The Eldritch Gentleman’s Club

Reginald, Bartholomew, and Theodore were three wealthy friends whom every night would meet in Reginald’s posh mansion for coffee, tea and crackers. At least that’s how their meetings started. They went by Reggie, Bart and Theo for short.

These gentlemen were known around town for their eccentricities, but nobody knew the hellish horror they had unleashed every night for years. Their pranks occasionally made the news, but nobody knew it was them underneath the costumes.

They decided to give their club a name, for what was the point of playing pranks if it wasn’t on behalf of an organization? Calling themselves a club and giving the club a name would give them a higher purpose in life. That’s why they are all now proud members of The Eldritch Gentleman's Club.

The club's meetings took place in Reggies mansion in the rural outskirts of town, because despite not being the biggest, his mansion had the most privacy, so it was best suited for their secret meetings.

Every night, after the first star appeared in the night sky, the three gentlemen would head to the mansion, eat their crackers and drink their tea and coffee and discuss their plans for scaring that night.

Then they’d get dressed in the terrifying costumes they’d bought the day after Halloween of the previous years, because they were on sale and bought in bulk. Each member of the club bought one costume for every night of the year, so they could dress as a different monster every night.

“Rich people stay rich by saving money,” they’d always said after buying their discount costumes.

This night, like every night for the past thirty years, they dressed up in their most horrifying costumes in preparation for their smorgasbord of fear. Tonight they were going out as a ghoul, a ghost and a lizard monster.

“Good luck, my fellow eldritch gentleman,” Reggie said and laughed a sinister laugh. Bart and Theo smiled.

After playing their nightly game of who could scare the most people before the stroke of midnight and returning to the mansion, they would then discuss with each other the pranks they played and how fun their nights had been.

They all had cameras recording their mischievous trouble and would later show each other the footage of all the people they scared running away screaming.

“I bet I’ll win again tonight,” Theo said.

“I don’t think Theo here understands our goal. It’s to scare the most people, not to talk the most,” Bart said.

“If that were the case, you’d win for sure, Bart,” Theo said and laughed.

“Look, gentleman, our goal is simple enough for any idiot to understand. We scare as many unsuspecting fools as we can, and whomever has the most scares when we return wins the game,” Reggie said and sipped his tea.

“Agreed. Hopefully Theo understands that now,” Bart said while munching on a cracker.

“Yes, yes. We’ve been doing this for years, let’s get started. I’m ever so bored with Barts endless monotone yammering,” Theo moaned. Bart rolled his eyes.

They turned to the door, stretched and left the mansion for a night of terrorizing the town.

They roamed through every street, alley, and shadowy corner of the city scaring the hell out of every unsuspecting victim they encountered and capturing it all on film. They each had their small cameras attached to their costumes that would record each encounter for them to laugh at later when they returned to the mansion.

When the clock struck midnight, their cell phone alarms chimed and they rendezvoused back at the mansion, then exchanged their camera footage and counted on each tape how many people their friends scared to see who had earned the title of King Of the Eldritch Club for the night.

That night, Reggie scared twenty eight people, Bart scared thirty six and Theo scared fifty eight.

“Theo wins again,” Reggie moaned.

“Hey, I can’t help it if I’m talented,” Theo said.

“Yah, talented’s one word for it. Maybe you’re just a scary old man,” Bart said and chuckled.

“You’re a month older then I am, Bart,” Theo said.

“Gentleman, please. We’re doing this again tomorrow and there’s no way Theo’s beating both of us again,” Reggie said.

“Don’t worry, Reg. I got a plan for tomorrow night. I’m going to get so many scares, Dracula himself will be jealous,” Bart said. Theo laughed, then Reggie gave Bart a high five and a half smile.

The next night came, and as always, Reggie, Bart and Theo were sitting around discussing strategies to best scare people. As the three gentlemen prepared for their fright night, a knock echoed through the mansion's heavy oak door and across the expensive marble floors to reach the ears of the three friends.

“Nobody should be here this time of night. Aside from us, of course. Bart, Theo, did you invite anybody?” Reggie asked.

“No,” Bart said.

“Not I,” Theo shook his head.

“How eldritch. I wonder who it is?” Reggie said.

The three went to the door together and opened it slowly. There was a tall, pale man standing there who looked as if he were the living dead, his eyes seemed to glow in the dark. His presence had already begun to scare the three friends.

“I don’t like being the one to get scared,” Bart whispered to Reggie.

"Good evening, gentlemen," the man said, his voice loud and slow.

“Ah, it speaks,” Bart screamed and jumped back.

“Please, Bart, do calm down,” Theo said and put his hand on Bart’s shoulder.

"May I come in? I’m interested in joining your esteemed scare club?" The man said.

“You mean… The Eldritch Gentleman’s club? How… how do you know about our club? Theo, Bart, did you say anything to anyone? That’s against the rules,” Reggie barked.

“Don’t worry sir, nobody said anything. I’m here on my own accord. I followed clues for several nights to find you three. I was finally able to follow one of you home last night, though I won’t say which one as to not sow discord. I love scaring people too, may I come in?” The man asked again.

Reggie raised an eyebrow.

"And who might you be, sir? How do we know you’re not some sort of prankster yourself, seeking revenge on us?" Reggie asked.

“You can call me Nosferatu. Invite me in and I’ll explain why I’m here,” the man said and smiled.

“Fine, you can come in. But we’re going to be keeping an eye on you,” Reggie said.

Nosferatu smiled, revealing glistening fangs.

“I assure you fine gentleman, revenge is not my aim. I am simply a connoisseur of the eldritch, just like you. I have heard tales of your club's horrifying exploits and wish to join your after hours endeavors."

Reginald, Bartholomew and Theodore exchanged tense glances, none of them trusting the very eldritch stranger. They didn’t like being on the other side of fear. They were never the ones afraid, until now.

"Very well," Reggie finally said. "You may join. But be warned, we are no strangers to pranks."

“That’s good. Very good,” Nosferatu said and started laughing loudly, his laughters echo permeating the mansion with noise.

Nosferatu lifted his hands, and with a single clap, the entire mansion was plunged into darkness.

The three friends screamed, their hearts were racing.

“What’s this? How did you do that? This isn’t funny. Turn the lights back on,” Reggie shouted. Panic set in among the three gentlemen as they fumbled around, tripping over each other.

Reggie eventually shouted “stop moving, nobody move,” and reached in his pocket and turned on his cell phone light.

“W-w-where d-d-did Nosferatu go?” Bart said, his voice shaky.

Reggie shrugged, then screamed and dropped his phone after something bit neck.

Bart quickly picked up the phone and used it to look for Reggie. Not seeing him, he stammered “R-r-reggie, are you ok?”

“Don’t be such a baby, Reggie’s fine,” Theo said, then screamed as something bit his neck. Bart quickly turned to face Theo with the light, who was standing perfectly still and looked pale.

“Theo,” Bart said in a high pitched, freighted voice. Then Bart screamed as his neck was bitten as well.

A clap was heard echoing through the mansion again and the lights went back on.

Nosferatu was standing in front of the three men.

“What did you do to us? Did you bite us, and why? Was that part of your prank?” Reggie loudly demanded, his fists clenched.

“Prank, no. I’ve given you all the ability to enhance your pranks. You’re now like me, a vampire,” Nosferatu said.

“What,” Reggie scoffed and the other two chuckled.

“Don’t believe me, just look at each other,” Nosferatu said and smiled with his hands maniacally clasping together in front of his face while he creepily smiled.

They turned to face each other and saw something had changed. Their skin was pale as powder, their eyes glowed a strange shade of crimson and orange, and their canine teeth had stretched into long, sharp fangs.

Reggie, his voice filled with shock, said, “I can’t believe this?"

Nosferatu chuckled softly.

“Believe it,” Nosferatu said.

Nosferatu had met a minute of silence pass before beginning to speak again so his three new friends could process the shock.

"Gentlemen, I have bestowed upon you a gift beyond your wildest dreams. You are now vampires, or as I like to call you, creatures of the night. With this transformation, you shall have the power to scare not just with petty costumes but with actual, frightening natural talent and real, horrifying faces you can contort to your every whim,” Nosferatu said.

"You mean, we can strike additional fear into our victims and I can finally beat Theo?" Bart said, his voice trembling with excitement.

“Hey, idiot. I have the same powers, apparently,” Theo said.

Nosferatu nodded.

"Indeed you do. Embrace your new powers and savor the thrill of the hunt. Good luck." Nosferatu said.

Reggie, after testing his new power and making a cup float to his hand, said "We thank you for this extraordinary gift. We shall use it to bring nightmares to our neighbors and truly terrify the city." Nosferatu smiled.

“Good, that is all I ask,” Nosferatu said. Nosferatu snapped his fingers and disappeared.

“With our new powers, The Eldritch Gentleman's Club will be elevated to greatness we never previously knew possible,” Reggie said. Bart and Theo agreed and nodded.

Then the trio of wealthy vampires descended upon the town, causing horror so terrifying even the police were afraid of them.

Their pranks were so scary they almost killed most of their unsuspecting victims with hear attacks, and their camera footage captured all of it. All of the raw, unfiltered terror they created was all caught on tape, and they each now had scare records in the hundreds. Their points were so high, they stopped counting and declared the competition a draw.

Night after night, they roamed the streets, spreading fear and terror to all, and scaring everyone almost to death. The police were even called to investigate, but every officer sent to find the trio had vanished, and no officer was willing to look anymore.

Their exploits grew bolder, their scares more elaborate. They’d set traps to capture their victims so they could terrify them for longer and longer. The townsfolk began to speak of the eldritch trio and demand something be done about them.

The townsfolk were terrified so much it haunted their dreams and made their hearts race with every creaking floorboard and passing shadow in their houses, but nobody could come up with a plan to capture or otherwise rid themselves of any of the eldritch men terrifying the town.

The towns population began to dwindle as the members of the Eldritch Gentleman’s Club needed to eat. The towns population dwindled night by night, until it was eventually down to zero.

“What will we do now that we’ve run out of food and people to scare and eat?” Bart asked his friends.

“Sell our mansion and move to the next town over. More scared people and more fresh meat,” Reggie said.

“Yes, Bart, it’s a simple solution if you use your head. We’ll start fresh in the town of Rellagio,” Theo said. They then smiled, their eyes again glowing crimson and orange as they planned for their move. They would soon terrorize their new home.

And as the clock struck midnight, their laughter filled the air with eldritch terror.