at Etan whose face is frozen in a cold grimace. Thank you for the help, Brad says with heart felt gratefulness. Etan replies in angst, Thank me, for what? You got lucky. I was talking to the snake. Brad stumbles backward in shear amazement.

 Its our turn, come here Brad. Hail and I speak in complete synchronism. We continue For us you must sniff out the strange, yet beautiful, smell which lingers around graves. Brad looks startled, You want me to sniff around in a grave yard? Hail and I lock eyes then turn back to Brad and nod slowly. Brad with exuberance shouts If thats all you want, okay. Brad begins to walk around the graves taking in deep breaths through his nose here and there. He is very glad that this challenge is not as odd or frightening as the other two. He goes all around the grave yard smelling taking in the odor of grass. Then stopping dead I his tracks as he catches the faint sent of warm vanilla. Brad crouches down, the closer he gets to the tomb stones the stronger the smell gets. Brad on hand and knee crawls around to the other side of the headstones. The smell does not come from just one headstone but the set of a couple. Husband and Wife each with the inscription Not even in death do we part. Brad gets up form his knees and walks back over to Hail and I. He repeats the saying from the headstones, Not even in death do we part. We lock eyes with each other then with Brad before nodding to confirm that he has indeed found the correct set of head stones.

Gavinea and Ciro step forward hand in hand to reveal their challenge, In this graveyard there are two lovers. Whose passion was a secret. Together in life, apart in death. Locate booth of them so they may locate each other. Use only your hands to find them nothing else will work. Brad does not want this task to take any where as long as the rest of them so as soon as he is able to understand what they want of him he goes to work. He touches every headstone and cant find anything out of the ordinary. He leans on one as he stops to take a breath he notices a strange headstone of someone sharing his name. He rolls the name around in his mouth, Brad Smiley to 2007. He reaches out and places his hand on the name. His hand sits there for a second it begins to get warm. Then his hand begins to feel as if it was put into a fire. Brad lifts his and off the headstone and yells back to Gavinea and Ciro, Found one. They reply, Okay, now find its mate. Brad continues to go around touching stone after stone. Then on the opposite end of the grave yard there it is a headstone that is far colder than any of the other if the other headstone was a fire this one is a block of ice. Brad yells back to them once again, I think I found its mate. They yell back to him to come back and he does. Gavinea asks him, What were they? Brad states with sureness, Fire and Ice. Gavinea smiles to announce that he has given the correct answer.

Fayina steps forward to assert her importance My turn. For your last challenge you have to catch me. But thats not the end of it you have to do this with your eyes closed. Brad very sure of him self nods and says Okay. Brad closes his eyes and listens in the direction of Fayina. She then begins to move faster then the eye can discern, stopping here and there to yell something at brad. She does this time and time again making him hopelessly dizzy. After a few minutes Brads gets his bearings back and begins to understand what she is doing. Every time brad hears her voice he walks away from it rather than toward it. He bumps into a tree as he hears her directly across from him. Then when she begins to yell at him again he turns around and grabs her by her shoulders. What there is no way you could have caught me. Fayina says with great irritation. Brad replies Could and I did. Fayina Breaks loose and stomps back to the rest of the group to tell of her defeat.

Brad walks back to group. Lucretia steps forward and begins to speak and the rest of the group joins in, With your mouth you tasted life, with your eyes you tamed a beast, with you nose you found love, with your ears you found a ghost, with your hand you found passion. Brad interrupts, with your senses you have proved that you are one, a creature of the night; Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetuer ... and so on. What like you all are the only people in the world who read? The all stand around baffled.  Lucretia begins to speak again, Where did you read that? I wrote that peace just for inducting new members I never thought any one would read it. Brad in a startled voice questions Lucretia, You wrote that for initiation, initiation to what. Lucretia answers his questions you have just passed all the tests to prove that like all of us you were born as a being of the night one of the few chosen. Each of us has been granted a gift same as you .I am a succubus, a tempter of men. Etan is a shape-shifter. Adam is an incubus, a tempter of women. Hail, a vampire. Gavinea is a witch. Ciro is a telekinetic, able to move anything with his mind. Fayina is able to move at speed beyond any other being one earth. Devlin is a psychic. So what is your gift? Brad just stood their startled as he saw all these people around him in a new light they all seemed to be more like him that he had ever thought possible. Brad looks down at frog on the ground as he focuses his stare tighter onto the frog it burst into flames. Lucretia speaks again So you are a pyrokinetic Brad explains further Since I was about ten I have been able to create and control flames. Etan your snake was more at risk of being charbroiled then I at being bitten. So now that we all know each other secrets what is our plan, world conquest, or world salvation? Lucretia attempts to tackle his question, We just have fun. Brad said with a few shrugs of his shoulder. Thats it. Okay then.

Devlin makes one final announcement of the night I think thats the sun over there so I think as creatures of the night we should all retreat. Every one in sync but Brad pulls out their Raybans and begins to walk to their respective cars. Before we can get in Brad stops us to ask a question, Do you think we can recruit a girl before the next time so I wont feel so awkward during the make out session. Lucretia yells to him, I resurrect a young one just for you.  Bard replies a bit flustered, Resurrect, cant we just find one that is still alive. You know there is no reason for you to go trough all that work.  In sync we all yell Shut up Brad. WE all slip into our spots. Devlin pulls a quick 180 and heads for home the girls close on his tail.