It was a thirteenth Friday. Monsters really don't have a silly superstition like a number or a day bringing bad luck, so nobody really paid attention on the date. He didn't care, either way.
The love of his immortal live has just died. She was his zing, shouldn't she be as strong as he was? But of course she wasn't. As all of them, in the end, she was fragile. As her child was still so fragile. But he would make the child strong. The child was conceived to be the ultimate weapon, after all.
Dracula was born on a thirteenth Friday. Nobody really paid attention to the date. Nobody really paid attention to him, either.
As the years passed, the little vampire learned some valuable things, that he never could forget. The first one was that although his father loved his mother, he would not, ever, love him. Because he just wasn't someone (something) that should be loved. No, really. That was so obvious that the twelve years old vampire has deduced himself. He was already told that he was conceived to be the ultimate weapon in the Dark War. He was already told that his mother didn't really want him as a child. He was already told that his mother died because of him. He was repeatedly told that he wasn't good enough. So, why would his father love him? How could he do enough to compensate the older vampire for his loss? That was the second thing he learned. He just couldn't. He never would. All he could ever do was to become was he was meant to be. What he was conceived to be.
But really, what difference would it make if he had learnt or not those two things? The third and more important was that nothing, absolutely nothing, was more important than his father wishes. Literally. Obeying him was pure compulsion, no matter if he wanted it or not.
Because vampires were made of darkness, power and blood. Because blood and darkness were power. Because Dracula was conceived to be so powerful that his mother's body couldn't survive him. Because her soul was already dead for two months before his birth and it was because of his own will, still inside her uterus, that her body remained alive long enough for him to be born. Because his own will and power belonged to his father. Because his father was the vampire that firstly owned the blood that run in his veins. The blood that carried all his power and was pure darkness. Because of all of this, when his father said fight, he fought. When he said slay, he slayed. When he said conquer, he single handed won the Dark War.
He was the ultimate weapon, after all. He was the last fruit of the two strongest dynasties of vampires. And when the heirs of the other dynasties were all dead, were all consumed, who would confront the very Prince of Darkness? The only monster that would ever be strong enough would be his own heir, a child conceived like he was. And he would be the master of the blood and will of that child, just like his father was his. His father would be the king for eternity, and nothing would ever change that. So, after 120 years knowing only the war, he was left without purpose. His father didn't need him anymore, didn't even want the reminder of his dead wife.
So Dracula just walked way. Without the compulsion, came the guilt. With the guilt came the depression. And he was lonely and ever cold. If he could feel anything besides how cold he was, maybe he would also be desperate. And in his maybe despair, he got himself a slave. Actually, he adopted a pet. An orphan pup werewolf that he named Wayne. And Wayne… Wayne loved and respected him as any dog would his human. With distance and fear. But it was… It was a kind of love, wasn't it?
He was fine for some decades. Wayne was loyal and seemed… Agitated to see him, what was a whole better than indifferent. Dracula loved his pet with his whole cold heart. And when Wayne grew brave enough to even hint that he wanted to go, to be free, Dracula let him go. And when Wayne found himself a wife, Dracula paid for his and Wanda wedding and also for his chosen home, in England. And although Wanda never looked like she would feel anything for him besides contempt, Wayne would appear to be happy to see him, sometimes. Dracula visited when the solitude grew unbearable, and went back home before overstaying. So his visits lasted something like half an hour, once a month.
So tired of the walls of his castle, Dracula traveled for some time. Once, in Geneva, he met a brilliant monster, named Victor Frankenstein. Victor talked about creating life. About creating himself a family. Dracula said a family would require love. And although he really didn't know what love was, he did know it was impossible to create love. Victor created two flesh golem, unperturbed. Dracula didn't like to remember what happened after, but he didn't really have a choice. Victor was dead and the two monsters he has created were lost in the world, hated by a furious horde of incendiary humans. Dracula gave them both a roof within his castle. And the monsters, Frankenstein (Frank) and Eunice, slowly learned about the world. About each other. And although they were ever grateful for what Dracula has done to them, they weren't his family. They married and eventually left. It was okay, though. They remained nearby, and Dracula and Frank would see each other every two weeks. More if Frank was nervous about his neighborhood. Dracula didn't really mind being used as a shield, or a comfort blanket. He was born to be a weapon, it really was an improvement. And Frank was fortunately, immortal, just like him. He even liked Eunice voice. Because when he was left alone in his castle, there was only silence.
And then a new era arouse, and slavery among monsters was not common anymore. The dark era has passed, and the Prince of Darkness was not a figure of power anymore, at least he was not feared. Or even noticed. And he really didn't know how that has happened, but one day he got a visit from Frank and Wayne, saying they needed to explore the world. Dracula didn't know when Wayne and Frank become friends, least of all when Wanda and Eunice got along so well. And still trying to understand this, he totally failed to think why would that pack need him to go along. Really, it was a new era. They were safe from other monsters. They probably could face humans if the need would arise. He never even asked where they were going. They went to Spain, then to Egypt.
Dracula of course was miserable the whole trip. He could only travel by himself at night, and even then the Mediterranean heat would bother him. During the day, the others would carry his coffin with then, along with their luggage. Every single day he would think: is it today? Is it today they will forget my coffin somewhere? Is it today the sun will touch my skin and everything will end? And every night he would emerge from his coffin, sweaty and slightly sick, a little lost, always surprised to see the others were still there. Wayne loyalty and Frank gratitude, he supposed.
One day, when he woke, he was introduced to an invisible family, George and his wife, Laura. They were also in Egypt (obviously), studying the behavior of ancient monsters. That night there was a sandstorm. In an explosion of telekinetic power, Dracula saved the lives of the werewolves and the invisible couple, and probably saved Frank and Eunice of the job of finding some detached body parts. Drained the vampire understood what he was doing there, and collapsed with a slightly smile on his face. He was here for protection, and he was still an useful shield despite the heat and sun.
That day they did not travel, and his coffin stayed inside the sunless walls of an abandoned pyramid. That night Wayne has made the kindness of capture some alive desert mice for him, and even Wanda has tried some small conversation. Dracula did feel a little bit less miserable that night.
That feel didn't last long. The next day the pack found some mummies, and although Dracula needed to admit that Murray was pretty nice and funny, the mummy could control sandstorms, walk in the day and was essentially immortal, too. Also, he didn't need blood. Soon the vampire discovered that the beauties of the desert were meant to be seen in daylight, and how the night was cold despite the heat of the day. The pack visited the oasis with Murray while Dracula was locked in the pyramids, and Dracula soared in the dark skies at night, while everybody was together eating termites.
The travel has ended, and Dracula felt like he had lost more than just time. Frank and Murray got really close, and when both got to visit, Dracula didn't have much to contribute to the conversation.
"You have been quiet. More than the usual" Said Frank one day, when he came along. Dracula thought about saying he was sorry, but no words came. "Would you prefer to be alone? I don't want to bother you."
No words came this time, either. Frank nodded and walked away. Within the night the silence was too much. He tried to scream, but he has lost his voice. He sliced his own hand with a silver sword reminiscent of the war, but felt nothing. When the day came, he let the sun touch his skin for the first time in his almost 350 years. And he felt the pain of light invading the darkness inside his blood in his soul. So fascinated by the feeling, he didn't notice the flames. He didn't notice when Frank came back to get something Eunice has left in the castle in their last visit. He did not notice when Frank grabbed him inside his castle and protected him from the sun rays.
"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" the golem yelled.
What was he thinking? Nothing really. He looked from his just recovered sliced hand to his still burned one and wondered why one hurt and not the other.
"Why were you out there? Were you trying to kill yourself?"
"It was just some seconds" The vampire replied. Just some seconds he was there and just some seconds still necessary for the flames consume him. He just wanted to feel something other than the cold. Just some more seconds, and he would feel his world aflame. Just some more seconds and then he would be dead. Dead monsters do not feel. No, he wasn't trying to kill himself. He did want to feel something.
After that event, somehow there wasn't a single night he would spend alone. Murray and the werewolves came to visit and stayed at his castle instead of at the Frankenstein's, for months. George and Laura would visit, with his little son Griffin. Frank and Eunice would came too. And sometimes Eunice would say something and Dracula would find it funny and shyly chuckle. Or Frank and Murray would argue and he would quietly laugh. And he would really have fun when the monsters got him into some ridiculous fight over the last piece of cockroach cake, or into a flying broom race, or whatever was in their mood that night.
But… when the day came… When the day came he would go back to his coffin, while Wayne was asleep in Wanda's lap, Frank and Eunice were arguing en route to their home and the invisible family was again in their adventures. When the day came, he was alone.
As he always has been, he was alone.