"Go fish!" AJ McLean, 18, told his band mate Howie Dorough,23, who groaned and pulled yet another un-matching card from the deck. They were sitting at the table beside the window of their tour bus. It was raining fiercely outside.

Kevin Richardson, 24, and his cousin Brian Littrell, 21, were sitting on the couch watching the only movie available to them at the time, an old western. Nick Carter, 16, the youngest of the group, was crashed in his bunk in the back.

The young pop group, The Backstreet Boys, was touring in Europe. It was the first tour for Nick without his mother accompanying him on the account of his being so young. The tour was going extremely well. The boys were well treated, and chased by girls all over the country. They even had a few female surprises hiding in their laundry! By anyone's words the tour was going well, everything was running smoothly. The only minor set back was when the Boys' old tour bus broke down and they had to get a new one, and a new driver came along with it.

"Man, I haven't seen any other cars for hours!" AJ McLean said looking out the window at the gloom outside.

"That's because it's raining like crazy out there AJ! All the sensible, sane, people are at home watching TV's that have more than one channel that works!" Brian said this as he grabbed the remote and tried to change the channel on the television and got the basic static and fuzz.

"Yeah, well maybe, but I also haven't seen any of the rest of the tour buses either!" AJ said pressing his face against the glass. Lightning struck at a close distance. The Boys travel separate from other parts of the tour like the band, opening acts, etc...

"Maybe they got lost in the storm," Howie said also looking out the window, thoughtfully, resting his chin on his hands, elbows on the table.

"Or maybe we're the ones lost in the storm, I doubt that old kook knows where he's going! "Brian's voice was muffled, he was past bored with the TV, and was under the entertainment cabinet digging out Nick's Nintendo 64.

"Would you guys just settle down? Everything is fine. Our driver knows where he's going, or else we wouldn't have hired him," Kevin said calmly, in his big brotherly tone.

"Yeah," everyone finally agreed. AJ and Howie sat back down at the table and went back to playing cards.

"Hey Kev, wanna play?" Brian had finished setting up the Nintendo.

Kevin really didn't want to play Nintendo, it wasn't his thing, but he would play. He was about to answer Brian when the bus came to an abrupt halt.

Brian flew over the chair he was standing beside and onto the floor getting tangled in the Nintendo controller wires. AJ and Howie grabbed the bolted down table with one hand and reached for their opened sodas with the other. This was a vain attempt, however, soda still flew everywhere. Kevin held onto the arms of his chair.

"What was that?" Howie demanded, he and AJ jumped up from the table avoiding soda puddles.

Kevin helped Brian up, "Is everybody ok?"

AJ and Howie nodded.

"What happened?" Howie began to storm towards the front of the bus, everyone followed. The driver met them halfway.

"What happened?" demanded Howie for the third time.

"Bus broke down, you boys are gonna have to get off," the driver spoke in a gruff voice. He was chewing on the end of a brown cigar.

"We're gonna have to get off, in this rain?!" Howie began to laugh, "You're joking right?"

The driver didn't laugh.

"You're not joking?" Howie asked incredulously, "You expect us to get out in that?"

The driver smiled showing big white teeth and nodded, "There's an old place not far from here that will keep you dry. I'll walk you there and you can stay until I get the bus fixed. You all go pack you up some stuff and wake that youngun up," the driver pushed this information at them letting them know that staying on the bus was not an option.

"Pack some stuff? How long do you think it's gonna take to fix the... bus?" Brian might as well have been talking to himself because the bus driver had already disappeared up front.

"Come on," Kevin said.

In the bunk area everyone was packing things like umbrellas, flashlights, batteries, extra tee- shirts, water, snacks, sleeping bags, etc.

"Sleeping bags? Do you guys think we should pack sleeping bags?- I mean it's probably just a flat tire or something. We might just be there an hour," AJ shrugged.

"I don't know, lets just take them anyway, just in case," Kevin said rolling up his sleeping bag.

"Hey Nick! Nicky! Come on wake up, we gotta get off the bus," Brian was shaking Nick awake.

"Huh? Are we there already?" Nick asked groggily.

"No, something's wrong with the bus and we gotta get off," Brian started tugging Nick out of the bunk," I already packed your bag with a flashlight and stuff, come on."

"Huh?"

It was a short, but wet walk from the bus to the place the driver had wanted the boys to stay. The place turned out to be an old castle. An iron fence, weathered and sagging with age, wound around the villa grounds. The gate was swinging open offering a rather chilling invitation inside the grounds. From the gate, dangled a sign the Boys couldn't quite read. The rain had died down when they reached the castle, but the thick mysterious fog that surrounded the castle, had engulfed them as well. Funny noises came from inside the fog. Somehow they found the front door...

If Nick had been half asleep during their journey to the castle doors he was definitely awake now. The driver threw open the wooden doors to the manor and Nick's angry voice echoed off the walls.

"I can't believe this happened! This is the second time the bus broke down!"Nick yelled pulling leaves and tumble weeds out of his hair.

"That ain't my fault,"the driver said calmly, smoking his cigar.

"We're never gonna make the next show!"Brian was saying.

"That also ain't my fault,"the driver said.

Howie was dialing frantically on his cell phone trying to reach management or one of the other tour buses, all he got was static.

All the boys began to complain at once and the driver silenced them,"Look, the bus broke down. I'll get it fixed. Y'all just chill here."

"What??"there was an explosion of protests.

"Man I ain't staying here!"Brian was fussing.

"Man, this place is messed up!"Nick was saying shaking his head.

"I ain't staying here! This place is creepy!"Howie was declaring.

"I'll be back, Backstreet,"with that the driver darted off the front step and seemed to dissolve into the fog. The boys all looked after him, then at each other.

"Man, I say we just wait outside,"Howie said. Then a very disturbing howl erupted from somewhere nearby.

"On second thought, lets go in!"

It was dark and drafty inside the manor. They had entered into what seemed to be a parlor area. They had all scrounged through their bags for their flashlights. There were all sorts of statues and ornaments like you would see in a regular castle, but these ornaments were grotesque. The floor was painted in a huge purple spiral.

"Hey this isn't a parlor,"Kevin said,"I think it's a ballroom!" Kevin traced the huge purple spiral painted on the dance floor.

Nick had on his flashlight and was looking at the grotesque ornaments on the tables, he ran his fingers over some of them and wiped the dust trails off on his red jersey,"Man, this place is gross!"

"Anybody find a power switch yet?"asked Brian shining his flashlight around the sallow colored walls.

"Yeah, I think I.."there was a dull humming noise and dim lights illuminated the room,"found it.."AJ finished.

The room they were in was a large ballroom, a great spiraling staircase was behind it, there were two red couches on the far walls, and plenty of ugly figurine antiques, tables, and dust.

"So now what? Do we wait here for the driver?"AJ was putting his flashlight away and looking around.

"Well, do you guys want to explore?"Kevin asked looking around at the anxious, but excited faces of his group.

"Yeah, that might be fun,"Brian said.

"Yeah.."Nick put in, not as certain as Brian,"But.. Only if we get to stick together." He didn't want to sound like a wimp, but this place scared him.

"Of course,"Kevin nodded, he didn't make fun of Nick's being afraid, but AJ and Brian sure did.

"What, are you afraid there might be ghosts, Nicky?"asked AJ laughing.

"Don't worry we'll hold your hands,"Brian joked too. They continued out of the room doing the traditional,"Did you hear something?" "What was that?" routine.

The next room they entered was a library. Well part of it was, as they ventured off further into the dark paneled bookshelves, they discovered a lab too. The library / lab was done in dark blues and greens, there was even a fireplace with an authentic poker. A dried up chemistry set was set up on a table with a book propped up next to it. A collection of ancient torture devices was mounted on the walls.

"Cool,"Howie touched on and caused a shower of dust to fall on him,"Aaah! Nasty!"

"I wonder who used to live here,"Brian pondered out loud.

"Somebody crazy, look what he was readin',"Kevin nudged the book lying on its face,"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

"He was also somebody who didn't know how to clean, or decorate!, "AJ remarked, wiping his hands on his shirt. He stood by an old phonograph. He picked up an old record, and winced after reading the label,"And had no taste in music, ugh!"

"I don't know, I kind of like the decor in here,"Kevin put his hand to his chin and looked around,"Come on, lets go check out the next room."

Nick looked hesitant as something from the next room made a groaning noise. Brian looked back and laughed and grabbed Nick by the arm,"Come on Scaredy Cat.. There's nothing to be afraid of! Oh no! Casper's got me! Aaaaaah!"

Nick rolled his eyes, sighed and went on after Brian.

The next room was a dining hall equipt with long worn red drapes, and a worn red carpet with some kind of design faded with age impressed on it. A long table with a ghoulish centerpiece stretched across the room circled with chairs. One chair sat like a thrown at the head of the table.

"Cool,"AJ said walking up to the thrown chair and having a seat. A cloud of dust puffed up around him from the chair's cushion,"Phooey!"

Nick was walking around the table and stepped on a loose floor board which creaked, he let out a startled gasp thinking it was something else.

AJ and Brian had a field day with that,"Was it Casper, Nicky?"

"No, it was..."

"Would you guys stop it with the scaring Nick stuff, it isn't funny!"Howie interrupted their taunts.

AJ and Brian had been laughing, then they turned their attention on Howie,"Oh, but are we scaring Nick, Howie, or are we really scaring you?!"

"Alright! All of you knock it off!" Kevin interjected with authority in his voice,"Now we've got a busy day ahead of us tomorrow, and we should get some rest. The driver should be back for us in a little while anyway."

Everyone agreed.

"So, where do we sleep?"AJ asked.

"We could sleep in the ballroom,"Nick suggested.

"The ballroom!"AJ said sounding disappointed," I was hoping we could check out the upstairs! You know maybe see some of the bedrooms!"

"Upstairs?"Nick squeaked.

"Sleep in the bedrooms?"Howie asked sounding as high pitched as Nick.

Brian and AJ began imitating chickens.

"Stop it you two! We don't have to go upstairs. Sleeping in the ballroom is fine with me,"Kevin said with a shrug.

Kevin may have stopped Brian and AJ's teasing, but it had already took it's toll on Howie and Nick's manly pride.

"No, no,"Howie shook his head.

"Yeah,"Nick said,"W-W-We can go upstairs.. I-I wanted to see up there anyway. I just didn't want to sleep in the beds, you know... Who knows who could have slept there!"

"You guys sure?"Kevin asked.

"Yeah."

Well the upstairs proved to be as un-color coordinated as the downstairs. There was a maze of hallways, and the boys chose one. They went peeping inside of all the doors they passed.

"Oh hey, awesome, a suit of armor!"Nick had ventured inside one room. He touched the blade of the axe the rusty armor held,"OW! That's sharp! Cool! We should stay in this room!"

"I thought you didn't want to sleep in the rooms Nick?"AJ asked snickering.

"Well I changed my mind. I say we should stay in this room!"Nick said firmly looking at more of the mediaeval objects in the room.

"Ok, well how about we check out some more rooms first,"Kevin said.

"Ok, but I'm gonna put my stuff down in here so we'll know to come back to this room!"Nick put his backpack down on the floor beside the room's door.

"Now this, is a room!"a few doors down AJ had opened the door to a room done richly in red velvet.. Or what might have been red velvet a long time ago. It was faded and worn, but it was still classy,"We should stay here, this room is better than any rusty old suit of armor!"

"Hey! It is not, and we should stay there!"Nick argued.

"No we.."

"Wait, wait, before this becomes a fight... How about we each pick our own rooms to stay in tonight. This way everybody will get to stay where they want,"Howie said, always the peacemaker,"But on one condition. Everybody stay in this hall so we can find each other if we need to!"

"Ok,"Everyone agreed.

Brian had picked an ok room, with what might have been a thrilling view a hundred years ago... Now the view was just... scary. There was a stuffed bear mount on the wall covered with cob webs. The bed was a canopy with a red spread over it. Brian shined his flashlight around, and felt uneasy about being in this room alone, and was now beginning to feel sorry that he had teased Nick and Howie.

He had paused before entering the room after saying goodnight to the others,"Hey, guys maybe sleeping alone isn't such a good idea... What if something happens?"

"Like what?"AJ had scratched his head.

"I don't know.."

"You're scared aren't you Brian,"Howie instigated.

"NO! But.. But Nick may be.. He's just a kid you know.."Brian had padded down to Nick's room a few minutes later and knocked on the door. A half sleep walking Nick opened the door,"Hey Nick, I just came to tell you that if you get scared you can come and bunk with me. I'm just a few doors down the hall."

Nick had nodded and yawned, he was asleep by now and nothing could bother him, not even ghosts.

Brian went back to his room looking around guardedly, he went to the bed and began to make it up so he could sleep in it. He pulled back the comforter and sheets and spread out his sleeping bag. He crawled into his sleeping bag, and then pulled the sheets and comforter back over him. It was cold in this house! Brian was just beginning to drift off to sleep when he felt something in bed with him. He stilled and waited for it to rub against him again. There it went again, he made a grab for whatever it was. He squeezed something in his hand that felt warm and very much alive. He pulled it up to hold it to his face to see what it was. The thing saw him as clearly as he saw it! It was a Bunnicula! They screamed together in harmony. Lightning outside struck. Brian slung the thing across the room, and it scampered out into one of the various cracks in the wall. Brian shuddered and tried not to think about what else might be in bed with him. He was finally able to drift off to sleep after a few minutes. ( He was that tired! )

Some weird dreams went on that night.

AJ was the phantom of the opera... Only he wasn't in an opera.. And he wasn't a phantom! What kind of a dream is this? AJ wore a tailored tux with two long tails coming from the jacket. He wore gloves over his hands, and a silver mask over one side of his face. Why the mask? AJ reached up to touch the mask and felt around it to feel nasty pocks in his skin around that area.. Gross! AJ looked around him for the first time. He was sitting at a long dining table, like the one he had seen earlier with the guys! He was sitting at the throne of the table with beautiful girls in long, old fashioned, red dresses. They doted on AJ's every word; they were smitten with him. They obeyed his every command.. AJ could get use to this...

Nick woke up in the dark. It took him a few minutes to realize he was in a casket. Was he ever scared! Nobody wanted to dream about being dead, especially not in a place like this! After a few minutes, Nick found out that even though he was dead he could still move around. He used his hands to push open the door to the casket. Outside light poured in, Nick stepped out of his casket, to find that he was in a tomb, and saw that it was not a casket but a sarcophagus. But these are for mummies! Nick frowned and turned to see himself in a large mirror. Oh my. He was wrapped up in a full body cast... except for his face, and some of his hair.. And his face wasn't one a mother could love! He raised his arms and smiled, nasty! He heard scraping behind him and turned to notice for the first time the two smaller sarcophagus's next to his. Two girl mummies came out and grinned at him. Now this could be fun, Nick thought...

Kevin was in a lab stirring, cooking, and crushing all sorts of chemicals together. Kevin had no idea what he was doing, he just prayed he wouldn't blow himself to Kingdom Come! He poured in the last of the ingredients and the mixture smoked pink and fizzed. The final outcome was a pretty red liquid. Now what? Oh no! Kevin watched in horror as his hand came closer and closer to his mouth. He couldn't fight it... Oh man! This stuff may look like koolaide, but I know for a fact it's not! Kevin tried to turn his head, no use! The beaker came to his lips and Kevin swallowed. He drank down the whole contents of the glass. A sudden spasm of pain hit his stomach and he dropped the beaker. The beaker smashed at his feet, glass scattered everywhere. Kevin collapsed in a heap on the floor writhing and twisting in painful convulsions. When the convulsions were over Kevin reached up to feel his face, which itched.. One side felt normal, but the other... It felt, scaly, almost reptilian! He looked down at his hands, one was normal, the other was green and covered with scales! Now he knew how Two-Face felt in the Batman comics...

Howie woke up in a coffin. Oh no! He had been buried alive! He began to beat on the wooden coffin door. He seemed to be standing upright, not lying down. "Let me out of here!" Howie felt the door to the coffin being opened. He felt the waft of air, and he heard the creaking wood. He was about to thank the person who let him out, but paused with a gasp. These guys.... they were all maids and one butler, and one really attractive young girl. They were odd. The maids smiled at him with long pointy fangs! THEY'RE ALL VAMPIRES!! Howie looked around frantically trying to figure out a way to escape, he knew what happened when you stand in a room full of vampires. But strangely, the vampires weren't attacking him. Howie looked down at himself and saw he was dressed very old fashioned, kind of like Lustat, from Interview With The Vampire. He wore a top hat and a gold pocket watch was hooked to his belt.. He wasn't afraid anymore. He belonged here. These people were his servants, and he was the vampire of the house. Howie reached into his mouth with his fingers to stroke one of his long white fangs.

Brian was howling at the moon, literally. He was itching all over and when he looked down at himself all he could see was hair! He couldn't believe that all this hair had grown overnight! What kind of place is this? He held out his hands.. Man, his nails looked like that lady on Jerry Springer! How gross! He jumped out of bed with amazing agility to look into the mirror. Who told him this outfit was cute?! He had on a long overcoat, a suit, and a big gold medallion on a heavy chain! He was a pimp, he was a pimp daddy werewolf! He ran his hands through his spiky, stiff, brown hair on his head. Somebody had overdone it with the hair spray, again! He smiled at his joke. EW! Look at those teeth! Is there a tooth brush in the house? Who was he kidding, he needed a knife to get all this butter of his teeth! Oh boy!

Brian woke up with a start and bolted upright in bed, he began beating the hair off his arms and neck.. Hair that didn't seem to be there anymore... But it had to be, he was a werewolf! Wasn't he? Brian opened his eyes reluctantly to see skin. Huh? Oh man. Brian got out of the bed and began packing up his stuff and muttering to himself the whole time,"Man, I don't care what the others think I'm waiting outside for the bus!" Brian slung his backpack on his shoulder and charged out of the room, almost running into Howie who was walking down the hall very quickly.

"Man, Howie, I gotta tell you about this freaky dream I had last night. I was a werewolf and I had hair all over my body,"Brian was telling Howie.

"No way! I had a dream too! I was like this Dracula and I was sucking blood and.."

Kevin came out of his room in front of Brian and Howie looking troubled,"Hey, did you guys have trouble sleepin' last night?"

AJ burst out of his room, ready to get out of this crazy place, and not wanting to hear I told you so's,"Man, I had this trippy dream last night, and I don't know if.."

They all paused in mid- sentence,"Nick!" They couldn't leave him behind. But no, here he came with all his stuff running up behind them with a big smile on his face. They figured he would be mad, but he had heard some of the previous conversation and he was excited to contribute,"Hey guys! I had a dream too! I dreamed that I was a mummy, and there were these two girls and.."

Forget that!

"Lets just get out of here, this place is haunted or something!" Howie got to the front door and threw it open, and gasped as did everyone else. The bus driver was out there, but he didn't look like he did before when the boys had last seen him... He was still wearing his uniform and hat, and puffing on that cigar. But now he had red veins lining his face and hands, his eyes glowed, and his ears were pointy. He had turned into a zombie looking monster, and he was holding the steering wheel to the bus!

"Lets go,"the driver said in a low raspy voice.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"

The boys all fell over each other trying to get out of the doorway. Howie kicked the door closed with his foot. Then all the boys jumped to hold the door closed. There was a low wicked noise coming from behind the door, laughter! This guy was laughing, and then the door was moving! It was moving like the boys hadn't not only been using all of their strength, but their combined weights as well to hold the door closed!

"RUN! RUN! LETS RUN!"

They raced through the house and ended up in the kitchen panting and gasping for breath.

"I SURE HOPE YOU BOYS DON'T THINK YOU CAN HIDE FROM ME!! THIS IS MY HOUSE, AND I WILL FIND YOU... AND I'LL HAVE EVERY ONE OF YOU!!"

"He's a monster,"Nick was huffing.

"Howie, your cell phone!"Kevin remembered,"Try to call for help, lets try to open the back door." Kevin went to the back door and began trying to push it,"It's not moving." AJ and Brian put their backs into it.

"DON'T EVEN BOTHER ALL THE EXITS HAVE BEEN SEALED!! THERE IS NO ESCAPING ME!!" The evil voice of the bus driver boomed throughout the house.